Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-18
BY SIDLE LAWRENCE

By SIDIE La W hENNG
II ENRY ARTHUR JONES play of
ii THE Middleman" was given a
IA dignified and thoroughly delight
tul presentation at the Belasco tneater
last night, with Lewis S. Stone in the
role of Cyrus Blenkarn. first made
known in this country by E. S. Will
lard. Mr.. Stones portrayal Of the
character, both in point of acting and
in personal vraisemblance to type is
nothing short of an achievement. In
my opinion it marks the highest point
yet attained by this actor in his local
career.
Blenkarn is potter, an inventor
with no business ability, who for years
has permitted Joseph Chandler to
amass wealth through his control of
R!enkarn's patents. the man himself
being content with a bare living.
Wealth has for him no attractions.
| He lives but for two things, first TO
make his daughter happy-there are
two of them, but Mary is the fathers
chiefest care-and second, to rediscoVer
lost art in pottery manufacture.
To stir this man out of himself the
dramatist proceeds to array one object
against the other. Mary loves not
wisely but too well. Her lover is Capt.
Julian Chandler, son of her father $
employer. The captain, who has good
stuff in him. would right the wrong,
but his father intervenes. his coun-
tIys service calls him away and he
takes his departure, leaving behind
him a letter addressed to the girl in
which he begs her to join him abroad,
that they may be married. This letter
is intercepted before it reaches her.
Blenkarn the Dreamer
These are the incidents of the first
act, in which Cyrus Blenkarn appears
merely as an incidental character.
Itere he is a dreamer, winning the
respect and interest of the audience
through his love for his daughter and
his enthusiasm for his work. Through
out the act he remains ignorant of the
impending catastrophe which already
has cast its shadow over Mary's life.
In act two the girl, who is living in
the Chandler home. comes to her
fathers shop, as she might naturally
come, 10 pay him visit. She mas
made up her mind to kill herself, and
q conversation with her father serves
only to intensity that purpose. She
plans to save him from a knowledge
OF her wrong and writes letter in
which she explains that she is going
away. Before she can depart, how
ever, Joseph Chandler enters the room
and the collOquy between them, over
heard by Jesse Pegg, a workman in
Blenkarns employ, discloses the truth.
Pei gg tells the father.
Benkarn Aroused
/ In this scene Mr. Stone plays with
! fine art. In the preceding scene with
his daughter he had been all tender
| 10
ence she makes to a village girl who
had died an unhappy death serves to
| show us the sternness of the old in
ventor. Apprised of the disaster that
has overtaken his best loved daughter,
| his tenderness fades, his sternness is
| lost to sight in a bitter sorrow and
! that, in turn, gives way to a longing,
! fierce and implacable, for revenge.
| The curtain descends upon the old man,
! his arms upraised in a frenzied ap-
peal to heaven to give his enemies into
/ his keeping that he may work his will
upon them.
AS Mr.. Stone played it, this climax
was tremendously effective; height
ened by the desolate monotone with
which he had, a few moments before
answered all the overtures of Chandler
senior, who had offered everything in
his power save the one thing the
send for your SOM" he cries. Chandler
temporizes. Then he refuses, but of
fers employment at varying figures
To each of these offers Blenkarn re-
plies duly: But you won't send fol
him; you won't send for him." Chand-
Ter departs and then it is that Blenkarr
: offers up his prayer for revenge.
The Dream Realized
The third act shows the old man a
his pottery kilns, the great discovery
almost in his grasp. His one idea is t
succeed that he may conquer the mal
who has wronged him. Failure threat
ems through the want of fuel. Hi
credit is exhausted and to keep hi
fires burning he breaks up a chair anC
thrusts the debris into the furnace
Men call him mad. and in truth hi
actions are those of madman. A
the last he rakes from the kiln {
shapeless mass; failure. Another; fail
| ure again; and then a bit of pottery
a tiny vase, Whitened, complete. Th'
lost secret has been rediscoVered anC
the inventor i'm what is almost a maud
lin joy hugs the vase to his breast.
In this act Mr.. stone shows incl.
the fierce determination of the old man
the mastery of his one idea i'm al
: moods. He shows that determination
even through what seems the certain
forerunner of failure; and when sue
cess comes the sudden realization OF
lifelong dream is portrayed with mas
terly touch
, 5Ienkarn in Success
In the fourth and final act Blenkan
is depicted as a successful mal
wealthy and respected. He has bough
the Chandler home. de has acquire
control of the Chandler works. Chan
dler comes to him begging for work
and he gives him-charity. But hi
revenge, complete as it is, brings hil
no pleasure; and in memory of hi
dead daughter he finally relents, prom
Using Chandler the position of unde
superintendent in the works of whic
he had formerly been the owner 1
the end Captain Chandler returns
bringing with him his Wife, for Mar
, is not dead, and the daughter rushe
+ into her fathers arms.
In it's outline this last act sound
mawkish, but it is not so as Henr
Arthur Jones has written it, nor
it mawkish as it is played upon tn
Belasco stage.
The company throughout appears I