The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-11
ADJUSTMENTS
The Pride Of JennIcoY 1t the Met

-! the frldet OF JennicO'sa at the Metz
ropolitan.
+; The deathsrate in ."The Pride Of Jennico', is
very high. An invincible hero bearing a
charmed life, Is chiefly responsible for this.
And yet he cannot be- blamed for leaving be-
hind him, as he swaggers through the play,
bloody trail of punctured villains, for these
same villains ambush him in the most shame
less way. and if1he didn't tpink" every last
one of them with his ever-ready sword, they
would certainly s'get' him. The last act is
sort OF a melodramtic shambles, wherein the
noble hero puts to death consecutvely an en-
tire band of cut Threats and finally hurls the
arch villain over precipice, thereby reganing
his Liberty and his wife. It is very thrilling.
His wife is really at the bottom of the diff
|culty. Really princess but masquerading as
waiting woman, she tricks him into mar
riage that is excused by love on both sides.
Then she quarrels with him because his sus-
Elcions are aroused by circumstances growing
out Of her failure to tell him the whole story.
1t Is a foolish quarrel in which the princess
is utterly in the wrong and this fact gives the
sequel an unpleasant aspect. But it affords
opportunity for the Tilted william prince to get
busy with conspiracies galore Undaunted by
the (hero's prowess, which is sure death to
the various assassins sent against him, the
prince like reckless gambler at last goes
against the game himself. Whereat and
WhereupOn him to the aforesaid precipce.
The play, in short, is a. most reckless melo-
drama. Abby Sage Richardson and Grace
Livingston Furniss co-jointly extracted it
from the novel by Agnes and Egerton Castle.
Their work is unconvincing except to the
groundlings. 1t is thinkable that the ,dashing
Hackett and his company in the original
production succeeded by dint Of sheer auda-
city, in giving the tale an air of probability.
But the present company, while by no means
poor one, Is not quite UP to the task.
Wallace Worsley. fine, 1.-THE looking fellow,
plays the expert hero with spirit and dash: but
his work Is marred by a mouthing Of his
words, especially in the presto passages, as
they say in music, that frequently makes
them unintelligble. His readiness with sword
play got him several curtain calls at the end
Of the third act last might and he finally
acknowledged the applause in few words of
thanks. William j. Roman, who plays the
role of his English friend, and David Landau,
who as the prince keeps UP cheerful fusillade
of plots, are both good actors, graceful Of
carriage and easy Of speech. Theodore Kehr-
wald perpetrates some overdone and tresome
comedy in the role Of the lord chamberlain.
His burlesque effectualy destroys the illu-
sion in the scenes in which he participates.
Miss Frances Nelson makes a very feminine
and pleasing princess to whose moods and
vagaries she contrives to give an air of prob
ability. Suzanne Halpren plays a vengeful
gypsy girl on conventional lines but with
convincing intensity. Aileen May appears
only in the first act as the real maid who is
playing the princess and makes an excellent
impression. The cast is a long one and,
while the other characters are for the most
part we'll acted, none Is Of much Importance to
the story.