The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-11-26

and relatively huge. considering the
generally poor business" OF the cur
rent season. Klaw & changers The
Trail Of the Lonesome Pine" in which
Charlotte Walker Is featured. opened
at the Academy Of Music last night an
engagement Of four performances.
The piece 10 well described In the
program as "A play in four acts. BY
Eugene Walter. founded on the widely
known novel Of the same name BY John
Fox, Jr." for II Is far from being a
dramatization Of the novel which all
Of US have read and which most OF US
hold in high esteem. 1t Is true that
the action Of thu novel extends over a
considerable period. and doubtless it
was a difficult task to crowd into
practical working time enough OF the
story. OF Its incidents. to retain the
books very real and vivid spirit. Ger
tainly. IL was not accomplished. The
play. instead Of moving to a logical
conclusion by a series OF illustrative.
explanatory or culminative scenes. pro-
ceeds in more or less disconnected in
and arrives at its only climax with Q
Jerk
And IL 10 largely melodra ma, and not
thoroughly coherent melodrama ut that.
Most Of the principal characters OF the
book appear in the play. and every now
and then a line or q word. with char
acter, time and occasion changed. re-
calls the text Of the story. I'm Eoin
down to the Gap to sit me a police
man." one Of the most telling and far
reaching lines IN the novel. reappears
in the play in altered form. hut the
speech is Of little importance At the
time. nor is referred to again. Fur
Their. the spirit that animates tho
mountaIneers in the section in which
the story Is latd-a spirit SO trngicaliy
in evidence TO US in Virginia and SO
thoroughly understood BY Mr.. Fox-is
not conv.nc!ngiy portrayed by Mr..
Walter. The developments Of the play
seem artificial and forced
Nor was this failure remedied by the
performance Of the leading character
in the performance last IignL Miss
Walker. while doubtless charming in
other roles. was not altogether satisfy
ing as June. She dressed the little
mountain maid in the torn dress
called for by the part and doned
her shoes and stockings. but
her face was made up with the
peach-bloom complexion OF sheltered
debutante. her hands showed no rough
ness Of labor. but were carefully mani
cured. while her feet CLEANED white.
unsecured and unstained from wander
ing barefoot over the mountains. Aim
Ing Iaudably TO make the character OF
June as idyliic as that Of "Salomy
Jane" she fell short In her e0ort. ana
succeeded only IN making her child
ishIy pleasing girl In mountain neio-
drama
The other members Of ire cast wers
capable enough. willard Robertson. as
Dave. ard Margaret PrussinG. ae
Loretty. standing out By virtue Of their
excellent work
Rarely have moro beautiful settings
been seen In Richmond than are shown
in this production. That In which tho
frs, and last acts are played IL In par
siculsr worthy OF John Fox's book. ~
he wrote It.
Two minor defects might be readily
rem ed,ed-a bi: OF Chaucer!sn humor
IN the second act should be omitted.
and the attention Of the stage direc-
tor Is respectfully called TO the fact
that In the days OF the volunteer po-
lice OF Big Stone Gap automatic re-
roIvers were not IN use.
W DousIss GORDON
Worth An 81 fifty Costa
Shades OF Ralph Herr. Lima Abar-
banel, Elizabeth Murray. Ben Grinnell.
Nell Mckay. etc, guide our penstarf.
MAX. us but realize that there was
nay. no. so much. and now
It's at the B;jou all week. regular
ma'..ees and regular priees-"Nadame
Sherry" Of course. the same French
.sgsevls The .ss r Msy.ms ss: the the
same boat. with the same whistle. put
On By the same James Darling. who
s'srce5 Ada Meade ana her company.
which eVriIe. in the season played the
Academy ard pleased. on . long jaunt
across th. continent Miss Meade Is
s'iil o5s By the cay.
BIZ, as we opined earlier. les ~ she
B,jos all this week. and being at the
b.'o1. you can't argue. can YOU No
| probably more famous becsv-. she 10
the wife Of George ". L>dercr. one Of
I the producers Of Madame sherry" is
the Yyonne She has leslie Carter
hair. and she car sing. and she can
,dsnce--some. which ,s q combination
which shouId make her . warm Ia
-ori'e over the popular priced tims.
I Thz, her Hines are more than mssroniy
but afss 20 her other charm Ids
Nay. 40 Philippe. the js.itor's wife. ats
j. smith Maria. ~ Phillips. reminds
%. for rrany reasons. % Ben 0r'nneli
.Isnes Daring II TheophiIus. snd gets
~. laughs where they have fallen
besors Betty Barwe,s--hcw homs'ike
that Betty s,ynss--is rep,sa- and q
VIE r5~srd sherry. sings the essential
tenor % the oars. and has HE own
peculiar methods % comedy.
| "Ssfsess sherry VIII always - q
20. Bijoa ~ crowd. eli shs value pos
s.pIe into the standard charGes of cd
niss;on ~ that play house. They'll Be
lhasG'a9 20 the rsfseSs FOR the rest Of
the we~k-snd the volts won't - %
Soa1 eo-al0ha . -