The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-03-21


II YOU want dainty love making.
| rawing room comedy, or problem
/ drama, don't go to see THE Round
| Up" If YOU care for mclodranla in its
| most spectacular, Wild West. gun
| powdery, equine aspect. don't miss It,
| Across the Pacific and others or
! that liz VIC have seen In abundance,
/ but never anything that even began
| to approach this spectacle of Klaw and
I Erlang er's-'klam and Erlangcr'' the
! program, with its usual accuracy. has
Mt This firm owns also Ben Hur,'.
and from purely spectacular point
| OF view, II is nard to determine which
IL the bigger show, certainty as We
have had them ION the road True.
Ben Hur' has the chariot race and
| the galley scene, but The Round Up
| has men riding horses down winding
mountain path that beg ms away up in
| the flies. and horses hucking, nor
! nrancins, but actually bucking across
| the stage with COW men swinging
| themselves into the saddle, and a bat
! tie before which Charles Clay Blaney.s
| punH attempts pale into ptiable In
| Significance. And more than that every
| detail IS worked out to perfection,
SO far as one can tel who knows tbs
| cowboy only from Buffalo Bill, owen
| Wister and George Patullo. Every
! hilster had its gun ever
| belt was filled with cartridges, every
/ spur was turned the right side IN:
many OF the guns were genuine
/ Colts, and best or all. they were all
/ single action, since as Wister says,
Your true cowboy abhors what Is
known as the 'selfcoc kerr" Whenever
a man pulled q gun, he cooked the
1 hammer with his thumb
/ The story does not matter. The play
/ Is big spectacle. and the story is
merely incidental; but the settings. the
scenery, deserve more than a word.
! The second act is AN ordinary interior.
and the first shows only Il simple.
| though we'll done, exterior Of .'dobe"
| house, but the third, showing the desc
late and mountainous desert Of Arizona
Is striking. The mountains rise TO the
right and left, almost TO the fly-gallcry.
/ and the rocks and sand run down
stage nearly TO the footlights. It Is In
this scene that the Apaches ride down
the winding path, and in this the battle
occurs between the Indians and the
i cowboys and soldiers. a peculiarly
clever bit of stagecraft is shown in
this act. AS the bullets spit against
i the rocks, little spurts of dust ny back
/ figure to yourself how 1t is done And
one Indian. a martyr to realism. is shot
and hangs head downward over a jut-
/ ting craS for nearly five minutes And
probably hundred men. with rifle and
revolver. pour forth an unfoly din ac-
companicd by Calling gun obliga,o.
which batters against the err drums OF
tho audience.
Tho last act is not remarkable in its
setting, except for the fact that the
whole stage, far away above the pros
cenum arch is rooted in by sky Of
blue canvas. But in this scene the
cowboys, out on the range, in the midst
of the annual roundup. crawl out Of
/ their blankets in the gray dawn and
ride their plunging, bucking ponies
| across the stage In full view Of the
house. One Horse in particular. evil
IDENTIFY "maneatcr." or made up to
represent one, made the audience roar
It's delight.
The chorus was excellent, we'll
made up and we'll drilled. and the mi
nor roles. for tho most part, were ex
cecdingly we'll done But OF the prin-
cipals. only Ogden Crane and Rapley
!lfol,nes stood out. Mr.. Crane was salts
] factory throughout the performance as
4 tho quarter breed but when he was
stabbed through the lung and tried 10
talk with the whisting, gasping brea tn
that was left 10 him, noticed that
even the doctors In the house applauded
Ia most convincing and artistic piece
2, CT work. Mr.. Holmes was easily the
star OF the performance. Big and
I Wholesome, with delicious lines, he
was easy. natural and powerful: as the
sueilii. Juot tHc Soi Oh performance
that he gave as "Horrigan" in THE
Man of the Hour" Ills version of the
! parable Of "Thc Prodisal SON." with its
ininitab!e moral was supremcly
funny, as was his definition Of diplo.
mat Few men could make the part so
J WONDERFULLY good and so screnmingly
amusing FIc retutes tho truth or his
own statement that nobody loves n
fat man."
The very apogee OF realistic melo-
drama ,' ~. p. G..
Had Good Reception.
"Ciraustnrk. tho story Of Love Be-
hind a Throne, was croditably rem
dered last evening before large audi
}cncc at the BiiouT Theatre The play
4 Is a production In five acts, dranlatine