The Theatre: Tom Shows

In Waukegan, Ill. last week, a stage show started on its rounds billed as Uncle Tom's Cabin in Swing. The swing was all there, in a noisy, nickel-in-the-slot sort of way; but Uncle Tom's Cabin was not. In his 87 years in the theatre, Uncle Tom has taken some awful beatings—from stagefolk as well as from Simon Legree—but never a worse one than at Waukegan, where there was no auction block, no whipping post, no bloodhounds, no Eliza crossing the ice. Topsy and Little Eva remained—but precious little Eva.

Yet nobody seemed to care....