“The Nest Egg”

"The Nest Egg" is by Anne Caldwell. Hetty Grandy, the heroine (played by Zelda Sears), is a spinster who has hidden her loneliness for many years. She writes upon an egg with an appeal for someone to seek her out. Three years later, where the play begins, something comes of her plea. A man seeks her out as a witness in a suit against the dealer who sold him the three-year-old egg. Hetty believes he has come to marry her. The second act is devoted to preparations for the event. The third section explains developments at Albany, where Hetty had gone, leaving her neighbors to believe that she is bound for the altar. And through the enactment of some pretty incidents Hetty is married. There is a "villain" but he is nothing more than "a mighty mean critter." Miss Sears is supported by a cast of nine players: Isabel Randolph, as the city girl, an authoress seeking local color; Julian Barton, the Baptist deacon, tight skinned and hypocritical; Evelyn Varden, the village belle doomed to drudgery; Beatrice Allen, the "poor house brat", adopted by Hetty; H. Bratton Kennedy, the full-blooded country youth in love with the up-to-date girl who has been to Vassar (Blanche Hall); Jack Hamlin, the city chap who loves the deacon's daughter; Walter Young, the grasping and soulless rich man of the town; and Chas. Lane plays Wiley Bassett, who gets Hetty's egg out of cold storage.

“The highest brows among the local critics declared the play too talky and found fault with its lack of dramatic construction; but the audience which was in attendance the other evening knew little and cared less about whatever dramatic faults the structure might have, and found only the delight which comes from basking in showers of wit and enjoying the homely scenes which were unfolded in the three acts of Miss Caldwell's masterpiece of brilliant humor.”

"Every normal normal person with a heart for laughter should witness" this comedy. "The Nest Egg" will not appeal to the seeker after sensation, either psychic or real; it is for those who delight in laughter. The theme is strikingly original, the plot simple and engaging. While there is not much of a plot, Caldwell has written some of the wittiest lines every. Miss Sears realizes the character to perfection, acting with rare unction and characterization. One compelling line brings a single tear to everyone within call. "The Nest Egg" is worthy to endure and crystallize in public favor.

Variety 21:9 (02/04/1911)