Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-10-15

"A Stranger in a Strange Land" an
Angl0-American farce in three acts by
Sidney Wilmer and Walter Vincent,
has been offered for popular approval
at the Manhattan theatre in this city
by William A. Brady and Joseph r.
Grismer. At the beginning 1t may be
proper to state that there is no reason
why this play should not eventually
enjoy large measure OF success. It
contains a number of genuine humor-
GUS situations, and when the neces-
sary polishing up indispensable to new
farces shall have been done to "a
Stranger In a Strange Land it ought
to be a welcome guest in any land the
people OF which are fond of being
amused.
The story relates the troubles of
young man who is sent out from Eng
land by his wealthy aunt to make his
way in the new world. The folks at
home imagine that this country is a
bowling wilderness, and the aunt is
delighted when she is informed in her
nephew's letters that that worthy, or,
rather unworthy, young man has be-
come the owner of a cattle ranch at
Buffalo, N. Y. His herd it may be
mentioned, consists of $4,000 head of
cattle. In Buffalo he also has many
imaginary adventures with the Indians.
At the opening OF the play the young
man is about to return home, the
period of his probation expiring at
midnight. Therefore, until that hour
it is necessary that the aunt should not
Lam hot h. hA
support the ranch at Buffalo has really
been expended in having a good time.
well meaning uncle on the other
side Of the house, thinking to do his
nephew a god turn, gets a dime novel
by Kit Carson and copies thererrom a
page describing battle with the red
skins and a rescue Of the nephew by
one of their number. He makes it ap-
pear that the young man has written
the letter to him and that when he
arrives he will have the heroic Indian
with him.
The nephew pops in at this most in
opportune moment, and, having no In
dian, he proceeds to make one by COM
polling the young man who is just
about to elope with the formers sister
to pose as an untutored savage. Mean
while the well meaning fakir, who has
just arrived, bringing with him no
account reservation Indian. He hires
the pair forthwith. The real and bogus
Indians are made up to closely resem-
BILE each other, and as neither nephew
nor uncle knows of the existence of the
others Indian, and as all the other
re- 1oo limo pif
everything is legitimate, the ensuing
complications are humorous in the ex-
IRENE. They are later heightened by
the supposed disappearance OF the
young man who is impersonating the
Indian and the arrival in search OF him
of a detective, who also makes up like
a redskin in order to facilitate his work.
The American medicine vender has
way of kicking the real Indian about,
and, naturally, as he does not know OF
the doubling up" many of his love
taps are received first by the young
swain and later by the detective. Much
humor is added by the caresses which
are bestowed in turn upon the real In
dian and the detective by the young
lady, who has learned that her lover
has made up as a savage to aid her
brother.
There is lots of the element of
ssknockabout" in "A Stranger in
Strange Land but, inasmuch as the
play makes no claim to being regarded
as a vehicle for the entertainment OF
persons who prefer tears to laughter,
there is no especial wrong in that.
A strong point in favor Of the sue
cess OF the farce is that It's third act
is its best. This of itself is such an
unusual thing as to merit comment 1t
has its faults, many of them, but they
are faults of detail and not OF the gen.
eral scheme. If Charles H. Hoyt had
had the idea contained in "A Stranger
In a Strange Land" he never would
have wasted it on one farce; he would
have made at least three out OF it, and,
what is more all of them would have
been worth seeing. The trouble with
Wilmer and Vincent, the authors of the
Manhattan play, is that they have ap-
parently worked under the d1sadVan-
tage of fearing constantly that they
would not give complications enough.
Therefore they have made most OF
their fun dependent upon the tangle
growing out of the presence of several
supposed Indians in the house at the
same time. This gets tiresome after
awhile. and if the play could be so
edited as to make more Of the fun de-
velop out of the conclusions OF other
characters than the Indians and with
out bringing those individuals on the
stage so often it would be very greatly
Improved.
In support Of this assertion may be
mentioned the scene in the last act
in which the well meaning uncle, hav-
ing concluded to commit suicide be-
CAUSE of the unanimous miscarriage of
his plans, mixes a glass of paris green
and rat poison in tumhler of water.
@omething occurs, and he is called
away, leaving the deadly draft upon
The table. The real Indian, who is an
incorrigible thief, sees it as he is about
to steal some whisky from the de-
canter, and, mistaking it for fancy
cocktail, drinks every drop of it. A
few contortions take him off the stage,
and the episode is greeted with screams
of laughter, mainly, l firmly believe,
because of the fact that the element OF