McConnell and Simpson

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22 Mins.; Three (Interior). “At Home.” McConnell and Simpson, assisted by Laurence Simpson, have a new act, “At Home,” by H.H. Winslow. The action is supposed to occur in the McConnell and Simpson home at Kansas City. Living with them is Grant’s brother’s Laurence. The men return from a ball game, arguing, and the wife at home has a meal waiting. There’s talk of spending the evening out when the suggestion goes that a rehearsal of the new McConnell-Simpson act take place. In a jiffy the trio enacts a farcical little skit with Miss McConnell playing the role of an insane asylum superintendent, Grant Simpson, a lawyer, who makes believe he’s a new patient to study real conditions at the institution, and Laurence Simpson, a Chicago drummer, who plays doctor, attendant and patients with the aid of wigs that the “lawyer” may be fooled on the supposed “filled up” business the place is doing. After the act Laurence refuses to rehearse it a second time and rushes out, leaving his brother and wife quarreling over him. The phone rings. Grant is informed that his brother has been killed by an auto. Here Grant breaks into tears and a transformation comes over his wife when she realizes the boy she has been berating is dead. It’s a quick change and very well done. The new act gives Miss McConnell opportunity to use her old laugh mixed in with some hysterical tears, while there’s a mixture of comedy and pathos. The act was well received Monday night.

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