A Gentleman from Mississippi

Gentleman from Mississippi, A (1908), a play by Harrison Rhodes and Thomas A. Wise. [Bijou Theatre, 407 perf.] William H. Langdon (Wise), the new senator from Mississippi, is a quiet, honest gentleman and proud of his state. When the brash young reporter “Bud” Haines (Douglas Fairbanks) announces he is from New York, Langdon replies he knows it as “the Vicksburg of the North.” The men strike up a friendship, and Haines is appointed Langdon's private secretary. Some corrupt senators hope to push through a bill establishing a naval base in Mississippi and have secretly been buying up land. They have even involved the senator's daughter, Hope (Lola May). But Langdon and Haines thwart the plan, and Haines wins Hope. Described by one critic as “full of bright lines, tender sentiment, and genuine local color,” this straightforward, wholesome if simplistic play, produced by William A. Brady and Joseph R. Grismer, was one of the major hits of its day.