The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-17
CRANE IN MATHEMATICIAN LORD
1 PASTICHE OF HIS FAMILIAR
PLAYS AND PARTS.
, Triton Hating Westerner Who Came Into
nh English Title and ~Estate-The Crane
American I'm a Farce COmedy-Hilda
Spong, Her Acting and Her Gowns.

American III u fuTct NOHituy Wv
Spong, Her Acting and Her Gowns.
Mr.. William II. Crane Is in the position
If tle medieval who raised
q powerful spirit and made him do his
ridi,ng. only to become in the end the
.rave of his W slave. 1t has long been
known that the Crane American Is a power
mi stage type, essentially true to nature
and representative of our life. This has,
in fact. been known too long. 1t is possible
that the actors W powers OF represent
ing the character have become lmmed
and Nattcned, like an etching that has
conc too often to the press. 1t has
long been certain, and was shown again
LAST night at the Hudson, that the Powers
of he American playwright, in the repeated
rY,rt to write Crane plays, have suffered
q very serious bunting and deaNening.
no doubt Mr.. Crane knows this as we'll as
ANYBODY. Last year he made a very able
enl altogether commendable effort in a new
tr,d with Mirbeau's business is Business
only to find that his public would not follow
him. And so he has slipped back into the
bonds If the spirit he first raised;
"Iha American Lord" Is by c.. L. Darcy
srl George II. ~Broadhurst, and is frankly
confessed to he a farce-comedy. The hon
a,ty of this il commendable, but the tact Is
10 b. regretted, for the dominant motive Is
f. fruitful a subject for straight comedy as
%, 4. barren of true farce. An American
whose family nave been in the country
fyo centuries and who is a bigoted hater OF
ori.,,rracy, suddenly finds that his daughter
/. or gagged to an English lordling and
hat he himself is heir to an English utte
and estate. The first act shows how ne
- IL. ---t..1ata, to HE Enfn W ith tine
intention 70 Americanizc the Briton, ana
thp rest of the play shows the results OF MS
efforts. .
Treated with any feeling for the essentials
cf the social spirit of America and England
the theme might well yield an abundance OF
truly comic incidents and characters but
}le-srs Darcy and Broa dhurst, show no
such ~feeling-or is it that they have been
~oyerpowered by the might Of the Crane
tradition? The result certainly Is a con-
coction Of the familiar characters and
situations, In the shuttle Of which the prom
ised study of manner Ia lost:
This Hreuster's promised attempt 70
introduce the spirit of democracy among
his tenants eventuates in ten lines OF talk
His ContaCt with his aristocratio nelgnbors
fares only a little better. 1t reduces itself
70 a conventional intrigue oentring in
the efforts OF two young. couples to marry
IN the face Of parental opposition. All
probability is thro wn TO the winds of farce
without, however, eventuating in any
great gallo Of ~farcical laughter.
In the fourth act the English and Ameri-
oan opposites become reconciled, and with
brave words proclaim that each country
has need of the other-that blood liz thicker
than water. But the same sentiments
might have been tackled on almost any
play with equal proPriety,
This Is not to deny to the piece consider
able a~droitness as a bit Of stage writing,
or to the actor his able methods and sym
pathetic charm. The passage IN. the
Dakota hotelkeeper bows to the fate which
transforms him from a Congressman-elec,t
to a sprig of nobility is constructed with
telling effect, and gives Mr.. Crane occasion
for his crusty and peppery whlms, mask
and explosive temper, which Is the OUTSIDE
OF a warm and generous heart.
In the second act he wooG his accustomed
widow, young and dashing, through a
garden gate, with the pathos Of modesty
and the comic embarrassment which are
also accustomed. In the third act he
magnanimously resigns his widow to the
curate, whom he guilelessly believes that
she loves, and connives at the elopement
of his daughter while pretending to aDoml-
nate her match with a Briton,, In the
fourth act he plays the heart OF OAK all
round and giving up his propaganda OF
tflltNl dNN IL III y 49, $3.50 -
widow, nov captured to claim his seat in the
House of Representatives.
But it all happens too easily and too
obviously in the familiar manner. There
vas no evidence that the heart Of the audi
ence was touched; and though there was
an abundance of crisp lines and we'll man.
ipulated bits of action the laughter was
seldom spontaneous and never general.
There are PLAYS in town as this moment
which are written with less ingenuity, and
less wit but which have succeeded by
virtue of the touch Of real emotion and
dramatic power. go
That The American Lord" will have
. fair measure Of success is not unlikely
FoT he Crane character, though a pastlche
is pas'iche of something that was orlgl'
nalOv admirabi ~ Mr., Crane himself aren,
ability and cham. o..
As the dashing, young Irish widow,
Miss Hllda Spong, was charming as slways
and admirable in speech and method. Hell
gowns were creations of delight, and she
wore them as if born to her dressmaker
As old Breuster's daughter, Miss Rosalino
Coghlan lent considerable charm OF person
10 barren part.
The minor characters were so many lay
figures of the dramatic studio. Breusterf
neighbour and enemy, Lord WycherIy, was
an impossible part resolutely enaoted 10y
George Z. Riddell. As Before-the-DTdu
Pete and Terds, Elmer Grandin and Emme'
Whitney carried pistols and poker slang
into an English charity ball undismayei
The one really credible and sympathetiI'
character in the cast was a faithful old col
ored servant, ably and amusingly portrayed
by Harry Blakemore.
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