The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1919-03-01
THE HoMEsTEADER"
Oscar MieheauX's Famous Story
MaLae nraaA pinEura

awaited a demonstration on the part
OF the Negro in the silent art it is
well to explain that that demonstra-
ton awaited is a creditable, dignified
achievement-and in Oscar Mich
eauX's The Homesteader' this has
at last come.
Among Il reasons for this state
ment is this %undeniable fact: The
Homesteader' is first a story. Adapt
ed to the screen from the authors
novel Of the same name, which it took
six years to write, it is abvious this
should be a play worth the watching.
Additionally, it took nine months to
produce the play. Well, time takes
money, another reason why the Race
has failed to receive the carefully
detailed play they have craved.
The producer of The Homesteader''
well knew all this; he was aware of
the shortcomings of previous efforts,
so before commencing the production
1t is well for those who are going OF
see this play to understand that lack
of capital has been no hindrance in
the production, for the reason that
those with whom the producer is as
ISOLATED have stood ready at all times
with unlimited means.
The Story.
The Homesteader' involves six
principal characters, the leading one
being Jean Baptiste, the Homesteader,
for off in the Dakotas, living where
he alone was black. In him we have
the embodiment of strength. r
and conviction. To this wilderness
came in time Jack Stewart, a Scotch
man, with his motherless daughter,
Agnes. In Agnes, Baptiste meets the
girl of his dreams, only to make a dis
covery in the same instance upon
which the story has its first climax.
But Agnes didn't know that she was
not white. Peculiar fate threw her in
the company of the Homesteader, and
their love, forbidden by the custom
OF the country, is the most appealing
and idealistic eve created. OF how
Baptlste sacrificed the love of this
girl of his dreams, went back to his
own people, marrying the daughter of
a preacher, and the circumstances
that came of it, marks the second
epoch in the development of the story.
In the case of N. Justine McCar.
thy the author has done a work that
is typical of u life today, and the
whole public in II way acquainted
with the present race minister must
appreciate it-narrow, spiteful, enyi
Gus, Mccarthy is the embodiment of
vanity, deceit and hypocrisy. He really
admired the marriage his daughter
had made-was proud of it. He spoke
OF the rich young man she had mar.
ried, eulogized him to the highest
but, Baptiste did not understand that
Mccarthy, to be satisfied, was in the
habit of having people praise him.
This Baptiste forgot in the first to do.
in the second, he was not of the TEN.
permanent to do it, and upon this fail
ure grew the tragedy of a marriage
and the happiness of McCarthy's
daughter Orlean, a sweet girl, kind
and good, but, like her mother, with.
out the strength of her convictions.
or how then Baptiste was sacri.
ticed to the altar of McCarthv's
hatred and vanity; of how Orlean
failed him at those crucial moments ;
OF how Ethel, her sister, like her faith.
er, possessed with all the evil a wo.
man is capable of, forces her weak,
kneed husband, CLAWS, to assist her
and her father in their persecution of
Baptiste; and then, of how in the
end Orlean, made insane by the evil
she had been the innocent cause of,
rights a wrong, bringing Baptiste
back to his land. He comes back to
the girl he has discovered the truth
about and the story has a beautiful
ending after a life of storm and
misery.
Chas. d. Lucas as Baptiste has
played his part with a completeness
that will bring great admiration. Miss
Iris Hall as Agnes and Chas. S
Moore as her father have portrayed
their parts without a flaw. Evelyn
Preer as Orlean is strikingly sym
pathetic, while Miss Inez Smith as
Ethel could not have improved. Yer
non s. Duncan as Mccarthy does very
~ >
well, but had he been possessed with
the fine art as completely as the res
he would have made a name for him
self that might have meant fortunes
to him as a character artist. Trevy
Woods as Ethel's husband, CLAWS. has
done well, while William George as
Agnes white lover and BILL Pres
{ colt is perfect.
THE Homesteader' is not a sensa
tional picture or story as western
: stories go, but it is the story of the
west as it is, a theme that will prove
educational as well as interesting. To
the credit of the producers, among
other things, must be given the fact
that every detail Of the production has
been given the most minute care; the
characters for their particular parts
have been chosen and conform to the
description in the book so fully that
1t is marvellous.