Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-05-04

IN %. TIL, 10 weeks %Ix n 1rs@ns d%7 The
tndertow." which swept in a
success Mt Keith & Proctor's Harlem
opera House. The Jungle produced
at Keith & Proctors Fifth Avenue
theater. was a. wild aud wooly thing,
much more so, in fact, than Buffalo
Bills wild west, which made its usual
annual appeal to the boys who never
grow up
If only all playwrlghts would write
of subjects and people they really knew
at nIsI hand Eugene Walter does
and that is one big reason why his
play. The Undertow" produced at
Keith & Proctor's Harlem opera House
Monday. is real success. 1t pulses with
life and its characters have spines and
good red blood. When Mr.. Walter
writes of newspaper men and graft
ers' and politicians and their plots
and cpunterplots, he tells of his friends
and of his enemies and of incidents In
their lives that are actual. And, after
oil. real life is a good deal better IMAM
tho imitation. The Cndertow' deals
with similar types and conditions TO
those in The Man of The Hour and
'"The Lion and the Mouse" and, dis
counting hurry-scurry faults OF more
or less unrehearsed stock company
production, 1t appears to be quite as
good as either OF its better known
councillors Broadway should see this
American play, and most likely Will
"The UndertoW" Is the story OF n
qulxotic reporter, Richard Wells. who
Loads the forces of the independents
against tho machine In a typical city
Of the middle west (if one said Cieve-
land IL would probably be safe
guess). Wells party wins the election,
and It's nominee, Hoffman, is elected
mayor Wells, by sheer brain ana
nerve and hustle, has brought about
the confusion of the enemy, particular
Is Of Horace Whitelaw, the capitalist,
who is using politics as simple and
safe best bet to grab some 9s-year
franchises. Defeated temporarily,
whltelaw then sets about To accom-
plish the ruin Of Wells and uses Wells
fondness for the highball when it's
bubbling as the means to his end And
ultimately he makes Wells break the
promise never to drink which he has
given Mary Calvert. The girl he loves
Is thus Influenced against him the
mayor he has elected sells out to the
machine and Wells is beaten from eN-
cry point of view. He Is caught in the
undertow, which, as the author puts It,
makes every poor man sell out or
stnrve. In the end however. he is
neither triumphant nor dominant; he
goes away with Mary Calvert, still
possessed of his honesty aud still UNI
bribed by capital. This bare outline of
the theme OF the play gives no possible
idea of the skill with which Its various
threads are interviewer or OF the vivid
Characterization of the different types
or OF the exceeding ability OF the dia-
loguc. whether 1t be the colloquiallsm
of the Man on the street or the smooth
flowing plausibllitY of capital. II is
true the play has its flaws, solioduies,
long speeches, scenes that retard the
action and, In general. a certain
strong crudity; but, after all, what do
these matter when the play In its en-
tircty 10 so fresh. interesting and hon
est?
When one considers that the stock
company which presents The Under
tow" gives two performances day
and in the mornings Is rehearsing tho
program for next week, one can only
have kind words for the actors who
succeed as well as they do one can
pay special praise to George Howell
Tor his excellent character OF the can
italist to Reddy the office boy and to
Peter Lang as political boss.
You should see The Undertow"
which with a wel-Cast company, ot-
foctive rehearssls and few changes
has am kinds ~ a future ahead ot IT,
including Broadway and what CORE
spends 10 Broadway I'm other cities
one Ia amazed ~ finding Margaret
Muyo's name ON the playblll Of ''rhe
jungle" ma cu-author with linton sim
clair OF the dramaiizat ton, aud IL ones
am3zement leads him to invest gate, he
may ascertain aUthoi'itatiYely that
Miss Mayo had practically nothing 10
do with this play, and that II was
cgrrentered by gentleman who
thoughtfullv permits his name 10 re-
main I'm ohscurlty, This II gratifying
to those who subscribe to the belief
That Miss Nav0 rs nm excellent drama
tist for Tho jungle" bears az much
relation 90 her Fkilul dramatizntlon
~ "rhe Marriage NJ william Ashe"
ma her srrightlv 0dnutntlon Of "Dl-
vorcons" ns "Thc jungle" does 10 the
r'ays ~ Pinero, one NAV he glad that
Miss Mnvn's treatment Of Upton SIM
claire novel WAS absent treatment
This perhaps, rutg % good 1el Of the
blame ON MI sinclair ana his anonv-
nous collaboration but SOMEONE muet
hear the hlame. ana lot or n Tor thls
hitting. uuinter7gtinr play TINT was
introduced 20 New york on Monday.
broadway. I'm her suohhish way. de-
cidedly snuhhei THE Jungle"
Tho Iola-osnGs qualities ~ Mr..
sinclair'E novel have utterly disau-
reared ana the mere shadow OF the
book remains and IN fact, ones In
nate sense Of hnmor refuses 10 take
1.-THE jungle" seriously, Practically the
only thing 10 discuss about 1.-The Jun
gle' h its plot and that may he de-
tailed because II Is 30 unlike the book
IN act one Jurgis and ona have their