Paul Armstrong · aftercurtain

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Alias Jimmy Valentine

Writer · Play · 1909

The following was compiled from a large extract of the play published in Current Literature during 1910, and from newspaper reviews of 1909–1910. Act I (The Warden's office at Sing Sing prison.) Rose Lane and two women from the Gate of Hope Society are visiting the Warden. Rose has brought along her mom's brother, Robert Fay. The four of them are discussing prison reform and criminal types with the Warden. Also present is Blickendolfenbach, with his new keyed lock that he hopes to sell to the state prison. Smith fetches Blinky Davis, who casually alters a $5.00 check into $50,000. Then Smith brings in Dick the Rat, who picks the new lock with just a hairpin. Smith, the prisoners and the inventor depart. The women ask the Warden about other convict types, and he promises to show them a romantic one. While he's gone, Rose tells the others about how a criminal tried to molest her on a train two years ago, but was thwarted by a young stranger. The Warden returns with Jimmy Valentine. Rose instantly recognizes him as the young stranger. Valentine enrages the Warden by refusing to pick the combination lock of the prison safe, claiming he has no knowledge of safecracking. Fay intervenes when the Warden berates Valentine, and urges the latter to apply for a pardon. (Curtain) Act II (Hotel parlor in Albany, New York, a few weeks later.) Valentine has been pardoned and released. He is due to meet Rose and her father at the hotel. While waiting, he is approached by old friends Bill Avery and Red Joclyn, fellow yeggs. They urge Valentine to resume his old profession, but he has fallen in love with Rose and repudiates crime. Suddenly Detective Doyle is spotted. Red and Bill hide, while Valentine verbally spars with Doyle, who wants him to sell out Bill Avery. Valentine refuses, and Doyle threatens to prosecute him over a safecracking in Springfield, Massachusetts. He leaves frustrated by Valentine's aplomb. Bill and Red reappear, and Valentine hands Bill a message from Rose, promising him a job out west. Bill thanks Valentine and departs promising to go straight. Rose and her father now appear. William Lane offers Valentine a position in his bank. Valentine allows himself to be persuaded, and reveals his real name, Lee Randall. When they leave, he tells Red to follow him to Illinois, where he'll get him an honest job. (Curtain) Act III (Randall's office at Fourth National Bank of Springfield, three years later.) Randall is now Assistant Cashier of Lane's bank, while Red Joclyn has been appointed a watchman. Randall's clerk Williams brings in a man called Cronin, who is actually Bill Avery. He is now prosperous through marriage, and brings a "doctored" photo for Randall to alibi himself for the Massachusetts safecracking. They both know Doyle is in town. After he leaves, Rose visits Randall with her younger siblings, Bobby and Kitty. Rose and Valentine are close to being engaged. Rose goes to her father's office, while the kids leave to inspect the newly installed bank vault. Doyle now enters, and begins to question Valentine, who stymies him by claiming to be Lee Randall. Doyle isn't quite fooled, but can't find a way to break Randall's alibi. Doyle starts to leave but lingers when he hears Red rush into Randall's office. Bobby has accidentally locked Kitty into the new vault, the combination for which hasn't been delivered by the manufacturer. (Curtain) Act IV (Vault room of bank, moments later.) Red Joclyn has cleared the bank to cut down on noise. They can hear Kitty's muffled cries for help. Randall turns off the lights to avoid distraction as he tries to feel the tumblers click. Each time he feels one, Red lights a match to check the dial number. Doyle has crept silently into the room to watch, and a moment later, so does Rose. Randall sandpapers his fingertips to sensitize them. Painstakingly he works the dial, number by number. Joclyn grows worried; he can no longer hear Kitty. Finally, the last number is felt, and the vault door is swung open. Kitty is unconscious but alive; Red picks her up and rushes her to a doctor. Randall spots Doyle and realizes the game is up. But Doyle yields his captive to Rose, who now knows the truth about Randall but still wants him. (Curtain)

Going Some

Playwright · Play · 1908

A Yale man with no athletic ability is drawn into a footrace to recover a ranch's stolen phonograph for New Mexico cowboys and win the affection of a Smith College woman. Farcical complications include rivalries, mistaken athletic expectations, bets and a competitor arriving on crutches.

Salomy Jane

Playwright · Play · 1907

In 1855 Calaveras County, Salomy Jane encounters a stranger who has killed the man who betrayed his sister. When the stranger is captured alongside stagecoach robber Red Pete and faces vigilante hanging, Salomy Jane kisses him and later disguises and helps him escape. Their flight brings them into a feud between her father and Phil Larrabee, ending with a confrontation at the family corral.

The Deep Purple

Playwright · Play · 1910

A gang uses Doris Moore as an unwitting lure in a badger game targeting wealthy William Lake. Kate Fallon, a reformed thief, protects Doris; Lake and train robber Gordon Laylock expose the gang, and the scheme ends with Harry Leland's death and the others' escape from their criminal pasts.

The Greyhound

Writer · Play · 1912

The play may have been published as The Greyhound: A Play in Four Acts, date and publisher unknown. This synopsis is compiled from 1912 newspaper reviews. Act I (A room in a lodging house at San Francisco, March 15.) J. Crawford Alexander, Kitty Doyle, and Jack Fay meet at the room of their leader, Louis Fellman. He tells them that wealthy Mrs. Allen will be sailing with her children on the Mauretania. They will make excellent targets for a variety of sly approaches. The gang plans to make their way across country to New York and board the vessel. Just outside, McSherry has been sent by "The Eye", which suspected Louis of backsliding. The three henchmen having departed, Louis is confronted by his wife Claire. She reproaches him for returning to crime. Worried she will shop him to police, he agrees to a joint suicide pact by poison. Louis fakes drinking while Claire collapses to the floor. He leaves, but McSherry enters and saves Claire by summoning an ambulance. (Curtain) Act II (Hurricane deck of the steamship Mauretania, just underway from New York, June 5.) Passengers, stewards, and others mill about the deck. The gang covertly scouts their intended victims. Henry Watkins attracts attention for his obvious wealth and by calling the Hurricane deck the "roof" of the ship. The Allen matriarch and her brood come in for close scrutiny: they note Mrs. Allen's dissatisfaction with Bob Kirk as a suitor for Bess, and Percival's naive fascination with fashionable women. Among many other passengers, though, they miss seeing McSherry bring aboard Claire with a nurse to tend her. (Curtain) Act III (Scene 1:Promenade deck of the Mauretania, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Kitty in her role of Baroness has bewitched young Percival, to the consternation of his mother. Later, Louis Fellman approaches Mrs. Allen with a note, supposedly from Bob Kirk but forged by Whispering Alex, suggesting he can be bought off for $50,000. (Two minutes intermission) (Scene 2:The Smoking Room, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Jack Fay induces McSherry and Henry Watkins into a card game, under the misapprehension the former is a rich rube. Bob Kirk is also in the game, trying to win enough to marry Bess. When the deal comes around to McSherry, he deals Jack four aces, but gives Bob a Queen-high straight flush. Jack bets everything, but with the pot at $10,000 is busted by Bob's hand. (Two minutes intermission) (Scene 3:The Grand Salon, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Mrs. Allen has given Louis a check for $50,000, unaware of Bob's new fortune. He promises not to cash it until the ship reaches France. She then catches Percival with the "Baroness" and sends him to his stateroom. The "Baroness" and her "attorney" Alex demand a settlement for "alienation", a subtle hint of blackmail to prevent a scandal. But Steve the wireless operator brings a radiogram at McSherry's behest, confirming there is no Baroness Von Hilde. (Curtain) Act IV (Off the Irish coast, the hurricane deck at night, June 9.) Distraught by repeated glimpses of his "dead" wife, Louis has been drinking heavily. He still has the check for $50,000, but his confederates have been defeated and are penniless. Now Claire approaches Louis in the moonlight, appearing ghostly in all white. Louis backs away, then jumps over the railing into the ocean. With the ship's alarm sounding and cries of "Man overboard!", the play ends. (Curtain)

The Heir to the Hoorah

Playwright · Play · 1905

Western gold-mine owner Joe Lacy's new wife is dominated by her mother, who disparages Joe and his friends. After Joe returns from Europe, he fights to regain his home and family, and the couple reconciles as they welcome their child and heir to the Hoorah mine.

Via Wireless

Writer · Play · 1908

The play was never published. This synopsis is compiled from 1908 newspaper reviews. Act I (Library in Home of George Durant, Pittsburgh) Marsh has designed a new marine artillery piece which he brings to Pinckney. Pinckney hires an outsider to pose as the weapons' inventor, as otherwise it would belong to Durant. Pinckney gets the lion's share of the gun's royalties, from which he pays Marsh a small amount. Lt. Sommers visits George Durant to discuss progress on the manufacture of his new cannon. While at Durant's home he meets his wife, and daughter Frances. He and Frances express interest in one another. Sommers learns that another new artillery piece has been produced at Durant Steel, and that Pinckney seems to favor it. (Curtain) Act II (Scene 1:Office of Durant Steel Works.) Frances is told by Lucy Smith that her father is up to something with Pinckney. Frances visits the office, and senses an attempt will be made to wreck Sommers cannon. When Lt. Sommers visits Edward Pinckney to check on the new gun, Frances is already there. Pinckney tries to intimate that he and the girl have an understanding. Later, Pinckney tells Smith to interfere with the oil bath that will temper the new gun. Sommers receives an anonymous message that Smith might try to sabotage his new cannon that night. (Curtain) (Scene 2:Foundry of Durant Steel Works, near midnight.) The scene opens with a noisy cacophony; white-hot metal is poured and trip-hammers reverberate. The workers are bare-chested and sweating in the heat of the works. At midnight, the noise lowers as the workers take their mid-shift meal. Pinckney has left instructions for Smith to work on the new cannon while the others are on break. As Smith works, he is accosted by Sommers, suspecting sabotage. They fight, and Sommers believes he has stopped the sabotage. Later the workers return to their labors and the noise resumes. (Curtain) Act III (Scene 1:Courtyard of Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico, several weeks later.) Lt. Sommers and the Durants and their staff had gone to San Juan for a holiday. Word is received that the new cannon exploded, killing seven sailors. Agent Bradley of the Secret Service arrives to question everyone about the weapon's manufacture. Lt. Sommers is ordered to return to Washington for a court-martial. He accepts George Durant's offer to accompany his family, Bradley, Pinckney, Marsh, and Durant's staff on their motor yacht back to Florida. (Curtain) (Scene 2:Wireless Room of Steamship Mongolian.) On board the steamship Mongolian, wireless operator Harling has picked up a distress call from Durant's yacht. It hit a submerged reef during a squall, and is taking on water. Harling informs his ship's officers, who steer the Mongolian towards the endangered yacht. Harling relays that the yacht's lifeboats have been lowered, with all but the wireless operator (Sommers) embarking. (For most of this scene, Harling is the only character speaking, as he continually updates the yacht's condition and location). Frances also stayed behind on the yacht to keep the dynamos powering the wireless dry and running. The Mongolian arrives in time to rescue the lifeboat passengers, and Sommers and Frances from off the foundering vessel. (Curtain) Act IV (Same as Act II Scene 1.) Secret Service agent Bradley has discovered that Marsh really invented the gun Durant pays royalties on. Marsh confesses that Pinckney put him up to it, and that he feels partly responsible for the deaths of the sailors. He kills himself with a gunshot. Bradley arrests Pinckney, and Lt. Sommers is cleared, allowing him to marry Frances. (Curtain)

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