Plot and Cast of Annual Hasty Pudding Club Play

The annual Hasty Pudding Club play "The Fate-Fakirs," written by C. L. Hay '08 and R. L. Sweet '08, will be presented at the club theatre in Cambridge on May 4 and May 5, and in Jordan Hall, Boston, on May 6 and May 7.

The play is a musical comedy in two acts and a prologue, and the scene is laid in the Plymouth Colony in Pilgrim times. The plot is based on the adventures of two young Americans, John Beacon Winton, of Boston, and James McGraw, of "Anywhere." In the prologue Winton boasts of his "Mayflower" descent. By means of a wishing stone, the two men are transported back to 1620 at Plymouth, and meet their own ancestors, face to face. Winston finds that his forefather, of whom he has been boasting, is a common porter and an "undesirable citizen." He is shocked, and attempts to make out his own destiny by disguising his ancestor and introducing him as the governor of a neighboring settlement; and then tries to arrange a match between his ancestor and Miss Priscilla Melons. Pocahontas is brought in--modern history having shown that she did not actually die in 1617--and she appears at Plymouth with her Culture Club, a band of Indians whom she has educated in England.

In the second act an entertainment is held in honor of the two governors. McGraw complicates the working-out of Winton's scheme by falling in love with Priscilla. All plans fail, however, for the elder Winton makes a very poor apology for a governor and disgusts Priscilla, who accepts John Alldone. Through a locket which he recognizes as having belonged to his mother, McGraw discovers that Priscilla is his own great grandmother.

The true identity of the pseudo-governor is discovered, and he goes back to his old occupation of porter; and finds his affinity in a German maid of Priscilla's. The Americans are seized, as implicated in the hoax, and they try to return to 1908, but lose the charm. Matters are looking very dark for them, when the scene suddenly changes and they wake up to find themselves back in Boston in 1908.

A provisional cast of characters has been arranged as follows: John Beacon Winton,  W. G. Wendell '09 James McGraw,  A. R. Jones '09 John Winton, a porter,  C. D. Moss '09 Governor Bradford, of Plymouth,  W. D. Robbins '08 John Alldone,  LeR. J. Snyder '08 Miles Standoffish,  B. Parker '08 Priseilla Melons,  G. G. Bacon '08 Gretehen Spootspfeiffer.  E. F. Hanfstaengl '09 Poeahontas,  C. L. Hay '08 Chorus of Indians and Pilgrims.