The Old-Fashioned Way

In 1897, McGonigle's traveling theater company is perpetually short of funds and always dodging creditors. They travel from town to town, scraping by on performances and the occasional applause. The constant pressure sets the tone for every scene that follows.

Betty, loyal to her father and to the troupe, discourages Wally Livingston from chasing acting and urges him to go to college instead. She fears the road's instability and wants him to have a safer future. Wally is torn between his love for Betty and his dream of the stage.

A vacancy opens in The Drunkard as another player resigns, and Wally seizes the chance. He wins the part and earns the opportunity to perform on stage, including a couple of songs in a strong tenor voice. The breakthrough pulls him deeper into the touring life.

Wally's wealthy father travels to the town to see the performance and is impressed by his son's talent. He begins to see the potential in acting and takes note of Betty's college counsel. The visit softens some of the family's skepticism about Wally's future.

McGonigle renews his acquaintance with Cleopatra Pepperday, a wealthy widow with an infant, and uses her to stave off the sheriff's pressure. He promises her a one-line cameo in The Drunkard to secure her financial support. The deal underscores the troupe's fragile finances.

Pepperday enthusiastically rehearses her single line, 'Here comes the prince,' but the play never references a prince and she never receives a cue. She keeps hoping for a moment in the spotlight that never materializes. The line becomes a running symbol of the troupe's precarious fate.

After act after act passes with no cue for Pepperday, she grows distraught and seeks solace in the sheriff. Following the performance, McGonigle ends the show with a juggling act, trying to placate an audience that is growing restless. The scene highlights the troupe's dwindling glory.

McGonigle learns the booking agency is canceling the tour due to poor advance reports. The likely end of the road looms, and he begins contemplating how to break the company apart. Betty tries to maintain hope as the walls close in.

With the tour canceled, McGonigle resolves to seek his fortune in New York City. The bride (Betty) and the groom (Wally) along with Wally's father board the train back to the Livingston home, while the troupe's uncertain future hangs in the air.

Betty gets a telegram from her father claiming that things are going well in the big city. The message hides the truth that McGonigle has actually become a street-corner snake-oil salesman instead of making a living through legitimate theater. The indirect message fuels both hope and dread for the future.

The final twist reveals McGonigle's fate: in New York he has abandoned legitimate theater and sells snake oil from a street corner. The grand dream of Broadway glory dissolves into a hustler's hustle on the city streets. This ending casts a shadow over the troupe's earlier ambitions.

The touring company dissolves as the curtain falls on McGonigle's era on the road. Betty and Wally face an uncertain future together, while the Great McGonigle's stubborn hustle becomes a cautionary tale for aspiring performers. The memory of the road lingers with those who survived it.