Who will tour the South the coming season under the direction of The
Rice Bureau, of Nashville.
]
Opie Read, author, humorist, playwright and philosopher, known and
beloved by Americans, rich and poor alike, not only in his own
Southland, but all over the great West, and the East as well—his is
indeed a name to conjure with. As an entertainer, Mr. Read has been a
surprise even to his most sanguine friends. Very few who write clever
stories can read them in a way to evoke either tears or laughter, and
when an author who has gained his reputation mainly through humorous
work appears in a varied program, his path is beset by so many
difficulties that failure almost invariably lies in wait for him. Opie
Read is the exception that proves the rule. We laugh with him when he
“shoots out the moon,” and we weep over the pathetic story of “The
Bronsons,” and the “moonlight parting to let her pass.” We are thrilled
with the tales of simple heroism and we marvel at the rich mine of
romance which lies hidden among the Tennessee mountains whence he draws
the quaint characters that figure in his stories and plays.
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