Omaha daily bee., 1910-05-31
At the Theaters


Eva Lang and company in "Snam," mod
ern comedy OF manners in three acts;
produced under the direction OF Q. ID.
Woodward The cast Of characters;
Katherine Van Ripper. Miss Eva Lang
Clementina Nickers, her cousin ...''';;..;
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Miss Marie Hudson
Mrs. FOrdyce Brown, her aunt.....,;;;..;;,
......................M Miss Kathryn Sheldon
Mrs. Merington, her aunt. ..".........,.
d. .....................Mi Miss Henrietta Vaders
James Fordyce Brown, her uncle
Maud Miss Ethel Valentine
hosey ........................'M Juoltn Iiarl
MISS Leroy MISS Sane
J. Montague Buck. Mr.. Frank Dudley
jeremiah Buck.........Mr Lloyd Ingraham
jacques D'Eauvillc....,:. Mr. Olver Pusn
a WAITER. .............Mr. CLINTON lusuh
Miss Lang and the other Woodward play
ers will continue to gain favor this week
for they are to be seen in a modern comedy,
one of the most cleverly humorous of re-
cent years, which deals with theme Of
universal human interest and affords half
a dozen members Of the company grateful
parts.
Comedy is the keynote OF the play, but
serious situations are deftly skirted, lending
tang OF really vital interest. Katherine
Van Riper's problem is that of considerable
disparity between income and taste; her
apparent way out a loveless marriage to a
rich man. The sordidness of such a bar
gain gains emphasis when a more deslr-
able and more desired parti enters the
action.
Stated abstractly, evading tradesmen's
bills and lodging duns is not particularly
funny; beating ones way in society, buy
ing things for which one cannot hope to
pay, working" ones friends, and so on
this does not sound highly humorous, nor
| is it in ethical essence. But done on the
stage by a pretty girl, artfully beguiling,
charmlngly appealing, 1t may make much
merriment and it does. And the ethical
situation is quite skillfully saved at the
end so far as that goes.
| 1t is as a brilliant Coincidence that Miss
Lang appears this week and her playing OF
this New York society girl will be Ions
remembered by all who see her, so skill
fully charming she Is and most allurine
picture in lovely modern gowns.
Mr.. Friebus is playing his first leading
role here. He is cast as the young Idaho
mining engineer who finally wins the day
and the girl. The playwright drew {
character worth while in Tom Jaffrey. H
is a modern western man of a type fire.
quent in real life, but not occurring yer!
often on the stage or in fiction. He despise
fraud and scorns sham even when politel!
veneered, but he is not ignorant of tn
customs and manners OF polite society
Such a character is accurately defined b,
Mr.. Friebus.
Rivallng Jaffrey for the hand of Rather
inc Van Ripper is Montague Buck, scion of
newly rich father. Montague Buck is a raw
unlocked cub, not overly bright, likeabl
, but not wholly to be admired. But it is
part which enlists to a very considerable
extent the sympathy of an audience; par
{ ticularly SO when played as Mr.. Dudley !
, doing 1t.
Mr.. Ingraham is Buck, ST., gratitude
due him for softening the asperities of tn
part making a character and not a car
: cature of a roll easy to cartoon. Tw
other excellent bits of the play are done b
! Miss Henrietta Vaders and Miss Kathry
9 Sheldon as Katherine Van Riper's famil!
proud aunts. Miss Hudson is cast as tn
fair Katherine's duenna and Miss Valentin
is a sister of young Buck.
est. Elmo" at the GRyety.
. st. Elmo, the book, has quite a vogu
with large number of people-those VIII
were wont to care for the novels of Charlie
Carvin and 1.-THE Duchess" Bertha n
Holmes. The dramatized version appea
to a parallel dramatic taste and serves
please apparently quite well-multitudes
people who are deeply interested in II
n ladyfying process which Edna Earle unde
u goes and the foiling of the plots against HI
; by the woman with the dark, dark past.