possible. Come, little mother, let’s be young together to the
end. I’ll have to throw another log on this make-believe open
fire in _my_ house. (_He pulls the sofa around so it faces the
radiator which he eyes dubiously._) Hm! That won’t stimulate the
imagination. Wait! I know.
(_He goes over to the table and smiling quaintly he lifts up
the cake with its three burning candles and carefully places
it on the low radiator. Then he presses a switch on wall
nearby and the lights overhead go out, leaving only the
candles, a desk lamp and the moonlight through the window to
give the shadows life. He laughs and warms his hands before
the candles as he would before a fire._)
Come, dear, before my fire! By the way, is there a log fire in your
dream-house, dear?
MRS. RAY
(_Smiling and fitting in with his fancy_)
If you are to be with me, of course.
PROFESSOR
Well then we have a blazing fire in both our houses, eh? (_He sits
beside her on sofa and they gaze at candles._) And how economical
fuel is when you dream about it. I’ve got a whole forest waiting to
be cut by me, to-morrow, after I’ve worked all morning on my new
book.
MRS. RAY
And I’ve been to the musicale at the Biltmore.
PROFESSOR
What did you do this afternoon, dear?
MRS. RAY
(_Tapping his arm_)
Oh, I had a brilliant reception.
PROFESSOR
Receptions are always brilliant.
MRS. RAY
But this one really was. I had André Gidet and Arsène Tailleur
there. They are those clever new writers all Paris is talking about.
PROFESSOR
You didn’t enjoy their witticisms more than I did a pesky little
bluejay that made fun of me as I fished in my emerald lake.
MRS. RAY
But surely even you would have envied me my dinner when the
celebrated Mary Mevin explained her new symphony.
PROFESSOR
Nonsense, dear. Think of grilled trout caught by my own hand! And
then the long lazy silent hours afterwards with Aristotle. Nice
chap, Aristotle: knew a heap about men and things, though he lived
in an age when there wasn’t so much to remember as there is now.
Then afterwards I confess I yawned with the comfort of it all;
good, deep-reaching yawns, as Nature intended. I went out to see
my friends the stars. Best friends a man ever had: a bit cold and
distant, perhaps; but always there behind the clouds. (_She has
risen and gone to the candles. There is a pause. Then she snuffs
them out._) And I suppose at the same time you were trying in vain
to find them out your city window? (_Sees she is sobbing very
quietly: the candles are out._) Why, dear! What’s the trouble?
MRS. RAY
Oh, I can’t pretend any more. Our log fire isn’t real. Here we are
all alone in a hotel apartment--before an old steam radiator and
electric light. (_Presses the switch again._)
PROFESSOR
(_Tenderly and seriously_)
I know. You left all that which might have been yours ... if ... if
you hadn’t married me.
MRS. RAY
And you--without me and the children--you might have had your dream
now.
PROFESSOR
(_Very seriously_)
No, dear. One never can realize them: that’s why they are called
dreams.
MRS. RAY
(_Goes to him looking up into his face_)
You know, I wouldn’t have given up one hour of my life with you.
PROFESSOR
(_Stroking her hair tenderly_)
We have been very happy.
MRS. RAY
Yet why is there something we both feel we have missed?
PROFESSOR
Because even the happy must be incomplete or else they would cease
to be happy. Isn’t happiness hope as much as realization? We have
realized--not ourselves completely--yet through each other. We have
been what the other sought. But only the very wise know that there
is an inner life no one can be part of: a lonely place where even
the dearest can not enter, because it is a lonely place.
MRS. RAY
Yes. I think that is the way it is with me, dear.
PROFESSOR
And the way it is with our house we shall never build. We can’t
enter it _together_.
MRS. RAY
(_Looking before her_)
Yet I can still see my house.
PROFESSOR
As clearly as I do mine. (_Looking whimsically over at the smoking
candles._) Even though our own log fire is burned out.
MRS. RAY
(_Smiling_)
It’s changed somewhat these forty years.
PROFESSOR
Yes. That’s the way dream-houses have. (_Taking her hand._) And,
dear one, when we each think of our houses we can never build,
let’s--let’s always go on holding each other’s hand, eh?
MRS. RAY
Dearest....
PROFESSOR
So many people lose each other when they dream.
(_He kisses her tenderly._)
[CURTAIN]
[F] Copyright by George Middleton. See back of title page.
ON THE HIRING LINE
Comedy in 3 acts, by Harvey O’Higgins and Harriet Ford. 5 males, 4
females. Interior throughout. Costumes, modern. Plays 2½ hours.
Sherman Fessenden, unable to induce servants to remain for
any reasonable length of time at his home, hits upon the
novel expedient of engaging detectives to serve as domestics.
His second wife, an actress, weary of the country and longing
for Broadway, has succeeded in discouraging every other cook
and butler against remaining long at the house, believing
that by so doing she will win her husband to her theory that
country life is dead. So she is deeply disappointed when she
finds she cannot discourage the new servants.
The sleuths, believing they had been called to report on
the actions of those living with the Fessendens, proceeded
to warn Mr. Fessenden that his wife has been receiving
love-notes from Steve Mark, an actor friend, and that his
daughter has been planning to elope with a thief.
One sleuth causes an uproar in the house, making a mess of
the situations he has witnessed. Mr. Fessenden, however, has
learned a lesson and is quite willing to leave the servant
problem to his wife thereafter. (Royalty, twenty-five
dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
A FULL HOUSE
A farcical comedy in 3 acts. By Fred Jackson. 7 males, 7 females.
One interior scene. Modern costumes. Time, 2½ hours.
Imagine a reckless and wealthy youth who writes ardent
love letters to a designing chorus girl, an attorney
brother-in-law who steals the letters and then gets his
hand-bag mixed up with the grip of a burglar who has just
stolen a valuable necklace from the mother of the indiscreet
youth, and the efforts of the crook to recover his plunder,
as incidents in the story of a play in which the swiftness
of the action never halts for an instant. Not only are the
situations screamingly funny but the lines themselves hold
a fund of humor at all times. This newest and cleverest
of all farces was written by Fred Jackson, the well-known
short-story writer, and if backed up by the prestige of an
impressive New York success and the promise of unlimited fun
presented in the most attractive form. A cleaner, cleverer
farce has not been seen for many a long day. “A Full House”
is a house full of laughs. (Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
NOT SO LONG AGO
Comedy in a Prologue, 3 acts, and Epilogue. By Arthur Richman. 5
males, 7 females. 2 interiors, 1 exterior. Costumes, 1876. Plays a
full evening.
Arthur Richman has constructed his play around the Cinderella
legend. The playwright has shown great wisdom in his choice
of material, for he has cleverly crossed the Cinderella theme
with a strain of Romeo and Juliet. Mr. Richman places his
young lovers in the picturesque New York of forty years ago.
This time Cinderella is a seamstress in the home of a social
climber, who may have been the first of her kind, though we
doubt it. She is interested sentimentally in the son of this
house. Her father, learning of her infatuation for the young
man without learning also that it is imaginary on the young
girl’s part, starts out to discover his intentions. He is a
poor inventor. The mother of the youth, ambitious chiefly for
her children, shudders at the thought of marriage for her
son with a sewing-girl. But the Prince contrives to put the
slipper on the right foot, and the end is happiness. The play
is quaint and agreeable and the three acts are rich in the
charm of love and youth. (Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
THE LOTTERY MAN
Comedy in 3 acts, by Rida Johnson Young. 4 males, 5 females. 3 easy
interiors. Costumes, modern. Plays 2¼ hours.
In “The Lottery Man” Rida Johnson Young has seized upon a
custom of some newspapers to increase their circulation by
clever schemes. Mrs. Young has made the central figure in her
famous comedy a newspaper reporter, Jack Wright. Wright owes
his employer money, and he agrees to turn in one of the most
sensational scoops the paper has ever known. His idea is to
conduct a lottery, with _himself_ as the prize. The lottery
is announced. Thousands of old maids buy coupons. Meantime
Wright falls in love with a charming girl. Naturally he
fears that he may be won by someone else and starts to get
as many tickets as his limited means will permit. Finally
the last day is announced. The winning number is 1323, and
is held by Lizzie, an old maid, in the household of the
newspaper owner. Lizzie refuses to give up. It is discovered,
however, that she has stolen the ticket. With this clue, the
reporter threatens her with arrest. Of course the coupon is
surrendered and Wright gets the girl of his choice. Produced
at the Bijou Theater, New York, with great success. (Royalty,
twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
POLLYANNA
“The glad play,” in 3 acts. By Catherine Chisholm Cushing. Based on
the novel by Eleanor H. Porter. 5 males, 6 females. 2 interiors.
Costumes, modern. Plays 2¼ hours.
The story has to do with the experiences of an orphan girl
who is thrust, unwelcome, into the home of a maiden aunt. In
spite of the tribulations that beset her life she manages
to find something to be glad about, and brings light into
sunless lives. Finally, Pollyanna straightens out the love
affairs of her elders, and last, but not least, finds
happiness for herself in the heart of Jimmy. “Pollyanna”
is a glad play and one which is bound to give one a better
appreciation of people and the world. It reflects the humor,
tenderness and humanity that gave the story such wonderful
popularity among young and old.
Produced at the Hudson Theatre, New York, and for two seasons
on tour, by George C. Tyler, with Helen Hayes in the part of
“Pollyanna.” (Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
THE CHARM SCHOOL
A comedy in 3 acts. By Alice Duer Miller and Robert Milton. 6
males, 10 females (may be played by 5 males and 8 females). Any
number of school girls may be used in the ensembles. Scenes, 2
interiors. Modern costumes. Plays 2½ hours.
The story of “The Charm School” is familiar to Mrs. Miller’s
readers. It relates the adventures of a handsome young
automobile salesman, scarcely out of his ’teens, who, upon
inheriting a girls’ boarding-school from a maiden aunt,
insists on running it himself, according to his own ideas,
chief of which is, by the way, that the dominant feature in
the education of the young girls of to-day should be CHARM.
The situations that arise are teeming with humor--clean,
wholesome humor. In the end the young man gives up the
school, and promises to wait until the most precocious of his
pupils reaches a marriageable age. The play has the freshness
of youth, the inspiration of an extravagant but novel idea,
the charm of originality, and the promise of wholesome,
sanely amusing, pleasant entertainment. We strongly recommend
it for high school production. It was first produced at
the Bijou Theatre, New York, then toured the country.
Two companies are now playing it in England. (Royalty,
twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
KICK IN
Play in 4 acts. By Willard Mack. 7 males, 5 females. 2 interiors.
Modern costumes. Plays 2½ hours.
“Kick In” is the latest of the very few available mystery
plays. Like “Within the Law,” “Seven Keys to Baldpate,” “The
Thirteenth Chair,” and “In the Next Room,” it is one of those
thrillers which are accurately described as “not having a
dull moment in it from beginning to end.” It is a play with
all the ingredients of popularity, not at all difficult to
set or to act; the plot carries it along, and the situations
are built with that skill and knowledge of the theatre for
which Willard Mack is known. An ideal mystery melodrama, for
high schools and colleges. (Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
TILLY OF BLOOMSBURY
(“Happy-Go-Lucky.”) A comedy in 3 acts. By Ian Hay. 9 males, 7
females. 2 interior scenes. Modern dress. Plays a full evening.
Into an aristocratic family comes Tilly, lovable and
youthful, with ideas and manners which greatly upset the
circle. Tilly is so frankly honest that she makes no secret
of her tremendous affection for the young son of the family;
this brings her into many difficulties. But her troubles have
a joyous end in charmingly blended scenes of sentiment and
humor. This comedy presents an opportunity for fine acting,
handsome stage settings, and beautiful costuming. (Royalty,
twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 cents.
BILLY
Farce-comedy in 3 acts. By George Cameron. 10 males, 5 females. (A
few minor male parts can be doubled, making the cast 7 males, 5
females.) 1 exterior. Costumes, modern. Plays 2¼ hours.
The action of the play takes place on the S. S. “Florida,”
bound for Havana. The story has to do with the disappearance
of a set of false teeth, which creates endless complications
among passengers and crew, and furnishes two and a quarter
hours of the heartiest laughter. One of the funniest comedies
produced in the last dozen years on the American stage is
“Billy” (sometimes called “Billy’s Tombstones”), in which the
late Sidney Drew achieved a hit in New York and later toured
the country several times. (Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
TWEEDLES
Comedy in 3 acts, by Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson. 5
males, 4 females. 1 interior. Costumes, modern. Plays 2½ hours.
Julian, scion of the blue-blooded Castleburys, falls in love
with Winsora Tweedle, daughter of the oldest family in a
Maine village. The Tweedles esteem the name because it has
been rooted in the community for 200 years, and they look
down on “summer people” with the vigor that only “summer
boarder” communities know.
The Castleburys are aghast at the possibility of a match, and
call on the Tweedles to urge how impossible such an alliance
would be. Mr. Castlebury laboriously explains the barrier
of social caste, and the elder Tweedle takes it that these
unimportant summer folk are terrified at the social eminence
of the Tweedles.
Tweedle generously agrees to co-operate with the Castleburys
to prevent the match. But Winsora brings her father to
realize that in reality the Castleburys look upon them
as inferiors. The old man is infuriated, and threatens
vengeance, but is checkmated when Julian unearths a number
of family skeletons and argues that father isn’t a Tweedle,
since the blood has been so diluted that little remains.
Also, Winsora takes the matter into her own hands and
outfaces the old man. So the youngsters go forth triumphant.
“Tweedles” is Booth Tarkington at his best. (Royalty,
twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
JUST SUPPOSE
A whimsical comedy in 3 acts, by A. E. Thomas, author of “Her
Husband’s Wife,” “Come Out of the Kitchen,” etc. 6 males, 2
females. 1 interior, 1 exterior. Costumes, modern. Plays 2¼ hours.
It was rumored that during his last visit the Prince of Wales
appeared for a brief spell under an assumed name somewhere
in Virginia. It is on this story that A. E. Thomas based
“Just Suppose.” The theme is handled in an original manner.
Linda Lee Stafford meets one George Shipley (in reality is
the Prince of Wales). It is a case of love at first sight,
but, alas, princes cannot select their mates and thereby
hangs a tale which Mr. Thomas has woven with infinite charm.
The atmosphere of the South with its chivalry dominates the
story, touching in its sentiment and lightened here and there
with delightful comedy. “Just Suppose” scored a big hit at
the Henry Miller Theatre, New York, with Patricia Collinge.
(Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
ARE YOU A MASON?
Farce in 3 acts. By Leo Ditrichstein. 7 males, 7 females. Modern
costumes. Plays 2¼ hours. 1 interior.
“Are You a Mason?” is one of those delightful farces like
“Charley’s Aunt” that are always fresh. “A mother and a
daughter,” says the critic of the New York _Herald_, “had
husbands who account for absences from the joint household
on frequent evenings, falsely pretending to be Masons. The
men do not know each other’s duplicity, and each tells his
wife of having advanced to leadership in his lodge. The
older woman was so well pleased with her husband’s supposed
distinction in the order that she made him promise to put
up the name of a visiting friend for membership. Further
perplexity over the principal liar arose when a suitor for
his second daughter’s hand proved to be a real Mason....
To tell the story of the play would require volumes, its
complications are so numerous. It is a house of cards. One
card wrongly placed and the whole thing would collapse. But
it stands, an example of remarkable ingenuity. You wonder at
the end of the first act how the fun can be kept up on such
a slender foundation. But it continues and grows to the last
curtain.” One of the most hilariously amusing farces ever
written, especially suited to schools and Masonic Lodges.
(Royalty, twenty-five dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
KEMPY
A delightful comedy in 3 acts. By J. C. Nugent and Elliott Nugent.
4 males, 4 females. 1 interior throughout. Costumes, modern. Plays
2½ hours.
No wonder “Kempy” has been such a tremendous hit in New York,
Chicago--wherever it has played. It snaps with wit and humor
of the most delightful kind. It’s electric. It’s small-town
folk perfectly pictured. Full of types of varied sorts, each
one done to a turn and served with zestful sauce. An ideal
entertainment for amusement purposes. The story is about a
high-falutin’ daughter who in a fit of pique marries the
young plumber-architect, who comes to fix the water pipes,
just because he “understands” her, having read her book and
having sworn to marry the authoress. But in that story lies
all the humor that kept the audience laughing every second of
every act. Of course there are lots of ramifications, each
of which bears its own brand of laughter-making potentials.
But the plot and the story are not the main things. There is,
for instance, the work of the company. The fun growing out of
this family mixup is lively and clean. (Royalty, twenty-five
dollars.)
Price, 75 Cents.
SAMUEL FRENCH, 25 West 45th Street, New York City
New and Explicit Descriptive Catalogue Mailed Free on Request
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| FRENCH’S |
| Standard Library Edition |
| |
| Includes Plays by |
| |
| Clyde Fitch Booth Tarkington |
| William Gillette J. Hartley Manners |
| Augustus Thomas James Forbes |
| George Broadhurst James Montgomery |
| Edward E. Kidder Wm. C. de Mille |
| Percy MacKaye Roi Cooper Megrue |
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Edward E. Rose |
| Louis N. Parker Israel Zangwill |
| R. C. Carton Henry Bernstein |
| Alfred Sutro Harold Brighouse |
| Richard Harding Davis Channing Pollock |
| Sir Arthur W. Pinero Harry Durant |
| Anthony Hope Winchell Smith |
| Oscar Wilde Margaret Mayo |
| Haddon Chambers Edward Peple |
| Jerome K. Jerome A. E. W. Mason |
| Cosmo Gordon Lennox Charles Klein |
| H. V. Esmond Henry Arthur Jones |
| Mark Swan A. E. Thomas |
| Grace L. Furniss Fred. Ballard |
| Marguerite Merrington Cyril Harcourt |
| Hermann Sudermann Carlisle Moore |
| Rida Johnson Young Ernest Denny |
| Arthur Law Laurence Housman |
| Rachel Crothers Harry James Smith |
| Martha Morton Edgar Selwyn |
| H. A. Du Souchet Augustin McHugh |
| W. W. Jacobs Robert Housum |
| Madeleine Lucette Ryley Charles Kenyon |
| C. M. S. McLellan |
| |
| French’s International Copyrighted Edition contains plays, |
| comedies and farces of international reputation; also recent |
| professional successes by famous American and English |
| Authors. |
| |
| Send a four-cent stamp for our new catalogue |
| describing thousands of plays. |
| |
| SAMUEL FRENCH |
| Oldest Play Publisher in the World |
| 25 West 45th Street, NEW YORK CITY |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
=TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE=
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when
a predominant preference was found in the original book.
Pg 206: ‘--for the glove’ replaced by ‘--For the glove’.