The evening world., 1894-09-17
NEW BLOOD"

III was hard to realize that the play
wright who showed such exquisite pa
thos and such dainty humor in ala.
bama" could produce such a tiresOme.
meaningless and artificial affair as
New Blood" the play OF American
life talas! for American lIfe) that
opened the season at Palmer's Theatre
Saturday night. Yet Augustus Thomas
made no bones about admitting his au-
thorship OF the play. and he responded
to the call that the cruelty of the audi
ence insisted upon.
In New Blood" Mr. Thomas has
given us play that Is absolutely with
out form and void He has been an I'M
happy In the little love episodes as in
the labored and technical references to
the labor question. and his play Is stud
ded with impossible people. While 1t is
not necessary for II play to prove any
thing In Observation-Disclosures going being
more of pastime than n lesson-we
certainly expected. after being dragged
through an act that dealt with monopo-
lies and trusts, and percentages and
master mechanics. to hear something
that might settle some disputed point
But Mr.. Thomas settled nothing. He
even unsettled his audience. for he made
them distinctly uncomfortable They
tried hard to follow him through his lit
tie financial technicalities but their eff
fort was useless one. The game was
not worth the candle.
The father was "A monopolist, and the
son was Socialist. The father was
haggard, emaciated and at deaths door
for three acts. while the son enjoyed
rude health and ate a splendid breakfast
on the stage. Perhaps the play was
meant to show that monopdIists cannot
and be merry. Who knows? don't,
and am sure that the audience didn't.
The father had wife who loved a
ministe r, who proposed to his daughter.
who loved somebody else. who didn't
know that she loved him-as per usual
The minister was very terrible person.
but there was not enough subtlety
about him to render him interesting
He was distinctly tame. though naughty.
As for the wife. she was so utterly
bad that the audience couldn't get up
any interest In her. There was not
vestige OF humanity about her constitu-
tion. though l rather fancy that Mr.
Thomas planned a dashing. reckless siren
of the class known as "ladies with a
past" Her present, however. was so
ghastly that we didn't care a hang about
her past, and-thank goodness that we
shall not be asked to peer into her fu-
ture. The role OF Barstow Adams. OF
Chicago who loved the pure young girl.
was an utterly impossible affair Such
Inu h,,,,, tI,,,,
lover would have disgusted any pure
young girl. and any impure one. too.
And when you are coolly asked to sym
pathize with the silly complicatlo In
which this stupid Lothario got himself
Involved, you had an internal rebellion
that wore you out Van Buren, Gran
dali the Socia.istic son, who had such
a good appetite. was perhaps the most
entertaining person in the play. because
he was 50 kind to his dying pepper.
The pepper himself took such a long
time dying that you felt downright vexed
with him for trifiing with you. To add
to 1t all. his corpse responded to a cur
tain call, which was unseemiy.
New Bloo1' was well acted In most
OF Its parts. Wilton Lackaye was "con-
scientious," and he is better when he
isn't. L. N. Holland tried hard TO make
the pepper interesting. and Miss Kath-
crime Grey was very effective. c. w.
Couldock preached sermon with all
due impressiveness. We admired Mr..
Couldock. even II we wearied OF his ser
mon. Maurice barrymore delivered his
lines with the sing-song intonation that
passes. with him, for man-of-th the world
ism. and Miss Elita Proctor Otis was ad-
mirable. This actress possesses a mag.
netism, an infectious cheeriness, and a
refinement that are rare nowadays
She is cut out for a star, and she was
not swamped in the dreariness of New
Blood" ALAN DALE