The Old Soak

Old Soak, The (1922), a comedy by Don Marquis. [ Plymouth Theatre, 325 perf.] Clem Halsey (Harry Beresford) is the village drunk and the bane of his wife, Matilda (Minnie Dupree). She scolds him for having no willpower, but he responds, “What do you think kept me drinkin' if twasn't my will power?” When the stocks that his wife has hidden disappear, she accuses Clem of stealing them and orders him out of the house. Clem learns that his playboy son, Clem Jr. (George Le Guere), actually is the thief, and that he sold the stock at a discount to the Hawleys' cousin, Webster Parsons. Clem sees a way to right matters. The snobbish, prissy Parsons is the town's banker and a teetotaler; but he is also the money behind the local bootleggers. So Clem quietly blackmails Parsons into paying him the full price for the stocks. Alexander Woollcott welcomed the Arthur Hopkins–produced comedy as “a likable and amusing and mighty cheerful piece.” Don[ald Robert Perry] MARQUIS (1879–1937) was an Illinois native best known as a humorous columnist. Both this play and his most famous work, archy and mehitabel, grew out of figures that originally appeared in his newspaper columns.