The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-01-29
SCENE FROM THE NEW SOUTH.

SSENE rhOM THE NEW SOUTH"
diences The play is chock full of impossi-
Ole situations anticlimaXcs, ridiculous dia-
Acct limitations, characters that have never
peep seen In the south and false coloring.
and yet while the play has not been com
mended to any great extent rs a literary
production it has been generally accepted
Wy the critics as being true to nature
! There Is only one character in the play
which is a type, and that is Sampson, bad
negro politician. 1t is II little ovcrdrcssed
In the first net, but outside of that slight
defect it is perfect. The part as played by
James ~ Herne dominates all the others
and is really n wonderfully fine creation.
The story Of 1.-THE New South" is not
novel except that it assumes to make the
convict lease law as it exists in Georgia the
pretext for II series of complications result
tng from condition which, I'm the form it
is given on the stage, does not exist. On
election day, while Jefferson ID. Gwynne is
felictating himself upon tho fact that the
ballots have decided that he shall 90 to
congress, 1t lssuddenly suspected that some
Onlted States troops, under command of
Captain Hurry Ford. which have been i'm the
neighhcrhood for some time. have been sent
there forthe purpose of upsettng the count.
AS this occurred suhsequentsto the delivery
OF Henry Grady's great New England din
ner speech, it will ut once he seen that the
supposition is idiotic
~ negro politician (Sampson) offers to
permit the votes to he counted for Gwynne
provided that gentleman will pay 81 900 and
have Sampson appointed postmaster As
the negroes have stolen the ballot boxes
there is something i'll the implied threat.
Gwynne, like I'LL politicians on the stage.
spurns the offer He and Sampson quar-
rel, and the Inter Is horsewhipped in tho
melee. Then Captain Ford is accused by
Gwynne OF being in league with the negroes
despite the fnct that his presence has al
ready been explained to everybody's salts
faction. OF course they fight. Gwynne
grabs Ford's sword The latter defends
himself with the scabbard. stuns Gwynne
and PUSHES into the house for help. Then
Sampson conveniently appears and rams
Ford's sword into Gwynne's body.
In the second act Ford il a convict, hav-
ing been convicted of mnnslaughter He
1s leased to n Jealous rival for the hand of
Georgia Gwynne and is naturally horribly
Ill treated. That heroic young lady leases
the convict herself. and after the usual soul
narrowing efforts to prove his innocence it
Is at last done, and Sampson confcsSes. This
Is the thin story upon which an ignorantly
misdrawn picture of the new south is hung.
The play served to introduce to eastern
theater goers Joseph r. Grismer and his
pretty little wife. Phoebe Davis who are
great favorites on the Pacific coast, have
been told. They are both very ordinary,
the gentleman perhaps being less SO than
the lady. Mr. Grismer besides is physically
unsuited for enacting heroic roles, as he is
entirely too small However, shall not
be surprised to hear that THE New South"
has turned out big money winner, al
though the cast. like the stars, was exceed
ingly mediocre.
Eva Mountford appeared with some sue
cess in II play called AT tho Carnival"
which was produced at the Peoples theater
Monday night The play is of the ordinary
daughter suffering for her-mother's sin"
style, but it will probably meet with favor
on the road, for it is very exciting The
play is by Fred S. Isham and Edward
Weitzel, of the Detroit Free Press. The
first act shows the carnival at Rome. The
four others are laid in Paris. Miss Mount
ford's part is that Of a street singer who
develops into prima donna
l recently had the pleasure of seeing
Shakespeare's idyllic comedy presented by
three good companies within the same
week. There was Ada Rehan at DAYS.
Minna Gale Haynes at the Star and Marie
Wainwright ut the Amphion thcatcr in
Brooklyn. Their Orlandos were respec-
lively Arthur Bourchier Eben Plympton
and William Ingersoll. Under the cir
cumstances IA comparison of the Rosalntls,
the Orlandos and the companies should
be interesting. TO begin Mt the end, it
may be stated that Days company eclipses
the others to such an extent that it would
be absurd to compare them.
cart IT,
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