The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11

1.-The SENATOR" while the expedited MIR.
Johnson never did any transforming. cor
roughed ii in any way, but at his outset.
only dozen years ago. became a member
of Charles Frohman's first stock company
and played continuously under that man.
agement till this
81 had 10 trudge over corduroy roads
when / was your age said Mr.. Crane TO
Mr. johnson. they CHANGED TO meet ON
Monday. while YOU arrive smoothly in an
automobile"
You must not infer. however. that the
veteran Mr.. Crane is old he looks in
the play which has been made for him out
of Mr.. Wilson's story. John Gilbert used
to say that, beginning at the age of nine
teen in old men parts and sticking TO them
till he was seventy-four. he had noted The
passage of his half Century and moro by
the notwithstanding necessity OF painting
his face. Line after line made with a
brush was rendered useless by the relent-
less traceries of nature, until at length he
needed TO artiicialty of visage for his
final performance of Sir Peter Teazle. Mr..
Crane will not arrive at that facial condi-
ton for a long time yet. But his makeup
for the aged millionaire miner in The
Spenders" is so careful that if you didn't
know the contrary. you might believe his
wig and wrinkles had grown on him. His
head is a close study from the book So
is his impersonation of the hale and hearty,
rough and ready grandfather of a spend
thrift prohgate, whom he reclaims by the
harsh, but effectual, expedient of making
the young man lose his fortune in Wall
street. 1t is exactly a Crane role, played
in exactly the Crane manner.
Dramatic reviewers have acquired habit
of berating dramatized novels. and Edward
E. Rose, who handles many Of them for
Charles Frohman, is especially an object
of their cruelty. 1.-THE Spenders'' is on pur-
pose a one-part comedy, with all the other
characters merely circling around old Bines
at the center. But it seems 10 me that
Rose is originally clever in a scene not
derived from the book. The paramount
desire and difficulty in writing a play for
Crane is to associate him with love affair
He has i'm his day been made a wooer OF
young girls. old maids and buxom widows.
but never before has there been provided
for him the chance to figure sentimentally
and amusingly as the pepper of the matri-
monial question on behalf Of a suitable
young to a beloved young woman.
Perhaps you read in Wilson's tale how the
grandson OF Bines and the daughter of a
New Yorker ached TO wed. but didn't get
together at all, except prospectively, I'm the
last chapter 1t is different i'm the play.
The disconsolate fellow is about TO return
TO Montana. His sorrowful sweetheart
packs her trunk for a trip to the Berk-
shires to get away for awhile from the
sutton whom she disIikes. but whom she
expects to be coerced 90 marry. Crane
helps in the packing, while he does a lot
of willy talking about a girl who became
miserable because she accepted the wrong
chap when she knew the right one. The
fair listener is affected just as he means
she shall be. When the trunk is ready,
Crane offers to write the tag for il. She
gives him The Berkshire address. But when
the tag is tied to the trunk she reads: Mrs.
Peter Percival Bines Skifalay. Montana
She lets it go at that and so the fond old
man wins a bride for his grandson. That
is the most felicitous passage Of the play
in both writing and acting
Xxx
The drama with which Orrin johnson be-
comes star actor is taken from Miss
Rivess Hearts Courageous" and contains
romantic comedy and incidental melO-
drama. Johnson embodies the nobleman
who brought French aid to the American
revolutionists, as IL was i'm history. and
concurrently loved beautiful maiden as
il is in the Rives fiction. His adventures
with British foes in Virginia and while de-
livering the vital message to the Conti-
mental Congress in Philadelphia are trans
ferred TO the stage with episode strength;
and some Of the characters. notably Patrick
Henry, are delineated with graphic tyuth;
but the story is dim in spots and the mo-
tives hay. The hero and the heroine, as
set forth on the stage. are too lovely for
anything but adulation. Mr. johnson may
dislike to be described for his looks instead
of his art, but fact is fact. and he is
the handsomest of all star actors. That
Familiarity photographed actress. Maude
Fealy, pictures all that Miss Rives wrote