The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-06-23

"THE GREAT DIVIDE" which was
eSce'lently presented by the Utah
theater stock company last night, shows
how an Arizona bad man wes re-
formed so thoroughly that even NIL
ford Corners, Mass. could o. X.
him az perfectly respectable saint Some
Great Divide" might prefer TO endure the
abysmal brutishness or an Arizona bad
man 10 the prlm perfections OF Milford
Corners.
This particular bad man enters the
CABINS In the ella desert where Miss NIL
ford Corners. alias Ruth Jordan. Is await
ing the return OF her brother. The bad
man gets possession OF Ruth by buying
or one OF his Mexican companions and
shooting the other Then he romps away
with Ruth md they arc wed by q justice
OF the peace. According 10 the standards
OF Milford Corners she "should have died
first" But II she had died fist an ex-
clting play would have been lost But
Huth proceeds to. make everyone else with
whom she comes in contact wish that
they had died first" She mourns through
the whole play until that blissful moment
IN Mllrord Corners when she discovers that
through her love Stephen Client has really
become almost q New England saint
"hom Emerson and the transcendentalists
might have approved. AS for the bad man
the horrible row is about until ne sees
her family" Then a great light breaks
IN upon him and he admits that he was
In spite OF the fact that there is strain
OF hypocr1tical snobbery running through
the play, there are some intensely inter
esting and human situations, which af-
ford Brandon lyman and Miss Florence
Stone an excellent vehicle for the dis
play OF their talents Mr lyman as
stephen Ghent. was especially appealing
In the scenes that called for the express
sion OF powerful and vital emotions In
playing n western bad man, however. he
should try to bark like a six-shooter," :"
so to speak; otherwise he can never hope
to come up to the New England ideal OF
what bad man OF the Arizona desert
should be, Mr.. Tynan's enunciatIon.
though perfectly proper from the view of
MILFORD Corners, Is entirely too cultured
ut the beginning. OF course, when he
arrives in Milford Corners Ii is all right
TO approximate TO the cultured intona-
tions that are a very large percentage Of
Emersonian saintliness. But while Mr..
lyman may not have been entirely justi-
fled In presenting the bad man as a hu-
man being, he won high commentator
from his audience last night,
The role OF Ruth is somewhat too weepy
to be wholly sympathetic and too Milford
Cornerish to be appealing throughout
much Of the play. but nevertheless this
Is one Of the best lnterpreta tons that
Miss Stone has given us She is espe-
claIiy ctIectiVe in her encounter with the
bad man and the Mexicans in the first
act.
Richard Vivian as Philip Jordan. Ruth's
brother, and William II. Boyd. as her
forlorn sweetheart, were both at their
best
j. Frank Burke had an opportunity to
give two careful and convincing character
studies. In the second act he appea red
as an old Scotch miner blunt, taciturn
and loyal. In the third act. which intro
duces us to the sanctum sanctorum OF
New England propriety-the sitting room
Of the Jordan home In Milford Corners
he appears as a gentle old New England
doctor.
To Miss Regina Conneli Is assigned the
sprIghtly role of Ruths brothers wife.
Without this role the play would lag
heavily, as 1t furnishes the lightness and
saiety necessary to make the gloom en-
durable.
All In ALL the play as presented by the
Utah theater stock company is most en-
tertaining.