The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-03-05
ALABAMA" CHARMING
One of the most Delightful Plays
of the Winter.
EVEN SEVERAL POOR ACTORS
Fail to Destroy the Merits OF the
Piece-The OdOr OF Magnolia Bios
SONS Piece OF stage Realism.

RteCo-The OdOE or magnolia BlOB-
SONS . Piece OF stage Realism.
1t was good sized audience that saw
Alabama" at the Grand last night. and
further it was highly satisfied one that
sifted itself out through the doors from
the foyer after the last act
Some misguided person once said that
s.Alabama" was a war drama, and has
been spoken of as such so many times
that people who missed seeing it last
night will be surprised to learn that
there is not shot or uniform in the
entire piece.
1t is simply a story of souther life after
the war, and long time after, too, and
is told with an instinct of what the reader
sees must be realism and a beauty of
portrayal as we'll, that verges close to
poetry.
There is none of the sometimes tire
some article called 'dash" about the
piece,-it is too true to slow and easy
southern life for that-and the incidents
are SO commonplace at times that only a
poetic mind could have given them the
words that hold an audience as Gala
bama" does.
If there are any overdone or under
done parts in it the author is not to blame.
There are no impossible characters, and
it is the fault only of but very few of
the actors in the company last night that
any of them were even improbable.
There are a great many people yet
! who like the sort of acting that Frank
c. Bangs does as Colonel Preston, but
there is a strained effort in it that seems
hardly in place in the piece after one
has watched for time the easy, natural
work of George Miller as Colonel Mo-
berry. Mr.. Bangs is sadly out of place
in Alabama"
Even the part of Squire Tucker, as L.
p Hicks portrays it, and which could SO
easily be overreached, leaves none of the
taste of a weak attempt with the audi
ence after he has made its exits
Clement cambridge, who is a relative
! of the author and for whom the part OF
Captain Davenport was written, handles
the part with easy grace that is COM
mendable excepting in the last act, per
| haps, in which there is little too much
of the spirit of braggadocio in his calm
triumph over the miserable Raymond
Page. And speaking of Page Mr.. Ray
mond seems just little wild in his cal
culation of the character at times, a
little STACEY, one might say
Considering that Charley Moore is only
boy off as well as on the stage, and that
he spoke his first lines from the other
! side OF the fOOtIIghIS last November, he
does very well indeed with the part OF
Lathrop. Edward Mass as Decatur is as
good as need be, and stops in his por-
trayal of the colored servant in just the
right place.
There could be no better combination
with road company for the LEADING
women's parts than Miss 1nez Knowlton
as Mrs. Page and Miss Ethel Irving as
Carrie.
Miss Irving especially carried with her
the real sweetness of the southern
maiden, and her portrayal of the charac-
ter could not be improved. Some day
! Miss. Irving will be able to look down
from heights she perhaps does not think
of now, upon the people that supported
her last night.
Louise McElroy as Mrs. Stockton is
good enough Engine Barr as Atlanta
could be improved on and will be shortly.
1t is a matter of wonder to the close
observer, though, that Frank Bangs, who
has voice like the Santa Fe whistle
and is an ideal minstrel afterpiece old
man, should be kept at the head of the
company above so many superiors.
In the garden scene in the third act
there is pretty effect in the scent of the
| magnolia blossoms, which could be de.
tected to the last seat in the gallery. Il
was done with perfumery of course, and
the stage was simply sprinkled with it.
Tho