Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-06

Mons Gerady. Quincy c. Bess, jr
Calvin Hardy Crookes. Hale Hamilton
Hargus, dereltct............E II. ReardOn
Water Boy; .......'.''.'. Willie Buffers
Laura Dearborn. Jane Oaker
Page Dearborn ;......-.,. Beulah Watson
Mrs. Emily vessels. Ada Gilman
Mrs Charles Cressler. Marie Horgan
Mrs. Kate Ferguson. ."...,, Louise Everts
AS a melodramatic spectacle, The Pit"
is almost unapproachabe; as a work OF
literature, it may have a place, just as
all sorts of unpleasant things have a place |
in the economy Of nature. IL we but study |
hard enough and dig deep enough to find |
them; as a psychological study, II is crude. |
II offers the contrast Of neurotic woman |
and a phlegmatic man, with a number of |
others who are thrown in TO make weight. |
To offset the manly attributes OF the hero. |
we are given two men, one his business |
and the other his social antithesis The |
uncertainties and whimsical moods OF the |
heroine are offset by the straightforward |
ness of her sister The story is Of tho |
modern type, in that it begins unpleas- |
antly, and runs a more or less direct |
course through a continuing atmosphere OF |
unpleasant things, till IL reaches con-
ventional ending in the anti-climax. What
ever Of vitality it possesses II derives from !
the vrile Characterization given by Mr. |
Lackaye has almost achieved the impossi-
BILE by vizualizng the character Of Curtis
Jadwin, and making him a man Of flesh
and blood almost as the author had de-
scribed him.
Jadwin is hardly a type, but is used ex-
cellently well to illustrate the very strong
point Mr.. Norris had in mind when he
wrote the second Of his trilogy. It is an
exposition of the futility Of man pitting
himself against his felowmen and nature
in the effort to control and fix the price
Of the worlds food product. or any part
Of 1t. The suicide of Cressler the down
fall of Jadwin, all the other incidents con-
nected with the affair are but slgnboards
along the road that point to the fate of
everybody who has tried that game. More
than eighteen years have gone by since
Benjamin Darlington Hutchinson sent
wheat to 500 on the Chicago Board OF
Trade, and there are men well up In the
business today who rsver heard OF "Old
Hutch" while others can easily recall the
fact that the old man later presided over
a peanut stand with the same insouciance
that marked his conduct on the afternoon
he made the settlement that made him a
many times over millionaire and as was
then thought, famous. Omaha cannot
/ match the story of "Old Hutch" but over
at the Board Of Trade building here they
can tell you of how grain was hauled in
\ by express trains to meet a settlement
and our grain exchange hasn't seen its
! second birthday yet. In time we may
have an "Old Hutch" and maybe Curtis
| Jadwin, or even Calvin Hardy Crookes
J But this is quite beside the point. Mr.
Lackaye makes Jadwin a man of com
manding personality. one who dominates
but who does not bully, He even showed
| mercy to Crookes, a rather melodramatic
bit, but quite in keeping with a rational
conception Of his character. And, best of
! all, his faith in the woman he loves Is
equal to his trust in himself. aud he doesn't
for moment suspect the meaning of the
presence of the artist In, his home. He is
wrapped up in business, Ibut no less in his
wife, and his love allowsrn no room for doubt
On the contrary, Miss Oaker finds herself
called upon to give life to the part of
woman who is unreasonable in many trivial
| ways. She wants TO be loved but fancies
herself neglected because her husband
doesn't make loving her a business. This
| is strongly brought out; Laura loves Curtis
| fondly, and is clean-minded as well: she
knows that the protestations of Corthell
are an insult to her, but she is selfish to a
degree, and allows herself TO think her
husband neglects her because he is not
dangling at her heels as is the man who is
bending his every effort to seduce her. She
is saved by scratch; 1t might have been a
bit more in keeping with the character OF
Laura 20 have had her gone with Corthell
as Jadwin sank into the chair. and have
left the ruin complete. But Mr.. Norris
preferred to send the woman who couldn't
be happy with millions to try a new life Of
poverty, just because she had a chance to
be 'chummy with her husband" It's very
pretty and casts glamour over the end
ing But Laura would have been a lot
happier If she had had some OF that com
mon sense before the crash came. Miss
oaker gives a most illuminating exposition
of this lesson to wives who cannot under
stand that Mans love is of his life a
thing apart" and that he may be inordi-
nately fond of his wife and still have bust
ness away from home.
In the main the characters in the long
list are we'll assumed. and the performance
is an excellent one The earlier scenes
leading up to the great climax in the wheat
pit, are effectively produced; that which
closes the second act. a suicide, being ac-
tually depressing. while the opening scenes
OF the fourth act, in which the attempt 10
corner wheat proves a failure and Jadwin
and his partners are ruined, form the most
intensely realistic pictures ever offered al
the Boyd. 1t is a brokers' office and the
wheat pit actually reproduced on the stage
with all the excitement and thrilling action
incident to the progress of a tremendous
deal.
A late train was responsible for delay
Of nearly an hour in raising the curtain last
night, but the large audience waited good
naturedly and then gave genuinely en-
thusiastic reception to the players. Both
Mr.. Lackaye and Miss oaker triumphed
and their associates share with them. ''Tht
Pit" 10 as surely hit in Omaha as it has
been anywhere along It's route. The bill
will be the same tonight and tomorrow
night, and on Tuesday at a special matlnes
"Trilby" will be produced, with MIR
Lackaye in his role OF svengali.
Vaudeville at the Orpheum.
The bill offered at the Orpheum for III,
current week is in way typical vaude
Vile bill. 1t has everything from the elassi
to the circus. The classic is afforded b,
. Rudolph Voelker and wife, Herr Voelke
being violinist of undeniable virtuosity
while his wife, beautiful woman, accom-
s pantes him with exquisite taste on tn
/. piano. Manager Reiter has secured bah
grand" for this, fact which the must
L. i