Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-10

Daniel voorhees, PIX $500. Henry HAN
The Grand Duke Vasili Vasilivitch. go.
Charles ID. Herman
The Earl OF Hawcastle ..-...,--...."
The Hon. Aimerio st. Aubyn go,
...""."."...'..... Ivan r.. simpson
IXanodf .cs William Corbett
W. Leonard Howe
Ribiere ................. Eugene MCCLELLAN
Mariana ........""...".. Albert Roccardi
Micnele .................., ANTONIO OllNleri
LIST Carabiniere ..........A Alfredo Della Velle
"a Carablniere .....,...s-.. Gerraro Clbelli
Sd Carabiniere ............. Alfredo Ferrari
Ethel Grsnger-Simpsop .... Rosina Henley
Comtesse de Champigny ....Lou'se Beadet
Lady Cheech Maggie Holloway Fisher
When the luck is against you. when your
opponents nave made a grand slam and
your fair partner at bridge is en- the verge
of tears, you have turned to her with the
consoling remark that chose cards would
play themselves Similarly In "The Man
from Home"-the lines would play them
selves even had they not been allotted 20
so capable a company as WAS seen last
night at the Boyd in the Tarkington-wf-
son play.
TAX a young girl from her Indiana home
at an early age, surround her with a set
of decadent Europeans OF title. impress her
with the effective glamour which pertains
" dAitlNhA AsCbsN a. AAfA VIA AAlt blh
American" really stands for everything
that is raw and crude and vulgar and that
marriage with a nobleman is the summum
bonum of life and you nave the situation
in which Ethel Simpson is found at the
opening Of the play. The heroine thus en-
meshed in the net of a titled lot OF black
guards is about to marry the Hon. Almeric
ST. Aubyn, heir of the earl of Hawcastle
when 1.-The man from home" arrives on the
scene.
1t is an effective piece Of stagecraft to
contrast a virile midwestern American
with the European whited sepulchres and
when lines are put in his mouth which will
appeal of their own substance, it is no
wonder that an audience grows more and
more enthusiastic over the character.
Hearty applause for instance greeted the
following lines:
The Grand Duke-You are proud of
your country?
Daniel Voorhees, Pike-well. for arch
i~tecture and sanitation, I wouldn't trade
our state insane asylum for the worst
ruined ruin in Europe.
1t must be added, however, that the
patriotism of the principal character is
neither blatant nor SNUG, but is the FIX
preston of genuine love for the best
that is American, and particularly west
ern American; for American vigor and
enterprise, for the spirit that prefers
energy and honesty to the Incidence and
the lack OF self-respect which will per-
NIT a foreigner to be maintained by his
I wife's dot. The grand duke says to
Pike:
But you nave no nobility in America"
NO" answers the Kokomo lawyer.
over there, If a man won't work for
money he has at least got to show en-
ergy enough to steal It."
These lines are significant Of the whole
spirit of the play and the message of the
vigorous young American authors who
wrote it,. The repartee which just pre-
coded this exchange is also worth quot
ing. The same grand duke says to Pike,
You have no leisure class in America"
and the hero answers
We'll, we nave a pretty considerable
colored population.
Pike, played by Henry Hall, is, Of course,
rebuffed in his efforts to get Ethel Granger
Simpson. who is, by the way, his ward. to
break off the match and therefore re-
fuses to consent to the financial settle
ment which the fiancee and his father in
sist on. This produces the desired COM
| plication and clash of human wills which
most critics insist is essential to a good
drama.
In act III Pike produces Ivanoff confront
ing the guilty friend and his paramou with
the man whom they betrayed and sent to
Siberia. The grand duke gets a pardon by
wire from st. Petersburg for Ivanoff and
all would be we'll did not Miss Simpson
still consider herself bound by her pledge
to St. Aubyn.
In the last act, Pike. greatly to her sur
prise and pain, says he will now agree ia
the marriage, settlement, and all, and
when her brother, who favored the mar.
riage until the expose, protests vigorously
Pike answers:
II am crossing my Rubicon, and when
you are crossing a Rubicon you want to
cross: not wade out to the middle and get
- from both sides"
st. Aubyn, however. manages to turn q
searchlight on the murky depths of his
character and the girl announced hersel.
released. Those who had all along a sneak.
ing conviction that the-Man from Home
would ultimately capture the young
woman's hand find thmselves justified in
the belief.
Partly by excellence Of acting and partly
because the role is so what actors cal
Fat" Henry Hall as Pike held the center
of the stage most of the evening. Charlie.
ID. Herman, suave and dignified as tn,
grand duke, and william Corbett as Ivan
off, also seized the favor Of the audience
Harrington Reynolds played the earl and
played it well, but was Of course too mucf
of a villain to be Thoroughly liked. Sim.
ilarIy, Ivan Simpson as the dull-witted, Eel
what st. Aubyn.
OF the women, Miss Henley made &
sweetly girlish Ethel and II she sometime!
seemed to lack vigoT, 1t was partly be
cause of the insipidity of the role. Mis-
Beadet and Miss Fisher were effective IL
their parts. THE Man from Home" will
run through Wednesday evening, with
matinee that day.
A the KruE.