Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-05-09
Wonderful
Rose Coghlan

er the mother must stoop, but Cecil,
Cecil, YOU are falling out Of my reach. Z
That's the Greatest Thing in the
World" II You were In the Salt Lake
theatre last night your heart went out
not to Rose Coghlan, the actress, for
by that time you had forgotten you
We're seeing play, but to Virginia
Bryant, the mother who was willing
to sacrifice the last shred of her hope
Of happiness to save her erring boy.
The line comes as the climax to the
strongest scene In the play, the scene
in which the mother has learned that
her son is a thief In addition to being
ia drunkard, after he has concealed
himself and listened to a conyerSa-
tion not intended for his ears, after
she has tried to laugh or this final
manifestation Of his pettiness, as a
joke arranged BY herself. To Ill un.
moved throughsthis scene Il to confess
an inability to appreciate The Great
est Thing In the World q mothers
love,
II was the first time that Salt Lake
had had the opportunity 10 see Miss
Coghlan In the role OF a good woman.
We freely confess we liked her very
much In the part. And there were
Others. A great many others Al
though 1t was almost too sacred a
thing to applaud, that mother love
torn out OF true, brave heart and
laid on the altar OF sacrifice. the aud
|ience did applaud. The visible and
outward manifestations OF approval
were enough to satisfy the most am.
bilious star and Miss Coghlan deserv-
ed them every one. The play II trag-
5ically real, We know there are such
mothers as Virginia Bryant. such sons
as Cecil, And through the sombre
shading Of the drama, there runs
bright line Of comedy, the silver lining
to the cloud.
For instance. Madga Chiselhurst
(Paula Gloyl is pleading with Sarah
Mcfarland (Louise Muldener) not 70
throw Cecil over. She thinks tho
young man is entitled to another
chance and she winds up with, Saints
may be saints, but they're stupid" A
fiat line that, and mighty well read.
Miss Gloy, by the way. was alto.
gether fetching throughout. Miss
Muldener, too. Is entitled to credit.
but easily the most satisfactory work,
aside from that Of Miss Coghlan, was
dome by Sidney Irving as Cecil
Bryant. and Fred G. House as the
younger brother, Harold. It Is not
possible to say which OF the two was
Ibetter, because their characters were
Ientirely dissimilar. We do not believe
Ia finer hit has been done here In a
long time than Mr.. Irying's drunkard
lscene in the first act. Without the
least exaggeratlon he was painably In
ftoxicated, but he was gentleman, He
A was 80 obviously Of weak fibre that
of the stage, cruel though this MAY
seem any father who saw his per
lformance would hesitate d long time
before entrusting TO his care the hap
piness Of a daughter. Come to think
about II, this may be a sort Of compli
lment for Mr.. Irving. And the Harold
bryant Of Mr.. House was, in its way
just as good. He was clean, happy
go.lucky, wholesome boy. one OF ths
kind you want to tie to.
1t Is pleasant to be able to conclude
with the statement that the play enii
happily. You 90 home feeling thai
"The Greatest Thing In the World
has won, a. It deserved to win. TO
might the closing performance will b
given and the theatre should be filled
} Salt Lake Herald.