The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-06
Katie Putnam's New Play. IAN I'm
claimed Express Package Pro-
duosd for the First Time.
A Large and Enthusiastic Aud
ience at the Benefit for tho
3. r. q. b. 1876.
A Play That Promises to he = Euccsas
vary Clevsrly Performed W the
Putnam Company.

F&8AAO hV3WAv - , ~ AWAEA
at Ming's last evening was m artistic and
financial success. When Katie Putnsm.
Manager Emery and Mansger Remington,
OF MinR's opera house, rendered courtesiss
and sven announced the added attraction
of the first performance Of a new play, the
Elks went 10 work with q will. The result
was that Miss Putnam, Nj. Emery and tho
other players appeared before a very large
audience. Not . half dozsn seats were loft
in the parquet. II WAS an audience Of the
best people in Helena, and they showed
their enthusiasm by applause, curtain calls
and flowers.
An Unclaimed Express Package claimed
favor last evening. For q first production
il bore promise Of success. Before this
can result the play must undergo : goodly
amount of pruning, strengthening Of dia-
loguo and 4 clearing away Of mystery run.
ming through the story Of tho plot. The
strong features Of tho play form : sufficient
ground for predicting that it will become
popular with the public after it is treated
by tho right hands.
The story il as follows: Dosn Chirk and
JEFF Chirk are two musical vagabonds.
Norman Derrett, q villain but not a villain
Of the worst description, attends q sale Of
unclaimed express packages in the first act
and bids in a package containing q locket
with initials, = fsw articles Of child's
clothing and Z letter announcing that the
father will recognize Identification Of his
lost daughter by these contents. Der
rett p%srsuades tho vagabond girl to
believe thai she il the daughter Of
Jethro Hardwick, the megnate of y small
village and the man to whom the letter 10
addressed. The imposition is successfully
carried out and the second act is in the
kitchen of Hardwick's house. Here = com-
ody soens between Doss and young Ernock,
superintendent Of Z blast furnace, takes
place. Tbs villain asks Doss TO DO his wife;
she refuses, and whom told how she has
been the instrument of fraud leaves The
house and, with her poor old d~isreputablo
companion, returns to her former life.
The third act ia hardly more than a long
drawn out scene of a row between furnace
employees and foreign laborers, ending in
the death Of Ernock. The fifth act would
b very pretty and pathetic # cut down.
dering, in the dead of winter, and dropping
down on the doorstep are all but dead with
cold when found by U searching party di-
rected by Hardwiok. jeff dies. but the girl
is restored to consciousness and falls in
tho arms Of her protector, when the falling
curtain ends the performance.
He is a fortunate playwright nowadays
whosoan mako a drama original in all its
parts. To make it appeal to human inter
est he must introduce good mon and bad
men, manufacture rights n wrongs and
make right win at last. The writer who
.withoai destroying common lines Of inter
est ia the most successful. The author of
An Unclaimed Express Package has a plot
with the necessary characters. but the story
is not made altogether clear. For instance,
the origin Of Doss is only known in the last
her vagabond companion. The real mystery
of tho Disappearance of Hardwick's
daughter il not cleared away at all. 10
the average theater goer. the climax Of
Dross appearing as the real child of the old
millionaire will occur as q much better
ending even il it carries a certain II told
you 500 conclusion. IT is also quite natural
to suppose hat sho and her lover should
meet again and he joined in happineso
instead of dropping the young man in the
third act. These seem to be faults in the
construction which ia otherwi.e good;
balances the heavier parts. In the second
act there is an amusing scene where Doss
takes her first lessons in cooking with the
unexDerisnced but anxious young superin-
tendent 1t il q clever comedy feature, out
of the usual run. but is carried 10 long that
Il IL OIEko UA NAO aAAlUlAVs Il v DAOAAA Ne OAt
and relieved with Incidents.
Sharp pruning is likewise necessary in
tie furnace scene. The climax of the act
seems to start at the rise Of the curtain
and ID carried to 4 strain before it il
reached. III churchyard scene is vel
chosen to end the play. and is we'll con.
struoted, with two exoeptions-the suffer-
ings and final exhaustion of the two vaRa-
aienos, ' and. as. as lsae On noted 3D. e.,
STORY ends unsatisfactory. Too great
length is q common fault with plays and il
applied to An Unclaimed Express Package,
because the play contains much that is good
The plot il interesting and needs but a few
tritlnR changes to make ii complete. The
characters are well suited to the story, and
the construction, if relieved of a too muol
sameness in the several acts, would be quite
beyond criticism. But first of all q free ust
of the pruning knife.
The performance was exceedingly salts
factory. 1t went with Ecarcely a hitch
something unusual for the first production.
The actors were we'll selected for theil
parts, and by their work showed long anc
successful endeavor in preparation. Katie
Putnam as Doss Chirk found a character
suited to her style, and it waa interpreted
with all the chic, %vivacity and Rppreclative
humor that have united to make her famou'
in her line of genius. In the change from
the street %vagabond to the millionairs'e
daughter she preserved the characteristic
of the former and added just q pleasing
touch OF pathos in her delight on coming
into the new position. In the more patheti.
scenes she was strikinaly good. One OF thu
pleasant incidents in the third act was he
song, for which he was encored aud pre-
scented with a basket of flowers. Mr.
Emery's character OF the old broken dowr
vagabond did not offer very many oppor,
tunities for his talents. It is somewhat o.
Il negative character and docs not receiv,
usual, his acting was finished ana showed
appreciation of the requirements. One Of
the best bits of work during this evening
was his rise from q drunkard's couch in thu
hecond not to strike down tho villain wht