Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-03
BEHIND THE MASK
is LUR|DLY RAPID
RATTLING MEL0DRAMA HAS
SEMBLANCE OF TRUTH
Lively Story Related with Some New
Features-safe Blowing Taught
in One Lesson-Good
Railroad Scene

Edmund Day has achieved the great
feat of putting into melodrama some
entirely new thrills. His play, Be
hind the Mask" which went on at the
Grand yesterday, to the unbounded de-
light and wild enthusiasm of packed
houses, contains some stunts quite
overlooked by those other masters of
melodramatic carpentering, Theodore
Kramer and Lincoln j. Carter, to say
nothing of Hal Reid. This gives it a
most gripping interest to the habitues
of this particular house, and makes
for tremendous and vociferous ap-
plause at every curtain fall.
Chief among these stunts is course
Of safe blowing. taught in one lesson.
Now, safe blowing in the old cracks
man style is not unknown on the stage;
inent experts at it-reformed, Of
course-as Spike" Hennessey and
kid" Mccoy, blew safes in broad
electric light, right in front Of their
audiences. But they didn't go into the
details and explain the flnesse of their
art. Day, on the other hand, has his
man Smiley Granger not only open
bank vault but explain the most inti-
mate points of how to do the job,
meanwhile carrying out his own in
structions, thus affording an object
lesson in the modern methods of burg
larry For this up-to-date specimen
scorns such things as jimmies, blow
pipe and the like; he deals with putty,
nitroglycerine and an electric drill,
setting his explosives off with cur
rent from a light socketA If any
youngster wants the latest instructions
in the approved fashion of breaking
down the barriers between him and a
financial institutions strong box, he
can pick up some very valuable point
ers from Smiley at a very reasonable
cost.
But the safe cracking is only one of
the incidents-and its newness is its
chief charm, besides the fact that the
hero is previously chucked into the
vault that he may smother to death
surely latter day scheme to slay in
itself novel. There is the other les
son, in railroad wrecking, which pos
sibly some of the many enemies that
the Southern Pacific seems to have
around Burbank will find to their lik-
ing. This gang of Days doesn't throw
switch, pull up f1shplates, or remove
rail. 1t looses car of dynamite
from a siding on the main line and
leaves the train to come on it's un-
suspecting course, with a great blow
| up as the seemingly inevitable conse-
quence. Isn't that thrilling and de-
lightful? Really, it proved so entranc-
ing that it pulled the Oldest denizen
of the Grand right out of his plush
| lined seat, and sent the echoes OF the
misses forth to drown the salvation
army cornets on the far corner.
| From this brief mention of a few OF
the many incidents of the Day brand
of thriller, it will be readily seen that
there is much of moment in the play
Indeed, it is wonder that Day doesn't
do more of them; he could back his
conferes clear off the map If he could
keep up this lick.
OF course Day has injected a con-
siderable leaven of comedy, and while
broad, it is generally very good and
especially clean. Then there is the
mistaken loyalty of the heroine. the
mistaken identity of the soubrette, the
mistaken honesty of the burglar and
the mistaken wickedness of the old
man, but these are bit shopWorn and
are not really of the rare vintage that
his other stunts may be considered
Still, they afford opportunity for the
consistent plot to work itself out
serve to keep the audiences on the
lump, and add to the gaiety or tense
ness of the situation as the case may
be, and thus have their part in the
legitimate whole. Taken altogether, it
is doubtful if the Grand has presented
so variegated and colorful play for
these many days.
Most of the action of the Day spasm
falls to the men.
Charles Gum is good as Courtrain,
secret service detective who is the
most consummate Johnnie-on-the-sp
of the age Leslie King is properly
emotional as John Gresham, the old
man; and Lee C. Bell and Arthur Hill
are good as his coconspirators. H. j.
Wheeler is fine as Ned Latimer, and
se, io1
Frank F'rayne and his wife make a
most happy old negro couple and
Joseph de Grasse does a conscientious
bit of work as Smiley. Florence
Barker is we'll cast as Margaret,
Myrtle Selwyn is delicious as Nellie,
Lillian Hayward is again lost in the
grande dame role of Mrs. Gresham,
and a few minor players fill out salts
factorily. A special word is due the
scenic artists. who portray the George
town loop particularly well.