New-York tribune., 1922-10-22
The American
Peasant Dram,
Has Sponso,
John Golden, Country ].
Now Producer. K.s s
A We the Trad;,;l

who have some money to su.., ~
want 70 see the world. The ist.., 3. 8
dom dream Of seeing America a.. s, $,
It is 80 with the theaser v.,,, 8 !, @''
way. which is not to harp -, !
old theme that producers b,, -. ~
plays In preference to Il. s.. sa
home product, but merely BY :, :.
introducing the sub9ecs ], -.
drama"
How the phrase carries WIN
aura ana aroma Of high-bross a,s 4.
nice taste Of f;teratrreI ~.
drama' We think at once !. d. -,
OF synge and Yeats. Of Hsu..n.,
and Moinar, and Of Others. sea 4.
body has been considered u ,.,.
really cultivated tasts in drama as,.,.I
ne could discourse elegantly uno, &
matter. And no season has been ,..,.
complete without It's current exams
Of the peasant drama Of Eurar.
stances: "The Playbey Of sxs w.u..|
World" "John Ferguson. @a..
Bernd" to-day. and others. Apa J.
the peasant drama Of Ams,,.. .
lusty drama, indeed, has soss ~.
with little or no mention.
For America has a peasan. s,,,.
has had it for generations. and a.i,,
has one producer who season s,,,.
season keeps alive the tradition 4,
is John Golden, and his currsut =.
ductioa Of this particular tYp q
drama is an example Of tie pesn..
drama of America. 1t is aSpsss fa
ner," Franz Crayen's comedy. IN Viii,
Madge Kennedy stars at the Jsh|
Golden Little Theater. Thls IN
Spite Corner" is good example II
the "inade in America peasant dnr
because 1t embodies all the stock III
ments Of its class-the lovely lass, tA2
boy who went away to the great d.
to make his fortune, the village Ga
flint, the snall-town political lssiss|
the gossiDs like SO many. fates, Il
old maid and the old mar.
What would our peasant drama &.
without the old man. Like thu &
of gold he runs through all the fs +
examples, through '::The Old Haa
stead" "Shore Acres sEay Rss
East "Putid'nhead Wilson, sni is
lesser fry in the pan. Take netnn
Thompson from "The Old Homestead
subtract Odell Williams fran aWsgl
Down East" and only sorry stuf vodli
be left, Similarly, in the fnsst ned.||
ern example of our own peasant drars|
we have Frank Bacon as "Lighain
Bill" in "Lightnin'.
1t was Golden wko produced Tisatl
nin'." just as it was Golden who n'u'
duced the current peasant dzSa
"Spite Corner And the iastsf =
course, has its old man in TIE Fsfsf;
of E5en Gooch, played by Perty 10.
lock. That John Golden, and not ssss
other, carries on the peasant ersrs
is, OF course, really fit and risit fa'
others may have been county sss
too, but. it is hard TO imagine any esas
so gusty q country youth IS ssisu
Golden must have been. Ont In NssF
seon, Ohio, where he spent his S'5-
hood, he was this and lie was fha'---s
porter in q country hotel, s farmhala'
in very truth as much Q son Oh sas
soil as Uncle Josh Whitcomps pos'
Reuben, Of "The Old Homessead,' ever
dreamed of being. And 50 1t is o0'usA
who each season spurs peasant drsas
on anew. +.
He began some eight years ago WIN
"Turn to the Right. at q time VD'.
echoes of "The Old Homestead,
Shore Acres" and of SWAY Down EsA
still reverberated. One imagines s'es
as saying (no, not to himself, f0i 2
never confines his remarks to ~
tied audience, but to anybody -
might hear): eI'm going to take - s.:
lean peasaat drama and keep ite
No European peasant drama io' =
And since then the tradition has esa
carried on with "Lightnin'.s @The hs
Year" THANK Your and now M
Corner. az successive seasons le.s
by. There was even one more IS
ure, said to be dear to his hear e. I.
the most peasantly dramatic q = s
titles, "Howey, Folks
The success Of all these Play /.
matter OF history. @Turn g !. S &
Right played year and ns., ., I
Broadway; "Lightnin' three ssss 'sss
thus establishing a world record, &. .. d
First Year almost two wears; ss.;,, ss.s
You. a full season. Whether s
Corner'' will follow in their 1870 ],
ON the lap Of The gods. But Z Z i, /
the same cloth as the others, !, KS.
daddy OF them all, "The oia p sau
stead" in which Denman ihep So
played generation. 1t is &.
American peasant drama stepp'as