The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-06
By EARLE DORSEY.

The name of Clare Hummer Is
name that spontaneously suggests
the satirical. sophisticated efrer-
vescence of Good Gracious, Anna
BELLE" and "RolIo's Wild OATS
plays that have given their authors
name a certain standing in the
theater. Under such circumstances,
one pores in wonder over a pro-
gram that fixes Glare Runners
name to a play called The Noun
tain Man" that labored through
some four or FIVE. episodes at the
Garrick last night
The Mountain Man" is a play
with a first act. The termination
of its first act marks its termina-
tion as a play. so far as anything
arresting. novel or fascinating in
content or treatment is concerned.
1t opens well enough by introduce
ing a sullen but curious mountain
lout who has fallen heir to some
deceased relatives estate and who
is greatly sought in marriage by
a girl-relative just returned from
Paris for the sole purpose of lead
ing him to the parson.
This first act is decidedly un-
usual. 1t presents Sidney Black
mer in the role of the mountaineer.
which he handles for Miss Hummer
with a certain odd force. Dressed
in his grandfather's cutaway
clothes, he speaks in mountaineer
dialect, looks the world straight in
the eye and manages to silently
rebuke the artificiality Of those
about him.
The mountaineer's simple honesty.
however. is not proof against the
musical wiles of the ingenue from
Paris. and the end of the first act
finds him neatly hooked and labeled
with the girls head reposing on his
left lapel hole. The play is but
one-third over. and il is darkly APP
parent that Miss Hummer faces the
business of sustaining interest
through two more aCts-a task, by
the way, sufficient to try the tech
nique and the dramatic ina gination
of an ADLER conceptionist than. she.
1t is probably not at all surpris-
ing, then. that the plays remaining
three scenes are strung together
largely to keep an audience seated
until the clock has struck II.
ne llllIu SNtut - SOlltH IouS II
somehow by the process of arOus-
ing the mountaineer husbands jeal-
ousy over an ina ginary lover in
France. This sends him off to kill
the lover and fight for liberty and
democracy. The third act brings
him back in Sam Browne belt and
Contrite spirit. to find that his wife
will have none of him. The final
episode finds him back to his noun
tain cabin. whereunto comes the
Cold-hearted bride to plead forgive
ness. after the Edward Childs Car
penter manner in The Cinderella
Man"
Thus ends The Mountain Man
"a play that begins with what
seems to he character and ends
in a weller Of inconSequenCe and
trivality. In short. a play that early
discards Its chief asset and never
seems to miss it.
Sidney BlaCkmer who rather dis
tinguished himself by his quiet.
restrained Interpretation in Arthur
Richman's Not So Long Ago"
brings an even better characterize
ton to an even worse play in The
Mountain Man" Himself 2 South
erner. Blackmer gave droIl. quaint
humor to the character Of the back
woodsman that was. for d moment
or two. a fetching picture. but his
actorlaI destiny was ordered 9th
erwise by Author Hummer and the
strain proved too great even for
Blackmer's evident earnestness.
Catherine Dale Owen, Is the rela =
tive from Paris, is a beautiful girl
with an unremarka BILE stage pres
ence. For her first role. which this
play is said to give her, her work
was creditable, particularly in view
of what appears to a sad absence
of direCtoral guidance. The rest of
the cast-with the exception of
George Fawcett in a mere bit
was procession of stereotypes and
stage rubber stamps. rendered so.
doubtless. by the obscure charac-
terization that marks the play as a
whole.