a scene from Time is Money, Criterion Theatre, London, 3 August 1905, with, left to right, Dorothy Hammond as Mrs Murray, Mona Harrison as Susan, and Charles Hawtrey as Charles Grahame
(photo: unknown for The Play Pictorial, London, 1905)
Time is Money, a comedietta by Mrs Hugh Bell and Arthur Cecil, was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 5 September 1890,
‘By way of answer to the complaint that the curtain-raiser is neglected, the Criterion Theatre has given us a lever de rideau in which no less an actor than Mr. Charles Hawtrey takes a part. Time is Money, the work in question, shows a little too grimly how quickly the clock moves in the theatre. It does not seem a very long time since it was a lively, fresh comedietta, but the other night one felt a little grieved that the actor should be using his gifts, and using them very ably, upon such mechanical humours and trifling verbal quips. However, a good deal of it is amusing. The favourite was in excellent form, and well supported by Miss Mona Harrison and Miss Dora Hammond.’
(The Sketch, London, 16 August 1905, p.156)
Charles Hawtrey revived Time is Money at the reopening of the London Hippodrome, 2 August 1909
‘A very comical episode is the basis of the little play ”Time is Money,” in which Mr. Charles Hawtrey has been appearing at the London Hippodrome. It is all about a gentleman who comes to propose to a lady. He takes a cab to the lady’s house, and in the natural excitement of the moment rushes indoors without paying the cabman. Not unnaturally, the cabman sends a message after him to remind him of the little oversight. Mr. Hawtrey plunges his hand apologetically into his pocket in order to give the maid the fare, and finds to his disgust that he has come out without money. He, therefore, instructs the maid to tell the cabby to wait and take him back. Cabby, however, has another engagement and cannot wait, and meanwhile the fare, that was eighteenpence just now, has already gone up to half-a-crown, and is still growing. Mr. Hawtrey’s representation of his embarrassment is quite delightful (says ”M.A.P.” [i.e. Mostly About People, a contemporary London periodical]), because when you have come to propose to a lady you can hardly begin by asking the loan of half-a-crown. The spectacle of Mr. Hawtrey singing a sentimental song at the piano to the lady’s accompaniment, and trying all the time not to hear the cabman’s appeal through the window for his long-delayed fare, is one of the funniest scenes imaginable.’
(Kalgoorlie Miner, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Saturday, 25 September 1909, p. 1e)
Footlight Notes 