Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-22


cover a multitude OF disappointment In
a box office way. but whatever the lot
tunes of THE Warrens of Virginia may
be outside New York city, there can DE no
minimizing the triumph scored oy FRANK
keenan, in "a character picture whose
equal has not been seen in this city since
j.. S. Willard appeared as Col. New
combe. Studied down to the hnest DETAIL
it marks with delicate distinction the d'l-
ference between acting as an arr anu ACT
ing as a means of diversion Mr. heenah
proceeds with his delineation in DELHI
crate manner which would be Impossible
with q PLAYER who did not know intutive-
ly the precise moment when interest mas
reached it's climax and WEAKNESS Is IN
danger of taking its place
The Warrens'' again reveals Mr.. Be
lasco at his best as a stage director. The
production is distinguished by a marvel
Gus mastery of technical detail. The suf
ferings and privations of the civil war are
shown with simple pathos which rings
true. No historian has painted with such
telling clearness the melancholy condi-
tons of that time. Unfortunately. the
plot lacks the intrinsic interest necessary
TO carry the wealth of descriptive mate
rial introduced. 1t starts with familiar
proposition: A northern soldier loves a
southern girl and is compelled in the
course of duty to forfeit her esteem. The
story is not told with clearness, and the
fact that Miss Charlotte Walker is by no
means well cast leaves the entire interest
entirely dependent on the single role
which Mr.. keenan, plays. Yet this one
portraitUre is something to be remembered
with pleasure; something we'll worth wait
ing for through the scenes that lag dur
ing its absence.
What a comfortable comedian Mr.
Crane is! He has a happy faculty of
holding the mirror up to nature in it's
pleaSanter aspects. And there is GER
tain pride in the fact that he finds his
best material in the products of Amer
lean authorship. 1t was when he went to
the French for his play that he placed
before us that sinister and narrowing
creation, M. Lechat, heartless financier
whose own son is made the instrument of
his punishment 1t was unpopular but it
added something to the already great
critical respect Mr.. Crane enjoyed 1t
proved him resourceful player who could
II
has so often charmed and present a pic
ture of profound though terrifying quail
ity.
But Mr.. Crane is at his best in a play
like Father and the Boys whose home
~ title conveys at the first glimpse the
unaffected genuinenesS of its humor. Mr.
George AIDE is one of our Peter Pan au-
thors who refuse TO grow up. His sympa-
thy with youth, plain, wholesome Amer
lean youth, is intense and ineffaceable. If
he lives to be a centenarian he will no
doubt still be found whooping it up with
the rah-rah boys and making sly digs at
the foibles of the old folks.
Mrs. Wigs of the Cabbage Patch is
another example of the manner in which
solid substance survives all sorts of fads
1t goes serenely on, saying in it's own
homely phrases things that were common
knowledge to philosophers in the days OF
Scion or Epictetus and Turing auditors
into a mood of thorough, unpretentious
optimism. Mrs. Wigs has helped to solve
more human problems than all the char
acters of IbSen and his imitators put to-
gether. Every tour she makes is good
muscular boost for the national uplift
One OF the best functions of the stage is
10 assist widely separated elements of So
ciety toward better understanding. and
this play accomplishes that end finely,
though perhaps unintentionally.
PHILANDER JOHNSON.
DOCkSTADER'S DAUGHTER-If
there is one thing more than another
that gives Lew Dockstader reason
for feeling especially proud it is the
daughter of the household. Mildred, who
has made great progress in art and for
whom great future has been predicted
by the art colony of New York She is
the apple of the comedians eye and there
is never day OF his life when he is
obliged TO be away from home that he
does not either write her a letter or send
telegram. Miss Mildred will pursue
her studies in New York for few years
more. and then she and her mother will
go abroad.
Miss Dockstader is described as very
stunning young miss, with her mothers
beauty and her fathers wit Her parents
do not exactly understand where her tai
ent for painting and sketching in black
and white came from. but this is due to
their sense OF modesty. as Mrs. Dock
stader IS known in her circle as an
artist or no mean pretenSions in water
color. and the clever Lew has not only
proved himself an artist in his work on
the stage. but has given evidence of
unusual ability in other artistic lines by
designing the scenery. costumes and all
the incidentals of the big production
he makes annually.
AN OLD-SCHOOL ACTOR.-There are
good many wrong notions still eXtant
about the stage and its people But
surely one of the most fallacious is the
suspicion frequently encountered that.
however nice many players may be-
all are more or less snowy in their
private life
T. NJ. Holland. who is now playing in
support of Wilton Lackeye. is fine
refutatiOn of such a mistaken idea
Though for many years q star in his
own right he reappears this time merely
a member OF an excellent cast. Scholar
as we'll as artist in the best sense. this
sterling actor has been practicing his deli
cate and difficult craft reverenty for
more than thirty years. His courtesy,
like his kindiness is unfailing and his
modesty far from being assumed. is
worn Edwin Booth wore his. with
great dignity and continuously.
+. NJ. Holland belongs to the real
aris;ocracy of the American theater.
The Hollands. like the Drews the Daven-
ports, the Booths and the Barrys date
back to the stately epoch of the drama
in Philadelphia. Boston and New York
day when the players of rank were an
important part of the social life in those
cities especially PHILADELPHIA and Ros.