Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-19

Sal ............,.......!... Merle Madden
Hosie Huobel .i..:h".s.'..!. May Barton
Name Marsh ............. Winifred Voorhees,
mrs. Sprett ....""...'..-" Merle Maddern
MIS- baXter ''''''""'..at . .Gllda varesl
Mrs. Mellen .........-... Margaret Anderson
Mrs. Phellen ...............M Marion Swayne
JennIe Corlnne tOru
Mamie .n...... Marion Davis
The realism of salvation Nell' is terri
BILE as truth itself. II may be seriously
questioned II any good purpose is served
by showing such sordidness to those who
know Of it only by hearssy. That open
ing scene in Sid McGovern's tough saloon
has been repeated thousands of times
perhaps millions, and viii be. II may be
Offered in support of its presentation at
all that it Is essential to the artistic SYM
metry OF the story as subsequently de-
veloped. The argument is the redeeming
power of love; the mstery of love is
greater than the mystery of death" and
Nell Sanders clings to Jim Platt Just as
he does to her, because back of it all is
that something that subsists between a
man and a woman that is beyond analysis,
that defies reason. that battles questioning.
1t is the something that leads the woman
to give up all. everything on earth, un-
questioning and without reserve to the
man, and that leads the man to come back
and back again to claim his own. 1t is not
a new thought; 1t permeates everywhere,
and whether the scoffer admits II or not,
daily proof is given OF It's potency, and
wonankind and mankind are very much
alike at the bottom. THE colonel's lady
and Judy Brady are sisters under their
skin" and. by that same token, the colonel
and Tommy Atkins are brothers when
stripped of their uniforms,
Admitting the potency OF love; It led
| Nall Sanders dnufn m qCrVhhinU fha floors
at Sid McGovern's tough saloon-although
Mrs. Fiske suggests rather than actually
performs the mental labor ascribed to her
position. II also led her to bodily fidel-
ity TO a man who was about as worthless
a loafer as ever spent tie price Of a wom-
ans soul for drink. And 1t redeemed
them both: the woman turned TO the shell
ter offered by the Salvation Army, for 1t
was that or Madame Coquette's place, and
she realized that soon she would be called
on to pay in the pains Of motherhood the
price OF her love. Perhaps It was some
higher motive, but this is the apparent
reason that turned her to the means that
wrought in her the change which made
Salvation Nell out OF the scrub woman.
And out of this grows the conditions that
bring home to Jfn 'PRtt 'the thought that
he wants Nell more than he wants any
thing else In the world, and to get her
he must give over his Ideas Of life in any
but honest ways, and in this we see the
apotheosis of human love, with a tinge
of the saving grace of divine love. Yet
all of this has been shown us at othcr
times and in other ways. far more pleas
ant TO behold than is this picture from the
lowest walks of life.
These objections are not the outburst OF
prudery. nor do they spring from any hypo-
critical pretense that such things Go not
exist, The fact of their existence is only
too we'll known. but many other things
are known to exist that are not paraded
on the stage. That the theater is no place
for a clinic of any sort has been urged
many times before. and will be a~gain-and,
more's the pity, clinics will still be held
on the stage.
But what's the use of arguing this point
here? Mrs. Fiske has taken up the play
definitely, and is giving II her serious at
~tention. She illuminst ties the character OF
Nell Sanders with the light Of her genius
for seeking out the soui-nature of whatever
woman she strives to delineate. and the
fidelity she brings 20 her portrayal Of Leah
of Mary. of Rebecca, of any of her many
roles, she gives to this. She shows Nell
Sanders, a soul w%allowing in the lowest
of social morasses; nothing could we'll be
below the position of scrub woman at g
saloon like Sid McGovern's, with the addi'
tional degradation of being mistress to ths
apparently lowest loafer around the saloon
and she shows us the rise of that soul, till
It stands triumphant. redeemed from thi
physical and moral squalor of its earlier
surroundings and rejoicing in the approach
OF happiness that would shut out the past
II is in It's way a psychological study al
earnest as thar Of Rebecca West, though
not comparing with it ir Importance. rh'
woman OF the Ibsan drama was a woman
worth while, although she brought destruc
ton to herself and her lover; Nell Sander
is also a woman worth while. and she
brings salvation TO herself and to her lover
But just as Rebecca West typifies thu
intellectual, so Nell Sanders stands for III,
physical; Rosmer was a weakling, am
could not grasp his happiness. but jim
Plat gains strength from the woman h,
loves and does, All these and many kin
bred thoughts are suggested by Mrs
Fiske's building up of the part.
Holbrook Blinn is a Jim Plat worthy o
the Nell Sanders of the star. IL Is not sur,
that he does not at times impress nlrlssl
more extensively on the picture than sh,
does. II is perhaps the correct peTspeotiv,
that he should. He is the brute man. with
out gloss or refinement. She's me goil
an l means TO have her, is his argument
II is not fine sense Of chivalry that lead
him to strike down Al McGovern; IT is tn.
brute instinct of possession, the assertion
OF property rights, and 1t is this that lead
him to pursue her TO the very end, unit
that last tragic moment. when. humble
in spirit and c~ontrite in heart, unable L
say goodbye TO the woman he loves, h
stands before her and in broken words ask
her to meet him after the meeting insid
the barracks. and she rewards him by ask
ing him to stay, for she wants him to g
home with her that night. 1t is a fin
portrayal Mr.. Blinn gives OF the characte
in its moral progression ana physical retro
gression. Tn great good natured. bullying
hunk OF a man who killed another witt
blows from his fist. comes home from
prison. broken in strength, full of bitts
resentment, and actuated by one desire
To get his girl" and flee from the un
friendly surroundings Of his youth. AM
she holds him here and overcomes his 5rut
nature and leaves the final impression tina
he is about to enter on a life of usefu
endeaVoP The whole IA finely Iona