New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-12
THE CAST.

"Bz" Frank. ..........-.. onward H. hooino
,d.I layes .yohn Miltern
IsTrv' The k.d';........ Joseph Byron Totten
Whispering Rley. Lawrence Wood
Caferty ..'...'.''''''''''''' i.,an,. xonneJy
Ciusky. ...............'..'''' ''e'oppe hChnYi.
Wang Lee............'..'''' ~ S;.Sn,imn,
Chong Fong. ........''.'''''h 49,, "a. Ynnes
THE Major" ue.t 1Un.s
n nutp'nI '''''.,........ Charles y. Givan
Frisco George .......'''''''yy 1870 na,
Monk Verdi. .''...''''''' IT,, tr~a"r,nn
Nni - ..............Ci Glare Weldon
Lizzie ...................'' ~
In Roland Molineuxs play, The Man
inside" which was presented at the III
ter,on Theatre last evening, sympathy IS
oil With the criminals and against those
n,h. nrosecute them. But, unlike seVerai
ether "crook" plays Of recent years. IN
n,,,ch n,cturesoue characters from the so
called underworld are used merely io'
their picturesqueness, and Tor the e"'e
tainment which eminently Respectable anu
law abiding audiences can derive i'o"'
watching their melodramatic ao'eh'ui
9TH. Man Inside" Is not supposed 10
ston there. It is supposed to present an
argument against present methods OF MAJ"
ding crimnals-an argument wnich NC.
o.,ar,Iv borrows special force from nav
Inc, bsen worked out, II Is to be presu'he''
,ro,, the bitterness Of the authors own
experience. ,usvs
Mr. Molineux's pleading. not a'"
easy to follow through the somewhat
certain movements OF the pay 10
methods OF punishment for crime NOV
or,y 40 no good but tend to Keep '"o
or,r,,nal Of his crime. Every criminal 30
90 ~ b,s characters urges. con'ince'
himself that he is right AT the u''.
breaks the law, and shutting MIN
from the world and NE, WIN oa''
s,rines only convinces him that TVS
vbo sent him to prison are IN
o,airs, him as crooked as he H. anu '"e
- 80 do "a 10 use all his wits 10 oea'
them at their own game ,
I, tho cold dawn a man Is eiecuocu'eu
lin at Sing Sing. but murder goes on 49,
tho same. As men commit crimes
,hev don't think straight, more sluu' GU
care should be spent on MAKING '"'"'
lit het,or. The government speHue
,.,u,io,s IN combating insect pests an"
,,o,hi,c according TO one OF the cnarac-
,ers IN the play. toward studying ahu vi
doretanding these human pests. Men a'o
,oss irnortant than potato bugs. just do
-. arc courts to convict those WHO
have Thought wrong, so there oue".
10 otber courts. not OF punishment OUT vi
rehabilitation, to examine theih anu
,ornipe II now they do not 'thihk r'sh,'
Ard u they do think right they shouio NC
! freed m
win this as a theme. and the very ap
Dor.n, aid OF Mr.. Belasco. the play ha'
baen built-a curiously uneven mixture =.
.,,,est Interchangeable disassoclateu' ~
,tr,as with any action-and OF acton no"
,a,oIra,oa,Ic now sentimental, ana
strongly Favored with the good ana oa'
characteristic OF Mr.. Belascos pays
rho pIay opens In an opium den IN Ne"
Works. Chinatown, done In the pest nc
,asco STYLE. Dim lights, huddled hgures'
creepy groans, squeaks. coughs inc DC
"a eioral natter OF the Chinese doorkeeper'
inside crooks talking their thieves iihso'
outside waiting for them, the police.
TO this den comes a gentlemanly fors-
or who has already served prison
term and is in danger OF another ana
| with him his daughter. whom II Is mo
one desire TO keep from drifting ih'o
life of crime. An assistant distric'
attorney, suspecting that the conVeh-
,ional methods OF punishment are use
Iess comes here also. In disguise 70
s,udv the underworld at first hand. The
| forger captured. after scene or livery
r,e,odrama and the identity OF the
young assistant revealed to the inmates
~ the place. he promises to assist the
cir, 70 clear her fatner-whom she de-
cIares is innocent-and invites her TO
come TO his Office the next day.
Here his sympathies are so aroused py
the brutal treatment OF both father ana
daughter by another assistant distrlct at
torney who is trying to railroad the
father to prison, in order to BOOST MS
own reputation. that when the girl sue
ceeds. In the young mans presence III
stealing the forged check. which Is the
only evidence, he permits her to do So
under her promise that she will return II
as soon az certain evidence. which will
proye her fathers alibi has been o.
tanned This makes the young man q
crook. too, and provides the young woman
with the necessary argument that every
criminal thinks he is doing right at the
instant he commits his crime. There IL
more melodrama a revolver shot or Two
and some very complicated arguments
and conversions of one sort or another,
ending with every one going free except
the young womans forger lover VINO
! goes to prison for ten years. not, how
| ever. until he has yielded to the young
district attorneys eoquence and deter
mined to think right from now on,
There are moments In the play-the
| carly morning scene in the opium den
and the night scene i'm the girls tene-
ment house lodgings-which are In Mr.
Belasco's best manner. Others-the long
| sneeches. the bewildering conversion 10
arguments the audience cannot follow
and the meaningless shifting OF accent
| and interest from one thing to another
| which goes on more or less continually
are trying and absurd. Merely as play.
without the atmosphere OF the first ana
| last scenes, one or two exceHeh'
character hits and the interest when
attaches to Mr.. Molineux's opinions ana
picturesque crooks slang, THE Man IN
side" is pretty rickety indeed.
| That always excellent actor. John Cope
contributed delicious character bit az
the old panhandler Pop" Olds, especially
quaint and amusing-as were the lines
and the idea-when he took to selling
bleached sparrows in little wooden cages
for canaries. Mr.. A. f. Arson was the