John Howard Payne leaves home and begins a career in the theater. Despite encouragement from his mother and his sweetheart, Payne begins to lead a life of dissolute habits, and this soon leads to ruin and misery. In deep despair, he thinks of better days, and writes a song that later provides inspiration to several others in their own times of need.
John Howard Payne
Payne's Mother
Payne's Sweetheart
Sister of Payne's Sweetheart
Apple Pie Mary Smith
The Eastener, Robert Winthrop
The Mother's Son
The Worldly Woman
James Smith - Mary's Father
The Fiancee
The Mother
The Mother's Son
The Mother's Son
The Mother's Half-Wit Son
The Sheriff
The Husband
The Wife
The Tempter
The Musician
The Baby
The Accordian Player (as George Berringer)
The Maid
(as W.H. Long)
The Fiddle Player
