Old-time The-ayter

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 885, 20 July 1956, Page 15

Old-time The-ayter

SATURDAY night at 7.30! For one performance only from all YA Station, July 28! Your chance to hiss the villain and applaud the hero when the NZBS, presents that fine old melodrama The Drunkard, or The Fallen Saved! The Drunkard was first produced by P. T, Barnum, showman extraordinary, in 1854, and, as if to prove his acumen, it has been playing ever since, In the American city of Los Angeles, it has | been going strong for over 25 years, by far the longest run ever achieved in that | city of the angels, where virtue cus- | tomarily gets rather less recognition | than this as its just reward. The melodrama is presented in the traditional manner with musical themes | and songs from the Gay Nineties, be- | ginning with that fine old temperance hymn, "Down with Demon Rum." A) pot-pourri of popular melodies include "Mary," "Oh, You Beautiful Doll," "The Band Played On," "Over the Hill to the | Poorhouse," "Bird in a Gilded Cage," | and "Father, Dear Father." The plot has got more whiskers on_ it than may be counted in the villain’s | mustachios, We have a poor but honest widow, Mrs. Wilson, and her daughter Mary living in a cottage. The recentlydeceased owner has owed them money. They are confident that his handsome young heir will pay them, but Lawyer Cribbs intervenes for his own nefarious purposes. He is foiled temporarily vnen Edward, the heir, falls for lovely Mary. Everything in the Wilson cottage garden looks rosy, except that Edward has one weakness. He . . . drinks, Picture the plight of poor, deserted Mary with, by this time, a little Julia clinging to her skirts. Oh, the pity, the shame, the gleam of hope! Joel Ashley plays Edward and William; Pat Young plays Mrs. Wilson, Carrie Nation and Agnes; Lily Lodge, Mary Wilson; Bill Forrest, Lawyer Cribbs; Dana Kraus, Little Julia; Joseph Hardy, Arden Rencelaw. The singing is, by Doris Thorn and Bruce Norman,