Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-27
CAPTAIN COURTESY" GIVEN
INAUGURAL AT BELASCO
Contains a Fascinating Love story and
Many Elements Of strength-ln
the Main Il Is Well Done.
Amelia Gardner Falls

Leonardo Davis, known ass as C9Ptaan Stone
Padre Relnaldo of the San Gabriel
Mission .,...,,... William Yerance
Elenor, his ward. Miss Amelia Gardner
Vivien Marshall wid3w ,Ss Marion ITleh1 95 poro
George Granville. Harry Glazier
Lieutenant Jacoco of the Mexican Me- can,
~ 'FIehagd tba Mssinr glyian
..,,,...............E Ernest Glendnning
Black Moccasin, an indian. Howard Scott
Gray Feather, his daughter, servant
at Mission. Miss Margaret Langham
American ri1eman..........Jay Pendleton
Mexican sergeant. ......... Ernest Winter
Soldiers, rihemen, etc.
The scenes of Captain Courtesy are
laid at San Gabriel mission, three of
them in it's interior, and one in the old
garden, with the mission in the back
ground. The story. already told in full
in The Herald, relates events supposed
ly taking place just before the Amer
leans won the independence of Cali
fornia from the Mexicans, and the play
ends with the capture of Los Angeles !
by the combined forces of Fremont
and Commodore Stockton. These, how
ever, are merely incidents in the de-
velopment of the plot, which really
concerns the adventures of an Ameri- |
can whose family had been killed, sup
posedly by MeXicans, and who took the |
road as bandit against all men of
the lower country, in revenge. He
takes shelter in the mission when
pursued, and there he falls in love with
a ward of the padre. The subsequent
events relate to his escape from can
ture, the progress of his love affairs, |
and the final battle in the mission
when he takes the side of the Ameri |
cans, is wounded, and wins his sweet
heart. There is a side plot, the love of
a Mexican officer for a flrty Ameri- |
can widow, and still a minor plot in the |
affection of an Irishman for an Indian
girl. All, of course, ends happily, as
things have a habit of doing, in plays. |
AS drama, Captain Court esy" must
be classed with the romantic rath- |
er than the dramatic or melodramatic. |
1t is really a love idyll, and a very
pretty one, too. There is some action
in it-several scenes, in fact, are quite |
lively, especially the escape of the |
courageous captain through a window
after kicking a bowl of wine into the
eyes of his pursuers. and there is a
measure of tensity in the all night |
vigil of Courtesy and Granville, his |
arch enemy. But in the main, the play
lacks action to a marked degree, and
is dependent upon the intrinsic inter-
est of its story and fine acting to carry
it. Properly and slxillfully done, it is
a very winning play; it holds the heart
strings and the emotions rather than
the brain or the excitement, however.
or course, the play possesses an i'm
mense local interest, as it depicts hap
penings here and hereabouts, and ev-
cry Angeleno will recognize not only
its scenes, but it's story and its peo-
pie at a glance. What could be done
with it elsewhere is a problem. 1t |
would appeal strongly to the most in
tellectual class of playgoers for it's |
artistic worth and its heart interest |
but it must be remembered that this |
class of people is not the mainstay of |
any theater; the great mass of the |
public, upon which a play must de-
pend, would find this slow in action
and lacking in dramatic hold. 1t be-
longs to a category of dramas in which
one might include "The First VIOLIN"
THE Scarlet Letter." and some more
such as Mansfield has made go for a |
season or two by reason of his own
personality, but which in other hands |
would be mediocre failures. Hackett |
had this once; he would have succeed |
ed with it on the strength of his own
drawing powers. if for no other cause. |
AS rendered by the Belasco players, |
it would be hard to find fault with
Captain Courtesy's" delineation, save
in one or two respects. Lewis Stone |
as the hero gave a thoroughly artistic |
and correct Interpretation; he always
does. He is a fine, clear-cut and clean
limbed actor, and his sense of pro- |
portion is keen. He made of his hero
man thoroughly human, yet cast just |
the glamour about him which obscured |
the villainy of the road agent in the
romance of the highwayman. His I'M
perSonatiOn was q delight,
VIM. Yerance was the padre to tne |
life; Harry Glazier was good as Gren-
vile, the cillain renegade; Vivian as
Jocoso was a triumph. his Mexican. |
in looks, dialect and actions, being fine. |
Howard Scott had an Indian bit re-
markable for Its clever Interpretation,
and Ernest Glendening was humorous
as Tim.
Amelia Gardner as Eleanorc was al
utter and unblushing failure, $40
only seemed to have no conception of
her part; on the contrary, she gave
one the impression of deliberately |
spelling her role. She laid down" at
every crucial moment; she travestied
the serious scenes and balked the hum
orous ones, and in the love parts when
she should have been at her best, she
was as wooden as a cigar sign.
Miss Gardner is too good an actress
to have misplayed any part such as
she did last night through inability to
master 1t. especially so usual an one
as this. If she did not purposely and
of malice aforethought destroy all IL
lusion in this role and insult her audi |
ence by walking through it, then she
has little conception of the work or
the duty of leading woman. All the
faults of the play, its slowness at
times, and the slight hesitancy of 9th
ers, were due to her laXity-to put it
mildly. She was a surprising disap-
pointment, and that let's her down
easy.
Marion Berg as the widow, was not
much better, she made the part a joke. |
But Miss Berg is not as old nor as
skilled as is Miss Gardner. and pos
slbly she did the best she could. |
Margaret Langham, as the Indian girl. |
was the only woman who deserved a |
word of praise.
Into the presentation and mounting
Of the play George Barnum has put his |
very soul for days, and he may take |
the full measure of his reward; he has
succeeded beyond all hope. The scene
of San Gabriel MISSIONS exterior. in the
third act, with immense palms and