St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-31
SAW THE EX-C0NvICT
The Opera House Packed to
Witness Hal Reds New
Play.
ItSsChief Fault the Anticipa-
ton Of All the Sur
, e priseS.
81
Some Of It's Scenes Similar
to Those of Well-KnoWn
Standard Plays.
3 SO
The Plot Of the Production
General News OF Thurs
/ day.

! day.
4! ga
The Grand Opera house was packed
from dome to pit last evening by a
crowd that came to see the first present
alton in this city of the drama con-
structed by Hal Reid, Esq. within the
narrow limits of his prison cell. The play
Units manufacture shows that the author,
though temporarily cut off from the
thOrOughfares of traffic and the libraries
Of the world. was aided in his work by
that marvellous pronOgraphic mechan-
ism, the memory. There are some
striking situations III the play. but none
strikingly original, unless it be the one
where the child pulls the bandage from
the ex-convict'S eyes and re-
veals his sight restored. The first
and second acts are similar in construc-
ton to the "Ticket-of-Leave Man."
The third. in which Merton. the con-
Wet, attempts to rob his own house, is a
reminder of .'Edith's BURGLAR" The
balance of the plot is the story
OF oppressed Innocence pursued
by malicious villainy until the
last act, when virtue makes a
squirt and comes under the wire neck
ahead, so to speak.
The story of the ssEx-COnvict" is this.
First act: Jack Merton, an ex-convict,
has married his employers daughter
clandestinely; he is about to be made a
partner in the business. when enters an
old crook, by name Bill Jones, usual
name, usual character; knew Merton in
prison, suggests money as seal for his
mouth; Merton takes the money from
his employers safe; George Devnl, a
ready-made william, sees the act; in
forms on Merton; Merton is sacked and
goes away to commune with the wide
world.
Second Act (six years after Jack
has fallen in with a hard gang led by
Bill Jones. They plan robbery, make
Jack drunk and take him to the scene
of action; it is his wife's home; dis
coyery; Jack turns his pals out at the
of Jack, ''You are all the world to me;;"
Father-in-law Harcourt drives him out;
no arrests. Responsibility of the par
ties" etc.; curtain.
Third Act-The villain has nice
scheme to marry the daughter and get
the partnership offered Jack; discov-
gerers to future father-ln-law that he is
:rufhed; tabIeau, in which old gentle
IMAM shows himself rather thickheaded:
feXft pa. enter daughter; DeVOe makes
love to her; is repulsed with remark
GO" in large capital letters; father
] tries his hand; whines about his 'shOn-
ored name," then abuses daughter like
pickpocket; drives her out: Opportune
arrival of Mona, billed to arrive just at
this time.
Fourth Act-De Voc has arranged to
''remove" Merton for offensive partisan
ship; Bill jones' plot; of course; Bills
son helps out Jack; also of course; plot
fails, but Jack is blinded by foe.
!. Fifth Act-Jack' in Morna's house,
bandaged eyes; sight restored; child re-
stored; wife restored, money restored !;
sDesVoe in soup. Quick curtain.
: The plot is not unskillfully drawn.
ssnch as it is. The greatest defect is
that the author has anticipated all his
them. The audience knows it
it is doubly difficult to keep up the in
terest. The play is better one than
Kate Claxton's 1.-The World Against
Her." but not so good as ''The Ticket of
Leave Man." Moreover, the author
has not chung to his text, which was to
show that the world turned against an
ex-convict, because he was such. Jack
therein finds good many friends.
more, we shall venture to assert than
his conduct deserves. He marrieS all
innocent girl, never telling her his past
life; that is bad in Jack; then he pur-
l0ins money to hush an infOrmer; that
was not only common, but vulgar in
Jack.
The opening scene almost winds up
with an anti climax when HarcOurt
offers to take Merton to his bosom again
notwithstanding the revelation, but the
hero reco)lects the interests of the plot
in time to insist ON going forth OH the
world inStanter. In the second act,
Merton is unnecessarily tough.
He looks like hopeless tough,
and the gang he calls
the gallery crazy. The interval of six
principally to allow the baby to grow
up and be put to bed in cradle after
reciting prayer. The burglary which
follows is good scene and the act
closed we'll. The attempted murder in
the next is, another vigorous bit of stage
work. The fifth act is extremely tiresome.
The hero, sitting facing the audience,
his eyes bandaged, talking like phono-
graph, is scarcely heroic or pleasant
The company has done very we'll with
the lines. considering the time it had
spent on the piece. Mr.. Reid was fairly
good as Jack Merton, except where he
tried a climax, when he failed. He was
twice called before the curtain. Miss
Herndon is undeniably a buxom
figure, but her reading of her
lines is at times-in fact most of the
time-very au revOir. Mr.. Browns
George DevOe is somewhat stilted, but
it is ain improvement on the ''vlllain still
pursued her" cyloramas of ancient days,
inasmuch as he is quiet and refrains
from saving off the words ''curse ye,"
except in the last act, when it is ex-
Gu sable, there being nothing else
to say. Mr.. Lutton's Micawber make
UP and eccentric behavior as Quinn,
.theattorney, relieved the general gloom
IN one OF two scenes when they were
sadly needed. Mr.. Harrison played all
there was in the part of Bill Jones aud
staged the entire production skillfully.
{ 1t is to be hoped that Mr.. Delano is not
quite SO thick-headed naturally as he
plays the ancient merchant, Mr.. Har-
court. 1t was very painful, but not
more so than Miss Lillian Drew's part
to play sentimental newsboy, char
acter which, by the way, does not ex-
.ist, though it is played often. Mr.. Reid
has patched up melodrama, which
comes out upon the stage, takes off it's
ear. muffs and reveals to all the
world that it is melodrama,
and very melOdramatic one. too.