Life — October 21, 1897 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“COME | SEE es | 1 epi, a “SHADES OF COTTON MATHER, READ THOSE SIGNS!" Powers and David Belasco in ‘* The First Born,” It is a careful picture of exotic life in our own country, and gains its interest from this fact and from the elementary motives of father love, child death and revenge. The murder of a beloved child and the killing of his murderer by the bereaved father do not seem to make much of a plot in themselves, but the incidents are sur- S rounded by a haze of semi-oriental poetry which acts as a stimulus to the absorbing powers of the theatre- goer sated by conventional things. The piece is realistic, however, in a very high degree, and, bar a few descents to commonplace stage humor, is a remarkable accomplish- ment, It is an especially commend- able effort in that it shows again the possibility of finding unique and picturesque dramatic material within our own borders. The company shows a wonderful amount of drilling, and to the eye of the occidental observer seems to reproduce most faithfully the ways of the Chinese-American—if there exists such a thing—in his familiar surroundings. . * * HAT really fine old play, ‘‘ The Lady of Lyons,” never had a finer mounting in its entire varied existence than that given to it at the Lyceum Theatre. The only criticism is that the homevof ‘‘cruel, cruel Claude” is really too comfortable for Pauline to despise it as she docs. But the great elegance of the other scenes provides the necessary contrast. Mr. Sothern has gone from one extreme to the other in his selection of this tried and true drama to follow the unfortunate experiment of ‘Change Alley.” The result justifies his choice. The best possible performance of the experiment could not make it attractive, and many a mediocre performance of Bulwer-Lytton’s play has been successful in pleasing. The present performance is not mediocre; on the contrary, it is good throughout. Mr. Sothern isa pleasant but by no means a convincing Claude. His delivery in the famous descriptive scene was so monotonous that it is almost a wonder that Pasline was moved by it in the slightest degree. As a lover, Mr. Sothern is not effective, all the Lyceum's matinée girls to the contrary notwithstanding. Miss Harned’s Pauline would have gained could she have given some of her own strength to her lover. There is a whole new generation to become acquainted with this wholesome play, and they will see it done better, in its entirety, than any of their predecessors. Metcalfe. He Must Be. <6 HAT makes you think he is so wealthy?” “He got a bill through the State Leg- islature.” ERSEVERANCE has very little time to admire itself. comicbooks.com