Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1905-04-15

| .. l. II
onto the stage and the cowboy was
realized as never before. Mind you, as
never before! / frankly admit that
Dustin Farnum's "Virginian" is the
best foot-light cowboy l have ever
seen. In the delineation of the char
acter he carries q triple burden. BY
| birth a yankee-from Maine, / be-
| lieve-he depicts a southerner on a
western cattle ranch. The weight OF
| the dramatic burden is rather too
| heavy to bear conviction, Lut the
splendid effort of the actor is it's own
reward. Mr.. Farnum browns his Yam
kee twang in a flood of dulcet strains
and southern accents, which are at
once the admiration and despair of all,
save those born on Dixie soil. His
splendid physique is a valuable pSr-
sonal asset Salt Lake matinee girls
still remember the well filed uniform
of Lieutenant Denton" and impa-
tiently raise their glasses at this new
hero in leather-leggins. But Mr.. Far
NUNS conception of the part is dis
appointing. 1t does not satisfy the
westerner to whom the cowboy is a
reality. Instead of a virile, daredevil
cowboy, he is hardly more than a cat
tie gentleman. The fire and wildness
are unnaturally restrained and form
no part of the recklessness of which,
in part at least, he is supposedly an
aggressive factor. Frank Campeau as
"Trampas," by some fatality of con-
ception-or ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to
the other extreme. The real cowboy
lies between these two interpretations
just where, we westerners alone
know. Mr.. Campeau makes of
"Trampas" double-dyed villain with
the reddest of red trimmings. Fancy
a melodramic bad man on a cattle
ranch! And when the ''Virginian"
and ''Trampas" get together with their
delodramatic heroics, l feel myself
moved to glorious laughter But I am
saddened when l contrast Campeau's
"Trampas" with the matchless artis-
try he displayed as tom Driscoll"
in "Pudd'nhead Wilson" and "Tony"
in Arizona" There is no need, eth
err, of throwing your hat in the air
and shouting when Helen Holmes as
"Mollie Wood" the New England
school teacher, finds herself in the
big emptiness of the west. She is
not the "Mollie Wood" of the novel
the distance between them is as great
as between Cheyenne and the Yer
mont hills. 1t is, therefore, not sur
prising that Helen Holmes is rather
watery as "Mollie Woods" What can
the poor girl do? The dramatizers
have given her only one foot to stand
on But, just the same, you should
go and see the play for yourself. Even
If the dramatic situations are not
happily planned and the atmosphere Is
hazy, there is some effectual dialogue,
some good byplay and some good
horse play in "The Virglnian."
- ~
"Beveille and Taps" the war drama
written by Mr.. B. S. Young, was pre-
scented at the Salt Lake theatre last
Monday and Tuesday. Given under
the auspices and for the benefit of the
G. A. r. The attendance was far be-
low the worthy merit the author had
in view, when dedcating his efforts
and talents to a meritorious cause.
The play, while showing the crudities
of amatuer authorship, is not without
literary merit and several strong dra-
matte situations. A drama such as
"Reveille and Taps" must suffer when
left to the Interpretation of an anna
teur cast 1t is one of the fatalities
of the stage that every weakness in a
play is discovered and enlarged upon
III