Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-26
THE CHRISTIAN
FINELY PLAYED
BANAL MELoDRAMA, YET BUR-
BANKERS MAKE 1T GOOD
Mary Van Buren, and William Desmond
Excel In Leading Roles-All the
Company Equal to Every
Demand

presented yesterday. is dramatiza-
tion Of Hall Gaines novel of the same
name, done when that novel was the
rage-before the days of the six best
sellers, yet by no means so far In the
past, even for popular" book, as to
be now forgotten. 1t was first played
by strong company, headed by Viola
Allen, with splendid support, and the
very ability of the company was
enough to carry 1t to success, despite
its very obvious faults as dramatic
composition.
Like all book plays, "The Christian"
Is weak in that it Is compelled to tell
In dramatic form what had already
been better told in story. 1t is, there
fore, episodical, fragmentary and in
coherent. 1t presupposes knowledge
Of the tale; and 1t depends for success
on two things-the theatricalism OF the
mob scene and trading upon its name.
At the time 1t was done there was
rage for dramas with a religious
theme, and anything that bore on the
Christ, his followers, or the Christian
cult, was devoured by semi-hys-
terical throng often not at all
comprehending what it absorbed,
but convinced that it must be great"
because, perforce, it smacked of re-
ligiosity.
That the play has endured this long
is really less reflection upon the dra-
matte education and knowledge of the
playgoing public-which really never
took 1t seriously-than it is a proof
that there is a class who seldom go to
the theater unless inveigled there
under the guise of semi-churchly
play To this same class is due the
huge financial success of such traveS-
ties of things sacred as Ben Hur,
"The Sign of the Cross" LAS Ye Sow
and the like-plays Grass, half baked
and wretched from the technical point
of view but immense money-makers.
Each of these plays, at the same
time that it contains much of so-called
religiosity, also has its salacity;
cleverly concealed, but nevertheless
there, and all the more subtle because
adroitly veiled In ben Hur" 1t is
in the grove of Daphne, place where
things were done that no decent per-
son would repeat in 1.-THE Sign of the
Cross it was elsewhere-a seduction
scene-but readily discerned In "The
Christian" it is in the fleshly appeal
of Glory Quayle to John Storm, to his
passions, to his baser self, when she
rips open her dress and takes down
her long hair, that she may entice him
physically when she fails to win him
through her religious pose-may turn
this incarnated wrath of God into a
weak and whining lover-a scene that
is vulgar and debasing, though not
carried out to the same degree as are
the others named.
The other appeal, to the religious
element, is in the bumptiousness and
puritanism of John Storm, prig and
cad, posing in the role of latter
day Savior. Such men there may be,
who desire to, and think they do,
serve their Lord thus, but they don't,
and to exalt them to the role of hero
is banal to the last degree.
However, the Burbankers are not to
blame for writing this play; they only
depicted it, Given, then, this aggre-
cation of episodes, melodramatic and
therefore containing many strong emo
tional scenes, the point is, what did
the Burbankers do with it?
They played it superbly, with an art
worthy of higher themes; with skill
to obscure the bad and to bring out
the good; with a seriousness and a
cleverness that brought forth every
bit of worth that is in it, and at the
same time so buried the weakness that
1t had to be watched for to be dis
cerned. This is true art, and the Bur-
bank players may pride themselves on
their accomplishment. Few things
have they ever done as well.
OF the Individual roles, Glory Quayle,
done by Mary Van Buren, and John
Storm, by William Desmond practi-
cally absorb the attention. AS Storm,
Desmond quite arises above the trivial
tiles which he has essayed since his
return and he gives a strong, even
and generally excellent performance.
Though somewhat prone to rant a bit
at times, he yet held himself pretty
we'll in hand, and even in his strongest
scenes managed to give the proper
n 1ft,ere 10 t.se ItKNA hi
was ever true.
Mary Van Buren,, too, rose COM
pletely to the occasion and gave a
Glory that was sympathetic, strong
and well depicted. Miss Van Buren's
one fault is the one of all that she
could not help-she is too matronly
for girlish part. She never was the
girl, even in the prologue; she was
ever the woman; she was a Glory of
some years, of a maturity that neither
the book nor the play demands, but
which her face figure and voice show.
Barring this-and she cannot be held
responsible for it-she was all that
could have been asked.
OF the company in general much
praise must be uttered. John w. Bur-.
ton gave an excellent delineation of
the SNUG archdeacon; Arthur Butledge
was properly blase as Lord Ure;
Harry Mestayer made one almost love
Drake, as not being half bad; Homans
was clever as the faro king, and Willie
Marks surprised with his acute por-
trayal of the manager Elsie Esmond
was properly sympathetic and pa
thetic as Polly Maude Gilbert was eff
fective as one of the theater girls and
wonderfully clever as drunken MEM
ber of the mob, and the others not
here mentioned filled perfectly their
several parts.
Two new members were presented;
Carrie Clark Ward proved herself a
character woman OF rare excellence.
from whom it viii be a pleasure to
hear more, as Mrs. Calender, and Ru-
pert Drumm, in the small part of
Brother Paul, gave excellent promise.
The mob scene was quite realistic,
though differing from the usual mob;