Squaw Man, The

Squaw Man, The (1905), a play by Edwin Milton Royle. [Wallack's Theatre, 222 perf.] Captain James Wynnegate ( William Faversham) loves Diana ( Selene Johnson), his cousin's wife. When it is learned his cousin has stolen funds from a charity, James agrees to immigrate to America so that it will appear he is the culprit. He settles in the West, takes the name Jim Carston, and soon falls in love with and marries the Native American Nat‐u‐ritch ( Mabel Morrison), who once saved his life. But when Lady Diana comes to America to tell Wynnegate that his innocence has been recognized and that he is now Earl of Kerhill, Nat‐u‐ritch understands that she is in his way. She kills herself to give her husband and their young son a chance for a better life. The Liebler and Co. production was one of the major successes of its day and was revived with some frequency as late as 1921. It served as the source for an important early silent film and afterwards was made into the unsuccessful musical The White Eagle (1927). Edwin Milton ROYLE (1862–1942) was born in Lexington, Missouri, and educated at Salt Lake City's Collegiate Institute, Princeton, the University of Edinburgh, and Columbia Law School. He abandoned law to become an actor and performed in his first play, Friends (1892), with his wife, Selma Fetter Royle (1860–1955). In his later works he displayed a wide variety of skills, writing the farce My Wife's Husbands (1903), the musical comedy Marrying Mary (1906), and the poetic tragedy Launcelot and Elaine (1921). However, Royle is remembered largely for The Squaw Man. In all, more than thirty of his plays were produced.