Crane in "His Wife's Father"

1895

William H. Crane scored another success in New York on Monday in his production at the Fifth Avenue Theatre of "His Wife's Father," the latest comedy from the pen of Martha Morton. There never was an instant when the fate of the play was in question, and in it Mr. Crane is seen in another of his most characteristic representations — characteristic, because it shows not only the quality of his humor but the gravity of his mind, the depth of his feeling and the ample resources of his felicitous art.

This character is that of a lovingly meddlesome father, whose kindly meant interferences with personal affairs of his daughter and her husband, made him a nuisance. He is not like the traditional mother-in-law in acerbity of faultfinding, he is far too good natured to scold any body, or to purposely raise a row about anything, but he is meddlesome nevertheless, and thereby causes as much domestic trouble as any mother-in-law ever did.

All of the critics were unanimous in their praise of the play. The Sun said "It was markedly successful." The World calls it "A pronounced success." The Tribune said "Mr. Crane and his company were received with the heartiest favor. Mr. Crane made an unequivocal hit with his audience." The Times had to say: "In this manifestly congenial part Mr. Crane was constantly amusing. He played it with appreciation of all its possibilities, forced none of its peculiarities into the grotesque, and was always alive and possible." The Press said "The Play seemed to have achieved a success before the conclusion of the first act." The Journal said "It was a tale of family complications, that is full of humor well presented, and the Mercury said it was a great success. The other papers were equally strong in praise of the work and its stay in New York promises to add to Mr. Crane's reputation and popularity.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 8, 1895, p. 2.