Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-01
RECONSTRUCTION
DRAMA IS STRONG
EXCELLENT CAST IN MASON
PRODUCTION
PLAY REEVES PoST-8ELLUM
PROBLEMS
Franklin Richie Gives Good Por=
trayaI of Leading Role of Ben
cameron-characte Parts
Well Played

THE CLANSMAN," an American play by
Thomas Dixon, jr; from his two famous
novels THE Leopards Spots" and The
THE CAST
Rev Ephraim Fox, negro exhOrter.
n,o, All, .,,nnod hit onar aT 'oniSo"
.............. John }. Flanagan
Aleck, the sheriff of Ulster. ...........
.................. George NJ. De We're
Nelse, an Old-fashiOned negro. .........
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. Barry Maxwell
Judge wallace, OF the old regime.
Observation-Disclosures. Franklin Ayling
Gus, of the Black guard Joseph L. Sweeney
Eve, Nelse's wife. .....: Maude Durand
Austin StOneman, the radical leader
Observation-Disclosures. M. j. Jordan
Dr. Richard Cameron, conservative
..................... Gage Bennett
Flora, his daughter Claire Mersereau
Nellie Graham, "a daughter of the south
..-.................-. ruth hart
Elsie Stoneman ......... Eugene Hayden
Helen Lowell, her schOOlmate. Edna Davis
Ben Cameron, the Clansman. ......
Franklin Richie
silas Lynch, lieutenant governor of
South Carolina ...... Charles j. Wilson
William Pitt Shrimp, governor of south
General Nathan b. Forrest, grand wizard
of the Khan ....... Mortimer Il. Richie
WI HETHER it is justifable to
w arouse old antipathies either
science is a question. 1.-THE Clansman,"
which opened for week at the Mason
last night, is such a strong play that
you are sure to find yourself for the
time being at the least, on the side of
the author, and to regard the negro
problem as a menace looming near
and dangerous. The audience last
evening was so completely in line
with the anti-abolitionist sentiment OF
the play that it Kissed the carpet
baggers like a big steam valve with
leak. and after the play anyone who
would stand up to a bar and proclaim
that he was a "suth'un gentleman
could have had anything in the town.
Possibly if the south only knew it,
northerners have about the same views
on the negro problem as the southern
ers. They admit that it is a pressing
one, that utilization between the two
races is unthinkable, and they con-
tribute their share of retribution for
negroes who commit crimes. THE
Clansman" seems to disregard this and
in going back to reconstruction days
places the northerners in the position
of champions of the negro in his worst
qualities. There is but little to be &C
complished in unwilling the horrors
which THE Clansman" portrays. We
know enough of them. The only prob
lem now is what is to be done with the
negro. 1.-THE Clansman" offers no sug-
geStion
Uses Material Well
With the southerners' native grasp
of the theatrical and nelodramatic,
Mr.. Dixon has made a strong play.
In the clasl4 between the irreconclable
hatred between the southerners and
the leaders of the Black league, in the
midnight meetings of the Ku KluX
khan, in the Vaccinations of the po-
litical leaders, he is provided with
ample material and he uses it power
fully There is a masterful massng of
details in the summation of emotional
efforts, the laws of the gradual devel-
Opment of dramatic intensity are fol-
lowed with faithful eXactneSs and the
characters are drawn with clairvoyant
clearness.
Mr.. Franklin Ritchie's Ben Cameron
is at times exceedingly strong and at
times commonplace. The cave scene
is doubtful. There is such an album
dance of material for effect that pos
sibly too much is expected. The diff
ficulty is partly with the author. when
a mans sister has been killed by
black beast and the crime has been
confessed he does not proclaim ven
geance and order sentence in the code
of a weird ritual. He gets his hands
on the throat Of the man who has
committed a. crime.
Maude Durand as Eve, the old negro
"mammy," could not be improved
upon Miss Durand is admirable in
the part Ruth Hart as Nellie Gra-
ham, a daughter, is SO charming that
il is difficult to believe that she is
really only acting. Eugene Hayden,
in the more ambitious role of Elsie
Stoneman, is technically superior to
Miss Hart, and adds to her personal
attractions, which are many, unde-
niable skill in the portrayal of a part
which requires much fine shading of
moods.