The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1907-03-05
Play Proves Popular
Though Interest IS
Spread Thin.

The only novelty I'm town this week
/ is The Squaw Man" at the National
/ And so Tar as William Faversham and
Julie Epp. Blanche Morrison. Frederick
/ Watson. Harold Russell. and, perhaps,
| ". L Hart. are concerned. it leaves
! nothing 10 be desired. The play, che
! haIf-dozen leading parts with a sinceri-
/ ty. ease. and restraint that carries. con-
/ viction.
The Squaw Man" written by Edwin
/ Milton Royle, is an American melo-
] drama. with an EEglishman for its hero
/ II tells OF a younger son" who hnos
/ himself in love with his cousins wife
about The time that he discovers that
| his cousin is an embeZZler. To save
| the woman ne loves from the knowledge
Of her husbands betrayal Of trust md
/ incidentally. TO save "the family from
! dlshonor. he runs away. 70 America. Of
course, leaving II 10 De inferred that
Il Is lac who is guilty He gets out TO
| Wy oming, where they accept younger
sons as divinely appointed 70 relieve the
! stringence OF Western communities ~
[ buying worthless ranches and salt
mines, and fall. IN with pretty indian
maid who forms the habit Of saving
his life at regular intervals until ne
marrles her. Then when the wicked
earl dies. ard he might go home with
his name cleared, and the girl OF his
heart waiting for him. he is held ny
loyalty 10 his Indian wife and love IoT
ner half Indian child.
Mr.. Faversham plays his melodramat!c
part quietly. easily. most unmelodra-
maticalIy. He plays It with modesJy
and manliness that make II human and
| possible. with reticence and sincerity
that make II sympathetic. His halo as
a hero IS not obtruded
Harold Russell, as foreman Of the
ranch. is a real, live human being. His
! humor is easy and unfOrced' his con
| ceptiOn OF his part is not taken from
a comic supplement, for which one feels
/ grateful 10 nm. Frederick Watson does
about the best Acknowledgment Indian
| that is-that the stage has seen II Is
not a big part in the matter OF INES
; In fact. he is supposed to-and the pro
gram says he dOes-speak enGrely ~
| the Ute language. But his makeup Is
/ marvellous II is hard 70 believe thal
this is a white man masQuerading, ano
so far as one can judge, he gets as
, thoroughly into the Indians mind aS
I he does into his skin and costume.
| ROsabeI Morrison, as the little lndiai
wife acts the part admirably. especlall,
| in the last act, in her bewnoermeht all'
pain at the sending of her boy nome .
| he educated to the position and title ~
lis heir to: but she does not, Il seems Z
, me. quite look the part Julie Opp is at
tractive enough In the nTst act 10 IuI
nish a plausible motive for the sent
| mental sacrifice which eNileS Jim, anC
! yIavs her not very large part with IN
charm Of sympathy and tenderness
which is all and more THAI all IL de
mands. Mr.. Hart, as Cash HAWKINS
bad man. has brief but Plcturesqu
? career. extending through the secon'
act and plays his part for all II /
: Indeed. as a whole The Squaw Man
Y | is capitally acted, but somehow IN HI
: play. il seems to me, Mr.. Royle ha
! missed fire-and goodness knows. 1
Z ! was not for want of guns The trou
{ BILE probably is that he originally WTot
}. il as a little one-act playlet, which
I | presumably held the really convincini
K and appealing situation OF the thlrC
4 ! act-that of young Englisnman afte
q years of honest struggle, a failure II
r a far land lonely and yearnlng 70
home. told that he can go home, clea
Q his name and eventually marry IN
: woman he loves; full of -isiOns OF tn
n old country, dreaming deans Of VIVA
1 he will do suddenly v-Akened 70 pres
. ent realities By his child running on
: to him, by his Indian wife sienu.
crossing the Goor yard; and realizing
that not CnIy must he stay, but tia
he must s nd the child-the one ray o
sunshine n his gray lotto Engian'
and be br ought up ami the advantage
to which the future tad OF his lam
II IS a situation to tug at any hear
= strings, an episode out OF which Nj
RoyIe presumably made a capital littl
: tabloid melodrama. But when he ha
TO stretch IL out to a four-act play. an
did Il by injecting huge chunks or a.
mOsphere"-English and American-an
local color" laid on apparently with
= palette knife. he rather spoiled things.
: In all that il Is play that is likel
=, TO be popular. and deservedly so. thong
IS It win irritate some by It's unrealize
y possibilities. The audience last nigf
" evidently liked it-liked 1t so wei, tina
- enthusiasm dubbed over and demande
- Il speech at the end of the secon ac
II instead OF waiting till the real cris
OF the third. And THE Squaw Man
a, himself. as presented by Mr. Favershan
- is a vivid, stirring figure, rarely al
pealing and rarely convincing:
NJ. Med.