Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-05
HOTCHKISS GETS
into MELOORAMA
BRAINS US. MONEY" is A
LIVELY EPISODE
cleverly Done and Full Of Interest.
Grand Has a Chinese Play-eur-
bank Repeats Its Success with
az | Were King"

The Hotchklss theater ventured into
the realm of melodrama yesterday
when the Hamilton Howard company
presented brains VS. Money" and so
successful was the change from farce
and light comedy that 1t Is probable
that the policy of that house viii shift
now and more Of the thriller class of
PLAYS will be given. While that of
Yesterday is not at all bloody, in that
no one is killed and not gun fired,
still there is sufficient of the elements
of the unusual to interest and win
applause, and the audiences certainly
liked it immensely.
brains VS. Money" relates the story
of a stolen diamond necklace, the sus-
pecting of a son who needs money, by
his mother the attempt of rascally
attorney to send the son to prison and
his rescue by means of shrewd at
torney, a cowboy girl, a drunken
Dutchman and a villain of the tramp
order, who has, in reality stolen the
necklace for revenge.
The love interest centers in the af-
fection of the son for his mother s
ward and q complication is added by
reason of her suspecting him of the
theft, while he suspects her. Opening
in the east, the big scene takes place
in a Colorado hotel and bar room,
typically wild west as conceived by
the benighted Gothamites The plot
of the drama is we'll worked out and
is unraveled consistently and with
plenty of startling climaxes, affording
good opportunities for clever acting,
which in almost every case are well
handled.
George Howard, as the foxy lawyer
Ferrett, who outwits both his rascally
partner. Steele, and the burglar, is in
one OF the best roles that he has
handled since his appearance here.
Howard is always supremely natural
and convinces by his very lack of
staginess. Nothing that he has done
here is better than this. Quite next
to him is Arthur Mackley as Bill Har-
per, the tough; his presentation is
true to the life. Edmund Murphy as
the son, Frank Coleburn, is very fair,
and Guy Hitner as Steele is good.
Miss Bond makes a sympathetic moth
er and the cast Is vastly strengthened
by the presence of Brenda Fowler, well
and most favorably known for her
work at other houses. She plays the
ward, Madeline Bates, sweetly and
with considerable strength. C. ".
Daintre rather surprises one with his
excellence in two dialect roles, negro
and a Dutchman, the latter being es-
pecially good
The greatest disappointment in the
cast is Miss Dorset, whose friends were
delighted to welcome her back again
after severe illness Miss Dorset
has the key part-that Of servant
who has become a theatrical star and
who as a cowgirl finds 1t necessary
to entangle the Dutchman into a con-
fession aftcSsshe has made" him drunk.
Miss Dorsets innate refinement is so
great that 1t is utterly impossible for
her to come down to the level of this
character and thus, instead of a rough
and rather tough girl in buckskin
short skirt and with flip and free
air, we have lady, en- masquerade.
This Is not what the part requires
and thus the very end of the imper-
sonation is defeated. If one may sug-
gest such thing, it is that Miss Dor
set should be cast as the ward and
Miss Fowler as the girl of the golden
west, in which class of roles she is
the more familiar. Then we should
really have a cowgirl and not Flora
Dorset playing one. The minor parts
are well handled.