The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-10-08
Play Is a Melodrama of the Bet
ter Kind.
STAGE WAS TOO SMALL.
Result Was Tiresome Delays
Between Acts.
Bicycle Race Was a Marvel of
Ingenuity.

1uS0HullJs
Lost River" a New York melodra-
matte success of last season. visited To-
peka last night. 1t was witnessed by
large audience which was in delight
full humor all evening and the people
would have left the theater glad because
they had been there if it hadn't been for
the fact that it lacked only 10 minutes
till midnight when the curtain went
down on the last act. But that wasn't
the fault of the company of Lost
River"
If there is an interchangeable booking
arrangement between the management
of the Crawford and the Grand opera
houses why under the sun isn't play
with two or three car loads of scenery
and a pair of horses sent to the Grand
where it will have room? 1t must have
been painful to the manager of Lost
River to try to put his elaborate set
tings' in place on the Crawford stage
but it was more painful for the audi
ence that had to wait until o'clock
before the curtain went UP and half
hour more or less between each of the
various acts. Lost River at the Grand
would have been a thing to remember
with pleasure, Lost River at the
Crawford calls up memories of weari-
ness and headache caused by loss of
sleep.
Lost River'' belongs in the new and
improved class of melodramas and the
company that Jules Murray has en-.
trusted with it is merely all that could
be desired.
The story is modern one of back
woods Indiana town. The heroine is
young woman whose mother is dead and
whose father left the place before she
was born. He had gone to New York
and changed his name and all trace of
him was lost. At Lost River he was
Thomas Jones but for some reason left
unexplained he had his name changed
to Thomas Middleton when he returned
to the metropolis and married second
time. Middleton or Jones formed
partnership with Robert Blessing in the
contracting business. After he had be-
come wealthy and the firm constructed
an acqueduct at Lost River. Blessing
who was engaged to Middleton's New
York daughter, Gladys Middleton, had
charge of the work. He met Ora Jones.
the Lost River daughter and was not
slow in falling in love with her after
Miss Middleton who was in Lost River
on lark had treated her with naughty
disdain. Ora saves Blessing when he Is
about to be stabbed by Bill Louks, who
is Jealous because of his attentions to
Ora. The scene is a thrilling one and
mo wonder it attracted much attention
in New York Blessing starts for the
hotel on his bicycle in storm and is
pursued by LoukS also on bicycle. Ora
who suspects that Louks means to harm
Blessing follows on her bicycle and just
as Louks raises his arm to plunge
knife into Blessings back the girl puts
a bullet through the hand. The me-
chanical device which makes this scene
possible is intricate and is so satisfac-
tory that the effect is decidedly real
istic. At another time when Ora hears
that her lover is to be. waylaid and
robbed of the money to pay the work.
men, she volunteers to carry the money
herself. She goes on horseback and is
pursued by one of the gang also on
horse but Blessing turns up at the toll
70 i11cf in iF77a n
out the toll gate keeper, Bill Louks.
with few we'll directed blows and then
closes the gate before the pursuing
hOrseman arrives.
Gladys Middleton exerts her influence
to break up the attachment between
Blessing and Ora. and in league with
Bill Louks she plays the william, and
like him is baff1ed. She attempts to
throw a shadow on Ora's birth and
steals their fathers photograph to pre-
vent his Identification in the future.
Her twin brother Claude is her anti
thesis He is neither naughty nor proud
and makes himself quite at home in the
humble surroundings at Lost River. He
is also an athlete who puts a william or
two out of action every once in
while.
At the. end everything comes out right
in true nnelodramatic fashion. Middle
ton arrives from New York, recognizes
Ora as his daughter, and it is pre-
sumed Blessing marries her, and they
all live happily ever after.
The real star of the production is F.
House, who plays the part of Claude,
and his name is not printed at the top
of the programme either. He is easy,
natural, and shows an excellent concep-
ton of the part of a light-hearted roys-
tering New Yorker. His comedy part
is especially well down, and ne kept
the audience in a tittering mood from
first to last. Olive Helen Briscoe, who
played the part of his sister, Gladys
MiddletoIf, did most excellent work in
a difficult part. A woman william is
always at a disadvantage on the stage.
Ora, the sweet. uncultiyated girl whose
life had been hedged around by poverty,
was in competent hands. Lottie Bris-
coe, as we'll as her sister Olive, certainly
has a future But then it is useless to
enumerate. The cast was good enough
to satisfy anyone who goes to the the
alter for pleasure. Lost River was well
worth the money.