Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-04-11

THE LITTLE. SHEPHERD OF, KINGDOM
o be nq ~ SE EFssnG W'iSF sS%"aSd
Messrs. Schubert. Adeiphi Theatre
SseR q the dog .sy By Amssii
Nathan Cherry Marx SNiPTlp Price
sale S5aie3 Hazel 's...'....,..',..'. I;SYrus Mood Mood
Melissa :. :, :, - Mona Hungerford
Little Tad Dillon .:.,........ iqardner. James
kTbe Turner turner iFranE tier6raeh
MotRer BETSY BETSY TIrner Louise MqckihtosR
Major calvin Buford RoBert tSTG Rogers SS.
Old Tad Dillon. .........,..., Robert Forrest
Second Juror. ............ Herman Bernh99rdt
Third Juror ,,..t,.....4.....W William wilson
Hunters Mountalncvrs. Neighbors.
Act I'm front q Chad home in the noun Ii
rncra cabin a O Kingdom ES Come ro0s sprns It SV ot
1859. Act tIT-.A cleared space in the noun
Act 1V-same as Act 9 That evening,
There are two Eugene Walters. The
first of them wrote his early melodrama,
Captain James" The second took an
inning with Paid in Full" The first
came back with the urearthing of that
vigorous drama, "The Wolf" from the
depths of the Walterian trunk. The sec
ond produced--with Belasco's aid-"The
Easiest Way" The first cropped up
again with 'The Trail of the Lonesome
Pine" The second took two whacks at
fame with Fine Feathers" and Just n
Woman" Cor "a Plain Woman" as Phila-
delphia knew it). Leaving the dissection
of his failure, Just a Wife" out of ac-
count, the first Walter about completes the
list with his new dramatization from the
novel of John Fox, Jr. THE Little Shep-
herd of Kingdom Come" which arrived
at the Adephi last night
Neither of these Walters needs much
description. The truth-telling power of the
i
Easiest Way" forced itself into "The
Wolf and tinged THE Trail of the Lone
some Pine" The dramatic Vigor of their
craftsman drove through that melodrama
OF the North woods and put considerable
excitement into "The Trail" But in the
latter play and in "The Little Shepherd
of Kingdom Come" Eugene Walter has
followed very definite and simple mar
rative track that in the main, leads away
from his dramas of New York. This type
of work depends on sentiment and atmos-
phere and good many of the old tricks
of the stage, And it succeeds surprisingly
we'll in reconcillng the novel and the
drama.
'"rhe Little Shepherd" charms most
when 1t dwells on the sentiments of the
boy, the girl and the dog-for the beast
really has sentiments-and when it Is
telling us about the mountaneers and
their ways The boys affections for both
his fellow waits and the things that
threaten them-death for his dog on an
accusation of sheep stealing and separa-
ton from his girl friend through the dis
covery of his long-lost "kn.folks"-these
keep two threads of plot moving gently
and sympathetically. And for lovers of
the book here are also such things as
the careful Mother Betsy who explains.
"As rule we don't let the boys and gals !
Ticker UP till after supper" and there is |
the quaint old character of Red Fox,
lifted from "The Trail" |
With all these "reminiscences of the |
book there goes good deal of theatrical |
convention which the story naturally !
escaped. OF course in these days of |
dramas with third-act trial scenes" no
body objects to a new one with a dog l.
as defendant indeed, that Is a real gain /
But the roarings of old-style melodramas. ,
the Voluble intensities much the fash
Jon before the crook" drama came they
may suit the tale-though there is room
for doubt-and they unquestionably suit
fhe novel-reading audience. They are
pretty old stuff lust the same to the aver
age sophisticated theatregoer. Maybe we
swallow Just as STACEY sentiments and |
situations. but we want them sugar-coated
with semblance of reality. We don't |
care for the roarings and general over
emphasis that marked the work of most
of the cast and marred all but the imper-
sonations of Jack Davis, Wallace Owen, |
Louise Macintosh. Crosby Little, Robert
Rogers j. r, Mann and the dog. We don't
enjoy the painted ceiling beams of this
sort of production or the comparison be-
tween bits of real evergreen and the
painted woods.
OF such is the kingdom of 'The Little
Shepherd" in this theatrical world 1t
might be something decidedly better and
more effective in another-the one that the
Walter of '"rhe Easiest Way" inhabits, for
instance X. NJ,
HnAAI N ArxTuyuJr vvr