The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-19
ACROSS THE NEW
YORK FOOTLIGHTS

BY GEORGE JEAN NATHAN.


David Belasco's mos recent presanIa
ton, The Heart Of wetona." by Georg
Scarborough. is nicely rsyelatory Of tn.
bizarre practices Of the BeIasco academ!
OF dranaaturgy. To the professional
critic. Il not to the public, it provides
the occasion for much retrospective anC
analytical amusement, and, as II turning
States evidence. Eouchsafes Of itself fol
the authentic nature Of much OF the
criticism that In the pas1 has been writ
ten OF the BeIaseo wares.
The play, as originally written by the
author and as hrst produced by the SEA
aoe a year ago, was called The Girl
and dealt with the defloration of the
young daughter Of a Puritanical family,
OF the Puritan fathers aIarums and eN-
cursions upon getting wind OF the affair
and Of the manner In which the noble
Francis K. Bushman among the char
actsrs sought to save the hussy from
parental wrath by taking her for wife
until the storm should pass. For Eea-
sons unknown TO the present stattStician
but probably because M Belssco
deemed the piece in this guise to be de-
fcisnt In such pretty qualities as would
enchsnt the Broadway yokelry-that pro-
writer to take his theme and shift its
locale from the Puritanic AnglO-SAxOn
community 10 an Indian reservation in
Oklahoma The conversation attending
this change might have proceeded some
thing after this fashion: Now, my dear
Scarborough, your idea is all right but
the characters lack the necessary pic
turesqueness- There's nothing very in
terestng TO an up-to-date audience about
rlargVm1En and folk and
certainly the public viii not care about
the kind Of people you've written about.
Let Us therefore keep your theme exactly
as Il stands, not changing the philosophy
or view point one iots, and turn the char
acters tuto-I have it, Scarborough old
spitzbub.-intO Indians, Indians are
spectacular looking fellows and We will
have a sure success"
To which Mr.. Scarborough, evidently
impressed, equally evidently assented
And the result? play that is not 50
good as the original, a play. naturally,
that amounts to the sheerest travesty OF
the American Indian and his ethical and
moral ritual A play, in short. that has
been slaughtered to make a cheap big
Roman nose. holiday. The notion that
the philosophy OF an Anglo-Saxon may
be put into the mouth Of a COmanche is
shall We not say, something a little bit
Of drOn?
The curtain at the Lyceum Theater Is
hoisted upon the spectacle of an Indian
girl being subjected to a Henry Arthur
Jones scene Of cross-sxaminatlon at the
hands Of her father. It appears that the
young woman had been sardou'd by some
one or other. and the father insists that
she divulge the rasCars identity. This
the maiden declines to do. for as much
as, Cupid has captured her in the per-
he 90
thwarting her parent. the maiden hurries
of to enlist the aid of one Hardin. an
Indian agent, who for months has been
nursing a secret albeit Comstockian,
passion for the wenCh. Hardin, a senti-
mental fellow who is in the habit Of re-
ferrtng to such girls as Wetona as lit
tie flower" is dumfounded at his Wis
ltor's confession and tells her, lest she
may suffer her fathers wrath, that he
viii marry her, in name only, until such
a time as the villain reIents and offers
her his hand in matrimOny. Temporarily,
at least, this arrangement is to the taste
OF the Comanche, who believes, also for
the time being, that It was Hardin who
was responsible for the violation Of his
daughters neutrality.
It presently develops, however, that
the Comanche parent, his Anglo Saxon
prejudices and principles not entirely sat-
come to believe that Hardin, after ALL
though he married wetona, is not the
German he Is looking for. The Comanche
VIII not, he insists, rest easy until he
has located the fellow. Meanwhile, Har-
din has found out that the dirty-worker
is one Wells, an eX-West Pointer. Wells
being eOnversant with the customs of
melodrama. tries to press his attentions
again on Wetona, welded now though
she be. Hardin also discovers this Fol-
lows the old scene where the villain and
the hero face each other across the table,
with revolver lying between them.
Follows the COmanche's detection of
Wells sCalawaggery. Follows the lat
ter's attempted escape and his murder by
the trusty braves on watch outside the
house. And follows the awakening of
Wetona to the usual realization that it
was Hardin. her husband, she loved all
the time.
There il Is,
Lenore Clrich plays the Wetona and
IS quite charming element in the pic
tuTe The lady possesses. in particular
a soft, musical speech that is only on
rare occasions found among our Amer
lean women. whether upon the stage or
of it. William Cortleigh's Comanche
chief has the air Of a college boy in Ave
year reunion costume and somewhat
wordy with liquor. John Mfltern. usual
ly a good actor. here listens to his voice
as the hero and Lowell Sherman, though
with each successive play. is
still somewhat weak in the COMPANY
Of enunciation. Others in the company
are E. L. Snader, Isabel O'Madigan. Cur
tbs Cooksey. Ethel Benton. H. G. Garlic
ton. Langdon West Sounds like some
thing in Robert Chambers), an Indian