The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-04
The OCTOPUS STAGED AGAIN
THE GREAT JOHN CANTON
THREE YEARS TOO LATE.

dhLE u E.1Ho GOO LATE.
George Fawcett In the Name Part Almost
Oyercomes by Fine Acting weak.
nesses OF the PIot-An unnecessar,
fourth Act WIN . Misplaced Laugh.
If George Fawcett as actor, Bart
ley Manners As playwright and Arthur
j Eddy as novelist could have COM
bined their energies some two or three
years ago, before all the other enter
prising actors. playwrights and novelists
in the country had taken q turn at the
Octopus, their joint effort. -The Great
John Canton produced last night at
the Lyric Theatre, might have been a
sensation, As it was comparisons, while
not odious, were certainly obvious. The
Joint authors may thank MIR. Fawcett
for their success. The play is 30 dis
tinctly a n character piece and Mr..
fawcctt is 90 born to play that character
that without him the much used situations
and the frequent weaknesses Of the plot
would have caused the whole thing to
come very near falling apart.
Some day some one will attack the
Octopus from a new standpoint. He will
write II play without a beautiful girl
in love with the Son and Heir, who boards
the lion in his den, tells him a few plain
truths and 50 wins his respect and esteem
that the last curtain finds him saying
the Bless you, my children" that he has
sworn never to utter. But Mr.. Manners
and Mr., Eddy have done none Of these
things, The young girl says all the
things she has been saying for the last
three years and the malefactor OF great
wealth listens and is convinced by all
she says.
John Canton is the prince of the Chicago
Stock Yards, who has built up an enormous
business and fortune by the business
methods of his day, the business methods
that he found there and that he turned
to his own uses. His son, whom he hopes
10 have succeed him, has. together with
the Young man who aspires to be his SON.
in-law. fallen under the influence OF now
business ideas, ideas that would eliminate
graft. Also. what is much more serious.
he has fallen in love with the daughter Of
Canton = dearest enemy. a maj whom he
drove 70 ruin and suicide In revenge for
an attempt to drive him to similar des-
peration,
In a bad speculation the son loses a
large sur Of money which. however, the
father makes good. but on the condition
that the son will either give up the girl
or leave the business and all
his prospects. The son chooses to stick
to the girl. 1t is at this junoture
that the girl and old Gdnton have
their exchange OF courtesies. lin the
midst Of which comes the report that the
con has been wounded by rioting strtk ers.
The fourth act settles everything beau
tifully by having old Canton on the point
of q serious surgical operation. and In
the goodness Of his heart turning over the
entire business to his son and exhorting
the girl to be good to the boy.
The strength Of the play is principally
in its good acting. Its weakness Is chiefly
in the idea Of the hatred that John Canton
bears for the family Of his dead enemy
Jim Heating. Men like John Gdnton dc
not hate like that. Jim ksoting had tried
10 do him and had failed. Ganton had re-
taliated and had succeeded. The score
was closed. John Gantons do not 90 or
hating men they nave crushed out Of Their
lives. They forget them. Throughout
the play the motive for the bitterness that
caused John Ganlon almost TO ruin his
owl son was unoonvincing. It never
seemed big enough for the size OF the mar
whom II moved.
One wonders why Mr., Manners thought
it necessary to have a fourth act. He
added nothing to his play; on the con
trary, gave 1t an ending that weakened
it all, and besides last night 1t gave the
opportunity for that theatrical calamity
a laugh in the wrong. place. How any
responsible person could have permitted
the young man supposed to be the sur
geon's assistant to appear on the stage IN
the beard he wore passes conjecture
1t was not a situation calling for a laugh,
but 1t got one that would have warmed
Comedians heart.
John Gdnton, as embodied by MIR. Faw-
cett. is the packing house magnate
whether found in Chicago, Kansas City
or Omaha. As II happens he Ia placed
in Chicago. but the type is one Of the
business. not OF place. The play comes
here from Chicago, and the people there
profess o recognize in John Canton a
man who was a pioneer in building up
he packing industry. Mr.. Fawcett o acting
ri the part must have made certain OF the
second and third generation Of several
Chicago families think on their fore
hears. He played the part win q preaoLn
and strength that filed the stage. No
one else had much of a chance when he
was on. so completely did he. by the mar
hat he created. hold the interest OF the
audience. He succeeded In creating a mar
who could really have done all the things
that John Gunton had accomplished.
The characters Of the two young stock
yards men. Will denton and Allan Borldn.
played respectively by A. II. Va
Buren, and Jack Webster. were about
what you would expect the second gen
Grafton I be, with h convictions OF
conventionality and not OF character.
A pleasing bit was the part Of Bropn-
ing, the confidential clerk. played by
Frederick Burton. Mr.. Burton gave
the clerk a sense Of humor which saved
him from being colorless.
The part Of Nay Redtino, tthe girl with
whom young Canton was In love, wss
played by Miss Laurette Taylor 90 I'M
evenly that the value OF her work wss
almost lost. In the scene at the country
club she was excellent. playing the little
owe scene daintily and sincerely. but IN
the heavier requirement OF the scene with
Old Canton in his Office she fell short OF
The emotional possibilities.
The minor parts were all well taken. Ed
ward Emery was q most sympa thetio VII
lain, Miss Jane Peyton a striking villain
ness, who. however. could hardly convince
one that she really possessed all the
destinations she claimed. One would
Ike 70 have sAen more of Miss Joeephine