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Dialogue.
"Our Wife."
Something strangely familiar about this sketch. It may have been at one time the vehicle of a stock leading man in vaudeville. If memory serves right it was played about a year ago at the 23rd Street. At present it seems to be nothing more than a small time, sketch, built along small time lines. At the opening there are exactly three minutes of pantomime in semi-darkness and then the actions begins with the entrance of the heavy. Prior to his advent a woman and a man have entered the room, one following the other. When he arrives the woman and he shoot dialog that shows she is married and that he is having an affair with her. His husband is extremely jealous and incidentally quite homely. Then the "other man," who has been in hiding makes it known he is present and the woman dashes into another room. The two men bargain for the woman, the heavy stating that he will pay $20,000 if the "other man" will go away quietly and give his wife a divorce. This is agreed upon, but there is a further stipulation, that the heavy will have to see the "other man" reinstated in the Secret Service. When it is all settled it is discovered the woman is not the wife at all. This is supposed to be the "twist" and to bring the laugh. It did to at the Fifth Avenue but the laugh was not the kind expected.
Source:
Variety, 53:8 (01/24/1919)