Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-05
AT THE THEATERS.
Poor RelatiOn-A ParlOr Match and
Other Plays and Players.

Other Plays and PIayern.
An exquisite play, exquisitely done, is "a
Poor Relation" with Mr.. SolSmith Russell and
many other good actors in the cast. You have
been cabined in some dark smoky town where
the air is tumultuous with the whirl of wheels
and the roar Of steam, where the world has
seemed har dfeatured and sordid. and you have
passed out beyond the smoke and the roar and
the domain Of man into Gods country the
country where the birds sing, and the smallest
TUT OF grass sends up an odor to the blue sky,
and the grasshoppers chirp cheerily-and you
draw in long breath and say to yourself
Life is worth living after ALL"
Well, you go to see score Of second-rate
plays and manufactured actors, and as the sea-
son grows old you feel the burden Of the thea
ter, ana then there comes along Sol Smith
Russell as "a Poor Relation" and you are
forced to say to yourself: 'There is some good
in the theater STILL"
The ta3t is that IA Poor Relation" is the
best comedy of the year; one of the best new
plays OF the American school that Is coming to
the front SO fast. 1t is the work Of Edward E.
Kidder, who has, we believe, never risen above
farce-comedy before. Mr.. Kidder wrote
"BeWitched," light but laughable
to us last year. The story of "a Poor Rela-
ton" is not elaborate. 1t is almost always pos
slDie and very often true to nature. 1t tells OF
an inventor who carries the plan OF his ma
chime, which IS 70 make him rich and revolu-
tlonlze the world, to rich manufacturer He
falnts from hunger while waiting for his pa
tron, ana scamp of a partner of the latter's
steals the plans. The thief, to shift suspi-
clon from himself, and at the insugat1on
OF the girls stepmother accuses the manu-.
facturerers daughter of the theft. The girl
has been very kind to the inventor and the lat
ter clears ner BY avowing that he had had no
ha arrroa srr1w1 Fnr- @.
Cling with the direst poverty, caring for two
children, the play takes the inventor on until
the clouds roll away, and he reaps the fruit OF
the courts of love.
Mr. Sol Smith Russell is the poor relation, a
seedy genius, Noah Yale. We find him a very
poor ana very proud mani so poor that he
cannoG Duy meal. so proud that he has to De
tricked into eating breakfast. A tender, COM
passionate soul is Noah Yale; he cares for the
children lntrusted TO his charge with almost
WomanlY gentleness, and is ready to
trust anyone and everyone. The pathos of
Mr.. RusselPs acting when he presented the
picture OF starving man trying to keep his
dignity and his feet-though both were un-
steady-Was OF the gentlest rarest quality.
With it the quiet, easy methods of his comedy
harmonlzed WELL A touch Of finer power still
was at his command when the startling yet en-
forced finale of the first demanded it. He
captured his audience then. and the ap-
plause was so great and so many times
renewed that he was forced to express
his gratitude in modest, manly way for the
generous greeting. In the homelier scenes OF
the second act, which shows the luckless in
ventor battling with poverty in dismal garret,
Mr.. Russelps gentle humor was even more
enectlve. 1t was really beautiful sight to see
that shaooy, lantern-jaweo, lean hero sewing
buttons on boys pantaloons-while the boy
hid his extremlties in barrel-or singing the
children ridiculous dItties about wise
owls and foolish mice, or doing the honors
of the unfurnished:garret for some visitors
0enPf1t anCnnfnTln
salon. We can hardly think of higher praise
to give Mr.. Russell than to say that his best
work is as good as, and very much like, Mr..
Jefferson's. The naturalness of his voice,
movements and expression of face are his
greatest artistic achievements. 1t is pity that
now and then the sharp angularity, and, II he
will pardon us, the spareness OF his lower limbs,
tempt him into burlesque. A small error or
two, however, are not much to grumble about.
This is Mr.. Russell as the caterpillar and
chrysalis. In the last act we have glimpse of
him as the butterfly. 1t is just as nature al
ways manages 1t; the somber gray caterpillar
develops into very bright-hued butterfly. The
development is very natural All the good
qualities, the good nature, the patient kindness,
the cheerlness OF the starving wretch, all come
out the more brilliantly in the sunshine of
success, success of all kinds. Nothing could be
better than the bit of courtShip with which the
play closes.
receives gfeat assistance from Miss Grace
Filkins, who has caught the spirit of natural
ness, and is so arch and smiling and fearful,
April fashion as girls, real good unsophisticated
girls always are, that the thread of love which
is laid by the author of the play in the back
ground glitters well in sight all the time,
like lane of sunlight on a shadowed
sea. Miss Merri Osborn, despite her
adherence to traditional stage forms,
laid down by the imperial Lotta, was
clever as a rough diamond of New York tene-
ment mine. Miss Lillian Owen was acceptable
too, and the two tots Master Richards and
Little Hazel Chapel, did bravely. Archibald
Cowper's idea of what a villain should be is
strictly orthodox. He shows his teeth and
snips of his words with the ferocity of lawn
mower.
The play owed considerable of its wonderful
charm to the beautiful scenery in which it was
set The landscape in the last act is picture
worth seeing. The house was well filed and
very enthusiastic.