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"Blackmail" is a melodrama in its mellowest form. It is a 25 minute sketch by Richard Harding Davis. It carries so much of the blood and thunder that even the Bijou would shake with fear. It has a sort of repulsive theme. The sketch starts in the hotel room of a millionaire mine owner. He is visited by a woman, an old friend, seeking help. She reveals that some years ago she had been living with a man for three years as his wife, thinking all the while they had been married. He left her, saying the ceremony was performed by a crook. Later she "re-married" and is a devoted wife and loving mother. Now the thief who performed the mock marriage is hounding her for money, under threat that he will inform her husband of her past. The blackmailer knows of her friendship with the millionaire and demands she call on him for one thousand dollars. The millionaire sends her home after making an appointment with the blackmailer. He has also called the house detective, who is planted in an adjoining room. The villain arrives in disguise. Unknown to him, the millionaire polished a pair of guns and carefully set the stage for a cold-blooded killing. After some time the blackmailer reveals his true purpose and is over heard by the detective. The millionaire takes one gun and fires two shots into the wall quickly pulling the other and shooting the villain dead. The detective rushes in, assuming it is self defense.
The audience never became worked up over the sketch. They seemed to take it as a joke, laughing at the seriousness.
Hampden plays the millionaire quite naturally, but a bit too much like the stereotyped hero. Ned Finely plays the villain well. Bernard B. Mullen, as the detective, looks the part but was noticeably nervous. Mabel Moore played the part of the victim well. "Blackmail"is a cheap melodrama. It is not a good vehicle for Hampden.
Source:
Variety 24:11 (11/18/1911)