The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-01

1Siiis written DN FRANCES ANTldE
Matthews 1t is a work worth noting, al
though II is but portion of a vaudeville
entertainment. because it goes contrary 10
the general rule of the VARIETY showmen
that play must be- for their purpose, a
farce or comedy. This one is as grim and
CORY as "Cavalleira Rusticana," which il
resembles some in import Little Wing
Zee, wife of All Chang, takes a sick Cap
tain Winton into her house and nurses
MIN TO health, all in the absence of her
husband, but liz the presence of a Chinese
physician, who hates all foreign" devils
and finds good reason to abominate this
particular one. He sees IL for himself, too.
II,nrereupon he poisons Winton, strangles
Wing Tee and is to be hanged. The spying
qoctor Is the plays only survivor So "A
Little Tragedy of Tien-Tsin" is a big
tragedy for its size; and il is presented
carefully and WELL with Robert Lorraine as
the vengeful husband. Still, / doubt it's
practical value In vaudeville The variety
showmen are right L fear. in the belief
that their audiences don't want serious
plays. If the bills in our dramatic theaters
were commonly made up OF a short piece
ana long one, as in London, MISS
Matthews would be sure of recompense Tor
her work.
Others and l sat in thirty-six Of the 400
parquet chairs of a theater and saw the
new drama of THE Black Hand" Misery
loves more company that that. 1 was lone
somer than the rest, too, because they had
come with companions and 1 was by my
self. Yet felt that 1 suffered less than
any one of them because probably / was
the only observer who took an interest in
the play as an object lesson in failure. The
author, Thomas w. Broadhurst, brother
of the more known George II. Broadhurst.
is not an unpracticed playwright. Nor had
his Judgment been bad in his scheme TO
vary and intensity for the thrilling of the
multitude, an interfamily feud of the Ken
lucky mountains. Rancid in it's staleness
was the complication OF a girls father and
her sweetheart opposed in the deadly an
tagonism OF vendetta. But surely
freshening twist was given to the story by
making the old man blind from the young
mans fathers bullet.
My God. if l could only Sect he ex-
claims clam IN ms desire to draw a bead on ms
coward, draw your pistol and count three
for both of us to fire. Your voice will tell
me where you stand"
Here / am" the brave fellow replies.
But he has no desire to harm the father
OF the girl he loves. SO he fires in the air
and awaits the hateful bullet. But the
maiden strikes up her parents weapon and
gets "A violent denunciation. Now, there is
nothing the matter with that for rousing
climax in a melodrama. And nothing ails
the peaceful ending of the feud, when the
young man, who is an occulist, restores the
sight of the old man and they clasp hands
preliminary to wedding in place of the
expected funeral.
The acting of "The Black Hand" was so
very bad that even its ingenious duel had
all the value left out. There were enough
boys in the gallery TO make themselves
heard, but they wouldn't make a noise over
that episode. Those lads up stairs knew as
well as we did down stairs that the two
men, as weakly portrayed. hadn't sufficient
stamina of character to face death bravelys
so there was no futility in a scene which
might have gone far TO save the whole play
If actors had been hired at 500 week in
stead of-well, if they got more than SO
they were overpaid. Ii is poor economy to
save little money in a way that loses
great deal.
with an abundance of true Kentuckian
models i'm novels and plays to initiate.
should have resorted to a German man and
an Irish woman for comic types; that he
should have presented but one real noun
taineer, and he silly caricature, and
that he should have made his two negroes
unlike the real Southern thing except in
color. He introduced "A voodoo fortune
teller, but she was no darker than an
octoroon and didn't suggest the weird old
wench in any particular. In face, in man.
ner and especially in her peaked cap and
red mantle she the witch of the Moth
| er Goose books and Drury Lane panto-
mines. / looked 10 see her stra5dle a
broom and fly away. AS to the Kentucky
| with open fights and some sense of fair
| play 1t was an Italian vendetta, with a
Malta secret society of cowardly assassina-
ton, called the Black Hand, which pro-
| nounced death sentences at the personal
will of its leader and compelled members to
| become executioners. There is a moral for
| writer's of plays in this fiasco. Don't
| imagine that even a melodrama for the
multitude may be written slap-dash or
| performed helter-skelter.
7
How a good dramatic composition may be
turned into a bad entertainment has just
been shown with ''The Battle OF the Butter
flies That play, by the internationally