A heart-rending melodrama, this 3-act adaptation of Alice Hegan Rice's "Mrs. Wiggs" stories is not a children's play. Mrs. Wiggs is so poor she has to feed her children cabbage soup three times a day, but she combats poverty and approaching disaster with incredible optimism. Her home is so humble it can hardly be called a house, but snarling Aristotle Flint plans to foreclose and kick her out. There's a hero and a heroine, and a collection of intriguing characters. And it all adds up to entertainment that pulls at the heart strings as well as the funny bone.

This riotously funny old-fashioned melodrama is adapted from one of America's classics. "Sometimes I think I'm too good to be true," says Mrs. Wiggs as she goes about spreading sunshine to the appreciation of her neighbors and the disgust of snarling villains like Aristotle Flint, the meanest man in town, and Serafina Crumm, his partner in treachery. A lonely but cheerful widow, Mrs. Wiggs prides herself on giving her daughters "geographical" names—Asia, Australia, Europena. Flint, for motives too nasty to reveal here, plans to throw her out into the snow for non-payment of rent. Pride prevents Mrs. Wiggs from accepting any form of assistance. Oh, what will become of her? Can she save the unsuspecting heiress, Miss Lucy, from Flint's evil? Will she discover Serafina's wicked scheme for the Cabbage Patch before it's too late? Will she save Young Richard from the lure of the bottle? Will love bloom in the patch, or only cabbages?

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch as a novel has delighted readers for years. The story has been turned into four movies, including one which starred W. C. Fields and Zazu Pitts. Early in this century six road companies toured a stage version for years.

Three acts; Set, Mrs. Wiggs' humble cottage; Time, years and years ago.

See also: Melodramas