The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-02

Even Miss Starts charm and akin serve only
10 intensity the essential fslsity OF Il all.
Drama differs In its essence from melo-
drama, according to IN acute definition,
In that action arises In obedience to an In
nate necessity from the Differences Of char
acter In conflict. Here the dominant no
cessity Is that Of a manipulative playwright
under bonds TO protract his story until the
evening is done. In its effect drayua differs
from melc drama in that IL ID more inti-
mately true to time and place, more broadly
significant in matters Of human nature
and human fate. THE Rose Of the Rancho
is as promising in theme a it is perfect in
externaIs. With a little more knowledge
Of character, a little more skill in con-
struction. the struggle between the opposing
phases OF Judnitd's nature might have
waged with ever increasing intensity 20
the close. The case would have been
helped il Don Luis had heen developed with
more sympathy for the qualities Of his kind,
instead Of BEING, as he was, c~aricatured.
In the border land erabber. Rinkaid. ad-
mirat " played by John W. Cope, Mr.. Tully
has sketched a character as dramatic in
its possibilities as II is true to his nation and
his are. But Kinkaid is lost in the shuttle.
For all its promise, the play turns out mere
melodrama. and thin and feeble at that.
More than any OF it's predecessors, The
Rose Of the Rancho defines Mr.. Belasoo's
narrow limitations as a dramatist. Hither-
to, with perhaps a single exception, his
stories have been as frankly melodramatic
in theme as in treatment. II -Du Barry
was false to history and Historically violent
in its e~motionalis-n, IL wa 80 in Consequence
OF a manifest intention to be so. II "Adrea'
was at once prepoeterous and dull, nothing
better was TO have been expected from
such a mass OF pitiful excogitation. II
The Girl OF the Golden West was at bet
tom mere Third Avenue melodrama-why.
that was what 1t was. The Darling OF the
Gods" might have proved q heroic tragedy,
for there was substance in 1t to begin with;
but it's greatest admirers acclaimed IL as
opera rather than as drama, and that is
enough said.
Here, however, is a play that Is a drama
OF character, or nothing. On the playful
Mr.. Belasco puts his name before Mr.. Tully's,
30 it is to be assumed that he had a free hand
in revising It. But strip aside it's external
appeals and it has all The spinelessnees
in construction and the crudity in the writ
ing Of a young mans first play. On my
programme l noted several buckram SEN
fences and paper lowers Of speech-curi-
ously contrasting with the subtle lifelike-
ness of the mise en- scene. But I shall not
here descend from the sublime to the par
ticular! There was ono q caricature Of
Mr.. Belasco which pictured him as oompos-
ing with his pen in his fist. Beneath all the
wonders he has wrought about this play
there is scarcely a touch Of the deeper and
finer comprehension OF life.
The ~playgoer will be unfortunate who
does not see The Rose Of the Rancho" and
delight in tho qualities in which it is SUI
preme. But the playgoer will be unfortun-
ate, though possibly bllssful, who does not
recognize it as the WORK not Of a drsmatist
but of a stage manager. jon CoBBN.