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In some ways, "The Prize" seems to have been suggested by "The Concert."
"The Prize" is a Joseph Huberman's sketch which Cossman and Co. (woman) are presenting for the first time. Cossman plays the music master who has written a symphony intended for a prize contest, but looking upon the array of talent entered, has tossed it in the garbage. His faithful wife fishes it out and sent the script to the prize department without her husband's knowledge. The German composer returns to his apartments where a bouquet of roses awaits him from one of his woman pupils. Her picture also adorns his piano. The faithful wife notices a change in her husband who chides her without provocation and when working, plays with his eyes riveted on the pupil's picture. He replaces his wife's lilies of the valley with his pupil's roses. The wife is unable to withhold her feelings and the musician leaves in a huff. She is prepared to leave him forever, when he returns suddenly with a paper containing the news of his symphony winning the famous and coveted prize. Flushed with success, he learns he owes it all to her and begs her to stay.
The excellent interpretations of the German Characters make the piece worthwhile. Cossman's work is well done: the dialect, attention to his work and the apparent indifference shown his wife is all done splendidly. His voice is musical and not a word is lost. The wife is capitally played; the work of the unprogrammed actress should be praised. The act could be a trifle shorter but the theme and the acting should give it attention on the small time.
Source:
Variety 24:4 (09/30/1911)