Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-31

] ilG orderly lSnCllluS VI LNo NdNtiN
thieves. was presented at the Majes-
! tic last night by a capable company
| Owen Wister and Kirke La Sale made
an excellent stage version Of the for
mer's novel. Both products fitted the
popular fancy in herotcs like glove,
and the drama in addition VouchsaIes
4 not a little hearty, honest sentiment,
as well as giving. scope for some pow
4 erfui emotional acting.
The one serious fault in last night
. production was the defect of this very
/ quality Cowboys are doubtless bois-
terous These shrieked. Society folk
I in the west have been known to be
! supercilious. one player in the cast
reduced such woman to the verge of
| inanity. Both faults are the sort OF
| thing which rouse US to attention, but
the real acting of the play, the tense
restrained personal power was dlscov-
cred in the third act, where The Nir-
! ginian sees his friend facing the for
est gallows and yet is powerless TO
save him, a cattle thief.
! Here William i. Gibson in the title
role, w. f.. Knibloe as Steve ana
! Charles r. Gilbert as Spanish Ed,
did some noteworthy work, Whlcn
won for them repeated calls at the ian
of the curtain. Both Mr.. Gibson and
! L =
ter throughout, holding our interest,"
from act to act and making very real
what in sober fact very often tar
passed the boundaries of the over
| wrought and hyper-emotional.
Mabel Wright essayed the role OF
! the heroine, Molly Wood She lent
delicate grace and dainty prettiness 10
the part. but at times her voice sank
too low to be heard clearly throughout
| the house At the climaXes, especially
/ in tho last act, her impersonation was
| true ana strong.
| j. r. Furlong as Judge Henry
! Eleanor Wilton in the role of a western
| housewife and most of the supporting
| company gave pleasure. If some OF the
| interpreters of the minor parts would
| rcmemner that melodrama, even at It's
widest, is not precisely farce the net
| total effect would be greatly en-
! hanced.
| or the boards, as in book covers,
| The Virginian" makes a frank appeal
to the heart. The loVe-maklng of
reckless cowboy for the heart of pref
| ty Puritan in itself has the elements
| of a successful drama. When to TINS
! is added the touch of tragedy, and even
| of a problcm involved in the appeal 10
| brute force against border outlaWry,
| we have q play which is certain OF q
definite ard a widespread appeal That
! the present production did not fail OF
| its popular response, the enthusiasm
of last nights reception proYed-an en-
! thusiasm which has not been eXhlplted
in many weeks OF less enjoyable Of
| ferings al the Majestic.
| "All on Account of Eliza" which the
Burbank stock company revived yes
terday afternoon, has all the charac-
teristic virtues and faults of the Leo
| Ditrichstein farce Clever, II some
| times obviously broad dialogue; apt
and accurate characterization; true
and frequently roWdy humor. and
another thoroughly human note which
| its admirers will call frankness, and a
| good many other people, Vulgarlty. II
| is clean enough, as farces go-merely
indecorous at moments, although new
er blatantly or Dervasively so. IL Is
in the relations of warning husbands
and wives that this author shows
certain disposition toward the brutally
| facetious The naturally savage spirit
of farce is it's only palliation.
The first act is as ludicrous a piece
| of farce-comedy as we often see.
Harry Mestayer has moments Whlch
are funnier than Kolb and Dill in his
| impersonation of the old German school
trustee. This worthy withstands
band of village gossips bent on forcing
a pretty young teacher from the city
| TO resign her rural position. The Sos-
| sips happen to be the wives and
| sweetheart respectively. of his fellow
trustees, and there is much devilment
to pay. 1t is at last divulged that the
| young woman was merely kissing
her brother, the latter having run OUT
| from the metropolis in d hurry to see
her. The teacher is acquitted and the
gossips are kissing mad.
| In the last act, which veteran play
| goers may remember for its rather am
ateurish anomaly of a back stage bed
| room magically barred to the gaze OF
| the audience the strands of the plot
are hastily and uproariously adjusted.
| The strange thing about this apart
ment is the fact that the people Of
the play go right through the lmag-
mary wall which, with the play
wrights license, we see through. 1t
seems to be a wall, which isn't there.
and then again it seems to be a ca
pacious window. The only other eX-
PLANTATION is that the jolly old hero OF
| the play is fond of sleeping in the semi
open. He walks around in it so much
in his ancestral nightgown that that is
| not improbable.
! 1t seems as if Leo DitrichStein might
have found a neater and an equally
merry way out of his self-created dl-
lemma But the parlous adventures of
] eliza are now so completely dramatic
history that speculation in this direc-
tion is rather idle The real play ends
1 with the second act We can guess
the rest, and our guess is in some
Ways more refined than Mr. Ditrlchs-
| TENS performance.
! The Burbankers act. very well indeed.
! Miss Nordstrom does her best work
since the opening week of her engage
ment She needs warning OF the peru
of oyeremphasizing the preciseness of
the teachers speech. What should De
| n mere SUGGESTION borders close on af-
| recitation at moments. Mr.. Landau has
a capital part as the village boniface
| with a lingering memory of his one
| visit to New York. He acted it i'll
/ fine character. Miss Taylor gives
faithful and not unpleasing version OF
the shrewish postmistress. Miss Oberle
and Miss Won Waldron differentiate
the other gossips ably. Miss Royce is
the sturdy Della, treated more cruelty
by the playwright than by her agon-
| ized dance The other principal roles
are taken adequately by Messrs. Stock
bridge. Burton, Marks and Dutlield.
Master Pete Clancy turns down an
other chapter in his stage boyhood as
a chivalrous pupil and admirer of the
young teacher
For its first act alone "All on Ac-
| count of Eliza" is enjoyable. There is
abundance of good fun later, but con-
| structiVely one feels that the play
wright is merely marking time after
the climax to act >. The story needs
a barber as badly as the genial Franz
| Hochstuhl