The Squaw man

   Edwin Milton Royle's four-act play opened on 23 October 1905 at Wallack's Theatre for 222 performances produced by Theodore A. Liebler. Written specifically for William Haversham, The Squaw Man featured the comparative rarity of a central Native American character. Noble James Wynngate agrees to leave England in order to protect his cousin, a feckless young man who has stolen money. Wynngate has another motive, for he is in love with Lady Diana, his cousin's wife. Using the name James Carston while in the American West, Wynngate is out of the reach of the authorities (who believe he is the thief) and away from Diana. He falls in love with an Indian girl, Nat-u-ritch, who has saved his life. They have son, but when Diana arrives to report that Wynngate's innocence has been revealed and that he is now Earl of Kerhill. With a mind toward freeing her husband and the betterment of her child's life, Nat-u-ritch takes her own. Frequently revived into the 1920s, Cecil B. DeMille directed The Squaw Man as the first feature length silent motion picture adapted from a stage source. It was a great success, but DeMille directed a 1931 sound version that failed, as did The White Eagle, a 1927 musical based on it.