“The Rough Diamond”

Comic dialogue.

An overdrawn farcical little skit, with two women and a man working up a story that leaves much to the imagination. Ten years ago little Sylvia and her mother were out west and met the "diamond in the rough" - a young fellow named Jack who owned a ranch, etc. The boy and girl fell in love, with mama expecting the match to become a reality later. Diamond-rough Jack arrives in New York for a visit to receive kisses and hugs. The curtain goes up with the talk of Jack's coming, with little Sylvia - now a full grown social butterfly - pretty fond of a lounge lizard named Arthur. Mama tells Sylvia men like Arthur are male persons dressed up like ladies and that men like Jack, with hearts of gold and the rough-diamond makeup, are the ones to be catered to. Jack arrives. All dressed up like some fellows think wild and wooly plainsmen and cowboys should be. His talk is coarse and his actions coarser. The mother is disgusted and Sylvia more so. Then lo and behold, Jack goes into a side room and comes out slicked up like a Fifth Avenue clubman, using tailormade English and singing topical songs like a regular fellow. Then he tells how he has been polishing up the diamond until he is able to hold his own in any New York drawing room. Nothing to the sketch and for the most part atrociously acted. The man's work saves it from hitting the discard altogether. All right in the pop houses where the imagination works overtime and audience are not so exacting.

Variety, 53:13 (02/21/1919)