| Show S TWO MILLIONS MADE fROM PLAY S Denman Thompson Tells o of S Great Old Play That Made Him Famous fi SOME LESSONS IT TAUGHT t. t Congratulates Himself That It S. S Brings Back to Him Hirn No Unpleasant Memories Since Sinco Tho Tue Ol Old Homestead was 09 S first produced in the old Boston theater theater thea thea- I ter tar in April of It has earned moro than this tills Is the stateS statement state state- S mont ment of Denman Thompson himself y who vrho has written In the Issue of the thet t Womans Woman's World of or Chicago o the tho story star i S of ot t this remarkable drama which won J S for the homely and ana wholesome play S the record of ot greatest success of ot any 1 over produced in the United States except ox- ox S Uncle Toms Tom's Cabin S It has haJ boon been performed so man many S thousand times and enjo enjoyed by so soman man many millions of folks folIes that I havo have entirely lost track of or the number S rays Tays Thompson In his retrospective monologue Perhaps the figures I un s might afford mo some satisfaction If It ItI S I had them them but but not a tenth of or the pleasure and ana comfort I get from re reflecting reflecting re- re fleeting that no human being man being man woman or 01 child has child has ever gono gone awa from a performance of The Ol Old 5 homestead the worse orso for tor having ha wil WI witnessed wit wit- it On the tho other othor hand hana literal literal- S Jy ily thousands have o told tola me and other hundreds have havo written me mc that the they ha havo been moved movell b by it to a n. new sense sens of moral obligations a a sense which actually moved them to do something to mend the ml mistakes of ot their past anc and to keep tho present clean and cour cour- s ageous I I like Uke to think about this and this and Innot Im I'm not ashamed to admit it it- Perhaps it II I I would not seem so Important and so sc c 1 pleasant to me mo It If I were a n young man today toda- with all an tho the future bright and onel 1 S glowIng slowing before me my heels full tun of at Singer ginger Ing r. r m my head full Cull of ot plans and my myS S j. j heart fairly bursting with life liCe and j hope But a little change has come como i over this particular Joshua whitS Whitcomb Whit Whit- S comb since tho the Old Homestead was j I first staged I am now 76 years old ii 5 and so I look at things a a. little more i J. J S soberly than I once did dill I If I r had to tos s look jool back upon a play not clean and wholesome and ana sweetening but which laid had been produced as many times I 41 een seen b by as many millions of people as The Tho Old Homestead then I know my ff head would rest far tar less legs peacefully on 1 tho pillow C Changed nn cd Misguided Lives cs J But Dut m my satisfaction goes b beyond bond ond 1 this negative point for thousands of or rr assurances havo have come to mo that The TheOld 4 Old Homestead has hag changed misguided ed cd and unfortunate lives and ana restored ff f careless and discouraged men to a af aright f iT rl right ht sense of their human relationS relation'S relationships relation relation- S 'S ships ships particularly particularly their relationships to their fathers j S J. For Illustration Thompson told of or ofa a young oung fellow follow Maine born who came camo cameto p to see him at a n hotel in the Northwest S. t overcome with remorse for leaving S. S parents who needed him ho having S seen tho the sorrow of ot Uncle Josh the Josh the lole mole Thompson takes takes for for his Reuben When hen I saw how the absence and In Indifference indifference In- In S difference of the son wrenched tIme tho heart mcart of ot Joshua Whitcomb this young v told tUIl m me JI I 1 In thua place Ilace of Reuben the time son and my own t. t father fathel In the place of Undo Uncle Josh And 1 when It came to tho the dream In the play pla v t I i was so mellowed that I cried like S a child And I Just thou thought ht that some how It would woula be a comfort to talk It itS S over with you perhaps you perhaps a satisfaction to you OU to know that you ou had r r pUshed more for Cor one ono lonesome and anxious father and in a n certain 01 old 1 ho down in Maine Malno than any anyS S preacher has been able to for to-for for Im I'm going go- go oIn o- o 5 In ing to get et in close touch with that home homo and keep so near to the tho old S folks olk after this that they'll know rl right ht t L. L where to find me at any rate He fL j did as he said mid he woud and the father and mother were about as happy Si j about it It Iguess as Jo Joshua hua Whitcomb J t at nt tho the return or of Reuben from his hig wani wan wan- i In New York Thompson's Thompsons Own O Story I I Jr Thompson relates how back bacle In Li 1850 he left home and his parents f ti himself though he was only 1 12 It Ity I y has come como to me mc since that youth Is j f t. t rather cruel In Its selfishness he says ys though as I walked down the roar road with m my sack carpet in hand tho thoc c tears and anguish of my may father tather an and mother were soon forgotten when I It It t t r I went vent past tho the store and blacksmith shop In Boston ho Joined a circus 1 and became a performer Later ho jj slid back to the commonplace of rib- rib Lc EC bon clerk In a dry ary goods store Then t l he was given Iven a part In The French fc II Spy and later played Uncle Tom In Ink inI I k Uncle Toms Tom's Cabin v But nut rheumatism seized him and y j compelled him to think out a play In which ho he could coula depend upon something v y r j. j besides the tho nimbleness of or his legs He Ho x i know the Yankee character and built S r J upon it It using as a composite to build i v upon upa droll character in his Ld J old home Captain Otis Whitcomb toS tot to- to t S Bother gether with the sweet temper great greatheart S. S heart and emd unworldly wisdom of ot oneS ono one i S Joshua Holbrook 5 Tried first as a pla play Joshua WhitS Whit Whit- t. t S comb was a success Denman Thompson ThompS Thomp Thomp- S son arid and J. J M M. Hill a Chicago o merchant mer mor- chant divided profit from It I. I between the summer of 1876 and 1881 1821 But Thompson had to have a anew sZ i. new play pIny and wrote The Old Homestead Home Home- 1 stead retaining the character of ot Joshua Whitcomb however howe was as done on tho road in fifteen days The first weeks week's receipts were In Ne New l York people saw sow it in inUs Its Us first three months month the receipts receipt averaging 1624 dally daily an Thompson ThompsonS on onEaS S says I have almost wondered I whether I r was vas Denman TIman Thompson 55 playing as ns Josha Whitcomb or Oi Joshua Whitcomb masquerading at home ant and andon 1 on the streets In tho the character of or Denman Denman Den Den- man Thompson 1 |
