El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-18


gene Walter 1t hasn't the punch IN
il that Paid in Full" and The Easiest
Way" had, but still 1t IS considerable OF
a drama
the Astor theater on Tuesday night, be-
fore a large and eXpectant audience
The American playSoers nave come 70
look for strong dramatic meat from
Walter, and while the new play is. a
powerful drama as q whole, there was
mucn in it which seemed foreign to the
author. There was not that directness
which characterized his other plays
lust mentioned. In them he went to
his objective point with the swiftness
Of a rifle shot But in Fine Featn-
crs' the action drags at times. This IS
especially true of the first act
The story of the play is of young
married man on Staten Island. He IS
working in an assayer's office, earning
SIS a week. His wife is disseminated
with the everlasting grind OF poverty.
Then the tempter comes. He IS great
contractor. He wants the young assay
ist to pass favOrably on a cement
which the contractor is TO use IN the
building of a reservoir II is cheap
cement, and thousands of dollars can
be saved on the contract IL II IS used
The honest young man turns down the
tempting offer Of $4,000 and his VIE
leaves him She will not live with a
man who condemns her to a lie or poy-
ertv because of foolish scrupIes. lie
loves his wife more than honor. lie
accepts the bride and the VIE returns.
This foundation is laid in the tlrSt act
in a hating manner. But from then
on the action moves with compelling
force. marching on to the retriouIon
with the grim inevitability of a Greek
ME bribe money does the pair no
good. The husband goes in for specu-
lation and disaster after disaster 1OL-
low in quick succession me young
husband is in the shadow OF the pen
itentiary Tor issuing an OF erorafI When
he know he was stone broke. Ihen
comes the final catastrophe. Inc dam
breaks and there is a terrible loss OF
life Then the young husband SHOOTS
himself, which is the final act OF the
play.
attitude of the wife. It has always
been supposed that wives encouraged
their husbands to be honest at all cost,
but here is woman who demands OF
him a departure from the strict code
The play, like all of this authors
pieces, will cause much discussion.
which will rebound TO the benefit OF
the box office
a Good Little Devil is play built
M from fairy stories that Nine Ros-
tand and her son Maurice used to tell
to each other as the boy was growing
up. 1t was produced at the Republic
theater Wednesday night by David Be
Iasco. It is a most beautiful child
Dhantasy and it was produced with all
the delicate art and technical skill
for which Mr.. BelascO has made him
self famous
The play is of such a sOssamer quail
ity that it must be seen and felt, Tor II
is impossible to adequately describe it
There is a garden scene of the most
enchanting loneliness. one such as only
the master of stagecraft could have
achieved.
The story itself is one that the mind
Of every imaginative child has fed
upon It is a story OF faIryland, and as
fairyland has but few simple rules,
there was no great thought back Of the
play, but there was a world of beauty
and sweetness
In this garden the fairies and the
gnorneS come to work their charms, TO
restore the sight of Juliet. the little
blind girl, who is there waiting for her
sweetheart Charles. But Charles had
a mean old aunt who wants nothing in
the world but money, and when she
can't get it she takes her spite out on
her little unhappy nephew. But to
prove that this is fairyland, 1t devel-
opes that Charles is an heir to no
bic title and has been looked for by
the king and queen Then he leaves
his blind Juliet to mourn alone in the
garden while he goes to court to re-
ceive the smiles of the beautiful ladies
there But the good fairies intercede
for Juliet. After restoring her sight
they bring Charles back to the garden.
Many years have elapsed since the two
had seen each other. but the spirit of
his boyhOOd returns to Charles ard his
old love for Juliet takes possession of
him And even the ugly old aunt soft
ems and everyone is happy.
Miss Mary PickfOrd, known as the
"Maude ADAMS of the movies" played
the part of Juliet in a girlish and most
appealing way. Ernest Truax was the
boy Charles, and being a man in years,
he knew just how a little boy ought to
act The Wicked One was PLAYED by
q r.
lily than any other member of the COM
pany. Miss Vida Bennett was a
beautiful queen Nab. Nothing could
be more airily sweet than was she as
other fairies, who "cOoed' as they flew
This touch added to the ETHEREAL char
acter of the scenes and was one of the
happiest touches Mr. BelascO ever izn~
parted to a production
[ Joseph and His Brethren" is. a re-
Igious play not to be stunned It af-
forded the pleasantest surprise of the
New Year. 1t is, of course, built around
what is perhaps the most familiar story
in the Bible And Louis n. Parker, the
author of the play, has shown his fine
artistic sense and literary acumen by
adhering strictly TO the story and
using, wherever possible, the simple,
vet sublime text of the scripture But
he seems to have been so imbued with
! his theme that his own text carries
that same simple strength and dignity
and there is no glazing gap between his
lines and those he has taken from
Genesis.
This magnificent pageant was pro-
duced at the Century theater on Satur-
day afternoon by the Liebler company.
1t is decidedly worth while and comes
as a refreshing balm after the rather
depressing Daughter of Heaven" and
THE Garden of Allah"
1t is not only a pageant, greater than
h71f iC h
est art Much of its success is due to
Brandon lyman, the Joseph of the play.
It would perhaps be impossible to find
an actor better equipped for this role