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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35565.txt b/35565.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2fffff6 --- /dev/null +++ b/35565.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7100 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Mormons and the Theatre, by John S. Lindsay + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mormons and the Theatre + or The History of Theatricals in Utah + +Author: John S. Lindsay + +Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35565] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORMONS AND THE THEATRE *** + + + + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Eric Heaps +with a little help from Benjamin Bytheway and Ben Crowder. + + + + + + + + +_The_ Mormons _and the_ Theatre + +OR + +_The History of Theatricals in Utah_ + +With Reminiscences and Comments +Humorous and Critical + + +_By_ JOHN S. LINDSAY + + +SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH +1905 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In rather sharp contrast to other Christian denominations, the Mormons +believe in and are fond of dancing and the theatre. So much is this +the case that Friday evening of each week during the amusement season +is set apart by them in all the settlements throughout Mormondom for +their dance night. Their dances are generally under the supervision of +the presiding bishop and are invariably opened with prayer or +invocation, and closed or dismissed in the same manner, with a brief +return of thanks to the Almighty for the good time they have enjoyed. + +The theatre is so popular among the Mormon people, that in almost +every town and settlement throughout their domains there is an amateur +dramatic company. + +It is scarcely to be wondered at that Salt Lake has the enviable +distinction of being the best show town of its population in the +United States, and when we say that, we may as well say in the whole +world. It is a well established fact that Salt Lake spends more money +per capita in the theatre than any city in our country. + +Such a social condition among a strictly religious people is not +little peculiar, and is due, largely, to the fact that Brigham Young +was himself fond of the dance and also of the theatre. He could "shake +a leg" with the best of them, and loved to lead the fair matrons and +maidens of his flock forth into its giddy, bewildering mazes. Certain +round dances, the waltz and polka, were always barred at dances +Brigham Young attended, and only the old-fashioned quadrilles and +cotillions and an occasional reel like Sir Roger de Coverly or the +Money Musk were tolerated by the great Mormon leader. + +That Brigham Young was fond of the theatre also, and gave great +encouragement to it, his building of the Salt Lake Theatre was a +striking proof. He recognized the natural desire for innocent +amusement, and the old axiom "All work and no play makes Jack a dull +boy," had its full weight of meaning to him. Keep the people in a +pleasurable mood, then they will not be apt to brood and ponder over +the weightier concerns of life. + +There may have been a stroke of this policy in Brigham Young's +amusement scheme; but whether so or not he must be credited with both +wisdom and liberality, for the policy certainly lightened the cares +and made glad the hearts of the people. + +Although Salt Lake City has been the chief nursery of these twin +sources of amusement for the Mormon people, to find the cradle in +which they were first nursed into life, we will have to go back to a +time and place anterior to the settlement of Salt Lake. Back in the +days of Nauvoo, before Brigham Young was chief of the Mormon church, +under the rule of its original prophet, Joseph Smith, the Mormon +people were encouraged in the practice of dancing and going to witness +plays. Indeed, the Mormons have always been a fun-loving people; it is +recorded of their founder and prophet that he was so fond of fun that +he would often indulge in a foot race, or pulling sticks, or even a +wrestling match. He often amazed and sometimes shocked the +sensibilities of the more staid and pious members of his flock by his +antics. + +Before the Mormons ever dreamed of emigrating to Utah (or Mexico, as +it was then), they had what they called a "Fun Hall," or theatre and +dance hall combined, where they mingled occasionally in the merry +dance or sat to witness a play. Then, as later in Salt Lake, their +prophet led them through the mazy evolutions of the terpsichorean +numbers and was the most conspicuous figure at all their social +gatherings. + +While building temples and propagating their new revelation to the +world, the Mormons have always found time to sing and dance and play +and have a pleasant social time, excepting, of course, in their days +of sore trial. Indeed, they are an anomaly among religious sects in +this respect, and that is what has made Salt Lake City proverbially a +"great show town." + +Mormonism during the Nauvoo days had numerous missionaries in the +field and many converts were added to the new faith. Among others that +were attracted to the modern Mecca to look into the claims of the new +evangel, was Thomas A. Lyne, known more familiarly among his +theatrical associates as "Tom" Lyne. + +Lyne, at this time, 1842, was an actor of wide and fair repute, in the +very flush of manhood, about thirty-five years of age. He had played +leading support to Edwin Forrest, the elder Booth, Charlotte Cushman, +Ellen Tree (before she became Mrs. Charles Kean), besides having +starred in all the popular classic roles. Lyne was the second actor in +the United States to essay the character of Bulwer's Richelieu--Edwin +Forrest being the first. + +The story of "Tom" Lyne's conversion to the Mormon faith created quite +a sensation in theatrical circles of the time, and illustrates the +great proselyting power the elders of the new religion possessed. + +Lyne, when he encountered Mormonism, was a skeptic, having outgrown +belief in all of the creeds. It was in 1841 that George J. Adams, a +brother-in-law of Lyne's, turned up suddenly in Philadelphia (Lyne's +home) where he met the popular actor and told him the story of his +conversion to the Mormon faith. Adams had been to Nauvoo, met the +prophet and become one of his most enthusiastic disciples. Adams had +been an actor, also, of more than mediocre ability, and as a preacher +proved to be one of the most brilliant and successful expounders of +the new religion. Elder Adams had been sent as a missionary to +Philadelphia in the hope that his able exposition of the new evangel +would convert that staid city of brotherly love to the new and +everlasting covenant. + +In pursuance of the New Testament injunction, the Mormon missionaries +are sent out into their fields of labor without purse or scrip, so +Elder Adams, on arriving at his field of labor, lost no time in +hunting up his brother-in-law, "Tom" Lyne, to whom he related with +dramatic fervor and religious enthusiasm the story of his wonderful +conversion, his subsequent visit to Nauvoo, his meeting with the young +"Mohammed of the West," for whom he had conceived the greatest +admiration, as well as a powerful testimony of the divinity of his +mission. + +Adams was so convincing and made such an impression on Lyne that he at +once became greatly interested in the Mormon prophet and his new +revelation. This proved to be a great help to Elder Adams, who was +entirely without "the sinews of war" with which to start his great +campaign. + +The brothers-in-law put their heads together in council as to how the +campaign fund was to be raised, and the result was that they decided +to rent a theatre, get a company together, and play "Richard III" for +a week. Lyne was a native of Philadelphia and at this time one of its +most popular actors. It was here that Adams had met him a few years +before and had given him his sister in marriage. + +The theatrical venture was carried through, Lyne playing Richard and +Elder Adams, Richmond. The week's business, after paying all expenses, +left a handsome profit. Lyne generously donated his share to the new +cause in which he had now grown so deeply interested and Elder Adams +procured a suitable hall and began his missionary labors. His eloquent +exposition of the new and strange religion won many to the faith; one +of the first fruits of his labors being the conversion of Thomas A. +Lyne. + +Such an impression had Adams's description of the Mormon prophet and +the City of the Saints (Nauvoo) made upon Lyne that he could not rest +satisfied until he went and saw for himself. He packed up his wardrobe +and took the road for Nauvoo. With a warm letter of introduction from +Elder Adams to the prophet, it was not long before Lyne was thoroughly +ingratiated in the good graces of the Mormon people. He met the +prophet Joseph, was enchanted with him, and readily gave his adherence +to the new and strange doctrines which the prophet advanced, but +whether with an eye single to his eternal salvation or with both eyes +open to a lucrative engagement "this deponent saith not." + +The story runs that after a long sojourn with the Saints in Nauvoo, +during which he played a round of his favorite characters, supported +by a full Mormon cast, he bade the prophet and his followers a +sorrowful farewell and returned to his accustomed haunts in the +vicinity of Liberty Hall. + +During his stay in Nauvoo, Mr. Lyne played quite a number of classical +plays, including "William Tell," "Virginius," "Damon and Pythias," +"The Iron Chest," and "Pizarro." In the latter play, he had no less a +personage than Brigham Young in the cast; he was selected to play the +part of the Peruvian high priest, and is said to have led the singing +in the Temple scene where the Peruvians offer up sacrifice and sing +the invocation for Rolla's victory. Brigham Young is said to have +taken a genuine interest in the character of the high priest and to +have played it with becoming dignity and solemnity. Here was an early +and unmistakable proof of Brigham Young's love for the drama. + +Mr. Lyne, while relating this Nauvoo incident in his experience to the +writer, broke into a humorous vein and remarked: + +"I've always regretted having cast Brigham Young for that part of the +high priest." + +"Why?" I inquired, with some surprise. + +With a merry twinkle in his eye and a sly chuckle in his voice, he +replied: "Why don't you see John, he's been playing the character with +great success ever since." + +There are still a few survivors of the old Nauvoo dramatic company, +who supported "Tom" Lyne, living in Salt Lake. Bishop Clawson, one of +the first managers of the Salt Lake theatre, is among them. + +Lyne played a winning hand at Nauvoo. He made a great hit with the +prophet, who took such a fancy to him that he wanted to ordain him and +send him on a mission, thinking that Lyne's elecutionary powers would +make him a great preacher. But "Tom" had not become sufficiently +enthused over the prophet's revelations to abjure the profession he so +dearly loved, and become a traveling elder going about from place to +place without purse or scrip, instead of a popular actor who was in +demand at a good sized salary. + +Lyne had made his visit remunerative and had enshrined himself in the +hearts of the Mormon people, as the sequel will show: but he drifted +away from them as unexpectedly as he had come. Having become a convert +to the new religion, it was confidently expected that he would remain +among the Saints and be one of them; but he drifted away from them and +the Mormons saw no more of "Tom" Lyne till he turned up in Salt Lake +twenty years later, soon after the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre. + +Lyne was the first star to tread its stage and played quite a number +of engagements during the years from '62 to '70. He made money enough +out of his engagements at the Salt Lake Theatre to live on for the +remainder of his days. For the last twenty years of his life, he +rarely appeared in public except to give a reading occasionally. With +his French wife, Madeline, he settled down and took life easy, living +cosily in his own cottage, and in 1891 at the advanced age of +eighty-four Thomas A. Lyne passed peacefully away, a firm believer in +a life to come but at utter variance with the Mormon creed, which he +had discarded soon after his departure from Nauvoo. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + Thus far into the bowels of the land + Have we marched on without impediment. + + --Shakespeare. + +When the Mormons came from Nauvoo to Salt Lake they brought with them +to this wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, the love of the drama, and +as a consequence it was not long, only a few years from 1847 to 1850, +before they began to long for something in the way of a theatre. + +The pleasant recollections of the drama as interpreted at Nauvoo by +Mr. Lyne and his supporting cast, were still fresh in their memories, +and almost before many of them had comfortable houses to live in they +began to yearn for some dramatic amusement. As a result of this strong +inclination for the play and a still more universal desire for +dancing, it was but a short time before their wishes materialized. + +As early as the fall of 1850 they had formed a club called the Musical +and Dramatic Association. The name was a comprehensive one, +intentionally so, for the organization included the celebrated "Nauvoo +Brass Band," a number of whose members also figured in the dramatic +company. Indeed it was from this musical organization that the +dramatic company really sprang. + +The members of this original dramatic company were John Kay, Hyrum B. +Clawson, Philip Margetts, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R. T. +Burton, George B. Grant, Edmond Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward +Martin, William Cutler, William Clayton, Miss Drum, Miss Margaret +Judd, and Miss Mary Badlam. Miss Badlam, in addition to playing parts, +was very popular as a dancer and gave her dancing specialties between +the acts, making something like our up-to-date continuous performance. + +The first public dramatic performances were given in the "Bowery" (a +very reminiscent name for a New York theatre goer of that day). "The +Bowery" in this case was a summer place of worship which stood on the +Temple Block near where the big Tabernacle now stands. In this place +of worship as early as the year 1850, with the aid of a little +home-made scenery and a little crude furniture, were the first plays +presented to a Salt Lake audience. + +The first bill consisted of the old serio-comic drama, "Robert +Macaire, or the Two Murderers," dancing by Miss Badlam, and the farce +of the "Dead Shot." + +Judging by their titles, these plays were rather a gruesome selection +to play in a church. As it is a matter of historic interest the cast +so far as procurable is appended of "Robert Macaire:" + + Robert Macaire ................................. John Kay + Jacque Stropp ............................. H. B. Clawson + Pierre .................................. Philip Margetts + Waiter .................................. Robert Campbell + Clementina ................................ Margaret Judd + Celeste ....................................... Miss Orum + +Several other plays were given during this first dramatic season and +were creditably performed, affording pleasure both to the audiences +and actors; the only remuneration the actors received, by the way, for +it must be remarked that these first dramatic efforts were entirely +voluntary on the part of the company. + +The orchestra which played in connection with this first dramatic +company deserves to be made a matter of record quite as much as the +company itself, for it was also drawn from the ranks of the historic +"Nauvoo Brass Band." + +William Pitt, the captain of the band, was the leader of the +orchestra. He could "play the fiddle like an angel," handling the bow +with his left hand at that. The associate players of Captain Pitt were +William Clayton, James Smithers, Jacob Hutchinson, David Smith, and +George Warde. The Musical and Dramatic Association played in the +Bowery occasionally from 1850 to 1852. + +The first amusement hall built in Salt Lake, which was used chiefly +for dancing, was erected at the Warm Springs in the year 1850. It was +a good sized adobe building and served as a social hall until 1852, +when the Social Hall proper was completed. It was built at this out of +the way place so as to combine the use of the Warm Springs for bathing +with the social meetings held there. But it proved to be too difficult +to get to, when the nights were dark and the roads were bad, so +Brigham Young had the Social Hall built which was quite central and +the Warm Springs music hall was converted into a roadside tavern and +was run by Jesse C. Little for a time. + +The first string band to furnish music for dances played at this hall +and was composed of Hopkins C. (familiarly known as "Hop") Fender, +Jesse Earl and Jake Hutchinson. These gentlemen deserve to be +remembered in the musical history of Salt Lake City as the first to +furnish the inspiring strains to which the worthy pioneers danced. + +In the fall of 1852, the Musical and Dramatic Association was +reorganized and renamed the "Deseret Dramatic Association." In this +year the historic Social Hall was erected, and with a view to opening +it with becoming brilliancy the original company was greatly added to, +for the drama had become a popular amusement with the Saints, and many +of the chiefs of the church, including President Young, held honorary +membership in the "D. D. A." + +The Social Hall, which is still standing and in well preserved +condition, is one of the old landmarks that are fast disappearing. It +is a comparatively small structure about 40x80 feet. It was considered +in its time a fine amusement hall but has long since become dwarfed by +the greater buildings which have gone up around it. It has a stage +twenty feet deep, two dressing rooms under the stage, an ample +basement under the hall for banqueting purposes. This auditorium is +about 40x60 feet with a level floor for dancing for the amusement of +the play and dancing were fairly and considerately alternated by the +managers of the D. D. A. + +In the early winter of 1852 this hall was opened with a dance to which +the elect were invited, and it was a great crush. The first social +gathering in the new hall formed a sort of punctuation mark in the +social caste among the Saints. + +Of course, the hall being small, the invitations had to be limited and +many there were who felt slighted because they were not among the +invited. Envy on the one hand and a supercilious superiority on the +other gave birth to a feeling of caste which was altogether in bad +taste among professing Saints. + +The great event of this season in the amusement line was the dramatic +opening. Local artists had been employed for some time and had stocked +the stage with excellent scenery. Bulwer's classic play "The Lady of +Lyons" was selected for the opening bill. The company had been so +strengthened that the members could cast any of the great plays. To +the original company had been added besides a long list of honorary +members, the following named active male members: James Ferguson, +Bernard Snow, David Candland (stage manager), John T. Caine, David +McKenzie, Joseph Simons and Henry Maiben; to the female contingent had +been added Mrs. Cyrus Wheelock, Mrs. Henry Tuckett, Mrs. Joseph Bull, +Mrs. John Hyde, Mrs. Sarah Cook. It will be observed that they were +all married women. This is a very noticeable feature, as it is so +unusual in a dramatic company nowadays, either amateur or +professional. The explanation of it, however, is simple enough. At +that time there were few if any unmarried women in Utah that had +arrived at the marriageable age. The only three women whose names +appear in the original company were unmarried, Miss Judd, Miss Orum +and Miss Badlam, which seems exceptional and they now seem to have all +disappeared, or they are overshadowed by the married women, or perhaps +they appear in the reorganized company under a new name with Mrs. +attached. + +The Social Hall theatrical opening was an event in the history of +Utah. It may be truly said that it marked an epoch in the development +of civilization in the Rocky Mountain region and the growth of the +drama in the far West. Even San Francisco had not up to this time made +any such ambitious attempt in the dramatic line. + +I have not been able to procure a program of this opening performance +but the cast of the principal characters was as follows: + + Claud Melnotte ........................... James Ferguson + Monsieur Beauseant ....................... David Candland + Monsieur Glavis ........................... John T. Caine + Col. Damas ........................ John D. T. McAllister + Mons. Deschapples ..................... Horace K. Whitney + Landlord ................................ Philip Margetts + Pauline Deschapples ....................... Mrs. Wheelock + Madame Deschapples ................... Mrs. M. G. Clawson + Widow Melnotte .......................... Mrs. Sarah Cook + +The play was a pronounced success and the players covered themselves +with glory. A number of plays were now put on in rapid succession, for +the D. D. A. had caught the true dramatic fire, and the people were +hungry for the play. In the great plays, a number of which were +essayed, the characters were strongly filled. + +Bernard Snow, who had played with the elder Booth in California, which +gave him a brief professional experience, was easily in the lead of +all the Mormon actors. He played an Othello that would have done +credit to Shakespeare anywhere, while Ferguson as Iago was scarcely +less convincing. In "Damon and Pythias" also these players shone with +more than ordinary brilliancy. Snow's Damon was pronounced a work of +art, while Ferguson looked and acted Pythias to the admiration of all +who witnessed it. Mrs. Wheelock as Calanthe and Mrs. Tuckett as +Hermion made up a quartet of players that would have graced any stage +in the country. + +"Virginius" was also played here with Snow in the title role, a +favorite with him. When Lyne came ten years later and played these +same characters in the Salt Lake Theatre, many of the old frequenters +of the Social Hall ranked Bernard Snow as Lyne's equal and they had to +be brought to play together in the Salt Lake Theatre to gratify the +many admirers of both. + +"Pizarro" was the play chosen for this event and it served to pack the +theatre. Lyne appeared as Pizarro for the occasion although Rolla was +his favorite part. This gave Snow the advantage as Rolla is the star +part. It proved a great hit both financially and artistically. + +The Social Hall orchestra was a feature at all the dramatic +performances, and came in for its due share of praise and admiration. +It was under the direction of Domenico Ballo, who had formerly been a +band master at West Point. He was a fine composer and arranger, and +one of the best clarinet players ever heard. Professor Ballo was a +graduate of the Conservatory of Music at Milan. He served several +years as band master at West Point. He drifted into Utah at an early +day and cast his lot with the Mormons. He organized a fine brass band +here and built a fine dance hall which was known as "Ballo's Music +Hall." + +Salt Lake City has from a very early period in its history enjoyed an +enviable reputation in a musical way. Its first musical organization +as already mentioned was the Nauvoo Brass Band, organized originally +in Nauvoo in connection with the Mormon militia known as the "Nauvoo +Legion," of which Joseph Smith held the distinguished office of +Lieutenant General. The exodus from Nauvoo and the formation soon +afterwards of the "Mormon Battalion" demoralized to a great degree +both the legion and the band. Both organizations, however, were +reconstructed soon after the settlement of Utah, and each played a +conspicuous part in its early history. + +At the laying of the corner stone of the Salt Lake Temple as early as +1853, the Nauvoo Brass Band and Ballo's Brass Band were consolidated +for this occasion and increased to sixty-five players under the +leadership of Professor Ballo, who gave the people of Salt Lake a +musical treat that would have been a credit to any metropolitan city. +Ballo was a thorough and accomplished musician and his masterly work +at such an early period had much to do with developing Salt Lake's +musical talent. + +From 1852 to 1857 the Social Hall continued to be the principal place +of amusement for the people of Salt Lake City, as well as those who +came in from various parts of the Territory. Those living at a +distance and visiting the city either on business or pleasure (which +were generally combined) deemed themselves extremely fortunate if +there chanced to be a play "on the boards" during their brief sojourn +in the city. + +The fame of the Social Hall and its talented company of players, +dramatic and musical, had spread abroad in the land and many of the +smaller towns began to emulate Salt Lake City and organized dramatic +clubs. + +In the year 1857 amusements as well as business of all kinds received +a sudden and severe shock from which it took a year or more to +recover. In this year a rupture occurred between the Mormon chiefs and +the United States Judges, which resulted in President Buchanan sending +Albert Sidney Johnson to Utah with an army to crush the incipient +rebellion. The heroes of the Social Hall stage now were cast to play +more serious parts. The stage was now to be the tented field, their +music, the roll of the drum and the ear-piercing fife. + +"Jim" Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was Adjutant General of the +"Nauvoo Legion," as the Territorial militia was called, and all the +other stage heroes were enrolled under its banners. The "Legion" was +sent out into the mountains to check the advance of the invading army. +Not only did all amusement and business generally come to a sudden +stop, but so serious was the situation that a general exodus of the +people to the south was ordered by the church authorities and Salt +Lake City was abandoned. + +Meeting houses, theatre, stores and nearly all the dwellings in the +city were vacated, and the intention was to burn the city rather than +this "hell born" army should occupy and pollute it. + +No occasion for carrying into effect this insane resolution +transpired, for which the people have ever since been thankful. Soon +after its adoption a better understanding was reached between the +refractory Saints and Uncle Sam's government, and the people gradually +came back to their homes in the city, glad indeed that the sacrificial +torch had not been applied to them. + +"The invading army" had passed peacefully through the city and made +its encampment forty miles away. Things began to resume their normal +condition, but the winter of 1857-8 was a blank in the Mormon +amusement field. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + + Now is the winter of our discontent + Made glorious summer by this son of York, + And all the clouds that lowered upon our house, + In the deep bosom of the ocean buried; + Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths, + Our bruised arms hung up for monuments, + Our stern alarums are changed to merry-meetings + And our dreadful marches to delighted measures. + + --Richard III. + +The Mormon war cloud that lowered so portentously during the winter of +1857-8 had been dispelled without bloodshed, and peace once more +brooded over the land. The soldiers of the "Nauvoo Legion" had "hung +up their _un_-bruised arms for monuments" and resumed their old +avocations, and the wheels of trade, "the calm health of nations," +were once again running in their accustomed grooves. + +The people had set to work with redoubled energy to make up for the +losses "the war" had entailed upon them, so that they had little time +or inclination for amusement. The advent of Johnson's army into Utah, +although encamped forty miles from the city, had its effect; it +brought in its wake, as an army always does, a lot of camp +followers,--hangers-on--a contingent that was thrown largely into Salt +Lake, and not a desirable one. This made the Mormon people wary and +suspicious, and inclined them more than ever to isolate themselves +from strangers. + +Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, in the winter of '59 they +began to resume their usual amusements, and a number of plays were +given that winter in the Social Hall. + +By this time the "army" having no active service, began to feel the +need of some amusement, and some of the soldiers improvised a theatre +in the camp. + +Sergt. R. C. White, better known later among Pacific coast theatricals +as "Dick" White, was the leading spirit in this affair. White was a +scholar as well as a soldier; moreover, he had the poetic and dramatic +instinct in him, and in common with all living creatures, he felt that +he must exercise his faculties. So in order to give vent to his pent +up love of the drama, he organized a dramatic company among the +soldiers of Camp Floyd. The Sergeant, or "Dick" as he was called, was +not only a clever amateur actor but a poet, and something of an artist +as well. By his skill in this latter line he soon had the necessary +scenery painted for the Camp theatre. Pigments were scarce in the camp +and even in Salt Lake at that time, but White was resourceful, and +equal to every emergency, so he made levy on the quartermaster's +department for liberal supplies of mustard, red pepper, ox blood, and +other strange materials with which to get in his color effects. + +The "Camp Floyd Theatre" as it was called, was not a stupendous +structure, only large enough to accommodate about two hundred persons, +and the stage in proportion to the auditorium. It was built of rough +pine boards and canvas--principally canvas--but answered all the +requirements of a theatre for the amusement of the camp. + +White had but little trouble in organizing his corps dramatique, so +far as men were concerned, but the female contingent gave him much +concern and considerable trouble to secure. Women in the camp were +scarce, and female talent was at a premium. There were a few officers +whose wives were with them and some "hired help" of the female +persuasion, but none of the women of the camp had any experience in +theatricals. Several were willing, and even eager to try; so White +made a selection and cast a play and put it in rehearsal, but "woe is +me!" the women were all such tyros that he was almost in despair, +until he suddenly conceived the project of engaging one of the Social +Hall actresses to play the leading female character; if he could do +that, then, he reasonably argued that he could get along, but could a +Mormon actress be induced to come to Camp Floyd? + +Here was a dilemma; but the bold Richard perhaps thought of the lines +of his renowned namesake, Richard Plantagenet: + + "Dangers retreat when boldly they're confronted, + And dull delay leads impotence and fear," + +so he took courage. He opened up a correspondence with Mrs. Tuckett of +Social Hall fame. White was an accomplished writer, and poetical, and +there is no doubt he could write a winning letter. We have no +knowledge of what inducements he offered, so can only surmise that a +liberal salary was the temptation held out to her. Suffice it to say +that Mrs. Tuckett accepted the offer and joined the Camp Floyd Theatre +Company, thus making a noticeable weakening of the Social Hall force, +and creating a commotion among her fellow players in Salt Lake, and +the people generally, as she went in opposition to the wishes of her +husband and friends and the church authorities. It was regarded not +only as an unwise step for Mrs. Tuckett to take, but a discreditable +one. + +It was a reproach to the Saints to have one of their number go and +mingle with the ungodly soldiers who had come out here to destroy +them. Mrs. Tuckett was looked upon from the moment of her departure as +a lost sheep from the fold. These apprehensions were not unfounded, +for Mrs. Tuckett, whether wearied of her Mormon environment, or led +away by the unusual attentions shown her by the officers and men of +the camp (with whom her acting soon made her a great favorite), lost +any former love she may have had for Salt Lake, and sundered all +social and family ties there. + +"Dick" White, poet, actor, artist, achieved another conquest; not only +had he succeeded in getting Mrs. Tuckett away from the Social Hall +company, but later on he won the affections of the Mormon actress and +took her completely away from her family, friends and church. In some +way White severed his connection with the army before the breaking out +of the Civil War and had gone to California "taking the fair Desdemona +with him." He married her and they lived together in Folsom, +California; only a few years, however; Mrs. Tuckett-White died there +in '63. + +Mrs. Tuckett, whose maiden name was Mercy Westwood, was of English +birth, came to Utah in the early '50s where she soon afterward married +as a polygamous wife. The Westwood family had a strong predilection +for the stage; three of her brothers, Richard, Phillip and Joseph +Westwood, figured conspicuously a little later on in the Springville +Dramatic company. Her desertion from the ranks of the Social Hall +company had created a vacancy they found it difficult to fill. She had +been playing the leading roles, filling the place of Mrs. Wheelock who +also became disaffected and went to California in '57 with a number of +others, under protection of Col. Steptoe's command. + +What particular reason Mrs. Wheelock had for withdrawing from the +Mormon people, we do not know. She settled in Sacramento where after a +time she became Mrs. Rattenbury, and has never returned except for a +brief visit and this quite recently. + +Mrs. Tuckett was the wife of Henry Tuckett who is still living in Salt +Lake; and had four children by him at the time she left, and in +abandoning husband and children to share the fortunes of the soldier +actor Dick White, she subjected herself to a vast amount of severe and +apparently just criticism. There is little known of her life after she +left Utah even by her relatives; she probably regretted the step she +had taken when too late. + +The Mormons never forgave White for taking Mrs. Tuckett from them. He +visited Salt Lake about four years after the death of his Mormon wife, +in the dramatic company of John S. Langrishe, who had Mr. C. W. +Couldock with him and was traveling by stage overland to the gold +mining towns of Montana; Virginia City of vigilante fame being their +objective point. + +The Langrishe-Couldock company opened in the Salt Lake Theatre, August +the first, 1867, in the "Chimney Corner" with Couldock in his favorite +character of Peter Probity. R. C. White was the Solomon Probity of the +cast. White was apprehensive of trouble if he should be discovered by +the friends of Mrs. Tuckett, who regarded her peculiar "taking off" +almost in the sense of an abduction. Conspicuous among Mrs. Tuckett's +friends were the managers of the theatre, H. B. Clawson and John T. +Caine; so White discreetly kept himself secluded during the day as +much as possible, and only put in an appearance at the theatre when it +was time to dress for the play. + +White was not personally known to the managers, or any of the +employees about the theatre. He had been little in Salt Lake during +the army's occupation of Camp Floyd and consequently was scarcely +known. Trusting to these circumstances he hoped to escape recognition, +and avoid the storm of abuse he felt sure would be showered on his +guilty head; but unfortunately his name was on the program and +although a common name and one that might easily escape especial +notice, White was by no means a common man and his performance of +Solomon attracted special attention to him. + +Some man in the audience who had met him at Camp Floyd recognized him, +and quietly informed the managers who he was. The whisper spread about +with amazing rapidity and he began to be pointed out as the "reprobate +and unscrupulous scoundrel" who had enticed Mrs. Tuckett away from +home and friends and people. + +To make sure that this was the veritable White, the manager made some +inquiries regarding him of Jack Langrishe, his manager. This was +sufficient to arouse the curiosity of the company with regard to +White's previous experience in Utah. White did not make a second +appearance at the theatre. He had caught something of the buzz that +was in the air about him, and quietly dropped out of the Langrishe +company for the remainder of its Salt Lake engagement. + +The Langrishes remained two weeks and then moved on to Montana. White +had not been entirely idle in the interim. He had made the +acquaintance of a second Salt Lake woman, whom he prevailed upon to +join him soon after his departure, and they were married shortly +after; the woman casting in her fortune with the Langrishe troupe and +doing such parts as they thought fit to cast her in. + +Mr. and Mrs. White eventually drifted into Portland, Oregon, and made +that their home for many years. It was there the writer made their +acquaintance some fifteen years later when he went to play leads for +John Maguire at the New Market Theatre. They appeared to be living +harmoniously and had four lovely children, two boys and two girls, the +eldest about twelve years of age and a promising young actress. White +was then the editor of the "Bee," an afternoon paper, and played on +occasions in Maguire's Stock company. + +Some years later White with his family removed to San Francisco, where +he became the stage manager of the Tivoli. It was during his +incumbency of this position that he made the first dramatization of +Rider Haggard's "She," and gave it its first production on the stage, +which proved to be a great success and started numerous other +companies to play it. + +White has now "fallen into the sere and yellow leaf" and for the last +dozen years has been affectionately called by the profession "Daddy +White." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Notwithstanding that during the winter of 1859-60 a number of dramatic +performances were given in the Social Hall, they were nearly, if not +all, revivals of plays that had been performed there previous seasons. +Interest had declined from some cause or other. It was probably +attributable in some measure to the departure of first Mrs. Wheelock +and then of Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of the company; +and then Jim Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was now engrossed in +the publication of The Mountaineer, a weekly paper he had started in +connection with Seth M. Blair and Hosea Stout, and for which he wrote +most of the editorials, so that he had little if any time to devote to +the playhouse. Bernard Snow, too, was absent from the company that +winter and as a consequence plays of a lighter character were selected +that did not require Snow and Ferguson. + +"The Golder Farmer," "Luke the Laborer," "Still Waters Run Deep," "All +That Glitters Is Not Gold," were the principal plays given. During the +following winter, 1860-61, there was nothing doing in the dramatic +line in the Social Hall. One reason for this was that a new company +had arisen, which, if not exactly a rival, was a strong competitor for +public favor. Some of its principal members belonged to the Deseret +Dramatic Association, and had been conspicuous in the ranks of its +performers. + +The new company was called the Mechanics' Dramatic Association, and +was headed by the favorite Social Hall comedian, Phil Margetts, who +was president and manager of the new organization. The members of this +new company were Phil Margetts, Harry Bowring, Henry McEwan, James A. +Thompson, Joe Barker, John B. Kelly, John Chambers, Joseph Bull, Pat +Lynch, William Wright, Bill Poulter, William Price, Mrs. Marion +Bowring, Mrs. Bull, Mrs. McEwan, Elizabeth Tullidge and Ellen Bowring. +Harry Bowring had in course of construction a new dwelling house; it +was covered and the floors laid, but no finishing or plastering had +been done, no partition walls had been put in, so that the entire +lower story was one room, not more than 18x40 feet in dimensions, +about one-third the size of the Social Hall. The stage occupied about +one-third of the same, leaving an audience chamber of about 18x25 +feet, not large enough, as it proved, to accommodate the numbers that +were anxious to witness the new performances. For dressing rooms, they +had the house at the back, in which Mr. Bowring and family resided, +and which communicated with the stage by a doorway in the new +structure. The scenery and drop curtain, which was necessarily of +small dimensions, was painted by the sterling and versatile artist, +William P. Morris. The auditorium was seated a la circus, with board +seats rising one above the other, with a row of chairs in front for +the distinguished guests and patrons. + +Such was "Bowring's Theatre," as it was called. Whether the managers +christened it that, or the name was given it by the patrons and +guests, we do not pretend to know, nor does it matter; but this fact +may be mentioned in relation to it, that it was first place in Salt +Lake City to be called a theatre. + +The Bowery being a place of worship (although the name was strongly +suggestive of the New York Bowery theatre), could not consistently be +called a theatre and the Social Hall embracing all the social +features--plays, dances and banquets--never came to be called a +theatre, Social Hall fully covering its functions, so that the Bowring +was really the first place to be known distinctively as a theatre. +Although the theatre was so very small the company did not appear to +be circumscribed in their histrionic efforts by any mere limitations +of space or stage appurtenances, as the following list of plays will +show: + +"The Honeymoon," "The Gamester," "Luke the Laborer," and "Othello," +and the farces of "Betsy Baker" and "Mr. and Mrs. Peter White." + +In the dramas, Mr. Margetts, who was recognized as the comedian par +excellence, chose to assume the tragic mask and appeared in the +leading roles, leaving the principal comic parts to his friend and +colleague Harry Bowring. It was somewhat of a surprise to "Phil's" +friends and admirers who knew his qualifications for comedy, to see +him in these tragic characters, but he is said to have given everybody +a pleasant surprise in them and Harry Bowring carried the comedy roles +so successfully as to divide the honors with "Phil." Mrs. Bowring, who +played the "lady leads," also distinguished herself to such a degree +that she took a prominent place in the Salt Lake Theatre soon after +its opening. + +It was during the performance of "Betsy Baker" in this place that +"Jimmy" Thompson, who was playing the part of Mr. Crommie, won such +distinction in that character that the name of "Crommie" has attached +to him among his acquaintances ever since. Harry McEwan, Joe Barker, +Billie Wright, Bill Poulter and dear old John Kelly and Mrs. Bull and +Mrs. McEwan all achieved some celebrity in connection with the little +playhouse--"Bowring's Theatre." + +Manager Margetts waited one day on President Brigham Young and invited +him, with his family, to see their play. The President of course had +heard of the new theatre, (what was there he didn't hear of?) but +affected some surprise that Phil and his associates should have +started what might be considered a rival to the D. D. A. + +"When do you play?" inquired the President. + +"We have a play tonight," answered Phil; "'Luke the Laborer,' but we +could not accommodate your family tonight, President Young, as the +seats are mostly engaged, but we would be pleased to reserve the house +for yourself and family for our next play, 'The Honeymoon,' which will +be on Friday night." + +"Well," says Brigham, "I would like to see the play tonight. Why can't +Heber (meaning Heber C. Kimball, his chief counsellor, who was sitting +within hearing) and I come tonight, and the family can come the next +night?" + +The President thought to catch them in a state of unpreparedness by +going sooner than was arranged for him, but Phil readily acquiesced in +the President's wish, and he and Brother Kimball "took in the show" +that night. They both expressed their pleasure and spoke words of +encouragement to the performers. + +On the following day Manager Margetts sent ninety tickets, the entire +seating capacity of the theatre, to President Young for himself and +family. The tiny theatre was packed to see "The Honeymoon." The Young +family certainly was in evidence on that occasion, but there was quite +a sprinkling of "Heber's" folks and other friends to whom the +President had given tickets from his wholesale reserve. + +"The Honeymoon" was a pronounced success. After the play Phil appeared +before the curtain and in a happy way thanked the President and those +of his family and friends present for honoring the company, and +expressed regret that they had not a more commodious and comfortable +theatre in which to entertain their friends. + +Brigham, evidently pleased, made a return speech from his place in the +audience and complimented the company. He encouraged them to go ahead +and told them he intended before long to build a good big theatre, +where they could have ample room to develop their dramatic art, +observing in his characteristic way, that the people must have +amusement. + +It will thus be seen that these performances led indirectly to the +building of the Salt Lake Theatre, for immediately after this the +President instructed Hyrum Clawson to reorganize the Deseret Dramatic +Association and to unite it with the Bowring Theatre Company, for he +was going to build a big theatre. The idea had evidently entered his +mind to stay. + +"Brother Brigham," as he was popularly and lovingly called, was quick +to comprehend the financial results of a great theatre in a community +whose members were all lovers of the drama, and two large dramatic +associations, bursting with ambition and only too anxious for a good +place and opportunity to air their talents. So he gave it out in +meeting one Sunday, much to the gratification of his congregation, +that he was going to build a big "fun hall," or theatre, where the +people could go and forget their troubles occasionally, in a good, +hearty laugh. + +"We have a large fund on hand," said he, "for the erection of a +Seventy's hall, but not enough to build such a hall as I want for the +Seventies; so we will use that fund to help build the theatre, and +when we get the theatre running we can pay back the Seventy's hall +fund with good interest, and in that way the Seventy's will get their +hall sooner than if they started to build it now." + +The Seventy's hall has never been built! + +The big theatre was planned and erected. William H. Folsom was the +architect and personally superintended the construction of the +building. This same gentleman, also, designed and built the big +turtle-shaped Tabernacle, proving that he was a constructive genius. + +On March the sixth, 1862, the Salt Lake Theatre, although far from +being finished, was so far completed as to be used, and on this date +it was opened with such ceremonies as would not only be deemed unique +in any other community, but would be set down as sacriligious by pious +people of other faiths. + +On this occasion the theatre was filled to its utmost capacity by +invitation. No admission fee was charged, the invitations being +extended by President Young to the church authorities, state, county +and municipal officers, the workmen who had erected the building, some +two hundred with their families. Some even who held invitations could +not get in; it resembled a huge revival meeting. + +The President and his counsellors, a number of the apostles and other +church dignitaries sat on the stage in front of the green baize drop +curtain. The parquette was filled with the officials, church and +secular, and the dramatic company and members of their families. The +circles were filled principally by the men who had worked on the +building and their families. There was a feeling of greatest +expectancy pervading the large audience. The people were there to +witness not a play on this occasion, but something deemed of still +more importance, the dedication of the new theatre. + +The Mormons dedicate all of their public buildings, whether temples, +tabernacles, stake houses, ward houses, school houses, theatres, dance +halls, or co-operative stores to the service for which they were +erected. + +The ceremony is much like one of their religious meetings with the +addition of the dedicatory prayer. + +On this occasion President Brigham Young occupied the center of the +stage. There was a program of vocal and instrumental music, a special +choir gotten together for the occasion, and the theatre orchestra, led +by Professor "Charlie" Thomas, furnished the music. + +President Young called the large audience to order and the choir sang. +Then Daniel H. Wells, or "Squire" Wells as he was popularly called, +offered up the dedicatory prayer. "Squire" Wells no doubt made a good +city mayor and an efficient general of the Nauvoo Legion, but the +worthy "Squire" was not an orator, moreover, he had his piece written +for this occasion and read it; his peculiar mode of delivery was +tiresome even when at his best, when he had his choice of subject and +all the latitude he could desire; but it was especially so on this +occasion, when he was circumscribed to a most monotonous enumeration +of everything that entered into the construction of the huge building. +Beginning with the ground on which it stood and going in systematic +order up through it foundation, walls, floors, doors, windows, to the +roof, particularizing even the timbers, nails and bolts, the laths and +plaster, the glass and putty, no detail he could think of was omitted. +Each and all were especially dedicated to their particular purpose and +use, and the blessing of the Almighty invoked to be and continue with +each of these materials, and with the structure as a whole. Even to +those who believed in dedications, who were the great majority of +those present, the dedicatory prayer was just a little wearisome and +the audience experienced a feeling of relief when it was over and +William C. Dunbar stepped to the front and assisted by the choir and +orchestra, sang "The Star Spangled Banner." + +Brigham Young then made an address on the mission of the drama and his +object in building the theatre, which avowedly was to furnish innocent +and instructive amusement to the Saints. He inveighed somewhat +extravagantly against tragedy and declared he wouldn't have any +tragedies or blood-curdling dramas played in this theatre. This people +had seen tragedy enough in real life and there was no telling the +far-reaching and evil effects tragedies on the stage might have. He +strongly opposed, too, the idea of having any Gentile actors play in +this theatre. We had plenty of home talent and did not need them. + +President Heber C. Kimball followed in a brief address, strongly +supportive of what President Young had said. + +Apostle John Taylor then gave a short address; then came selections by +the orchestra, and more singing by the choir, and Mr. Dunbar sang +another song written by Apostle Taylor for the occasion and set to +music by Professor Thomas. + +For the grand finale an anthem written for the occasion by Eliza R. +Snow and set to music also by Professor Thomas was sung by the choir, +accompanied by the orchestra and and brass band consolidated for the +occasion. The solo parts of the anthem were sung respectively by Mr. +Dunbar and Mrs. Agnes Lynch. + +The musical program ended, an announcement was made that the theatre +would be formally opened on Saturday evening, March the eighth, when +the plays of "The Pride of the Market" and "State Secrets" would be +presented. The people anxiously awaited the opening night. The +performance was advertised to begin at 7 o'clock. At 5 o'clock +hundreds were at the doors waiting to get in and before the time of +the beginning every available spot of both seating and standing room +was taken. The prices of admission were 75c for parquette and first +circles; upper galleries 50c. + +The plays, both drama and farce, were capitally acted. Dunbar's song +between the plays, "Bobbin' Around," made an immense hit. The merging +of the M. D. A. into the D. D. A. made up a strong company. The roster +of the Deseret Dramatic company as it stood at this opening +performance and the cast of the initial plays cannot fail to be of +interest after a lapse of more than forty-two years and so many of the +original players have passed away. + +The members were: Hyrum B. Clawson, John T. Caine, Managers and both +players; Philip Margetts, David McKenzie, William C. Dimbar, John R. +Clawson, Henry Maiben, Jos. Simmons, Horace K. Whitney, Henry E. +Bowring, R. H. Parker, George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage, George +Teasdale, Henry McEwan, John Kelly, Richard Mathews, John D. T. +McAllister, Sam Sirrine, Henry Snell, Mrs. Marian Bowring, Mrs. S. A. +Cook, Mrs. Woodmansee, Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Mrs. Alice Clawson, Miss +Maggie Thomas, and Miss Sarah Alexander. Of the above-named the +following have passed away: John R. Clawson, Henry Maiben, Jos. +Simmons, H. K. Whitney, Henry McEwan, John B. Kelly, Richard Mathews, +Henry Snell, Mrs. Bowring, Mrs. Alice Clawson, and Mrs. Cook. Bernard +Snow and James Ferguson of Social Hall fame were on the roster, but +not active members; they too are gone. + +The following is the opening bill: + + SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 8, 1862. + + A Beautiful Comedy in Three Acts, + + _THE PRIDE OF THE MARKET._ + + Cast of Characters. + + Marquis de Volange ........................ John T. Caine + Baron Troptora ............................. Henry Maiben + Chevalier De Bellerive ..................... Jos. Simmons + Ravannes ................................... R. H. Parker + Dubois ................................... David McKenzie + Isadore Farine ............................ H. B. Clawson + Preval .................................... S. D. Sirrine + Servants ..................... R. Mathews and Henry Snell + Waiter .................................... John B. Kelly + Mille De Volange ........................ Mrs. Woodmansee + Norton (pride of the market) ......... Mrs. M. G. Clawson + Comic Song, "Bobbing Around" ............... W. C. Dunbar + + To Conclude With the Laughable Farce + + _STATE SECRETS._ + + Cast of Characters. + + Gregory Thimblewell (the tailor of Tamworth) .. H. E. Bowring + Robert (his son) ............................... R. H. Parker + Master Hugh Neville ........................... S. D. Sirrine + Calverton Hal ................................... W. H. Miles + Humphrey Hedgehog ............................. Phil Margetts + Maud Thimblewell (tailor's wife) ............... Mrs. Bowring + Letty Hedgehog (with song) ............... Miss Maggie Thomas + +Such was the superb comedy bill with which the Salt Lake Theatre was +auspiciously and successfully launched into the great dramatic sea on +which she has made such a long and splendid voyage. + +The company played a few other plays between the opening date and the +15th of April, catching conference, which closed the first season of +about six weeks' duration. They gave fifteen performances in this +time. The company during this first short season scarcely found its +bearings, much of the best talent was in the background and it took +time and opportunity to discover it and place it to the best +advantage. + +During the first season of the Theatre, Miss Sarah Alexander, in +addition to playing many of the soubrette roles, was the _premiere +danseuse_ of the company, and gave exhibitions of her skill in the +terpsichorean art between the plays almost nightly; she was eventually +superseded, however, by Miss "Totty" Clive (a daughter of Mr. Claud +Clive, the costumer), who became so proficient in the art of dancing +that before she was 15 years of age she was an established favorite +with the public, and a feature of the theatrical entertainments. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The isolation policy peculiar to the Mormons at this period, found +expression in a discouragement of all Gentiles (as all non-Mormons +were called) and Gentile enterprises in Utah. This feeling also found +expression to some extent, for a short time in the sphere of the +theatre, and it was boldly announced by some who were close in the +councils of the Mormon chief, that he would have no Gentile actors in +his theatre. A policy which was much more strongly emphasized at the +time, however, was as to the character of the plays that should be +presented. President Young set his foot down very firmly against the +presentation of any tragedies, or plays of tragic character. The +people he said had seen and felt too much of the tragic side of life; +he wanted them to be amused, and not have their feelings harrowed up +by tragic representations. This policy obtained for a short time only; +gradually the general growing desire for the higher class of plays had +to be taken into consideration by the managers, Clawson and Caine, who +were running the house in the interest of the box office, chiefly, and +this initial policy of the founder of the theatre was gradually +abandoned, as well as the isolation policy which was to debar Gentile +actors from the stage of the Mormon Theatre. + +During the summer of '62 the theatre was rushed to completion. On +December 24, '62, the completed theatre was again formally dedicated +and the following night, Christmas, the Stock Company opened up for a +regular winter season in the "Honeymoon" under the direction and +tutorship of our old Nauvoo favorite, Tom Lyne, who had learned of the +opening of Brigham Young's new theatre, and saw a chance to renew his +acquaintance with his old friends, and do a little business with them +in their new temple of the drama. + +After a lapse of nearly twenty years, during which his old friends and +admirers had completely lost sight of him, he suddenly "bobs up +serenely" at Denver where he had been playing an engagement with J. S. +Langrishe; from here he corresponded with Manager Clawson with the +result that he was engaged to come to the Salt Lake Theatre as a tutor +to the company. He was received with great kindness by the company and +managers, and especially by Brigham Young, who treated him with marked +consideration. He coached the company and directed several plays for +them, but that was an irksome task for Lyne; he wanted to face the +public himself. He saw a great opportunity and did not rest content +until he had secured a starring engagement with the managers. + +Accordingly it was not long before the veteran tragedian (Lyne was now +fifty-six) was announced to appear in a round of favorite characters +supported by the Theatre Stock Company. He opened on January 14th in +"Damon" to a packed house and played in quick succession the +characters of "Richelieu," "Othello," "Richard," "William Tell," "Sir +Giles Overreach," and Rolla in "Pizarro." In the latter play he could +not expect to have any of the old Nauvoo cast, especially Brigham +Young for the "High Priest," as he was now reigning as High Priest in +reality; but he found a very capable successor in the person of George +Teasdale, who since his experience in this part found promotion in the +priestly line until he became one of the chief high priests of the +church and a member of the Twelve. There is certainly some charm in +that character of the "High Priest" in "Pizarro." + +Lyne's engagement was the first one made with any outside actor and +broke almost in the very start the President's avowed policy of having +no Gentile actors in his theatre. It was a comparatively easy step, +however, as Mr. Lyne was regarded as almost, and likely to be +altogether, one of us again, which idea, however, proved quite +erroneous for Tom Lyne, after playing several profitable engagements +during his first years in Salt Lake, where he settled down to end his +days, became unnecessarily cynical and bitter against the dominant +party; and especially against the proprietor and managers of the Salt +Lake Theatre, when they decided that they had played him all that was +profitable. Lyne's first engagement had "let down the bars," broken +the isolation policy to such an extent that other Gentile actors soon +followed. The truth is that the managers discovered even at that early +period in Salt Lake's theatrical experience that the local Stock +Company could not hold up the interest unaided and alone, especially +after the Lyne engagement had shown the public the difference between +a past master in the art (as Lyne was), and a company of comparative +novices however talented they might be. Another line of policy which +had been laid down by the chief of the new amusement bureau (that he +would not have any tragedies nor murder plays performed in the new +theatre) was sadly tangled and demoralized, during the very first +engagement of an outside actor. "Virginius" was a favorite part of Mr. +Lyne's and it went on, notwithstanding some discussion and protest, +with Mrs. Alice Clawson (Brigham's prettiest daughter) as Virginia. +When Virginius thrust the death dealing butcher knife which he +purloins from the neighboring butcher stall into the trusting bosom of +the fair Virginia, exclaiming "It is to save thine honor," the Rubicon +was crossed the leap was taken, and the second cherished whim of the +chief promoter of amusements for the Saints was shattered; it fell a +sacrifice to a worldly "box office" policy; and significant to relate, +his favorite daughter Alice was made the principal accessory to this +disregard of his desires and counsel. + +The step once taken could not be retraced. Mr. Lyne's "Virginius" like +his "Damon" and "Richelieu" proved very popular, and justified several +repetitions. It was found that tragedy had its votaries quite as +numerous as those of the Comic Muse; and there were no more protests +either against the Gentile actors or the tragic plays, for the varied +tastes of theatre patrons had to be considered and from this time on +"box office" considerations wholly dictated the managerial policy of +the Salt Lake Theatre. + +During the early days of the Salt Lake Theatre, that is to say, the +first short season of 1862 and part of the season of '62-3, the +company was somewhat handicapped by the lack of a competent "leading +lady." Mrs. Wheelock and Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of +the Social Hall days, had both left the Territory for California, and +this left the D. D. A. weak in this respect. The comedy roles were +well represented in the persons of Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Miss Sarah +Alexander, Miss Maggie Thomas, and the character parts and old women +by Mrs. Sarah Cook. Mrs. Marian Bowring was good in heavies, while +pretty Alice Clawson could make good in a walking lady or light +juvenile but they were short a "leading" woman. In the classic plays +which Lyne put on: "Virginius," "Damon and Pythias," "Richelieu," +etc., (Mrs. Alice Clawson was cast for the leading juvenile roles; she +filled all the requirements so far as looks were concerned, but was +not at all convincing where any impassioned acting was required) the +popular verdict was "She's pretty, but can't act." Soon the managers +discovered a very talented and promising actress to fill the place, in +one Mrs. Lydia Gibson. Lydia was the young and pretty wife of Elder +William Gibson, who had recently converted Lydia to the Mormon faith +in the old country and brought her to Salt Lake and prevailed on her +to become Mrs. Gibson number two. She was a very lovely woman and when +she made her advent into the dramatic company soon became a general +favorite both with the company and the public, and more than one +fellow experienced a pang of envy when he learned she was the wife of +Elder Gibson, a man old enough to be her father. Mrs. Gibson remained +in the company only two seasons, long enough to establish herself +thoroughly in the affections of everybody, when she sickened and +shortly after died. She was buried in Brigham Young's private burying +ground near where the prophet himself is buried. The entire dramatic +company and many of the community followed her to her last resting +place with every evidence of genuine sorrow. Her dramatic career was +brief but brilliant. + +There had been some trouble on the male side of the cast also. On +Lyne's first appearance the part of "Pythias" was cast to the old +Social Hall favorite "Jim" Ferguson he had played the part with Snow +in the Social Hall and was "accounted a good actor;" but on this +particular occasion, one of no small importance, being his first +appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre as well as the first appearance of +Mr. Lyne, Mr. Ferguson did not win fresh laurels. No doubt the fact of +appearing alongside of a veteran like Lyne, made "Jim" more or less +nervous. Somehow he did not "screw his courage to the sticking place," +whether from nervousness or other causes, and failed to give a +satisfactory performance of the part; he was over-excited, and the +Calanthe complained that he was too realistic. He terrified the +soldiers of Dionysius to such a degree that they wanted to desert, and +Mr. Lyne declared he was the most vigorous Pythias who had ever played +with him, but he could not rely on him; his stage business was so +eccentric and uncertain. "Jim" thought he was making a great hit, but +the managers decided to make a change. At the following performance +the character was essayed by Mr. John R. Clawson, who if not so +brilliant as Ferguson, proved to be less erratic and more steady and +reliable. + +Ferguson never again appeared on the stage but devoted his brilliant +talents to his paper, The Mountaineer, and the practice of the law. +John T. Caine was now nominally the leading man of the theatre. He had +played with stately dignity the parts of "Dionysius" in "Damon and +Pythias" and "Pizarro" to Lyne's "Rolla," and before the season was +over a number of leading characters in plays such as "Eustace Baudin," +"Senor Valiente," "Serious Family," "All That Glitters," etc. + +Each of Lyne's characters was played twice or three times, and went +far toward filling up the season as the company played but two nights +in the week. The Stock Company filled out the season of '62-63 which +closed after the April conference, '63. Soon after the opening season +of '63 and '64, the Irwins were engaged, and opening on November 4th +played the entire season till April 10th, 1864. + +When the Irwin engagement began, November 4th, 1863, this put Mr. +Selden Irwin in all the leading parts. Early during this engagement +Mr. David McKenzie, who had already scored a success in "old man" +parts, came strongly to the front in the play of "Evadne" in which he +was cast for the part of "Colonno," a character of the "Hotspur" type. +He made a distinct and pronounced hit in this character, fairly +dividing honors with Irwin, who played "Ludovico," a character of the +"Iago" type, and second only to that "great villain," perhaps, in the +whole range of the drama. This performance brought McKenzie +conspicuously to the front so that he was promoted to the leading +position and held it with public approval for a number of years. + +A year or so ago a "write up" article in "Munsey" claimed for George +B. Waldron the distinction of being the first Gentile actor to play in +the Mormon theatre. How far astray from the historical record the +writer was can be gleaned from the foregoing facts, and those which +are to follow. + +Mr. Lyne's first engagement lasted into March, close up to the April +Conference, when a season of stock work was resumed with some special +attraction in the way of spectacular effects for the conference +season. It was the custom during the first regular season to play but +two nights a week Tuesdays and Saturdays the other evenings of the +week being devoted to the necessary rehearsals, as it was +impracticable to get the company together in the daytime for that +purpose, as they all had other occupations which demanded their +attention. Each play was given twice, this was the rule; it was the +exception when a piece ran _three_ nights in succession. It was the +custom to put up a new bill each week, so this gave the company about +a week to get up in a new play and a new farce; with their daily +occupations to attend to as well. Actors today would consider it a +task to get up in a new play and a farce each week with nothing else +to attend to. It will readily be understood from this statement that +the original stock company of the Salt Lake Theatre had no sinecure, +or "soft snap," to phrase it in the present vernacular, especially +when it is made known that during all this season there was no such +thing as salary attached to their positions. They were all working for +honor and glory, and to help Brother Brigham pay for the theatre; but +there was no grumbling; all went merry as a peal of wedding bells for +"the labor we delight in physics pain," and the first regular season +of the Salt Lake Theatre closed after the April Conference, 1863, with +a good financial showing, much of the indebtedness on the building +have been wiped out, and everything in good shape for the ensuing +season. + +This first long season's work had to a great extent disclosed the +respective merits of the various members of the company, so that a +number of changes were wrought out, some members gaining promotions in +accordance with public voice and approbation. + +During the summer of 1863, the interior decorations of the theatre +were completed and preparations were made for opening the season of +'63 and '64 a little in advance of the October Conference, which +always brings the people in even from the remotest settlements, and +consequently makes a great harvest for the theatre. The stock company +opened up the season without any assistance from the "Gentile" +dramatic world no second star had as yet appeared on our dramatic +horizon. Some additional interest, however, was lent to the stock +company by the accession to its ranks of two new members, who had been +selected from an amateur club called the "Thespians," whose +performances, given in a little crib, popularly known as "Cromie's +Show," so designated because the manager, "Jimmy" Thompson, had +acquired the nickname of "Cromie" from an excellent performance he +gave of that character in the farce of Betsy Baker. + +The new accessions were John S. Lindsay and James M. Hardie, whom the +theatre managers had picked from the ranks of the young "Thespians" as +being of promise and worthy a place in the big theatre. The company +presented a number of comedy dramas; did the usual S. R. O. business +during the October Conference and played well on into the month of +November, when "The Irwins" were engaged as stock stars for the +remainder of the season. This engagement proved to be a wise move on +the part of the management, for the strain on the stock company was +becoming apparent, and it is questionable whether they could have held +the public interest with them throughout the season; so the Irwins +were welcomed by both the company and the patrons of the theatre. +Selden Irwin (or as he was familiarly called "Sel") was at this time +in the very flush of manhood, full of life and ambition, with a +plethora of good looks and activity. He was essentially a dashing +actor, and pleased the public immensely. Mrs. Irwin was even more of a +favorite than "Sel." If not great, she was very versatile, and they +gave Salt Lakers a series of plays of very great variety, embracing +classic tragedy, comedy and farce. Everything from "Camille" and the +"Lady of Lyons" to "That Rascal Pat" and "In and Out of Place." With +Mr. and Mrs. Irwin was Harry Rainforth, a boy of sixteen years, a son +of Mrs. Irwin by a former marriage, who in after years became a +well-known manager, being a partner with Bob Miles in the Grand Opera +House at Cincinnati. Harry was quite an actor as a boy, and helped out +the cast on several occasions; his most conspicuous effort, however, +was Lord Dundreary in "Our American Cousin," which was put up to give +"Sel" a chance at "Asa Trenchard." It is not of record that Harry ever +became a formidable rival of Sothern's in this part, but on this +occasion he filled the role very acceptably. + +The Irwins remained as stock stars to the end of the season, which +came to a close after the April Conference, 1864. They were well liked +by the Utahns, and came back for a short starring engagement the +season of '66, after making a tour of Idaho and Montana with a small +road company. The Irwin engagement inaugurated the three night +performances a week and Saturday matinees. This increased the work of +the company to such an extent that they had to neglect to a greater or +less degree their regular business, that on which they depended for +their living, for it must be understood that there was no compensation +attached, beyond the honor of acting in the Salt Lake Theatre. So +there began to be some dissatisfaction with this part of the business, +and complaints from some that they were neglecting their business for +the theatre and ought to be made good, so it was arranged near the end +of the season to give two benefit performances one for the gentlemen +and the other for the ladies of the company, and then divide the +results pro rata among the members of the company. This scheme was +carried out and served to conciliate the players and smooth the way to +another season's work for the managers. + +The writer at this time was probably the youngest member of the +company and had attained but little prominence, hence his "divvy" was +a very modest one, yet quite acceptable, as it was unexpected. The +following autograph letter of Brigham Young's will show the method +adopted by the management to carry on the business and make the +company contribute liberally to the building of the theatre: + + SALT LAKE CITY, April 15th, 1864. + + _Mr. John S. Lindsay_. + + DEAR BROTHER:--Inclosed please find Twenty Dollars, being amount + assigned you out of the proceeds of the Benefit recently given at + the theatre. + + Appreciating your faithful services, and the alacrity with which + you have contributed to our amusement during the past season, I + pray God to bless you, and increase your ability to do good. + + Your brother in the Gospel, + BRIGHAM YOUNG. + +This plan served to keep the company in a contented mood, and was +repeated at the close of the following season with like result. + +The writer had made some progress in the company, and at the next +benefit got seventy-five dollars for his pro rata; this was less than +a dollar a performance during the season of seven months, but then we +were doing good missionary work, in the way of amusing the people, and +this company were engaged in a labor they delighted in; while they +were assisting in a great measure to pay for the great Thespian temple +in which they were performing, they were enjoying the labor immensely +and gave the same enthusiastic efforts to it they would have done to a +mission, had they been called to go and preach the gospel. Moreover, +they were gaining an experience in art that would have been perhaps +impossible for them, had not this splendid theatre been erected in the +home of the Saints. Brigham Young's comprehensive mind had grasped the +advantage to his people of blending art with religion, and relieving +the monotony of arduous pioneer toil with innocent and refreshing +amusements. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +SEASON OF '64-'65. + +_A Metropolitan Theatre in the Wilderness_. + + +The Salt Lake Theatre was a source of wonder and admiration to all +strangers visiting it. Considering the time and the place of its +erection, the isolated condition of the people, the meagre facilities +within reach for so big a project, the quadrupled cost of everything +that had to be imported, such as glass, nails, paints, cloth for +scenery and everything in the shape of decorations, it was then, and +remains today, a monument to the liberality, foresight and enterprise +of Brigham Young. Since its erection, forty-three years ago, +theatrical architecture has been vastly improved, and in many respects +the Salt Lake Theatre is old-fashioned, but few theatres in the +country, with all the improvements which have been introduced, surpass +it in point of comfort and convenience, especially behind the curtain. +When it is considered that not only the architectural designs, the +mechanical construction, but all the interior decorations and the +scene-painting was done by local talent, it speaks highly for the +artistic and mechanical skill that was centered in Salt Lake even at +that early period of its history. William H. Folsom was the architect +and personally superintended its construction. He was also the +architect of the big Tabernacle with its turtle-shaped roof spanning a +stretch of 150 feet without a supporting column. The first +installment of scenery was painted by W. V. Morris and George M. +Ottinger, both clever artists, and with their assistants they gave the +theatre stage a very nice investiture in the way of scenery. As the +seasons rolled around the stock of scenery was continuously growing, +for every new play had to have something done for it in the way of +scenery, so that the painters were always working, and as a +consequence the Salt Lake Theatre has probably a larger stock of +scenery than any theatre in the country. The same may be said in +regard to the stage properties. "Charley" Millard was the property +man, and Charley could manufacture anything in the shape of a "prop" +from a throne chair to a cuspidor, from a papier mache cannon to a +firecracker, from a basket horse to a baby; so that in the course of a +dozen years the property room became a veritable museum, an "old +curiosity shop" well worth an hour of anybody's time to examine. + +There was a wardrobe department, which was equal in importance if not +superior to the scenic arid property departments. This was presided +over by Mr. Claud Clive, an expert tailor, who with his assistants, +manufactured all the costumes for the male characters of the plays, +while the female costume department was presided over by Mrs. Marion +Bowring. Mr. Robert Neslen had general charge of the costume and wig +department, and dispensed the necessary apparel and wigs to the +company. There was also a tonsorial artist connected with the house, +who was always there to curl a wig or put it on in good shape for the +actors who needed such assistance. John Squires was the tonsorial +artist--he was a busy man in those days. He had his shop in a little +adobe house that stood directly opposite the "President's Office" on +the lot where the Amelia Palace was afterwards erected. John was the +President's barber, and had a large run of custom from the church and +tithing offices, besides nearly all the actors patronized him, so that +he was a prosperous man in the community. He continued to shave his +share of the people up to within a recent date, when he was obliged to +retire; "age with his stealing steps had clawed him in his clutch," so +this knight of the razor was reluctantly compelled to lay down the +implements of tonsorial art, the strong steady hand that once could +clean a man's cheek in about three strokes had grown weak and +tremulous, and but recently he passed peacefully away to that better +land where it is to be hoped there is no shaving or need of hair-dye. +His place is amply filled, however, for John has a numerous +progeny--and all his sons and grandsons, so far as we know them, are +barbers. Here we find a true touch of heredity. + +After such a brilliant and successful season as the Irwins had just +concluded, it seemed like a daring venture to open up the ensuing +season with the stock company unassisted by the strength of a star; +but notwithstanding this seeming riskiness, the managers did not wait +for the _ensuing season_, but bravely ushered in a supplemental season +on May 14th. Only five weeks after the Irwins had closed their long +and brilliant run, the stock were hard at it again, notwithstanding +the summer days were come; they kept going till the 18th of June, when +the "veteran tragedian" (Lyne, at the time 58 years of age) was +engaged to reinforce the stock, and add to the box office receipts. He +opened this, his second star engagement, on June 25th and played up to +July 16th. He repeated all his former triumphs and achieved some new +ones, notably in "Sir Giles Overreach" in "A New Way to Pay Old +Debts." + +In the meantime a new star had appeared in our dramatic horizon; by +the time Lyne had closed his engagement, it was in our ascendant, +astrologically speaking, and by the time it had reached our zenith, or +midheaven, it had shed another halo over the Salt Lake Theatre and the +drama in Utah. This bright particular star was George Pauncefort. "He +was a scholar, and a ripe and good one," an actor of rare and varied +accomplishments, and proved to be an invaluable instructor and model +for the company. Under his leadership a great progress was made. +Pauncefort was an English actor, who had acquired considerable +celebrity on the London stage. He was a married actor, and his wife +and several daughters, at the time of which I am writing, were quite +popular on the stage, and their names appeared frequently in the +London casts. Pauncefort came to the United States as early as 1858. +He was the original "Armand Duval" in "Camille," when Matilda Heron +first produced that play in New York. After his New York engagement, +Pauncefort drifted West, and in 1864 came to Salt Lake for a brief +engagement of a week or two. He had just concluded a stellar +engagement with Jack Langrishe at Denver. Denver at that time was not +so large as Salt Lake City, nor could it boast anything like so good a +theatre. The great overland road had not been projected at this time, +and people crossing the country from Denver to Salt Lake or San +Francisco were obliged "to stage it," or travel with private +conveyances. So George had to stage it, not a difficult thing for an +actor to do. He was accompanied by Mrs. Florence Bell who was featured +with him as co-star during his first engagement. He opened on July +20th, 1864, just four nights after Lyne closed, in "The Romance of a +Poor Young Man," in the character of "Manuel," Mrs. Bell playing +"Marguerite." Pauncefort's "Manuel" made a great hit, and stamped him +at once as an actor of superior parts. It was a new awakening. His +style was so different from anything we had seen, either in Lyne or +Irwin. Mrs. Bell, however, fell as far below public expectation as +Pauncefort went above it. She was not the equal of our own leading +lady, Mrs. Gibson who in consequence of this engagement had to be +retired from the leading roles, and bear with what grace she might to +see an inferior actress usurping her place. The popular verdict was +all in Mrs. Gibson's favor. Mrs. Bell was a pretty woman, but a very +mediocre actress. The management would gladly have retired the lady +after the first performance, but there was a contract, and she was +allowed to play the leads in several plays, during this engagement. +Pauncefort played until September 30th, when the season closed. + +It no doubt cost the princely George a pang to realize that Mrs. Bell +had not made a favorable impression with the public, as he had +featured her on the bills. She had found great favor in his eyes, if +not so fortunate in gaining the public favor. Their admiration was +mutual and so apparent that it was frowned upon by "the powers that +be." George was given plainly to understand that although Mormons +believed in and practiced polygamy, they drew the line in morals at +promiscuity, and he could not continue his present intimate relations +with Mrs. Bell and his engagement at the Salt Lake Theatre. George +took the hint and severed the "entangling alliance;" all the easier, +no doubt, as Mr. Bell had come closely on their heels from Denver. +Bell was a good cornet player, and secured an engagement in the +Theatre Orchestra, where he played until the end of the Pauncefort +season, and then drifted off to Montana, "taking the fair Desdemona +along with him." + +That the Bell alliance worked to Pauncefort's injury there is no +question. President Young took great offense at it, and never attended +the theatre during Pauncefort's engagement after the opening +performances, when he became apprised of the intimacy existing between +George and Florence. On Brigham's first visit to the theatre after the +Pauncefort season, the writer met him on the stage near his box and +took occasion to express his pleasure at seeing him occupy his +accustomed seat after so long an absence, remarking, "It is a long +time since you were here, President Young." "Yes," he replied. "I told +John T. and Hyrum (the managers of the house) that I would not come +into the theatre while that man Pauncefort was here." This showed how +strong a prejudice he had conceived against Pauncefort--and +notwithstanding the very favorable impression his acting had made, it +was quite a long time, nearly four months, before he again appeared. + +The Lyne and Pauncefort engagement following each other in such close +succession and in an extra season, and that season a mid-summer one, +had given the theatre-going public a very gratifying sufficiency of +theatricals, and consequently it was not thought advisable to open the +theatre again until the ensuing October Conference; so the house was +closed up for a period of five weeks and reopened on the 5th of +October, just in time to catch the Conference gatherings. Although +both Lyne and Pauncefort were in the vicinity, neither of them were +engaged until after the Conference dates were passed. The management +could rely on full houses during the Conference and could not see the +policy of sharing up the profits with a star when the stock company +could fill the house to its capacity. The Conference over, the +following week T. A. Lyne opened his third engagement and played up to +the 10th of December; a very long engagement, lasting eight weeks. +Pauncefort should naturally, according to all professional ways of +looking at it, have filled this time; and no doubt would have had the +preference over Lyne if the managers had not been handicapped by the +strong prejudice of the "President" against this actor; for he was the +newer and more attractive star. Lyne had already played two long +engagements and exhausted his repertoire, besides Pauncefort had +introduced us to a more modern and popular school, and from financial +considerations alone, any manager would have given him the preference, +but he did not get back into the theatre for a second engagement until +after Lyne had played everything he knew; still he lingered in the +vicinity. He went out through the provinces--played smaller towns, +such as Springville and Provo, with their home companies--and dabbled +in merchandising, shipping fruit to Montana; it was bringing big +prices just then. On the 17th of December, 1864, George Pauncefort +began his second engagement in "A Bachelor of Arts" and "Black-Eyed +Susan." It was during this engagement that "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" had +their initial performances in the Salt Lake Theatre. Both of these +plays were marked events in the history of the theatre, more +particularly "Macbeth," which called into requisition the Tabernacle +choir to play the witches and sing the music of the play, which was +ably conducted by Prof. C. J. Thomas. + +"Macbeth" was the last play of this engagement and closed the second +Pauncefort season on January 7th, 1865--a brief season of three +weeks--after waiting around about four months. Why this engagement +ended so suddenly in the very height of its brilliancy is somewhat +puzzling to understand, as there was no other star to follow, and the +stock company played unassisted by any stellar attraction up till May +20th, which closed the season of '64 and '65. + +Pauncefort shortly after the closing of his engagement went to San +Francisco, where he remained for more than two years playing there at +intervals. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SEASON '65 AND '66. + + +The next star to appear at the Mormon theatre was Julia Dean Hayne, +and a brilliant one she proved to be. She created on her first +appearance an impression that was profound and lasting, and each +additional character she appeared in only served to strengthen her +hold on the admiration and affection of her audiences. + +The advent of such a well-known and popular actress into the heart of +the Rocky Mountain region at such a time, years before the completion +of the overland railroad, had in it a rich tinge of romance and wild +managerial venture. Julia Dean came to Salt Lake City under the +management and in the dramatic company of the veteran Western manager, +John S. Potter. Some time prior to this she had gone to San Francisco +from New York by way of the Isthmus, had played a successful +engagement there, and being "at liberty" after it was over, Mr. +Potter, who was an old acquaintance of Mrs. Hayne, made her a +proposition to organize a company and play her through the principal +towns of California. This was done, and after the state had been +pretty thoroughly toured, the fair Julia appearing in many places that +had very "queer" theatres, the tour was extended through the cities of +Oregon and then through the sparsely inhabited territories of Montana, +Idaho and Utah, finally arriving in Salt Lake July 26th, 1865, on a +regular old-time stage coach, a tired and jaded-looking party. There +was in this company John S. Potter, manager (then a man of sixty or +more), Julia Deane Hayne (the star), George B. Waldron (leading man), +Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Leslie (juveniles), Mr. A. K. Mortimer (heavies), +Charles Graham (comedian). Mr. Potter himself played the "old man" +parts, Miss Belle Douglas playing characters and old woman parts, and +"Jimmie" Martin, property man and filling-in parts. The fame of +Brigham Young's theatre had reached them in their travels, and they +had traveled many miles to get the opportunity of playing in it. A +week's engagement was soon effected, and on August 11th, 1865, "The +Potter Company" with Julia Dean Hayne as the stellar character, opened +up in the play of "Camille." They were received by a packed house, and +with every demonstration of welcome and approbation. Mrs. Hayne, who +was no longer girlish in face and figure but a mature woman, verging +on towards the "fair, fat and forty" period, was nevertheless so +exquisitely beautiful and girlish-looking when made up for "Camille" +or "Julia" in the "Hunchback," that everybody sang her praises. The +entire community seemed to have fallen irresistibly in love with the +new star, and henceforward she had fair wind and smooth sailing while +her lot lay cast among the Saints. While the Potter Company were +playing in the theatre, supporting Mrs. Hayne, the stock company were +of course getting a needed rest, but their salaries (?) were going on +as usual, and the management could not well afford to have two +companies on its hands, so after the first week, the novelty being +over, the Potter company were let out, and the regular company +reinstalled. The Potter Company, however, had lost its "star;" the +theatre managers had effected an engagement with Julia Dean to remain +with them for the rest of the season as stock star with George B. +Waldron, also to play her leading support, and direct the staging of +her plays. + +This proved a severe blow to the Potter Company, who now had no place +to play in in Salt Lake and could not well take to the road again, +having lost their principal attraction. Potter had not expected to +have been so soon supplanted. He came to Salt Lake, expecting to find +a company of amateurs, and thought no doubt the managers would be glad +to supplant them, at least for a good long season, with the Potter +Company and its distinguished star. Outside of Mrs. Hayne and Mr. +Waldron, however, the Salt Lake Company was much more numerous, +talented and capable than the Potter Company. It took but one or two +performances for the managers to discover this, and they hastened to +make the arrangements with Julia Dean and Mr. Waldron and to reinstate +their own company. + +Poor Potter and his remaining company were in a sorry strait. Their +overland jaunt, through Oregon, Montana and Idaho, had not been very +lucrative, and now they were out in the fastnesses of the Rocky +Mountains, a thousand miles from any metropolis with a theatre, and no +railroad to get away on; nothing but the overland coach. Potter was a +resourceful manager, however; he was not easily daunted; with him +Richmond's admonition to his army was ever present. "True hope never +tires, but mounts on eagle's wings. Kings it makes gods, and meaner +creatures kings." He found in "Tom" Lyne an old acquaintance, and a +strong ally. Lyne was by this time disgruntled and dissatisfied with +the theatrical outlook in Salt Lake; he was not getting any more the +plaudits and the "star's" share of the receipts. He wanted some place +to play in. So he inspired Potter with the notion of building an +opposition theatre to that "monopoly" of Brigham Young's. Potter drank +in Lyne's inspiration fervidly. The idea took a frantic possession of +him, and plans were at once devised for getting up another house as +speedily as possible, for the season was advancing and if the project +was not hurried the Potter company would be scattered beyond all +recovery. So it was decided to erect a cheap frame building, and push +it to completion as rapidly as possible. This decision served to keep +the Potter Company in Salt Lake, as they all had faith in the scheme, +and faith in themselves that they could win out. They argued that by +the time the new play-house was ready to open that Julia Dean and +Waldron would be played out at the Salt Lake Theatre, and something +new would catch the people. Poor, deluded actors, they did not know +the people of Salt Lake; they knew them better after. How much money +Mr. Lyne put into this scheme the writer never could learn from him, +but I opine it was very little. He, however, secured the building +site, by some kind of a deal with "Tommy" Bullock. It was about where +Dinwoodey's furniture store now stands. Potter had little or no money +with which to start such an enterprise, so Lyne introduced Mr. Potter +to such of the merchants and lumbermen as he wanted to do business +with. Potter played a bold game, and really accomplished a great feat +in the building of this theatre. He got from sixty to ninety days' +credit for everything nearly that went into the construction of the +building. It was a cheap affair; built of poles, hewn to an even size +and placed in the ground like fence posts; then boarded on both sides +with rough boards, the space between the inside and outside boarding +being filled in with sawdust and refuse tan bark from the tanneries, +to make the building warm. The place was about half the size of the +Salt Lake Theatre; that is, it had about half the seating capacity and +a stage about one-fourth the size of the theatre. The structure, +including the lease of ground, cost about $7,000. It was put up in +about thirty days, so that Potter had a month's more time in which to +pay for the bulk of the material, but the merchants and laborers who +did the building were worrying his life out long before he got it +going, for their money. He proved to be an expert at "standing off" +his creditors, however, so by hook and crook he got the building +completed, his company reorganized, and the theatre started. Some very +amusing stories were related of him at the time; how he would cajole +and stuff with promises the dissatisfied workmen as to what he would +do as soon as he got the house open. One man went to him with the +sorrowful story that his landlady had refused to credit him any +longer, and he must have money to pay his board and lodgings. Potter +looked at him pityingly, and expressed his regret that he could do +nothing for him till he got the theatre going. "It will soon be +finished now; tell your landlady this, and if this will not appease +her, change your boarding house." To such like desperate shifts and +subterfuges was he obliged to resort to keep the men at work, doling +them out a few dollars at a time, when they became unmanageable or +threatened to quit. Eventually the house was ready for opening and +"Tom" Lyne had to have the first "whack" at the new box office +receipts. + +With woeful shortsightedness they put up for the opening, "Damon and +Pythias," with Lyne starred as "Damon," a character he had already +played three or four times at the other theatre. Lyne probably +thought, however, with Richard that "the king's name is a tower of +strength, which they on the adverse faction want." Such did not prove +to be the case, however, as the "adverse faction" having in view the +opening of the opposition house, put on a strong new bill with Mrs. +Hayne in a new and powerful character, so that there was no apparent +diminution of patronage, and the Salt Lake Theatre kept on the even +tenor of its way "with not a downy feather ruffled by its fierceness." +Potter and Lyne had succeeded in getting "Jim" Hardie away from the +other house by offering him the part of Pythias and a larger salary +than he was getting at the older house. "Jim" at this time was the +youngest actor in the Salt Lake Theatre company, and had not yet made +much advancement; he was ambitious, however, and this opportunity to +play "Pythias" to Lyne's "Damon" was very alluring to him, so he +deserted the ranks of the D. D. A. and allied himself with +Lyne-Potter, et al., with what poor judgment the sequel will show. + +The new theatre was christened "The Academy of Music," with what +reason or consistency no one could ever conceive, unless it was to +give it a big sounding name, to allure the unwary, for it was as +utterly unlike an Academy of Music as anything could be. + +On the opening night, the novelty of the new theatre opening, and +curiosity to see the Academy and Mr. Lyne with his new support, +sufficed to draw a fairly full house. + +Several amusing incidents transpired on that eventful evening. First +and most laughable was the following: "Jim" Hardie had a +brother-in-law named "Pat" Lynch. Pat had been clerk of the district +court for a number of years and was well known for a big-hearted, +generous man, his greatest fault being that he would indulge +occasionally too freely in the ardent. "Pat" had loaned "Jim" ten +dollars to help him get a costume for "Pythias" the Academy had no +wardrobe department and "Jim" could not with any grace attempt to +borrow one from the Salt Lake Theatre. It would appear he had promised +to get an advance as soon as the box office had begun to take in +money, and Pat had expected the return of his money that day; at all +events, he was present at the play, occupying a front seat in the +parquette. He had been indulging freely, and his sight was not so +clear as usual; besides, he had the character of Pythias and Dionysius +mixed in his imagination. Mr. Potter was playing Dionysius, and as he +strode on at the rise of the curtain and began to speak, Pat mistook +him for Hardie and bawled out at the top of his voice, "See here, +Dionysius, where's that ten dollars you owe me?" Potter was filled +with consternation; Pat's friends who were with him succeeded in +quieting him and Potter made another start, this time without +interruption. Pat had discovered his mistake, that he had dunned the +wrong man, and it took but little persuasion to get him to leave the +theatre. Hardie, behind the scenes waiting for his entrance, and +fearing a second explosion when he should make his appearance, was +immensely relieved to see from the side wings Pat's companions lead +him up the aisle and out of the theatre. Potter, not aware but what it +was one of his numerous creditors dunning him, when he made his first +exit, threw up his hands in dismay, and said to Lyne in the wings: "My +G--d, they won't give me any peace! Even dunning me from the +audience." When Lyne, who had caught the truth of the matter, +explained to him, he was greatly relieved. + +Another amusing incident, and one which nearly wrecked the scene, was +furnished by the little girl they had for Damon's boy. It has never +been a difficult task to find in Salt Lake a pretty and clever child +to play the child's part in this or any other play. On this occasion, +the selection was probably limited to a small circle, owing to the +feeling engendered by this opposition to the favorite theatre; at all +events, the "Damon's" child of the occasion was an uncultured looking +little miss of about six years; she was so dark and tawny-looking that +she might have had Indian blood in her veins, and certainly she had a +touch of the obduracy and stolidness that characterize that race; +Belle Douglass was the "Hermion" of the occasion, and she was obliged +to improvise and speak most of the child's lines for her; when "Damon" +came on for the farewell interview with his beloved "Hermion" and his +darling boy, he strove in vain to get a response from his young +hopeful; the child had become thoroughly nervous, and seemed +apprehensive of some danger and when "Damon" interrogated her, "What +wouldst thou be, my boy?" instead of the cheerful response, "A +soldier, father," there came only a frightened look, and the child put +its finger in its nostril, and swayed to and fro, as if she would say, +but dare not, "I want to go home." Miss Douglass, annoyed, pulled the +little hand down testily from the child's nose, and "Damon" repeated +the question, "What wouldst thou be, my boy?" No answer, but up went +the finger again to the nose. "Hermion" again pulled down the hand, +and rather harshly demanded, "Come, say, what wouldst thou be, my +boy?" The child by this time was nearly terrified, and only repeated +the nose business with more emphasis and began to cry--and "Damon" +utterly disgusted with his youthful prodigy, hurried him off to pluck +the flower of welcome for him. The child's queer action of sticking +its finger up its nose sent the house almost into convulsions of +laughter, and came near converting one of the greatest scenes of the +play into a burlesque. Lyne played all the other plays in his +repertoire in rather rapid succession, as the aim was to keep the +Academy open every night (except Sundays) and as each play would bear +but one repetition, this repertoire was soon exhausted, and as there +was no other "star" in the Utah firmament to fill the place, the +Academy went into a rapid decline. As the business had not proved to +be what the promoter and manager had calculated on, Potter was daily +besieged by creditors, until the poor man was almost driven frantic. +The heavy creditors, those who had furnished material on sixty days' +time, now began to grow troublesome, and one attachment after another +followed, until the house fell into the hands of the sheriff--and +Brigham Young, through T. B. H. Stenhouse, as agent, made a deal by +which the property came into his hands. He soon put a force of men to +work who tore it down, hauled it away and fenced a farm with it. + +Such in brief is the history of Potter's Academy of Music. The +merchants and lumbermen who had given Potter such liberal credit were +now sadder but wiser men. + +Potter got away as soon as possible, for matters were very pressing +and unpleasant for him. His company drifted off in various directions, +except Belle Douglass, who got married to Captain Clipperton and +settled down in Salt Lake, and after a while got into the Salt Lake +Theatre. Hardie also got back after a time, long enough for him to +become repentant and express his regrets for what he had done. + +The season, by the time the Academy's brief career had ended, was well +advanced into the spring. Julia Dean Hayne had not only not played +out, but had steadily grown in the affection of the people. Mr. +Waldron continued to to be a favorite also; but Julia Dean was the +bright particular star whose effulgence can never be effaced from the +memories of those who attended her performances during that memorable +engagement. She received many marks of personal favor from President +Brigham Young; indeed, it was current gossip that the President was +very much enamored of the fair Julia and had offered to make her Mrs. +Young number twenty-one. How much, if any, truth there was in this +gossip will perhaps never be known; the fact that Brigham did pay her +unusual attention and gave several parties in her honor and had a fine +sleigh built which he named the Julia Dean was quite enough to set the +people talking. The probability is that the President was very much +charmed with her, and sought to win her to the Mormon faith; had he +succeeded in this, he might then have felt encouraged to go a step +further and win her to himself, for in spite of his already numerous +matrimonial alliances, he did not consider himself _ineligible_. The +fair Julia was not ineligible, either, for she was divorced from her +husband, Dr. Hayne, the son of a "favorite son" of South Carolina. +Speculation was rife, and much surprise and wonder was excited in +certain quarters that President Young should go out of his way to show +more marked attention to an actress than he had ever shown to any of +his wives; but he was bent on getting Julia into the fold; once there, +he could have played the good shepherd, and have secured her an +exaltation. She had another man in her eye. One she had set her heart +upon, too. "As hers on him, so his was set on her, but how they met +and wooed and made exchange of vows I'll tell thee as we pass." + +James G. Cooper was at this particular time secretary of the territory +of Utah--an appointee of the United States government. He was a +cavalierly man of southern birth and breeding--tall and handsome, and +of courtly bearing, a great lover of the theatre. He was never known +to miss a performance during Julia Dean's engagement. He was one of +the most enthusiastic admirers she had; night after night, all the +season through, he sat in front, early always in the same seat, and +with eyes aglow and ears alert, he seemed to absorb every tone of her +voice and catch, every gleam of her eyes--her every move was to him a +thrill of rapture. Out of her thousands of admirers he was the most +devoted worshipper at her shrine. Up to a certain time he worshipped +in silence as if she were a deity. Chance had made them neighbors: the +secretary's office and Mrs. Hayne's apartments were in adjoining +houses, and it was not long before an acquaintanceship was formed +which rapidly grew into a friendship and friendship soon ripened into +love. + +These lovers were discreet, however. Many happy hours they passed in +each other's company, but they did not parade their love, nor "wear +their hearts upon their sleeves for daws to peck at." Little did her +audience suspect that often when she cast her most bewitching glances, +and brightened their faces with her radiant smiles, that those smiles +were mounted especially for him; but he knew--how could he help but +know. Cupid had drawn his bow and sped his dart. + + "Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, that's by me wounded + Both our remedies within thy help and holy physic lie." + +So after the close of the season, much to the surprise of her numerous +admirers, "these 'twain were made one flesh." They bade a rather hasty +farewell to the land of the Saints, and wended their way to the far +East by stagecoach, the terminus of the Pacific road being yet some +hundreds of miles from Salt Lake. + +Mrs. Hayne's last appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre was an event +marked with quite as much if not more of interest than her first +appearance. She had become endeared to the Salt Lake public, and they +regarded her approaching departure with genuine regret. At her last +performance, June 30th, 1866, she appeared as "Camille," the same +character in which she opened her engagement, and was the recipient on +this occasion of many tokens of kindness and appreciation. Being +called enthusiastically to the front of the curtain after the +performance, she bade a loving farewell to Salt Lake and its people in +one of the most delicately and tastefully worded speeches ever made in +front of a theatre drop. During her long engagement, lasting from +August 11th, '65, to June 30th, '66, she played all the great classic +female roles that were then popular, a number of comedies, and even +took a dip into extravaganza or burlesque, appearing during the +holiday season in the character of Alladin in "The Wonderful Lamp," +which ran for eleven consecutive performances. Her best remembered +characters are "Camille," "Lady Macbeth," "Leah," "Parthenia," "Julia" +(in the "Hunchback"), "Lucretia Borgia," "Medea," "Marco," "Lady +Teazle," "Peg Woffington," and "Pauline" in the "Lady of Lyons." In +her ten months' engagement, she played a great many plays besides +those mentioned, each play being presented twice or three times, +according to its popularity. + +Among others, an Indian play, entitled "Osceola," written by E. L. +Sloan, then editor of the Salt Lake Herald, in which Mr. George +Waldron played the title role and Mrs. Hayne the chief's daughter. The +piece had a fair success, but has never been heard of since. Mr. Sloan +wrote another play a year or two later, about the time of the +completion of the overland railroad, which he called "Stage and +Steam." This was a melodrama with a stage coach and railway train in +it, intended to illustrate the march of civilization. It had two +presentations, and was never acted again that we are aware of. It was +during Mrs. Hayne's engagement also that Mr. Edward W. Tullidge made +his first essay as a dramatic author--Mrs. Hayne and Mr. Waldron had +exhausted the list of available plays and new plays were in demand. +Tullidge's play was entitled "Eleanor de Vere," or "The Queen's +Secret," an episode of the Elizabethan Court--in which Queen Elizabeth +was a secondary character. Tullidge had written his play with various +members of the company in his eye, and succeeded in fitting them very +well. This play made a very favorable impression and was repeated +several times to large and appreciative audiences. Mrs. Hayne's +character, "Eleanor de Vere," was one of the Queen's waiting women, in +love with "Rochester," and afforded the actress very good scope for +her great talent, but the character of Queen Elizabeth, although a +secondary part in the play, made such a favorable impression on Mrs. +Hayne that she asked Mr. Tullidge if he could write her a play of +Elizabeth, making the Queen a star character for her. She believed +from what Mr. Tullidge had done in "Eleanor de Vere" that he could +write a great play of Elizabeth. Tullidge felt that he had a great +subject; it was a favorite theme, however, and one on which he was +thoroughly posted, and encouraged by Mrs Hayne's faith in his ability, +he at once commenced the task. "The labor we delight in physics pain," +and Elizabeth became a labor of love with Edward Tullidge, for he was +very enthusiastic in his love of Julia Dean, both as a woman and as an +artist; and so familiar with all the heroes of Elizabeth's court, that +his task, though Herculean, was a pleasant one, and before Julia Dean +was ready to leave Salt Lake, Tullidge had completed a great +historical play, "Elizabeth of England." It was with a view of +presenting it in New York that Mrs. Hayne (now Cooper) went there soon +after her departure. Before she had concluded any arrangement for its +production, however, Ristori, the great Italian actress, loomed up on +the dramatic horizon in Elizabeth. She had crowned all her former +achievements in a great triumph in this same Elizabeth of England. +Although the play was written by an Italian author (Giogimetta) and +was not as true to history as the Tullidge play, it filled the +particular historical niche so far as the stage is concerned. Ristori +had a great success with this play, both in Europe and this country. +It must have broken Julia Dean's heart professionally. She might have +been the first in the field, at least in this country, if she had not +dilly-dallied. She was having a delightful honeymoon and was too +indifferent in this important affair, and when the advent of the great +Italian in Elizabeth awoke her from her reverie, her opportunity had +gone and Tullidge's Elizabeth never saw the light. Very keen indeed +was the disappointment of the author. Julia Dean was his ideal for +Elizabeth, and when he found to his amazement that the Italians +(author and actress) had gained the field ahead of them, poor Tullidge +went crazy with grief, and for a time had to be confined in the city +prison, there being no asylum in Utah at that time. Mr. Lyne, who read +the play to a large audience in Salt Lake, pronounced it one of the +greatest historical plays he had ever read. + +Whether the great disappointment had any effect in hastening Mrs. +Cooper's death or not can not be known, but "it is pitiful, 'twas +wondrous pitiful," that she did not live longer to enjoy her new-found +happiness, and add a crowning glory to her brilliant career, for she +was without doubt the greatest favorite of her day in America, and +Americans everywhere would have hailed her with delight in any new +achievement. She only lived about a year after her marriage to Mr. +Cooper. She died in New York, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. +The news of her demise was received with profound sorrow by her +numerous Salt Lake admirers, and many a silent tear paid tribute to +her memory. + + "There is a destiny that shapes our ends, + Rough hew them as we will." + +Through the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Johnson, our popular photographer, I +am enabled to append the following information in relation to Julia +Dean's death and burial: + + THE UNMARKED GRAVE OF JULIA DEAN. + + NEW YORK, August 26, 1897. + + _To the Editor of the Dramatic Mirror_: + + SIR:--While recently walking through the beautiful Laurel Grove + Cemetery at Port Jervis, New York, the aged caretaker called my + attention to a good-sized circular burial plot overlooking a lake + in the centre of which, surrounded by mountain laurel shrubs and + lilac bushes, is a sunken mound under which the venerable keeper + declared rested "as great and fine a looking actress as the + country ever had," and further stated that "much of a time was + made over her years ago in New York." Also that "when her body was + brought on here a big crowd of theatre folks came on to see her + buried and they cried over her open grave." + + Becoming thoroughly interested, I carefully noted the location of + the actress' lot, and immediately visited the little cemetery + office on the grounds, and in looking over the admirably kept + records, I was astonished to find that it represented the grave of + a fair member of the dramatic profession whose tomb had been + entirely lost sight of, and dramatic historians and editors have + been unable for years to enlighten those of their readers who + sought to discover her grave rest. Beneath this mound rests all + that is mortal of the once lovely Juliet of the American + stage--Julia Dean. + + The complete record of the Laurel Grove Cemetery reads: + + "Name--Julia Dean-Hayne-Cooper. + + "Place and time of nativity--Pleasant Valley, Near Poughkeepsie, + N. Y., July 21, 1830. + + "Names of parents--Edwin and Julia Dean. + + "Age--Thirty-five years. + + "Place and date of death--New York City, May 19, 1866. + + "Cause of death--Childbirth. + + "Second husband's name--James G. Cooper. + + "Buried in Lot No. 3, Section B, owned by her father-in-law, + Mathew H. Cooper. + + "Remains of deceased first placed in the Marble Cemetery General + Receiving Vault, Second Street, New York City. Transferred to + Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, April 16, 1868." + + The lone cemetery official states all of Julia Dean's kindred + passed away years ago, and together they are buried in the old + Clove graveyard at Sussex, N. J. + + At the time of their deaths, they were in reduced circumstances, + and while still well-to-do, years before Julia Dean's demise they + acquired this Port Jervis burial lot that she might await the + resurrection in the place where her childhood days were so + pleasantly passed. + + At the foot of the eminent actress' grave slumbers the unnamed + girl infant for whom Julia Dean surrendered her illustrious life. + + None of her relatives were ever able to erect a monument over her + remains, and it seems a pity that this exquisite actress of + another generation should forever sleep in an unrecorded + sepulchre. + + Having heard and read that the noble Actors' Fund of New York has + caused' many a granite tombstone to be erected over the graves of + their worthy comrades, and as Julia Dean was so sweet and + accomplished an artiste, I thought that by calling attention to + this forgotten and out of the way tomb through the columns of the + most powerful of America's dramatic journals, _The Dramatic + Mirror_, it might result in placing a modest memorial stone of + granite at the head of the mound under which so peacefully reposes + Julia Dean, whose splendid genius Dion Boucicault compared to that + of another gifted and beautiful daughter of the drama, the ideal + Juliet, Adelaide Neilson, who awaits the final call in distant + England, beneath an imposing mortuary memorial, thanks to the + influence of the loyal William Winter. + + LOVER OF THE STAGE. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SEASON OF '66-'67. + + +After the close of this eventful season, Mr. George Waldron, who had +played the leading support to Mrs. Hayne and become an established +favorite, drifted away from Salt Lake, going into Montana; returning a +year or so later in conjunction with Mrs. Waldron. He had found his +mate and brought her to Salt Lake to make her acquainted with his many +friends there. George tried very earnestly to get a Salt Lake wife. It +looked for a while as if Miss Sarah Alexander was destined to fill +that place; she certainly filled George's eye. He was very much +enamored of the petite and lithesome Sarah, but the expected union did +not materialize, and George sought pastures new, and ere long +returned, bringing a beautiful wife with him. Meantime, Sarah had +drifted off to the East in company with a literary lady named Lisle +Lester. They took with them Sarah's little niece, her dead sister's +baby, Baby Finlayson, then but two years old. Miss Finlayson, under +her aunt's careful guidance and training, developed into a very clever +and capable actress, and for many years now has been holding leading +positions in prominent companies and theatres. She is known +professionally as Lisle Leigh. + +The Waldrons played a short engagement and then bade a long farewell +to Salt Lake and the West. At this writing George Waldron has been +dead for ten years, his wife, a son and a daughter survive him; all +follow the stage successfully. + +During the season of '65 and '66, there were few changes in the +supporting stock company. Mr. Waldron doing the leads, lightened +considerably the labors of the "leading man," Mr. D. McKenzie, who was +quite content to escape the onerous study the leading parts would have +imposed, and play something easier. Before the beginning of this +season, Mr. H. B. Clawson had retired altogether from the field as an +actor, although still one of the managers of the house, and Mr. Phil +Margetts was the acknowledged premier comedian of the company. Mr. +John T. Caine, too, Clawson's associate manager, and also stage +manager, yielded up his line of parts to John S. Lindsay and devoted +himself exclusively to the duties of stage manager, which in the old +"stock" days meant far more than that office means today. "Why, in the +elder day to be a 'stage manager' was greater than to be a king," in +any of the plays. Briefly enumerated, his duties were: First, to +_read_ carefully and then _cast_ all the plays. The casting of a play +is a most important affair. It must be done with great care and +consideration so as to get the best results, and at the same time each +actor his "line" of parts as near as practicable; then he must write +out the cast, and hang it up in the case in the green room--write out +all "calls" for rehearsals, and hang them up in the case. Then he must +direct all rehearsals. To do this, he must study out all the +"business" of the play in advance of the rehearsals, so he will be +able to direct intelligently. When a "star" is rehearsing, he +generally directs the rehearsal, thus relieving the stage manager of a +great responsibility; but he must be around, and see what is required +for the play in the way of scenery and properties and make out +complete and detailed plots for scene-men and property-men, and in +this particular case where the theatre furnished the actors with all +wardrobes (except modern clothes), the stage manager had also to make +out a _costume plot_. The costumer would then distribute the wardrobe +for the play according to his best judgment, and the conceit or fancy +of the actor, which often made the costumer's duty a perplexing one, +for actors are so full of conceits and fancies that they are a hard +lot to please. + +In the Salt Lake Theatre a first-class copyist was constantly employed +in copying out parts--books were not so easily procured in those days. +It took from three to four weeks to get a book from New York, so where +the manager had but one book all the parts had to be copied, and the +stage manager had to have his plays selected well ahead, so as to give +the copyist plenty of time to get parts ready for distribution. +Besides these duties, the stage manager had to write out all the +"copy" for advertisements and posters and house programs, see to the +painting of new scenes, and the making of new properties; also, any +new costumes that had to be made. His decision was final in all these +matters, so that the stage manager of the "old stock" days was no +sinecure. Mr. Caine filled the position with rare ability, and his +regime in the Salt Lake Theatre was distinguished for its prompt +executive alertness, and the utter absence of any trifling or +inattention to business. + +One important accession there was to the company just before this +engagement, that of Miss Annie Asenith Adams. Miss Adams made her +debut on the 25th of July, 1865, (the same night that Julia Dean-Hayne +and the Potter Company arrived in Salt Lake), in the character of +Grace Otis in the "People's Lawyer," W. C. Dunbar being the "Solon +Shingle" on the occasion. Her maiden effort proved very successful and +satisfactory to the management, and during Julia Dean's long +engagement she proved to be a valuable acquisition to the stock +company. She made rapid progress in the dramatic art, and before the +close of the season had attained a prominent position in the company +which she held with credit to herself and satisfaction to the public +until 1874, when the stock company was virtually retired to give place +to the "combination" system which then came into vogue. + +On August 15th, 1869, a little more than four years after her debut, +Miss Adams was married to Mr. James H. Kiskadden. Between the time of +her debut and her marriage, Asenith (she was always called "Senith" in +those days) was not only a favorite with the public, but she had a +number of ardent admirers among the "opposite sex." There was quite a +rivalry for her affections between several members of the company, but +the most ardent of them were already married, and although _they_ did +not consider that a bar to their hopes, in Annie's case they were not +eligible; so the chief rivalry existed on the outside of the theatre. +Mr. Kiskadden, or "Jim," as he was universally called by his +acquaintances, was cashier in his brother William's bank (the location +is the identical room where Walker Brothers' Bank is today). Jim was a +dashing sort of fellow, big and manly, with a determined kind of air, +that seemed to say, "Things must go my way." He drew a good salary, +dressed well, and always wore immaculate linen, his shirt front always +illuminated with a large diamond. He was inclined to "sporting," and +was recognized as the champion billiard player of the town in those +days. How much apprehension "Jim" endured regarding "Senith's" married +suitors in the theatre we have no means of knowing, but it is probable +she set his doubts at rest on that score by assuring him that she +would never marry an already married man. She had seen enough of that +to make her dread it. However this might be, "Jim" had a rival and a +dangerous one in the person of Mr. Jack O'Neil. Jack was beyond +question the handsomer fellow of the two; indeed, he was handsome as a +prince, always dressed superbly and was one of the most attractive +looking men in Salt Lake. Jack was very much infatuated with the +rising young actress and missed no opportunity to make known to her +his appreciation of her talents and his admiration and adoration of +herself. The rivalry between Jack and Jim was at white heat for a +spell, and it would not have been very much of a surprise to their +intimates if there had been a challenge sent and accepted, and a duel +fought over the young Mormon actress. Unfortunately for Jack and his +aspirations for the lady's affections, he was a _professional_ sport, +and that was against him. He had no other profession, and handsome and +cavalierly as he could be, he was classed as a gambler; while Jim +could flip the pasteboards just as skillfully, and lay them all out at +billiards, he did not follow it for a "stiddy liven," but held the +cashier's box in his brother's bank, for a steady job, and only +sported on the side, and so it came to pass that in the course of time +Jim distanced his handsome rival and bore off the prize. Many of +"Senith's" friends regretted this, as Jim did not belong to the +household of faith, but was a rank, out-spoken Gentile, utterly +opposed to Mormon ways, and not afraid to say so. Whereas all of +"Senith's" folks were staunch adherents of the Mormon faith and were +striving to live their religion in all its phases. So they did not +rejoice over "Senith's" marriage to a Gentile (as all non-Mormons were +called--Jews included). They regarded it as equivalent to apostasy +from the faith in which she had been reared, periling her soul's +salvation. She was not appalled, however, by the gloomy and hopeless +pictures some of her friends were kind enough to paint for her, and +bravely married the man she had set her heart upon and stuck by him +through thick and thin, sunshine and storm, prosperity and adversity. +On November 11th, 1872, Maude Kiskadden was born, within a stone's +throw of the Salt Lake Theatre, and before she was a year old made her +debut on the stage where her mother was a debutante some eight years +before. It looks now as if it were fate, as if she was predestined for +a great stage career. There was an emergency and Maude, not yet a year +old, was there to fill it. It happened in the following manner. In +those palmy days of the profession, the old stock days as they are now +called, it was customary to supplement the play with a farce--no +matter how long the play--even if a five-act tragedy, the evening's +performance was not considered complete without a farce to conclude +with. On this particular occasion, the farce was the "Lost Child," a +favorite with our comedian, Mr. Phil Margetts. He played Jones, a fond +and loving parent, who goes distracted over his lost child. Instead of +providing a real baby, as the property man had been instructed to do, +he had a grotesque-looking rag baby, not at all to the comedian's +taste in the matter. Millard, the property man, declared he had been +unable to procure a live baby, nobody was willing to lend a baby for +the part--older children he could get, but he could not get a baby, +and the rag baby was the best that he could do under the +circumstances, and on such short notice. Margetts was in distress. +"What, in Utah!" he exclaimed. "The idea!" Where babies are our best +crop, to be unable to procure one for his favorite farce. It was +simply preposterous, absurd, incredible; he objected to play with +nothing but a miserable makeshift of a rag baby. In agony he appealed +to the stage manager, Mr. Caine, to know if the farce was to be ruined +or made a double farce by the introduction into it of a grotesque doll +like that! It would be worse than a Punch and Judy show. Sudden as a +bolt from a clouded sky, while the altercation was still at its +height, Mrs. Kiskadden appeared in the centre of the stage with her +baby in her arms, and in a good-natured tone that ended all the +trouble, exclaimed, "Here's Maude, use her!" Maude was indeed a good +substitute for the inartistic-looking "prop" the property man had +provided. Phil was happy and played the distracted parent with a +realism and a pathos he never could have summoned for the rag baby. +When the cue came, Maude was ushered into the mimic scene, making her +first entrance on a large tray carried by a waiter. Then she was taken +from the tray into somebody's arms and tossed from one nurse to +another throughout the farce, until finally, as it ends, she is lodged +safely in the arms of Mr. Jones, her distracted father. To her credit, +be it recorded, she never whimpered or made any outcry or showed any +signs of alarm, but played her first part bravely, though perhaps +unconsciously; winning the admiration and love of the entire company. +It was a lucky accident that Maude was in the theatre that evening, +for her mother was not in the habit of bringing her to the theatre +when she had any one at home to take care of her, but this evening was +the "nurse's evening out," and "Maudie" had to be toted to the theatre +and carefully put to sleep before mamma could "make up" and go through +her part. Here she was safely stowed away in a safe and quiet corner +of the green room, where she had been blissfully reposing all through +the first play, and was now rather rudely awakened to fill the +distressing emergency. + +It will be readily seen from this narration that Maude Adams was +virtually "born to the stage," her mother studying assiduously and +playing parts both before and after Maude's birth, often taking Maudie +with her, both to rehearsals and performances, so that she became a +familiar little object in the theatre before she could walk or talk, +and long before she could ever essay a speaking part she was the pet +of the Green Room. + +We had a Green Room in the Salt Lake Theatre in those days, and a very +capacious and comfortable one, too. Such a commodious and luxurious +adjunct is scarcely known in the theatres today. Here the actors could +retire between the acts or during the scenes they were not engaged in, +and study over their lines, or if already easy in their parts, pass +the time in reading or social chat. It was the prompter's business to +send the "call boy" to the Green Room and all dressing rooms to "call +the act," a few minutes before he was ready to "ring up." The act +being called, each actor was required to be at his entrance on time; +if he should be late and make a "stage wait," the stage manager might +reprimand him, and impose a fine. Fines were also imposed for being +tardy at rehearsals. There was seldom any occasion for the enforcement +of this penalty, except in the case of "Jim" Hardie. "Jim" was a +notorious laggard, and often kept the company waiting for him. On one +occasion the company had been waiting his arrival for fifteen or +twenty minutes, when he strode in very hurriedly and taking the centre +of the stage, took off his hat and wiping the perspiration from his +brow, began an apology to the stage manager for being late. He had +only just begun to talk when a general laugh broke the gravity of the +occasion. Jim had just come from the barber's where he had his head +shaved, and his entire scalp down to the hat line was as smooth as a +billiard ball. His monkish appearance created much merriment, in which +the stage manager and Jim himself joined. Jim at a very early age +showed a tendency to baldness, and he had been told that shaving the +head was not only a check to it, but would stimulate the growth of the +hair, so he had to get his head shaved, even though he kept the +rehearsal waiting. I think the fine was omitted on this occasion, +owing to the fun the company had over it. + +In the fall of 1874, after a connection of nine years with the Salt +Lake Theatre, Mrs. Kiskadden and her husband, no longer a cashier, the +bank having been long a thing of the past, removed to Virginia City, +where Miss Adams was engaged with a number of others from the Salt +Lake Theatre Company, including the writer, to form a stock company +for Mr. John Piper, the Virginia City manager. "Maudie," now nearly +two years old, formed one of the party. After playing a season with +Mr. Piper, Miss Adams went to San Francisco, where her husband had +preceded her some months previous, and secured a good position as +bookkeeper for the firm of Park & Lacy. Here they made their home for +about eight years, Annie playing at the San Francisco theatres +whenever she could get an engagement, and making occasional excursions +with dramatic companies into the neighboring cities. + +In September, 1877, before she was five years old, "Maudie" played her +first speaking part with Joe Emmett in "Fritz" at the Bush Street +Theatre. When the question of Maudie playing in Joe Emmett's piece was +under consideration by Mrs. Kiskadden and she informed Mr. Kiskadden +she had an offer from Mr. Emmett for Maudie to play the child's part, +Mr. Kiskadden did not encourage the idea; he had a plenty of the +theatre as it was, so he rather bluffly remarked: "No, indeed, we +don't want Maude to make a fool of herself; one actress in the family +is quite enough." Maude looked up with a touch of his own +determination in her voice: "Papa, I won't make a fool of myself." She +was irresistible--her papa had to consent. Her second part was Crystal +in Herne and Belasco's "Hearts of Oak," then played under the name of +"Chums." She afterwards played a part with Oliver Doud Byron--and in +1878, when six years old, played little "Adriene" in "A Celebrated +Case" at the Baldwin Theatre. In this character she made a decided +hit. After the run of the play at the Baldwin, it was taken to +Portland, Oregon, and produced under John Maguire's management at the +New Market Theatre, with Annie Adams and little Maude specially +featured in the cast, the writer playing "Jean Renan" in this +production. "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" was then put on, little Maude +being made a feature as Mary Morgan, the writer playing "Joe." After +the close of the season at the New Market Theatre, the company went +out under the writer's management and played the Puget Sound circuit +in those two plays, little Maude being made a special feature. + +During this trip Maude had her first "Benefit" at Walla Walla, +Washington. She was "put up" for a "benefit," extensively advertised, +and helped out the company's treasury--after netting something liberal +for her. In this tour Maude played in all the Puget Sound towns from +Portland to Victoria and all the principal towns of Washington. At its +conclusion, she and her mother returned to San Francisco, and she was +not seen again in public for some years. Mr. Kiskadden died in San +Francisco in '83, and Mrs. Kiskadden took his remains to Salt Lake for +burial. There she settled down for a time and sent Maudie to school. +Here in the city of her birth she attended school for the next four or +five years, but always had a yearning to get back to the stage; and +eventually her mother secured an engagement for herself and Maude in +"My Geraldine" and the "Paymaster" under the manager of Duncan B. +Harrison. From that she got into Frohman's "Lost Paradise," and from +that on her history is known to the theatre world. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SEASON OF '66-'67. + +_An Interesting Prayer Meeting_. + + +Julia Dean Hayne's final appearance closed the fourth season of the +Salt Lake Theatre, counting the opening one which only lasted from +March 8th, '62, to the end of April, about eight weeks, the Irwin +season of '63 and '64, the Pauncefort season of '64 and '65, and the +Julia Dean Hayne season of '65 and '66. + +Up to this time the only compensation the stock company received was a +pro rata dividend of the benefits given at the end of each season--no +one had been put on a salary. The stars, of course, got good liberal +percentages or salaries, but even the leading people of the stock +company realized but a very meager compensation from the two +performances that were gotten up as benefits, one for the ladies of +the company and the other for the gentlemen--the two nights' receipts +were aggregated and divided up among the company according to their +respective merits or worth to the management. These two benefit +performances alone probably aggregated twenty-five hundred dollars, +which, divided up among about thirty performers, actors and musicians, +did not prove satisfactory to a number of the company--more especially +some of the orchestra. As a consequence, the ensuing season +approaching, the salary question came to the front again very +strongly, and the "management" found a well-grounded reluctance on the +part of the company to enter upon a new season's work without a +certain and satisfactory compensation. This feeling was even stronger +among the orchestra than among the stage players, a number of them +being quite outspoken in their sentiment: "No pay, no play." The +principal agitator among the musicians was Mark Croxall, the brilliant +young cornetist recently from England. Mark could not see the +propriety or consistency of playing to help pay for the theatre. He +had not been used to that kind of thing in England, and although he +had been playing but a very short time as compared with the majority, +both of the orchestra and the dramatic company, he vowed he would play +no longer without a stipulated salary. This, of course, aroused all +the others to a certain show of opposition. The leader of the +orchestra, Prof. Thomas, or "Charlie," as he was affectionately called +by his familiars, was probably as dissatisfied with the existing +regime as Croxall or David Evans, the second violin, who was another +Britisher of recent importation and quite pronounced in his views +about the way the theatre should be run. Prof. Thomas was not of the +stuff that kickers are made of, and could doubtless have been managed +with the majority of his orchestra had it not been for the +recalcitrant Croxall, and the equally pugnacious Evans. The +dissatisfaction spread rapidly and alarmingly to the management, until +the entire dramatic company as well as the orchestra, was in a state +of semi-rebellion. All the actors and most of the musicians had other +occupations, as I have stated in a former chapter, and now the number +of performances and rehearsals had increased their work to such an +extent they could not see how they could give satisfaction to their +various employers and keep up their work at the theatre too. Some of +these declared it had to be one thing or the other, the theatre now +demanded the greater part of their time, and the employers had in +several instances intimated that they would have to give up the +theatre or be replaced in their employ by others. Mr. David McKenzie, +the leading man of the company, held a clerkship in President Young's +or the Church office; "Joe" Simmons, our juvenile man, and Horace +Whitney, the "old man" in the company, also held clerkships in the +same office; Mr. W. C. Dunbar, the Irish comedian, was a clerk in the +"tithing office," so their time went on whether they were working in +the "Church offices" or at the theatre; of course all their night work +at the theatre was extra work, but the day time they put in at the +theatre they were not docked for at the office; but with the other +leading members of the company it was quite different; the hours they +spent at the theatre in the day time was a positive loss to them. Phil +Margetts was a blacksmith, Lindsay and Hardie were carpenters, Evans +and Kelly were printers, and so on. So that several hours each day +spent in rehearsal meant a heavy tax when at the end of each week they +were docked for time lost, so there was a committee appointed to wait +upon the managers, Clawson and Caine, and present the situation. The +managers being only employees of Brigham Young and not proprietors or +lessees, passed the company's grievance up to their chief. The +managers saw plainly that a crisis had come, and a new departure must +be made. "The President," accustomed to having things his own way, and +with confidence in his influence, thought he could effect a +compromise, or adjust the matter without much trouble or cost, so in +pursuance of this idea a notice was posted for all the company and +orchestra to assemble in the Green Room of the theatre on a certain +evening to consider the question of salary. There was no tardiness on +that occasion, even "Jim" Hardie, notorious for being tardy, was on +time. Every employee of the theatre was there from the managers to the +night-watchman. The orchestra was in full force, and the ladies of the +company, even to the smallest utility, were there, all inspired with +the hope of being put upon the theatre salary list. The Green Room was +found to be too small to accommodate all the company, so the meeting +was shifted to the stage, which afforded the necessary room. President +Young called the meeting to order, and requested the company to join +him in prayer. It is customary in the Mormon Church to open all +meetings with prayer, even political ones where those present are all +of the household of faith. Brigham offered up a fervent prayer, asking +the blessing of the Almighty upon that meeting, and each and every one +present, that they might all see with an eye single to the glory of +God, and the building up of his Kingdom here on the earth. The prayer +over, the President arose and in a brief but very adroit speech, told +the object he had in view in building the theatre, the recreation and +amusement of the people, thanked those who had contributed to that +end, whether as actors or musicians, told them that they were +missionaries as much as if they were called to go out into the world +and preach the gospel, and the Lord would bless their efforts just as +much if they performed their parts in the same spirit. He understood +there was some dissatisfaction, however, and some of the brethren +thought it was too much of a tax upon their time to continue to do +this without proper compensation. He called on the brethren to state +their feelings in regard to this question that he might judge what was +best to do in the matter. It seemed as if the prayer and speech had +almost made them forget that they had any cause or grievance to +present, or it had blunted the edge of their courage. Every one was +expecting to see Mark Croxall, the principal agitator, get up and make +a statement in behalf of himself and the orchestra; but Mark's +courage, like that of many another agitator, seemed to have sunk into +his boots, when the ordeal came; he opened not his mouth. So the +second violinist, David Evans, who was a shoemaker by trade and a +cripple from birth, pulled himself to a standing position by the aid +of his crutches and spoke to the question. He told how hard he had to +work, and what a loss of time the rehearsals and plays occasioned him; +being up so much at nights, he could not get up very early in the +morning--and could not but lose several hours every day. Besides, he +said he did not think it right and just, when the theatre was taking +in such large sums of money at every performance, that those who +furnished the entertainment, whether in the art of music or the drama, +should be expected to continue to do it gratuitously. It was a bold, +fearless, manly speech and coming from a man who was obliged to sling +himself along through life on a pair of crutches, and a recent comer +from the old country, it sent a thrill of astonishment through the +company and fired some of the others with a spark of courage, too. Mr. +Phil Margetts, the leading comedian, arose and made an explanation of +his case; then a number of the other fellows followed suit. A sort of +"no pay, no play" sentiment pervaded the entire company. President +Young saw here an end of the old method; he discovered that a new deal +would have to be made with his actors if he wanted to continue in the +amusement business, so he tried an expedient. He was evidently a +little irritated at Evans, the crippled shoemaker, who had presumed to +take the initiative in the affair and express his views so fearlessly, +inspiring the others with a little of his own courage, but Brigham did +not show the lion's paw but spoke in rather a patronizing way of +Brother Evans's crippled condition, and said it was right that he +should have some additional pay, owing to his misfortune of being a +cripple. He told Evans he could have anything he needed out of his +private store; that if he would leave his flour sack there, it should +be regularly filled, and whatever else was there he was welcome to +what he needed of it. This savored a little too much of charity for +Evans, who although badly crippled in his limbs, was by no means a +weakling in his brains; and hurt a little by the President's +patronizing manner, he arose and said about as follows: + +"President Young, I have had my flour sack at your store for more than +a month, and every time I have gone in to try and get it filled, the +clerk has told me the flour was all out." Evans's unique relation of +the flour sack incident injected a spark of humor into the +proceedings; a suppressed titter ran through the crowd, and even +Brigham, although nettled at this unexpected sally, could not repress +a grim smile. + +That the reader may better understand the flour sack incident it must +be explained here that what little pay the actors and musicians had +been receiving for their services through the benefits was not all in +cash, but store orders mostly on the tithing store. The cash receipts +of the theatre up to this time and indeed as late as 1870 were +probably one-third of the gross receipts, the other two-thirds +consisting of orders on various stores or tithing pay, which consisted +of all kinds of home products--so that when the "benefits" were +divided up among the company each member got about one-third of his +"divvy" in cash and the other two-thirds in store orders and orders on +the tithing office. Evans was the possessor of an order on Brigham +Young's private store, and he felt chagrined that he had been so often +with that order and failed to draw it. Flour was flour in those days, +running as high at one time as twenty dollars per hundred, but the +uniform church or tithing office price was six dollars per hundred, +which was what the actors had to pay for it, but it was doled out very +sparingly to them at times when it was commanding high prices in +outside markets. With these orders they drew about all their +provisions from the tithing store. Artemus Ward amused the world by +telling how the Salt Lake Theatre used to take in exchange for tickets +cabbage, potatoes, wheat, carrots, and even sucking pigs through the +box office window. It was perhaps nearer the truth than he himself +suspected, for these tithing office orders were good for all these +things. + +After the titter had subsided Brigham arose again, and answered +Brother Evans that he was sorry he had been disappointed so, but there +really had been a great scarcity of flour during the past month or so, +but he would see to it in the future that he would meet no more +disappointments. To Brother Phil Margetts he made an offer to come and +work in his blacksmith shop (Phil was running one of his own) and then +he need not lose any time; his pay would go on whether working in the +shop or in the theatre. Brother Lindsay could bring his carpenter +tools to the theatre and he could find plenty of work for him to fill +up the time between the rehearsals. To others he made similar +propositions; but these suggestions were not in harmony with the +feelings of the company, who thought they had given their time to +Brother Brigham long enough, and now contended with Brother Evans, +that as they were furnishing the amusements for the people, it was +only right that they should be paid for their services, so the result +of the meeting was that the company was put on salary. Salaries ranged +from $15.00 to $50.00 per week, one-third cash, the balance in store +orders and tithing office pay. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SEASON OF '66 AND '67. + + +The season of '66 and '67 opened on September 8th with Alonzo R. +Phelps as the star attraction. Mr. Phelps opened in the character of +"Damon" and made a fairly good showing, although he appeared to much +greater advantage in some lighter roles, and particularly as "Crepin," +the Cobbler, in "A Wonderful Woman." His engagement lasted two weeks, +when the Irwins returned after an absence of over two years. They +opened on September 29th, just in time to get well ready with a +repertory of plays for the approaching conference. Their engagement +lasted up to November 15th, when they departed for the East and Salt +Lake was never favored with a visit from them afterwards. "Sel" Irwin +"died young in years, not service," after very intense suffering for +several years from rheumatism, which virtually made a helpless cripple +of him. He died in New York in 1886, being only a little over fifty +years of age. His widow, Maria Irwin, still survives, and up to a +recent date was playing in a road company. Harry Rainforth, her son by +her first marriage, who was a mere boy of sixteen when they played +their first engagement in Salt Lake, has been for many years manager +of the Pike Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, the associate and partner +of "Bob" Miles. It was during this last Irwin engagement that Miss +Nellie Colebrook, who later on became leading lady of the company, +made her debut. Her first appearance was in the comedy of "Dominique, +the Deserter." The first line she had to speak was, "Oh, I'm half dead +with fear," which was literally true of Miss Colebrook on the +occasion. She was shaking like an aspen leaf in a strong wind, but her +nervous condition fitted the character remarkably well and the lady +sailed at once into public favor. Miss Colebrook was tall and stately, +with a very winning face and musical voice; she went rapidly to the +front, being especially well suited to many of the leading roles. Mrs. +Lydia Gibson, the leading actress of the theatre, died on January 8th, +1866, a little less than three years after her first appearance. This +left a vacancy in the company difficult to fill, and afforded Miss +Colebrook many excellent opportunities in leading roles, which she +always filled satisfactorily, so that by the time Pauncefort returned +to play his third engagement--after an absence of more than two years +Miss Colebrook was doing most of the leading female roles. + +After the departure of the Irwins, the stock company finished out the +season without the assistance of a star, playing from November 15th +until after April Conference. It was during the conference that our +old friend George Pauncefort, suddenly and unexpectedly to most of us, +returned from San Francisco after an absence in that metropolis of +more than two years. He opened a return engagement on April 16th in +"Don Caesar de Bazan." The season was virtually over after the April +Conference, but notwithstanding he played to splendid business, he +gave repetitions of his previous plays and won out splendidly on a +production of "Arrah Na Pogue," in which he had played "Col. O'Grady" +during a successful run of this play in San Francisco. + +"Arrah Na Pogue" drew good houses for three or four nights, and closed +the season of '66 and '67. Robert Heller got in a three nights +engagement, commencing May the 20th, while the company was getting up +in "Arrah Na Pogue." He was the first to introduce the mysterious +second sight illusions and succeeded in bewildering and mystifying the +patrons of the theatre to an unusual degree. + +During the last engagement of Pauncefort most of the opposite roles to +his own were assigned to Miss Colebrook, who had in the past year, +since Mrs. Gibson's demise, divided honors with Miss Adams, and owing +to her more stately appearance had been entrusted with many of the +leading lady roles and was an established favorite. Pauncefort, who +had never met her before (her debut having occurred after his +departure for the coast), was much surprised and pleased to find a new +and attractive leading lady in the company. He took an especial +interest in her, and she was cast for all the leading roles during his +engagement, beginning with "Maritana" in "Don Caesar," and including +"Lady Macbeth" and "Ophelia." Pauncefort discovered that she had +exceptional dramatic ability and encouraged her in every possible way; +for "Miss Nellie" was not over-confident of her own abilities, and +suffered keenly from nervousness or stage fright, especially on the +first time in a part; and to receive encouragement and compliments +from a star of Pauncefort's acknowledged luster was doubtless sweet +and flattering to the lady, who as yet was all unconscious of the +impression she had made on the susceptible George. "The fair Elizabeth +has caught my eye, and like a new star, lights onward to my wishes." +Possessed of a sweet and loveable disposition and a musical voice +added to her charms of personal appearance, Miss Colebrook was a +general favorite, not only with the public, but with the company. She +had numerous admirers, and several rival aspirants for her affections, +both in the company and out. With what surprised and ill-concealed +chagrin they viewed the growing attentions of the reigning star can +better be imagined than described. The princely George had enrolled +himself in the list of her devotees and it was very much in evidence +that he was enamored of the lady, for George had a keen eye for the +beautiful, and "a free and open nature, too," most susceptible to +female charms, so he entered the race with the others for the fair +"Nellie's" hand. While he was considerably older than any of his +competitors, being now close onto fifty, he probably had the advantage +over them all in looks, being generally regarded as a handsome man, +and most decidedly he had the advantage of experience, for George had +been a gay Lothario. He seemed in a fair way to carry off the +much-coveted prize. Notwithstanding the disparity of age, the fair +"Nellie" seemed strongly attracted to the princely George. Playing +"Ophelia" to his "Hamlet" and "Lady Macbeth" to his "Macbeth," and a +long series of opposite characters to him, he had not failed to make a +powerful impression on her, and if she had been left to herself +without guidance or counsel, there is little question but what +Pauncefort would have won her; but her mother had more penetration, +and could see the objections which "Nellie" either did not see, or +care to raise, so the chief arbitrator of the Church, President Young, +was appealed to by Miss "Nellie's" mother to decide the case for them. +Brigham decided very quickly and positively against an alliance +between his fair leading lady and the "stock star," with a great big +emphatic _No_. He had formed a strong prejudice against Pauncefort +during his first engagement, owing to his reputed intimacy with Mrs. +Bell, which was rather flaunted in the face of the community on their +arrival in Salt Lake. So this ended the Pauncefort-Colebrook romance. + +During this engagement, Pauncefort played in addition to his previous +repertory "The Dead Heart," "Man with the Iron Mask," "Lavater," and +"Arrah Na Pogue." The latter piece closed the season on June the 15th, +being the fourth performance of the piece. Very soon after, Pauncefort +purchased a horse and chaise, fitting himself out with gun and fishing +tackle for a long jaunt. He headed for Portland, giving readings by +the way--hunting and fishing by day--and evenings entertaining the +towns along his route. How far he got with his one horse chaise is not +exactly known, but the probability is he traded it off before he +passed the Utah border line, and took the stage for Virginia City, +Nevada, where he played for a short time and then drifted over to the +coast, and finally got lost to view. + +A dozen years later he was discovered by some American actors in +Japan, keeping a roadside tea house for travelers with a set of pretty +Japanese girls for waiters. He married a Japanese girl and latest +reports credited him with a fine young Japanese colony of his own. A +picture of himself and Japanese wife and three children in the +possession of Jack Langrishe's widow at Wardner, Idaho, was shown to +the writer there recently, and was a strong verification of what had +been told by parties who had seen Pauncefort in Japan. George had let +his beard grow and was quite a patriarchal looking man when Joseph +Arthur met him there in 1880. Pauncefort died in Japan in 1893, +leaving a Japanese wife and four semi-Jap children. George Pauncefort +missed the greatest opportunity of his life by not joining the Mormon +Church; he had all the natural endowments to make a great patriarch. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SEASON OF '67-'68. + + +On the first of August, this same year, '67, C. W. Couldock made his +first appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre, supported by Jack Langrishe +and his company from Denver, where they had been running a stock +company. It was an unfavorable time for opening, in the hottest nights +of summer, but there were no resorts in those days and it was not so +hard to get them into the theatre as it would be now. Langrishe had a +full road company and was traveling through to Montana in his own +teams, the Union Pacific Railroad not being nearer than Rawlins at +that time. The company comprised Mr. Couldock and his daughter, Eliza +Couldock, John S. Langrishe and Mrs. Langrishe, Richard C. White (he +of Camp Floyd fame, referred to in a previous chapter). The Langrishe +company played a week, then went to Virginia City, Montana. Couldock +and his daughter returned later and played a long engagement as stock +stars. + +On the 5th of September, Amy Stone, supported by her husband, H. F. +Stone, began a stock star engagement which lasted a little more than +four months. Opening the regular fall season on September 5th, by the +time the fall Conference came on, October 6th, the Stones had the +stock company up in a very attractive repertoire of plays to present +to "our country cousins" attending the Conference. Fanchon, Pearl of +Savoy, "Little Barefoot," "French Spy," "Wept of the Wishton Wish," +were leading favorites in the Stone repertory, and proved to be very +popular, serving to keep the exchequer in a satisfactory condition. +Their engagement lasted until January the 6th, 1868. Amy, if not a +great actress, was at least a fascinating one. She was blessed with a +superb form and an attractive face; she fairly reveled in parts where +she could wear tights and display her shapely form, and it must be +frankly confessed that "the folks" loved to see her in that kind of +attire. She was more at home in it than in an evening dress with a +bothersome train; there was a freedom of movement and a candor of +expression about Amy that was positively refreshing, and we all liked +her and got along with her with very little trouble. "Harry," as her +husband was always called, was not a brilliant but a good, useful +actor, and had a good knowledge of her plays, and could direct the +staging of them. Besides, he attended to the making of engagements, +and the financial end of the business, and as he was devoted to Amy, +they were apparently one of the happiest couples I have ever met in +the theatrical business. The Stones were a very prudent and saving +couple, and by the time they had finished a four months' stock star +engagement, they had a very handsome deposit in the local bank, and +they left Zion feeling a very warm affection for the Saints, and so +went on their way rejoicing. + +On the night immediately following the close of the Stones' +engagement, January 7th, Mr. James Stark opened in John Howard Payne's +play of "Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin." This was the first +presentation of this play in Salt Lake. Mr. Stark made a fine +impression as Brutus. He followed it in quick succession with +Richelieu, Damon, Jack Cade, Alfred Evelyn in "Money." His engagement +lasted two weeks and closed with the play of "Victorine, or Married +for Money." Stark was a very talented tragedian of the Forrest school, +and his engagement proved quite popular and successful. He went to San +Francisco, and played an engagement there, and returned to New York by +the Isthmus, the Overland railroad not yet being completed. Mr. Stark +had a brother, Daniel Stark, a pioneer Mormon, who settled at Provo +among the earliest settlers of that place. James, who had not seen him +for many years, availed himself of the opportunity his Salt Lake +engagement afforded him, and arranged a meeting with his "long lost +brother" (?). He paid Daniel and his family a visit, and was most +hospitably received and entertained. The family made much ado over +him, and Daniel, like his namesake of old, "prophet-like," sought to +show James the error of his ways, pointing out to him the emptiness +and effervescence of dramatic fame, and the poor illusive thing that +was as compared with the real joys and blessings of the Latter-Day +Gospel. "Jim" accepted it all in good part, but he could not see "eye +to eye" with his elder brother Daniel, but he promised to consider +seriously what he had heard and bade them a loving goodbye till they +could meet again. He rather expected to play a return engagement when +he left here, and see the folks again, but he never returned. Stark +died in New York before the close of the year 1868, in his 50th year. + +After the Stark engagement, the stock company continued the season, +starting off with a series of annual benefits which by this time were +given the leading actors of the company in addition to salaries. +January the 23rd, D. McKenzie "Benefits," playing "Huguenot Captain," +with an Olio and a farce to conclude. February 4th, John S. Lindsay +"Benefits" and essays Hamlet for the first time. The farce that +followed Hamlet was "Boots at the Swan;" think of it, "ye modern +school actors." A five-act play and a farce, this meant being in the +theatre from seven o'clock till midnight, but the people stayed to see +it all, and many of them would have stayed till morning, if we could +have kept on playing pieces for them. J. M. Hardie "Benefits" with +"Jack Cade," Miss Colebrook with "Leah," etc., and so the season ran +along without a star from January 23rd till April the 23rd, when the +company was stiffened up again by the accession of Mr. and Mrs. George +B. Waldron, who played up till May 16th. On May the 19th, Madam +Scheller opened in "Pearl of Savoy," gave us "Pauline" in "Lady of +Lyons," "Enoch Arden," "Lorlie," "The Phantom" and "Hamlet." Madam +Scheller was Edwin Booth's "Ophelia" during the one hundred nights' +run of Hamlet at Winter Garden Theatre, in New York. + +Very naturally the Salt Lakers conversant with the facts were anxious +to see her in "Ophelia," so Lindsay who had recently played "Hamlet" +for his "benefit," was admonished to prepare himself for another go at +the melancholy Dane with the new "Ophelia;" and in due time we had the +novelty of Scheller's "Ophelia." She was irresistibly charming in it, +in spite of her German accent, which in moments of unusual excitement +was quite pronounced. Madam Scheller proved to be a pleasing and +accomplished actress and filled a long engagement at the Salt Lake +Theatre. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Methua, who was a +skillful scenic artist, and put in a lot of new scenes for the theatre +during his wife's engagement. Here was a model couple, courteous and +refined; they left many warm friends in Salt Lake at their departure, +whose best wishes for their success went with them. Unhappy to relate, +this worthy and respected pair died of yellow fever during the deadly +siege of that disease at Memphis in 1878. "United in life, in death +they were not separated." + +On January 9th, after playing three weeks Madam Scheller was rested +for a week to give an opening to Charlotte Crampton. Crampton was a +genius and in her younger years had astonished the dramatic world by +her histrionic gymnastics. She affected the male characters almost +exclusively--"Hamlet," "Richard III," "Shylock," "Don Caesar," and in +"Lady Macbeth" and "Meg Merrilles" she rivaled the great Charlotte +Cushman. The writer remembers seeing her when a boy at the old Bates's +Theatre, St. Louis, which was her home. She was erratic as a comet, +and her eccentricities were the town's talk. How often she was married +this deponent saith not, but remembers that at the time he saw her +playing in St. Louis in 1857, she was the wife of a Mr. Istenour. When +she appeared here in Salt Lake City in 1868, she was far past the +meridian of life and was accompanied by her husband, "Mr. Cook," young +enough to be her son. The novelty of a woman essaying those characters +was a strong one, and served to draw out good houses. She played +"Hamlet," "Shylock," "Richard III," and "Don Caesar," which with two +repeats, filled up her week. + +Crampton was a woman rather below the medium height, and looked +insignificant dressed up for those male characters, but when she got +animated she made you forget her size, and at times she seemed to fill +not only the center of the stage but the entire stage. She had passed +the zenith of her fame some years before she made this trip to the +coast. She bore all the evidences of an erratic life and premature +age; her sun had nearly set when she played with us here; and after +her departure for the East, we heard but little of her. Charlotte +Crampton's engagement was like the flashing of a meteor across the +dramatic firmament. Like the elder Booth, she was notorious for her +eccentricities, and in genius was akin to him. "How close to madness +great wits are allied." + +After the passing of this meteor, the steady star, Madam Scheller, +resumed her reign, reappearing as "Laura Courtland" in "Under the Gas +Light." This was the first production of this play in Salt Lake City, +and it had an unprecedented run, going for an unbroken week to full +houses. As an index to the personnel of the company at this time, June +16th, 1868, we append the cast of "Under the Gas Light." + + "UNDER THE GAS LIGHT." + + Ray Trafford ............................ John S. Lindsay + De Milt ..................................... Mark Wilton + Wilton ..................................... Bert Merrill + Byke ...................................... Phil Margetts + Joe Snorkey .............................. David McKenzie + Bermudas ................................. John C. Graham + Peanuts ................................... Johnny Matson + Station Man ................................. Mark Wilton + Police Judge ............................... J. M. Hardie + O'Rafferty ................................ John E. Evans + Martin .................................... John B. Kelly + Police Patrol ........................... Richard Mathews + Laura Courtland .......................... Madam Scheller + Pearl Courtland ........................ Miss Annie Adams + Mrs. Van Dam ........................... Nellie Colebrook + Sue Earlie ................................ Alice Clawson + Peachblossom ........................ Miss Sara Alexander + Judas ................................ Mrs. M. A. Clawson + +Summer heat had but little affect on the business of the Salt Lake +Theatre in those days of which I am writing. Madam Scheller played +from May 10th to August 1st, excepting the one week allotted to +Charlotte Crampton, all through the hot nights of June and July and +there was no perceptible or serious diminution in the attendance. This +can only be accounted for in the fact that there were no resorts in +those days, and the theatre was the coolest place in the city. We +naturally looked for and expected a rest through August after the long +season we had put in, but there was no respite. On the 4th of August, +Annette Ince opened in "Julia" in the "Hunchback" and gave in rapid +succession "Evadne," "Medea," "Ion," "Mary Stuart," "Elizabeth," "As +You Like It," "Camille," and other pieces filling a three weeks' +engagement. She was followed by E. L. Davenport, who opened on August +the 27th in "Richelieu," supported by Annette Ince as "Julia de +Mauprat," and the full strength of the company. Mr. Davenport gave us +his "Richelieu," "Julian St. Pierre," in "The Wife," "Hamlet," +"William" in "Black-Eyed Susan," "Rover" in "Wild Oats" and "Sir Giles +Overreach" in "A New Way to Pay Old Debts." Mrs. Davenport (Fanny +Vining) appeared in conjunction with Mr. Davenport in this engagement, +playing the "Queen" in "Hamlet" and kindred parts, and with Miss Ince +in the leading female roles, Mr. Davenport had a supporting company in +every way worthy of him. His engagement was a memorable one, as Mr. +Davenport was thought by many to be our greatest American actor. He +was certainly a worthy rival of Edwin Booth and had he, like that +actor, confined his brilliant talents to the great Shakespearian +roles, he would undoubtedly have made a greater name for himself, but +he was too versatile and he scattered his efforts on the "Williams" +and "Rovers" and the other trifles that he should have dropped as he +advanced in years and concentrated his efforts on a repertory of his +greatest characters only. When he played this Salt Lake engagement he +had declined into "the vale of years." As Hamlet, he looked older than +the "Queen" but he possessed all the fire and animation necessary; as +"St. Pierre" in the "Wife," he was at his best, and fairly lifted the +audience into enthusiastic demonstrations of applause. It was not long +after this that Davenport was pitted against the English tragedian +Barry Sullivan in New York. An exceedingly interesting and able +criticism and comparison of these two great actors appeared in Wilke's +"Spirit of the Times," headed "The Two Rossi." This was Davenport's +last memorable engagement. He was already an old man and failing fast. +He died in 1871. + + "Ay, but to die and go, we know not where, to lie in cold + obstruction and to rot, + This sensible warm motion to become a kneaded clod, + And the delighted spirit to bathe in fiery floods, + Or to reside in chilling regions of thick ribbed ice, + To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, + And blown with restless violence about the pendant world. + 'Tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life, + That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment can lay on nature, + Is paradise to what we fear of death." + +It will be observed that there was no summer vacation this year of +1868. The Davenport engagement carried us into September, the time for +opening the season of '68 and '69. Miss Ince's engagement following +the Davenports was really the beginning of the season '68 and '69. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SEASON OF '68 AND '69. + + +Davenport's engagement ended, Miss Ince resumed and played from +September the 5th to the 17th, then departed for the Golden Shores of +the Pacific. Now again, after this brilliant succession of stars, the +stock company was left to its own unaided efforts, and from September +the 17th to November the 26th they kept the wheel turning with a +steady stream of stock pieces, and the old mill grinds, and the box +office does business and the actors get their salaries. "Stars may +come and stars may go, but the stock keeps on for aye." This was a +good long stretch of stock work from September the 17th, through the +October Conference and away to nearly the end of November, ten weeks +of it; broken only by a rest of three nights, when Perepa Rosa gave us +a series of Operatic Concerts, November the 14th, 15th and 16th. Salt +Lake even then had a great love of music and turned out large +audiences to hear the famous prima donna and her talented support, +including her husband, the brilliant violinist and conductor, Carl +Rosa. + +Now we arrive at another important event in our theatre's history, the +first engagement of John McCullough. For several years Lawrence +Barrett and John McCullough had been the lessees and managers of the +old California Theatre in San Francisco, and in spite of Barrett's +known sagacity as a manager and notwithstanding the succession of +brilliant stars presented at the California and the magnificent stock +company kept to support them, the venture was not a financial success, +and Barrett and McCullough were forced to succumb. Then it was that +McCullough began his career as a star; what reputation he had made up +to this time was as Edwin Forrest's leading man. "Larry" Barrett had +"starred" some in the character of Elliott Gray in "Rosedale," now +they were both out of a job and looking for engagement. Barrett went +East and resumed his starring in "Rosedale" and gradually drifted into +the Shakespearian roles. McCullough went to Virginia City, Nevada, +with a picked-up company, and played his first star engagement. They +took to the "genial" John very kindly there, and worked him him up a +rousing big benefit; those were the palmy days of the Comstock and +everybody had money, actors were at a premium in the camp and the old +theatre was packed at every performance. The "Benefit" netted +McCullough over two thousand dollars and "John" was glad he was an +actor. He knew we had a fine theatre and a good company in Salt Lake, +so he made arrangements to come and play with us a spell. On November +the 26th, he opened in "Damon" and followed it in quick succession +(playing nightly) with "Richelieu," "Hamlet," "Othello," "Shylock," +Volage in "Marble Heart," "Richard III," "Robbers," "Macbeth," +"Brutus," "Romeo and Juliet," etc., etc. + +This was a very notable engagement, in more ways than one. It was +notable for its length, covering a stretch of twenty-three nights; +likewise for its strength, as George B. Waldron and Madam Scheller, +who had both returned from a Montana tour, were added to the company +to stiffen the cast--here we had really three stars and a strong, +capable, self-sustaining stock company in the cast of all the plays +during McCullough's first Salt Lake engagement, which lasted three +weeks, terminating on September 17th. Again the stock company was left +to its own strength and resources and even after this brilliant trio +of dramatic artists, McCullough, Scheller and Waldron dropped away +from us, the managers, with never-failing confidence and temerity, put +forward the stock once more to plough through the billowy Christmas +time, past the new year and on to February 10th, when we welcomed +another acquisition to the ranks in the person of Miss Annie Lockhart. + +Miss Lockhart was an English lady of liberal education, refined and +cultured; and although she had not posed as a "star actress," she had +an extended and varied experience on the stage. She had been for +several years in Australia in the stock companies of Melbourne and +Sidney, where she had met, loved and married an actor by the name of +Harry Jackson. Harry was a talented character man, but the flowing +bowl was his weakness and Annie in time wearied of his indiscretions +and indulgences, "shook him off to beggarly divorcement," left him in +San Francisco and came to Salt Lake in quest of an engagement. She +must have made a very favorable impression on the managers, for they +put her in as stock "star" up to March 1st, and she continued a member +of the company up to her fatal illness in the following November. +Annie Lockhart was at this time about thirty-two years of age, a woman +of comely appearance and gentle mien, and if not great like Julia +Dean, Annette Ince, or Charlotte Crampton, was always pleasing and +satisfactory. She delighted in such characters as "Matida" in "Led +Astray," the dual role in "Two Loves and a Life," "Janet Pride," "Peg +Woffington" and kindred light comedy characters. Miss Lockhart was a +very tasteful dresser; she always made a good appearance in her part. +During her long stay with the stock company a number of stars +appeared. The first after her engagement was James A. Herne, who +opened on March 1st, 1869, in "Rip Van Winkle." Herne's "Rip" made a +great hit and had an extraordinary run of five nights. Herne played +ten nights doing "Solon Shingle," "Captain Cuttle," and some other +characters. Then he was joined by Lucille Western who appeared as the +leading stellar attraction supported by Herne and the stock company. +Miss Western opened in her original character of "Lady Isabel" in +"East Lynne." It was undoubtedly a great performance of the character, +but the recollection of Julia Dean Hayne in the part was still fresh +in the public mind, and she had made such a powerful impression in +this character that Lucille Western was compared with her only to her +disadvantage, notwithstanding she was the original "Lady Isabel." We +had now in rapid succession Western's entire repertory which included +"The Child Stealer," "Green Bushes," "Oliver Twist," "Flowers of the +Forest," "Don Caesar de Bazan" (with Western as the Don), and "Foul +Play." Miss Western's engagement proceeded smoothly and drew large +audiences. One of the Herne-Western performances created a genuine +sensation in Salt Lake. It was "Oliver Twist." In the scene where Bill +Sykes (Herne) kills Nancy (Miss Western), both Herne and Miss Western +sought to make the murder as realistic and blood curdling as possible. +The murder is done off the stage in a room on the left; Sykes is +supposed to beat Nancy to death with his ugly stick which he carries +through the play. To carry out the realism of the beating a pad was +made of a number of wet towels; these Herne struck with a piece of +board, making a sickening thud which Lucille accompanied with a +scream, each one growing fainter, until it became a groan, then Bill +steals across the stage and off at an outer door and Nancy, almost +dead, drags herself on till she gets to the centre of the stage, her +face completely hidden by her dishevelled hair when she gets to +position centre she turns her face which has been covered from the +audience, throws her hair back and reveals her face covered with stage +gore. On this occasion the picture was so revolting that several women +in the audience fainted--everybody was shocked. The actress had made +it as revolting as possible, thinking to make a sensation. She +succeeded, but had she been a woman of finer feelings, instead of +seeking to make the picture as horrible and repulsive as she could she +would have studied how to make it effective without being repulsive. +President Young was very angry over it. The picture was very +abhorrent; there is no knowing what the physiological results were; it +was rumored afterwards that a number of children were birthmarked as +the result of it. The President gave orders that the piece should not +be played again and sent messengers all over the city to tell the +people not to go and see it if it was put on again. Of course the +managers withdrew it in deference to his wish, but there is no doubt +the house would have been crowded had it been repeated, for the +prohibition only aroused a greater curiosity to see it; forbidden +fruit, you know, is generally most hankered after. The play has been +done here several times since President Young's death, but never in +such a shocking manner. + +On the night of the "Benefit" Lucille chose to show us what she looked +like in male attire, so she put up "Don Caesar" and appeared in the +role of the ragged cavalier. Before the play was over it was very +apparent that Lucille had been indulging in the ardent, but she +managed to get through without materially marring the play. The next +night, however, was Charles Reade's "Foul Play." This piece was +entirely new to the company, never having been done in the theatre +before, so that the stock company was hard pushed with study to get +their lines, but with their accustomed industry and regularity they +were all _au fait_ on this first occasion, and the play might have +scored a genuine success if the "star" had done her part towards it; +but she repeated her indulgence of the night before and to such a +degree that by the opening of the fourth act she was in a very sorry +plight. This act is on an uninhabited island; there has been a +shipwreck and the hero and heroine have been washed or driven or blown +onto this island and with a few of the ship's crew are the only +survivors. As the act opens Robert Penfold (Lindsay) and Helen +Rolleston (Miss Western) are discovered on a high cliff looking for a +sail. The few survivors of the crew have gone in search of fresh water +and something to eat, and the two leading characters have the entire +act between them until the finale when a rescuing party arrives with a +boat. Here was a dilemma; never was a stage lover placed in a more +embarrassing position. It was quite apparent to him as they ascended +to the cliff before the rise of the curtain that the stalwart Lucille +was not in proper condition for climbing cliffs, more particularly +stage cliffs, which are generally pretty shaky affairs, and the +probability of a sudden and unlocked for descent was anything but a +pleasing prospect to Mr. Lindsay. To still further embarrass him he +discovered that Lucille's tongue was decidedly thick, in fact she +could scarcely articulate. The curtain should never have gone up; it +would have saved the management, the actors, and particularly Miss +Western, a vast amount of humiliation; Miss Western should have been +suddenly ill; or an announcement made to that effect and the audience +dismissed and their money refunded if necessary; they should have been +spared the agony of witnessing a really great artiste rendered +imbecile and helpless by an uncontrollable appetite for liquor. But +the curtain did go up and down went Lucille. At the very first step +she made to descend she staggered, and in spite of all that her stage +lover could do to steady her she made a sudden unsteady descent and +landed in a kneeling position on the stage. Oh! the agony of that +moment! With assistance she staggered to her feet, and now as she +attempted to speak her first speech in the act, a new terror seized +me. Her words were thick and inarticulate--not heard at all by the +majority of the audience, who now began to realize the true condition. +It was evident to everybody on the stage that she could never get +through the act, and so the stage manager, after another abortive +attempt on her part to say her lines, sent on the boat with the rescue +party and the finale of the act was reached. Never was such a scene +between a pair of stage lovers so horribly mutilated as this; never +was an act so fearfully and unintelligibly abbreviated as this one, +and never did a rescue party arrive more opportunely. It plucked the +"star" from immediate disgrace, an embarrassed actor from despair. It +was no wonder the audience remained for the last act, for they had +before the end of the fourth act divined the true state of affairs and +they stayed, curious to see how it would or could end. The last act +was a court room scene and the star had to sit on the witness stand. +She did not make a very intelligent witness but sat there with a +bright green silk gown, with a face flushed to redness, and looking +the picture of helplessness. How we got through that act, I don't +think anyone engaged in it could have told, but with the prompter's +assistance reading most of Miss Western's lines, we blundered through +and the final drop came on the most inglorious and trying performance +I ever had part in. + +The manager promptly cancelled Miss Western's engagement, although she +had one more night to play. The following night "Arrah Na Pogue" was +put up with Mr. Herne in the part of "Shaun the Post," but as if the +fates had decreed that this Herne-Western engagement should end +disgracefully, if not disastrously, this last night went on record as +losing one for the managers and a discreditable one to the solitary +remaining star. Owing to the fiasco of the night before, a rather +slender audience was in attendance to witness Mr. Herne's last +appearance. Whether this fact had to do with the sudden indisposition +and collapse of Mr. Herne on this occasion, there is no means of +knowing, but the writer has ever been of the opinion that it was the +very perceptible falling away of the patronage and his chagrin and +vexation over Miss Western's conduct of the night before that wrought +upon the actor's nervous system to such a degree that he declared +himself unable to appear. The writer's dressing room was so situated +that he could not hear what was transpiring on the stage. When the +curtain time arrived and I came down to the stage all made up for +"Michael Feeney," to my great surprise I was informed there was to be +no performance; the audience had been dismissed owing to the sudden +illness of Mr. Herne. Herne was seated on the big curtain roller and a +number of the company around him, offering sympathy and assistance to +the disabled star who appeared to be in great agony. I returned +hastily to my dressing room and divested myself of Michael Feeney's +habiliments, and resuming my own attire, was soon back to Mr. Herne's +side and proffered my assistance to help him to his hotel. In the +meantime a doctor, who kept his office a few doors west of the +theatre, had been called in and he requested us to bring Herne to his +office. There were few hacks or gurney cabs in those days, and so with +the assistance of Mr. Hardie and myself, Mr. Herne managed with +difficulty to reach the doctor's office. This doctor was one of the +old school of practitioners and like Felix Callighan, in "His Last +Legs," he proceeded to "cup" or bleed the patient. After he had +relieved Herne of a quart or so of superfluous blood, he bandaged the +cupping; gave the patient a dose of regulation stimulant and directed +the patient to be taken to his hotel and placed comfortably in bed. It +was a quarter of a mile to the White House and there was not a hack or +vehicle of any kind available, so Hardie and I formed a seat for the +sick actor by locking our hands together and getting the patient's +hands over our shoulders, we carried him to the White House. By the +time we got him up a long flight of stairs to his room, we were tired +and winded, although Margetts and McKenzie, who had accompanied us, +took turns at the carrying business. Scarcely had we got the sick +actor in bed before a knock at the door (a sort of frightened knock) +was heard, and as we said "come in" the door opened and Miss Western, +clad in her night gown, with a shawl around her, timidly entered and +inquired with great anxiety what the matter was. On being informed +that Mr. Herne had been taken so ill that the audience had to be +dismissed, and he carried home to his room, she became hysterical. +Bursting into tears she exclaimed, piteously, "Oh, my God! This is +awful! Oh, Jimmie!" addressing herself passionately to Herne. "I wish +we were home with mother!" She evidently had not fully recovered from +her carousal of the night before, and in her half stupid, half +hysterical condition, moaned and prayed as if some terrible calamity +had befallen her. Herne rapidly recovered from his illness and the +co-stars left Salt Lake. Lucille never returned, but Herne came back +early in 1874 and hovered between Salt Lake and Ogden for a long time, +and finally drifted to San Francisco, where he became the stage +manager of the Bush Street and afterward of the Baldwin theatre when +Tom Maguire, "The Napoleon" of the Pacific coast, as he was called at +the time, opened that popular theatre. That was before any of the +Eastern managers had invaded San Francisco. + +The Herne-Western engagement closed on April 17th and was closely +followed by Fannie Morgan Phelps, who played from April 20th to May +20th, appearing in a new line of plays for the diversion of the stock +company as well as the public. She opened in "Meg's Diversion," and +proved to be a prime favorite. "The Deal Boatman," "Black Eyed Susan," +she seemed to have a partiality for nautical pieces and succeeded in +making the seashore heroines very attractive. Fanny stayed four weeks +with us, then went to Montana. She never paid us a second visit +although Salt Lake treated her very handsomely in the way of +patronage. Mrs. Phelps was a widow; her husband, Ralph Phelps, a +popular actor, was killed by a blow from a tackle block on board of +the steamer coming from Australia. + +Our next stellar attraction was Charles Wheatleigh, who opened on May +20th in "Sam," supported by Annie Lockhart and the stock company. +Wheatleigh gave nine performances, the pieces presented being "Sam," +"Lottery of Life," "Arrah Na Pogue," "After Dark," and "Under the +Gaslight." Charley Wheatleigh was rather a brilliant comedian. His +plays proved very popular and he played a memorable engagement. + +The next engagement was one that eased the labors of the stock +company, giving most of us a rest. It was the Howson Opera company. It +was quite a family affair. The company consisted of Pere Howson, Mere +Howson, John Howson, Frank Howson, Clelia Howson, and Fannie Howson. +They were a very talented musical family and played light opera very +well indeed. They opened in the "Grand Duchess," their cast being +filled up with members of the stock company who could sing. They +played from January 1st to the 20th, each opera being played twice or +three times. The Howsons were well liked and made many friends, both +in and out of the theatre. + +Prof. Hartz, a magician, followed the Howson engagement, holding the +stage from January 21st to the 26th. + +On June 28th, 1869, George D. Chaplin made his first appearance at +this theatre in "Hamlet," playing thirteen performances, closing July +10th in "Armadale." Chaplin made a very favorable impression and later +played a longer engagement. He had been leading man for Ben DeBar in +St. Louis, and was a versatile actor, fond of playing "Hamlet" and +"Macbeth," in which, if not great, he was always pleasing. Then, as if +to prove his versatility, he would put on a burlesque called "The +Seven Sisters," and appear as the principal sister. George had a +handsome face, and a very plump physique, and made up for a woman, he +was a study. + +On July 12th, Lotta opened in "Little Nell," and played during the +week "Captain Charlotte," "Firefly," and "Topsy" in "Uncle Tom's +Cabin." + +George Chaplin resumed on July 10th, opening in the burlesque of "The +Seven Sisters" and filled out a week with "Ten Nights in a Barroom," +"Money," and the burlesque of "Pocahontas," in which he played +"Powhattan" very cleverly. + +July 26th, Kennedy's Scottish Entertainment held the boards, and on +the 28th a new star was ushered in that gave the stock company more +work, just as we were expecting a brief summer vacation--Geraldine +Warden. She played four nights and a matinee. This engagement closed +the season as far as the stock company was concerned. It was now July +31st and the company had the month of August in which to rest from +study and rehearsals, for the fall season would open early in +September. + +The theatre was not entirely closed, however, in August. On the 18th +of that month, Murphy and Mack's minstrels opened and continued until +the 28th giving eleven performances. This was Joe Murphy's first visit +to Salt Lake, when he was a black face artist, and before he had +dreamed of becoming an Irish comedian. The fact of this company giving +eleven performances in the theatre in August shows how very popular +they were, and how Salt Lake liked minstrelsy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SEASON OF '69-70. + + +The season of '69 and '70 opened auspiciously on September 4th with +the now recuperated stock company in a new play. "The Captain of the +Vulture" was played one week and another new star dawned on the +horizon. September 13th Mr. Neil Warner was the star attraction. +Warner was an English actor and had been in the supporting company of +the late lamented Gustavus Brooke, who gave promise of becoming +England's greatest tragedian, but whose already resplendent career was +unfortunately cut short by the loss of the steamship London. Brooke +was making a second visit to Melbourne and Sidney in '66, where he had +achieved a remarkable triumph a year before, but alas! for the irony +of fate, he was doomed to be cut off in the very unfolding of the most +brilliant talents the English stage had yet seen. The unfortunate +London went down in the Bay of Biscay and some two hundred souls +perished in the wreck and among them the brilliant Gustavus Brooke. A +friend of the writer, now in this city (Salt Lake), Mr. Jack Cooey, +had a brother who was one of the very few survivors of that ill-fated +ship, there being but sixteen in all. So America never got to see +Brooke, who was regarded by his countrymen generally as the greatest +of all their tragic actors. + +Neil Warner was said to be a copyist of Brooke; undoubtedly he had +played with him, and learned much from him, and if not as great as his +acknowledged tutor, Warner was not unworthy to be called great. He had +a splendid physique and a magnificent voice, which he could use with +magnetic effect. Its transitions were at times marvelous and in this +writer's opinion, he was the superior of all our American tragedians, +with the exception of Davenport, whom he very much resembled both in +the majesty of his presence and in mental superiority. Warner opened +in "Richard III" and made a most decided hit in the character, +notwithstanding he had several notable predecessors in the part, +notably McCullough and Stark. He played twenty-four performances, +embracing a wide range of legitimate plays--"Hamlet," "Macbeth," +"Richelieu," and his "Macbeth" was the greatest of all his fine +performances. He went to New York from here and we quite expected to +hear great things about him, but for some cause or other he never +played a stellar engagement in New York, and the following year the +writer, much to his astonishment and disappointment, saw him playing a +second heavy part in support of Charles Wyndham the English comedian +at a theatre in Brooklyn. Warner did not make a go in New York, and +drifted over to Montreal, Canada, where he stayed for many years; but +a few years ago he toured California in connection with a rising young +actress of that state, in a round of his favorite characters. Annie +Lockhart played the leading female characters in all Warner's +performances here. They had known each other in Australia, and there +seemed to be a very warm friendship between them and it was certain +that Annie was an ardent admirer of her talented countryman, and some +of us rather feared she would go with him when he took his departure +from Salt Lake; but something occurred between them that must have +angered him, for a day or two before his engagement closed, he spoke +to Miss Lockhart at a rehearsal in words and tones so heartless and +insulting that the company were amazed at him, and poor Annie sought +the seclusion of her dressing room to have a good cry. Conjecture was +rife and pointed to a rival in the lady's affections as the cause of +his tirade. Warner departed, leaving Annie with us, very much to the +gratification of the company and public, but it was not for long; poor +Annie Lockhart had received a wound from which she never recovered. +She only lived five weeks after this and the cause of her sudden +decline and death was more or less of a mystery, for up to this time +she was a hale, hearty woman, in the very prime of life. She was laid +away tenderly by loving hands and hearts, whom she had never known +until eight months before, but whom she had endeared to her by her +sweet, womanly ways. Many a tear was shed and genuine sorrow was felt +when Annie Lockhart was laid away in Olivet. + +The night after Warner's engagement closed, Sunday, October 12th, +Stephen Massett lectured. + +October 13th, Madam Scheller opened her second engagement, playing six +nights, and gave "Roll of the Drum," "Child of the Regiment," "Enoch +Arden," etc. The theatre closed from the 18th to the 23rd on account +of the Militia Muster. The Nauvoo Legion, as the Territorial troops +were called, had a big encampment on the banks of the Jordan river and +of such importance was it that the theatre had to close, as every able +bodied man was expected to drill and all the women and children, of +course, had to go and see them. The late George Q. Cannon and other +high church dignitaries fell into the ranks on this occasion and +carried muskets, whether from the love of exercise or a keen love of +duty, or for the effect of example, this deponent saith not. Nearly +all the dramatic company were in the big drill, so, of course, there +could be no theatres until it was over. It was intended to be a great +demonstration, and it was; almost every Mormon man was in the ranks. +The theatre resumed business with the rest of the town, Saturday the +23rd inst., when one of Madam Scheller's pieces was repeated. This was +Madam Scheller's last appearance at this theatre. She and her husband, +Methua Scheller, went East from here, and died in Memphis in 1878, +during the yellow fever contagion of that dread disease. + +On October 25th, the Stones, Amy and Harry, opened up a return +engagement in "French Spy." They played twelve nights, giving +"Fanchon," and "Little Barefoot," etc. Their engagement closed +November 6th, after a very satisfactory engagement. + +On the 8th the stock company resumed, and played "Waiting for the +Verdict." Annie Lockhart, who had rested during the Stones' +engagement, resumed and was playing the leading female character in +this play when she was taken very ill. With the aid of kind attention +she got through the night's work, but she went home so ill that she +took to her bed, and on the 18th of November, died. Three days +previous to her death, on the 15th of November, John Wilson and Kate +Denin were ushered in as stock stars, and continued until January 5th, +1870, when they withdrew for a week to give place to Charlotte +Thompson, who played a six nights' engagement, playing "Julia" in the +"Hunchback," "Leah, the Forsaken," "Sea of Ice," and "Court and +Stage." Miss Thompson was a pretty woman and a pleasing actress--a +favorite in the South where she belonged. + +From the 14th to the 24th, the stock company held down the business +without stellar assistance, when Kate Denin and John Wilson returned +and played another engagement. As stock stars they remained until +February 14th. Then came another siege of stock work without any star, +broken intermittently by lectures and concerts. Ole Bull gave concerts +March 8th and 9th; Alf Barnett's entertainment, March 22nd and 23rd; +Satsuma's Japanese troupe from March 25th to 30th. These attractions, +of course, gave the company some respite from their arduous studies, +but it was only brief, and we were already rehearsing for the ensuing +conference dates. So the stock company resumed their labors and played +all through April and up to May 16th when the season of '69 and '70 +closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SEASON OF '70-'71. + + +The theatre did not reopen until August the 27th when the season of +'70 and '71 was ushered in with a "Benefit" to Miss Colebrook. This +was really the first summer the theatre had remained closed and given +the company a needed rest. The stock company played one week only when +the veteran tragedian, T. A. Lyne, began an engagement which ran from +September the 3rd to the 20th. This was Lyne's fourth engagement since +the opening of the theatre, and it proved what a remarkable hold he +had upon our theatre goers when he repeated his well known and well +worn repertoire to splendid business. As there was no other star in +the dramatic firmament when Lyne's engagement expired, the stock +company was put on its own resources once again and continued +successfully up to the 10th of December, when the monotony was in some +measure broken by the accession to the company of Mr. and Mrs. John S. +Langrishe, and the following week C. W. Couldock and his daughter, +Eliza, floated the stellar flag for the third time, repeating a +portion of their old repertoire. They played from the 26th to the +31st. Mr. Couldock went East, leaving Eliza (who was in poor health) +here to recuperate. They were succeeded by George W. Thompson and +Sallie Hinckley, who played a week's engagement, presenting "Man and +Wife" and the "Persecuted Dutchman," filling dates January 2nd to the +7th, of 1871. The stock company then played along again until February +13th, when McKee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard and W. H. Power opened a +stellar engagement, playing two weeks to February 25th. Everywhere +else the Rankins were playing "The Danites," but owing to the odious +light in which that play presented the Mormon leaders, they did not +dare to produce it at the Salt Lake Theatre. Of course the managers +would not consent, and the great wonder is that Rankin could secure +dates at all at Brigham Young's theatre while he was starring through +the country in a play so well calculated to stir up prejudice against +the Mormons. "The Danites" had to be eliminated while the Rankins fell +back onto some old plays in which the stock company was up in. "Rip +Van Winkle," "Little Barefoot," and "Colleen Bawn" were given. + +It may be of interest to note the fact here that "The Danites" has +never been played in Salt Lake or anywhere in Utah. + +About this time George B. Waldron turned up again in Salt Lake, and +was installed as leading man to strengthen the company and ease +somewhat the labors of David McKenzie. + +Rose Evans, a lady who was enamoured of "Hamlet," and made a specialty +of playing it, was introduced to Salt Lake soon after Waldron's +accession to the company, and we had during her engagement which ran +through the April conference, "Hamlet," "Twixt Axe and Crown," +"Ingomar;" Miss Evans as "Parthenia" and Waldron as "Ingomar;" "Lady +Audrey's Secret," "Romeo and Juliet;" Waldron as "Romeo." Rose Evans +established herself very strongly in the favor of the Salt Lake +theatre goers. Her "Hamlet" was liked, and she played it intelligently +and perhaps as well as a woman could play it, but no woman can ever +play "Hamlet" satisfactorily to the critical mind; and very few men +out of the thousands of actors ever reach and handle it +satisfactorily. Her "Juliet" was very acceptable, but Waldron's voice +was' too basso profundo for "Romeo." It was hard to imagine him as the +youthful love-distraught Romeo with his deep set vocal organ. + +Miss Evans closed on April 8th and was closely followed by Mlle. Marie +Ravel, who opened on the 10th, supported by Waldron and the stock +company and played an engagement of twenty nights. On May 4th Herr +Daniel E. Bandmann and his wife (his first one) opened an engagement +of five nights, presenting "Macbeth," "Hamlet," "Merchant of Venice," +"Narcisse," and "Richard III." Bandmann, at this time, was a very +popular tragedian. He had played as early as '65 in San Francisco a +very successful engagement. He was now returning from his second visit +to San Francisco. He spoke with a decided German accent, which was, +however, not disagreeable to the ear, his voice being musical and his +reading very artistic and finished. Bandmann bought a ranch near +Missoula, Montana, some ten or twelve years ago and went into +semi-retirement. He had a curious advertisement in the Dramatic +Mirror, about as follows: "Daniel E. Bandmann, Tragedian and breeder +of fine horses and cattle." He also bred a large family of children on +that same ranch. When he went into retirement he took with him his +latest "leading lady," Mary Kelly, as his wife, and they have a number +of heirs to succeed to the tragedy and breeding business. His first +wife, Millie Palmer, still figures in London theatricals, and she has +a son who is conspicuous in theatrical management. Herr Bandmann still +makes spasmodic incursions into the surrounding country with an +improvised dramatic company and plays his favorite characters. + +The next star to shine in our firmament was J. K. Emmett. "Joe," as he +was familiarly called, was just at the zenith of his fame about this +time, and he filled the theatre from pit to dome. The character of +"Fritz" appealed strongly to nearly all theatre goers, and "Joe" +Emmett with his bewitching voice and catchy lullabies, had an easy +road to fame and fortune. Emmett played from the 10th to the 13th. + +The Couldocks, father and daughter, now played a return engagement, +covering two weeks, from May 22nd to June 5th, repeating mostly old +repertoire. They were followed closely by Mr. and Mrs. Ida Hernandez, +a Polish couple, who came to this country with Madam Modjeska, and +were now working their way to the East. They were clever performers, +but being unknown, they did not draw heavy houses. June 8th to the +11th. + +The Lingards followed Hernandez in a brief engagement of three nights, +June 12th to 14th. The following week was filled in by the Hernandez +and the Carter-Cogswell contingent of the Salt Lake stock company. J. +M. Carter and his wife, Carrie Carter (nee Lyne-Cogswell) had recently +arrived from Denver and had been added to the stock company, which had +been weakened materially by the loss of several of its prominent +members. Hardie had gone to the Virginia City theatre; Lindsay had +gone on a visit to England and had withdrawn from the company for a +time; Miss Alexander had also drifted away to the East, so that when +the Carters arrived and sought engagement, the managers readily +availed themselves of their services. They played here for a few weeks +and at the close of the season went on to California. + +On July 3rd, Edwin Adams made his first appearance at this theatre. He +opened in the character of "Rover" in "Wild Oats" and played in +addition, "Extremes," "Enoch Arden," and "William" in "Black Eyed +Susan." Mr. Adams filled out a week with great satisfaction to our +theatre goers, the managers, and the company, and with very +satisfactory financial results to himself. He was a gratification to +both eyes and ears a brilliant actor with a melodious voice, and in +appearance the ideal actor. + +The following week John McCullough, who had with him Helen Tracy as a +leading female support, played a notable engagement, rendered more so +by the fact that Edwin Adams was retained to appear in conjunction +with Mr. McCullough. They gave "Damon and Pythias," with McCullough as +"Damon" and Adams as "Pythias," and notwithstanding McCullough made an +excellent "Damon," so convincing was Adams as "Pythias," that the +critical Salt Lakers declared it was "Pythias" and "Damon" on that +occasion, putting the brilliant Adams ahead of McCullough in their +admiration. Adams played "Iago" to McCullough's "Othello" and even +strengthened the favorable opinion of him. For their closing +performance together, "Hamlet" was given with Adams as the Prince and +McCullough as the King. Miss Helen Tracy lent some lustre to the +triple alliance and this engagement is remembered as one of the most +notable ever given in the now historic theatre. + +Just how it chanced that McCullough and Adams got dates so close +together, the one immediately succeeding the other, I have forgotten, +but as Adams was going to the Pacific coast and McCullough and Miss +Tracy were going East, I presume that their meeting here was purely +accidental. + +They were very glad to see each other, "John" and "Ned," and decided +to have a good time while they were together; to that end Adams, who +was in no great hurry to get to San Francisco, decided to stay over +during McCullough's engagement and play in some of his pieces with +him, which he did as stated above. The combination was a strong one, +and no doubt helped McCullough's engagement, as this was his second +visit; but the primary object of the combination was evidently to have +a good time. We had an actors' club here at that early day which must +not be forgotten. + +On January 16th preceding, Milton Nobles played the "Marble Heart," +appearing as Raphael. Nobles was then a young actor, comparatively +unknown. He was on his way to the East, where some years later he +became widely known through his plays of "The Phoenix," "From Sire to +Son," etc. + +There was at this time residing in Salt Lake a gentleman by the name +of Bentham Fabian. Fabian was widely and favorably known for certain +peculiarities. He was extremely fond of the theatre, and every actor +was his friend. He was one of those versatile fellows that could turn +his hand to many things. He organized a public library here, which he +called "The Salt Lake Exchange and Reading Rooms," and he was the +librarian. It was while Milton Nobles was here that Fabian worked up a +"benefit" for this library, at which Governor Vaughn, (then Governor +of Utah), recited Poe's "Bells," and Nobles and the writer gave the +third act of "Othello" (in evening dress), Nobles reading "Iago," and +the writer "Othello." There were several other numbers by Fabian and +others, and music by the Military band from Fort Douglas. One of +Fabian's strong peculiarities was that he loved his pipe and glass and +occasionally his courtly bearing and Chesterfieldian manners would get +a little lopsided and obscure. This benefit, being a sort of royal +occasion with Bentham, he had a fresh keg of beer in his den behind +the library, and after the entertainment was over he invited all the +performers (except the "band") to go and help drink it. + +Governor Vaughn having a prior engagement, declined, but the rest of +us adjourned to the library. Fabian, eager to treat "the boys," made +haste to tap the keg, but there was a decided uncertainty about his +manipulation of the mallet and tap, which plainly indicated that he +had already been tapping something. So Cyrus Hawley (Judge Hawley's +son) rather impatiently and dramatically exclaimed, "Give me the +daggers!" (the mallet and tap), and taking them from Fabian with the +air of an expert tapster, he proceeded to drive the tap; he made a +misslick, and in an instant he was covered from head to foot in foamy +beer. His nice clothes were apparently ruined, and he was roundly +sworn at for wasting so much good beer. After stopping the flood, +there proved to be sufficient left to make all hands merry and happy. + +About this time Fabian, who was a great projector of schemes, +succeeded in organizing an actors' club, to which he made us all pay +tribute, not only the actors, but a number of other professional men +and good fellows were made members, and when the transient "stars" +came along, we generally contrived to give them a good time, although +our quarters were not so pretentious as those of the Alta or Comcial +clubs of today. During the Adams-McCullough engagements these actors +were the guests of "the club," and dear old Fabian was in his glory. +Fabian was the president of the club, and he certainly wined and dined +McCullough and Adams to their hearts' content. On their closing night +we had a great carousal, even Miss Tracy did not escape. It was a +memorable night truly. Everybody present seemed determined to give +"John" McCullough and "Ned" Adams a royal time, and they had it. + + "Care mad to see a man sae happy; + E'en drowned himsel among the nappy. + Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, + O'er all the ills of life victorious." + + _Burns' "Tam O'Shanter"_. + +The stock company played one week, even after this brilliant +triumvirate had united its course, with Mr. and Mrs. Carter doing +leads. That they could hold the interest of the public after such a +combination of talent as Adams, McCullough and Tracy dropped away from +them was not to be expected. In looking back at it from this distance, +the wise thing for the managers to have done would have been to close +the season with that extraordinary engagement, but the Carters were +here and had a play or two to exploit, and struggled through a week +when the management were glad to close the season, with the Pioneer +holiday, July 24th. Here was another case of playing all summer, for +the theatre only remained closed about ten nights, opening on the 10th +of August. The advent of the Carters into Salt Lake and their +engagement at the Salt Lake theatre was not devoid of interest. It +was well-known to many that Mrs. Carter (Carrie Cogswell) had been the +wife of the veteran tragedian, Mr. T. A. Lyne, who was very much +perturbed at their presence here. He declared that she had come here +expressly to annoy him, and nothing could convince him to the +contrary, so when after a short stay here, Mr. and Mrs. Carter and +their son, Lincoln J., now the celebrated Chicago playbuilder and +manager, took their departure for California, Lyne's heart was joyful. +There were two children, a boy and a girl, the offspring of the +Lyne-Cogswell marriage. The court, in giving Lyne the deliverance +which he sought on the grounds of desertion, gave him the custody of +the two children, and he had them in Salt Lake attending school, and +he was very apprehensive that the mother might kidnap them. So when +she had departed without any signs of having molested the children the +veteran was happy, for he never dreamed they would return, but alas! +for the contrariness of human nature, in this he was doomed to +disappointment. Lyne had been for the second time a widower when he +met Miss Carrie Cogswell. She was about sixteen and he about fifty. +Lyne at this age was an active, fine-looking man with hair as dark as +a raven's wing and a very commanding presence. Miss Cogswell was +enamored of the stage and soon became not only Mrs. Lyne, but "leading +lady" for Lyne. After some years of married life, and two children had +been born to them, there came a cloud in their sky. In the same +company chanced a young man by the name of Carter, whose father, Jared +Carter, had been a leading light in the Mormon Church in the Nauvoo +days. Disparity in age and incompatibility of temperament between Mr. +and Mrs. Lyne gradually brought about a separation and divorce. By +this time both had sought and found new matrimonial alliances. Mrs. +Lyne had some years now been Mrs. Carter and Mr. Lyne had found +consolation in a French widow whose Christian name was Madeline. Such +was the situation at the time when the Carters made their first visit +to Salt Lake, and the veteran tragedian having settled down in Salt +Lake to end his days, was in mortal dread of the Carters fixing their +future home here too. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +SEASON OF '71-'72. + + +The season of '71 and '72 opened on August the 4th, only two weeks +after the closing of '70 and '71. The Lingards were the opening +attraction; they played only two nights. The Lingards consisted of +Horace W. Lingard, Alice Lingard, his wife, and "Dickie" Lingard, a +sister to Horace. They played short cast pieces and did not require +many members of the company. The repertoire included "Caste," "The +Weaver of Spitaefield," "Morning Call," "A Happy Pair," etc. They were +followed closely by Kate Newton and Charlie Backus of minstrel fame, +who stayed two nights; and these were succeeded by the Hyers Sisters, +a colored concert troupe, who gave five concerts, opening August the +9th and playing up to the 13th. + +On the 21st Joseph and Mrs. Murphy made their debut in drama--the +medium being a hash-up of improbable incidents put together to string +Joe's specialties on. He played a sort of stage detective and +disguised variously as an Irishman, a Swede, a Dutch Girl, and a +Nigger. This was the first performance of "Help" on any stage, and +should have been the last, if merit alone counted. + +The Salt Lake Theatre was made the bridge to carry a number of new +dramatic ventures across the quicksands of dramatic speculation. +Afraid to make the trial of a new play in San Francisco or New York, +they have brought them to Salt Lake to "try them on the dog." "Help" +ran three nights, 21st to the 24th, and was fairly launched on the +dramatic sea, and Joe Murphy was no longer a blackfaced comedian but a +versatile actor of the Irish comedy persuasion. "Help" served Joe +faithfully for several seasons and put him on Easy street, +financially. + +August 25th the Stock Company, strengthened with the Cogswell-Carter +troupe, resumed. J. W. Carter was engaged to play leads for a time; +McKenzie was absent, Lindsay was gone, Hardie had deserted, and the +management were in sore straits for a leading actor. The Stock played +from August 25th to September 25th, when Mrs. Lander opened a star +engagement in "Mary Stuart," continuing one week, during which she +gave, in addition to "Mary Stuart," "Camille," "The Hunchback" and +"Marie Antoinette." Mrs. Lander was at this time one of the bright +particular stars of the American stage. She was a woman of superior +intelligence and rare dramatic talent and played a fine engagement. + +After the Lander engagement, the house closed for a few nights, to +give the Stock company a chance to prepare for the approaching October +conference. The management could always count on packed houses during +these conferences, and it was like giving money away to engage any +stellar attractions at these times, so the Stock company was up +against their work once more. On October 3rd they opened and played +through conference, to the 9th. + +On the 10th Robert McWade made his first bow to a Salt Lake audience, +in "Rip Van Winkle." McWade had a very good reputation through the +west in this character, and drew a very good house for his first +night. If we had never seen "Jim Hearne" as "Rip Van Winkle" we might +have thought more of McWade, but the impression Hearne made in the +character was so strong and still so fresh in the public mind that +McWade's "Rip" did not become a favorite. He played some five nights +and then the Stock had to go alone again for a while, so on the 16th +they resumed and played up to November 7, only relieved a little by +the Japanese jugglers, who put in an hour each evening for a week, +from October 23rd to 28th. On November 9th, Johnny Allen and Alice +Harrison opened a four nights' engagement, closing on the 13th. On the +15th the Stock resumed the even tenor of its way, and played +unassisted up to December 10th, when J. M. Ward came in with "Through +by Daylight," and got through by gaslight in two nights. Jim Ward was +a very versatile and capable actor with a racy Irish brogue, that was +suggestive of the "ould sod." He has had rare experiences in +theatrical life, and they would make a volume of interesting reading, +but as he is still having them, being yet upon the stage, it is too +early to add his experiences to the general history of the stage, +especially his matrimonial ones. + +An entire troupe of juvenile actors followed Jim Ward's advent into +Salt Lake City. Whether Jim was in any way accountable, we are not +advised; they were called "The Nathan Juvenile Troupe," and put in one +week from the 15th to the 20th. + +Oliver Doud Byron followed them, opening on December 21st, and playing +till January 3rd, "Across the Continent," being his piece de +resistance. Ben McCullough filled out the week. Eliza Couldock, who +was in delicate health, and had been left here by her father after +their last engagement, was now called in for a week to assist the +Stock in a production of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Miss Couldock was cast +for the character of Eliza. The writer, who was playing George Harris +and Legree, well remembers how nervous and poorly the lady was during +this week's engagement. She was over ambitious and worked beyond her +strength, and it was evident she was in a decline. This was her last +appearance, poor girl, and it was not long before we were paying the +last respects, and with loving hands laying her gently i' the earth, +alongside of dear Annie Lockhart, whom we had performed the same +service for only a short time before. "Lay her i' the earth and from +her fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring." + +Rose Evans came to us for a second engagement, after the "Uncle Tom" +week, and played from January 8th to the 27th, repeating her former +repertory. Stock company put in the following week alone, then +followed E. T. Stetson for a week in his melodramas, "Neck and Neck" +and "Old Kentuck." This puts us along to February 7th, '72, when the +Stock played another week without any star; then the Stock got a +week's rest, the time from the 15th to the 20th being filled by Purdy, +Scott, and Fostelle's minstrels. Refreshed with a week's vacation, the +Stock company started in afresh on February 22nd--great George's +birthday--and played till April 9th, getting through another +conference without the aid of a star. Here the company had another +brief respite while "The Child American Concert Company" filled time +from April 10th to the 13th, when the company resumed their labors and +played up to the 20th. On April 22nd, Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Bates began a +stellar engagement which ran three weeks, up to May 11th. Mrs. Bates +was the lead horse in this team, and the repertory was selected to +give her prominence as the principal star, and the announcement should +have been _Mrs._ and Mr. F. M. Bates. She played "Pigeon the Torment," +"Camille," "Leah," and "Lucretia Borgia," and all the great popular +roles for tragediennes, and was the first to introduce to us the great +historic play of "Elizabeth." The Bateses made a very good impression +and were so pleased with the result of their engagement that they +remained in Salt Lake during the ensuing summer. Blanche Bates, now a +very successful star under David Belasco's management, was with the +Bateses then, and as she had not been christened Blanche, she was just +called Baby Bates. + +May 13th to 16th was filled by Berger's Swiss Bell Ringers, and Sol +Smith Russell, who was then doing specialties with the Bergers little +dreaming of his "Poor Relation" or "Peaceful Valley." + +A few nights of stock followed this, and not proving strong, the +Bateses were re-engaged and put in another week, from the 22nd to the +28th, introducing some new plays of lighter caliber. + +May 29th the Majiltons put in a date, and the stock then played a lone +hand up to June 8th. Billy Emerson's minstrels held the boards June +10th, 11th and 12th, and Joe Murphy came and gave us some more of his +"Help," 13th, 14th, 15th. Stock put in another week alone, 17th to +22nd, when Charles Wheatleigh opened a return engagement, 24th and +played till July 1st. Wheatleigh gave "Lottery of Life," "Flying +Scud," "After Dark" and "Arrah Na Pogue." That was Charley +Wheatleigh's farewell, we never saw him more. + +The Bergers and Sol Smith Russell had swung around the circle and came +back for a second engagement. They found Salt Lake a congenial and +profitable place and put in another three nights with us, 4th, 5th and +6th. + +James M. Hardie, who had just returned from a long professional +engagement in San Francisco, played a two nights' engagement, opening +in a play called "Early California." Season closed June 8th. "Jim" +Hardie left Salt Lake for the East soon after this his last appearance +here, as it proved, for he has never since returned. After playing in +support of stars several seasons, "Hoey and Hardie" starred for +several seasons in "A Child of the State," but it was not a money +maker, and after several losing seasons the firm of Hoey and Hardie +dissolved, and Jim cast about for a new "angel." Hoey's "old man" had +been the angel in the "Child of State" venture and it was understood +at the time that after making up some rather heavy deficits, he grew +weary and refused to put up any longer for "The Child of the State." +Hardie had some money which came to him through his wife, who had an +annuity, but "Jim" had a strong touch of the "canny Scot" in him, that +always impelled him to let someone else "put up," In time he found a +new "angel," and one more to his taste, for this one was of the female +persuasion, and Jim always was a favorite with the ladies. He caught a +society woman who was stage struck and wanted to star; she had the +money to pay for the privilege, and this was just such a snap as "Jim" +wanted. So the lady put up the money to put out the show, and she was +starred in conjunction with Jim. The firm name stood "Hardie and Von +Leer." "A Brave Woman" was the name of the play they chose for the +venture; there was a great significance in that title. The show went +out with a stock of $1,200 worth of special printing, so Hardie +himself informed me in New York. They went into the south, but in six +weeks the company was disbanded and Hardie and Von Leer were back in +New York. Then they got up a cheaper company and went into the dime +museums, where they made a little money. The dime museums were very +popular just then and a number of good attractions played them. The +play of "A Brave Woman," however, was not an unqualified success, +although Sarah Von Leer seemed to be, and held onto her partnership +through thick and thin. After a while Hardie got a play called "On the +Frontier," and conceived the idea of getting a brass band made up of +real Indians. It proved a ten strike, and, after doing a big business +with it in this country for two seasons, he took it to England in '93 +and made a barrel of money with it. Sarah is still his partner and +still stays by him. They built a fine theatre in Manchester, which has +been their headquarters for the last twenty years. Mrs. Hardie and her +daughters have been back in Salt Lake for a number of years. They have +never crossed the ocean to join the husband and father. It must be +acknowledged that the dramatic profession is altogether too prolific +of this sort of thing. Its tendencies are to draw even well mated +couples apart--a hundred cases could be cited; but we will let the +reader think the matter over and divine the cause. + +On July 31st Jim McKnight, a young fellow of ambition and talent, put +on a play of his own writing, which he called "The Robbers of the +Rocky Mountains," with an exclusive amateur company. Young McKnight +drew on his imagination for his robbers; had he written years later he +could have taken his characters from life, with Butch Cassidy and the +whole Robber's Roost gang in the cast. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +SEASON OF '72-'73. + + +The season of '72 and '73 opened on August 7th with George Chaplin and +Clara Jean Walters as stock stars. They opened in the classical drama +of "Buffalo Bill." This was a long time before Cody started his wild +west show and probably this play was what put him in the notion of +starting in the show business. Chaplin made a fine Buffalo Bill, and +if Cody saw him in the part it must have made him envious to see +another fellow stealing his thunder. The combination ran two weeks, +when Stetson came in "Neck and Neck" with us and played a week, +presenting also "Daring Dick" and "The Fatal Glass." Chaplin had a +decided objection to supporting male stars of mediocre ability, and +second class repertory, and so he generally laid off on such occasions +as the Stetson engagement; besides it was a matter of economy with the +management; they did not need him, so George laid off during Stetson's +week, and then came with his "Seven Sisters" the following week. +George was immense as the big sister and was just a trifle vain over +the fact that he could outshine all the women in the company in female +apparel. + +On September 2nd Ada Gray opened a week's engagement in "Article 47" +and gave besides, "Jezebel" and "Whose Wife." Ada was a pleasing +actress, of fine appearance, but didn't seem to quicken the pulse of +her Salt Lake patrons, after their seeing some of the greater ones. + +On the 9th Chaplin and Walters resumed as stock stars and played +continuously up to the 23rd, T. A. Lyne taking a benefit on the 20th +instant and playing "Richelieu." On the 23rd Chaplin dropped out of +the company, closing in "School," and on the 25th the stock company +kept right along with Clara Jean Walters featured through the October +Conference and up to the 12th. + +On October 1st W. T. Harris made his initial bow to the Salt Lake +public; he came from one of the Omaha theatres, accompanied by Annie +Ward and Miss Blanche de Bar, a sister of the popular manager and +actor, Ben de Bar. Miss De Bar had already grown old in the +profession, but proved nevertheless a very useful member of the stock +company. She played old women and characters and on more than one +occasion proved her agility in spite of years and gray hairs, by doing +an Irish jig or a "Dolly Varden" lilt. The rag time had not yet come +in vogue or Miss De Bar could have done a cake walk with the best. + +"Jimmy" Harris, as he was familiarly called, cut quite a figure in the +future history of the theatre as manager and deserves more than a +passing notice. He was featured on his opening night in an Irish +farce, "That Rascal Pat," and made a very fair impression. Miss Annie +Ward, who accompanied Harris to Salt Lake, and who at first was +supposed to be "Jimmy's" wife or _fiancee_ (from all appearances), was +a young woman who had been beautiful, but her face was now so deeply +pitted with small pox that she invariably in public kept it covered +with a veil, except when on the stage, where she could veil the +blemish under a thick coat of grease paint, and, this artistically +done, she presented as fair a face as one could wish to look at. +"Annie," 'twas said, had been the _fiancee_ of the great African +explorer, Henry Stanley, before he caught the African fever, which +tore him away from her and all his early associations. Annie found +consolation for her bereavement in a close friendship with "Jimmy." So +close was their alliance that on their joining the stock company here +together, everybody judged they were man and wife, or ought to be. +They had taken a room together in old man McDonald's house, just under +the shadow of St. Mark's church, and everything went well for a little +while--but by some inadvertence the good Mr. McDonald discovered that +they had not secured the necessary license for rooming together, and +he very promptly and perhaps rudely gave them notice to vacate. They +thought the old man was a crank and quite unreasonable, to turn them +out of his house for such a slight offense, in a community where many +of the men were living with a plurality of wives. They had an idea it +was a sort of Oneida community here; free love, etc. They secured +another lodging house, but the lady who ran that was a very strict +Mormon also, and so soon as she found out how matters stood she served +them with a notice to quit. "Jimmy" got a "hunch" from some one that +he would have to _marry_ Annie or sever the alliance altogether, as +the Mormons would not stand for anything of this kind. It was even +intimated to him that he might be indicted for _lascivious cohab_, +which so terrified him that he suddenly ceased his relationship with +Annie altogether, and left her to paddle her own canoe. Those who were +acquainted with the circumstances have always blamed Harris for his +treatment of Annie Ward; he should have married her, was their +thought, but he turned away from her in this time of mutual trouble. +His offense was condoned, and gradually he worked himself into favor +until he became quite an object of interest with the ladies about the +theatre, while those same ladies turned up their noses at Miss Ward, +and made it so unpleasant for her, that she was glad to terminate her +engagement long before the season was over, and go back to her former +haunts. Poor girl! She went down hill rapidly after returning and died +wretchedly in St. Louis a year or so later, while Harris remained +here, married one of Brigham Young's daughters and was given the +management of the theatre, which he held for several years. Harris and +his wife went to New York in about '80, where they have resided ever +since. "Jimmy," who has wealthy relatives there, has a good easy +position and raised a nice family of four or five children, to whom he +has bequeathed his real name of Ferguson, that of Harris being merely +adopted to hide him from his relatives while he was a profane stage +player. So runs the wheel of fortune. + + Hamlet. I did love you once. + + Ophelia. Indeed, my honored lord, you made me believe so. + + Hamlet. You should not have believed me; for virtue can not so + inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you + not. + + Ophelia. I was the more deceived. + + Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery. + + --Shakespeare. + +On November 8th Mr. Al Thorne was added to the stock company and made +his first appearance in the play of "Maud's Peril." Al Thorne came to +Utah as a soldier in Johnston's army. He was a member of the Camp +Floyd Theatre company and played with Dick White, Mrs. Tuckett et al. +He contrived in some way to remain in Utah when the Civil War broke +out, instead of following "the uncertain chance of war." He had +married and settled in the north part of the territory, and was +associated with the Richmond Dramatic Company for several years and +now found a place in the Salt Lake stock, where he remained for +several years, doing excellent work in "heavies" and "old men." Thorne +joined the Mormon church and got more family than he could take care +of--two families in fact, which proved his ruin. He became estranged +from them both, and for the last twenty years of his life was +practically an exile, living a solitary life in the mining camps of +Nevada. He died three years ago at De Lamar, Nevada, a prematurely old +man, with no relative near. But Al always had friends, for he was a +good natured, generous hearted man--his own worst enemy. "Requiescat +in pace." + +George Chaplin having exhausted his extensive and variegated +repertory, and taken his departure for pastures new, the stock +company, with Clara Jean Walters, played through the October +conference. The very palpable weakness occasioned by Chaplin's +retirement was filled by F. M. Bates, who with his wife and Baby +Blanche had been rusticating in the vicinity ever since their +engagement in the previous May. Bates opened on the 14th of October, +as joint star with Miss Walters, and continued until November 21st, +the only interruption being a three nights' engagement of the +Australian actor, James J. Bartlett, who gave "David Garrick," "New +Magdalen," and "Married for Money." + +On November 25th Mrs. Bates opened her second engagement at this +theatre, supported by her husband (Frank), Miss Walters and the stock +company. She played two weeks, repeating mostly her favorite roles, +"Elizabeth," "Lucretia Borgia," "Camille," etc. Mrs. Bates during the +time her husband, Frank, had been playing with the stock company, had +played an engagement with John Piper, the Virginia City manager. +Returning here she sent ahead of her to exploit her return engagement +Mr. John Maguire, who has since made a name as a theatrical manager, +but who was then a very enthusiastic disciple of Thespis, and was +ambitious to make a mark in the histrionic art. Maguire by his own +confession had been educated for the Catholic priesthood, and +certainly a good priest was spoiled when John turned Thespian, but the +stage fever caught him, and struck in so deep that he was irrevocably +lost to a profession which he was capable of adorning, and exposed "to +the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" that are generally in +quiver to be hurled at the unfortunate actor or manager who does not +achieve an unqualified success. At the time of which I write, 1872, +John Maguire was young (about 30, eh, John?), and handsome; he was +often mistaken for Lawrence Barrett, the tragedian, which was a +flattering compliment to John, as he was a very great admirer of +"Larry" Barrett. We don't know just how it came about, but he was cast +in Mrs. Bates' opening performance of "Elizabeth" for the part of the +young Scottish king, James VI, unless it was that he had played it in +Virginia City with the lady, and she thought he looked the part so +well. Any way the company was numerous and the managers let John out +after his performance of King James. The week following the Bates +engagement, there being no star attraction booked, the managers gave +it to the writer, who had not been playing in the stock company that +season. I arranged a repertoire for the week which included "The +Duke's Motto," "Macbeth," "Louis XI," "The Stranger," "Jack Cade," and +"The Three Guardsmen." A very ambitious attempt, as I view it now, but +all parts that I was "up" in, having played them in the company +before. While rehearsing before I opened, Maguire, who was out of a +job and evidently out of money, come to me and in a very friendly and +confidential way informed me that he had just received the bells. "The +bells?" I inquired, "what bells?" "Why Henry Irving's Bells, that has +just completed a year's run in London." "Take my advice, John," said +he, "take down some of those 'old' chestnuts you have billed and put +on 'The Bells' for two nights in their place and you'll be money in by +it." "Oh, that's impossible," I objected, "my plans for the week are +arranged and cast, besides I know nothing about the play of The +Bells.'" Maguire was earnest, however, for he had a point to make, so +he urged me to make a change. "I have two printed copies of the play," +says he, "and will let you have them and copy the remainder of the +parts for you for $10. I want to get to Pioche; things are booming +there and I am short of money; you can advertise the wonderful run the +play has had in London, and you'll be the first to play it west of New +York, where Studley is playing it now." John arguments prevailed with +me and I took down "Louis XI" and "The Strangers" and put up "The +Bells" for the Wednesday and Thursday nights. Maguire delivered the +goods, got his money and took the stage for Pioche. Bidding me good +bye and good luck, he says, "There's a theatre down there, and if I +can secure it, you will hear from me before long." "The Bells" gave me +the hardest day's study I ever did; playing "Macbeth" the night before +and staying out later than was discreet, I was reading "Mathias" at +rehearsal next morning to play that night, but we got through it +fairly well, and to my surprise the local papers praised the +performance highly next morning, but "The Bells" did not prove the +great drawing card Maguire had so sanguinely predicted, the older and +better known plays drawing better. + +On Friday evening, while playing "Jack Cade," a few of my admirers +sent up a request to have me play "Othello" on the following night +instead of "The Guardsmen," with Mr. F. M. Bates as Othello, Mrs. +Bates as Emelia and myself as Iago. I should have promptly decided not +to make the change, but nothing in the way of work seemed too onerous +for me, and too willing to oblige, I sent back word that if they could +get Mr. and Mrs. Bates to volunteer I would make the change. Some of +them waited on the Bateses with the result that Mrs. Bates declined to +be Emelia, and Mr. Bates had never played Othello, but would play Iago +if I would do Othello. I was in Mr. Bates' fix, having played Iago +several times but never Othello. However, I consented to try it and +gave myself another hard day's study to get perfect in Othello. Next +morning Sloan, in the Herald, roasted me for playing a "star" part +like Othello in stock costumes, notwithstanding I had been wearing +stock costumes all the week. He spoke rather favorably of my acting, +however, which was more than I should have expected. I would not be +nearly so accommodating now. This my first "stellar" engagement closed +on December 14th, 1872. The record shows that the farce of "The +Spectre Bridegroom" was played after Othello, with Phil Margetts in +his great part of Diggory. In those "palmy days of the drama," it was +quite usual to have a farce after a five-act tragedy. On benefit +occasions not infrequently there would be a long play, then an olio of +singing and a fancy dance, and a farce to close the "evening's +entertainment." + +During this engagement Clara Jean Walters played the leading female +roles, and rendered effective support, as indeed she always did. She +was the most capable and versatile "leading lady" the stock company +ever had and remained with it for several seasons a well-established +favorite. + +Carl Bosco, a very clever magician, put in two nights following the +Lindsay engagement, 16th and 17th, and Mrs. Chanfrau opened the 19th +inst. for two nights and appeared in "A Wife's Ordeal" and "The +Honeymoon." On the 26th John T. Raymond opened a two weeks' +engagement, giving "Toodles," "Only a Jew," "Rip Van Winkle," and "The +Cricket on the Hearth." Johnny Allen and Alice Harrison and "Little +Mac" for three nights. These parties put in from January 6th to the +15th. Johnny Allen and Alice Harrison were a great attraction in those +days; how many remember them now? And "Little Mac," that homely dwarf, +what wonderful stunts he could do with those stunted legs of his!--a +circus in himself was Little Mac. + +On the 20th of January William J. Cogswell joined the stock as leading +man, Miss Walters still retaining position of leading lady. A Miss +Florence Kent (Mrs. McCabe) had been added to the company, and being +petite and good looking, as well as talented, Miss Walters saw a +chance to gratify a long-cherished ambition, which was to play Romeo. +(She would show some of us men folks how to make love.) So the piece +was put up with Miss Walters as Romeo and Kent as Juliet; they made a +pretty couple. Miss Walters looked very dashing, being a nice size for +Romeo, but making love to one of her own sex was not such an easy task +as she imagined and although it was a very fair "Romeo and Juliet," it +did not make so great a mark as many of her female performances. The +stock with the new leading man, Cogswell, played along till February +3rd, when Yankee Robinson came in for a week in "Sam Patch" and "The +Days of '76," February 3rd to the 8th inst. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SEASON OF '72-'73.--CONTINUED. + +Before this time John Maguire had been heard from; he had found on his +arrival at Pioche that there was some sort of a theatre there. It had +been built for a minstrel company of whom Harry Larraine, formerly of +the Fort Douglas band, was the leader. At the expiration of the +minstrel engagement, Maguire secured the theatre when he immediately +set about to put a dramatic company in there. He telegraphed for Mr. +and Mrs. Bates, offering them a strong inducement to go there. He also +telegraphed for the writer, offering him a salary that was sufficient +inducement for him to go. John W. Dunne, a young Californian, who had +been in the Salt Lake Theatre company, was also engaged. Our fares +were arranged for and about the middle of January this nucleus for a +dramatic company left Salt Lake City for Pioche for a six weeks' +engagement. Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Bates, Baby Bates +(Blanche), the now famous actress, who was then about a year and a +half old; Mrs. Bates' sister, Miss Wren, who acted as the chief nurse, +and Mr. John W. Dunne. It is a matter well worthy of record that Mr. +Dunne was married the night before he left for Pioche, to Miss Clara +Decker, a niece of Brigham Young, a very pretty and attractive girl, +who had been assistant costumer in the ladies' department of the +theatre for some time. It was of course, a great trial to the young +couple to have to part so soon, after one brief night of married life, +but the exigencies of the theatrical business are at times merciless. +As they had been engaged for some time, it was decided when Mr. Dunne +accepted the Pioche engagement, that it would be best for them to get +married before he went away lest absence and distance might cause one +or both to change their minds. How wise a precaution this proved the +sequel will show. This proved to be a memorable trip. Every member of +the party will remember that trip to their dying day except Blanche, +and she was too young to remember anything about it. The schedule time +from Salt Lake to Pioche was fifty-five hours. We were five days and +nights, or one hundred and twenty-five hours making that journey. The +Utah Southern was then running only as far as York, about seventy-five +miles south of Salt Lake. This left two hundred and seventy-five miles +to be traveled by stage. Our stage was not a Concord, but a rather +dilapidated specimen of the "jerkie" or "mud wagon." It had seating +accommodations for nine persons, and two could ride on the "boot" with +the driver. There were two male passengers in addition to our party of +six--six counting Baby Bates, who must be figured in as one, for +although quite small, she was very much in evidence throughout that +journey. One of the gentlemen rode most of the time on the "boot" and +occasionally one or another of the men would take a spell on the +driver's seat so that we were never crowded uncomfortably; yet, oh, +how tired we did get and especially the ladies, before that ride was +ended. It was the 18th of January, the weather very pleasant but very +cold nights, and our first night on the stage was decidedly +uncomfortable. We reached the terminus of the railroad, York, about +noon, ate dinner in a shack of a restaurant and started on our stage +ride about two p. m. We were not long in discovering that there was +something the matter with the horses. The driver, in answer to our +queries, informed us that they were all suffering from the epizootic; +it was getting awful bad, he explained, "don't believe we've got a +horse on the line that is free from it." We agreed with him that it +was awful bad. The poor beasts coughed and sneezed continuously, +throwing off effluvium, the odor of which was disagreeable in the +extreme. On our second day out a regular January thaw set in and the +snow melted so rapidly that the roads got very bad; a number of times +the men had to get out and walk, and on several occasions the well +named "mud wagon" got mired so deeply and the horses were so weak, we +had to get a fence pole from the neighboring fence and lift the wheels +out of the holes, the horses being unable to budge the old coach. The +further south we got the worse the roads got. We had to change the +horses about every twenty miles, but they were all alike, weak and +dispirited, and the stench about the stables at the different stations +was nauseating. On the fifth day out we arrived at the last station. +Between it and the mining camp there was a hard mountain to climb and +the snow was falling thick and fast. It was then well on to sunset and +to our keen disappointment the station man and driver decided it would +be folly to try to get over the "divide" in that storm, and that we +would have to remain at the station until morning. Here was an +unlooked for and unpleasant predicament, but there was no help for it, +and it was better than getting stuck on the "divide" in a heavy +snowstorm. The hostler was a good natured fellow and tried in his +homely way to reconcile us to our fate. "I ain't got so very much grub +here and what there is ain't very dainty, I 'low, especially for the +ladies, but such as it is you're welcome to, and you can have a good +fire, and if youse want to stretch yourselves out after supper, I can +rake up quite a few blankets and laprobes, and ye can lie down when +youse tired of settin' 'round the fire." The odor of the stable from +the epizootic was almost sickening and the thoughts of eating there +was anything but cheering, but we were all hungry, almost famished, +having had nothing since breakfast. So we made the best of it. The +hostler hustled in great shape, the presence of the ladies and the +baby inspiring him to extra exertions in our behalf. He soon had a big +pot of coffee and a pan full of bacon cooking, and he had to make some +bread too, in which Mrs. Bates and her sister lent him their +assistance. The quickest thing he suggested was slapjacks, and we all +agreed to the quickest thing, and so before long we were all partaking +with what relish we could of the hostler's coffee, slapjacks and +bacon, and, notwithstanding the disagreeable odor of the stable, we +all contrived to satisfy our hunger. After the hostler cook had +cleaned away the few tin plates and cups, he proceeded to strew the +end of the little "hostler's room" farthest from the stove with a +diversity of blankets and laprobes, all of which were permeated with +the odor of the stable, and suggested in his rough but kindly way +"that we had better stretch ourselves on the floor as it was a long +time till morning" and he knew "we must be pooty darn tired a ridin' +so long in the coach." Mrs. Bates and her sister would have preferred +sitting up if they only had comfortable chairs, but there was nothing +but a rough bench and a couple of rough stools in the place and the +majority of the men had been standing about or sitting on the floor +all through the supper function and sleep gradually overpowered the +party, and one by one they "knit up the raveled sleeve of care" and +were glad to bunk down on the uninviting bed the kindly hostler had +improvised for the occasion. In less than an hour after our sumptuous +repast, the entire party were in the arms of Morpheus. The women and +the baby Blanche were in the most secluded corner, then Frank Bates, +John Dunne and myself stretched out on the hospitable blankets. These +took all the space and the two strangers and the driver wrapped up in +their overcoats and betook themselves to the portion of the floor +unoccupied; this was close around the stove. The floor of that +hostler's room was literally covered with the sleepy travelers. It was +a change of position and measurably restful, but our sleep was broken +and anything but sweet, even though it was the "innocent sleep." The +constant coughing of the poor, afflicted horses and the peculiar and +disagreeable odor of the epizootic, rendered sleep anything but +delightful, but "necessity knows no law," and in spite of all the +disadvantages we managed to snatch some repose from the "chief +nourisher in life's feast." Unenviable as was our position in the +hostler's room on this memorable night, it would have been much worse +had we undertaken to cross the mountain. Snow was falling thick and +fast, and the wind blowing hard enough to be very disagreeable. After +we were all asleep, or apparently so, the hostler shoved a stick of +wood in the stove which was getting cold, and then turned into the +hayloft to get a little sleep himself, for he had to be astir before +daylight. Before daybreak the storm had spent itself and the sun rose +bright and cheerful, mountain and vale deeply covered with snow. Our +breakfast, which the hostler prepared while the driver was feeding and +watering the horses, was exactly the same as we had for supper: +coffee, slapjacks and bacon, with the addition of some tea which one +of our fellow passengers prepared for himself and the ladies. It was a +sample package he had and cost him, he solemnly declared, $5.00 a +pound. This gave an extra flavor to it no doubt, at all events the +ladies declared it was fine and we did not doubt its being more to +their taste than the coffee the good hostler provided. Breakfast over, +we once more clambered into the shaky old jerkie with the admonition +from the driver that we men would have to walk when we came to the +steep places. We thanked the kindly hostler and invited him to come to +the show when we got to playing in Pioche. The snow was six or eight +inches deep and even on the gradual ascent, as we started up the +grade, it was all the horses could do to pull us, and the snow soon +began to melt and the road to get steeper. It was evident we men would +have to foot it, and most of the way to the top, and so we got out one +or two at a time till we were all walking and occasionally we had to +give a shove on the coach to help the willing but weakly horses get to +the top. Once there we were all very glad to get in; we were not long +in rattling along the down grade into Pioche, all very glad to get +there. Maguire, who had been impatiently expecting us for two days, +was overjoyed to see us, for he was full of expectations as to the +business we were going to do. He had secured us the best hotel +accommodations the camp afforded, and they were duly appreciated after +our recent experience at the station. + +After dinner we all took a walk with Maguire at his invitation, to see +the theatre where we were to play our six weeks engagement. The +building stood back from the principal street which was built right in +the ravine, the stage entrance facing the street, and the entrance for +the audience facing the street above. We had ventured various +conjectures in reference to this theatre that the always over sanguine +Maguire had secured a lease of. We had not expected very much and yet +we were disappointed. We all entered at the stage door which opened +directly from a flight of steps onto the back of the stage, and as we +beheld the wonderful temple of Thespus, where we were to do honor to +his art, the exclamations that escaped us were not well calculated to +enthuse John Maguire, but rather to make him feel a little shaky about +the venture he was making. Ye gods! What a transition from the Salt +Lake Theatre to this shack! The theatre was about 35x75 feet, the +stage occupying twenty-five feet. The orchestra floor for reserved +seats ran from the stage towards the front about 15 feet. The rest of +the space was fitted with rough board seats a la circus, the natural +declivity of the ground giving the seats the necessary pitch for the +audience to see the stage. The walls of the building were of rough +pine boards about ten feet in height and the entire auditorium was +roofed in with ducking or light canvas. The stage part was roofed with +shingles so as to preserve the scenery from the rain. Of scenery there +was a very limited supply and that not very artistic, being painted by +an amateur. The stage projected beyond the curtain some six feet and +on each side of this apron or projecting stage was a private box, +finished off with cheap wall paper similar to the interior scenes on +the stage. These boxes were well patronized. Every night they were +filled with the fair, frail denizens of the camp at the rate of $10 a +box. The opening play had already been announced, but owing to the +lateness of our arrival, was necessarily postponed for a few nights. +Maguire had gotten together some people of more or less experience +(mostly less) to fill up the minor parts in the cast. He also took a +hand himself and rehearsals were started the same night we arrived. + +The opening night came around and the Opera House (that's what John +called it) was packed to suffocation. The boxes were filled to +overflowing with the swellest looking women in the town. The play was +"Camille" and Mrs. Bates had them all shedding tears. The girls in the +boxes were deeply affected. Most of them were "like Niobe, all tears," +but we received no intimation that this powerful sermon of Dumas was +instrumental in turning them from their life of shame. + +Pioche was a camp of about eight thousand people and was "booming." We +played four weeks to good paying business. This fairly exhausted the +Bates repertoire, and business began to fall off appreciably. So a +farewell benefit was worked up for Mrs. Bates and she made her final +appearance at Pioche in a blaze of glory, chiefly emanating from a +diamond ring with which she was presented on the memorable occasion as +a token of regard to a distinguished actress from a few of her Pioche +admirers. The Bateses were fortunate. They had been playing on a large +percentage of the gross receipts and had cleared up quite a nice +little stake in the four weeks they had played and they struck out at +once for San Francisco, and from there went to Australia where, in +'78, Frank Bates died, after which Mrs. Bates and Blanche, now a girl +of eight, returned to San Francisco in 1880. Maguire still kept myself +and Dunne and the rest of the company, thinking that with some new and +lighter plays we could still do a paying business. The results were +not very satisfactory. We played several weeks in a sort of spasmodic +way, and then organized a little traveling company in which a clever +young girl, Maggie Knight, whom Maguire had discovered, was a feature, +and we played back to the C. P. R. R. On one of these occasions in +Pioche, a very ludicrous thing happened which should not go +unrecorded. We were playing the burlesque of "Pocahontas." Maguire was +playing Captain John Smith, the writer Powhatan, and Johnny Dunne, as +we were short of ladies, was playing Pocahontas. In the scene where +Smith is brought in a prisoner and is about to be executed, a +catastrophe happened to John Maguire, so sudden and appalling, should +he live to be as old as Methusaleh, I doubt if he would ever forget +it. Where Smith says, after viewing the stone on which he is to be +decapitated, + + "It's a hard pill, but a harder piller, + Life's a conundrum," and Powhatan replies: + "Then lie down and give it up." + +Just at this point a sudden scream emanated from one of the boxes, +which were well filled on this occasion with the demi monde, then +several screams of laughter, then the whole audience began to roar +with laughter. I knew something had gone wrong for there was nothing +in the text to extort such screams and peals of laughter. I glanced +over the group on the stage, and to my amazement I saw Mac's trunks +had dropped down to his feet, and he, all unconscious of the fact, was +standing there in a pair of thin cotton tights. His knee pants or +trunks, were of very light material and the drawstring with which they +were fastened around his waist, had given way and they dropped to the +floor, and so excited was he in his character he did not notice it. I +said to him in _sotto voce_, "Your pants are down." Then he cast his +eyes down, and the look of abject despair that came over his face as +he said in a subdued tone, "Oh, my God!" and stopped and pulled the +gauzy things up to their place and walked off the stage to readjust +them, we can never forget. The girls at this resumed their screams of +laughter and the audience roared until they were tired. When the noise +subsided, Maguire, with his costume adjusted, came back to finish the +scene, but it was several minutes before we could proceed, so much did +the audience enjoy this simple accident. Maguire remained in Pioche +some time after I left there, and finally left the place worse off by +far than when he went there, and I did not see the genial John again +till I went to Portland in '78 to play in the New Market theatre of +which he was the manager. Just before the departure of Mr. and Mrs. +Bates, John Dunne and myself for Pioche, the Cogswell-Carter company +arrived in Salt Lake, having traveled by stage and team from +California, playing the towns en route. + +This company consisted of J. W. Carter, Carrie Carter, W. J. Cogswell +(Carrie's brother), Ed. Harden, Lincoln J. Carter (then a very small +boy), and probably one or two others, minor people who did not come +into publicity here. On arriving here the party waited upon President +Brigham Young to pay their respects, and to inform him that they had +been commanded by the spirit world, with which they had been having +communications (by the "Planchette" route), to go to Salt Lake and +join the Mormon church as that was the true church and the only one +that could save them. This told in all apparent sincerity, with the +request to be baptized, was altogether a pleasing surprise to Brigham +and his counsellors, and the Cogswell-Carter company were warmly +welcomed. They were baptized and confirmed into the church without +delay, and within a few days they were all engaged at the Salt Lake +Theatre. Their coming was very timely for the theatre managers, for +they had lost several of their leading people. "Jim" Hardie had gone +for good, McKenzie, who had been playing steadily since the opening of +the theatre in '62 and was wearied with study, had been released and +sent on a mission in the belief the change would benefit him; John +Lindsay was off on a "fool's errand" playing for John Maguire in +Pioche, and the Cogswell-Carter-Marden accession filled the gap very +nicely, and the season progressed to its close without much friction. + +During the absence of Mr. Dunne and myself from Salt Lake the +following attractions appeared at the theatre. Jean Clara Walters, W. +J. Cogswell and the stock company from February 8th to March 10th, on +which date a new play by Edward L. Sloan (then editor of the Salt Lake +Herald) was produced. It was entitled "Stage and Steam." It was +intended to show the advance of civilization. It had a railroad scene +and a stage coach in it and a sensational saw mill scene, where a man +was placed on the log carriage to be sliced into boards, but was +rescued just in the nick of time. Jos. Arthur's saw mill scene in +"Blue Jeans" is exactly the same thing, although it is scarcely +probable that Mr. Arthur ever saw Sloan's play. The play only had two +performances. March 10th to 15th, Frank Hussey and Blanche Clifton +held the boards in "Hazard" and some other plays. Marion Mordaunt was +the next stellar attraction and gave "The Colleen Bawn" and "Hearts +are Trumps" the 17th to 10th. On the 24th a star of the first +magnitude appeared. It was Augusta Dargon. She opened in "Camille" and +played also "Deborah (Leah)," "Lady Macbeth," "Meg Merrilles" and +"Lucretia Borgia." Miss Dargon was one of the greatest actresses our +country ever produced, but she was not financially successful. She is +the only American actress who has ever played Tennyson's "Queen Mary." +Mrs. John Drew made a costly production of this play at the Arch +Street Theatre, Philadelphia, with Augusta Dargon as the star during +the Centennial. But it was not a financial success. The writer did not +meet Miss Dargon till 1878, when she came to the New Market theatre in +Portland and played a two weeks' engagement under the management of +our old friend John Maguire. Here I had the pleasure (and hard work) +of playing the opposite roles to her in her extensive repertory, +changing the bill nearly every night during her engagement. Toward the +close of it she put up Tennyson's "Queen Mary" in which I had to play +King Phillip of Spain on two days' study, a very long, arduous part, +that put me on my mettle to master it; also studied and played +"Cardinal Wolsey" for the first time during this engagement. Miss +Dargon, who was under the management of Henry Greenwald, after her +Portland engagement, made a tour of the "sound" playing Tacoma, +Seattle, Port Townsend and Victoria, supported by the New Market +Theatre company, and returning, played a few more nights in Portland, +then took steamer for Australia. Under Mr. Greenwald's management she +had played successful engagements both in San Francisco and Portland, +and when she opened in Melbourne she just captivated the city, playing +extraordinary engagements both there and in Sidney. The press of +Australia printed volumes in her praise. She made a great triumph, and +in the very flush of her victory, some wealthy Australian captured +her. She got married and retired from the stage, and Greenwald was +forced to return without her. She never came back to us. Her return +engagement here was played before she went to Australia. + +Mr. "Bill" Cogswell seemed to have dropped out of the company before +Miss Dargon's engagement and consequently David McKenzie was her +principal support. After the Dargon engagement, which closed March +29th, Jean Clara Walters, Florence Kent and the stock company played +through the April conference without a star attraction, and filled up +time to April 28th when for some reason the season closed but was +reopened on May 3rd with the stock company who played up to the 6th. +On the 8th of May, Augusta Dargon began a return engagement which +lasted till the 15th. She opened in the new play "Unmasked," and +repeated "Deborah," "Camille," and "Lady Macbeth," and closed in a new +piece "The Rising of the Moon." It speaks highly of Miss Dargon's +popularity in Salt Lake that she should play a return engagement in +five weeks after her first one. + +Blind Tom, the musical prodigy, was the next attraction. He played but +one night, May 17th. On the 19th Annette Ince began a return +engagement of six nights and a matinee and the record shows a change +of play for each performance. She gave "Elizabeth," "Mary Stuart," +"Medea," "The Hunchback," "The Stranger," "The Honeymoon," and the +"Lady of Lyons." This repertory in one week undoubtedly kept the +company right busy. Miss Ince was a sterling actress, and always gave +satisfaction, but she did not possess the faculty of making your blood +thrill in your veins and your hair rise occasionally that Miss Dargon +had. It is just a little singular how she came so close on Miss +Dargon's heels this time. It seems like poor management to play two +lady stars, so nearly alike in repertoire, so close together, but +these accidents would happen once in a while. Frank Hussey and Blanche +Clifton came back for two nights, May 26th and 27th. Then the stock +had to take up the burden again and carry it from May 28th to June +21st. By June 1st John Dunne and the writer had returned from the +Pioche trip and were back in their old positions in the company. Dunne +had a surprise party in store for him on his return. Instead of being +received with open arms and loving embraces by his bride of a night, +she coldly repulsed him and refused ever to live with him, and she +kept her word. This was owing to things she had heard about John and +his freedom with other females while he was at Pioche. This did not +discourage Dunne, however, from trying again. He has had several wives +since, the best known being Patti Rosa, a talented actress whom he +managed and married. Clara, on the other hand, was not inconsolable, +and her enchantment with the stage and stage actors having been rather +rudely dispelled, she sought "surcease from sorrow" in the affections +of a well to do farmer, who has proven more constant, and with whom +she has raised a representative Mormon family. + +Madam Anna Bishop put in a week of high class concert from June the +25th to 30th. On July 2nd John W. Dunne took a benefit, on which +occasion we repeated one of our Pioche performances with an important +change of cast. "Theresa, or the Cross of Gold" and "Pocahontas" was +the bill. Dunne did not find the atmosphere of Salt Lake so congenial +to him as it had been and did not remain for the next season. I next +met him in Cheyenne in '78. He was married and apparently contented, +working at his trade of printer. + +The business, after Dunne's benefit, seems to have been spasmodic. The +stock kept on playing, however, during the month of July. That it did +business at all was remarkable, but there being no "resorts" and the +theatre the coolest place in town, in some measure accounts for its +keeping open during the torrid heat of the summer. + +Weiniawska, the Polish violinist, gave a concert on the 12th. George +Waldron and his wife drifted in and played a few nights up to the +17th. Then W. O. Crosbie and his wife, Arrah Crosbie, and James A. +Vinson, drifted in from the northwest and were given a few nights. +"Jim" Vinson was featured in the play of "Quits" and "Billie" Crosbie +in some favorite farce, supported by Arrah and the stock company. Both +Vinson and Crosbie made a very favorable impression which resulted in +them being engaged by the management for the following season. It +looked as if all the other theatres in the West had closed and the +actors had come trouping to Salt Lake to get summer engagements. Now +comes Carrie Cogswell-Carter and the available stock to the front. +They opened on the 26th and played till the 30th, and the season +closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SEASON OF 73-74. + +The season of 73 and '74 was somewhat later than usual in opening. The +reasons were, Clawson and Caine had renewed their lease of the +theatre, and having done so well with it financially, they were not +content to "let well enough alone," but felt that they should make +certain imaginary improvements that different wise-acres had +suggested, and embellishments commensurate with the liberal patronage +they had received during their previous lease of the house. +Accordingly some radical changes were made which cost a plenty of +money and made the managers scratch their heads many a time before +they were all paid for. As an example of how much costly mischief one +interfering "know-it-all" can accomplish, the managers were persuaded +by their prospective new stage manager, "Jim" Vinson, that the stage +of the theatre did not have sufficient pitch or slope from back to +front. It had a slight pitch one-eighth of an inch to the foot, or +about eight inches in its entire depth, which was just perceptible, +but not sufficient to be particularly noticeable or to render it +uncomfortable to walk on or to dance on. But the wisdom of the new +stage manager was paramount, and that immense stage whose huge +supports were built into the solid stone walls, had to be cut loose +from its bearings and the front of it lowered until it had +three-eighths of an inch fall to the foot, a slope that made it +uncomfortable to walk on, indeed, entering in a hurry, one was quite +inclined to slide on. It made it awkward too for stage settings. Every +piece of scenery that was set up and down the stage or at any angle +save that paralleling the front curtain, was thrown out of the +perpendicular that is so essential to make the scenery look well. At +the very time that this alleged improvement was being made, the +pitching or sloping stage (once thought to add perspective to the +scenery) was obsolete and all the new theatres in the country were +being built with level stages. It cost hundreds of dollars to make +this change and instead of being an improvement it was a positive +detriment, is still, and always will be. So much for the advice of a +stage manager. The proscenium doors that had been used for coming in +front of the curtain, were done away with and the present boxes put in +their stead, a very sensible and profitable improvement. Something +like $8,000 was expended in these and other improvements--a costly +experiment the sequel proved. The managers, Clawson and Caine, had in +contemplation a very profitable season and engaged an unusually large +and expensive company. The old stock members had been now so many +seasons constantly before the public that it was thought their drawing +powers were waning, and it was considered necessary to get some new +blood into the stock. Accordingly, while nearly all the old stock was +retained, a number of new people were added to the company, vastly +increasing the salary list. First in prominence was Kate Denin (Mrs. +John Wilson) who was featured as a stock star. Mr. W. J. Cogswell, who +had been playing leads during the latter part of the previous season, +was retained as leading man. "Jim" Vinson, who had put into Salt Lake +before the close of the last season, was retained as stage manager and +to play "old men." "Billie" Crosbie was engaged for the principal +comedy roles, thus displacing the local favorites, Margetts, Graham, +and Dunbar from the choice comedy parts. Arrah Crosbie, Billie's wife, +had to have a place and she made a good utility woman; or she could +play Irish characters. From the mere force of assimilation "Billie" +was a good Irish comedian. Mr. "Al" Thorne, who was added to the +company in the previous November, was retained especially for the +"heavies." "Buck" Zabriske was engaged as prompter at a good fat +salary, because the prompter was a very essential feature in the +makeup of a stock company and generally earned his salary, for he +often had a hard part to play behind the scenes on a first night. Then +there was dear old Frank Rea, with his face and head of antique +beauty; always full of Forrestonian reminiscences, and his wife of +blessed memory, who had grown old in the service, along with her +husband. Then there was Carrie Cogswell-Carter, and Ed Marden was +there. J. W. Carter had parted company with theatrical business and +accepted an engagement to preach the gospel for a while. He succeeded +in making one convert that we know of whom he brought to Utah later +and made Mrs. Carter No. 2. This was a bitter pill for Carrie Carter +and she revenged herself in time by becoming the fourth wife of Bishop +Herrick of Ogden. Apropos of this latter event, about a year later, +December, 1875, Miss Carrie Cogswell was playing Julia in the +"Hunchback" to the writer's "Master Walter" at Ogden. There was a +Gentile paper there at the time called the Ogden Freeman. It was +published by a man named Freeman, who came to Ogden with the advent of +the Union Pacific railroad. Freeman had published his paper at each +successive terminus of the road until it reached Ogden, and then he +settled down there and ran the "Ogden Freeman" as a rabid anti-Mormon +paper. We had journeyed northward and were in the town of Franklin. +Phil Margetts, "Jimmy" Thompson and myself were seated in the hotel +parlor when Carrie came in with a paper in her hand, and in her +lively, good-natured way, said "Boys, I met Freeman of Ogden, in the +Co-op. store just now, and he gave me a copy of his paper. He says it +has a long notice of the 'Hunchback' in it. Let us see what he says." +With that she threw herself into a chair, turned over the paper and +found the notice. It was generally favorable but criticised her Julia +rather adversely, at which she said rather petulantly, "Well, I know +I'm not an Adelaide Neilson, but I guess it was good enough for +Ogden." On further examination of the paper she came across a +"personal" which read as follows: "We understand that Miss Carrie +Cogswell, now playing here with the Salt Lake company, is the fourth +polygamous wife of Bishop Herrick, having herself had three husbands: +first, Thomas A. Lyne, the tragedian; second, J. A. Carter, and third, +Bishop Herrick." She read this notice to us and as she did so she grew +very angry. She strode out of the hotel like an enraged tigress. We +all wondered what she was going to do, but in about five minutes she +strode back in again with a handful of poor Freeman's whiskers in her +clenched fist and her parasol broken to smithereens over the +offender's face and head. In explanation she said, "I don't care how +much he criticises my acting but he mustn't meddle in my family +affairs." Freeman took revenge for this upon the writer several years +later in Montana, by giving him a red hot roast while playing in a +neighboring town. He evidently thought that I had prompted her to the +castigation act, which was not true, and totally unnecessary. + +The season was ushered in very auspiciously with the "School for +Scandal," with Miss Denin as Lady Teazle and Mr. J. H. Vinson as Sir +Peter; Mr. Cogswell playing Charles Surface and Mr. Crosbie, Benjamin +Backbite, and the full force of the stock company in the cast. + +Stock played through conference dates as usual and up to the 11th when +Laura Alberta and George W. Harrison hoisted the stellar flag, which +they floated for two weeks, opening in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which ran +for three nights, and then gave place to other pieces in Laura's +repertory. Then followed Fanny Cathcart and George Darrell for a week, +presenting "Man and Wife," "Woman in Red," "Masks and Faces," "Black +Eyed Susan," "Stranger," "Happy Pair," "Mysteries of Stage," and +"Mexican Tigress." Eight different plays in one week must have kept +the stock company out of mischief, one would naturally think. The +reverse proved true, however, in this case, for the leading man, +"Bill" Cogswell, from over-study (we had no understudies in those +days), was driven to drink; Bill got on a jamboree and didn't care +whether school kept or not, and the managers were in a dilemma. Their +next star was May Howard, who opened on November 3rd for a three weeks +engagement of legitimate. It was essential to have a good, reliable +leading man to help May through such a long engagement. Both McKenzie +and Lindsay were away and a new leading man was considered an all +important factor in this emergency. So a Chicago dramatic agent, +Arthur Cambridge, was wired to and he sent out the "brilliant young +American actor, J. Al. Sawtelle." Sawtelle opened on Miss Howard's +second night, playing "Armand Duval" in "Camille." It was a part well +suited to him and he made a satisfactory impression. Miss Howard +played "The New Magdalen" (opening night), "Guy Mannering," "Romeo and +Juliet," and "East Lynne." Harry Eytinge rendered support in most of +her plays--he being the lady's husband this was a very fitting and +graceful thing to do. After three weeks of Howard and Eytinge, Fanny +Cathcart and George Darrell came back as "Man and Wife," doing "Dark +Deeds" and filling in four nights with a "Woman in Red," and doing +funny things in "Masks and Faces." + +On November 28th and 29th, an original historical play by Edward W. +Tullidge, entitled "Oliver Cromwell," had its initial performance. +Sawtelle was cast for the title role. "Jim" Vinson, the venerable +stage manager, was greatly impressed with the merits of Cromwell and +cast and staged it to the best of his ability, with the resources +available, but it was far from being an ideal cast. Sawtelle, tall and +slender, looked as little like Cromwell as he did Napoleon, and he was +as far from the character in temperament as he was in stature. The +play with so many historical characters, Cromwell, Charles I., Ireton, +Milton, Vane, Bradshaw, Harrison, et al., was very exacting in its +mental requirements, and was easily greater than the company, yet +notwithstanding this drawback and the fact that nothing was done for +the play in the way of special scenery or costuming, it met with very +fair success. A strong local interest was exhibited and the house was +well filled to witness the first performance of a great play by a +local author. Mr. Vinson said it was the greatest play that had been +written since Bulwer's "Richelieu" and told John McCullough on his +next visit, that if he would take Tullidge's "Oliver Cromwell" and +play it there was a fortune in it for him. McCullough would have made +an ideal Cromwell, and Vinson recognized the fact that he was the man +to make a success of it, but McCullough, like Davenport, who read the +play and made a contract with Tullidge to produce it, had already +passed the meridian of his fame and had not ambition sufficient left +to engage in a new and venturesome undertaking; so Cromwell dropped +back into oblivion. It was revived a dozen years later with the writer +in the title role. The play this time was costumed correctly and the +cast, although still weak in places, was somewhat better than the +original. It was played again in the Salt Lake theatre, at Ogden, +Logan and Provo, and met with a hearty endorsement by the press of +those towns, but it needed more money to tide it to a financial +success than the promoters had to invest, and so Oliver Cromwell has +rested in honorable repose, waiting for some enterprising manager to +unveil him on the stage as Lord Roseberry unveiled his statue facing +Westminster hall only a short time ago; a late but fitting tribute to +the genius of the uncrowned king. + +Following Oliver Cromwell, Shiel Barry, a clever actor of Irish +character, filled the week, December 1st to 6th. On the 8th and 9th +Oliver Cromwell was repeated, this making four performances in all, +which spoke well for the popularity of Tullidge's play. On December +16th, Kate Denin took a farewell benefit and made her last appearance +for this season. Mrs. Frank Rea took a benefit on the 19th and on the +22nd Jean Clara Walters reappeared after an absence of about three +months in the "French Spy." Miss Walters had not appeared this season +until now, on Kate Denin's retirement. They were both stock stars and +two lady stock stars keep not their course in the same orbit. Denin +had been shining refulgently since the opening of the season, and +Walters, although in the city, had not appeared, but now she burst +again into public view resplendent in green tights and spangles. On +the 25th Eliza Newton, as the bright particular star, appeared in the +"Nymph of the Luleyburg," a beautiful spectacular piece well suited +for the holidays. Close following the holiday production with its +nymphs and fairies our old friend "Jim" Herne opened a three weeks' +engagement on January 5th, 1874, in the now familiar Rip Van Winkle, +following it up with a variegated repertoire, including "Bombey and +Son," "Rosina Meadows," "Wept of the Wishton Wish," "People's Lawyer" +or "Solon Shingle," etc. Herne, during his previous engagement, +established himself as a great favorite with Salt Lake audiences, and +now he added new laurels to his wealth of fame. Herne was a great +actor. He excelled in eccentric comedy all the actors I have known. On +January 26th, John McCullough began a three weeks' engagement in "Jack +Cade." Annie Graham, herself an attractive legitimate star, was +especially engaged to play the opposite roles to McCullough. This made +a remarkably strong company and Mr. John McCullough had every reason +to be satisfied with his support and proud of the engagement he +played. In addition to "Jack Cade," a long list of legitimate plays +were presented, including "The Gladiator," "Damon and Pythias," +"Virginius," "Hamlet," "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet," "Merchant of +Venice," and "Othello." He exhausted his legitimate repertoire and +drew on his comedy resources, playing "Dr. Savage" in "Playing with +Fire" and "A party by the name of Johnson" in "The Lancastershire +Lass." This was a notable engagement and was followed by another great +celebrity, Dion Boucicault, the author of so many successful plays. +Boucicault appeared as "Miles Na Copaleen" in his own popular play, +"The Colleen Bawn;" also as "Shaun the Post" in "Arrah Na Pogue," and +on his third and last night in "Kerry." His dates were February 16th, +117th and 18th. On the 19th Maggie Moore and Johnny Williamson of +California theatre fame, opened a nine nights' engagement. We have no +record of what pieces they played except one. They had a new play to +exploit. They had feared to make the venture with it at the California +theatre in San Francisco where they had been favorites, so they +brought it to Salt Lake to "try it on the dog." This is a phrase +thoroughly understood among theatrical people although it may savor of +ambiguity to the uninitiated. It means simply that when a manager is +at all dubious about the merits of a new production, he sends it into +some comparatively obscure town to try its qualifications for pleasing +in the metropolis. The origin of the phrase is obscure, but probably +sprang from the similarity of trying a collar on a dog. Inferentially +the play is a collar and the obscure town the dog. In this particular +case "Struck Oil" was the collar and Salt Lake the dog. The collar +happened to fit; the play was a howling success (no suggestion of dog +intended here) and it ran three consecutive nights in the Salt Lake +Theatre, and then with the Salt Lake stamp of approval on it the +Williamsons, Johnny and Maggie, took it out into the theatrical world +and made a fortune with it. Joe Murphy had the collar on us before +with his "Help" and was successful, and that encouraged the +Williamsons and others that have since come, until Salt Lake has won a +reputation among dramatic people for being an easy and gentle canine +on which to try the collar. + +Now comes the prince of comedians, John T. Raymond, back again and +stays a short week, during which he sprung on the actors and the +confiding and admiring community the following plays: "Our American +Cousin," "Everybody's Friend," "Toodles," "Serious Family," and "Only +a Jew." In "Our American Cousin," Raymond starred as Asa Trenchard, +the "American Cousin," and not in Lord Dundreary, the part Sothern won +both fame and fortune in. In this instance my old schoolmate and +present colleague, John C. Graham, was intrusted with the character of +"Dundreary" and did himself and the company credit by his humorous and +artistic rendering of it. Raymond was so thoroughly American (a Yankee +in fact) that Dundreary was not in his way, while Asa Trenchard fitted +like "ze paper on ze vall." Raymond as Major Wellington De Boots was +immense, but it scarcely gave him the scope he was looking for so he +was playing a half dozen different plays, none of which were making +him any great fame or money. When "The Gilded Age" was ushered in by +Mark Twain, people who knew John T. Raymond, on reading Col. Seller's +peculiarities, were quick to recognize in Raymond the living +counterpart of Mark Twain's imaginary hero. It was not long before +Raymond was the only authorized stage edition of Col. Sellers and his +popularity increased rapidly until it seemed "there was a million in +it" for the genial comedian, but before he had time to amass a million +or two "Atropos came with her shears and clipped his thread." "Alas, +poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most +excellent fancy." Miss M. E. Gordon followed, playing from the 9th to +the 14th, opening in "Divorce." Miss Gordon was closely allied to +Raymond. Whether they divided evenly the profits of the two +engagements we cannot tell, but we know that in many other places they +played in conjunction. + +Katherine Rogers opened a two weeks' engagement on March 16th, playing +"Galatea," "Leah," "Hunchback," "Unequal Match," "Lady of Lyons," "As +You Like It," "Masks and Faces," and "Love's Sacrifice." + +A series of "benefits" followed this engagement, beginning with W. H. +Crosbie, April 3rd. On the 6th, Belle Douglass reappeared in the stock +after a long absence. On the 7th Carrie Cogswell had a "benefit," and +J. H. Vinson on the 10th. On the 13th Mr. and Mrs. Rea "benefited" +with the play of "Rob Roy," and gave out satin programs as souvenirs +of the occasion. On the 14th Miss Annie Graham commenced an engagement +of eight nights in the "Lady of Lyons," and played legitimate +repertory. On the 24th Asenith Adams (now Mrs. Kiskadden) had a +benefit and played "Elzina." This was some seventeen months after +Maude was born, A. J. Sawtelle had a benefit on April 27th. On the +29th H. F. and Amy Stone opened a two weeks' engagement in "Under Two +Flags," producing besides "Elfie," "Pearl of Savoy," "Fanchon," +"French Spy." On May 11th T. A. Lyne had a benefit, giving scenes from +"Hamlet" and "Macbeth." On the 12th Victoria Woodhull lectured. On the +13th William Hoskins and Fannie Colville opened four nights' +engagement in "The Heir at Law," "A Bird in the Hand," and "The +Critic." On the 18th inst, there was a revival of Edward Tullidge's +historical play, "Eleanor De Vere," with Jean Clara Walters in the +title role, the character originally played by Julia Deane Hayne, and +on the 22nd another play from the pen of Mr. Tullidge had its first +production. The play was entitled "David Ben Israel." As the title +indicates, the play is Jewish and commemorates the return of the Jews +to England in the reign of Charles II. after a banishment of four +centuries. John S. Lindsay played the title role, and Miss Walters, +Rachel the Jewess. The play made a very pronounced hit and placed +another plume in Mr. Tullidge's cap as a dramatic author. + +On the 25th, W. A. Mestayer opened a week's engagement in "On the +Slope," and with "The Octoroon" and "An Odd Trick" gave much +satisfaction. "Bill" Mestayer for years was the heavy man at the old +California theatre in its palmy days. As Jacob McClosky in the +"Octoroon" he was simply great. On his last night he appeared as Don +Caesar for the benefit of the Ladies' Library Association. On June +1st, George Chaplin made his regular summer appearance in the comedy +of "School," from which he graduated in one night and appeared on the +following evening as Count Monte Cristo. He played Monte again on the +4th. On the 5th George took a layoff as the Lingards, Horace and +Dickie, got in on that date with "The Spitsefields Weaver," and gave +one performance. Chaplin resumed with the stock company on the +following night, June 6th, and played the week out, giving his +services on the last night for the benefit of the Theatre corporation. +The following week the stock company gave a liberal proportion of +their salaries to the series of performances for the benefit of the +corporation. Seven performances were given for this benefit. James A. +Herne appeared in four of them, Chaplin in one, the company in all +seven. Although Clawson and Caine were the nominal lessees and +managers, they had associated with them before opening this season, +several partners in the venture and the concern was known as the Salt +Lake Theatre Corporation. Mr. Thomas Williams was the treasurer and +presided over the box office during this regime, and with such +peerless _bonhomie_ as made "Tom" (everybody called him "Tom") the +acknowledged prince of ticket sellers. It was evident from this +benefit business that the corporation had not had the profitable +season's business they had expected when they opened with such flying +colors in the previous October. The truth was the corporation was very +much in the hole, and this series of benefit performances were +designed to lighten their financial burdens and did to some extent, +yet the close of the season found them heavily in debt, and there were +serious results threatening, but the leniency of the creditors averted +disaster. The summer was now on but the stars kept on coming. Salt +Lake was a regular resort for them. When they could do no business +elsewhere, owing to heat, they made for the Salt Lake Theatre. It was +the coolest place in the city in those days and before we had any +summer resorts the people would go and see these midsummer night +performances. Our old Hibernian friend, Joe Murphy, was the next in +line, opening on the 15th inst. with more "Help," which he worked for +all it was worth three nights and filled out the remainder of the week +with a new Irish drama, "Maum Cree." This was Joe's debut in Irish +character work and he had come to Salt Lake City again to "try it on +the dog." He had good support and "Maum Cree" received a favorable +verdict from the Salt Lake theatre goers and Joe Murphy was +successfully launched onto the dramatic sea as an Irish comedian. +Following Mr. Murphy came the Coleman Sisters for a week. They opened +on the 22nd of June in Charles XII and played besides this piece, "Day +after the Fair," "The Deal Boatman," and "Pouter's Wedding." In common +with many others the Colemans flitted across our dramatic horizon and +never returned. On the 30th inst. John S. Lindsay had a benefit on +which occasion he appeared in the character of Rolla in the play of +"Pizarro." The farce of the "Lottery Ticket" was played after +"Pizarro" to make up a good full evening's entertainment. "Billie" +Crosbie was the star comedian in "The Lottery Ticket." The stock +played only a few nights after this, closing the season on the 4th of +July. + +On July 18th, Victoria Woodhull drew a large audience to hear her +lecture on "The Beecher Scandal." The Beecher trial at that time was +the sensation of the day. The lecture drew a crowded house and +Victoria took occasion to fire red hot shot at Beecher and the clergy +in general, getting in some hard blows on the perfidy of the men in +general and the advantage they took of poor, confiding women. + +It seemed impossible to keep the theatre closed for more than a few +weeks even in the hottest portion of the summer, owing more to the +anxiety of the "strolling players" to put in a portion of their summer +in Salt Lake than any feverish desire on the part of the theatre +patrons to see them. Companies going to and from San Francisco were +always glad to get in a few nights at the Salt Lake Theatre as it +broke the long jump between the coast and Denver and was pretty sure +to be profitable. Accordingly the theatre was reopened on August 3rd +with the Vokes family for one week. The Vokeses were great favorites +here and did a very fair business despite the hot weather prevailing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SEASON OF '74-'75. + + +To open this season the stock company were brought into requisition +again and played up to the 5th of September. On the 7th and 8th +Howarth's Hibernica, a panoramic show with specialties filled in the +time. The Vokeses returned on the 9th and filled out the remainder of +the week, making ten nights and two matinees they got in during the +heated term which was sufficient proof of their popularity. Close on +their heels came the Hoskins-Darrell combination, consisting of +William Hoskins, his wife, Fannie Colville, George Darrell and his +wife. They were supported by the stock company and played from the +14th to the 23rd inclusive. Hoskins was an English actor of great and +varied experience, and in high comedy roles was greatly admired. He +was a man of sixty years of age and had been in Australia for a good +many years. His wife, Fannie Colville, was very much his junior, in +fact, it was a May and December alliance and apparently bore the usual +kind of fruit. Fanny was not a great actress but was very pretty and +attractive, in fact, too much so to prove comfortable to her much +senior lord and master. The Darrells were clever and talented. The +combination proved fairly successful. They toured about the country +for a year or so and then returned to Australia with more experience +than money, wiser if not richer. They wooed content in their former +home. + +The October conference approaching, the stock company were put in +rehearsal for some suitable plays and the "Royal Marrionettes" were +put in as an additional attraction for the conference season and +continued for nine nights from October 5th to the 13th inclusive. The +Marrionettes proved to be highly amusing and interesting entertainment +and combined with the efforts of the stock company in drama gave the +conference visitors the worth of their money and replenished the +treasury to a considerable extent. + +The next attraction also worked in conjunction with the stock company. +This was Laura Honey Stevenson (now Mrs. Church), a lady of some +celebrity as a reader. She was assisted in her entertainments by a +brilliant young baritone singer, Mr. John McKenzie, whose singing +proved to be quite taking and this conjunction lasted for eight +nights. + +It was during this last engagement that there occurred quite an exodus +from the Salt Lake Stock company to John Piper's theatre at Virginia +City, Nevada. Mr. J. A. Sawtelle and wife and daughter, a girl of +twelve or fourteen years, Miss Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden), her daughter +Maude, now two years old, accompanied by Mr. Kiskadden, Miss Carrie +Cogswell-Carter with her son Lincoln J., then about ten years of age, +and the writer went to Virginia City, all with the exception of Mr. +Kiskadden and the children being under engagement to play with Piper +for the ensuing season. There is much of interest connected with this +exodus from Salt Lake. It materially weakened the stock forces, taking +away the leading man, Mr. Sawtelle, the leading heavy (the writer), +and leading juvenile lady, Miss Adams, and Miss Cogswell, the +principal heavy woman; but their places were filled in a little while +and the stock pushed along in the same old way. + +The combination system, however, was now gaining ground and the stock +companies throughout the country began to suffer correspondingly, +their engagements becoming more and more intermittent as the traveling +combination became more numerous. + +At the opening of the season of '74 and '75 there were so many +combinations booked that the managers of the Salt Lake Theatre could +not offer the stock company a season's engagement, but only brief +periodical engagements between the dates of the various combinations. +It was in consequence of this that the above mentioned members of the +company took a season's engagement with Mr. Piper of Virginia City. +The Comstock was booming in those days and the theatre ran every +night, Sundays included. At the close of the Piper season, Miss Adams +went to San Francisco taking Maudie with her. There they made their +home; Mr. Kiskadden having preceded them there and obtained a good +situation as a bookkeeper with the firm of Park & Lacy. Mrs. Kiskadden +played occasional engagements at the San Francisco theatres and there +in due time little Maude made her first voluntary appearance on the +stage, her first appearance which occurred at the Salt Lake Theatre +when she was yet in long clothes, having been an involuntary one in +which her feelings or inclinations were not consulted. + +The writer's stay in Virginia City was brief. Receiving an offer from +James A. Herne, who was managing stage at the Bush Street, San +Francisco for Tom Maguire, and being anxious to visit the Golden Gate +city, I got Mr. Piper to honorably release me by showing him how he +could get along without me and save my salary. So, after playing a +week at Sacramento during the State fair, I left the Piper company and +went to San Francisco by steamboat which was running opposition to the +railroad, giving very low rates--only fifty cents from Sacramento to +San Francisco. Mr. Kiskadden, who had been with his wife and baby +Maude since leaving Salt Lake, decided to take advantage of this low +excursion rate on the steamer and go to San Francisco also in the +search of a situation. "Jim," as he was familiarly called, was always +ready for a little sport in the way of a game of cards or billiards, +so as soon as the boat got under way, he got into a game of cards with +some kindred spirits and although a crack player and usually a winner, +on this occasion he lost every cent he had moreover he likewise lost +his hat, a nice new summer one he had recently purchased. The wind was +blowing strong upstream and a sudden puff took his hat into the river, +leaving "Jim" bareheaded and dead broke; not a very desirable plight +to be in going a stranger into a strange city. Moreover, to add to his +discomfort, he was wearing a summer suit and as we approached San +Francisco the weather was cold and foggy, and "Jim's" clothes were +decidedly unseasonable when we reached our destination. Fortunately he +had his trunk along and as soon as he got located he effected a change +of costume, but he was in a dilemma for money to live on till he could +find a job and he appealed to me to lend him a certain sum, which I +was unable to do, having barely enough to see me through till I would +have a week's salary due, but I let him have enough for immediate +necessities, and he was not long in finding friends and a good +situation. + +My engagement at the Bush Street did not last very long. The house was +doing a struggling business when I went there. Emerson's minstrels +just across the street were doing a phenomenal business, turning +people away every night, while "Jim" Herne at the head of a good +company, was playing to very meager houses. "Zoe the Cuban Sylph" was +the reigning star when I opened there and my opening part was an +Indian--Conanchet, chief of the Naragansetts, in the "Wept of the +Wishton Wish." + +The Bush Street theatre season ended rather ingloriously soon after +the New Year holiday. I had on the very morning preceding our closing +night, received a telegram from Mr. Piper of Virginia City, offering +me the leading business for the remainder of the season, but declined +it, believing the Bush would struggle along. That night we had a new +piece on, "The Circus Queen," and it proved such a failure that Tom +Maguire decided to close, which he did without any previous notice, so +the entire company were out of a job. Next morning I lost no time +wiring to Piper to know if the engagement was still open to me and in +a few hours I had received the agreeable answer "yes" and took the +train the same day for Virginia City. I had been there about three +weeks when I met T. B. H. Stenhouse, who was there writing up the +Comstock mines for the New York Herald. He said to me, "They need you +in Salt Lake badly; why don't you wire them? Katherine Rogers opens +there Monday night for a two weeks' engagement and they have no +competent leading man to support her." "Well," I said, "they know +where I am. If they want me why don't they wire me?" "Will you go," +said he, "if I wire for you and get you the engagement?" "Yes," I +replied, "I shall be glad to go, for I am tired of this." So he went +right off and wired, and the next day I left for home, but did not +arrive in time to open with Miss Rogers in the opening bill, but got +in on the second night and played throughout the rest of the +engagement. + +I had been absent from October 14th, 1874, to January 26th, 1875, a +little over three months, during which time the following attractions +appeared at the Salt Lake Theatre: The Wheeler Comedy troupe, October +29th to 31st. On November 2nd, Risley's Panorama "Mirror of England" +opened for a week. On the 13th and 14th the Infantry combination. On +the 16th Frank Mayo and Rosa Rand opened a week's engagement +presenting "Davy Crockett" and "Streets of New York." On the 25th +Agnes Booth and Joseph Wheelock opened in "Much Ado About Nothing," +and filled out a week with "King John" and the comedy "Engaged." On +December 2nd R. H. Cox, familiarly known as "Daddy Cox," among +professionals on the coast, opened a four nights' engagement with "The +Detective," which went for two nights. The other two nights he gave +"The Bells That Rang Nellie a Bride." Daddy Cox had recently left +Piper's theatre in Virginia City, where he had been stage manager for +a time. + +On the 9th, Harry Rickards, an English comic singer of great spread +and self importance, opened for a week's engagement in conjunction +with the stock company. Rickards was recently from Australia and put +in a week at the Bush Street during the writer's engagement there. His +singing and style did not catch on with the San Franciscans. He was +too "awfully English, yer know." He did not prove any great attraction +in Salt Lake. On the 21st a grand concert was given for the benefit of +the Catholic church. On the 22nd, W. J. Florence opened for a week, +supported by the stock company. His opening play was "Dombey and Son." +He gave besides "No Thoroughfare" and the "Colleen Bawn." Each piece +ran two nights, carrying the season through the Christmas holidays and +the house closed with his last performance on the 26th until New +Year's day. January 1st, 1875, the theatre reopened with the stock +company, who, without the assistance of any stellar attraction, played +two weeks when the house closed again until the 25th inst. + +Of the people who had comprised the stock company the previous season, +the following members had drifted away: J. Al. Sawtelle, leading man; +Mrs. Sawtelle, general utility; John S. Lindsay, leading heavy; +Asenith Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden), leading juveniles; W. S. Crosbie, +comedian; Arrah Crosbie, characters; J. H. Vinson, first old man and +stage manager; Buck Zabriske, prompter. The uncertain and spasmodic +nature of the engagements this season, which had caused this strong +contingent of the company to seek other engagements, also prevented +the accession of new people to the ranks of the stock company, so that +it was in a rather dilapidated and weakened condition, especially for +the support of legitimate repertoire, such as Katherine Rogers +presented for the patrons of the drama. + +On January 25th she opened in "Romeo and Juliet." Mr. "Mike" Foster +was the Romeo for the occasion. The "leading men" were all out of the +way and this was sudden promotion for Foster one of those +opportunities that come but rarely to the ambitious young actor, and +nearly always bring new honors and distinction. "Mike" struggled +manfully with his task, but he did not make an ideal Romeo. On the +following evening the writer made his reappearance with the company, +after an absence of three months. He played Master Walter in the +"Hunchback" on the occasion and was warmly welcomed by the audience. +Miss Rogers played in addition to "Romeo and Juliet" and the +"Hunchback," "As You Like It," "Love's Sacrifice," "Pygmalion and +Galatea," "Lady of Lyons," "Leah," in which the writer played the +following characters respectively: Jacques, Matthew Elmore, Pygmalion, +Claude Melnotte, Lorenz. Such a repertory, where each play ran for but +two performances, put the company on high tension. Those who had new +parts, and particularly if they had never played in the pieces, found +it very exacting work. Fortunately for the writer, he had played most +of the parts before, yet it was a busy time for him during that +engagement. + +Following closely on Miss Rogers with her legitimate plays, came the +English comedian known professionally as Willie Gill and his wife, +Rose Bain. These co-stars had recently been associated with the writer +at Piper's theatre at Virginia City, where they played for a month or +so in stock and it was a little of a surprise to me to find they had +suddenly materialized into stars and were billed for a week at the +Salt Lake Theatre. With sublime assurance, especially for a play +writer, which Willie even then professed to be (as well as a +comedian), he put up Mark Twain's "A Gilded Age." The piece had been +but recently dramatized and had made a marked success with John T. +Raymond as Col. Sellers. Raymond had played several engagements with +us at the Salt Lake Theatre and was a great favorite, and was looking +forward to another visit in the near future with his greatest success, +Col. Sellers. Some one apprised him by telegram that Gill was billed +to play the piece here and he promptly wired a well known law firm to +enjoin Gill from playing it. The managers, Clawson and Caine, were +also warned not to play it, so an emergency bill was prepared in the +event that they should be stopped. The law firm had taken the +necessary proceedings and just before "ringing up" time, as no change +of performance had been announced, they appeared on the scene with the +necessary officer and papers and the performance of "A Gilded Age" was +formally and effectually enjoined. "All That Glitters Is Not Gold" was +substituted. This was a lesson to the English comedian late from +Australia which he possibly never forgot, especially as a few years +later he retired from the stage and settled down in New York as a +professional writer for the stage. He was a clever adapter and +dramatizer, as his version of "A Gilded Age" bore witness, and he no +doubt found plenty of materials to use in his craft, whose authors +were not so well known as Mark Twain nor so particular in regard to +their copyrights. Willie learned the truth of the axiom that "All that +glitters is not gold," even _"A Gilded Age"_ on that memorable night, +for it materially injured the business during the remainder of his +engagement. + +"Built on Sand" was the next evening's offering and it was probably +too suggestive of Willie's hopes in respect to "A Gilded Age" to be a +good drawing card, so it only went the one night. The company had +their work cut out here also; the next play was a new one with them; +he called it Madge of Elvanlee; it was a dramatization of Charles +Gibbons "For the King," a very powerful story of the Restoration +period, and gave Rose Bain, his wife, the chance of her life to make a +hit as a leading actress; but she failed to score any marked success, +giving only a passable rendition of the character. Fortunately again +for this individual, he had during his absence played in this play at +the Bush Street Theatre. Jim Herne used it as the vehicle for the +debut of a talented San Francisco' lady, who created a little ripple +of excitement by her advent on the stage. I afterwards played the +leading character in it at Virginia in conjunction with Miss Bain and +Mr. Gill, so that it was comparatively easy for me in regard to study. +This play was forced two nights, meantime the company had another new +play sprung on them for Friday night. Miss Rose Bain was evidently +bent on being the bright particular star of this engagement. Willie +had failed in his Col. Sellers scheme, and Rose saw her opportunity +and pushed it to the utmost. "The Sphinx," a mythological play, taxing +the powers of no less an actress than Annette Ince (one of the +greatest of her time) was the next offering to the public, and an +exacting task for the company. Here again I was lucky, as I had only +about six weeks before played a week in the piece with Miss Ince at +the Bush Street theatre, and although I had now a different part, I +was sufficiently familiar with the play to make my task easy, as +compared with the rest of the company. + +"The Sphinx" did not prove popular, owing largely to Miss Bain's +inadequacy. So "Madge of Elvanlee" was restored for Saturday night, +and so ended a very unprofitable week, both for "stars" and +management. Willie Gill afterwards acquired fame as the writer of +several successful comedy sketches. Rose Bain we have never heard of +since. From the 13th to the 22nd of February, the theatre was dark, +which gave the overworked stock company a rest they no doubt enjoyed, +but cut off their salaries, which they did not relish. + +On the 22nd, Washington's Birthday, the theatre was used as a ball +room--the Firemen gave a "Grand Ball" and for the occasion the theatre +was transformed, as it had been a number of times before, to +accommodate an enormous crowd of dancers. The entire parquet was +covered with floor made in sections, making the stage and the +auditorium into one vast dancing hall. Hundreds who did not +participate in the dance paid admission fees to sit in the circles and +watch the dancers go through the bewitching and bewildering figures to +the strains of a fine orchestra secured for the occasion. By the +following evening, the floor was removed, the chairs back in place, +and the theatre had resumed its normal appearance. On this date, the +23rd, The Alleghanians, a company of Swiss Bell Ringers and Vocalists, +opened and played throughout the remainder of the week, five nights +and a matinee. The company had now had a three weeks' rest and were +anxious to be doing something again, so a series of "benefits" were +put on. Commencing on March 6th, Clara Jean Walters took a benefit, +playing Edward Tullidge's "Ben Israel," a very powerful play +commemorative of the return of the Jews to England. On the 8th Mr. +Lindsay "benefited," played "Jack Cade," and on the 10th E. B. Mar +den, who had been in the stock for several years, took a benefit, +playing Featherly in "Everybody's Friend." The theatre was again +closed until the 22nd inst., when The Lingards came in and, supported +by the stock, stiffened up business to some extent; continued until +the 31 st. The April Conference being close at hand, it was decided to +play the stock through the Conference in some of the old favorites, +and they continued right along after the Lingards left. That is the +marvelous part of it that they could do _any_ business after dropping +out a strong stellar attraction, but on they played through the +Conference and on up to the 1st of May, when the _season_ closed and +with the season the management under the "Salt Lake Theatre +Corporation" closed. + +Their second season had not proved sufficiently profitable, although +they had severely curtailed expenses by cutting down the company, to +clear them of indebtedness, and the corporation quit badly in the +hole. + +The close of the Clawson and Caine management and the end of the Salt +Lake Theatre Corporation was virtually the retirement of the stock +company, which had been playing from the opening of the theatre in '62 +up to the present date, May 1st, 1875, a period of 13 years. Of course +a great many changes had taken place during those years in the +personnel of the company, but a few of the original members remained, +and the organization or _ensemble_ of the company had been kept +intact. Now, however, the gradually encroaching combination system +made it impracticable for the managers to offer a season's engagement +to those who were willing and anxious to engage. The necessity for a +stock company became rapidly less from this time on, until in the year +1878 it had become defunct altogether. + +Two entertainments were given after the closing of the stock company, +before the corporation relinquished the house--on May 4th, Petroleum +V. Nasby lectured, and on the 8th Mr. Mark Wilton rented the theatre +and put up "The Ticket of Leave Man" for a benefit. To show the status +of the company at this particular time, the program for the benefit +performance is here appended: + + SALT LAKE THEATRE. + + Salt Lake Theatre Corporation ............... Proprietors + Clawson and Caine .............................. Managers + + SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 8TH, 1875. + + Mr. Mark Wilton has engaged the Theatre for this night and will + produce the great drama of + + "THE TICKET OF LEAVE MAN." + + Supported by the following + + CAST OF CHARACTERS: + + Bob Briefly, a Lancashire lad ....... Mr. John S. Lindsay + James Dalton (the Tiger) ................ Mr. M. Forester + Hawkshaw (a detective) .................. Mr. Mark Wilton + Melter Moss (a crook) .................. Mr. J. C. Graham + Mr. Gibson (a bill broker) ............. Mr. Harry Taylor + Sam Willoughby ...................... Miss Dellie Clawson + Maltby ................................... Mr. Logan Paul + Burton ................................... Mr. H. Horsley + May Edwards ..................... Mrs. Clara Jean Walters + Mrs. Willoughby ...................... Miss Belle Douglas + +This was the last performance given under the corporation managers and +for some time the theatre remained without a manager; if any one +wanted it, they had to rent it from President Brigham Young through +one of his clerks. My record shows that the writer, on July 24th +following, rented the house at the modest sum of one hundred dollars +for the bare house. We gave Bulwer's five-act comedy of "Money" +besides the farce "A Fish Out of Water" and a musical interlude, by +Laura Honey Stevenson and John W. McKenzie, a popular young baritone +from San Francisco. The total expense of this performance was $357.00, +so it was a risk for an individual to take, but we pulled through +clear and had a little left for our trouble. + +About this time Mr. W. T. Harris or "Jimmy" Harris, as he was +familiarly called, was installed as "business manager" of the theatre; +he had succeeded in winning one of Brigham Young's daughters, Miss +Louise Young, affectionately called by her friends "Punk." The Annie +Ward episode was forgotten or condoned, and Jimmy had ingratiated +himself so strongly in the President's good graces as to receive the +hand of his favorite daughter, and in order that he might provide +liberally for her, he was given the business management of the +theatre. He assumed no financial responsibilities in accepting the +position, but simply acted as the agent for Brigham Young, to whom he +submitted matters of importance. He held down his job for two years or +more, until some time after the death of Brigham Young, when the Salt +Lake Theatre, which had been appropriated by the late President, +(although built with Church means) in the settlement of Brigham's +estate reverted to the Church. This brought a change of management and +Mr. Harris was superseded by H. B. Clawson, one of the former +managers. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +SEASON OF '75-'76. + + +In the following chapter, no attempt will be made to give a +consecutive and complete list of the attractions which appeared during +the season, but a running notice will be made of the most important +engagements, and especially of the new stars that appeared. + +The combination system was gradually forcing the stock company from +the theatre. Engagements with the stock people were now intermittent +and uncertain, and for that reason the company kept dwindling until +eventually it became a thing of the past. During this season, however, +they were called in to support a good many stars. It took several +seasons for the combination system to completely supersede the stock +system. + +On August 12th, Jennie Lee, who had been a favorite soubrette in the +California theatre, San Francisco, and her husband, J. T. Burnett, +opened a week's engagement in the play of May Blossom, supported by +the stock. Immediately following, opening on the 20th of August, came +Augustin Daly's company on their way to San Francisco. They played +three nights, presenting "Saratoga," "The Big Diamond" and "Divorce." + +Fanny Davenport was the "leading lady" of this company. It was the +first dramatic company to cross the continent direct from New York to +San Francisco. The fame of Daly's company had preceded it, and as a +result they played to big businesses both here and in San Francisco. + +On the 27th and 28th, the English Opera Company played to good houses. + +On September 25th, the stock company reopened the theatre which had +been dark for several weeks. Charley Vivian, who afterwards organized +the order of Elks, opened in conjunction with the company, giving his +clever entertainment, and this combination pulled through the October +Conference, when there was another intermission. In December, the +stock company made another spurt, headed by Clara Jean Walters. + +They reopened with "Cherry and Fair Star," a spectacular play which +had an unusual run; with this and other pieces they managed to keep +going until January 20th, 1876; from this date to April 1st, there +were occasional attractions but none of great importance. + +On March 1st, John S. Lindsay, who had been playing leads in the +stock, was tendered a complimentary "benefit," on which occasion he +appeared in the character of "Jack Cade." To show the personnel of the +company at this particular period of its history, the following +program of the performance is subjoined: + + SALT LAKE THEATRE. + + W. T. Harris ........................... Business Manager + + _GRAND COMPLIMENTARY FAREWELL BENEFIT_ + + Tendered by the Members of the Dramatic Profession, and Prominent + Citizens of Salt Lake City to the popular actor + + JOHN S. LINDSAY. + + On which occasion Mr. Lindsay will essay the great character of + Jack Cade. + + WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 1, 1876, + + Will be presented Judge Conrad's celebrated tragedy in four acts, + entitled + + "JACK CADE, THE CAPTAIN OF THE COMMONS." + + The entire Corps Dramatique have generously volunteered. + + CAST OF CHARACTERS: + + _Nobles_. + + Lord Say ................................ Mr. Mark Wilton + Lord Clifford ........................ Mr. Emmett Mousley + Duke of Buckingham ..................... Mr. Gus M. Clark + Duke of Suffolk ........................ Mr. B. W. Wright + Courtnay ............................... Mr. J. C. Graham + + _Commons_. + + Jack Cade } + Aylmere } ........................... Mr. John S. Lindsay + Friar Lacy ........................... Mr. John T. Hardie + Wat Worthy ............................ Mr. Phil Margetts + Will Mowbray ............................ Mr. J. E. Evans + Jack Straw ............................... Mr. E. Mousley + + Bondmen to Lord Say-- + + Dick Pembroke ............................ Mr. H. Bowring + Roger Sutton ............................. Mr. Wm. Wright + Cade's Son (5 years old) .............. Miss Edie Lindsay + Marinanne (Cade's wife) ............... Miss Lina Mousley + Widow Cade (Cade's mother) ............ Miss Sarah Napper + Kate Worthy, betrothed to Mowbray ..... Miss Lizzie Davis + + Lords, Officers, Peasants, Bondsmen, Etc. + + To be followed by a musical interlude. + + Song--"Give a Poor Fellow a Lift" Mr. Phil Margetts, Jr. + + For the last time, the great Specialty of the Mulligan + Guards ................ By W. T. Harris and H. E. Bowring + + The performance will conclude with the side-splitting farce, + + "A BASHFUL BACHELOR." + + Hector Timid ........................... Mr. J. C. Graham + Captain Cannon .......................... Mr. Mark Wilton + Dr. Wiseman ........................... Mr. H. E. Bowring + Thornton ................................ Mr. J. E. Evans + Louisa ................................ Miss Lina Mousley + Chatter ............................... Miss Sarah Napper + +It would be unreasonable to expect an audience to sit through such a +lengthy performance nowadays, but such was the dramatic pabulum with +which we had to entice them into the theatre "_in that elder day_." + +The "cast" in the above program shows that the stock company had +become decidedly weak, a number of amateurs were worked in, and the +three comedians, Margetts, Bowring and Graham, are playing parts +altogether out of their line. The lady assigned the "leading lady's" +part (Miss Mousley) was a clever amateur and this was about her first +appearance at this theatre. The "leading ladies" "seem to have been +all in retirement." Mr. Wilton, "a serio-comic," playing the "leading +heavy," Lord Say, and Mr. Graham playing" the "second heavy," +Courtney, shows there was a great sparsity of "heavy men," and +Margetts and Bowring both playing serious "character parts," plainly +indicates the low ebb the company had reached. It was now a difficult, +nay an impossible, task to adequately "cast" one of the great +classical plays. + +Such was the status of the stock company at this period, its +efficiency having been gradually weakened by the steadily increasing +innovation of the combination or traveling companies. + +Many of the most popular stars had not up to this time surrounded +themselves with their own supporting companies, but continued to flit +to and fro across the dramatic firmament, pausing to shed their luster +for a new nights wherever they could find a cluster of nebula (stock +company) to shine among. + +On April 1st a bright and attractive star appeared in the person of +Mr. Edwin Adams. Mr. Adams made a splendid impression on his first +visit to Salt Lake and a full house was on hand to greet him. The +train on which Mr. Adams arrived was several hours late and the +audience was kept waiting more than an hour after the specified time +of commencing. It was nearly ten o'clock when the curtain rang up on +"The Marble Heart," but the audience exercised great patience, and +when at length Mr. Adams appeared as Phidias from between the curtains +that concealed the statues, exclaiming "The man whose genius formed +them," he received such a warm and generous welcome as must have +banished any doubts or misgivings he may have had as to how Salt Lake +would receive him. As he had not rehearsed with the company, some +apprehensions were felt as to how the play would go; but, after it was +over, Mr. Adams warmly complimented everybody--especially the stage +manager--and declared it went just as well as if he had been here to +rehearse it with us. This was a notable engagement, Mr. Adams playing +ten nights in all, his engagement running through the April +Conference. In addition to "The Marble Heart," he played "Hamlet," +"Richelieu," "Rover" (in "Wild Oats"), "Narcisse" and "Enoch Arden." + +Edwin Adams was destined to a career as brief as it was brilliant. +After leaving us he went to San Francisco and played a successful +engagement, then went to Australia. When he returned from Australia to +San Francisco he was a dying man. A benefit was given him there, and +he was wheeled onto the stage in an invalid's chair to acknowledge his +gratitude to the San Franciscans for their kindness to him. This was +the last seen of poor Edwin Adams by the public. Only a few days later +and that dramatic genius that was shedding luster on the American +stage was extinct. He had contracted quick consumption in the +antipodes, and by the time he got back to San Francisco his friends +realized he had not long to live and did what they could to show their +love for him and ease his passing to the great beyond. + +The next important engagement was that of John T. Raymond, who +appeared on August 5th in "A Gilded Age," the play in which Willie +Gill was enjoined more than a year before. As Colonel Sellers, Raymond +was simply inimitable; Mark Twain might have had him in his eye when +he created the character. It ran three performances, and if there were +not "millions in it," it was at least a profitable engagement both for +Mr. Raymond and the manager. Notwithstanding it was the hottest part +of the summer, Raymond filled out a week with Major de Boots in the +"Widow Hunt," and Caleb Plummer in "Cricket on the Hearth." Raymond's +engagement virtually closed the season of '75 and '76, and there was +nothing of importance until the commencing of the next season. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SEASON OF '76-'77. + +With the approach of the October Conference, which is always a harvest +for the theatre, Mr. Harris got together as strong a company as +possible and revived some of the old favorite plays, opening the +season of '76 and '77 a night or two before and continuing through the +Conference dates to satisfactory business. There was no "star" to +share with, and the theatre reaped a handsome profit. + +The next engagement of importance was that of Mr. George Rignold, an +English actor, who was starring in "Henry V." Rignold had come from +England and under the management of Jarrett and Palmer, "Henry V." was +given a fine production in their New York theatre. For some reason or +other, after a short but successful run of the play, a disagreement +arose between those popular managers and Mr. Rignold. They decided to +supersede Mr. Rignold with Lawrence Barrett. They notified him +accordingly and at the expiration of the time for which he had been +engaged Mr. Barrett stepped into Rignold's place and the run of the +play was extended for several weeks. It was the intention to take the +play to San Francisco after the run in New York. This change of stars +threw Rignold out of the San Francisco engagement, much to his chagrin +and disappointment. Not to be out-generaled the English actor quietly +hastened to San Francisco. The California Theatre having been secured +for the Jarret and Palmer company, with as much dispatch and secrecy +as possible Rignold got a company together. Soon as it was known that +Rignold was in San Francisco and was preparing to give the play of +"Henry V" at the Grand Opera House, the news was duly wired to Jarrett +and Palmer; not only were they surprised, but greatly chagrined, on +learning that the English actor had gotten the start of them and was +in a fair way to eclipse their Western engagement. Mr. Barrett and the +managers, after a rather excited consultation, decided to close the +run of "Henry V" with the end of the current week, and have everything +in readiness to leave New York for San Francisco on the following +Sunday. The manager of the California was telegraphed to announce the +play for the following Thursday night. This gave scarcely a week for +advertising, and it seemed incredible that the company could reach San +Francisco by the time, but Jarrett and Palmer had at great expense +made arrangements with the railroad company for a special train, that +was to rush them through from New York to San Francisco in four days. +Barring accidents, they would arrive in San Francisco on Thursday +morning, in time to get their scenery in place and play that night. + +It was taking desperate chances, but it was at the same time a great +advertising scheme, for never before had such a flying trip been made +across the continent, and every paper in the country had an account of +it. "From Ocean to Ocean eighty-three hours." Rignold had arranged to +open the following Monday, but learning to his amazement of the great +coup that Jarrett and Palmer were performing to get in ahead of him, +he got a move on too and decided to keep the lead, and open up at +least one night ahead of them, which was as soon as he could possibly +get ready. The fast train was the sensation of the hour, everybody was +talking of it and awaiting its arrival with keen expectancy. This +national advertisement gave the Jarrett and Palmer company a great +advantage over Rignold; besides, they had much the better production, +and the best company, as Rignold had to gather what support he could +and very hurriedly in San Francisco. This was very sharp managerial +practice; what especial reason Lawrence Barrett and the Jarrett and +Palmer management had for this extraordinary coup to down the English +actor we never learned. The rivalry of the two Henrys served to throw +theatrical circles in the Golden Gate City into a feverish excitement, +and the result was that both houses did a good business, as every +theatre-goer felt in duty bound to see both actors, and then compare +their respective merits. Until Rignold played "Henry V" in New York no +American actor had ever attempted the character; Barrett who had in +conjunction with John McCullough managed the California theatre during +the first three years of its career, saw an opportunity to do some +business there and win some fresh laurels in a new part. This in a +measure explains the _haste_ with which the thing was done. The rival +Henrys, however, did not succeed in giving the play a permanent +abiding place in popular favor. We think no other American actor has +ever had the temerity to try it, until the bold and undaunted Richard +Mansfield gave a superb production of it a quarter of a century +later--1902.[A] + +[Footnote A: The above account of the "Henry V" excursion is written +entirely from the writer's recollection of the affair, having no +available data. It may contain some slight inaccuracies, but the main +facts were about as here related.] + +After the Rignold date here, when "The Lady of Lyons," "Black-Eyed +Susan," and "Henry V" were given with such support as was available, +the stock played fitfully, interrupted by occasional novelties, such +as panoramas and concert companies, minstrels and the like, along the +holiday season and into the spring. On February 3rd, John S. Lindsay +was the recipient of another "benefit," on which occasion he exhibited +his strong predilection for Shakespearian roles by appearing as +Hamlet, a character in which he had already won some local +distinction. As on a previous benefit occasion, there were several +first appearances, and the cast as a whole was not very satisfactory, +but our friends were inclined to overlook many shortcomings on those +benefit occasions. As if "Hamlet" was not enough for a benefit +performance, we had to tack on the farce of "The Trials of Tompkins," +in which Mr. Graham was wont to shine. + +On the 23rd and 24th of February, Mr. E. A. Sothern, the world +renowned Dundreary, filled his first engagement at the Salt Lake +Theatre. He exacted a certainty of one thousand dollars in gold coin +for the two nights. Mr. Harris very naturally had some hesitancy about +closing an engagement with him on such exorbitant terms, so he made a +canvass of his patrons, and after a careful consideration, "closed the +deal" with Mr. Sothern. The prices were advanced from the usual scale +of twenty-five cents to one dollar, to fifty cents to two-fifty. The +house was well filled on both nights and the management, not having a +very expensive company or any production to pay for out of its share, +came out all right. There was much dissatisfaction, however, that such +exorbitant prices should be charged for what at best was but an +ordinary "show," especially the last night when David Garrick was +presented, and by ten o'clock the play was over, and the general +expression of the patrons of the theatre was "Sold!" Indeed so +outspoken was the dissatisfaction with David Garrick, and so severe +were the strictures of the press the following morning, that Mr. +Sothern could not have gotten fifty cents a ticket for a third +performance. As a natural consequence, it was a long time before he +came to Salt Lake again. + +On March 10th, Miss Annie Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden) who had recently +returned on a visit to Salt Lake after an absence of three years in +San Francisco, assisted by the stock company, gave a production of +"The Two Orphans," Miss Adams appearing as Louise and Miss Colebrook +as Henriette, the writer in the character of Pierre. This was the +first presentation of this play at this theatre and it proved a great +drawing card. + +The next star attraction was one of more than ordinary interest. The +anniversary of Shakespeare's birth (and death) on April 23rd, Adelaide +Neilson, the world acknowledged Juliet, was announced to appear in +that character. Miss Neilson was well-known to our theatregoers by +reputation as the greatest Juliet of the age, and the demand for seats +was extraordinary. The prices were advanced, but not to exorbitant +figures, the prices ranging from 25c to $1.50. Every seat in the house +was filled, and numbers were glad to stand on both evenings rather +than miss seeing the beautiful and popular actress. There was no +dissatisfaction with this engagement; everybody was pleased and +delighted, and Adelaide Neilson's praises were on everybody's lips. +She could have remained a week and played to full houses, but +engagements ahead precluded a longer stay; she only gave two +performances, "As You Like It" being the second bill. There was only +one opinion as to her Juliet, that it was the perfect embodiment of +the character, her rich beauty of face and form, her exquisite grace, +her melodious voice, and the marvelous power of expression in her soft +tender eyes, equipped her completely for the part. As Rosalind she was +equally as charming if not as brilliant as in Juliet. The playing of +Romeo to her Juliet, the writer cherishes as one of the pleasantest +memories of his long professional career. A year later the beautiful +Neilson was dead. Alas! for the mutability of all that is mundane: + + "She should have died hereafter; + There would have been a time for such a word. + Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, + Creeps in this petty pace from day to day + To the last syllable of recorded time. + And all our yesterdays have lighted fools + The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! + Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, + That struts and frets his hour upon the stage + And then is heard no more. + It is a tale told by an idiot; + Full of sound and fury; signifying nothing." + + --_Macbeth_. + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, + And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave + Await alike the inevitable hour; + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + + --_Gray's Elegy_. + +The next stellar attraction was Ben de Bar. Ben was the manager of one +of the St. Louis theatres when the writer was a boy, and my first +introduction to the stage was at De Bar's theatre. A young fellow who +was our neighbor in St. Louis induced me to go with him and go on as a +super. The play was "Sixtus V., Pope of Rome." Mr. and Mrs. Farren +were the stars. I made my first acquaintance with the stage in that +play, as one of the mob, little dreaming that I would one day be cast +to play Sixtus V., which I was some years afterwards in the Salt Lake +Theatre. + +Ben De Bar was a popular comedian as well as manager at the time of +which I am telling, but for some half dozen years now he has been +starring in the character of Sir John Falstaff. He was very stout, and +well suited to the character and confined himself to it exclusively, +varying the monotony, however, by playing both the plays in which Sir +John is so prominent, "Henry IV" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor." + +Ben had been to San Francisco and had just played an engagement there, +before coming to Salt Lake. He opened here on May 17th in "The Merry +Wives." He complained of not feeling well and it was quite perceptible +that something was the matter; he was uncertain and forgetful. On the +second night in "Henry IV," his lapses of memory were still more +perceptible. In short, it was palpable to all the company, if not the +audience, that Mr. De Bar was suffering from some derangement of +memory to such an extent as to in places mar the scenes, and very much +embarrass those who had dialogue with him. The writer was playing +Hotspur on the occasion, and had but little to do with the boastful +Sir John, but noticing his lapses of memory in several places and his +consequent and apparent distress, kindly inquired as to his trouble, +when he feelingly told me he had suffered in San Francisco the same +way, and he felt no confidence in himself whatever. He said his memory +was deserting him and he feared his professional career was at an end. +After the play was over he called me into his dressing room, and said: +"Mr. Lindsay, I have made my last appearance on the stage. I am done, +sir. I feel that I have subjected the entire company tonight to a +great deal of embarrassment, and my lapses of memory must have been +quite apparent to the audience. No, sir, I can no longer rely on my +memory, and I shall never attempt to play again. I feel my career is +ended." His words were pathetic, and as it proved, _prophetic_; he +never did appear on the stage again. In less than a year dear old Ben +de Bar died of softening of the brain. Ben de Bar was about sixty +years of age when he died. "What old acquaintance! Could not all this +flesh keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! I could have better +spared a better man." Prince Hal in "Henry IV," Part First. + +Salt Lake seemed to be an attractive summer resort for a certain class +of attractions, and quite a number found their way here during the +very hottest of the weather. On July 24th Robert Heller, a very clever +magician and an excellent pianist, assisted by Miss Helen (his +sister), entertained the patrons of the theatre for a week with his +very clever tricks and fine piano playing. His second sight business, +in which he was ably assisted by Miss Helen, was wonderfully clever, +and mystified the beholders very much indeed. He was the first to +introduct a second-sight business here, and was as much of a wonder as +Anna Eva Fay has since been. + +On August 6th, Rose Eytinge, then in the zenith of her fame, opened a +three nights' engagement in the play of "Rose Michel" and followed it +with "Miss Multon" and "Macbeth." The writer had some hard work during +this brief engagement, the two first plays being entirely new to him, +in both of which he had very long and arduous parts, and on the third +night he had to do Macbeth. Rose Eytinge at this time was one of the +best actresses and most beautiful women we had on the stage. Good +gracious! that is twenty-eight years ago, and she is still acting! but +she has to play the old woman now. When I played with her two years +later in Portland, Oregon, she was married to an English actor named +Cyril Searle, who insisted on playing Macbeth, but made me study +Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra" on very short notice as the San +Francisco papers had criticised his Antony so severely he declared he +would never play it again. + +On August 14th, the Richings-Bernard Opera Company played one night. +Played again on the 16th. On the following night, the 15th, Tony +Pastor with a fine vaudeville company, gave a great show the first +company of that kind to cross the continent and play in the Salt Lake +Theatre. He had a packed house, for his show was a great novelty. + +It was a little surprising that with the love of the drama so +universal in Utah so few contributions to dramatic literature were +offered by local authors for representation on the stage. Those +thought worthy of presentation by the managers we have already +recorded. Mr. E. L. Sloan's "Osceola" (an Indian play), in which Julia +Dean and George Waldron played the leading characters, and his "Stage +and Steam," a later production, contrasting the old stage coach with +the locomotive methods and results. By far the most important local +contributions to the stage were the plays of Edward W. Tullidge: +"Eleanor de Vere," played by Julia Dean and stock company, "Ben +Israel" and "Oliver Cromwell," played by the local company. Now comes +John S. Lindsay with "Under One Flag," a drama of the Civil War. This +play was presented for the first time on September 13th and made so +favorable an impression as to hold the boards for three nights. It was +repeated on October 5th, during the conference season, and has been +played by the author and his company in nearly all the towns and +cities of the Northwest. These performances of "Under One Flag" +virtually closed the season of '76 and '77, which had run +intermittently all through the summer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SEASON OF '77-'78. + +On October 5th, the fall Conference was provided for. The house opened +for the season of '77 and '78 on this date with a reproduction of +"Under One Flag." The stock played through the Conference date, +reviving some of the old favorite plays, and continued playing until +November 12th. On November 14th The Kellogg-Cary Concert Company +opened a three nights' engagement and sang to big houses. Miss Louise +Kellogg was one of the greatest singers of her day, and Miss Cary was +equally popular, their concerts being very well patronized and highly +appreciated by the music lovers of Salt Lake. + +On November 23rd, Mrs. D. P. Bowers and Mr. "Jim" McCollom (who was +Mrs. Bowers' second husband) opened a week's engagement in +Giogametti's play of "Elizabeth," which was played for three nights, +and the week was filled out with "Lady Audley's Secret," "Married +Life" and "Camille." + +Mrs. Bowers was beyond question one of the greatest actresses our +country had ever produced. She was the first American actress to play +the character of Elizabeth. After Ristori, the great Italian actress, +had played this great character in a few of the principal cities of +our country only, Mrs. Bowers took it up and starred the country with +it, making a great success. + +Mr. James McCollom was a very efficient support to her in the +characters of Essex in "Elizabeth," Armand in "Camille" and Robert +Audley in "Lady Audley's Secret." Mrs. Bowers achieved her celebrity +as Mrs. Bowers and never changed her name to McCollom on the stage. +Mrs. Bowers was supported by the stock company in this engagement. + +On December 8th, J. K. Emmett opened a three nights' engagement in +"Fritz," supported by the stock. On December 20-21-22, The Lilliputian +Opera Company. Christmas Day the stock resumed operations and played +through the holidays and up to the 13th of the month; they were +temporarily retired again to make room for Ilma de Murska and her +concert company, who gave scenes from "II Trovatore," "Martha," +"Crispina," and other operas, remaining three nights, 15th to 17th, +inclusive. De Murski was not only a great singer but a great actress +as well, and her singing and acting were received with unusual +enthusiasm. + +January 18th and 19th, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Frayne were the attraction +in the play of "Si Slocum." Frayne "was the fellow who won renown" by +shooting an apple from his wife's head (a la William Tell), only +Frayne split the apple with a rifle bullet instead of an arrow. After +performing this and other dexterous feats with rifle and revolver many +hundreds of times without accident, he did it once too often; he +finally missed his aim and shot his wife dead. How confiding women +are! Poor Mrs. Frayne! Thank heaven that did not happen _here_! +Whether Frank ever found another woman so confident of his skill as to +hold that apple on her head, we know not and hope not. He had a bull +dog that played a star part in the show; he may have trained the dog +to hold the apple after his wife's awful fate. Sad to relate, the +stock company supported Mr. and Mrs. Frayne and the bull-dog. + +On the 22nd and 23rd, Mile. Rentz's female minstrels gave Salt Lake +another exhibition of musical extravaganza, the chief attraction being +the free and lavish display of beautiful female shapes. A whole +phalanx of voluptuous, rotund forms encased in a dazzling and +bewildering variety of colors--moving in splendid harmony--keeping +time, time, time, in a sort of runic rhyme. Why no wonder the +baldheads crowded into the front rows and outrivaled all other +spectators in applauding the bold and beautiful Amazons. + +On February 22nd the community having recovered somewhat from the +excitement of Amazonian marches, Rentz minstrel choruses, and the +bewildering effect of so much female beauty, the present writer having +accepted an offer to go to Denver to play a star engagement at the +Denver theatre, summoned sufficient courage to take a "farewell +benefit." The plays given on this occasion were "Evadne" and the farce +of "Nan, the Good-for-Nothing." Soon after the "benefit" the writer +departed for Denver, accompanied by Mr. Harry Emery, who had played +with him in the recent benefit bill and on some previous occasions; +his work being so satisfactory as to secure him an engagement in the +Denver company that was to support me. Denver at this time had but one +theatre; it was not nearly so large or so good a theatre as the Salt +Lake Theatre; in fact, Denver was not then (1878) as large a city as +Salt Lake. Nick Forrester was the manager, and his wife was the +"leading lady" of the company, and insisted on playing all the leading +lady parts whether suited to them or not. This caused Nick and the +company a whole lot of trouble as she was already fair, fat and forty, +and not suited to many of the parts. + +My opening bill was "Hamlet," and she was my Ophelia, much to my +dissatisfaction, as there was a juvenile lady in the company, Miss +Baker, who should have been cast for the part; but with a woman's +persistent inconsistency, in spite of my demurrer, she would be +Ophelia, and Miss Baker had to do the Queen, which she was quite as +unsuited to as Mrs. Forrester was for Ophelia. This was the "leading +lady's" reward: + +"Not all the artifices of the stage would suffice to make Mrs. +Forrester look young enough for Ophelia, or Miss Baker old enough for +the Queen."--Rocky Mountain News. + +After "Hamlet," "Richelieu" was given (my first appearance in the +character), then "Jack Cade," Bulwer's comedy of "Money" and my own +play, "Under One Flag." After filling in three more weeks with the +Forresters on their circuit, Mr. Joe Wallace, the comedian of Mr. +Forrester's company, made a contract with me to play me through the +state of Colorado, supported by the Forrester Stock Company. The +season was over in Denver, so we went _en tour_. Before the tour +ended we went to Leadville with teams from Canon City, and gave the +first dramatic performance ever given in Leadville. This was in the +summer of '78; the boom did not strike Leadville till '79. We were +there too early to do much in the theatrical way--the population was +not there. Emery and I got back to Salt Lake about the first of +August. The next attraction at the Salt Lake Theatre after "Evadne" +was the Union Square Theatre Company with Charley Thorne at the head +of it. On February 12th, this company opened in the Russian play, "The +Danicheffs," following it with "The Two Orphans" and "Pink Dominoes." +It was the foremost company of the time, and of course gave great +satisfaction. On February 22nd, Washington's Birthday was celebrated +by a big masquerade ball in the theatre, given by the L. H. B. +Society. This was a big affair, this masquerade. Hundreds of maskers +were on the floor and the grand march, led by our late lamented friend +Ned Wallin, and the writer, was a very fine pageant--and it was +altogether a very successful revel. + +Next came Fanny Louise Buckingham and her finely trained horse, James +Mellville. They starred in conjunction for three nights in the play of +"Mazeppa," supported by the stock company. This was the last +performance the writer took part in before leaving for his Denver +engagement. There was much more satisfaction in supporting Fanny and +her horse than there was in supporting Frayne and his bulldog. Fanny +was a beautiful creature, so also was her horse James; and although +Fanny couldn't act Mazeppa very well, James did his part splendidly, +and Fanny could stick on him in good shape, and James carried her +through all right. The following week we were in Denver together, she +playing, I rehearsing, so we saw a good deal of each other, and when +she parted from us at Denver, she had established a reputation among +us for a "jolly good fellow." She loved her horse James Mellville, and +she loved a jolly crowd. + +Next came J. Al. Sawtelle, who had been touring around in Utah and +Montana, and put his name up for a performance at the Salt Lake +Theatre. As he had only played there one season and had not been there +since '74, he was almost a stranger. He played "Rosedale" on March +2nd. On March 5th, Denman Thompson opened a three nights' engagement +in "Joshua Whitcomb." The 11th and 12th, Signor Eduardo Majeroni, a +very clever Italian actor, played "The Old Corporal" and "Jealousy." + +On the 14th, Ada Richmond opened for a week, supported by the stock, +which also supported the three preceding attractions. On April 4th, +5th and 6th, Haverly's minstrels filled the time, giving the +Conference visitors a taste of genuine minstrelsy. + +The last nights of Conference, 7th and 8th, were filled by the stock, +who kept it going until Oliver Doud Byron came in on the 15th and 16th +to crave their help "Across the Continent." On the 19th Frank C. +Bangs, one of the _big four_ in the "Julius Caesar" production at +Booth's theatre, gave a reading entertainment. Why he didn't give a +play I don't know, the same old reliable stock was here and had just +supported Oliver Doud Byron. The only reason I can assign is that he +hadn't time to stay. + +April 25th and 26th Ada Gray appeared in "Whose Wife?" and "Miss +Multon." + +May 2nd Prof. La Mar, leader of the Fort Douglas Band, gave a band +concert. La Mar was a very clever musician and had a fine band; he +deserved to be well patronized for he was very accommodating, and +volunteered the services of his band on numerous "benefit occasions." + +On the 7th and 8th Dick Roberts in "Humpty Dumpty;" 13th and 14th, Sol +Smith Russell and Rice's Evangeline combination. + +On the 27th and 28th Harrigan and Hart in "Doyle Brothers," "Old +Lavender" and "Sullivan's Christmas." + +June 14th and 15th, Salisbury's Troubadores. + +July 15th, Joseph Jefferson in "Rip Van Winkle." + +September 10th, Henry Ward Beecher in lecture, "Wastes and Burdens." +This was after the notorious Beecher-Tilton scandal and Henry had been +studying social economy. The Mormons didn't like Henry very much, but +he had a big house. + +September 12th and 13th, entertainments were given for the benefit of +the yellow fever sufferers in Memphis and vicinity. These +entertainments did not "pan out" very well, and the theatre managers +decided to get all the dramatic talent they could get to volunteer and +give a popular play, in hopes to materially increase the charity fund. +The "School for Scandal" was selected and given with a pretty strong +cast, embracing Miss Colebrook as Lady Teazle, David McKenzie as Sir +Peter, John T. Caine as Charles Surface, John S. Lindsay as Joseph +Surface. Phil Margetts and John C. Graham were in the cast, and a +number of others, I cannot remember. The play was given on September +16th, and netted a very tidy sum for the sufferers. + +On the 18th, 19th and 20th, Calender's Georgia minstrels held the +boards, and business was light. The writer and Harry Emery had but +recently returned from their Colorado tour, and both were anxious to +be doing something, so I got a cast together and put on "Richelieu," +which I had recently played in Denver, and received flattering notices +for, from the press of that city. I had given away my first appearance +for the "benefit" to the yellow fever sufferers, so there was no other +attraction than to see me in a new part and that did not prove +sufficient to save me from disaster. I had a losing game of it, the +receipts being some $75 less than the expenses of the performance. +This was the only time I ever failed to make something when I had +rented the theatre and taken chances, which was quite often. This +performance, given on the 25th of September, virtually closed the +season of '77 and '78. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SEASONS OF '78-'79 AND '80-'82. + + +The season of '78 and '79 was opened on October 4th by Haverly's +minstrels, who filled the night of the 5th also, when the stock +company stepped to the front once more, and filled out the remainder +of the Conference dates with the "Lancashire Lass" and the "Hidden +Hand." On the 23rd Susie Spencer was a beneficiary, playing "The +Little Rebel." Susie's life was not without a spice of romance, and +its chapter of sorrow. Susie Spencer was a very pretty little girl and +talented; the managers found her very useful in parts where her petite +stature was suited to the character, and such occasions were not +infrequent. Miss Spencer was progressing nicely in her art and had +already become a favorite with the patrons of the drama, when she met +her fate in the person of Mr. Ed Marden. Marden was one of the +Cogswell party who came from California by way of Southern Utah, and +waiting on Brigham Young, informed him they had received a revelation +(via the Planchette route) instructing them to come to Salt Lake and +join the Mormon Church, as it was the only true and authorized church. +The party were duly baptized and confirmed into the Church, and at +once installed as members of the stock company. Marden became on very +short acquaintance infatuated with the pretty Susie and laid siege to +her young and guileless heart with that adroitness and dexterity which +come from much experience, with the result that Susie soon became Mrs. +Marden. Marden was a member of the stock here all during the "Jimmy" +Harris regime. He and "Jimmy" were fast friends, they both came to +Utah Gentiles, joined the Church and married Mormon girls. Soon after +the close of the Harris management in '77, Marden drifted off and left +his Susie a heart-broken little woman. He was through with Utah, and +through with the Mormon Church, and through with his little Mormon +wife, and cast them all aside as he would a worn-out suit. He never +came back, and Susie, after a year or two of repining, found +consolation in the affections of a better man. She became the wife of +Mr. Rice, a well-to-do banker of the mining town of Frisco, Utah, +where she lived happily in her new alliance until a few years ago, +when she passed away from earth, still young in years. + +The next stellar attraction was Mrs. Scott Siddons, a niece of the +great Sarah Siddons, who appeared on November 22nd in a dramatic +recital; with what success the writer cannot tell, as he was away +again at this time. This lady had just closed a week's engagement at +Portland, Oregon, when I arrived there. I met her at the hotel before +her departure, and she impressed me as being an extraordinary woman +and a brilliant actress. + +December 25th, Nat Goodwin and Eliza Weatherby opened a four nights' +engagement in "Hobbies;" they gave on the following evenings "Under +the Rose" and "Cruets." This was Goodwin's first engagement in Salt +Lake. + +On January 10th and 11th, 1879, Alice Gates' Comic Opera Company +played to exceptionally large houses. + +Barney Macauley in "The Messenger from Jarvis Station" was the next +stellar attraction. + +There was a dearth of star attractions along about this time and the +stock company had plenty of time to fill in, but it had become so +depleted as to be unable to keep up the interest for more than two or +three nights at a time. + +On May 2nd, "Buffalo Bill," Col. Wm. F. Cody, gave an exhibition, +assisted by the stock company. He called it "A Knight of the Plains." +On May 8th, Annie Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden) and her daughter Maude, who +were in Salt Lake on a visit, created some interest in her +reappearance here, and that of Maude who on this occasion played her +first _speaking part_ in Salt Lake. Miss Adams assisted by the stock +(what remained of it) and some amateurs, gave on the 8th, "A Woman of +the People." This was the old French play of "Madeline, the Belle of +the Faubourg," which Julia Dean had played some years before. Like +many another good play since, it was made to do double duty by +appearing under a new title. For the second night's bill, the comedy +of "Stepmother" and the farce of "Little Susie" were given. In the +farce Little Maude played the name part, "Little Susie." Maude was +then six years and six months old, and had already played several +parts in San Francisco, the most notable one, Little Adrienne in "A +Celebrated Case," which she played in the Baldwin production of the +play, and afterwards in Portland with John Maguire's production of it, +for which she and her mother were especially engaged. Afterwards with +the Maguire company _en tour_ through Oregon and Washington, when +"Little Maude" was featured in "The Case" and also in "Ten Nights in a +Bar Room," her mother and the writer playing the leading roles in +these plays. This second bill was repeated on the 10th inst., the +probability being that Maude had caught the public favor at that early +day. + +The next attraction of note was Lawrence Barrett, who opened on July +8th (midsummer nights--no dream) for four nights, opening play +"Richelieu" followed by "Hamlet," "A New Play" and "Julius Caesar." +How the fastidious and exacting Barrett managed to cast these great +plays here has never been explained to me. He must have carried his +principal support with him. + +In the fall of this year Miss Annie Adams revived "The Two Orphans" +with a complete cast of amateurs, excepting herself and Jimmy Harris. +The cast included Mr. Laron Cummings as the Chevalier, Heber M. Wells +as the Doctor, Orson Whitney as Jacques, John D. Spencer as Pierre, +John T. White as Picard, W. T. Harris played Frochard, which fact +certainly denoted a great paucity of female talent here about that +time. Annie Adams played Louise and Delia Clawson, Heriette, which is +as much of the cast as we can gather from Miss Adams' own account of +this performance. So successful was the performance as a whole and so +meritorious the acting of the numerous debutants on this occasion that +Mr. Bud Whitney who was managing the business end of the affair, +proposed the organization of a "Home Club," which should comprise all +of the amateurs who had taken part in "The Two Orphans." The +proposition was readily adopted by those concerned, and out of this +sprang "The Home Dramatic Club." The time was most opportune, for +there was a dearth of dramatic attractions at the time; the old stock +had dwindled until there were but a few of its members left in Salt +Lake, and some new blood and talent was needed to give renewed +interest to home productions. "The Home Dramatic Club," with great +prudence and foresight, secured the ensuing April Conference dates on +which to make their initial bow to the Utah public. It was a good long +time to wait but they were sure of big results in a financial way, and +it gave them plenty of time in which to perfect themselves in their +opening play, which was "The Romance of a Poor Young Man." It was a +good selection, well suited to the young people, and scored a success; +only the older people in the community could remember George +Pauncefort opening in the same play in 1864, and scoring a great +triumph. The club had large and friendly audiences and their +introductory play was pronounced a genuine success, both artistically +and financially. It could not be otherwise than a good paying +proposition, as Conference nights are always a harvest time for the +theatre. So well encouraged were they that the club continued in the +business of playing _occasionally_, whenever they could secure +favorable dates, such as Conferences and other holiday times, for a +number of years. "The Home Dramatic Club" averaged about three or four +plays a year during their career of about ten years. The club being +more of a society affair than a professional theatre company, they +picked their times and opportune ones, and playing so seldom they +never were subjected to the tasks in study and rehearsals and dramatic +work which characterized the busy years of the old stock company. It +was a talented company, however, and no doubt could have made good +under different and more exacting conditions. + +In March, 1881, the writer was back in Salt Lake after a two years' +absence, principally in Portland and San Francisco. On my return there +was nothing doing in the theatrical line. The "club" had been +organized nearly a year, yet had given only a very few plays. There +was a dearth of theatricals, and the writer with the acquiescence and +assistance of Mr. Clawson, who was again manager of the theatre, got +up occasional performances with such assistance as he could procure. +The first of these was "A Celebrated Case," in which he had the +assistance of Manager Clawson's daughters, Miss Edith Clawson and Mrs. +Ardelle Cummings. Other performances were given in connection with +David McKenzie, Philip Margetts and John C. Graham, with such support +as we could muster from the depleted ranks of the old stock, and what +new aspirants were in the field for dramatic honors. The "gallery +gods" honored the three gentlemen and myself with the somewhat +flattering appellation of the _big four_, the same title the New +Yorkers bestowed on Booth, Barrett, Davenport and Bangs when these +four stars formed the great constellation in the play of "Julius +Caesar." These performances, however, like those of "The Home +Dramatic," were few and far between, and to a person depending on +acting for a livelihood, did not prove very remunerative. + +About this time another project which interested the writer hove into +view. Dr. D. Banks McKenzie, a temperance lecturer and reformer, had +succeeded after a considerable effort in organizing a temperance club +in Salt Lake City (a prodigious task to accomplish at that time). He +had succeeded in raising a fund of some thirty thousand dollars in +contributions towards the erection of a first-class lecture hall, with +library, and various other nice accommodations for the society. The +Walkers Brothers had contributed a building site where the Atlas block +now stands, 50x100 feet. This was put in at $13,000, making nearly +one-half of the $30,000 contributed. On being informed by one of the +Walker Brothers of what was projected, the writer with some +self-interest suggested that inasmuch as they were going to put up a +building of such size and cost, that they might just as well make it a +little larger, and make a theatre of it; that a theatre would answer +all the purposes of the proposed hall, and often rent when the hall +would not. The idea grew with them, and the Walker Grand Opera House +was the result. It occupied a year in building. It was opened on June +5th, 1882, with a vocal and instrumental concert, with Prof. George +Careless as conductor. As a matter of historical interest and to show +the musical status of Salt Lake at that time, a copy of the opening +program is here appended. + + OPENING OF THE WALKER GRAND OPERA HOUSE. + + Monday Evening, June 5th, 1882. + + Lessee ................................ D. Banks McKenzie + Manager ................................. John S. Lindsay + + PROGRAM. + + 1. Overture--"William Tell" ..................... Rossini + 2. Quartette--"The Night Before the Battle" ....... White + + Misses Olsen and Richards, Messrs. Whitney and Spencer. + + 3. Flute Solo--"Concert Polka" .................. Rudolph + + Mr. George Hedger. + + 4. Aria--Il Profeta ........................... Meyerbeer + + Mrs. J. Leviburg. + + 5. Selection Favorite ......................... Donozetti + + Orchestra. + + INTERMISSION. + + 6. Overture--Pique Dame ........................... Suppe + + 7. Aria--E. Puritane ............................ Belline + + Mr. Robert Gorlinske. + + 8. Piano Solo--Trovatore ..................... Gottschalk + + Mrs. Helen Wells. + + 9. Song--"My Own Dearest Child" ..................... Abt + + Mrs. George Careless. + + 10. Selection ........................................... + + Croxall's Silver Band. + + Conductor ......................... Prof. George Careless + + Thursday, June 8th--For Three Nights. Louis Aldrich Company in his + very successful play, "MY PARTNER." Superb Star Company. + +In the spring of '82, when the Walker was approaching completion, Dr. +McKenzie hied him to New York to secure attractions for the new +theatre, for the erstwhile temperance lecturer had developed into the +sole lessee and manager of a $100,000 theatre. He had already chosen +me to attend to the local management, for which I was to have 5 per +cent of the gross proceeds of everything we played there, with the +privilege of getting up local performances in the interims. I had +worked eleven months, superintending the construction of the building +and was quite in favor. "Doc" was very successful in securing +attractions, his somewhat extravagant and florid descriptions of the +Walker Grand, as they chose to christen it, and its superiority to the +old theatre, caught the agents and managers, and he secured so many of +the attractions going to the coast the ensuing season that he +virtually had the Salt Lake Theatre out of business. + +The first dramatic performance given in the Walker was the Louis +Aldrich Company in "My Partner." The house was well filled but not +crowded; there was a very strong prejudice against the Walker among +the Mormon part of the community, and a malicious report to the effect +that the galleries were not safe was put in circulation with a view to +injure the new theatre. Such mischievous whisperings, however, only +had a temporary effect. + +One of the earliest attractions at "The Walker" was Haverly's +minstrels, and the house was crowded to its utmost capacity; as the +galleries did not give way on that occasion, the reports which had +been so industriously circulated were seen to be "a weak invention of +the enemy." + +The new house continued to get the attractions to such an extent, that +the Salt Lake Theatre was virtually out of the swim. This was +accomplished by Dr. McKenzie putting The Walker under the direction of +Jack Haverly. Haverly at the time was one of the foremost managers of +the country. He controlled more companies and theatres than any one in +the field of amusement; so he booked everything in his control at The +Walker, and the house during his _regime_ was called Haverly's Walker +Grand Opera House. "What's in a name?" In theatrical business much; it +is everything. So serious indeed was the situation for the Salt Lake +theatre that Mr. David McKenzie, who was at this time the acting +manager of the house, found it necessary to go to San Francisco and +have a business interview with Mr. Fred Bert, who was Haverly's San +Francisco manager. + +The result of his visit was an agreement on the part of Haverly to +play his attractions alternately between the two theatres, thus giving +the Salt Lake theatre one-half of their Salt Lake bookings. In the +agreement it was stipulated that the Salt Lake Theatre must also float +the Haverly flag, and while this contract lasted the old house was +called "Haverly's Salt Lake Theatre." Here was an interesting +situation; both theatres flying the Haverly flag. Haverly's name at +the head of every bill and program. It was not at all pleasing to the +Mormon people to have their theatre, in which they took so much pride, +pass under the direction and management of a Gentile manager. Many of +them didn't know but what Haverly had bought it. The Walker Brothers +did not relish the idea either of their house being called Haverly's; +but such were the exigencies of the theatrical business. To the Walker +it was a great advantage, as without Haverly's prestige the new house +would have had a hard time in getting first-class attractions. + +These circumstances go to show what an immense influence Jack Haverly +wielded in the theatrical business of this country at that time. He +was almost as potent then as Klaw & Erlanger of the syndicate are +today. These conditions did not last very long, as the managers and +agents came to learn that the Salt Lake Theatre was the only one that +the Mormon people would patronize, and they being so largely in a +majority of the theatre-goers, the older theatre gradually won back +the great bulk of the traveling combinations, and the Haverly +agreement having expired, his flag was hauled down, much to the relief +of a great many, to whom it had always seemed a reproach to have +_Brigham Young's_ Theatre called Haverly's. Jack Haverly had too many +irons in the fire; his numerous theatrical enterprises were managed by +a corps of lieutenants, too numerous for Mr. Haverly to keep in line. +Some of them proved shrewder, more adroit, and less principled than +their general. He trusted them too implicitly, and this was his +undoing. Some of them managed his enterprises into their own hands, +while he was giving his personal attention very largely to his mining +interests. These, too, turned out disastrously, and Haverly's star, +which had been so prominent and bright in the theatrical firmament, +began to wane and in a very few years was totally eclipsed. After all +his great enterprises, he became a bankrupt in 1898, and he died poor +in 1901 in a Salt Lake Hospital. He was reduced in health and +circumstances to such a degree as to be unable during the last year of +his life to manage even a minstrel company, and others paid him for +the use of his name. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +Retrospectively considered, the building of the Walker Opera House was +premature. There was one good theatre here, and not half enough of +business for that one; but it served to enliven things for a little +while, and did its share toward liberalizing and metropolitanizing +Salt Lake City. The Walker had a brief and rather checkered career; it +was destroyed by fire on July 4th, 1891, after a performance of "Held +by the Enemy." The audience were all home and the company had left the +theatre; the stage hands were lowering a drop, when a gust of wind +blew open the front door and sent the drop sailing against a gas jet; +in a moment it was all ablaze. The stage hands lost their heads and +made for the exit, when a little presence of mind would have saved the +building. The house, especially the stage, was well provided with +water plugs and hose, and it seems incredible that any effort was made +to extinguish the fire. + +Mr. Will Burgess was manager at the time it burned down. It is a +remarkable fact that two other fine theatres burned under this same +gentleman's management within a few years afterward. The Farnham +Street Theatre of Omaha, where a number of lives were lost, and The +Auditorium of Kansas City. Notwithstanding these very serious +drawbacks, Mr. Burgess is one of the wealthy managers of the West +today. + +After the burning of "The Walker," Malloy's Livery Stable, directly +opposite the Walker, was converted into a theatre, when it was decided +to build an office block on the ruins of the Walker. For some time it +was known as "Wonderland," and was a two storied show; the upper story +being a sort of curiosity shop--or Wonderland with specialties and the +lower story having a small stage was devoted to vaudeville, and short +plays. Afterwards the two stories were thrown into one room, and +converted into a theatre with capacity for about six hundred people. +It was called the Lyceum. Here a stock company was run for about a +year with varying fortune. Some actors who have since won high places +in their professions were members of this stock, notably Charles +Richman, Ed Hayes, Victory Bateman. + +The Lyceum soon went into a decline struggled along for a few years +against adverse fortune and finally yielded up the ghost. It was +transformed into a handsome saloon and wholesale liquor house, from +which a greater revenue is derived than it yielded as a theatre. +Before the Lyceum went out of commission as a theatre another +theatrical venture was launched. This was the Grand. This theatre was +built (or partly so) by Mr. Frank Maltese and Mr. "Brig" Pyper. The +story of how they projected, planned and built this theatre is told as +follows: "Brig" and "Frank" made a winning in a "policy drawing." They +held between them a one-fourth interest in a fifty-dollar policy +ticket. In a sporty manner they bantered each other as to what they +should do with their big winning of $12.50. One was in favor of +reinvesting it in the next policy drawing, the other for trying their +luck at the "faro-bank." Finally, in a lurid flash of imagination one +(which one we don't remember, but we believe it was Frank), exclaimed: +"Let's build an Opera House with it." The idea was so absurd, they had +a good laugh over it; but the thought took hold of them, and one of +them suggested, "Let's figure up and see _how much more_ it will +take." So on the back of the policy ticket they figured up roughly +what it would take in addition to their winnings to build "The Grand." +The result was no doubt staggering; but undismayed they went about to +see how they could accomplish such a herculean task. They owned some +property, or their folks did, and this they decided to put in jeopardy +in order to carry out their designs. They secured the building site, +and got the walls up and the roof on--and then they were stuck. They +had reached the end of their financial tether, and were forced to stop +until they could make some new deal by which to complete the building. +Mr. Alec Rogers was the party who now came to the front and put up +some $16,000 to complete the building. We don't know just how much +interest the boys Maltese and Pyper had remaining in it when the +theatre was completed, but we opine it was little if any. The Grand +opened with the house in the possession of Alex. Rogers and sons, and +John Rogers was installed as the manager. He secured a very good +company for the opening, announcing a season of stock performances. +The house was opened on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1894. The +personnel of the company was as follows: Jane Kennark, Blanche Bates, +Madge Carr Cook, Jean Coy, Howard Kyle, Tim Frawley, Charles King, +Harry Corson Clarke, H. D. Blackmore, Fred Fjaders, Mr. Mannery. The +opening play was "Moths." It was a good performance, and the company +made a very favorable impression. The axiom that "A new broom sweeps +well" had a number of exemplifications in this theatre. It was so with +this first company, notwithstanding it was a talented and capable one. +After it had been seen in a few plays, and the _novelty_ of the new +house, miscalled "The Grand," was over, business began to drop off and +it was more than the manager could do to keep ahead with the expensive +company he had. + +Why this theatre was called "The Grand" we were never able to divine, +as it was at the opening positively severe in its plainness. There is +a great tendency in our country to buncombe, aside from the genuine +patriotism that exists in it; this tendency leads many of our fellow +citizens into silly extravagances, especially is this noticeable in +the naming of theatres, hotels and restaurants; more particularly is +this the case in the small towns. A man opens a little restaurant +scarcely big enough to accommodate a dozen persons, and everything in +it of the plainest and commonest kind, and he dubs it the "Palace" +restaurant. "Opera House" is a much abused appellation. Nearly every +insignificant, dingy, dismal, inconvenient, and homely theatre and +hall throughout the land is dubbed Opera House. It is a dreadful +misnomer--inconsistent and absurd in three-fourths of the houses to +which it is applied. "The Theatre" is dignified enough and much more +consistent and suitable. "The Grand" during the ten years of its +existence has had a checkered career. We doubt if any of its half +dozen different managers have made it pay. The first company, as +already stated, was found to be too expensive, the business would not +sustain the heavy salary list, not only was the salary list large, but +Mr. Frawley made a demand for a percentage of the receipts in +addition. This sprung a disagreement, and the company was after about +four or five weeks superseded by another less expensive. The Rogers +management was able, liberal and intent on giving the public +satisfaction. After a fair trial of the business, lasting three years, +they disposed of the house on a lease to Mr. Garvey of pageantry fame, +who spent a few hundred he had made on the "Pioneer Carnival" on the +house in the way of improvements, and then called it "The New Grand." +_Ad captandiun vulgas_. + +Garvey's reign was brief and unprofitable. Then Mr. Martin Mulvey took +a swing at it, and made things lively for two seasons, but the +supposition is that he did not make money with it or he would not have +given up the lease. The last management, Messrs. Jones and Hammer, +have seemingly had the most prosperous time with the house; they have +profited by the experience of their predecessors, and yet it appears +they have not realized their expectations, and so have re-leased the +house to Denver parties. + +Having brought the history of the Salt Lake Theatre through the first +twenty years of its existence up to the time when the stock company +was altogether disbanded, owing to the fact that the combination +system had come so fully into vogue as to displace the stock system +all over the country, I shall not attempt to give its history after +this time, as my connection with it had altogether ceased. I shall +only add that for the past twenty-three years it has kept the even +tenor of its way, under able managers (notably Mr. Charles R. Burton +and later George Pyper), playing the leading attractions of the +country to a splendid patronage, keeping up the reputation of Salt +Lake as "the best show town of its population in the world." + +More than twenty years ago several attempts were made to establish a +vaudeville theatre in this city; two houses were built at different +times for the purpose, but they were short-lived, dying out for lack +of patronage. Within the last three years, however, the city's +population having greatly increased, no less than four have been +started here, two of which survive and seem to be doing well. + +During the early years of the drama in Utah, several of the towns +besides Salt Lake had very talented companies. Provo, Springville, +Ogden, Brigham City, and St. George each had fairly good theatres and +many very capable players. It is somewhat remarkable, however, that +out of the hundreds of persons who have "gone on the stage" in Utah, +so few have drifted into the profession and left their homes to follow +it; the percentage is very small. Miss Sarah Alexander was the first +to drift off, and although she has not made much stir on the stage +herself, she has chaperoned her niece Miss Lisle Leigh to fine +success. Mr. James M. Hardie was the next to break away; then Miss +Anne Adams, Mr. Logan Paul and the writer complete the list so far as +the Salt Lake Stock Company is concerned. Later Miss Ada Dwyer and Mr. +DeWitt Jennings. This is accounted for by the fact that, much as the +Mormons love the theatre, they love their homes and their religion +better. The theatre is a pleasant pastime with them, but the staying +at home and building up of their kingdom is a religious duty, and +unless they are "called on a mission," they prefer to stay with home +and Church. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +CONCLUSION. + + +A few reflections on the theatre and its work in concluding this +little history may not be out of place. + +The cultivation and progress of the drama in connection with its +kindred arts, poesy and painting, marks the progress of civilization, +culture and refinement at any given period in any country. Without the +aid of the theatre and the actors' art, the great majority of mankind +would remain in ignorance as to the works of the most gifted writers; +without those great reflectors of human thought, how many thousands +there have been and are who never would have heard or read the plays +of Shakespeare and other writers of genius, but who, by the assistance +of the actor's delineations, have become familiar with the most +sublime and beautiful thoughts and sentiments that adorn our language. +I make mention particularly of Shakespeare's plays, as they are beyond +all question the greatest and grandest compositions ever written. +Among the thousands of plays that have been written during and since +the great dramatic renaissance of Elizabeth's reign, they still stand +out incomparable as models _par excellence_ of dramatic composition, +challenging competition, and as yet unrivaled after a lapse of more +than three centuries. + +That the stage is a great factor in our modern civilization, for the +education of the people, no reading, reflecting person would attempt +to deny. It is true that some pernicious things occasionally creep in +that would be better suppressed, but they are rare and exceptional. +The great bulk of dramatic entertainment is uplifting in its +tendencies. The infinite variety of plays presented, showing human +life in all conditions, and under every variety of circumstances, can +not be otherwise than educational in effect upon those who witness +them. However crude or devoid of literary merit a play may be, there +seldom is one, however bald in plot or uninteresting in sentiment, but +what "points a moral and adorns a tale." + +In Shakespeare's day the theatre was even more or an educational +institution than it is today. Books were scarce in that age, and the +newspapers were an undiscovered medium of information, so that plays +(especially historical plays) possessed a wonderful interest for the +masses, who had little chance for schooling or the acquirement of +knowledge from books. + +The old chronicles and legends were freely used by the dramatists of +the Elizabethan era, and the incidents of history were made so +familiar to the habitues of the theatre that the common people +acquired a good knowledge of history by witnessing the representation +of those plays. To illustrate how much this was the case, Ben Jonson +tells the story of a fellow who, having been taken to task on some +question of history and the accuracy of his position being assailed +and the authenticity of his assertions being called in question, +replied by way of defense: "No, I confess I had it not from the +histories but from the play books, and consider them the more +authentic." + +Many dramas have been written (and more especially by the poets) +without perhaps having in view their exploitation on the stage, but +like their other poetry, to be read, suitable only for the library, +more poetical than dramatic. + +Such are the plays of Byron, Shelley, Keats, Moore, and others. A +still greater number have been written solely for acting purposes; and +the majority of these may not lay claim to any permanent abiding place +in literature. Others still are admirably adapted to both the library +and the stage. Such are the plays of Sheridan, Knowles, Bulwer, +Schiller, Kotzebue, and later of Heinrick Ibsen. Of such a character +also are the plays of our gifted Salt Lake dramatist, the late Edward +W. Tullidge. The present-day theatre-goers have little time to indulge +in the reading of plays. The overwhelming mass of reading matter +thrown from the press, keeps the general reader busy to keep abreast +of the current literature of our times. So that plays form no part of +the world's reading matter; here and there is one, some stagestruck +soul who loves to get hold of and read a play, but the vast majority +are content to let the actors read the plays for them, preferring to +witness the acting of them. It is a fact and a very gratifying one +that Shakespeare's plays are about the only ones that are read +nowadays, and these are by no means so universally read as they should +be. The masses have not time for reading Shakespeare, or other +dramatists, so it is a fortunate thing for them that the theatres are +so popular and accessible; here, they can hear the thoughts and +sentiments, and see in literal action the characters of both ancient +and modern times, and gather from the mimic scene suggestions of the +tremendous throes and struggles through which the human race has +passed. + +During the forty-three years that the Salt Lake Theatre has been in +existence, an almost infinite variety of plays have been presented and +thousands of actors (as infinite in variety as the plays) have +"strutted and fretted their brief hour upon its stage" and now are +heard no more. It is a solemn reflection that in all probability more +than three-fourths of all who have trod the stage of this theatre, +both local and transient actors, in less than half a century of +existence are "heard no more." The voices that have thrilled us, the +animated and beautified forms that have called forth our admiration +and praise, are stilled forever by the chilling touch of death; +genius, mediocrity, incompetency, all alike go down, and the greatest +names in a few brief years are forgotten; so transitory is the actor's +fame. Yet it is not more so perhaps than that of other professions, +and certainly not quite so much of a "will o' the wisp" as "seeking +the bubble reputation in the cannon's mouth." + +Out of the multitudinous dramatic pictures that have been presented on +the stage of this theatre during its forty-three years of existence, +it is interesting to know which stand out in bold relief. We need not +hesitate to reply, the plays of Shakespeare, and those that are +nearest akin to them, such as Bulwer's "Richelieu," Knowles' +"Virginius," Banim's "Damon and Pythias." The Irish plays of Dion +Boucicault, "Colleen Bawn," "Arrah Na Pogue," "Shaugraun," "Kerry," +and even his "London Assurance," made very strong impressions, were +very popular, and made money both for actors and managers. So with +many other plays we might cite; but compared with Shakespeare's plays +they have proven to be short-lived and their fame but transitory. They +have never found a permanent abiding place in the world of literature. + +There is a strange, a marvelous thing in connection with the plays of +Shakespeare. In his day the theatre was not popular, as it is in our +times. The religionists held it in reprobation; actors were looked +upon by the good church people as little better than vagabonds, and +the occupation of play writing was scarcely reputable. The Globe +Theatre, the best there was in London at that time, was little better +than a barn. The art of scene painting was unknown. Candles were the +best artificial light they had, all the accessories of the stage were +of the most primitive description. The art of costuming plays was +crude in the extreme, and woefully inadequate and incorrect. In short, +the facilities for staging plays were poor, extremely poor, as +compared with those of our own time. The greatest drawback of all +however was this. They had no women on the stage; all those beautiful +female characters of Shakespeare's were impersonated by men. Woman had +not yet asserted her independence and equality with man in this domain +of art; and yet under these most adverse conditions, _the greatest +plays the world has ever seen were written_. Three centuries have +winged their flight into the past, and in all that time no other +dramatist has arisen that can rival Shakespeare. The popularity of the +theatre and the actor's art have steadily grown since his time until +in our own day we have the most costly and elaborate theatres. In +every city, and almost every town of the civilized world, there is +some sort of a theatre; many of them are truly _temples_ of the +Thespian art; invention has racked its brains to supply original and +costly adjuncts to the drama in the way of scenery and mechanical +devices; realism has run mad in its efforts to produce novel illusions +and startling stage effects. Woman has long since demonstrated her +equality with man in the arena of dramatic art, and for more than two +centuries she has adorned the stage with her beauty, grace and +talents. There is an eager and expectant world of theatregoers waiting +for some new genius to come forth and give to the stage another halo, +to shed a radiance over its flickering lights, and fill the world with +wonder and delight; but alas! no other Shakespeare has arisen; with +the models he gave before them, in three centuries no dramatist has +arisen that could write a "Hamlet," a "Macbeth," or a "Lear;" nothing +in all that time to equal "Romeo and Juliet," "As You Like It," or +"The Merchant of Venice." + +There have been hundreds of playwrights since Shakespeare's time, +thousands of plays have been written, the greater portion of them +worthless to the stage, but a great number of excellent playwrights +have flourished since then, and their plays have had a greater or less +degree of success. We will just instance a few of the most successful +ones. Otway wrote "Venice Preserved;" Massinger, "A New Way to Pay Old +Debts;" Addison his "Cato," Goethe his "Faust;" Schiller "The +Robbers;" Kotzebue, "The Stranger;" Bellinghousen, "Ingomar;" +Sheridan, "The School of Scandal," "Pizarro" and "The Rivals;" +Knowles, "The Hunchback," "Virginius" and "William Tell;" John Howard +Payne, "Brutus;" Bulwer, "The Lady of Lyons," "Richelieu" and "Money;" +Dr. Bird, "The Gladiator;" Judge Conrad, "Jack Cade;" George F. Boker, +"Francisca de Rimini." I might instance many others, but these will +suffice tor my purpose. Now these are all noble productions, and have +won fame and money for both authors and actors; but it is questionable +if any of them will live indefinitely. Already many of the plays I +have named are waning in the dramatic firmament; some of them have +already set. Why is it, let us ask. What is there in Shakespeare's +plays that lifts them so far above the average of merit and sets them +on a plane so distinctively their own? Other authors have certainly +equaled Shakespeare in erudition, have even excelled him in the +description of the sublime and terrible, surpassed him in glowing +pictures of supernatural imagery. Why, then, does the world attach so +much importance to the work of Shakespeare? Why are they so highly +prized? It is because Shakespeare was the grand High Priest of Nature! +He got closer to the human heart than any and all other authors. To +him nature was an open book, and he was so thoroughly in love with it, +that he left no page unturned or unobserved; from the primer page or +the humblest creations of nature's lavish hand up through the +countless and variegated specimens of her handiwork to the crowning +production of her creative power, _man_--this son of genius penetrated +all her secrets, delved all her depths, scaled her loftiest heights. +The heart of man, that secret repository of so many contending +passions; that cradle where the affections are rocked into life; that +fountain whence so many varying emotions spring, that sea o'er which +are swept the multitudinous passions of life, was also to him an open +page; the last and greatest chapter in nature's wonderful volume. He +understood life in all its phases. + +No plays afford greater opportunity for scenic splendor than +Shakespeare's, yet none are less dependent on the adjuncts of scenery +and outward realism. Shakespeare put his realism into his characters +and no inadequate surroundings can rob them of their wondrous charms; +they possess such range of mental vision, such tremendous power of +thought, such depth and placidity, such glowing imagination; his +characters are living, breathing, speaking types of the age in which +they lived, and he their creator stands out wholly beyond question or +dispute, the most transcendent genius our earth has ever produced. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mormons and the Theatre, by John S. Lindsay + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORMONS AND THE THEATRE *** + +***** This file should be named 35565.txt or 35565.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/6/35565/ + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. 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