Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04
AS TO 40" IN LOW COMEDY

An American Indian, employed In
scenes and situations of comic gro
tesquerie, is an important character in
"Lo," the musical comedy in prepara-
tion by Franklin p. Adams and o. Hen
ry, as to libretto, and A. BALDWIN
Sloane, as to music. His being a col
lege-bred Indian recalls the first and
only previous attempt to use the type
for comic purposes by native play
wright--a light opera called big Pony,
the Gentlemanly Savage" produced IN
1887 In New York city by n. {. Good
win. Among that actors advertising
devices are frames OF photographs
showing him in various roles OIL Ihe
past, and one pictures Goodwin as Big
Pony, attired in faultless evening
clothes-and moecasins! The work was
far ahead of its time, as to its satirlcal
aspect, and failed, though Goodwin
has never been funnier than in his
role of the reclaimed" redskin A. G.
Wheeler was the librettist He was
at the time the most widely read or
our drama-critics. not excepting even
William Winter. He wrote of the stage
under the name of "Nym Crinkle," ,"
and years after he had supposedly re-
tired to private life, he re-emerged as
a writer on nature topics under the
name of "Mobray."
w. S. Gilbert had preceded Wheeler
in the use of the low-comedy indian IN
light opera: but Gilbert's Indians-there
were three of them-were undiluted
savages. The work was Princess To-
to-" now wellnigh forgotten. 1t was
written some time previously to Gill
bert's union with Sullivan, and had a
very pretty score by Fred Clay. Gil
bert and Clay quarreled when the piece
was at the height of its popularity; and
the former, in a characteristic outbreak
the further performance of the work In
Great Britain, and, to make assurance
surer, sought to destroy every copy or
the work then eXtant. Some copies hau,
however, found their way to this coun-
try, where there was not at the time
federal protection TO foreign authors, so
that "Princess Toto" was from time TO
time the subject of revival. Two of the
three Indians were respectively named
Pish-Tush and Pooh Bah-names that
Gilbert afterward employed for two OF
the Titipu noblemen in 1.-The Mikado," ="
i'm the belief that his previous use of
them had been forgotten.
AS a serious or sentimental comic
opera figure the Indian has been more
literally employed. Ihe Bostonlans'
when at the height of the great vogue
that was their lot through the popu-
larity of robin Hood" produced not
fewer than three ambitious operas in
which our aborigines figured conspic-
uously. One was Priscilla" which
made employment of the legend of
John Alden and his vicarious wooing
of the puritan maid another was
known as both "In Mexico" and "A
Wartime Wedding; and the third
was called 1.-the Ogallallas." None OF
the three was successful.
Indeed, American /. playgoers have
shown very little sentimental interest
in the Indian as a stage figure, and
"Strongheart" stands out from long
list of plays as the only one to sue
ceed with an Indian hero. A notable
failure among attempts to stage the
Indian was 1.-THE Redskin," in which
all the characters were aborigines, AS
subsidiary or incidental figures, the
Indian has often served well, both pic
torially and drama tically, as in '"fhe
Octoroon,' 1.-THE Squaw Man" and
"The Girl Left Behind Me-" Paul
Armstrong; 1.-THE Renegade" was a
recent Chicago attempt to give the
red man sentimental value in the
drama. A much better play than
either "The Renegade" or Strong
heart" of cognate theme, called
Northern Lights" failed a decade
before "Strongheart" was tried.