Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-07
GOOD AND BAD IN
BELASCO ACTING
POOR WORK IN MINOR ROLES
DETRACTS FROM PLAY
FRANK (. CAMP DISTINGUISHES
HIMSELF AMONG NEWCOMERS
la Petite Revue and Eleanor Gordon's
Sketch Act Are Best New Things
on the orpheum
Bill

'The squaw Man." a drama IN four acts,
BY Edwin Milton Royle, produced under the
direction of Harry Andrews by the Belasco
stock company Monday evening, Sept 6
THE CAST
Henry wynnegate, earl of Kerhill. 500.
Charles Giolyn
Diana his wife. ....... Miss That's Magrane
Lady Elizabeth Wynnegate. his mother
Observation-Disclosures. Miss Ida Lewis
Lady Mabel Wynnegate, his sister
.....-............. Miss Adele harrington
Captain james Nynnegate, afterwaTd
"Jim Carston" .......,.... Lewis stone
Rev Belchazzar Chswiclk. the earl's
secretary. ,...........-...- Stanley twist wis,
AIaicom Petrie, his solicitor. j. X. Applebee
sir John Applegate. Richard Vivian
The bishop of Exeter. Harry Andrews
Mrs Hobart Observation-Disclosures Jones,
an American. Miss Grace Gardner
Big Bill. ............... william I. freeman
shorty. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Harry spear
Andy .,....-.-.........''. '0ohn F. t,o Sook
Gro1chy. 49,. -, 'ool"cs Otii"'i
(Cow punchers on Jim Carston's raneh)
RacO white an interpreter. JAS. Gay Usher
Tabwana, chief of the Utes. Lewis Morrison
Nat-u-rich, his daughter .....-. .....
49, ........ Miss Margaret Langham
Little Hal, her son. .......... .Bebe Danieis
Cash Hawkins, rustler and bad man.
..........,-......... Frank Il. Camp
Nick, the barkeep. ......... Charles Ruggles
Mcsorley, engineer of the Overland
Parker. conductor of the Limited. 49,.
..................... Ralph Russeil
Pete, a gambler ....... Charles Frederieks
The Parson. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Elmer Clifton
Punk, Chinaman n........... Arthur Ford
Mrs. Hiram DOOlittle, from Vermont
Observation-Disclosures Miss Jessie Norman
Hiram Doolittle ........... Philip l.. bhite
Bud Hardy, sheriff ....... William Harris
Clark his deUutV j. NJ, GaSLlemAu
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE
There are but two kinds of plays,
broadly speaking. One is like puz-
zle, to which you know the solution d
few moments after the curtain rises on
the first act, but are interested to dis.
cover how it is to be obtained. The
other kind is like perilous and wind
ing road, which you follow without q
hint of the goal until a few moments
before the final curtain, when sudden
detour reveals the denouement.
1.-The Squaw Man" which helped cell
ebrate Labor day, the return of Lewis
S. Stone as leading man and the fifth
anniversary of the Belasco theater last
night, resembles the puzzle play. You
know from the moment you see Cap
tain Jim" talking to Diana in the
first act that the playwright has de-
signed them for each other. And you
wonder, as the action takes Captain
Jim off over the ocean to America
bearing the unmerited stigma of theft
how on earth Edwin Milton Royle is to
bridge a dozen conventions and as
many hard facts and bring them to-
gether in wedlock. You wonder the
more when Jim marries pretty In
dian girl, who has saved his life and
borne him a son. But you know 1t
will happen some way, if not in the
play itself, at least in the dim, vaguely
imagined action which succeeds its
actual climax.
In the fourth act, when troubles be-
gin to hedge the path of the Indian
wife, you see a great light She must
be put away in some way, and as her
big, pleading eyes fill with tears at
the thought of sending away her little
son. to grow into the dignity of an Eng
Iish earl it becomes plain that she must
die There are moments when it ap-
pears that she will be hanged for the
murder of Jim's enemy, but at the last
moment, in a scene of very deep and
real pathos, she ends her life. 1t strikes
home-undeniably. If you are not
case hardened you will weep. But un-
derneath there turks the conviction
I0aL IL WAS necessary lOl lllt oOidAAO4l
of the puzzle. Diana must have Jim,
now that her husband is conveniently
dead and buried. To that end Nat-U-
Rich, child of nature, must be sui
eide. 1t is not suicide, properly speak
ing. It is an execution, and the play
wright is the reluctant hangman.
This is not to say that "The Squaw
Man" is not a great play. It's prede-
termined end has much of the inevi-
table quality which inheres in the old
Greek tragedies, It's griefs and joys
are simple and real. Its climaXes are
proof of excellent workmanship. Its
very tragic close we feel is necessary
but we rebel at the necessity, as we
rebel at the cruel end of Tess in the
Hardy novel. It Is the necessity OF
art, and not of life.
The art of the Boyle play lies in the
logical net Of circumstance which
strangles the life out of Nat Rich
II is mastery, and it would be per-
feet were it not for the memory of the
opening scene. with its prefguring in
dication of the playwrights intention
When we forget this. and think only
of the Immediate issues at stake, al
is as terribly real as the rugged noun
tains in the background. But the APP
pearance of Diana in the last two acts
recalls US to the exigencies of dramat-
ic construction, and we remember We
are looking at a play, and not al
reality.
There were many things about the
Belasco production last night tha
pleased, and some which disappointed
Mr.. Stones assumption of the princi-
pal role did both. He visualized tn,
part excellently throughout, except fol
presenting too pale a complexion il
the last three acts to convince us III
was a genuine rancher. The linei
were well recited, and in the Gilman
of the third act, as ne cried my wife
in answer to the questions of the fam
lily solicitor, the emotional effect was
real and poignant Yet during th
greater part of the early action, ant
some of the later, Mr.. Stone seemed
barely to touch the surface of tn
character
In the bar room scene his worl
lacked vitality. Even when he haC
Cash Hawkins at a disadvantage, i
was Cash who held our attention. no
Jim. Throughout the early action Mr.
for the happy go-lucky Englishman h,
was impersonating. Later, as tn,
brunt of the impending tragedy seemed
to weigh upon him, his portrayal tool
on more Vigor, and his acting in thi
last scene was effective and at mo
ments dominant. But the strength wa
spasmodic rather than consistent, ant
at times even more self-conscious thar
the -elation of a fiattering popular re
ception could excuse.
Of the others, a true and appealing
bit of work was done by Margare
Langham as the Indian girl and a su
49, N~tA . Fsal