The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-26
Rockefeller and Ida TarbeII in Play
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

tSocAeIsilef gives glad consent ana
will be fond father-in-law 10 Ida.
Nor is this a scheme Of his to stop her
writing against him. Quite to the other
way, she declared that she wouldn't
marfy into the family o. tainted
wealth and was but siOA ~ persuaded
by him TO change her mind. IN expla-
nation Of the case. let me tell YOU that
she Wdsn't t.uthful al.en she said in
print that her father, . Pennsylvania
oil producer, had been driven out OF
busm as' by Rockefeller. Instead Of
THAI, rr. Tarbell was a federal court
judge who made decisions inimical to
the standard interests Gid Rockefeller
VengeIuily ordered his Impeachment by
the III ited States senate on a false
charge az corruption. ia mad COM
pleted AID published, uAder q pen alias.
her long d@o - lsLtCd novel with
STANDARD O'. f5r a tnCiue and Rookie
feller f2r Is vi;t'ia lie recognized the
eXpertness = Iha T'l traituie aid 1e-
cided ~ bring hen into his service bv
hiring her 10 write his biography in Il
kindly vein. He didn't suspect that she
was Judge Tarbelrs daughter, or that
she and the junior Rockefeller were
sweethearts. Ide took advantage Of
the circumstances to install herself in
the Rockefeller household --wheVe she
wrought our her fathers excuipai3n
and her lovers fathers refo. .aation, for
the upshotH are that the sela. , is called
off from impeaching Tarbeii.. Rocke-
teiler's disposition changes from scr7id
IT, benevolent.
That is the Rockefeller Tarbeii affair
! as presented In Charles Klein's new
drama. THE Lion and the Mouse =
John ID. being the ravenous feline and
Ida 81. the nibbiing rodent that frees
! him from the net of avarice. There is
no call TO belittle MIR Iiiein's earnestly
!, purposeful work for its fault OF taking
zip Rockefeller as q subject for dra-
matte exposition and then putting on
gloves TO handle him. Although the
! names of the principals are given as
ryder and ROSsmOTe, the old man is
labelled John d. Rockefeller and the
woman Ida m. Tarbell. In the adveF-
Using announcements the Identification
was made positive and Klein endeav-
| ored TO produce play pregnant with
the problem of American greed for
sold as typified by Rockefeller. But
wealth and the getting OF It have never
by themselves been sufficient motives
for stage show. What would THE
/ Merchant Of Venice" amount to if the
/ aVar1ce Of Shylock We're not concurrent
with the loves of portia and Jessica q?
Would the depletion of Richelieu and
Louis XI be Electrically interesting if
those rare old plotters We're not asso-
ciated with the loves Of Julie and Ma
RE? So 1t is no wonder that Klein
| dared not rely on the facts of Rookie
feller's money mania. but blended them
into a fiction Of love between young
John and Ida.
Klein's story is. that. young John was
| as different from old John as white
from black: that the son had none of
the fathers ability or ambition in mill
lionaireism; that he met Ida on ship
board returning from Europe and was
infatuated: that his obdurate parent
decreed his marriage With another girl
and that the contention which makes
up the action Of the play is not a ques-
ton or money az all, but whether the
son shall choose 4 fiancee and, having
chosen Ida, shall be prevented by his
sire from marrying her. There is no
clash between plutOcracy and democra-
cy. no collision of monopoly with So
clalism, no struggle illustrative OF the
trust ana graft problem. What We see
is the softening of Rockefeller's heart
by Ida Tarbell in the one matter of
sparing her father for her own dear
sake. while his head remains as hard
as ever for the massing of more mil
lions. His reformation goes no further
than that.
The impersonator Of John D. Rock
efeller is Edmund Breese, who makes
himself look like our richest man with
the new wig on. The resemblance is
close and complimentary. Indeed, there
Is nothing caricaturistic in the actors
delineatiOn. The brusqueness of speech
IS no worse than is common among
busy men and his air OF dominance is
such as usually comes with the acqui-
Sition Of power in great affairs. But
fancy that Rockefeller, the churchman,
wouldn't like to hear himself damn
those who stand in his way and swear
by God that he VIII remove them It
would astonish Mrs. Rockefeller dis
agreeably to learn that she is a rather
gay woman Of fashion, and the junior
John ID. TO be informed that. instead of
being capable member Of his fathers
business staff, he wouldn't have bust
ness sense enough to go under an oil
shed when 1t rained petroleum from a
geyser we'll.
Miss Tarbell loses in force and gains
IN prettiness as embodied by Grace FL
liSton. She doesn't mince matters in
declaring TO Rockefellers face that he
is a despot. and quotes paragraphs
from the denunciatory articles that she
has published about him; but she is a
fascinating woman while assailing him
with masculine vim. and she pleases
him and Mrs. Rockefeller so much that,
like their son. they feel that they can't
get along without her in the family.
Whether Ida NJ. TaTbell will feel hurt
by the assumption that she would be-
come Mrs. John d. Rockefeller. jr., YOU
may guess for yourself. Or. write and
ask her. And at the same time you
might inquire of the present wife what
she thinks about ii.
The Klein who wrote THE Lion and
the Mouse" is q brother of the Klein
who cOmposes the music for operas
and the Klein who used to be short
assistant comedian to the long Hopper
He is q playwright Of experience as the
maker OF many librettos for extrava-
ga4lzaS, such as Wang" he cOllabO-
rated with Harrison Grey Fiske in
THE District Attorney" and with
Bronson Howard IN The Cipher
Code" he failed in the dramatization
Of Abraham Lincoln in THE Hon. John
Grigsby," but succeeded with 1.-THE NJ
sic Master" for David Warfeld. IN
the writing of 1.-THE Lion and the
Mouse" he is cock sure there is no mis-
take, for he is a devoted Christian
Scientist and therefore enabled TO elm
mate error from his work / agree that
he has turned out q very uncommon
comedy which. by intrinsic merit as
much as by singuiarity Of subject. de-
serves the popularity which 1t seems
bound 10 gain.
However. isn't there a tragedy IN q
decentralization of Rockefeller? Let us
make him very i'll AT the beginning OF
the last act. The stress OF success has
ruined him physically, but his mind is
stro1g and his viii is indOmitable He
consults with his captains OF industry
about a new trust. HIS lawyer comes
TO advise against it's legality, but he
says he can buy whatever law is needed
for his purpose. His pastor comes 10
confer about the endowment Of a
church. and takes occasion 10 point out
the moral wrong OF Yhe neKV ulouan0Iv