Glens Falls in 1918: From Broadway direct to South Street

Maury Thompson
Aug 31, 2018 · 2 min read

It was a long wait for the play “Turn to the Right” to finish its 25-month run on Broadway and move on to South Street in Glens Falls, N.Y., but the wait was worth it, according to a review The Post-Star published Sept. 20, 1918, the morning after the show was performed at Empire Theatre.

“Smith and Goldman’s ‘Turn to the Right,’ which played the Empire last night, was from whatever angle viewed directly the most praiseworthy production of the local season,” the reviewer gushed.

“The underlying appeal of ‘Turn to the Right’ is in the fact that its theme is mother love,” the reviewer continued. “The average playgoer hardly ever realizes this fact because the theme is so lavishly painted over with a blend of effervescent comedy and ingenious situations. Thrills and laughs tumble riotously through the piece from prologue to the final curtain.”

The play written by Winchell Smith and John E. Hazzard, and produced by Smith, had just closed a run of 435 performances, starting on Aug. 18, 1916, at the Gaiety Theater on Broadway, according to ibdb.com.

Many members of the original Broadway cast appeared in the Empire Theatre production, including Ruth Chester, the “high-light” of the show, in the role of Mother Bascom.

“Miss Chester was taken from indifferent success in stock plays to create this part and thereby created fame for herself. Glens Falls is fortunate that it could have seen her in this role,” The Post-Star reviewer wrote.

Other original cast members that appeared at Glens Falls are as follows:

Mike Donlin as Muggs, Dewitt Newing as Dynamite Sammy, Edgar Nelson as the grocery boy, Al Sincoff as the pawn shop operator, and Cecil and Betty Dwight in roles opposite the reformed crooks.

T.W. Gibson and Betty Blye, not in the original cast, also appeared in Glens Falls.

The Post-Star review referenced in this post can be found at the New York State Historic Newspapers website, a project of public libraries.

Maury Thompson is a freelance historian of politics, labor organizing and media in New York’s North Country. He lives in Glens Falls, N.Y.