The Boomerang

Boomerang, The (1915), a comedy by Winchell Smith and Victor Mapes. [ Belasco Theatre, 522 perf.] When Budd Woodbridge (Wallace Eddinger) comes to Dr. Gerald Sumner (Arthur Byron) for treatment of a baffling ailment, the doctor concludes he is suffering from an acute case of jealousy, brought on by the many flirtations of his sweetheart Grace Tyler (Ruth Shepley). He suggests the cure is for Budd to make Grace jealous. To effect the cure Dr. Sumner assigns his new nurse, Virginia Xelva (Martha Hedman), to flirt publicly with the patient. Suddenly Dr. Sumner suffers the same symptoms. He realizes that he too is jealous because he is in love with Virginia. A sunny, youthful, spirited play, its success was enhanced by the excellent performances of Byron and Hedman, who subtly tilted their playing to the verge of caricature, and by producer David Belasco's excellent production. Victor MAPES (1870–1943) was born in New York, studied at Columbia, and worked in Paris before becoming a stage manager for Daniel Frohman in 1897. At the same time he assumed the post of drama critic for the World, writing under the name Sidney Sharp. Mapes resigned his post as critic when his first American play, The Flower of Yeddo, was produced in 1899. More than a dozen of his plays reached Broadway, including Don Caesar's Return (1901) and Captain Barrington (1903), but he is recalled primarily for The Boomerang and two other collaborations: The New Henrietta (1913) and The Hottentot (1920). During his years as an active playwright he continued to manage theatres in New York and elsewhere.