Great War Theatre

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

A bright and promising comedy of American theatrical life. The motive of the first and straightforward plot is supplied in the determination of Jerry, a rich idler, to marry Bettina, a young actress, whose Mother - once a well-known actress herself - has for her one ambition her ingenue daughter's success upon the stage. Bettina returns Jerry's love but cannot bear to disappoint her mother by leaving the stage, as Jerry demands. Jerry is just too late to prevent her signing a contract for a provincial production; and so in order to keep near her, he manages to get an engagement for the piece himself. Largely by his own incompetence he helps the production's early failure, whereupon he hopes to secure Bettina's mother's consent to the marriage. Tat lady, however, insists that before the girl leaves the stage she must either succeed or fail as some Broadway Theatre; and Jerry conceives the brilliant notion of bribing Bettina's Manager to present at his expense, at a New York House, a fore-doomed fiasco, with himself as the hero in order to secure the desired disaster. His blunderings at rehearsal are shown in a series of very amusing and lifelike peeps behind the scenes, in the course of which the ingenious technicalities are relieved by some very human characterization, by many touches of racy humour and by one or two tender passages of sentiment. The intended failure flukes into a first-night triumph, and Jerry finally has to content himself with obtaining his bride on condition that after their secret and immediate marriage they both remain in the cast, at any rate for the New York run of the piece. A pleasant, wholesome story, wittily told, and pretty sure to win favour if adequately interpreted on the stage [...]

Licensed On: 22 Mar 1916

License Number: 152

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British Library Reference: LCP1916/7

British Library Classmark: Add MS 66128 F

Performances

Date Theatre Type
17 Apr 1916 Apollo, London Unknown Licensed Performance