The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-12-07
A HONOLULU MANS FATE THE PLAY AND THE PLAYER
SERMON FROM THE FOOTLIGHTS
LAST NIGHT.
Men and Women Proves a Powerful
Play With Strong Moral-Blanche
Bates Delivers Some Beautiful Lines.

The duty of the stage, in its highest
capacity, say some, is to teach les
son. \ large number of people think
otherwise. and consider the duty of
| the stage to simply amuse, and the
more risque the lines, the better they
are liked. Between these two schools
impresarios have IA very hard time OF
it. The first class demand Shakes
pearian plays, and the heavier drama.
will tolerate the School for Scandal.
and The Man of the World. but want
nothing modern, except perhaps H.
sen and the problemites. The second
want Hoyt in such things as Black
sheep, \ Milk White Flag. comic OPP
era with plenty of legs and roaring
screaming farce. The Frawley compa-
ny strive for a happy mcin between
these opposing elements. They give
plays which amuse, and vet those
which teach a strong moral lesson.
Last nights play was stage SER
mon on the evils of stock gambling.
There have been probably hundreds
| of cases such as that of Prescott. the
! trusted cashier of the Jefferson Ma
! tional Bank. who lent his stock brok
! ing friend the bank securities for the
| When the deal has been unsuccessful.
! the courts of the United States and
| England have had the unfortunate
! and dishonest man before them in the
! felon's dock But there are many ca
| ces where the deals have been success
| full. and the outside world has never
| known. and will never know. how
| closely the honored wealth of some
] Il, Il
of the unfortunate.
In handling such play as Men and
( Women the Frawley company had Il
by no means easy task and they per-
formed it to the satisfaction OF the
audience. The lobby between the
acts, was loud in the praises of the va
rious players and of the strength of
! the play.
Blanche Bates had a powerful part
in Agnes Rodman, and played it well.
Never during her season, has she Civ
en- us such an effort as she did in the
long speech describing her mother )
grave and the moan of the wind
through the somber> hemlocks. The
words in themselves are beautiful pu-
etic prose, and Miss Bates delivered
them with exquisite pathos. 1t was
IA glimpse of what Miss Bates is capu-
bile of in Il higher line than she has
ever essayed here. Later in the same
act when Agnes (Blanche Bates) re-
alizes that her lover is the real defaul-
ter, her acting was very fine and il
may again be praised in the power
full third act, when she pleads before
the bank directors.
The Calvin Steadman of Wilson Enos
was probably the most finished work
in the drama. The cool. calculating,
deep lawyer, was portrayed to the life.
/ The actor never rose above the sharp,
incisive manner which such a man
would use, and which his training has
schooled him into. The scene of the
meeting of the bank directors at mid
night is as fine thing as there is on
the stage in modern drama. 1t is not
sensational, there is no blood and
/ thunder "unhand me, villain style
about it. 1t is merely Il reproduction
of scene which may have taken
place IA dozen times in New York, but
/ it was powerful in the extreme, and
/ held the audience spell bound, and so
/ deeply interested that applause was
withheld till the tension gave way At
/ the fall of the curtain, and then II
had to he rung up again and again.
| Daniel Frawley, and Frank Worth
! ing as Seabury and Prescott, the for
mer the unjustly accused and the lat
/ ter the real criminal, were each excel
! lent in their roles Mr.. Frawley
showed just the right strength for IA
man who finds himself suddenly en-
meshed in net woven for him by a
skillful lawyer. Mr.. Worthing display
ed the anguish of the guilty conscience
very ably. His apostrophe from the
window, his prayer before the picture,
bearing the words $50 and sin no
more" were both touching. But the
play is full of good things. To Rob-,
ert Carr, as Israel Cohn, the Jewish
banker, fell much that was fine. Mr..
| Carr's make up was excellent, and his
| playing good. His speech upon hav-
ing the picture of Christ in his room
was fine and finely delivered.
Harry Corson Clarke had a part eN-
actly suited to him, and with Selene
johnson as gay widow, gave that
contrast of comedy which the SOM
breness of the other characters re-
| quires. VIII Levers and Eleanor Rob
son played additional light characters
and both We're good. Mr. Levers was
brighter than usual, and Miss Robson
more than fulflls my first impression
of her. it is such a pleasure to hear
the fresh and natural tones of her
/ voice.
Men and Women is u piece one
would like to see again, and those
theater goers who missed it, missed n
treat which we do not often get i'm
Honolulu. Tonight. in The Lost Par
adise, the Frawleys say farewell 10
their Honolulu friends, among whom
| would like to have reckoned
THE nT N DT \Nnnr,n