"THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 408, 18 January 1909, Page 6

"THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST."

WILLIAMSON'S DRAMATJC COMPANY. _. "The 1 Girl of the "Golden. West," a drama in four acts'by David Belasco. : Cast:— ...The Girl ..;......; Miss-TittelV Brurie ■Wowkle.-the Fox ................'..' Miss A; Kelly /Dick Johnson Mr. Thomas Kingston Jack'Rance ..........'„ Mr Georgo Bryant ;. Nick ....,:.... Mr Leonard Willey ■ Soiiora.Slirii :.... Mr. Loring Pernio 'Ashby ......;.,:..;......;.. Mr. Gregan M'Mahori : :. Billy Jaokrabbit ......'.....:... Mr; H. Sweeney.: , Jim Larkins ....;..;. Mr. Norman M'Keown ■The Dublin ; 'Duck'.........'Mr. ]?..Cambourne .'/8u0king.'8i11y'......;....'..„... Mr. F.Harcourt .' .; Jose; Ca5tr0,.....; Mr Eedge Carey. The Girl's father was a saloon-keeper and faro-banker, so'when: he passed out of her life; she by the .old law, turned to that method of earning a means of livelihood rather., than-adopt.the dubious alternatives 'of/some of the stray women who drifted into' the rough mining .camps of California of the, days of '49. Sho,;was, the joy of Cloudy' Mountain, a tactful, jolly, heart-free, straight-going : 'littlo .woman, with only 32 dollars': worth of education, but with wiles rand .ways .which, held, the hearts of 'all the boys,'married; arid single, in the little inountein mining camp. She was their banker, their school-mistress, their religion, and each thought' he was the :man. -Jack Ranee, the pale sheriff, was dead certain of his chances:. Sonora Slim .was Optimistically hopeful; arid even Nick the barman had the. soft feeling. But-the '.Girl 1 preserved the distance.until bno night; a dust-stained. stranger, blew ;in and .proclaimed his eccentricity by ordering ; water .with, his .whisky. -The Man looked into 'the "Girl's ; eyes—and ..found he was the ;,onei of-,all : others:. .They had seen each other.before.on the-road to Monterey, and both had remembered. - So .they polka'd together and talked beautiful: nonsense, arid ,wheri; Raneeand the boys .with Ashby: (a police scout) had left to; follow 'the ; trail, of ■ '■■ a certain Ramarez, a road - agent: who- is urgently, wanted, the Girl invites the: stranger to her little hut perched on a mountain crag high oyer the saloon. .Acceptance" follows hesitation., How she welcomes him io her hut in tight-fitting : white '.kid shoes ;and gloves and a lace mantilla is pathetically amusing: how, she feasts her eyes on-the Man; and gives him her first kiss is emotionally pretty. Then comes the blizzard. The wirid screams arid whines, -the snow is hurled, in masses' against;; the /cabin door, covering, up .:: the trails, that lead to anywhere... He must She, says'.'-.ffc means death, and presses,: him to .'stay .through;,the night. 'She offers him, her .bed, we.lPcurtained round, while she snuggles close beside- the blazing, fire; .' Silence;.: A. shout,from outside muffled by the.hissing and howling of -the blizzard; She tellshim' to keep quiet behind the curtain, and; opens the door-to admit ;Ra~nce,'tho Sheriff,, and his half-frozen- posse;,; What did'she think?,. Why, tho stranger was;no other than. Ramarez, the -road agent,.,, for whoin a*ropo and the limb.of a tree were" waiting; : She denies the charge hotly,; and:, then 'remembers herself.,-, How.; diet: .they kriow?; A couple of' thieving greasers .had said, .so even, as they were hoisted heavenward. Furthermore,; the 'stranger'', (who had given the name of Johnson)" was, mixed up with a Spanish girl ori the backjtrail, 1 who had corroborated.: Johnson'" had been seen heading on the up-trail, and they thought maybe he ..was' there., She' lies, and .'they ■leave. - With x the, Oliok of the door-bar her f' assion blazes ii'r the 1 luckless stranger.. \Sb e 'was a rbadagent,' a thief, .whom she .had learned to love, even!when he.came to rob. He stands dumb through the scarifying, and after admitting: the 'truth. of .what Rari'ce had, said, 'took; 'an; oath that; he loved her, - and had,meant the blizzard of:that night to- wipe ,put.;his,'past.'; -She' could:havo forgiven all 'u'utvthe/Spanish:.,w6maiV'.on the back "trail, lie must'-'leave' 1 the/jhiit—-yes, he must , the canyon twenty feet' .frbmHhe.'ildor.V'.Hb leaves,' and t.he:dpor;ha§' not been barfe'd a. rriinuto before a shot is' 'heard.-: Opening the;door. Johnson staggers iu with his hand.over his left lung—bleeding.. •The glorious' incoh'sis'ie'riby of- woman; mariifests.itself.: He must.be how she. loves him! A'kribcki; She decides to hide him 'in ;the;.-raftersi : .;aiid he .'labours up the ladder falls'prorie. : The Sheriff enters,' arid demands to know what she has done with tho'-inanV.'he shot .at ,hei- :door—yes, he had seen him clear against the snow. She lies', again, and .Ranee .makes fierce animal love • which she'-veheinently'repels, and orders him; away-rHeasksrherto say good-bye, and, as he holds'.''out': his. hand 1 , drops of. blood ■! fall into; '•iV'from' above." He feels—sees Iti' looks at.her—Johnson!' 4 The' road : agent'staggers down the;ladder, reels,.and falls across.';the : tablo.;; Then-thb girl,.with all tbe_ subtlety,of herisex,' and'fighting'now like a .tiger for her, lover;'appeals-to' Rancej the gambler, .for;a chance- to 'save/the man. ...She will "poker" him',: best' two'put of-three';; if. Ranee' wins he'; can'have her ; and her lover, too, .but if she twins' .he is: to' hand. Johnson .oyer to. her .and .proceed-'no' further. Agreed..' She .wins on-ithe- first deal;'he,,the second, arid the third, but even'as he calls his cards she affects to faint. He reaches for water, and as he;does.so she,produces a "full:hand," ace high;, from her, stocking. So the girl saves her.: lover. But'Ashby is on the trail, and runs, down, his tottering escapee 'within ; a raiiebr two of the camp, and the Girl doesn't kribw; Tho ibbs'e"is ready.;' Rarice vindictive. Johnson; must die; right away.. The boys think.of the: Girl,: and point out 'that-it is. usual .to'.allow, sweethearts a farewell inter.vipw,: under such circuinstarices;-; She comes in and sees;;her ,lover; he .to deceive her"as to his position,' but the boys give !.it all. away.. .Her, tragic pleading arid heartrifting sobs 'shake the very soul.of, Cloudy 'Mountairi';'::Theri Sonora-Slim, says as how they; didn't know;the 'Girl was so set on Johnson;, but seeing;..how it was they had decided to; let'."thing's; slide. So she tolls him estatically : that ho;is free, and they'go out together.' ; David Belasco, though acknowledged one 'of ' America's/'groatest producers, is 'not exactly 1 a Sardou; but'that' he has written . a drama, 'of vital interest in its essentials in "The Girl: of the Golden West" few will deny. ■'" Li its essentials", is said advisedly, as. there is a good ;deal of extraneous matter, which is .interesiingj but not in the least degrco'essential to the qualities.'of the play.. The first two acts.in the. saloon arid the hut are equal:to : the very best' American melodrama that has been .seen in Wellington, but the third act drops: away, from dra'raatio grace, and merely serves as a vehicle for the.ariticlimax.at _ tho end, and the last act. is, a Belasco prefainess—a tableau—4hat does not matter. : '''• ':.. , '■•••■ _, '- . At Miss Bruno is as sweet and clever a3 she is in " Sunday." ' Whilst, simulating in language and deportment a fine natural lack of culture, she; makes the untutored goddess of the Polka Saloon a very charming girl, softly human in her emotions arid sentiments,; arid" delightfully frank where 'her affections -are concerned., Miss Brune; was quaintly comical in the hut scene, and dis.playod a high.degreoof. dramatic force nn learning of the identity of her lover, which, again, is .beautifully shaded ;into ' reverent tenderness on .finding, him, ;wburided. : . Why she should be'so tearfully sad in tho third act (seeing'that'her: lover'has escaped death) is difficult to imagine;- and even in the last act, when, clear of the camp with him, the emotion is; spread "a little too' thickly.' Surely there Bhould be -a' note -of gladness at the dangers past .aridithe bright hope ahead. Mr. Kings-tori-made'a handsome lover, and'acted with manliness ancigrace; 'but he 1 was ultra-Eng- 1 lish in mariner, gait, speech, everything, and' so' f ailed'.to- suggest; the • Yankee-Mexican road'agont;:a'vagabond who is the son of a , vagabond and'thief.- Mr. Geo.: Bryant as Ranee submitteda striking and consistent study—a repulsive, snarling, lascivious brute,-, with the long white itching hands of. a garrotter, the dress of a country undertaker, and the hyena-cackle'of one damned. A couple . of neat character sketches were given by Mr. Harry Sweeney as the'lndian, Billy Jaokrabbit, and Miss Kelly :'bb his squaw. Mr. Loring; Pernie's.Sonora Slim.was a good bit of work. His atteriipt'to .recite "Casabianca," in the school scene: tickled immensely. . . The scenery, by Messrs. Gordon, Little, and • Board, was; with the exception of the fine, '. : curtains' of the first and last, few , minutes of the play; confined to rough inter- ' iors, but':the attention.paid to tho.smallpst deteil is a marked'feature in tins highly ini teresting production, some credit for which ;. must bo given.to,the producer, Mr. Priestley .; Morrison. Tho orchestra, under the conduc- ' torship.of Mr. G. Leopold, played.acceptably.' "The Girl* of the Golden West" should see • t.hii uwk out at the Opera House.