{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35565/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35565","id":"gutenberg_35565","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35565","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saints","Theater -- Utah -- History"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by the Mormon Texts Project,\nhttp://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Eric Heaps\nwith a little help from Benjamin Bytheway and Ben Crowder.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n_The_ Mormons _and the_ Theatre\n\nOR\n\n_The History of Theatricals in Utah_\n\nWith Reminiscences and Comments\nHumorous and Critical\n\n\n_By_ JOHN S. LINDSAY\n\n\nSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH\n1905\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\nIn rather sharp contrast to other Christian denominations, the Mormons\nbelieve in and are fond of dancing and the theatre. So much is this\nthe case that Friday evening of each week during the amusement season\nis set apart by them in all the settlements throughout Mormondom for\ntheir dance night. Their dances are generally under the supervision of\nthe presiding bishop and are invariably opened with prayer or\ninvocation, and closed or dismissed in the same manner, with a brief\nreturn of thanks to the Almighty for the good time they have enjoyed.\n\nThe theatre is so popular among the Mormon people, that in almost\nevery town and settlement throughout their domains there is an amateur\ndramatic company.\n\nIt is scarcely to be wondered at that Salt Lake has the enviable\ndistinction of being the best show town of its population in the\nUnited States, and when we say that, we may as well say in the whole\nworld. It is a well established fact that Salt Lake spends more money\nper capita in the theatre than any city in our country.\n\nSuch a social condition among a strictly religious people is not\nlittle peculiar, and is due, largely, to the fact that Brigham Young\nwas himself fond of the dance and also of the theatre. He could \"shake\na leg\" with the best of them, and loved to lead the fair matrons and\nmaidens of his flock forth into its giddy, bewildering mazes. Certain\nround dances, the waltz and polka, were always barred at dances\nBrigham Young attended, and only the old-fashioned quadrilles and\ncotillions and an occasional reel like Sir Roger de Coverly or the\nMoney Musk were tolerated by the great Mormon leader.\n\nThat Brigham Young was fond of the theatre also, and gave great\nencouragement to it, his building of the Salt Lake Theatre was a\nstriking proof. He recognized the natural desire for innocent\namusement, and the old axiom \"All work and no play makes Jack a dull\nboy,\" had its full weight of meaning to him. Keep the people in a\npleasurable mood, then they will not be apt to brood and ponder over\nthe weightier concerns of life.\n\nThere may have been a stroke of this policy in Brigham Young's\namusement scheme; but whether so or not he must be credited with both\nwisdom and liberality, for the policy certainly lightened the cares\nand made glad the hearts of the people.\n\nAlthough Salt Lake City has been the chief nursery of these twin\nsources of amusement for the Mormon people, to find the cradle in\nwhich they were first nursed into life, we will have to go back to a\ntime and place anterior to the settlement of Salt Lake. Back in the\ndays of Nauvoo, before Brigham Young was chief of the Mormon church,\nunder the rule of its original prophet, Joseph Smith, the Mormon\npeople were encouraged in the practice of dancing and going to witness\nplays. Indeed, the Mormons have always been a fun-loving people; it is\nrecorded of their founder and prophet that he was so fond of fun that\nhe would often indulge in a foot race, or pulling sticks, or even a\nwrestling match. He often amazed and sometimes shocked the\nsensibilities of the more staid and pious members of his flock by his\nantics.\n\nBefore the Mormons ever dreamed of emigrating to Utah (or Mexico, as\nit was then), they had what they called a \"Fun Hall,\" or theatre and\ndance hall combined, where they mingled occasionally in the merry\ndance or sat to witness a play. Then, as later in Salt Lake, their\nprophet led them through the mazy evolutions of the terpsichorean\nnumbers and was the most conspicuous figure at all their social\ngatherings.\n\nWhile building temples and propagating their new revelation to the\nworld, the Mormons have always found time to sing and dance and play\nand have a pleasant social time, excepting, of course, in their days\nof sore trial. Indeed, they are an anomaly among religious sects in\nthis respect, and that is what has made Salt Lake City proverbially a\n\"great show town.\"\n\nMormonism during the Nauvoo days had numerous missionaries in the\nfield and many converts were added to the new faith. Among others that\nwere attracted to the modern Mecca to look into the claims of the new\nevangel, was Thomas A. Lyne, known more familiarly among his\ntheatrical associates as \"Tom\" Lyne.\n\nLyne, at this time, 1842, was an actor of wide and fair repute, in the\nvery flush of manhood, about thirty-five years of age. He had played\nleading support to Edwin Forrest, the elder Booth, Charlotte Cushman,\nEllen Tree (before she became Mrs. Charles Kean), besides having\nstarred in all the popular classic roles. Lyne was the second actor in\nthe United States to essay the character of Bulwer's Richelieu--Edwin\nForrest being the first.\n\nThe story of \"Tom\" Lyne's conversion to the Mormon faith created quite\na sensation in theatrical circles of the time, and illustrates the\ngreat proselyting power the elders of the new religion possessed.\n\nLyne, when he encountered Mormonism, was a skeptic, having outgrown\nbelief in all of the creeds. It was in 1841 that George J. Adams, a\nbrother-in-law of Lyne's, turned up suddenly in Philadelphia (Lyne's\nhome) where he met the popular actor and told him the story of his\nconversion to the Mormon faith. Adams had been to Nauvoo, met the\nprophet and become one of his most enthusiastic disciples. Adams had\nbeen an actor, also, of more than mediocre ability, and as a preacher\nproved to be one of the most brilliant and successful expounders of\nthe new religion. Elder Adams had been sent as a missionary to\nPhiladelphia in the hope that his able exposition of the new evangel\nwould convert that staid city of brotherly love to the new and\neverlasting covenant.\n\nIn pursuance of the New Testament injunction, the Mormon missionaries\nare sent out into their fields of labor without purse or scrip, so\nElder Adams, on arriving at his field of labor, lost no time in\nhunting up his brother-in-law, \"Tom\" Lyne, to whom he related with\ndramatic fervor and religious enthusiasm the story of his wonderful\nconversion, his subsequent visit to Nauvoo, his meeting with the young\n\"Mohammed of the West,\" for whom he had conceived the greatest\nadmiration, as well as a powerful testimony of the divinity of his\nmission.\n\nAdams was so convincing and made such an impression on Lyne that he at\nonce became greatly interested in the Mormon prophet and his new\nrevelation. This proved to be a great help to Elder Adams, who was\nentirely without \"the sinews of war\" with which to start his great\ncampaign.\n\nThe brothers-in-law put their heads together in council as to how the\ncampaign fund was to be raised, and the result was that they decided\nto rent a theatre, get a company together, and play \"Richard III\" for\na week. Lyne was a native of Philadelphia and at this time one of its\nmost popular actors. It was here that Adams had met him a few years\nbefore and had given him his sister in marriage.\n\nThe theatrical venture was carried through, Lyne playing Richard and\nElder Adams, Richmond. The week's business, after paying all expenses,\nleft a handsome profit. Lyne generously donated his share to the new\ncause in which he had now grown so deeply interested and Elder Adams\nprocured a suitable hall and began his missionary labors. His eloquent\nexposition of the new and strange religion won many to the faith; one\nof the first fruits of his labors being the conversion of Thomas A.\nLyne.\n\nSuch an impression had Adams's description of the Mormon prophet and\nthe City of the Saints (Nauvoo) made upon Lyne that he could not rest\nsatisfied until he went and saw for himself. He packed up his wardrobe\nand took the road for Nauvoo. With a warm letter of introduction from\nElder Adams to the prophet, it was not long before Lyne was thoroughly\ningratiated in the good graces of the Mormon people. He met the\nprophet Joseph, was enchanted with him, and readily gave his adherence\nto the new and strange doctrines which the prophet advanced, but\nwhether with an eye single to his eternal salvation or with both eyes\nopen to a lucrative engagement \"this deponent saith not.\"\n\nThe story runs that after a long sojourn with the Saints in Nauvoo,\nduring which he played a round of his favorite characters, supported\nby a full Mormon cast, he bade the prophet and his followers a\nsorrowful farewell and returned to his accustomed haunts in the\nvicinity of Liberty Hall.\n\nDuring his stay in Nauvoo, Mr. Lyne played quite a number of classical\nplays, including \"William Tell,\" \"Virginius,\" \"Damon and Pythias,\"\n\"The Iron Chest,\" and \"Pizarro.\" In the latter play, he had no less a\npersonage than Brigham Young in the cast; he was selected to play the\npart of the Peruvian high priest, and is said to have led the singing\nin the Temple scene where the Peruvians offer up sacrifice and sing\nthe invocation for Rolla's victory. Brigham Young is said to have\ntaken a genuine interest in the character of the high priest and to\nhave played it with becoming dignity and solemnity. Here was an early\nand unmistakable proof of Brigham Young's love for the drama.\n\nMr. Lyne, while relating this Nauvoo incident in his experience to the\nwriter, broke into a humorous vein and remarked:\n\n\"I've always regretted having cast Brigham Young for that part of the\nhigh priest.\"\n\n\"Why?\" I inquired, with some surprise.\n\nWith a merry twinkle in his eye and a sly chuckle in his voice, he\nreplied: \"Why don't you see John, he's been playing the character with\ngreat success ever since.\"\n\nThere are still a few survivors of the old Nauvoo dramatic company,\nwho supported \"Tom\" Lyne, living in Salt Lake. Bishop Clawson, one of\nthe first managers of the Salt Lake theatre, is among them.\n\nLyne played a winning hand at Nauvoo. He made a great hit with the\nprophet, who took such a fancy to him that he wanted to ordain him and\nsend him on a mission, thinking that Lyne's elecutionary powers would\nmake him a great preacher. But \"Tom\" had not become sufficiently\nenthused over the prophet's revelations to abjure the profession he so\ndearly loved, and become a traveling elder going about from place to\nplace without purse or scrip, instead of a popular actor who was in\ndemand at a good sized salary.\n\nLyne had made his visit remunerative and had enshrined himself in the\nhearts of the Mormon people, as the sequel will show: but he drifted\naway from them as unexpectedly as he had come. Having become a convert\nto the new religion, it was confidently expected that he would remain\namong the Saints and be one of them; but he drifted away from them and\nthe Mormons saw no more of \"Tom\" Lyne till he turned up in Salt Lake\ntwenty years later, soon after the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre.\n\nLyne was the first star to tread its stage and played quite a number\nof engagements during the years from '62 to '70. He made money enough\nout of his engagements at the Salt Lake Theatre to live on for the\nremainder of his days. For the last twenty years of his life, he\nrarely appeared in public except to give a reading occasionally. With\nhis French wife, Madeline, he settled down and took life easy, living\ncosily in his own cottage, and in 1891 at the advanced age of\neighty-four Thomas A. Lyne passed peacefully away, a firm believer in\na life to come but at utter variance with the Mormon creed, which he\nhad discarded soon after his departure from Nauvoo.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\n    Thus far into the bowels of the land\n    Have we marched on without impediment.\n\n                           --Shakespeare.\n\nWhen the Mormons came from Nauvoo to Salt Lake they brought with them\nto this wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, the love of the drama, and\nas a consequence it was not long, only a few years from 1847 to 1850,\nbefore they began to long for something in the way of a theatre.\n\nThe pleasant recollections of the drama as interpreted at Nauvoo by\nMr. Lyne and his supporting cast, were still fresh in their memories,\nand almost before many of them had comfortable houses to live in they\nbegan to yearn for some dramatic amusement. As a result of this strong\ninclination for the play and a still more universal desire for\ndancing, it was but a short time before their wishes materialized.\n\nAs early as the fall of 1850 they had formed a club called the Musical\nand Dramatic Association. The name was a comprehensive one,\nintentionally so, for the organization included the celebrated \"Nauvoo\nBrass Band,\" a number of whose members also figured in the dramatic\ncompany. Indeed it was from this musical organization that the\ndramatic company really sprang.\n\nThe members of this original dramatic company were John Kay, Hyrum B.\nClawson, Philip Margetts, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R. T.\nBurton, George B. Grant, Edmond Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward\nMartin, William Cutler, William Clayton, Miss Drum, Miss Margaret\nJudd, and Miss Mary Badlam. Miss Badlam, in addition to playing parts,\nwas very popular as a dancer and gave her dancing specialties between\nthe acts, making something like our up-to-date continuous performance.\n\nThe first public dramatic performances were given in the \"Bowery\" (a\nvery reminiscent name for a New York theatre goer of that day). \"The\nBowery\" in this case was a summer place of worship which stood on the\nTemple Block near where the big Tabernacle now stands. In this place\nof worship as early as the year 1850, with the aid of a little\nhome-made scenery and a little crude furniture, were the first plays\npresented to a Salt Lake audience.\n\nThe first bill consisted of the old serio-comic drama, \"Robert\nMacaire, or the Two Murderers,\" dancing by Miss Badlam, and the farce\nof the \"Dead Shot.\"\n\nJudging by their titles, these plays were rather a gruesome selection\nto play in a church. As it is a matter of historic interest the cast\nso far as procurable is appended of \"Robert Macaire:\"\n\n    Robert Macaire ................................. John Kay\n    Jacque Stropp ............................. H. B. Clawson\n    Pierre .................................. Philip Margetts\n    Waiter .................................. Robert Campbell\n    Clementina ................................ Margaret Judd\n    Celeste ....................................... Miss Orum\n\nSeveral other plays were given during this first dramatic season and\nwere creditably performed, affording pleasure both to the audiences\nand actors; the only remuneration the actors received, by the way, for\nit must be remarked that these first dramatic efforts were entirely\nvoluntary on the part of the company.\n\nThe orchestra which played in connection with this first dramatic\ncompany deserves to be made a matter of record quite as much as the\ncompany itself, for it was also drawn from the ranks of the historic\n\"Nauvoo Brass Band.\"\n\nWilliam Pitt, the captain of the band, was the leader of the\norchestra. He could \"play the fiddle like an angel,\" handling the bow\nwith his left hand at that. The associate players of Captain Pitt were\nWilliam Clayton, James Smithers, Jacob Hutchinson, David Smith, and\nGeorge Warde. The Musical and Dramatic Association played in the\nBowery occasionally from 1850 to 1852.\n\nThe first amusement hall built in Salt Lake, which was used chiefly\nfor dancing, was erected at the Warm Springs in the year 1850. It was\na good sized adobe building and served as a social hall until 1852,\nwhen the Social Hall proper was completed. It was built at this out of\nthe way place so as to combine the use of the Warm Springs for bathing\nwith the social meetings held there. But it proved to be too difficult\nto get to, when the nights were dark and the roads were bad, so\nBrigham Young had the Social Hall built which was quite central and\nthe Warm Springs music hall was converted into a roadside tavern and\nwas run by Jesse C. Little for a time.\n\nThe first string band to furnish music for dances played at this hall\nand was composed of Hopkins C. (familiarly known as \"Hop\") Fender,\nJesse Earl and Jake Hutchinson. These gentlemen deserve to be\nremembered in the musical history of Salt Lake City as the first to\nfurnish the inspiring strains to which the worthy pioneers danced.\n\nIn the fall of 1852, the Musical and Dramatic Association was\nreorganized and renamed the \"Deseret Dramatic Association.\" In this\nyear the historic Social Hall was erected, and with a view to opening\nit with becoming brilliancy the original company was greatly added to,\nfor the drama had become a popular amusement with the Saints, and many\nof the chiefs of the church, including President Young, held honorary\nmembership in the \"D. D. A.\"\n\nThe Social Hall, which is still standing and in well preserved\ncondition, is one of the old landmarks that are fast disappearing. It\nis a comparatively small structure about 40x80 feet. It was considered\nin its time a fine amusement hall but has long since become dwarfed by\nthe greater buildings which have gone up around it. It has a stage\ntwenty feet deep, two dressing rooms under the stage, an ample\nbasement under the hall for banqueting purposes. This auditorium is\nabout 40x60 feet with a level floor for dancing for the amusement of\nthe play and dancing were fairly and considerately alternated by the\nmanagers of the D. D. A.\n\nIn the early winter of 1852 this hall was opened with a dance to which\nthe elect were invited, and it was a great crush. The first social\ngathering in the new hall formed a sort of punctuation mark in the\nsocial caste among the Saints.\n\nOf course, the hall being small, the invitations had to be limited and\nmany there were who felt slighted because they were not among the\ninvited. Envy on the one hand and a supercilious superiority on the\nother gave birth to a feeling of caste which was altogether in bad\ntaste among professing Saints.\n\nThe great event of this season in the amusement line was the dramatic\nopening. Local artists had been employed for some time and had stocked\nthe stage with excellent scenery. Bulwer's classic play \"The Lady of\nLyons\" was selected for the opening bill. The company had been so\nstrengthened that the members could cast any of the great plays. To\nthe original company had been added besides a long list of honorary\nmembers, the following named active male members: James Ferguson,\nBernard Snow, David Candland (stage manager), John T. Caine, David\nMcKenzie, Joseph Simons and Henry Maiben; to the female contingent had\nbeen added Mrs. Cyrus Wheelock, Mrs. Henry Tuckett, Mrs. Joseph Bull,\nMrs. John Hyde, Mrs. Sarah Cook. It will be observed that they were\nall married women. This is a very noticeable feature, as it is so\nunusual in a dramatic company nowadays, either amateur or\nprofessional. The explanation of it, however, is simple enough. At\nthat time there were few if any unmarried women in Utah that had\narrived at the marriageable age. The only three women whose names\nappear in the original company were unmarried, Miss Judd, Miss Orum\nand Miss Badlam, which seems exceptional and they now seem to have all\ndisappeared, or they are overshadowed by the married women, or perhaps\nthey appear in the reorganized company under a new name with Mrs.\nattached.\n\nThe Social Hall theatrical opening was an event in the history of\nUtah. It may be truly said that it marked an epoch in the development\nof civilization in the Rocky Mountain region and the growth of the\ndrama in the far West. Even San Francisco had not up to this time made\nany such ambitious attempt in the dramatic line.\n\nI have not been able to procure a program of this opening performance\nbut the cast of the principal characters was as follows:\n\n    Claud Melnotte ........................... James Ferguson\n    Monsieur Beauseant ....................... David Candland\n    Monsieur Glavis ........................... John T. Caine\n    Col. Damas ........................ John D. T. McAllister\n    Mons. Deschapples ..................... Horace K. Whitney\n    Landlord ................................ Philip Margetts\n    Pauline Deschapples ....................... Mrs. Wheelock\n    Madame Deschapples ................... Mrs. M. G. Clawson\n    Widow Melnotte .......................... Mrs. Sarah Cook\n\nThe play was a pronounced success and the players covered themselves\nwith glory. A number of plays were now put on in rapid succession, for\nthe D. D. A. had caught the true dramatic fire, and the people were\nhungry for the play. In the great plays, a number of which were\nessayed, the characters were strongly filled.\n\nBernard Snow, who had played with the elder Booth in California, which\ngave him a brief professional experience, was easily in the lead of\nall the Mormon actors. He played an Othello that would have done\ncredit to Shakespeare anywhere, while Ferguson as Iago was scarcely\nless convincing. In \"Damon and Pythias\" also these players shone with\nmore than ordinary brilliancy. Snow's Damon was pronounced a work of\nart, while Ferguson looked and acted Pythias to the admiration of all\nwho witnessed it. Mrs. Wheelock as Calanthe and Mrs. Tuckett as\nHermion made up a quartet of players that would have graced any stage\nin the country.\n\n\"Virginius\" was also played here with Snow in the title role, a\nfavorite with him. When Lyne came ten years later and played these\nsame characters in the Salt Lake Theatre, many of the old frequenters\nof the Social Hall ranked Bernard Snow as Lyne's equal and they had to\nbe brought to play together in the Salt Lake Theatre to gratify the\nmany admirers of both.\n\n\"Pizarro\" was the play chosen for this event and it served to pack the\ntheatre. Lyne appeared as Pizarro for the occasion although Rolla was\nhis favorite part. This gave Snow the advantage as Rolla is the star\npart. It proved a great hit both financially and artistically.\n\nThe Social Hall orchestra was a feature at all the dramatic\nperformances, and came in for its due share of praise and admiration.\nIt was under the direction of Domenico Ballo, who had formerly been a\nband master at West Point. He was a fine composer and arranger, and\none of the best clarinet players ever heard. Professor Ballo was a\ngraduate of the Conservatory of Music at Milan. He served several\nyears as band master at West Point. He drifted into Utah at an early\nday and cast his lot with the Mormons. He organized a fine brass band\nhere and built a fine dance hall which was known as \"Ballo's Music\nHall.\"\n\nSalt Lake City has from a very early period in its history enjoyed an\nenviable reputation in a musical way. Its first musical organization\nas already mentioned was the Nauvoo Brass Band, organized originally\nin Nauvoo in connection with the Mormon militia known as the \"Nauvoo\nLegion,\" of which Joseph Smith held the distinguished office of\nLieutenant General. The exodus from Nauvoo and the formation soon\nafterwards of the \"Mormon Battalion\" demoralized to a great degree\nboth the legion and the band. Both organizations, however, were\nreconstructed soon after the settlement of Utah, and each played a\nconspicuous part in its early history.\n\nAt the laying of the corner stone of the Salt Lake Temple as early as\n1853, the Nauvoo Brass Band and Ballo's Brass Band were consolidated\nfor this occasion and increased to sixty-five players under the\nleadership of Professor Ballo, who gave the people of Salt Lake a\nmusical treat that would have been a credit to any metropolitan city.\nBallo was a thorough and accomplished musician and his masterly work\nat such an early period had much to do with developing Salt Lake's\nmusical talent.\n\nFrom 1852 to 1857 the Social Hall continued to be the principal place\nof amusement for the people of Salt Lake City, as well as those who\ncame in from various parts of the Territory. Those living at a\ndistance and visiting the city either on business or pleasure (which\nwere generally combined) deemed themselves extremely fortunate if\nthere chanced to be a play \"on the boards\" during their brief sojourn\nin the city.\n\nThe fame of the Social Hall and its talented company of players,\ndramatic and musical, had spread abroad in the land and many of the\nsmaller towns began to emulate Salt Lake City and organized dramatic\nclubs.\n\nIn the year 1857 amusements as well as business of all kinds received\na sudden and severe shock from which it took a year or more to\nrecover. In this year a rupture occurred between the Mormon chiefs and\nthe United States Judges, which resulted in President Buchanan sending\nAlbert Sidney Johnson to Utah with an army to crush the incipient\nrebellion. The heroes of the Social Hall stage now were cast to play\nmore serious parts. The stage was now to be the tented field, their\nmusic, the roll of the drum and the ear-piercing fife.\n\n\"Jim\" Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was Adjutant General of the\n\"Nauvoo Legion,\" as the Territorial militia was called, and all the\nother stage heroes were enrolled under its banners. The \"Legion\" was\nsent out into the mountains to check the advance of the invading army.\nNot only did all amusement and business generally come to a sudden\nstop, but so serious was the situation that a general exodus of the\npeople to the south was ordered by the church authorities and Salt\nLake City was abandoned.\n\nMeeting houses, theatre, stores and nearly all the dwellings in the\ncity were vacated, and the intention was to burn the city rather than\nthis \"hell born\" army should occupy and pollute it.\n\nNo occasion for carrying into effect this insane resolution\ntranspired, for which the people have ever since been thankful. Soon\nafter its adoption a better understanding was reached between the\nrefractory Saints and Uncle Sam's government, and the people gradually\ncame back to their homes in the city, glad indeed that the sacrificial\ntorch had not been applied to them.\n\n\"The invading army\" had passed peacefully through the city and made\nits encampment forty miles away. Things began to resume their normal\ncondition, but the winter of 1857-8 was a blank in the Mormon\namusement field.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\n    Now is the winter of our discontent\n    Made glorious summer by this son of York,\n    And all the clouds that lowered upon our house,\n    In the deep bosom of the ocean buried;\n    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,\n    Our bruised arms hung up for monuments,\n    Our stern alarums are changed to merry-meetings\n    And our dreadful marches to delighted measures.\n\n                                 --Richard III.\n\nThe Mormon war cloud that lowered so portentously during the winter of\n1857-8 had been dispelled without bloodshed, and peace once more\nbrooded over the land. The soldiers of the \"Nauvoo Legion\" had \"hung\nup their _un_-bruised arms for monuments\" and resumed their old\navocations, and the wheels of trade, \"the calm health of nations,\"\nwere once again running in their accustomed grooves.\n\nThe people had set to work with redoubled energy to make up for the\nlosses \"the war\" had entailed upon them, so that they had little time\nor inclination for amusement. The advent of Johnson's army into Utah,\nalthough encamped forty miles from the city, had its effect; it\nbrought in its wake, as an army always does, a lot of camp\nfollowers,--hangers-on--a contingent that was thrown largely into Salt\nLake, and not a desirable one. This made the Mormon people wary and\nsuspicious, and inclined them more than ever to isolate themselves\nfrom strangers.\n\nNotwithstanding this condition of affairs, in the winter of '59 they\nbegan to resume their usual amusements, and a number of plays were\ngiven that winter in the Social Hall.\n\nBy this time the \"army\" having no active service, began to feel the\nneed of some amusement, and some of the soldiers improvised a theatre\nin the camp.\n\nSergt. R. C. White, better known later among Pacific coast theatricals\nas \"Dick\" White, was the leading spirit in this affair. White was a\nscholar as well as a soldier; moreover, he had the poetic and dramatic\ninstinct in him, and in common with all living creatures, he felt that\nhe must exercise his faculties. So in order to give vent to his pent\nup love of the drama, he organized a dramatic company among the\nsoldiers of Camp Floyd. The Sergeant, or \"Dick\" as he was called, was\nnot only a clever amateur actor but a poet, and something of an artist\nas well. By his skill in this latter line he soon had the necessary\nscenery painted for the Camp theatre. Pigments were scarce in the camp\nand even in Salt Lake at that time, but White was resourceful, and\nequal to every emergency, so he made levy on the quartermaster's\ndepartment for liberal supplies of mustard, red pepper, ox blood, and\nother strange materials with which to get in his color effects.\n\nThe \"Camp Floyd Theatre\" as it was called, was not a stupendous\nstructure, only large enough to accommodate about two hundred persons,\nand the stage in proportion to the auditorium. It was built of rough\npine boards and canvas--principally canvas--but answered all the\nrequirements of a theatre for the amusement of the camp.\n\nWhite had but little trouble in organizing his corps dramatique, so\nfar as men were concerned, but the female contingent gave him much\nconcern and considerable trouble to secure. Women in the camp were\nscarce, and female talent was at a premium. There were a few officers\nwhose wives were with them and some \"hired help\" of the female\npersuasion, but none of the women of the camp had any experience in\ntheatricals. Several were willing, and even eager to try; so White\nmade a selection and cast a play and put it in rehearsal, but \"woe is\nme!\" the women were all such tyros that he was almost in despair,\nuntil he suddenly conceived the project of engaging one of the Social\nHall actresses to play the leading female character; if he could do\nthat, then, he reasonably argued that he could get along, but could a\nMormon actress be induced to come to Camp Floyd?\n\nHere was a dilemma; but the bold Richard perhaps thought of the lines\nof his renowned namesake, Richard Plantagenet:\n\n    \"Dangers retreat when boldly they're confronted,\n    And dull delay leads impotence and fear,\"\n\nso he took courage. He opened up a correspondence with Mrs. Tuckett of\nSocial Hall fame. White was an accomplished writer, and poetical, and\nthere is no doubt he could write a winning letter. We have no\nknowledge of what inducements he offered, so can only surmise that a\nliberal salary was the temptation held out to her. Suffice it to say\nthat Mrs. Tuckett accepted the offer and joined the Camp Floyd Theatre\nCompany, thus making a noticeable weakening of the Social Hall force,\nand creating a commotion among her fellow players in Salt Lake, and\nthe people generally, as she went in opposition to the wishes of her\nhusband and friends and the church authorities. It was regarded not\nonly as an unwise step for Mrs. Tuckett to take, but a discreditable\none.\n\nIt was a reproach to the Saints to have one of their number go and\nmingle with the ungodly soldiers who had come out here to destroy\nthem. Mrs. Tuckett was looked upon from the moment of her departure as\na lost sheep from the fold. These apprehensions were not unfounded,\nfor Mrs. Tuckett, whether wearied of her Mormon environment, or led\naway by the unusual attentions shown her by the officers and men of\nthe camp (with whom her acting soon made her a great favorite), lost\nany former love she may have had for Salt Lake, and sundered all\nsocial and family ties there.\n\n\"Dick\" White, poet, actor, artist, achieved another conquest; not only\nhad he succeeded in getting Mrs. Tuckett away from the Social Hall\ncompany, but later on he won the affections of the Mormon actress and\ntook her completely away from her family, friends and church. In some\nway White severed his connection with the army before the breaking out\nof the Civil War and had gone to California \"taking the fair Desdemona\nwith him.\" He married her and they lived together in Folsom,\nCalifornia; only a few years, however; Mrs. Tuckett-White died there\nin '63.\n\nMrs. Tuckett, whose maiden name was Mercy Westwood, was of English\nbirth, came to Utah in the early '50s where she soon afterward married\nas a polygamous wife. The Westwood family had a strong predilection\nfor the stage; three of her brothers, Richard, Phillip and Joseph\nWestwood, figured conspicuously a little later on in the Springville\nDramatic company. Her desertion from the ranks of the Social Hall\ncompany had created a vacancy they found it difficult to fill. She had\nbeen playing the leading roles, filling the place of Mrs. Wheelock who\nalso became disaffected and went to California in '57 with a number of\nothers, under protection of Col. Steptoe's command.\n\nWhat particular reason Mrs. Wheelock had for withdrawing from the\nMormon people, we do not know. She settled in Sacramento where after a\ntime she became Mrs. Rattenbury, and has never returned except for a\nbrief visit and this quite recently.\n\nMrs. Tuckett was the wife of Henry Tuckett who is still living in Salt\nLake; and had four children by him at the time she left, and in\nabandoning husband and children to share the fortunes of the soldier\nactor Dick White, she subjected herself to a vast amount of severe and\napparently just criticism. There is little known of her life after she\nleft Utah even by her relatives; she probably regretted the step she\nhad taken when too late.\n\nThe Mormons never forgave White for taking Mrs. Tuckett from them. He\nvisited Salt Lake about four years after the death of his Mormon wife,\nin the dramatic company of John S. Langrishe, who had Mr. C. W.\nCouldock with him and was traveling by stage overland to the gold\nmining towns of Montana; Virginia City of vigilante fame being their\nobjective point.\n\nThe Langrishe-Couldock company opened in the Salt Lake Theatre, August\nthe first, 1867, in the \"Chimney Corner\" with Couldock in his favorite\ncharacter of Peter Probity. R. C. White was the Solomon Probity of the\ncast. White was apprehensive of trouble if he should be discovered by\nthe friends of Mrs. Tuckett, who regarded her peculiar \"taking off\"\nalmost in the sense of an abduction. Conspicuous among Mrs. Tuckett's\nfriends were the managers of the theatre, H. B. Clawson and John T.\nCaine; so White discreetly kept himself secluded during the day as\nmuch as possible, and only put in an appearance at the theatre when it\nwas time to dress for the play.\n\nWhite was not personally known to the managers, or any of the\nemployees about the theatre. He had been little in Salt Lake during\nthe army's occupation of Camp Floyd and consequently was scarcely\nknown. Trusting to these circumstances he hoped to escape recognition,\nand avoid the storm of abuse he felt sure would be showered on his\nguilty head; but unfortunately his name was on the program and\nalthough a common name and one that might easily escape especial\nnotice, White was by no means a common man and his performance of\nSolomon attracted special attention to him.\n\nSome man in the audience who had met him at Camp Floyd recognized him,\nand quietly informed the managers who he was. The whisper spread about\nwith amazing rapidity and he began to be pointed out as the \"reprobate\nand unscrupulous scoundrel\" who had enticed Mrs. Tuckett away from\nhome and friends and people.\n\nTo make sure that this was the veritable White, the manager made some\ninquiries regarding him of Jack Langrishe, his manager. This was\nsufficient to arouse the curiosity of the company with regard to\nWhite's previous experience in Utah. White did not make a second\nappearance at the theatre. He had caught something of the buzz that\nwas in the air about him, and quietly dropped out of the Langrishe\ncompany for the remainder of its Salt Lake engagement.\n\nThe Langrishes remained two weeks and then moved on to Montana. White\nhad not been entirely idle in the interim. He had made the\nacquaintance of a second Salt Lake woman, whom he prevailed upon to\njoin him soon after his departure, and they were married shortly\nafter; the woman casting in her fortune with the Langrishe troupe and\ndoing such parts as they thought fit to cast her in.\n\nMr. and Mrs. White eventually drifted into Portland, Oregon, and made\nthat their home for many years. It was there the writer made their\nacquaintance some fifteen years later when he went to play leads for\nJohn Maguire at the New Market Theatre. They appeared to be living\nharmoniously and had four lovely children, two boys and two girls, the\neldest about twelve years of age and a promising young actress. White\nwas then the editor of the \"Bee,\" an afternoon paper, and played on\noccasions in Maguire's Stock company.\n\nSome years later White with his family removed to San Francisco, where\nhe became the stage manager of the Tivoli. It was during his\nincumbency of this position that he made the first dramatization of\nRider Haggard's \"She,\" and gave it its first production on the stage,\nwhich proved to be a great success and started numerous other\ncompanies to play it.\n\nWhite has now \"fallen into the sere and yellow leaf\" and for the last\ndozen years has been affectionately called by the profession \"Daddy\nWhite.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\nNotwithstanding that during the winter of 1859-60 a number of dramatic\nperformances were given in the Social Hall, they were nearly, if not\nall, revivals of plays that had been performed there previous seasons.\nInterest had declined from some cause or other. It was probably\nattributable in some measure to the departure of first Mrs. Wheelock\nand then of Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of the company;\nand then Jim Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was now engrossed in\nthe publication of The Mountaineer, a weekly paper he had started in\nconnection with Seth M. Blair and Hosea Stout, and for which he wrote\nmost of the editorials, so that he had little if any time to devote to\nthe playhouse. Bernard Snow, too, was absent from the company that\nwinter and as a consequence plays of a lighter character were selected\nthat did not require Snow and Ferguson.\n\n\"The Golder Farmer,\" \"Luke the Laborer,\" \"Still Waters Run Deep,\" \"All\nThat Glitters Is Not Gold,\" were the principal plays given. During the\nfollowing winter, 1860-61, there was nothing doing in the dramatic\nline in the Social Hall. One reason for this was that a new company\nhad arisen, which, if not exactly a rival, was a strong competitor for\npublic favor. Some of its principal members belonged to the Deseret\nDramatic Association, and had been conspicuous in the ranks of its\nperformers.\n\nThe new company was called the Mechanics' Dramatic Association, and\nwas headed by the favorite Social Hall comedian, Phil Margetts, who\nwas president and manager of the new organization. The members of this\nnew company were Phil Margetts, Harry Bowring, Henry McEwan, James A.\nThompson, Joe Barker, John B. Kelly, John Chambers, Joseph Bull, Pat\nLynch, William Wright, Bill Poulter, William Price, Mrs. Marion\nBowring, Mrs. Bull, Mrs. McEwan, Elizabeth Tullidge and Ellen Bowring.\nHarry Bowring had in course of construction a new dwelling house; it\nwas covered and the floors laid, but no finishing or plastering had\nbeen done, no partition walls had been put in, so that the entire\nlower story was one room, not more than 18x40 feet in dimensions,\nabout one-third the size of the Social Hall. The stage occupied about\none-third of the same, leaving an audience chamber of about 18x25\nfeet, not large enough, as it proved, to accommodate the numbers that\nwere anxious to witness the new performances. For dressing rooms, they\nhad the house at the back, in which Mr. Bowring and family resided,\nand which communicated with the stage by a doorway in the new\nstructure. The scenery and drop curtain, which was necessarily of\nsmall dimensions, was painted by the sterling and versatile artist,\nWilliam P. Morris. The auditorium was seated a la circus, with board\nseats rising one above the other, with a row of chairs in front for\nthe distinguished guests and patrons.\n\nSuch was \"Bowring's Theatre,\" as it was called. Whether the managers\nchristened it that, or the name was given it by the patrons and\nguests, we do not pretend to know, nor does it matter; but this fact\nmay be mentioned in relation to it, that it was first place in Salt\nLake City to be called a theatre.\n\nThe Bowery being a place of worship (although the name was strongly\nsuggestive of the New York Bowery theatre), could not consistently be\ncalled a theatre and the Social Hall embracing all the social\nfeatures--plays, dances and banquets--never came to be called a\ntheatre, Social Hall fully covering its functions, so that the Bowring\nwas really the first place to be known distinctively as a theatre.\nAlthough the theatre was so very small the company did not appear to\nbe circumscribed in their histrionic efforts by any mere limitations\nof space or stage appurtenances, as the following list of plays will\nshow:\n\n\"The Honeymoon,\" \"The Gamester,\" \"Luke the Laborer,\" and \"Othello,\"\nand the farces of \"Betsy Baker\" and \"Mr. and Mrs. Peter White.\"\n\nIn the dramas, Mr. Margetts, who was recognized as the comedian par\nexcellence, chose to assume the tragic mask and appeared in the\nleading roles, leaving the principal comic parts to his friend and\ncolleague Harry Bowring. It was somewhat of a surprise to \"Phil's\"\nfriends and admirers who knew his qualifications for comedy, to see\nhim in these tragic characters, but he is said to have given everybody\na pleasant surprise in them and Harry Bowring carried the comedy roles\nso successfully as to divide the honors with \"Phil.\" Mrs. Bowring, who\nplayed the \"lady leads,\" also distinguished herself to such a degree\nthat she took a prominent place in the Salt Lake Theatre soon after\nits opening.\n\nIt was during the performance of \"Betsy Baker\" in this place that\n\"Jimmy\" Thompson, who was playing the part of Mr. Crommie, won such\ndistinction in that character that the name of \"Crommie\" has attached\nto him among his acquaintances ever since. Harry McEwan, Joe Barker,\nBillie Wright, Bill Poulter and dear old John Kelly and Mrs. Bull and\nMrs. McEwan all achieved some celebrity in connection with the little\nplayhouse--\"Bowring's Theatre.\"\n\nManager Margetts waited one day on President Brigham Young and invited\nhim, with his family, to see their play. The President of course had\nheard of the new theatre, (what was there he didn't hear of?) but\naffected some surprise that Phil and his associates should have\nstarted what might be considered a rival to the D. D. A.\n\n\"When do you play?\" inquired the President.\n\n\"We have a play tonight,\" answered Phil; \"'Luke the Laborer,' but we\ncould not accommodate your family tonight, President Young, as the\nseats are mostly engaged, but we would be pleased to reserve the house\nfor yourself and family for our next play, 'The Honeymoon,' which will\nbe on Friday night.\"\n\n\"Well,\" says Brigham, \"I would like to see the play tonight. Why can't\nHeber (meaning Heber C. Kimball, his chief counsellor, who was sitting\nwithin hearing) and I come tonight, and the family can come the next\nnight?\"\n\nThe President thought to catch them in a state of unpreparedness by\ngoing sooner than was arranged for him, but Phil readily acquiesced in\nthe President's wish, and he and Brother Kimball \"took in the show\"\nthat night. They both expressed their pleasure and spoke words of\nencouragement to the performers.\n\nOn the following day Manager Margetts sent ninety tickets, the entire\nseating capacity of the theatre, to President Young for himself and\nfamily. The tiny theatre was packed to see \"The Honeymoon.\" The Young\nfamily certainly was in evidence on that occasion, but there was quite\na sprinkling of \"Heber's\" folks and other friends to whom the\nPresident had given tickets from his wholesale reserve.\n\n\"The Honeymoon\" was a pronounced success. After the play Phil appeared\nbefore the curtain and in a happy way thanked the President and those\nof his family and friends present for honoring the company, and\nexpressed regret that they had not a more commodious and comfortable\ntheatre in which to entertain their friends.\n\nBrigham, evidently pleased, made a return speech from his place in the\naudience and complimented the company. He encouraged them to go ahead\nand told them he intended before long to build a good big theatre,\nwhere they could have ample room to develop their dramatic art,\nobserving in his characteristic way, that the people must have\namusement.\n\nIt will thus be seen that these performances led indirectly to the\nbuilding of the Salt Lake Theatre, for immediately after this the\nPresident instructed Hyrum Clawson to reorganize the Deseret Dramatic\nAssociation and to unite it with the Bowring Theatre Company, for he\nwas going to build a big theatre. The idea had evidently entered his\nmind to stay.\n\n\"Brother Brigham,\" as he was popularly and lovingly called, was quick\nto comprehend the financial results of a great theatre in a community\nwhose members were all lovers of the drama, and two large dramatic\nassociations, bursting with ambition and only too anxious for a good\nplace and opportunity to air their talents. So he gave it out in\nmeeting one Sunday, much to the gratification of his congregation,\nthat he was going to build a big \"fun hall,\" or theatre, where the\npeople could go and forget their troubles occasionally, in a good,\nhearty laugh.\n\n\"We have a large fund on hand,\" said he, \"for the erection of a\nSeventy's hall, but not enough to build such a hall as I want for the\nSeventies; so we will use that fund to help build the theatre, and\nwhen we get the theatre running we can pay back the Seventy's hall\nfund with good interest, and in that way the Seventy's will get their\nhall sooner than if they started to build it now.\"\n\nThe Seventy's hall has never been built!\n\nThe big theatre was planned and erected. William H. Folsom was the\narchitect and personally superintended the construction of the\nbuilding. This same gentleman, also, designed and built the big\nturtle-shaped Tabernacle, proving that he was a constructive genius.\n\nOn March the sixth, 1862, the Salt Lake Theatre, although far from\nbeing finished, was so far completed as to be used, and on this date\nit was opened with such ceremonies as would not only be deemed unique\nin any other community, but would be set down as sacriligious by pious\npeople of other faiths.\n\nOn this occasion the theatre was filled to its utmost capacity by\ninvitation. No admission fee was charged, the invitations being\nextended by President Young to the church authorities, state, county\nand municipal officers, the workmen who had erected the building, some\ntwo hundred with their families. Some even who held invitations could\nnot get in; it resembled a huge revival meeting.\n\nThe President and his counsellors, a number of the apostles and other\nchurch dignitaries sat on the stage in front of the green baize drop\ncurtain. The parquette was filled with the officials, church and\nsecular, and the dramatic company and members of their families. The\ncircles were filled principally by the men who had worked on the\nbuilding and their families. There was a feeling of greatest\nexpectancy pervading the large audience. The people were there to\nwitness not a play on this occasion, but something deemed of still\nmore importance, the dedication of the new theatre.\n\nThe Mormons dedicate all of their public buildings, whether temples,\ntabernacles, stake houses, ward houses, school houses, theatres, dance\nhalls, or co-operative stores to the service for which they were\nerected.\n\nThe ceremony is much like one of their religious meetings with the\naddition of the dedicatory prayer.\n\nOn this occasion President Brigham Young occupied the center of the\nstage. There was a program of vocal and instrumental music, a special\nchoir gotten together for the occasion, and the theatre orchestra, led\nby Professor \"Charlie\" Thomas, furnished the music.\n\nPresident Young called the large audience to order and the choir sang.\nThen Daniel H. Wells, or \"Squire\" Wells as he was popularly called,\noffered up the dedicatory prayer. \"Squire\" Wells no doubt made a good\ncity mayor and an efficient general of the Nauvoo Legion, but the\nworthy \"Squire\" was not an orator, moreover, he had his piece written\nfor this occasion and read it; his peculiar mode of delivery was\ntiresome even when at his best, when he had his choice of subject and\nall the latitude he could desire; but it was especially so on this\noccasion, when he was circumscribed to a most monotonous enumeration\nof everything that entered into the construction of the huge building.\nBeginning with the ground on which it stood and going in systematic\norder up through it foundation, walls, floors, doors, windows, to the\nroof, particularizing even the timbers, nails and bolts, the laths and\nplaster, the glass and putty, no detail he could think of was omitted.\nEach and all were especially dedicated to their particular purpose and\nuse, and the blessing of the Almighty invoked to be and continue with\neach of these materials, and with the structure as a whole. Even to\nthose who believed in dedications, who were the great majority of\nthose present, the dedicatory prayer was just a little wearisome and\nthe audience experienced a feeling of relief when it was over and\nWilliam C. Dunbar stepped to the front and assisted by the choir and\norchestra, sang \"The Star Spangled Banner.\"\n\nBrigham Young then made an address on the mission of the drama and his\nobject in building the theatre, which avowedly was to furnish innocent\nand instructive amusement to the Saints. He inveighed somewhat\nextravagantly against tragedy and declared he wouldn't have any\ntragedies or blood-curdling dramas played in this theatre. This people\nhad seen tragedy enough in real life and there was no telling the\nfar-reaching and evil effects tragedies on the stage might have. He\nstrongly opposed, too, the idea of having any Gentile actors play in\nthis theatre. We had plenty of home talent and did not need them.\n\nPresident Heber C. Kimball followed in a brief address, strongly\nsupportive of what President Young had said.\n\nApostle John Taylor then gave a short address; then came selections by\nthe orchestra, and more singing by the choir, and Mr. Dunbar sang\nanother song written by Apostle Taylor for the occasion and set to\nmusic by Professor Thomas.\n\nFor the grand finale an anthem written for the occasion by Eliza R.\nSnow and set to music also by Professor Thomas was sung by the choir,\naccompanied by the orchestra and and brass band consolidated for the\noccasion. The solo parts of the anthem were sung respectively by Mr.\nDunbar and Mrs. Agnes Lynch.\n\nThe musical program ended, an announcement was made that the theatre\nwould be formally opened on Saturday evening, March the eighth, when\nthe plays of \"The Pride of the Market\" and \"State Secrets\" would be\npresented. The people anxiously awaited the opening night. The\nperformance was advertised to begin at 7 o'clock. At 5 o'clock\nhundreds were at the doors waiting to get in and before the time of\nthe beginning every available spot of both seating and standing room\nwas taken. The prices of admission were 75c for parquette and first\ncircles; upper galleries 50c.\n\nThe plays, both drama and farce, were capitally acted. Dunbar's song\nbetween the plays, \"Bobbin' Around,\" made an immense hit. The merging\nof the M. D. A. into the D. D. A. made up a strong company. The roster\nof the Deseret Dramatic company as it stood at this opening\nperformance and the cast of the initial plays cannot fail to be of\ninterest after a lapse of more than forty-two years and so many of the\noriginal players have passed away.\n\nThe members were: Hyrum B. Clawson, John T. Caine, Managers and both\nplayers; Philip Margetts, David McKenzie, William C. Dimbar, John R.\nClawson, Henry Maiben, Jos. Simmons, Horace K. Whitney, Henry E.\nBowring, R. H. Parker, George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage, George\nTeasdale, Henry McEwan, John Kelly, Richard Mathews, John D. T.\nMcAllister, Sam Sirrine, Henry Snell, Mrs. Marian Bowring, Mrs. S. A.\nCook, Mrs. Woodmansee, Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Mrs. Alice Clawson, Miss\nMaggie Thomas, and Miss Sarah Alexander. Of the above-named the\nfollowing have passed away: John R. Clawson, Henry Maiben, Jos.\nSimmons, H. K. Whitney, Henry McEwan, John B. Kelly, Richard Mathews,\nHenry Snell, Mrs. Bowring, Mrs. Alice Clawson, and Mrs. Cook. Bernard\nSnow and James Ferguson of Social Hall fame were on the roster, but\nnot active members; they too are gone.\n\nThe following is the opening bill:\n\n    SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 8, 1862.\n\n    A Beautiful Comedy in Three Acts,\n\n    _THE PRIDE OF THE MARKET._\n\n    Cast of Characters.\n\n    Marquis de Volange ........................ John T. Caine\n    Baron Troptora ............................. Henry Maiben\n    Chevalier De Bellerive ..................... Jos. Simmons\n    Ravannes ................................... R. H. Parker\n    Dubois ................................... David McKenzie\n    Isadore Farine ............................ H. B. Clawson\n    Preval .................................... S. D. Sirrine\n    Servants ..................... R. Mathews and Henry Snell\n    Waiter .................................... John B. Kelly\n    Mille De Volange ........................ Mrs. Woodmansee\n    Norton (pride of the market) ......... Mrs. M. G. Clawson\n    Comic Song, \"Bobbing Around\" ............... W. C. Dunbar\n\n    To Conclude With the Laughable Farce\n\n    _STATE SECRETS._\n\n    Cast of Characters.\n\n    Gregory Thimblewell (the tailor of Tamworth) .. H. E. Bowring\n    Robert (his son) ............................... R. H. Parker\n    Master Hugh Neville ........................... S. D. Sirrine\n    Calverton Hal ................................... W. H. Miles\n    Humphrey Hedgehog ............................. Phil Margetts\n    Maud Thimblewell (tailor's wife) ............... Mrs. Bowring\n    Letty Hedgehog (with song) ............... Miss Maggie Thomas\n\nSuch was the superb comedy bill with which the Salt Lake Theatre was\nauspiciously and successfully launched into the great dramatic sea on\nwhich she has made such a long and splendid voyage.\n\nThe company played a few other plays between the opening date and the\n15th of April, catching conference, which closed the first season of\nabout six weeks' duration. They gave fifteen performances in this\ntime. The company during this first short season scarcely found its\nbearings, much of the best talent was in the background and it took\ntime and opportunity to discover it and place it to the best\nadvantage.\n\nDuring the first season of the Theatre, Miss Sarah Alexander, in\naddition to playing many of the soubrette roles, was the _premiere\ndanseuse_ of the company, and gave exhibitions of her skill in the\nterpsichorean art between the plays almost nightly; she was eventually\nsuperseded, however, by Miss \"Totty\" Clive (a daughter of Mr. Claud\nClive, the costumer), who became so proficient in the art of dancing\nthat before she was 15 years of age she was an established favorite\nwith the public, and a feature of the theatrical entertainments.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\nThe isolation policy peculiar to the Mormons at this period, found\nexpression in a discouragement of all Gentiles (as all non-Mormons\nwere called) and Gentile enterprises in Utah. This feeling also found\nexpression to some extent, for a short time in the sphere of the\ntheatre, and it was boldly announced by some who were close in the\ncouncils of the Mormon chief, that he would have no Gentile actors in\nhis theatre. A policy which was much more strongly emphasized at the\ntime, however, was as to the character of the plays that should be\npresented. President Young set his foot down very firmly against the\npresentation of any tragedies, or plays of tragic character. The\npeople he said had seen and felt too much of the tragic side of life;\nhe wanted them to be amused, and not have their feelings harrowed up\nby tragic representations. This policy obtained for a short time only;\ngradually the general growing desire for the higher class of plays had\nto be taken into consideration by the managers, Clawson and Caine, who\nwere running the house in the interest of the box office, chiefly, and\nthis initial policy of the founder of the theatre was gradually\nabandoned, as well as the isolation policy which was to debar Gentile\nactors from the stage of the Mormon Theatre.\n\nDuring the summer of '62 the theatre was rushed to completion. On\nDecember 24, '62, the completed theatre was again formally dedicated\nand the following night, Christmas, the Stock Company opened up for a\nregular winter season in the \"Honeymoon\" under the direction and\ntutorship of our old Nauvoo favorite, Tom Lyne, who had learned of the\nopening of Brigham Young's new theatre, and saw a chance to renew his\nacquaintance with his old friends, and do a little business with them\nin their new temple of the drama.\n\nAfter a lapse of nearly twenty years, during which his old friends and\nadmirers had completely lost sight of him, he suddenly \"bobs up\nserenely\" at Denver where he had been playing an engagement with J. S.\nLangrishe; from here he corresponded with Manager Clawson with the\nresult that he was engaged to come to the Salt Lake Theatre as a tutor\nto the company. He was received with great kindness by the company and\nmanagers, and especially by Brigham Young, who treated him with marked\nconsideration. He coached the company and directed several plays for\nthem, but that was an irksome task for Lyne; he wanted to face the\npublic himself. He saw a great opportunity and did not rest content\nuntil he had secured a starring engagement with the managers.\n\nAccordingly it was not long before the veteran tragedian (Lyne was now\nfifty-six) was announced to appear in a round of favorite characters\nsupported by the Theatre Stock Company. He opened on January 14th in\n\"Damon\" to a packed house and played in quick succession the\ncharacters of \"Richelieu,\" \"Othello,\" \"Richard,\" \"William Tell,\" \"Sir\nGiles Overreach,\" and Rolla in \"Pizarro.\" In the latter play he could\nnot expect to have any of the old Nauvoo cast, especially Brigham\nYoung for the \"High Priest,\" as he was now reigning as High Priest in\nreality; but he found a very capable successor in the person of George\nTeasdale, who since his experience in this part found promotion in the\npriestly line until he became one of the chief high priests of the\nchurch and a member of the Twelve. There is certainly some charm in\nthat character of the \"High Priest\" in \"Pizarro.\"\n\nLyne's engagement was the first one made with any outside actor and\nbroke almost in the very start the President's avowed policy of having\nno Gentile actors in his theatre. It was a comparatively easy step,\nhowever, as Mr. Lyne was regarded as almost, and likely to be\naltogether, one of us again, which idea, however, proved quite\nerroneous for Tom Lyne, after playing several profitable engagements\nduring his first years in Salt Lake, where he settled down to end his\ndays, became unnecessarily cynical and bitter against the dominant\nparty; and especially against the proprietor and managers of the Salt\nLake Theatre, when they decided that they had played him all that was\nprofitable. Lyne's first engagement had \"let down the bars,\" broken\nthe isolation policy to such an extent that other Gentile actors soon\nfollowed. The truth is that the managers discovered even at that early\nperiod in Salt Lake's theatrical experience that the local Stock\nCompany could not hold up the interest unaided and alone, especially\nafter the Lyne engagement had shown the public the difference between\na past master in the art (as Lyne was), and a company of comparative\nnovices however talented they might be. Another line of policy which\nhad been laid down by the chief of the new amusement bureau (that he\nwould not have any tragedies nor murder plays performed in the new\ntheatre) was sadly tangled and demoralized, during the very first\nengagement of an outside actor. \"Virginius\" was a favorite part of Mr.\nLyne's and it went on, notwithstanding some discussion and protest,\nwith Mrs. Alice Clawson (Brigham's prettiest daughter) as Virginia.\nWhen Virginius thrust the death dealing butcher knife which he\npurloins from the neighboring butcher stall into the trusting bosom of\nthe fair Virginia, exclaiming \"It is to save thine honor,\" the Rubicon\nwas crossed the leap was taken, and the second cherished whim of the\nchief promoter of amusements for the Saints was shattered; it fell a\nsacrifice to a worldly \"box office\" policy; and significant to relate,\nhis favorite daughter Alice was made the principal accessory to this\ndisregard of his desires and counsel.\n\nThe step once taken could not be retraced. Mr. Lyne's \"Virginius\" like\nhis \"Damon\" and \"Richelieu\" proved very popular, and justified several\nrepetitions. It was found that tragedy had its votaries quite as\nnumerous as those of the Comic Muse; and there were no more protests\neither against the Gentile actors or the tragic plays, for the varied\ntastes of theatre patrons had to be considered and from this time on\n\"box office\" considerations wholly dictated the managerial policy of\nthe Salt Lake Theatre.\n\nDuring the early days of the Salt Lake Theatre, that is to say, the\nfirst short season of 1862 and part of the season of '62-3, the\ncompany was somewhat handicapped by the lack of a competent \"leading\nlady.\" Mrs. Wheelock and Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of\nthe Social Hall days, had both left the Territory for California, and\nthis left the D. D. A. weak in this respect. The comedy roles were\nwell represented in the persons of Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Miss Sarah\nAlexander, Miss Maggie Thomas, and the character parts and old women\nby Mrs. Sarah Cook. Mrs. Marian Bowring was good in heavies, while\npretty Alice Clawson could make good in a walking lady or light\njuvenile but they were short a \"leading\" woman. In the classic plays\nwhich Lyne put on: \"Virginius,\" \"Damon and Pythias,\" \"Richelieu,\"\netc., (Mrs. Alice Clawson was cast for the leading juvenile roles; she\nfilled all the requirements so far as looks were concerned, but was\nnot at all convincing where any impassioned acting was required) the\npopular verdict was \"She's pretty, but can't act.\" Soon the managers\ndiscovered a very talented and promising actress to fill the place, in\none Mrs. Lydia Gibson. Lydia was the young and pretty wife of Elder\nWilliam Gibson, who had recently converted Lydia to the Mormon faith\nin the old country and brought her to Salt Lake and prevailed on her\nto become Mrs. Gibson number two. She was a very lovely woman and when\nshe made her advent into the dramatic company soon became a general\nfavorite both with the company and the public, and more than one\nfellow experienced a pang of envy when he learned she was the wife of\nElder Gibson, a man old enough to be her father. Mrs. Gibson remained\nin the company only two seasons, long enough to establish herself\nthoroughly in the affections of everybody, when she sickened and\nshortly after died. She was buried in Brigham Young's private burying\nground near where the prophet himself is buried. The entire dramatic\ncompany and many of the community followed her to her last resting\nplace with every evidence of genuine sorrow. Her dramatic career was\nbrief but brilliant.\n\nThere had been some trouble on the male side of the cast also. On\nLyne's first appearance the part of \"Pythias\" was cast to the old\nSocial Hall favorite \"Jim\" Ferguson he had played the part with Snow\nin the Social Hall and was \"accounted a good actor;\" but on this\nparticular occasion, one of no small importance, being his first\nappearance at the Salt Lake Theatre as well as the first appearance of\nMr. Lyne, Mr. Ferguson did not win fresh laurels. No doubt the fact of\nappearing alongside of a veteran like Lyne, made \"Jim\" more or less\nnervous. Somehow he did not \"screw his courage to the sticking place,\"\nwhether from nervousness or other causes, and failed to give a\nsatisfactory performance of the part; he was over-excited, and the\nCalanthe complained that he was too realistic. He terrified the\nsoldiers of Dionysius to such a degree that they wanted to desert, and\nMr. Lyne declared he was the most vigorous Pythias who had ever played\nwith him, but he could not rely on him; his stage business was so\neccentric and uncertain. \"Jim\" thought he was making a great hit, but\nthe managers decided to make a change. At the following performance\nthe character was essayed by Mr. John R. Clawson, who if not so\nbrilliant as Ferguson, proved to be less erratic and more steady and\nreliable.\n\nFerguson never again appeared on the stage but devoted his brilliant\ntalents to his paper, The Mountaineer, and the practice of the law.\nJohn T. Caine was now nominally the leading man of the theatre. He had\nplayed with stately dignity the parts of \"Dionysius\" in \"Damon and\nPythias\" and \"Pizarro\" to Lyne's \"Rolla,\" and before the season was\nover a number of leading characters in plays such as \"Eustace Baudin,\"\n\"Senor Valiente,\" \"Serious Family,\" \"All That Glitters,\" etc.\n\nEach of Lyne's characters was played twice or three times, and went\nfar toward filling up the season as the company played but two nights\nin the week. The Stock Company filled out the season of '62-63 which\nclosed after the April conference, '63. Soon after the opening season\nof '63 and '64, the Irwins were engaged, and opening on November 4th\nplayed the entire season till April 10th, 1864.\n\nWhen the Irwin engagement began, November 4th, 1863, this put Mr.\nSelden Irwin in all the leading parts. Early during this engagement\nMr. David McKenzie, who had already scored a success in \"old man\"\nparts, came strongly to the front in the play of \"Evadne\" in which he\nwas cast for the part of \"Colonno,\" a character of the \"Hotspur\" type.\nHe made a distinct and pronounced hit in this character, fairly\ndividing honors with Irwin, who played \"Ludovico,\" a character of the\n\"Iago\" type, and second only to that \"great villain,\" perhaps, in the\nwhole range of the drama. This performance brought McKenzie\nconspicuously to the front so that he was promoted to the leading\nposition and held it with public approval for a number of years.\n\nA year or so ago a \"write up\" article in \"Munsey\" claimed for George\nB. Waldron the distinction of being the first Gentile actor to play in\nthe Mormon theatre. How far astray from the historical record the\nwriter was can be gleaned from the foregoing facts, and those which\nare to follow.\n\nMr. Lyne's first engagement lasted into March, close up to the April\nConference, when a season of stock work was resumed with some special\nattraction in the way of spectacular effects for the conference\nseason. It was the custom during the first regular season to play but\ntwo nights a week Tuesdays and Saturdays the other evenings of the\nweek being devoted to the necessary rehearsals, as it was\nimpracticable to get the company together in the daytime for that\npurpose, as they all had other occupations which demanded their\nattention. Each play was given twice, this was the rule; it was the\nexception when a piece ran _three_ nights in succession. It was the\ncustom to put up a new bill each week, so this gave the company about\na week to get up in a new play and a new farce; with their daily\noccupations to attend to as well. Actors today would consider it a\ntask to get up in a new play and a farce each week with nothing else\nto attend to. It will readily be understood from this statement that\nthe original stock company of the Salt Lake Theatre had no sinecure,\nor \"soft snap,\" to phrase it in the present vernacular, especially\nwhen it is made known that during all this season there was no such\nthing as salary attached to their positions. They were all working for\nhonor and glory, and to help Brother Brigham pay for the theatre; but\nthere was no grumbling; all went merry as a peal of wedding bells for\n\"the labor we delight in physics pain,\" and the first regular season\nof the Salt Lake Theatre closed after the April Conference, 1863, with\na good financial showing, much of the indebtedness on the building\nhave been wiped out, and everything in good shape for the ensuing\nseason.\n\nThis first long season's work had to a great extent disclosed the\nrespective merits of the various members of the company, so that a\nnumber of changes were wrought out, some members gaining promotions in\naccordance with public voice and approbation.\n\nDuring the summer of 1863, the interior decorations of the theatre\nwere completed and preparations were made for opening the season of\n'63 and '64 a little in advance of the October Conference, which\nalways brings the people in even from the remotest settlements, and\nconsequently makes a great harvest for the theatre. The stock company\nopened up the season without any assistance from the \"Gentile\"\ndramatic world no second star had as yet appeared on our dramatic\nhorizon. Some additional interest, however, was lent to the stock\ncompany by the accession to its ranks of two new members, who had been\nselected from an amateur club called the \"Thespians,\" whose\nperformances, given in a little crib, popularly known as \"Cromie's\nShow,\" so designated because the manager, \"Jimmy\" Thompson, had\nacquired the nickname of \"Cromie\" from an excellent performance he\ngave of that character in the farce of Betsy Baker.\n\nThe new accessions were John S. Lindsay and James M. Hardie, whom the\ntheatre managers had picked from the ranks of the young \"Thespians\" as\nbeing of promise and worthy a place in the big theatre. The company\npresented a number of comedy dramas; did the usual S. R. O. business\nduring the October Conference and played well on into the month of\nNovember, when \"The Irwins\" were engaged as stock stars for the\nremainder of the season. This engagement proved to be a wise move on\nthe part of the management, for the strain on the stock company was\nbecoming apparent, and it is questionable whether they could have held\nthe public interest with them throughout the season; so the Irwins\nwere welcomed by both the company and the patrons of the theatre.\nSelden Irwin (or as he was familiarly called \"Sel\") was at this time\nin the very flush of manhood, full of life and ambition, with a\nplethora of good looks and activity. He was essentially a dashing\nactor, and pleased the public immensely. Mrs. Irwin was even more of a\nfavorite than \"Sel.\" If not great, she was very versatile, and they\ngave Salt Lakers a series of plays of very great variety, embracing\nclassic tragedy, comedy and farce. Everything from \"Camille\" and the\n\"Lady of Lyons\" to \"That Rascal Pat\" and \"In and Out of Place.\" With\nMr. and Mrs. Irwin was Harry Rainforth, a boy of sixteen years, a son\nof Mrs. Irwin by a former marriage, who in after years became a\nwell-known manager, being a partner with Bob Miles in the Grand Opera\nHouse at Cincinnati. Harry was quite an actor as a boy, and helped out\nthe cast on several occasions; his most conspicuous effort, however,\nwas Lord Dundreary in \"Our American Cousin,\" which was put up to give\n\"Sel\" a chance at \"Asa Trenchard.\" It is not of record that Harry ever\nbecame a formidable rival of Sothern's in this part, but on this\noccasion he filled the role very acceptably.\n\nThe Irwins remained as stock stars to the end of the season, which\ncame to a close after the April Conference, 1864. They were well liked\nby the Utahns, and came back for a short starring engagement the\nseason of '66, after making a tour of Idaho and Montana with a small\nroad company. The Irwin engagement inaugurated the three night\nperformances a week and Saturday matinees. This increased the work of\nthe company to such an extent that they had to neglect to a greater or\nless degree their regular business, that on which they depended for\ntheir living, for it must be understood that there was no compensation\nattached, beyond the honor of acting in the Salt Lake Theatre. So\nthere began to be some dissatisfaction with this part of the business,\nand complaints from some that they were neglecting their business for\nthe theatre and ought to be made good, so it was arranged near the end\nof the season to give two benefit performances one for the gentlemen\nand the other for the ladies of the company, and then divide the\nresults pro rata among the members of the company. This scheme was\ncarried out and served to conciliate the players and smooth the way to\nanother season's work for the managers.\n\nThe writer at this time was probably the youngest member of the\ncompany and had attained but little prominence, hence his \"divvy\" was\na very modest one, yet quite acceptable, as it was unexpected. The\nfollowing autograph letter of Brigham Young's will show the method\nadopted by the management to carry on the business and make the\ncompany contribute liberally to the building of the theatre:\n\n                           SALT LAKE CITY, April 15th, 1864.\n\n    _Mr. John S. Lindsay_.\n\n    DEAR BROTHER:--Inclosed please find Twenty Dollars, being amount\n    assigned you out of the proceeds of the Benefit recently given at\n    the theatre.\n\n    Appreciating your faithful services, and the alacrity with which\n    you have contributed to our amusement during the past season, I\n    pray God to bless you, and increase your ability to do good.\n\n    Your brother in the Gospel,\n                               BRIGHAM YOUNG.\n\nThis plan served to keep the company in a contented mood, and was\nrepeated at the close of the following season with like result.\n\nThe writer had made some progress in the company, and at the next\nbenefit got seventy-five dollars for his pro rata; this was less than\na dollar a performance during the season of seven months, but then we\nwere doing good missionary work, in the way of amusing the people, and\nthis company were engaged in a labor they delighted in; while they\nwere assisting in a great measure to pay for the great Thespian temple\nin which they were performing, they were enjoying the labor immensely\nand gave the same enthusiastic efforts to it they would have done to a\nmission, had they been called to go and preach the gospel. Moreover,\nthey were gaining an experience in art that would have been perhaps\nimpossible for them, had not this splendid theatre been erected in the\nhome of the Saints. Brigham Young's comprehensive mind had grasped the\nadvantage to his people of blending art with religion, and relieving\nthe monotony of arduous pioneer toil with innocent and refreshing\namusements.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSEASON OF '64-'65.\n\n_A Metropolitan Theatre in the Wilderness_.\n\n\nThe Salt Lake Theatre was a source of wonder and admiration to all\nstrangers visiting it. Considering the time and the place of its\nerection, the isolated condition of the people, the meagre facilities\nwithin reach for so big a project, the quadrupled cost of everything\nthat had to be imported, such as glass, nails, paints, cloth for\nscenery and everything in the shape of decorations, it was then, and\nremains today, a monument to the liberality, foresight and enterprise\nof Brigham Young. Since its erection, forty-three years ago,\ntheatrical architecture has been vastly improved, and in many respects\nthe Salt Lake Theatre is old-fashioned, but few theatres in the\ncountry, with all the improvements which have been introduced, surpass\nit in point of comfort and convenience, especially behind the curtain.\nWhen it is considered that not only the architectural designs, the\nmechanical construction, but all the interior decorations and the\nscene-painting was done by local talent, it speaks highly for the\nartistic and mechanical skill that was centered in Salt Lake even at\nthat early period of its history. William H. Folsom was the architect\nand personally superintended its construction. He was also the\narchitect of the big Tabernacle with its turtle-shaped roof spanning a\nstretch of 150 feet without a supporting column. The first\ninstallment of scenery was painted by W. V. Morris and George M.\nOttinger, both clever artists, and with their assistants they gave the\ntheatre stage a very nice investiture in the way of scenery. As the\nseasons rolled around the stock of scenery was continuously growing,\nfor every new play had to have something done for it in the way of\nscenery, so that the painters were always working, and as a\nconsequence the Salt Lake Theatre has probably a larger stock of\nscenery than any theatre in the country. The same may be said in\nregard to the stage properties. \"Charley\" Millard was the property\nman, and Charley could manufacture anything in the shape of a \"prop\"\nfrom a throne chair to a cuspidor, from a papier mache cannon to a\nfirecracker, from a basket horse to a baby; so that in the course of a\ndozen years the property room became a veritable museum, an \"old\ncuriosity shop\" well worth an hour of anybody's time to examine.\n\nThere was a wardrobe department, which was equal in importance if not\nsuperior to the scenic arid property departments. This was presided\nover by Mr. Claud Clive, an expert tailor, who with his assistants,\nmanufactured all the costumes for the male characters of the plays,\nwhile the female costume department was presided over by Mrs. Marion\nBowring. Mr. Robert Neslen had general charge of the costume and wig\ndepartment, and dispensed the necessary apparel and wigs to the\ncompany. There was also a tonsorial artist connected with the house,\nwho was always there to curl a wig or put it on in good shape for the\nactors who needed such assistance. John Squires was the tonsorial\nartist--he was a busy man in those days. He had his shop in a little\nadobe house that stood directly opposite the \"President's Office\" on\nthe lot where the Amelia Palace was afterwards erected. John was the\nPresident's barber, and had a large run of custom from the church and\ntithing offices, besides nearly all the actors patronized him, so that\nhe was a prosperous man in the community. He continued to shave his\nshare of the people up to within a recent date, when he was obliged to\nretire; \"age with his stealing steps had clawed him in his clutch,\" so\nthis knight of the razor was reluctantly compelled to lay down the\nimplements of tonsorial art, the strong steady hand that once could\nclean a man's cheek in about three strokes had grown weak and\ntremulous, and but recently he passed peacefully away to that better\nland where it is to be hoped there is no shaving or need of hair-dye.\nHis place is amply filled, however, for John has a numerous\nprogeny--and all his sons and grandsons, so far as we know them, are\nbarbers. Here we find a true touch of heredity.\n\nAfter such a brilliant and successful season as the Irwins had just\nconcluded, it seemed like a daring venture to open up the ensuing\nseason with the stock company unassisted by the strength of a star;\nbut notwithstanding this seeming riskiness, the managers did not wait\nfor the _ensuing season_, but bravely ushered in a supplemental season\non May 14th. Only five weeks after the Irwins had closed their long\nand brilliant run, the stock were hard at it again, notwithstanding\nthe summer days were come; they kept going till the 18th of June, when\nthe \"veteran tragedian\" (Lyne, at the time 58 years of age) was\nengaged to reinforce the stock, and add to the box office receipts. He\nopened this, his second star engagement, on June 25th and played up to\nJuly 16th. He repeated all his former triumphs and achieved some new\nones, notably in \"Sir Giles Overreach\" in \"A New Way to Pay Old\nDebts.\"\n\nIn the meantime a new star had appeared in our dramatic horizon; by\nthe time Lyne had closed his engagement, it was in our ascendant,\nastrologically speaking, and by the time it had reached our zenith, or\nmidheaven, it had shed another halo over the Salt Lake Theatre and the\ndrama in Utah. This bright particular star was George Pauncefort. \"He\nwas a scholar, and a ripe and good one,\" an actor of rare and varied\naccomplishments, and proved to be an invaluable instructor and model\nfor the company. Under his leadership a great progress was made.\nPauncefort was an English actor, who had acquired considerable\ncelebrity on the London stage. He was a married actor, and his wife\nand several daughters, at the time of which I am writing, were quite\npopular on the stage, and their names appeared frequently in the\nLondon casts. Pauncefort came to the United States as early as 1858.\nHe was the original \"Armand Duval\" in \"Camille,\" when Matilda Heron\nfirst produced that play in New York. After his New York engagement,\nPauncefort drifted West, and in 1864 came to Salt Lake for a brief\nengagement of a week or two. He had just concluded a stellar\nengagement with Jack Langrishe at Denver. Denver at that time was not\nso large as Salt Lake City, nor could it boast anything like so good a\ntheatre. The great overland road had not been projected at this time,\nand people crossing the country from Denver to Salt Lake or San\nFrancisco were obliged \"to stage it,\" or travel with private\nconveyances. So George had to stage it, not a difficult thing for an\nactor to do. He was accompanied by Mrs. Florence Bell who was featured\nwith him as co-star during his first engagement. He opened on July\n20th, 1864, just four nights after Lyne closed, in \"The Romance of a\nPoor Young Man,\" in the character of \"Manuel,\" Mrs. Bell playing\n\"Marguerite.\" Pauncefort's \"Manuel\" made a great hit, and stamped him\nat once as an actor of superior parts. It was a new awakening. His\nstyle was so different from anything we had seen, either in Lyne or\nIrwin. Mrs. Bell, however, fell as far below public expectation as\nPauncefort went above it. She was not the equal of our own leading\nlady, Mrs. Gibson who in consequence of this engagement had to be\nretired from the leading roles, and bear with what grace she might to\nsee an inferior actress usurping her place. The popular verdict was\nall in Mrs. Gibson's favor. Mrs. Bell was a pretty woman, but a very\nmediocre actress. The management would gladly have retired the lady\nafter the first performance, but there was a contract, and she was\nallowed to play the leads in several plays, during this engagement.\nPauncefort played until September 30th, when the season closed.\n\nIt no doubt cost the princely George a pang to realize that Mrs. Bell\nhad not made a favorable impression with the public, as he had\nfeatured her on the bills. She had found great favor in his eyes, if\nnot so fortunate in gaining the public favor. Their admiration was\nmutual and so apparent that it was frowned upon by \"the powers that\nbe.\" George was given plainly to understand that although Mormons\nbelieved in and practiced polygamy, they drew the line in morals at\npromiscuity, and he could not continue his present intimate relations\nwith Mrs. Bell and his engagement at the Salt Lake Theatre. George\ntook the hint and severed the \"entangling alliance;\" all the easier,\nno doubt, as Mr. Bell had come closely on their heels from Denver.\nBell was a good cornet player, and secured an engagement in the\nTheatre Orchestra, where he played until the end of the Pauncefort\nseason, and then drifted off to Montana, \"taking the fair Desdemona\nalong with him.\"\n\nThat the Bell alliance worked to Pauncefort's injury there is no\nquestion. President Young took great offense at it, and never attended\nthe theatre during Pauncefort's engagement after the opening\nperformances, when he became apprised of the intimacy existing between\nGeorge and Florence. On Brigham's first visit to the theatre after the\nPauncefort season, the writer met him on the stage near his box and\ntook occasion to express his pleasure at seeing him occupy his\naccustomed seat after so long an absence, remarking, \"It is a long\ntime since you were here, President Young.\" \"Yes,\" he replied. \"I told\nJohn T. and Hyrum (the managers of the house) that I would not come\ninto the theatre while that man Pauncefort was here.\" This showed how\nstrong a prejudice he had conceived against Pauncefort--and\nnotwithstanding the very favorable impression his acting had made, it\nwas quite a long time, nearly four months, before he again appeared.\n\nThe Lyne and Pauncefort engagement following each other in such close\nsuccession and in an extra season, and that season a mid-summer one,\nhad given the theatre-going public a very gratifying sufficiency of\ntheatricals, and consequently it was not thought advisable to open the\ntheatre again until the ensuing October Conference; so the house was\nclosed up for a period of five weeks and reopened on the 5th of\nOctober, just in time to catch the Conference gatherings. Although\nboth Lyne and Pauncefort were in the vicinity, neither of them were\nengaged until after the Conference dates were passed. The management\ncould rely on full houses during the Conference and could not see the\npolicy of sharing up the profits with a star when the stock company\ncould fill the house to its capacity. The Conference over, the\nfollowing week T. A. Lyne opened his third engagement and played up to\nthe 10th of December; a very long engagement, lasting eight weeks.\nPauncefort should naturally, according to all professional ways of\nlooking at it, have filled this time; and no doubt would have had the\npreference over Lyne if the managers had not been handicapped by the\nstrong prejudice of the \"President\" against this actor; for he was the\nnewer and more attractive star. Lyne had already played two long\nengagements and exhausted his repertoire, besides Pauncefort had\nintroduced us to a more modern and popular school, and from financial\nconsiderations alone, any manager would have given him the preference,\nbut he did not get back into the theatre for a second engagement until\nafter Lyne had played everything he knew; still he lingered in the\nvicinity. He went out through the provinces--played smaller towns,\nsuch as Springville and Provo, with their home companies--and dabbled\nin merchandising, shipping fruit to Montana; it was bringing big\nprices just then. On the 17th of December, 1864, George Pauncefort\nbegan his second engagement in \"A Bachelor of Arts\" and \"Black-Eyed\nSusan.\" It was during this engagement that \"Hamlet\" and \"Macbeth\" had\ntheir initial performances in the Salt Lake Theatre. Both of these\nplays were marked events in the history of the theatre, more\nparticularly \"Macbeth,\" which called into requisition the Tabernacle\nchoir to play the witches and sing the music of the play, which was\nably conducted by Prof. C. J. Thomas.\n\n\"Macbeth\" was the last play of this engagement and closed the second\nPauncefort season on January 7th, 1865--a brief season of three\nweeks--after waiting around about four months. Why this engagement\nended so suddenly in the very height of its brilliancy is somewhat\npuzzling to understand, as there was no other star to follow, and the\nstock company played unassisted by any stellar attraction up till May\n20th, which closed the season of '64 and '65.\n\nPauncefort shortly after the closing of his engagement went to San\nFrancisco, where he remained for more than two years playing there at\nintervals.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nSEASON '65 AND '66.\n\n\nThe next star to appear at the Mormon theatre was Julia Dean Hayne,\nand a brilliant one she proved to be. She created on her first\nappearance an impression that was profound and lasting, and each\nadditional character she appeared in only served to strengthen her\nhold on the admiration and affection of her audiences.\n\nThe advent of such a well-known and popular actress into the heart of\nthe Rocky Mountain region at such a time, years before the completion\nof the overland railroad, had in it a rich tinge of romance and wild\nmanagerial venture. Julia Dean came to Salt Lake City under the\nmanagement and in the dramatic company of the veteran Western manager,\nJohn S. Potter. Some time prior to this she had gone to San Francisco\nfrom New York by way of the Isthmus, had played a successful\nengagement there, and being \"at liberty\" after it was over, Mr.\nPotter, who was an old acquaintance of Mrs. Hayne, made her a\nproposition to organize a company and play her through the principal\ntowns of California. This was done, and after the state had been\npretty thoroughly toured, the fair Julia appearing in many places that\nhad very \"queer\" theatres, the tour was extended through the cities of\nOregon and then through the sparsely inhabited territories of Montana,\nIdaho and Utah, finally arriving in Salt Lake July 26th, 1865, on a\nregular old-time stage coach, a tired and jaded-looking party. There\nwas in this company John S. Potter, manager (then a man of sixty or\nmore), Julia Deane Hayne (the star), George B. Waldron (leading man),\nMr. and Mrs. O. F. Leslie (juveniles), Mr. A. K. Mortimer (heavies),\nCharles Graham (comedian). Mr. Potter himself played the \"old man\"\nparts, Miss Belle Douglas playing characters and old woman parts, and\n\"Jimmie\" Martin, property man and filling-in parts. The fame of\nBrigham Young's theatre had reached them in their travels, and they\nhad traveled many miles to get the opportunity of playing in it. A\nweek's engagement was soon effected, and on August 11th, 1865, \"The\nPotter Company\" with Julia Dean Hayne as the stellar character, opened\nup in the play of \"Camille.\" They were received by a packed house, and\nwith every demonstration of welcome and approbation. Mrs. Hayne, who\nwas no longer girlish in face and figure but a mature woman, verging\non towards the \"fair, fat and forty\" period, was nevertheless so\nexquisitely beautiful and girlish-looking when made up for \"Camille\"\nor \"Julia\" in the \"Hunchback,\" that everybody sang her praises. The\nentire community seemed to have fallen irresistibly in love with the\nnew star, and henceforward she had fair wind and smooth sailing while\nher lot lay cast among the Saints. While the Potter Company were\nplaying in the theatre, supporting Mrs. Hayne, the stock company were\nof course getting a needed rest, but their salaries (?) were going on\nas usual, and the management could not well afford to have two\ncompanies on its hands, so after the first week, the novelty being\nover, the Potter company were let out, and the regular company\nreinstalled. The Potter Company, however, had lost its \"star;\" the\ntheatre managers had effected an engagement with Julia Dean to remain\nwith them for the rest of the season as stock star with George B.\nWaldron, also to play her leading support, and direct the staging of\nher plays.\n\nThis proved a severe blow to the Potter Company, who now had no place\nto play in in Salt Lake and could not well take to the road again,\nhaving lost their principal attraction. Potter had not expected to\nhave been so soon supplanted. He came to Salt Lake, expecting to find\na company of amateurs, and thought no doubt the managers would be glad\nto supplant them, at least for a good long season, with the Potter\nCompany and its distinguished star. Outside of Mrs. Hayne and Mr.\nWaldron, however, the Salt Lake Company was much more numerous,\ntalented and capable than the Potter Company. It took but one or two\nperformances for the managers to discover this, and they hastened to\nmake the arrangements with Julia Dean and Mr. Waldron and to reinstate\ntheir own company.\n\nPoor Potter and his remaining company were in a sorry strait. Their\noverland jaunt, through Oregon, Montana and Idaho, had not been very\nlucrative, and now they were out in the fastnesses of the Rocky\nMountains, a thousand miles from any metropolis with a theatre, and no\nrailroad to get away on; nothing but the overland coach. Potter was a\nresourceful manager, however; he was not easily daunted; with him\nRichmond's admonition to his army was ever present. \"True hope never\ntires, but mounts on eagle's wings. Kings it makes gods, and meaner\ncreatures kings.\" He found in \"Tom\" Lyne an old acquaintance, and a\nstrong ally. Lyne was by this time disgruntled and dissatisfied with\nthe theatrical outlook in Salt Lake; he was not getting any more the\nplaudits and the \"star's\" share of the receipts. He wanted some place\nto play in. So he inspired Potter with the notion of building an\nopposition theatre to that \"monopoly\" of Brigham Young's. Potter drank\nin Lyne's inspiration fervidly. The idea took a frantic possession of\nhim, and plans were at once devised for getting up another house as\nspeedily as possible, for the season was advancing and if the project\nwas not hurried the Potter company would be scattered beyond all\nrecovery. So it was decided to erect a cheap frame building, and push\nit to completion as rapidly as possible. This decision served to keep\nthe Potter Company in Salt Lake, as they all had faith in the scheme,\nand faith in themselves that they could win out. They argued that by\nthe time the new play-house was ready to open that Julia Dean and\nWaldron would be played out at the Salt Lake Theatre, and something\nnew would catch the people. Poor, deluded actors, they did not know\nthe people of Salt Lake; they knew them better after. How much money\nMr. Lyne put into this scheme the writer never could learn from him,\nbut I opine it was very little. He, however, secured the building\nsite, by some kind of a deal with \"Tommy\" Bullock. It was about where\nDinwoodey's furniture store now stands. Potter had little or no money\nwith which to start such an enterprise, so Lyne introduced Mr. Potter\nto such of the merchants and lumbermen as he wanted to do business\nwith. Potter played a bold game, and really accomplished a great feat\nin the building of this theatre. He got from sixty to ninety days'\ncredit for everything nearly that went into the construction of the\nbuilding. It was a cheap affair; built of poles, hewn to an even size\nand placed in the ground like fence posts; then boarded on both sides\nwith rough boards, the space between the inside and outside boarding\nbeing filled in with sawdust and refuse tan bark from the tanneries,\nto make the building warm. The place was about half the size of the\nSalt Lake Theatre; that is, it had about half the seating capacity and\na stage about one-fourth the size of the theatre. The structure,\nincluding the lease of ground, cost about $7,000. It was put up in\nabout thirty days, so that Potter had a month's more time in which to\npay for the bulk of the material, but the merchants and laborers who\ndid the building were worrying his life out long before he got it\ngoing, for their money. He proved to be an expert at \"standing off\"\nhis creditors, however, so by hook and crook he got the building\ncompleted, his company reorganized, and the theatre started. Some very\namusing stories were related of him at the time; how he would cajole\nand stuff with promises the dissatisfied workmen as to what he would\ndo as soon as he got the house open. One man went to him with the\nsorrowful story that his landlady had refused to credit him any\nlonger, and he must have money to pay his board and lodgings. Potter\nlooked at him pityingly, and expressed his regret that he could do\nnothing for him till he got the theatre going. \"It will soon be\nfinished now; tell your landlady this, and if this will not appease\nher, change your boarding house.\" To such like desperate shifts and\nsubterfuges was he obliged to resort to keep the men at work, doling\nthem out a few dollars at a time, when they became unmanageable or\nthreatened to quit. Eventually the house was ready for opening and\n\"Tom\" Lyne had to have the first \"whack\" at the new box office\nreceipts.\n\nWith woeful shortsightedness they put up for the opening, \"Damon and\nPythias,\" with Lyne starred as \"Damon,\" a character he had already\nplayed three or four times at the other theatre. Lyne probably\nthought, however, with Richard that \"the king's name is a tower of\nstrength, which they on the adverse faction want.\" Such did not prove\nto be the case, however, as the \"adverse faction\" having in view the\nopening of the opposition house, put on a strong new bill with Mrs.\nHayne in a new and powerful character, so that there was no apparent\ndiminution of patronage, and the Salt Lake Theatre kept on the even\ntenor of its way \"with not a downy feather ruffled by its fierceness.\"\nPotter and Lyne had succeeded in getting \"Jim\" Hardie away from the\nother house by offering him the part of Pythias and a larger salary\nthan he was getting at the older house. \"Jim\" at this time was the\nyoungest actor in the Salt Lake Theatre company, and had not yet made\nmuch advancement; he was ambitious, however, and this opportunity to\nplay \"Pythias\" to Lyne's \"Damon\" was very alluring to him, so he\ndeserted the ranks of the D. D. A. and allied himself with\nLyne-Potter, et al., with what poor judgment the sequel will show.\n\nThe new theatre was christened \"The Academy of Music,\" with what\nreason or consistency no one could ever conceive, unless it was to\ngive it a big sounding name, to allure the unwary, for it was as\nutterly unlike an Academy of Music as anything could be.\n\nOn the opening night, the novelty of the new theatre opening, and\ncuriosity to see the Academy and Mr. Lyne with his new support,\nsufficed to draw a fairly full house.\n\nSeveral amusing incidents transpired on that eventful evening. First\nand most laughable was the following: \"Jim\" Hardie had a\nbrother-in-law named \"Pat\" Lynch. Pat had been clerk of the district\ncourt for a number of years and was well known for a big-hearted,\ngenerous man, his greatest fault being that he would indulge\noccasionally too freely in the ardent. \"Pat\" had loaned \"Jim\" ten\ndollars to help him get a costume for \"Pythias\" the Academy had no\nwardrobe department and \"Jim\" could not with any grace attempt to\nborrow one from the Salt Lake Theatre. It would appear he had promised\nto get an advance as soon as the box office had begun to take in\nmoney, and Pat had expected the return of his money that day; at all\nevents, he was present at the play, occupying a front seat in the\nparquette. He had been indulging freely, and his sight was not so\nclear as usual; besides, he had the character of Pythias and Dionysius\nmixed in his imagination. Mr. Potter was playing Dionysius, and as he\nstrode on at the rise of the curtain and began to speak, Pat mistook\nhim for Hardie and bawled out at the top of his voice, \"See here,\nDionysius, where's that ten dollars you owe me?\" Potter was filled\nwith consternation; Pat's friends who were with him succeeded in\nquieting him and Potter made another start, this time without\ninterruption. Pat had discovered his mistake, that he had dunned the\nwrong man, and it took but little persuasion to get him to leave the\ntheatre. Hardie, behind the scenes waiting for his entrance, and\nfearing a second explosion when he should make his appearance, was\nimmensely relieved to see from the side wings Pat's companions lead\nhim up the aisle and out of the theatre. Potter, not aware but what it\nwas one of his numerous creditors dunning him, when he made his first\nexit, threw up his hands in dismay, and said to Lyne in the wings: \"My\nG--d, they won't give me any peace! Even dunning me from the\naudience.\" When Lyne, who had caught the truth of the matter,\nexplained to him, he was greatly relieved.\n\nAnother amusing incident, and one which nearly wrecked the scene, was\nfurnished by the little girl they had for Damon's boy. It has never\nbeen a difficult task to find in Salt Lake a pretty and clever child\nto play the child's part in this or any other play. On this occasion,\nthe selection was probably limited to a small circle, owing to the\nfeeling engendered by this opposition to the favorite theatre; at all\nevents, the \"Damon's\" child of the occasion was an uncultured looking\nlittle miss of about six years; she was so dark and tawny-looking that\nshe might have had Indian blood in her veins, and certainly she had a\ntouch of the obduracy and stolidness that characterize that race;\nBelle Douglass was the \"Hermion\" of the occasion, and she was obliged\nto improvise and speak most of the child's lines for her; when \"Damon\"\ncame on for the farewell interview with his beloved \"Hermion\" and his\ndarling boy, he strove in vain to get a response from his young\nhopeful; the child had become thoroughly nervous, and seemed\napprehensive of some danger and when \"Damon\" interrogated her, \"What\nwouldst thou be, my boy?\" instead of the cheerful response, \"A\nsoldier, father,\" there came only a frightened look, and the child put\nits finger in its nostril, and swayed to and fro, as if she would say,\nbut dare not, \"I want to go home.\" Miss Douglass, annoyed, pulled the\nlittle hand down testily from the child's nose, and \"Damon\" repeated\nthe question, \"What wouldst thou be, my boy?\" No answer, but up went\nthe finger again to the nose. \"Hermion\" again pulled down the hand,\nand rather harshly demanded, \"Come, say, what wouldst thou be, my\nboy?\" The child by this time was nearly terrified, and only repeated\nthe nose business with more emphasis and began to cry--and \"Damon\"\nutterly disgusted with his youthful prodigy, hurried him off to pluck\nthe flower of welcome for him. The child's queer action of sticking\nits finger up its nose sent the house almost into convulsions of\nlaughter, and came near converting one of the greatest scenes of the\nplay into a burlesque. Lyne played all the other plays in his\nrepertoire in rather rapid succession, as the aim was to keep the\nAcademy open every night (except Sundays) and as each play would bear\nbut one repetition, this repertoire was soon exhausted, and as there\nwas no other \"star\" in the Utah firmament to fill the place, the\nAcademy went into a rapid decline. As the business had not proved to\nbe what the promoter and manager had calculated on, Potter was daily\nbesieged by creditors, until the poor man was almost driven frantic.\nThe heavy creditors, those who had furnished material on sixty days'\ntime, now began to grow troublesome, and one attachment after another\nfollowed, until the house fell into the hands of the sheriff--and\nBrigham Young, through T. B. H. Stenhouse, as agent, made a deal by\nwhich the property came into his hands. He soon put a force of men to\nwork who tore it down, hauled it away and fenced a farm with it.\n\nSuch in brief is the history of Potter's Academy of Music. The\nmerchants and lumbermen who had given Potter such liberal credit were\nnow sadder but wiser men.\n\nPotter got away as soon as possible, for matters were very pressing\nand unpleasant for him. His company drifted off in various directions,\nexcept Belle Douglass, who got married to Captain Clipperton and\nsettled down in Salt Lake, and after a while got into the Salt Lake\nTheatre. Hardie also got back after a time, long enough for him to\nbecome repentant and express his regrets for what he had done.\n\nThe season, by the time the Academy's brief career had ended, was well\nadvanced into the spring. Julia Dean Hayne had not only not played\nout, but had steadily grown in the affection of the people. Mr.\nWaldron continued to to be a favorite also; but Julia Dean was the\nbright particular star whose effulgence can never be effaced from the\nmemories of those who attended her performances during that memorable\nengagement. She received many marks of personal favor from President\nBrigham Young; indeed, it was current gossip that the President was\nvery much enamored of the fair Julia and had offered to make her Mrs.\nYoung number twenty-one. How much, if any, truth there was in this\ngossip will perhaps never be known; the fact that Brigham did pay her\nunusual attention and gave several parties in her honor and had a fine\nsleigh built which he named the Julia Dean was quite enough to set the\npeople talking. The probability is that the President was very much\ncharmed with her, and sought to win her to the Mormon faith; had he\nsucceeded in this, he might then have felt encouraged to go a step\nfurther and win her to himself, for in spite of his already numerous\nmatrimonial alliances, he did not consider himself _ineligible_. The\nfair Julia was not ineligible, either, for she was divorced from her\nhusband, Dr. Hayne, the son of a \"favorite son\" of South Carolina.\nSpeculation was rife, and much surprise and wonder was excited in\ncertain quarters that President Young should go out of his way to show\nmore marked attention to an actress than he had ever shown to any of\nhis wives; but he was bent on getting Julia into the fold; once there,\nhe could have played the good shepherd, and have secured her an\nexaltation. She had another man in her eye. One she had set her heart\nupon, too. \"As hers on him, so his was set on her, but how they met\nand wooed and made exchange of vows I'll tell thee as we pass.\"\n\nJames G. Cooper was at this particular time secretary of the territory\nof Utah--an appointee of the United States government. He was a\ncavalierly man of southern birth and breeding--tall and handsome, and\nof courtly bearing, a great lover of the theatre. He was never known\nto miss a performance during Julia Dean's engagement. He was one of\nthe most enthusiastic admirers she had; night after night, all the\nseason through, he sat in front, early always in the same seat, and\nwith eyes aglow and ears alert, he seemed to absorb every tone of her\nvoice and catch, every gleam of her eyes--her every move was to him a\nthrill of rapture. Out of her thousands of admirers he was the most\ndevoted worshipper at her shrine. Up to a certain time he worshipped\nin silence as if she were a deity. Chance had made them neighbors: the\nsecretary's office and Mrs. Hayne's apartments were in adjoining\nhouses, and it was not long before an acquaintanceship was formed\nwhich rapidly grew into a friendship and friendship soon ripened into\nlove.\n\nThese lovers were discreet, however. Many happy hours they passed in\neach other's company, but they did not parade their love, nor \"wear\ntheir hearts upon their sleeves for daws to peck at.\" Little did her\naudience suspect that often when she cast her most bewitching glances,\nand brightened their faces with her radiant smiles, that those smiles\nwere mounted especially for him; but he knew--how could he help but\nknow. Cupid had drawn his bow and sped his dart.\n\n    \"Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, that's by me wounded\n    Both our remedies within thy help and holy physic lie.\"\n\nSo after the close of the season, much to the surprise of her numerous\nadmirers, \"these 'twain were made one flesh.\" They bade a rather hasty\nfarewell to the land of the Saints, and wended their way to the far\nEast by stagecoach, the terminus of the Pacific road being yet some\nhundreds of miles from Salt Lake.\n\nMrs. Hayne's last appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre was an event\nmarked with quite as much if not more of interest than her first\nappearance. She had become endeared to the Salt Lake public, and they\nregarded her approaching departure with genuine regret. At her last\nperformance, June 30th, 1866, she appeared as \"Camille,\" the same\ncharacter in which she opened her engagement, and was the recipient on\nthis occasion of many tokens of kindness and appreciation. Being\ncalled enthusiastically to the front of the curtain after the\nperformance, she bade a loving farewell to Salt Lake and its people in\none of the most delicately and tastefully worded speeches ever made in\nfront of a theatre drop. During her long engagement, lasting from\nAugust 11th, '65, to June 30th, '66, she played all the great classic\nfemale roles that were then popular, a number of comedies, and even\ntook a dip into extravaganza or burlesque, appearing during the\nholiday season in the character of Alladin in \"The Wonderful Lamp,\"\nwhich ran for eleven consecutive performances. Her best remembered\ncharacters are \"Camille,\" \"Lady Macbeth,\" \"Leah,\" \"Parthenia,\" \"Julia\"\n(in the \"Hunchback\"), \"Lucretia Borgia,\" \"Medea,\" \"Marco,\" \"Lady\nTeazle,\" \"Peg Woffington,\" and \"Pauline\" in the \"Lady of Lyons.\" In\nher ten months' engagement, she played a great many plays besides\nthose mentioned, each play being presented twice or three times,\naccording to its popularity.\n\nAmong others, an Indian play, entitled \"Osceola,\" written by E. L.\nSloan, then editor of the Salt Lake Herald, in which Mr. George\nWaldron played the title role and Mrs. Hayne the chief's daughter. The\npiece had a fair success, but has never been heard of since. Mr. Sloan\nwrote another play a year or two later, about the time of the\ncompletion of the overland railroad, which he called \"Stage and\nSteam.\" This was a melodrama with a stage coach and railway train in\nit, intended to illustrate the march of civilization. It had two\npresentations, and was never acted again that we are aware of. It was\nduring Mrs. Hayne's engagement also that Mr. Edward W. Tullidge made\nhis first essay as a dramatic author--Mrs. Hayne and Mr. Waldron had\nexhausted the list of available plays and new plays were in demand.\nTullidge's play was entitled \"Eleanor de Vere,\" or \"The Queen's\nSecret,\" an episode of the Elizabethan Court--in which Queen Elizabeth\nwas a secondary character. Tullidge had written his play with various\nmembers of the company in his eye, and succeeded in fitting them very\nwell. This play made a very favorable impression and was repeated\nseveral times to large and appreciative audiences. Mrs. Hayne's\ncharacter, \"Eleanor de Vere,\" was one of the Queen's waiting women, in\nlove with \"Rochester,\" and afforded the actress very good scope for\nher great talent, but the character of Queen Elizabeth, although a\nsecondary part in the play, made such a favorable impression on Mrs.\nHayne that she asked Mr. Tullidge if he could write her a play of\nElizabeth, making the Queen a star character for her. She believed\nfrom what Mr. Tullidge had done in \"Eleanor de Vere\" that he could\nwrite a great play of Elizabeth. Tullidge felt that he had a great\nsubject; it was a favorite theme, however, and one on which he was\nthoroughly posted, and encouraged by Mrs Hayne's faith in his ability,\nhe at once commenced the task. \"The labor we delight in physics pain,\"\nand Elizabeth became a labor of love with Edward Tullidge, for he was\nvery enthusiastic in his love of Julia Dean, both as a woman and as an\nartist; and so familiar with all the heroes of Elizabeth's court, that\nhis task, though Herculean, was a pleasant one, and before Julia Dean\nwas ready to leave Salt Lake, Tullidge had completed a great\nhistorical play, \"Elizabeth of England.\" It was with a view of\npresenting it in New York that Mrs. Hayne (now Cooper) went there soon\nafter her departure. Before she had concluded any arrangement for its\nproduction, however, Ristori, the great Italian actress, loomed up on\nthe dramatic horizon in Elizabeth. She had crowned all her former\nachievements in a great triumph in this same Elizabeth of England.\nAlthough the play was written by an Italian author (Giogimetta) and\nwas not as true to history as the Tullidge play, it filled the\nparticular historical niche so far as the stage is concerned. Ristori\nhad a great success with this play, both in Europe and this country.\nIt must have broken Julia Dean's heart professionally. She might have\nbeen the first in the field, at least in this country, if she had not\ndilly-dallied. She was having a delightful honeymoon and was too\nindifferent in this important affair, and when the advent of the great\nItalian in Elizabeth awoke her from her reverie, her opportunity had\ngone and Tullidge's Elizabeth never saw the light. Very keen indeed\nwas the disappointment of the author. Julia Dean was his ideal for\nElizabeth, and when he found to his amazement that the Italians\n(author and actress) had gained the field ahead of them, poor Tullidge\nwent crazy with grief, and for a time had to be confined in the city\nprison, there being no asylum in Utah at that time. Mr. Lyne, who read\nthe play to a large audience in Salt Lake, pronounced it one of the\ngreatest historical plays he had ever read.\n\nWhether the great disappointment had any effect in hastening Mrs.\nCooper's death or not can not be known, but \"it is pitiful, 'twas\nwondrous pitiful,\" that she did not live longer to enjoy her new-found\nhappiness, and add a crowning glory to her brilliant career, for she\nwas without doubt the greatest favorite of her day in America, and\nAmericans everywhere would have hailed her with delight in any new\nachievement. She only lived about a year after her marriage to Mr.\nCooper. She died in New York, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.\nThe news of her demise was received with profound sorrow by her\nnumerous Salt Lake admirers, and many a silent tear paid tribute to\nher memory.\n\n    \"There is a destiny that shapes our ends,\n    Rough hew them as we will.\"\n\nThrough the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Johnson, our popular photographer, I\nam enabled to append the following information in relation to Julia\nDean's death and burial:\n\n    THE UNMARKED GRAVE OF JULIA DEAN.\n\n                                     NEW YORK, August 26, 1897.\n\n    _To the Editor of the Dramatic Mirror_:\n\n    SIR:--While recently walking through the beautiful Laurel Grove\n    Cemetery at Port Jervis, New York, the aged caretaker called my\n    attention to a good-sized circular burial plot overlooking a lake\n    in the centre of which, surrounded by mountain laurel shrubs and\n    lilac bushes, is a sunken mound under which the venerable keeper\n    declared rested \"as great and fine a looking actress as the\n    country ever had,\" and further stated that \"much of a time was\n    made over her years ago in New York.\" Also that \"when her body was\n    brought on here a big crowd of theatre folks came on to see her\n    buried and they cried over her open grave.\"\n\n    Becoming thoroughly interested, I carefully noted the location of\n    the actress' lot, and immediately visited the little cemetery\n    office on the grounds, and in looking over the admirably kept\n    records, I was astonished to find that it represented the grave of\n    a fair member of the dramatic profession whose tomb had been\n    entirely lost sight of, and dramatic historians and editors have\n    been unable for years to enlighten those of their readers who\n    sought to discover her grave rest. Beneath this mound rests all\n    that is mortal of the once lovely Juliet of the American\n    stage--Julia Dean.\n\n    The complete record of the Laurel Grove Cemetery reads:\n\n    \"Name--Julia Dean-Hayne-Cooper.\n\n    \"Place and time of nativity--Pleasant Valley, Near Poughkeepsie,\n    N. Y., July 21, 1830.\n\n    \"Names of parents--Edwin and Julia Dean.\n\n    \"Age--Thirty-five years.\n\n    \"Place and date of death--New York City, May 19, 1866.\n\n    \"Cause of death--Childbirth.\n\n    \"Second husband's name--James G. Cooper.\n\n    \"Buried in Lot No. 3, Section B, owned by her father-in-law,\n    Mathew H. Cooper.\n\n    \"Remains of deceased first placed in the Marble Cemetery General\n    Receiving Vault, Second Street, New York City. Transferred to\n    Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, April 16, 1868.\"\n\n    The lone cemetery official states all of Julia Dean's kindred\n    passed away years ago, and together they are buried in the old\n    Clove graveyard at Sussex, N. J.\n\n    At the time of their deaths, they were in reduced circumstances,\n    and while still well-to-do, years before Julia Dean's demise they\n    acquired this Port Jervis burial lot that she might await the\n    resurrection in the place where her childhood days were so\n    pleasantly passed.\n\n    At the foot of the eminent actress' grave slumbers the unnamed\n    girl infant for whom Julia Dean surrendered her illustrious life.\n\n    None of her relatives were ever able to erect a monument over her\n    remains, and it seems a pity that this exquisite actress of\n    another generation should forever sleep in an unrecorded\n    sepulchre.\n\n    Having heard and read that the noble Actors' Fund of New York has\n    caused' many a granite tombstone to be erected over the graves of\n    their worthy comrades, and as Julia Dean was so sweet and\n    accomplished an artiste, I thought that by calling attention to\n    this forgotten and out of the way tomb through the columns of the\n    most powerful of America's dramatic journals, _The Dramatic\n    Mirror_, it might result in placing a modest memorial stone of\n    granite at the head of the mound under which so peacefully reposes\n    Julia Dean, whose splendid genius Dion Boucicault compared to that\n    of another gifted and beautiful daughter of the drama, the ideal\n    Juliet, Adelaide Neilson, who awaits the final call in distant\n    England, beneath an imposing mortuary memorial, thanks to the\n    influence of the loyal William Winter.\n\n                                              LOVER OF THE STAGE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nSEASON OF '66-'67.\n\n\nAfter the close of this eventful season, Mr. George Waldron, who had\nplayed the leading support to Mrs. Hayne and become an established\nfavorite, drifted away from Salt Lake, going into Montana; returning a\nyear or so later in conjunction with Mrs. Waldron. He had found his\nmate and brought her to Salt Lake to make her acquainted with his many\nfriends there. George tried very earnestly to get a Salt Lake wife. It\nlooked for a while as if Miss Sarah Alexander was destined to fill\nthat place; she certainly filled George's eye. He was very much\nenamored of the petite and lithesome Sarah, but the expected union did\nnot materialize, and George sought pastures new, and ere long\nreturned, bringing a beautiful wife with him. Meantime, Sarah had\ndrifted off to the East in company with a literary lady named Lisle\nLester. They took with them Sarah's little niece, her dead sister's\nbaby, Baby Finlayson, then but two years old. Miss Finlayson, under\nher aunt's careful guidance and training, developed into a very clever\nand capable actress, and for many years now has been holding leading\npositions in prominent companies and theatres. She is known\nprofessionally as Lisle Leigh.\n\nThe Waldrons played a short engagement and then bade a long farewell\nto Salt Lake and the West. At this writing George Waldron has been\ndead for ten years, his wife, a son and a daughter survive him; all\nfollow the stage successfully.\n\nDuring the season of '65 and '66, there were few changes in the\nsupporting stock company. Mr. Waldron doing the leads, lightened\nconsiderably the labors of the \"leading man,\" Mr. D. McKenzie, who was\nquite content to escape the onerous study the leading parts would have\nimposed, and play something easier. Before the beginning of this\nseason, Mr. H. B. Clawson had retired altogether from the field as an\nactor, although still one of the managers of the house, and Mr. Phil\nMargetts was the acknowledged premier comedian of the company. Mr.\nJohn T. Caine, too, Clawson's associate manager, and also stage\nmanager, yielded up his line of parts to John S. Lindsay and devoted\nhimself exclusively to the duties of stage manager, which in the old\n\"stock\" days meant far more than that office means today. \"Why, in the\nelder day to be a 'stage manager' was greater than to be a king,\" in\nany of the plays. Briefly enumerated, his duties were: First, to\n_read_ carefully and then _cast_ all the plays. The casting of a play\nis a most important affair. It must be done with great care and\nconsideration so as to get the best results, and at the same time each\nactor his \"line\" of parts as near as practicable; then he must write\nout the cast, and hang it up in the case in the green room--write out\nall \"calls\" for rehearsals, and hang them up in the case. Then he must\ndirect all rehearsals. To do this, he must study out all the\n\"business\" of the play in advance of the rehearsals, so he will be\nable to direct intelligently. When a \"star\" is rehearsing, he\ngenerally directs the rehearsal, thus relieving the stage manager of a\ngreat responsibility; but he must be around, and see what is required\nfor the play in the way of scenery and properties and make out\ncomplete and detailed plots for scene-men and property-men, and in\nthis particular case where the theatre furnished the actors with all\nwardrobes (except modern clothes), the stage manager had also to make\nout a _costume plot_. The costumer would then distribute the wardrobe\nfor the play according to his best judgment, and the conceit or fancy\nof the actor, which often made the costumer's duty a perplexing one,\nfor actors are so full of conceits and fancies that they are a hard\nlot to please.\n\nIn the Salt Lake Theatre a first-class copyist was constantly employed\nin copying out parts--books were not so easily procured in those days.\nIt took from three to four weeks to get a book from New York, so where\nthe manager had but one book all the parts had to be copied, and the\nstage manager had to have his plays selected well ahead, so as to give\nthe copyist plenty of time to get parts ready for distribution.\nBesides these duties, the stage manager had to write out all the\n\"copy\" for advertisements and posters and house programs, see to the\npainting of new scenes, and the making of new properties; also, any\nnew costumes that had to be made. His decision was final in all these\nmatters, so that the stage manager of the \"old stock\" days was no\nsinecure. Mr. Caine filled the position with rare ability, and his\nregime in the Salt Lake Theatre was distinguished for its prompt\nexecutive alertness, and the utter absence of any trifling or\ninattention to business.\n\nOne important accession there was to the company just before this\nengagement, that of Miss Annie Asenith Adams. Miss Adams made her\ndebut on the 25th of July, 1865, (the same night that Julia Dean-Hayne\nand the Potter Company arrived in Salt Lake), in the character of\nGrace Otis in the \"People's Lawyer,\" W. C. Dunbar being the \"Solon\nShingle\" on the occasion. Her maiden effort proved very successful and\nsatisfactory to the management, and during Julia Dean's long\nengagement she proved to be a valuable acquisition to the stock\ncompany. She made rapid progress in the dramatic art, and before the\nclose of the season had attained a prominent position in the company\nwhich she held with credit to herself and satisfaction to the public\nuntil 1874, when the stock company was virtually retired to give place\nto the \"combination\" system which then came into vogue.\n\nOn August 15th, 1869, a little more than four years after her debut,\nMiss Adams was married to Mr. James H. Kiskadden. Between the time of\nher debut and her marriage, Asenith (she was always called \"Senith\" in\nthose days) was not only a favorite with the public, but she had a\nnumber of ardent admirers among the \"opposite sex.\" There was quite a\nrivalry for her affections between several members of the company, but\nthe most ardent of them were already married, and although _they_ did\nnot consider that a bar to their hopes, in Annie's case they were not\neligible; so the chief rivalry existed on the outside of the theatre.\nMr. Kiskadden, or \"Jim,\" as he was universally called by his\nacquaintances, was cashier in his brother William's bank (the location\nis the identical room where Walker Brothers' Bank is today). Jim was a\ndashing sort of fellow, big and manly, with a determined kind of air,\nthat seemed to say, \"Things must go my way.\" He drew a good salary,\ndressed well, and always wore immaculate linen, his shirt front always\nilluminated with a large diamond. He was inclined to \"sporting,\" and\nwas recognized as the champion billiard player of the town in those\ndays. How much apprehension \"Jim\" endured regarding \"Senith's\" married\nsuitors in the theatre we have no means of knowing, but it is probable\nshe set his doubts at rest on that score by assuring him that she\nwould never marry an already married man. She had seen enough of that\nto make her dread it. However this might be, \"Jim\" had a rival and a\ndangerous one in the person of Mr. Jack O'Neil. Jack was beyond\nquestion the handsomer fellow of the two; indeed, he was handsome as a\nprince, always dressed superbly and was one of the most attractive\nlooking men in Salt Lake. Jack was very much infatuated with the\nrising young actress and missed no opportunity to make known to her\nhis appreciation of her talents and his admiration and adoration of\nherself. The rivalry between Jack and Jim was at white heat for a\nspell, and it would not have been very much of a surprise to their\nintimates if there had been a challenge sent and accepted, and a duel\nfought over the young Mormon actress. Unfortunately for Jack and his\naspirations for the lady's affections, he was a _professional_ sport,\nand that was against him. He had no other profession, and handsome and\ncavalierly as he could be, he was classed as a gambler; while Jim\ncould flip the pasteboards just as skillfully, and lay them all out at\nbilliards, he did not follow it for a \"stiddy liven,\" but held the\ncashier's box in his brother's bank, for a steady job, and only\nsported on the side, and so it came to pass that in the course of time\nJim distanced his handsome rival and bore off the prize. Many of\n\"Senith's\" friends regretted this, as Jim did not belong to the\nhousehold of faith, but was a rank, out-spoken Gentile, utterly\nopposed to Mormon ways, and not afraid to say so. Whereas all of\n\"Senith's\" folks were staunch adherents of the Mormon faith and were\nstriving to live their religion in all its phases. So they did not\nrejoice over \"Senith's\" marriage to a Gentile (as all non-Mormons were\ncalled--Jews included). They regarded it as equivalent to apostasy\nfrom the faith in which she had been reared, periling her soul's\nsalvation. She was not appalled, however, by the gloomy and hopeless\npictures some of her friends were kind enough to paint for her, and\nbravely married the man she had set her heart upon and stuck by him\nthrough thick and thin, sunshine and storm, prosperity and adversity.\nOn November 11th, 1872, Maude Kiskadden was born, within a stone's\nthrow of the Salt Lake Theatre, and before she was a year old made her\ndebut on the stage where her mother was a debutante some eight years\nbefore. It looks now as if it were fate, as if she was predestined for\na great stage career. There was an emergency and Maude, not yet a year\nold, was there to fill it. It happened in the following manner. In\nthose palmy days of the profession, the old stock days as they are now\ncalled, it was customary to supplement the play with a farce--no\nmatter how long the play--even if a five-act tragedy, the evening's\nperformance was not considered complete without a farce to conclude\nwith. On this particular occasion, the farce was the \"Lost Child,\" a\nfavorite with our comedian, Mr. Phil Margetts. He played Jones, a fond\nand loving parent, who goes distracted over his lost child. Instead of\nproviding a real baby, as the property man had been instructed to do,\nhe had a grotesque-looking rag baby, not at all to the comedian's\ntaste in the matter. Millard, the property man, declared he had been\nunable to procure a live baby, nobody was willing to lend a baby for\nthe part--older children he could get, but he could not get a baby,\nand the rag baby was the best that he could do under the\ncircumstances, and on such short notice. Margetts was in distress.\n\"What, in Utah!\" he exclaimed. \"The idea!\" Where babies are our best\ncrop, to be unable to procure one for his favorite farce. It was\nsimply preposterous, absurd, incredible; he objected to play with\nnothing but a miserable makeshift of a rag baby. In agony he appealed\nto the stage manager, Mr. Caine, to know if the farce was to be ruined\nor made a double farce by the introduction into it of a grotesque doll\nlike that! It would be worse than a Punch and Judy show. Sudden as a\nbolt from a clouded sky, while the altercation was still at its\nheight, Mrs. Kiskadden appeared in the centre of the stage with her\nbaby in her arms, and in a good-natured tone that ended all the\ntrouble, exclaimed, \"Here's Maude, use her!\" Maude was indeed a good\nsubstitute for the inartistic-looking \"prop\" the property man had\nprovided. Phil was happy and played the distracted parent with a\nrealism and a pathos he never could have summoned for the rag baby.\nWhen the cue came, Maude was ushered into the mimic scene, making her\nfirst entrance on a large tray carried by a waiter. Then she was taken\nfrom the tray into somebody's arms and tossed from one nurse to\nanother throughout the farce, until finally, as it ends, she is lodged\nsafely in the arms of Mr. Jones, her distracted father. To her credit,\nbe it recorded, she never whimpered or made any outcry or showed any\nsigns of alarm, but played her first part bravely, though perhaps\nunconsciously; winning the admiration and love of the entire company.\nIt was a lucky accident that Maude was in the theatre that evening,\nfor her mother was not in the habit of bringing her to the theatre\nwhen she had any one at home to take care of her, but this evening was\nthe \"nurse's evening out,\" and \"Maudie\" had to be toted to the theatre\nand carefully put to sleep before mamma could \"make up\" and go through\nher part. Here she was safely stowed away in a safe and quiet corner\nof the green room, where she had been blissfully reposing all through\nthe first play, and was now rather rudely awakened to fill the\ndistressing emergency.\n\nIt will be readily seen from this narration that Maude Adams was\nvirtually \"born to the stage,\" her mother studying assiduously and\nplaying parts both before and after Maude's birth, often taking Maudie\nwith her, both to rehearsals and performances, so that she became a\nfamiliar little object in the theatre before she could walk or talk,\nand long before she could ever essay a speaking part she was the pet\nof the Green Room.\n\nWe had a Green Room in the Salt Lake Theatre in those days, and a very\ncapacious and comfortable one, too. Such a commodious and luxurious\nadjunct is scarcely known in the theatres today. Here the actors could\nretire between the acts or during the scenes they were not engaged in,\nand study over their lines, or if already easy in their parts, pass\nthe time in reading or social chat. It was the prompter's business to\nsend the \"call boy\" to the Green Room and all dressing rooms to \"call\nthe act,\" a few minutes before he was ready to \"ring up.\" The act\nbeing called, each actor was required to be at his entrance on time;\nif he should be late and make a \"stage wait,\" the stage manager might\nreprimand him, and impose a fine. Fines were also imposed for being\ntardy at rehearsals. There was seldom any occasion for the enforcement\nof this penalty, except in the case of \"Jim\" Hardie. \"Jim\" was a\nnotorious laggard, and often kept the company waiting for him. On one\noccasion the company had been waiting his arrival for fifteen or\ntwenty minutes, when he strode in very hurriedly and taking the centre\nof the stage, took off his hat and wiping the perspiration from his\nbrow, began an apology to the stage manager for being late. He had\nonly just begun to talk when a general laugh broke the gravity of the\noccasion. Jim had just come from the barber's where he had his head\nshaved, and his entire scalp down to the hat line was as smooth as a\nbilliard ball. His monkish appearance created much merriment, in which\nthe stage manager and Jim himself joined. Jim at a very early age\nshowed a tendency to baldness, and he had been told that shaving the\nhead was not only a check to it, but would stimulate the growth of the\nhair, so he had to get his head shaved, even though he kept the\nrehearsal waiting. I think the fine was omitted on this occasion,\nowing to the fun the company had over it.\n\nIn the fall of 1874, after a connection of nine years with the Salt\nLake Theatre, Mrs. Kiskadden and her husband, no longer a cashier, the\nbank having been long a thing of the past, removed to Virginia City,\nwhere Miss Adams was engaged with a number of others from the Salt\nLake Theatre Company, including the writer, to form a stock company\nfor Mr. John Piper, the Virginia City manager. \"Maudie,\" now nearly\ntwo years old, formed one of the party. After playing a season with\nMr. Piper, Miss Adams went to San Francisco, where her husband had\npreceded her some months previous, and secured a good position as\nbookkeeper for the firm of Park & Lacy. Here they made their home for\nabout eight years, Annie playing at the San Francisco theatres\nwhenever she could get an engagement, and making occasional excursions\nwith dramatic companies into the neighboring cities.\n\nIn September, 1877, before she was five years old, \"Maudie\" played her\nfirst speaking part with Joe Emmett in \"Fritz\" at the Bush Street\nTheatre. When the question of Maudie playing in Joe Emmett's piece was\nunder consideration by Mrs. Kiskadden and she informed Mr. Kiskadden\nshe had an offer from Mr. Emmett for Maudie to play the child's part,\nMr. Kiskadden did not encourage the idea; he had a plenty of the\ntheatre as it was, so he rather bluffly remarked: \"No, indeed, we\ndon't want Maude to make a fool of herself; one actress in the family\nis quite enough.\" Maude looked up with a touch of his own\ndetermination in her voice: \"Papa, I won't make a fool of myself.\" She\nwas irresistible--her papa had to consent. Her second part was Crystal\nin Herne and Belasco's \"Hearts of Oak,\" then played under the name of\n\"Chums.\" She afterwards played a part with Oliver Doud Byron--and in\n1878, when six years old, played little \"Adriene\" in \"A Celebrated\nCase\" at the Baldwin Theatre. In this character she made a decided\nhit. After the run of the play at the Baldwin, it was taken to\nPortland, Oregon, and produced under John Maguire's management at the\nNew Market Theatre, with Annie Adams and little Maude specially\nfeatured in the cast, the writer playing \"Jean Renan\" in this\nproduction. \"Ten Nights in a Bar Room\" was then put on, little Maude\nbeing made a feature as Mary Morgan, the writer playing \"Joe.\" After\nthe close of the season at the New Market Theatre, the company went\nout under the writer's management and played the Puget Sound circuit\nin those two plays, little Maude being made a special feature.\n\nDuring this trip Maude had her first \"Benefit\" at Walla Walla,\nWashington. She was \"put up\" for a \"benefit,\" extensively advertised,\nand helped out the company's treasury--after netting something liberal\nfor her. In this tour Maude played in all the Puget Sound towns from\nPortland to Victoria and all the principal towns of Washington. At its\nconclusion, she and her mother returned to San Francisco, and she was\nnot seen again in public for some years. Mr. Kiskadden died in San\nFrancisco in '83, and Mrs. Kiskadden took his remains to Salt Lake for\nburial. There she settled down for a time and sent Maudie to school.\nHere in the city of her birth she attended school for the next four or\nfive years, but always had a yearning to get back to the stage; and\neventually her mother secured an engagement for herself and Maude in\n\"My Geraldine\" and the \"Paymaster\" under the manager of Duncan B.\nHarrison. From that she got into Frohman's \"Lost Paradise,\" and from\nthat on her history is known to the theatre world.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nSEASON OF '66-'67.\n\n_An Interesting Prayer Meeting_.\n\n\nJulia Dean Hayne's final appearance closed the fourth season of the\nSalt Lake Theatre, counting the opening one which only lasted from\nMarch 8th, '62, to the end of April, about eight weeks, the Irwin\nseason of '63 and '64, the Pauncefort season of '64 and '65, and the\nJulia Dean Hayne season of '65 and '66.\n\nUp to this time the only compensation the stock company received was a\npro rata dividend of the benefits given at the end of each season--no\none had been put on a salary. The stars, of course, got good liberal\npercentages or salaries, but even the leading people of the stock\ncompany realized but a very meager compensation from the two\nperformances that were gotten up as benefits, one for the ladies of\nthe company and the other for the gentlemen--the two nights' receipts\nwere aggregated and divided up among the company according to their\nrespective merits or worth to the management. These two benefit\nperformances alone probably aggregated twenty-five hundred dollars,\nwhich, divided up among about thirty performers, actors and musicians,\ndid not prove satisfactory to a number of the company--more especially\nsome of the orchestra. As a consequence, the ensuing season\napproaching, the salary question came to the front again very\nstrongly, and the \"management\" found a well-grounded reluctance on the\npart of the company to enter upon a new season's work without a\ncertain and satisfactory compensation. This feeling was even stronger\namong the orchestra than among the stage players, a number of them\nbeing quite outspoken in their sentiment: \"No pay, no play.\" The\nprincipal agitator among the musicians was Mark Croxall, the brilliant\nyoung cornetist recently from England. Mark could not see the\npropriety or consistency of playing to help pay for the theatre. He\nhad not been used to that kind of thing in England, and although he\nhad been playing but a very short time as compared with the majority,\nboth of the orchestra and the dramatic company, he vowed he would play\nno longer without a stipulated salary. This, of course, aroused all\nthe others to a certain show of opposition. The leader of the\norchestra, Prof. Thomas, or \"Charlie,\" as he was affectionately called\nby his familiars, was probably as dissatisfied with the existing\nregime as Croxall or David Evans, the second violin, who was another\nBritisher of recent importation and quite pronounced in his views\nabout the way the theatre should be run. Prof. Thomas was not of the\nstuff that kickers are made of, and could doubtless have been managed\nwith the majority of his orchestra had it not been for the\nrecalcitrant Croxall, and the equally pugnacious Evans. The\ndissatisfaction spread rapidly and alarmingly to the management, until\nthe entire dramatic company as well as the orchestra, was in a state\nof semi-rebellion. All the actors and most of the musicians had other\noccupations, as I have stated in a former chapter, and now the number\nof performances and rehearsals had increased their work to such an\nextent they could not see how they could give satisfaction to their\nvarious employers and keep up their work at the theatre too. Some of\nthese declared it had to be one thing or the other, the theatre now\ndemanded the greater part of their time, and the employers had in\nseveral instances intimated that they would have to give up the\ntheatre or be replaced in their employ by others. Mr. David McKenzie,\nthe leading man of the company, held a clerkship in President Young's\nor the Church office; \"Joe\" Simmons, our juvenile man, and Horace\nWhitney, the \"old man\" in the company, also held clerkships in the\nsame office; Mr. W. C. Dunbar, the Irish comedian, was a clerk in the\n\"tithing office,\" so their time went on whether they were working in\nthe \"Church offices\" or at the theatre; of course all their night work\nat the theatre was extra work, but the day time they put in at the\ntheatre they were not docked for at the office; but with the other\nleading members of the company it was quite different; the hours they\nspent at the theatre in the day time was a positive loss to them. Phil\nMargetts was a blacksmith, Lindsay and Hardie were carpenters, Evans\nand Kelly were printers, and so on. So that several hours each day\nspent in rehearsal meant a heavy tax when at the end of each week they\nwere docked for time lost, so there was a committee appointed to wait\nupon the managers, Clawson and Caine, and present the situation. The\nmanagers being only employees of Brigham Young and not proprietors or\nlessees, passed the company's grievance up to their chief. The\nmanagers saw plainly that a crisis had come, and a new departure must\nbe made. \"The President,\" accustomed to having things his own way, and\nwith confidence in his influence, thought he could effect a\ncompromise, or adjust the matter without much trouble or cost, so in\npursuance of this idea a notice was posted for all the company and\norchestra to assemble in the Green Room of the theatre on a certain\nevening to consider the question of salary. There was no tardiness on\nthat occasion, even \"Jim\" Hardie, notorious for being tardy, was on\ntime. Every employee of the theatre was there from the managers to the\nnight-watchman. The orchestra was in full force, and the ladies of the\ncompany, even to the smallest utility, were there, all inspired with\nthe hope of being put upon the theatre salary list. The Green Room was\nfound to be too small to accommodate all the company, so the meeting\nwas shifted to the stage, which afforded the necessary room. President\nYoung called the meeting to order, and requested the company to join\nhim in prayer. It is customary in the Mormon Church to open all\nmeetings with prayer, even political ones where those present are all\nof the household of faith. Brigham offered up a fervent prayer, asking\nthe blessing of the Almighty upon that meeting, and each and every one\npresent, that they might all see with an eye single to the glory of\nGod, and the building up of his Kingdom here on the earth. The prayer\nover, the President arose and in a brief but very adroit speech, told\nthe object he had in view in building the theatre, the recreation and\namusement of the people, thanked those who had contributed to that\nend, whether as actors or musicians, told them that they were\nmissionaries as much as if they were called to go out into the world\nand preach the gospel, and the Lord would bless their efforts just as\nmuch if they performed their parts in the same spirit. He understood\nthere was some dissatisfaction, however, and some of the brethren\nthought it was too much of a tax upon their time to continue to do\nthis without proper compensation. He called on the brethren to state\ntheir feelings in regard to this question that he might judge what was\nbest to do in the matter. It seemed as if the prayer and speech had\nalmost made them forget that they had any cause or grievance to\npresent, or it had blunted the edge of their courage. Every one was\nexpecting to see Mark Croxall, the principal agitator, get up and make\na statement in behalf of himself and the orchestra; but Mark's\ncourage, like that of many another agitator, seemed to have sunk into\nhis boots, when the ordeal came; he opened not his mouth. So the\nsecond violinist, David Evans, who was a shoemaker by trade and a\ncripple from birth, pulled himself to a standing position by the aid\nof his crutches and spoke to the question. He told how hard he had to\nwork, and what a loss of time the rehearsals and plays occasioned him;\nbeing up so much at nights, he could not get up very early in the\nmorning--and could not but lose several hours every day. Besides, he\nsaid he did not think it right and just, when the theatre was taking\nin such large sums of money at every performance, that those who\nfurnished the entertainment, whether in the art of music or the drama,\nshould be expected to continue to do it gratuitously. It was a bold,\nfearless, manly speech and coming from a man who was obliged to sling\nhimself along through life on a pair of crutches, and a recent comer\nfrom the old country, it sent a thrill of astonishment through the\ncompany and fired some of the others with a spark of courage, too. Mr.\nPhil Margetts, the leading comedian, arose and made an explanation of\nhis case; then a number of the other fellows followed suit. A sort of\n\"no pay, no play\" sentiment pervaded the entire company. President\nYoung saw here an end of the old method; he discovered that a new deal\nwould have to be made with his actors if he wanted to continue in the\namusement business, so he tried an expedient. He was evidently a\nlittle irritated at Evans, the crippled shoemaker, who had presumed to\ntake the initiative in the affair and express his views so fearlessly,\ninspiring the others with a little of his own courage, but Brigham did\nnot show the lion's paw but spoke in rather a patronizing way of\nBrother Evans's crippled condition, and said it was right that he\nshould have some additional pay, owing to his misfortune of being a\ncripple. He told Evans he could have anything he needed out of his\nprivate store; that if he would leave his flour sack there, it should\nbe regularly filled, and whatever else was there he was welcome to\nwhat he needed of it. This savored a little too much of charity for\nEvans, who although badly crippled in his limbs, was by no means a\nweakling in his brains; and hurt a little by the President's\npatronizing manner, he arose and said about as follows:\n\n\"President Young, I have had my flour sack at your store for more than\na month, and every time I have gone in to try and get it filled, the\nclerk has told me the flour was all out.\" Evans's unique relation of\nthe flour sack incident injected a spark of humor into the\nproceedings; a suppressed titter ran through the crowd, and even\nBrigham, although nettled at this unexpected sally, could not repress\na grim smile.\n\nThat the reader may better understand the flour sack incident it must\nbe explained here that what little pay the actors and musicians had\nbeen receiving for their services through the benefits was not all in\ncash, but store orders mostly on the tithing store. The cash receipts\nof the theatre up to this time and indeed as late as 1870 were\nprobably one-third of the gross receipts, the other two-thirds\nconsisting of orders on various stores or tithing pay, which consisted\nof all kinds of home products--so that when the \"benefits\" were\ndivided up among the company each member got about one-third of his\n\"divvy\" in cash and the other two-thirds in store orders and orders on\nthe tithing office. Evans was the possessor of an order on Brigham\nYoung's private store, and he felt chagrined that he had been so often\nwith that order and failed to draw it. Flour was flour in those days,\nrunning as high at one time as twenty dollars per hundred, but the\nuniform church or tithing office price was six dollars per hundred,\nwhich was what the actors had to pay for it, but it was doled out very\nsparingly to them at times when it was commanding high prices in\noutside markets. With these orders they drew about all their\nprovisions from the tithing store. Artemus Ward amused the world by\ntelling how the Salt Lake Theatre used to take in exchange for tickets\ncabbage, potatoes, wheat, carrots, and even sucking pigs through the\nbox office window. It was perhaps nearer the truth than he himself\nsuspected, for these tithing office orders were good for all these\nthings.\n\nAfter the titter had subsided Brigham arose again, and answered\nBrother Evans that he was sorry he had been disappointed so, but there\nreally had been a great scarcity of flour during the past month or so,\nbut he would see to it in the future that he would meet no more\ndisappointments. To Brother Phil Margetts he made an offer to come and\nwork in his blacksmith shop (Phil was running one of his own) and then\nhe need not lose any time; his pay would go on whether working in the\nshop or in the theatre. Brother Lindsay could bring his carpenter\ntools to the theatre and he could find plenty of work for him to fill\nup the time between the rehearsals. To others he made similar\npropositions; but these suggestions were not in harmony with the\nfeelings of the company, who thought they had given their time to\nBrother Brigham long enough, and now contended with Brother Evans,\nthat as they were furnishing the amusements for the people, it was\nonly right that they should be paid for their services, so the result\nof the meeting was that the company was put on salary. Salaries ranged\nfrom $15.00 to $50.00 per week, one-third cash, the balance in store\norders and tithing office pay.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nSEASON OF '66 AND '67.\n\n\nThe season of '66 and '67 opened on September 8th with Alonzo R.\nPhelps as the star attraction. Mr. Phelps opened in the character of\n\"Damon\" and made a fairly good showing, although he appeared to much\ngreater advantage in some lighter roles, and particularly as \"Crepin,\"\nthe Cobbler, in \"A Wonderful Woman.\" His engagement lasted two weeks,\nwhen the Irwins returned after an absence of over two years. They\nopened on September 29th, just in time to get well ready with a\nrepertory of plays for the approaching conference. Their engagement\nlasted up to November 15th, when they departed for the East and Salt\nLake was never favored with a visit from them afterwards. \"Sel\" Irwin\n\"died young in years, not service,\" after very intense suffering for\nseveral years from rheumatism, which virtually made a helpless cripple\nof him. He died in New York in 1886, being only a little over fifty\nyears of age. His widow, Maria Irwin, still survives, and up to a\nrecent date was playing in a road company. Harry Rainforth, her son by\nher first marriage, who was a mere boy of sixteen when they played\ntheir first engagement in Salt Lake, has been for many years manager\nof the Pike Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, the associate and partner\nof \"Bob\" Miles. It was during this last Irwin engagement that Miss\nNellie Colebrook, who later on became leading lady of the company,\nmade her debut. Her first appearance was in the comedy of \"Dominique,\nthe Deserter.\" The first line she had to speak was, \"Oh, I'm half dead\nwith fear,\" which was literally true of Miss Colebrook on the\noccasion. She was shaking like an aspen leaf in a strong wind, but her\nnervous condition fitted the character remarkably well and the lady\nsailed at once into public favor. Miss Colebrook was tall and stately,\nwith a very winning face and musical voice; she went rapidly to the\nfront, being especially well suited to many of the leading roles. Mrs.\nLydia Gibson, the leading actress of the theatre, died on January 8th,\n1866, a little less than three years after her first appearance. This\nleft a vacancy in the company difficult to fill, and afforded Miss\nColebrook many excellent opportunities in leading roles, which she\nalways filled satisfactorily, so that by the time Pauncefort returned\nto play his third engagement--after an absence of more than two years\nMiss Colebrook was doing most of the leading female roles.\n\nAfter the departure of the Irwins, the stock company finished out the\nseason without the assistance of a star, playing from November 15th\nuntil after April Conference. It was during the conference that our\nold friend George Pauncefort, suddenly and unexpectedly to most of us,\nreturned from San Francisco after an absence in that metropolis of\nmore than two years. He opened a return engagement on April 16th in\n\"Don Caesar de Bazan.\" The season was virtually over after the April\nConference, but notwithstanding he played to splendid business, he\ngave repetitions of his previous plays and won out splendidly on a\nproduction of \"Arrah Na Pogue,\" in which he had played \"Col. O'Grady\"\nduring a successful run of this play in San Francisco.\n\n\"Arrah Na Pogue\" drew good houses for three or four nights, and closed\nthe season of '66 and '67. Robert Heller got in a three nights\nengagement, commencing May the 20th, while the company was getting up\nin \"Arrah Na Pogue.\" He was the first to introduce the mysterious\nsecond sight illusions and succeeded in bewildering and mystifying the\npatrons of the theatre to an unusual degree.\n\nDuring the last engagement of Pauncefort most of the opposite roles to\nhis own were assigned to Miss Colebrook, who had in the past year,\nsince Mrs. Gibson's demise, divided honors with Miss Adams, and owing\nto her more stately appearance had been entrusted with many of the\nleading lady roles and was an established favorite. Pauncefort, who\nhad never met her before (her debut having occurred after his\ndeparture for the coast), was much surprised and pleased to find a new\nand attractive leading lady in the company. He took an especial\ninterest in her, and she was cast for all the leading roles during his\nengagement, beginning with \"Maritana\" in \"Don Caesar,\" and including\n\"Lady Macbeth\" and \"Ophelia.\" Pauncefort discovered that she had\nexceptional dramatic ability and encouraged her in every possible way;\nfor \"Miss Nellie\" was not over-confident of her own abilities, and\nsuffered keenly from nervousness or stage fright, especially on the\nfirst time in a part; and to receive encouragement and compliments\nfrom a star of Pauncefort's acknowledged luster was doubtless sweet\nand flattering to the lady, who as yet was all unconscious of the\nimpression she had made on the susceptible George. \"The fair Elizabeth\nhas caught my eye, and like a new star, lights onward to my wishes.\"\nPossessed of a sweet and loveable disposition and a musical voice\nadded to her charms of personal appearance, Miss Colebrook was a\ngeneral favorite, not only with the public, but with the company. She\nhad numerous admirers, and several rival aspirants for her affections,\nboth in the company and out. With what surprised and ill-concealed\nchagrin they viewed the growing attentions of the reigning star can\nbetter be imagined than described. The princely George had enrolled\nhimself in the list of her devotees and it was very much in evidence\nthat he was enamored of the lady, for George had a keen eye for the\nbeautiful, and \"a free and open nature, too,\" most susceptible to\nfemale charms, so he entered the race with the others for the fair\n\"Nellie's\" hand. While he was considerably older than any of his\ncompetitors, being now close onto fifty, he probably had the advantage\nover them all in looks, being generally regarded as a handsome man,\nand most decidedly he had the advantage of experience, for George had\nbeen a gay Lothario. He seemed in a fair way to carry off the\nmuch-coveted prize. Notwithstanding the disparity of age, the fair\n\"Nellie\" seemed strongly attracted to the princely George. Playing\n\"Ophelia\" to his \"Hamlet\" and \"Lady Macbeth\" to his \"Macbeth,\" and a\nlong series of opposite characters to him, he had not failed to make a\npowerful impression on her, and if she had been left to herself\nwithout guidance or counsel, there is little question but what\nPauncefort would have won her; but her mother had more penetration,\nand could see the objections which \"Nellie\" either did not see, or\ncare to raise, so the chief arbitrator of the Church, President Young,\nwas appealed to by Miss \"Nellie's\" mother to decide the case for them.\nBrigham decided very quickly and positively against an alliance\nbetween his fair leading lady and the \"stock star,\" with a great big\nemphatic _No_. He had formed a strong prejudice against Pauncefort\nduring his first engagement, owing to his reputed intimacy with Mrs.\nBell, which was rather flaunted in the face of the community on their\narrival in Salt Lake. So this ended the Pauncefort-Colebrook romance.\n\nDuring this engagement, Pauncefort played in addition to his previous\nrepertory \"The Dead Heart,\" \"Man with the Iron Mask,\" \"Lavater,\" and\n\"Arrah Na Pogue.\" The latter piece closed the season on June the 15th,\nbeing the fourth performance of the piece. Very soon after, Pauncefort\npurchased a horse and chaise, fitting himself out with gun and fishing\ntackle for a long jaunt. He headed for Portland, giving readings by\nthe way--hunting and fishing by day--and evenings entertaining the\ntowns along his route. How far he got with his one horse chaise is not\nexactly known, but the probability is he traded it off before he\npassed the Utah border line, and took the stage for Virginia City,\nNevada, where he played for a short time and then drifted over to the\ncoast, and finally got lost to view.\n\nA dozen years later he was discovered by some American actors in\nJapan, keeping a roadside tea house for travelers with a set of pretty\nJapanese girls for waiters. He married a Japanese girl and latest\nreports credited him with a fine young Japanese colony of his own. A\npicture of himself and Japanese wife and three children in the\npossession of Jack Langrishe's widow at Wardner, Idaho, was shown to\nthe writer there recently, and was a strong verification of what had\nbeen told by parties who had seen Pauncefort in Japan. George had let\nhis beard grow and was quite a patriarchal looking man when Joseph\nArthur met him there in 1880. Pauncefort died in Japan in 1893,\nleaving a Japanese wife and four semi-Jap children. George Pauncefort\nmissed the greatest opportunity of his life by not joining the Mormon\nChurch; he had all the natural endowments to make a great patriarch.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nSEASON OF '67-'68.\n\n\nOn the first of August, this same year, '67, C. W. Couldock made his\nfirst appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre, supported by Jack Langrishe\nand his company from Denver, where they had been running a stock\ncompany. It was an unfavorable time for opening, in the hottest nights\nof summer, but there were no resorts in those days and it was not so\nhard to get them into the theatre as it would be now. Langrishe had a\nfull road company and was traveling through to Montana in his own\nteams, the Union Pacific Railroad not being nearer than Rawlins at\nthat time. The company comprised Mr. Couldock and his daughter, Eliza\nCouldock, John S. Langrishe and Mrs. Langrishe, Richard C. White (he\nof Camp Floyd fame, referred to in a previous chapter). The Langrishe\ncompany played a week, then went to Virginia City, Montana. Couldock\nand his daughter returned later and played a long engagement as stock\nstars.\n\nOn the 5th of September, Amy Stone, supported by her husband, H. F.\nStone, began a stock star engagement which lasted a little more than\nfour months. Opening the regular fall season on September 5th, by the\ntime the fall Conference came on, October 6th, the Stones had the\nstock company up in a very attractive repertoire of plays to present\nto \"our country cousins\" attending the Conference. Fanchon, Pearl of\nSavoy, \"Little Barefoot,\" \"French Spy,\" \"Wept of the Wishton Wish,\"\nwere leading favorites in the Stone repertory, and proved to be very\npopular, serving to keep the exchequer in a satisfactory condition.\nTheir engagement lasted until January the 6th, 1868. Amy, if not a\ngreat actress, was at least a fascinating one. She was blessed with a\nsuperb form and an attractive face; she fairly reveled in parts where\nshe could wear tights and display her shapely form, and it must be\nfrankly confessed that \"the folks\" loved to see her in that kind of\nattire. She was more at home in it than in an evening dress with a\nbothersome train; there was a freedom of movement and a candor of\nexpression about Amy that was positively refreshing, and we all liked\nher and got along with her with very little trouble. \"Harry,\" as her\nhusband was always called, was not a brilliant but a good, useful\nactor, and had a good knowledge of her plays, and could direct the\nstaging of them. Besides, he attended to the making of engagements,\nand the financial end of the business, and as he was devoted to Amy,\nthey were apparently one of the happiest couples I have ever met in\nthe theatrical business. The Stones were a very prudent and saving\ncouple, and by the time they had finished a four months' stock star\nengagement, they had a very handsome deposit in the local bank, and\nthey left Zion feeling a very warm affection for the Saints, and so\nwent on their way rejoicing.\n\nOn the night immediately following the close of the Stones'\nengagement, January 7th, Mr. James Stark opened in John Howard Payne's\nplay of \"Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin.\" This was the first\npresentation of this play in Salt Lake. Mr. Stark made a fine\nimpression as Brutus. He followed it in quick succession with\nRichelieu, Damon, Jack Cade, Alfred Evelyn in \"Money.\" His engagement\nlasted two weeks and closed with the play of \"Victorine, or Married\nfor Money.\" Stark was a very talented tragedian of the Forrest school,\nand his engagement proved quite popular and successful. He went to San\nFrancisco, and played an engagement there, and returned to New York by\nthe Isthmus, the Overland railroad not yet being completed. Mr. Stark\nhad a brother, Daniel Stark, a pioneer Mormon, who settled at Provo\namong the earliest settlers of that place. James, who had not seen him\nfor many years, availed himself of the opportunity his Salt Lake\nengagement afforded him, and arranged a meeting with his \"long lost\nbrother\" (?). He paid Daniel and his family a visit, and was most\nhospitably received and entertained. The family made much ado over\nhim, and Daniel, like his namesake of old, \"prophet-like,\" sought to\nshow James the error of his ways, pointing out to him the emptiness\nand effervescence of dramatic fame, and the poor illusive thing that\nwas as compared with the real joys and blessings of the Latter-Day\nGospel. \"Jim\" accepted it all in good part, but he could not see \"eye\nto eye\" with his elder brother Daniel, but he promised to consider\nseriously what he had heard and bade them a loving goodbye till they\ncould meet again. He rather expected to play a return engagement when\nhe left here, and see the folks again, but he never returned. Stark\ndied in New York before the close of the year 1868, in his 50th year.\n\nAfter the Stark engagement, the stock company continued the season,\nstarting off with a series of annual benefits which by this time were\ngiven the leading actors of the company in addition to salaries.\nJanuary the 23rd, D. McKenzie \"Benefits,\" playing \"Huguenot Captain,\"\nwith an Olio and a farce to conclude. February 4th, John S. Lindsay\n\"Benefits\" and essays Hamlet for the first time. The farce that\nfollowed Hamlet was \"Boots at the Swan;\" think of it, \"ye modern\nschool actors.\" A five-act play and a farce, this meant being in the\ntheatre from seven o'clock till midnight, but the people stayed to see\nit all, and many of them would have stayed till morning, if we could\nhave kept on playing pieces for them. J. M. Hardie \"Benefits\" with\n\"Jack Cade,\" Miss Colebrook with \"Leah,\" etc., and so the season ran\nalong without a star from January 23rd till April the 23rd, when the\ncompany was stiffened up again by the accession of Mr. and Mrs. George\nB. Waldron, who played up till May 16th. On May the 19th, Madam\nScheller opened in \"Pearl of Savoy,\" gave us \"Pauline\" in \"Lady of\nLyons,\" \"Enoch Arden,\" \"Lorlie,\" \"The Phantom\" and \"Hamlet.\" Madam\nScheller was Edwin Booth's \"Ophelia\" during the one hundred nights'\nrun of Hamlet at Winter Garden Theatre, in New York.\n\nVery naturally the Salt Lakers conversant with the facts were anxious\nto see her in \"Ophelia,\" so Lindsay who had recently played \"Hamlet\"\nfor his \"benefit,\" was admonished to prepare himself for another go at\nthe melancholy Dane with the new \"Ophelia;\" and in due time we had the\nnovelty of Scheller's \"Ophelia.\" She was irresistibly charming in it,\nin spite of her German accent, which in moments of unusual excitement\nwas quite pronounced. Madam Scheller proved to be a pleasing and\naccomplished actress and filled a long engagement at the Salt Lake\nTheatre. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Methua, who was a\nskillful scenic artist, and put in a lot of new scenes for the theatre\nduring his wife's engagement. Here was a model couple, courteous and\nrefined; they left many warm friends in Salt Lake at their departure,\nwhose best wishes for their success went with them. Unhappy to relate,\nthis worthy and respected pair died of yellow fever during the deadly\nsiege of that disease at Memphis in 1878. \"United in life, in death\nthey were not separated.\"\n\nOn January 9th, after playing three weeks Madam Scheller was rested\nfor a week to give an opening to Charlotte Crampton. Crampton was a\ngenius and in her younger years had astonished the dramatic world by\nher histrionic gymnastics. She affected the male characters almost\nexclusively--\"Hamlet,\" \"Richard III,\" \"Shylock,\" \"Don Caesar,\" and in\n\"Lady Macbeth\" and \"Meg Merrilles\" she rivaled the great Charlotte\nCushman. The writer remembers seeing her when a boy at the old Bates's\nTheatre, St. Louis, which was her home. She was erratic as a comet,\nand her eccentricities were the town's talk. How often she was married\nthis deponent saith not, but remembers that at the time he saw her\nplaying in St. Louis in 1857, she was the wife of a Mr. Istenour. When\nshe appeared here in Salt Lake City in 1868, she was far past the\nmeridian of life and was accompanied by her husband, \"Mr. Cook,\" young\nenough to be her son. The novelty of a woman essaying those characters\nwas a strong one, and served to draw out good houses. She played\n\"Hamlet,\" \"Shylock,\" \"Richard III,\" and \"Don Caesar,\" which with two\nrepeats, filled up her week.\n\nCrampton was a woman rather below the medium height, and looked\ninsignificant dressed up for those male characters, but when she got\nanimated she made you forget her size, and at times she seemed to fill\nnot only the center of the stage but the entire stage. She had passed\nthe zenith of her fame some years before she made this trip to the\ncoast. She bore all the evidences of an erratic life and premature\nage; her sun had nearly set when she played with us here; and after\nher departure for the East, we heard but little of her. Charlotte\nCrampton's engagement was like the flashing of a meteor across the\ndramatic firmament. Like the elder Booth, she was notorious for her\neccentricities, and in genius was akin to him. \"How close to madness\ngreat wits are allied.\"\n\nAfter the passing of this meteor, the steady star, Madam Scheller,\nresumed her reign, reappearing as \"Laura Courtland\" in \"Under the Gas\nLight.\" This was the first production of this play in Salt Lake City,\nand it had an unprecedented run, going for an unbroken week to full\nhouses. As an index to the personnel of the company at this time, June\n16th, 1868, we append the cast of \"Under the Gas Light.\"\n\n    \"UNDER THE GAS LIGHT.\"\n\n    Ray Trafford ............................ John S. Lindsay\n    De Milt ..................................... Mark Wilton\n    Wilton ..................................... Bert Merrill\n    Byke ...................................... Phil Margetts\n    Joe Snorkey .............................. David McKenzie\n    Bermudas ................................. John C. Graham\n    Peanuts ................................... Johnny Matson\n    Station Man ................................. Mark Wilton\n    Police Judge ............................... J. M. Hardie\n    O'Rafferty ................................ John E. Evans\n    Martin .................................... John B. Kelly\n    Police Patrol ........................... Richard Mathews\n    Laura Courtland .......................... Madam Scheller\n    Pearl Courtland ........................ Miss Annie Adams\n    Mrs. Van Dam ........................... Nellie Colebrook\n    Sue Earlie ................................ Alice Clawson\n    Peachblossom ........................ Miss Sara Alexander\n    Judas ................................ Mrs. M. A. Clawson\n\nSummer heat had but little affect on the business of the Salt Lake\nTheatre in those days of which I am writing. Madam Scheller played\nfrom May 10th to August 1st, excepting the one week allotted to\nCharlotte Crampton, all through the hot nights of June and July and\nthere was no perceptible or serious diminution in the attendance. This\ncan only be accounted for in the fact that there were no resorts in\nthose days, and the theatre was the coolest place in the city. We\nnaturally looked for and expected a rest through August after the long\nseason we had put in, but there was no respite. On the 4th of August,\nAnnette Ince opened in \"Julia\" in the \"Hunchback\" and gave in rapid\nsuccession \"Evadne,\" \"Medea,\" \"Ion,\" \"Mary Stuart,\" \"Elizabeth,\" \"As\nYou Like It,\" \"Camille,\" and other pieces filling a three weeks'\nengagement. She was followed by E. L. Davenport, who opened on August\nthe 27th in \"Richelieu,\" supported by Annette Ince as \"Julia de\nMauprat,\" and the full strength of the company. Mr. Davenport gave us\nhis \"Richelieu,\" \"Julian St. Pierre,\" in \"The Wife,\" \"Hamlet,\"\n\"William\" in \"Black-Eyed Susan,\" \"Rover\" in \"Wild Oats\" and \"Sir Giles\nOverreach\" in \"A New Way to Pay Old Debts.\" Mrs. Davenport (Fanny\nVining) appeared in conjunction with Mr. Davenport in this engagement,\nplaying the \"Queen\" in \"Hamlet\" and kindred parts, and with Miss Ince\nin the leading female roles, Mr. Davenport had a supporting company in\nevery way worthy of him. His engagement was a memorable one, as Mr.\nDavenport was thought by many to be our greatest American actor. He\nwas certainly a worthy rival of Edwin Booth and had he, like that\nactor, confined his brilliant talents to the great Shakespearian\nroles, he would undoubtedly have made a greater name for himself, but\nhe was too versatile and he scattered his efforts on the \"Williams\"\nand \"Rovers\" and the other trifles that he should have dropped as he\nadvanced in years and concentrated his efforts on a repertory of his\ngreatest characters only. When he played this Salt Lake engagement he\nhad declined into \"the vale of years.\" As Hamlet, he looked older than\nthe \"Queen\" but he possessed all the fire and animation necessary; as\n\"St. Pierre\" in the \"Wife,\" he was at his best, and fairly lifted the\naudience into enthusiastic demonstrations of applause. It was not long\nafter this that Davenport was pitted against the English tragedian\nBarry Sullivan in New York. An exceedingly interesting and able\ncriticism and comparison of these two great actors appeared in Wilke's\n\"Spirit of the Times,\" headed \"The Two Rossi.\" This was Davenport's\nlast memorable engagement. He was already an old man and failing fast.\nHe died in 1871.\n\n    \"Ay, but to die and go, we know not where, to lie in cold\n      obstruction and to rot,\n    This sensible warm motion to become a kneaded clod,\n    And the delighted spirit to bathe in fiery floods,\n    Or to reside in chilling regions of thick ribbed ice,\n    To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,\n    And blown with restless violence about the pendant world.\n    'Tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life,\n    That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment can lay on nature,\n    Is paradise to what we fear of death.\"\n\nIt will be observed that there was no summer vacation this year of\n1868. The Davenport engagement carried us into September, the time for\nopening the season of '68 and '69. Miss Ince's engagement following\nthe Davenports was really the beginning of the season '68 and '69.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nSEASON OF '68 AND '69.\n\n\nDavenport's engagement ended, Miss Ince resumed and played from\nSeptember the 5th to the 17th, then departed for the Golden Shores of\nthe Pacific. Now again, after this brilliant succession of stars, the\nstock company was left to its own unaided efforts, and from September\nthe 17th to November the 26th they kept the wheel turning with a\nsteady stream of stock pieces, and the old mill grinds, and the box\noffice does business and the actors get their salaries. \"Stars may\ncome and stars may go, but the stock keeps on for aye.\" This was a\ngood long stretch of stock work from September the 17th, through the\nOctober Conference and away to nearly the end of November, ten weeks\nof it; broken only by a rest of three nights, when Perepa Rosa gave us\na series of Operatic Concerts, November the 14th, 15th and 16th. Salt\nLake even then had a great love of music and turned out large\naudiences to hear the famous prima donna and her talented support,\nincluding her husband, the brilliant violinist and conductor, Carl\nRosa.\n\nNow we arrive at another important event in our theatre's history, the\nfirst engagement of John McCullough. For several years Lawrence\nBarrett and John McCullough had been the lessees and managers of the\nold California Theatre in San Francisco, and in spite of Barrett's\nknown sagacity as a manager and notwithstanding the succession of\nbrilliant stars presented at the California and the magnificent stock\ncompany kept to support them, the venture was not a financial success,\nand Barrett and McCullough were forced to succumb. Then it was that\nMcCullough began his career as a star; what reputation he had made up\nto this time was as Edwin Forrest's leading man. \"Larry\" Barrett had\n\"starred\" some in the character of Elliott Gray in \"Rosedale,\" now\nthey were both out of a job and looking for engagement. Barrett went\nEast and resumed his starring in \"Rosedale\" and gradually drifted into\nthe Shakespearian roles. McCullough went to Virginia City, Nevada,\nwith a picked-up company, and played his first star engagement. They\ntook to the \"genial\" John very kindly there, and worked him him up a\nrousing big benefit; those were the palmy days of the Comstock and\neverybody had money, actors were at a premium in the camp and the old\ntheatre was packed at every performance. The \"Benefit\" netted\nMcCullough over two thousand dollars and \"John\" was glad he was an\nactor. He knew we had a fine theatre and a good company in Salt Lake,\nso he made arrangements to come and play with us a spell. On November\nthe 26th, he opened in \"Damon\" and followed it in quick succession\n(playing nightly) with \"Richelieu,\" \"Hamlet,\" \"Othello,\" \"Shylock,\"\nVolage in \"Marble Heart,\" \"Richard III,\" \"Robbers,\" \"Macbeth,\"\n\"Brutus,\" \"Romeo and Juliet,\" etc., etc.\n\nThis was a very notable engagement, in more ways than one. It was\nnotable for its length, covering a stretch of twenty-three nights;\nlikewise for its strength, as George B. Waldron and Madam Scheller,\nwho had both returned from a Montana tour, were added to the company\nto stiffen the cast--here we had really three stars and a strong,\ncapable, self-sustaining stock company in the cast of all the plays\nduring McCullough's first Salt Lake engagement, which lasted three\nweeks, terminating on September 17th. Again the stock company was left\nto its own strength and resources and even after this brilliant trio\nof dramatic artists, McCullough, Scheller and Waldron dropped away\nfrom us, the managers, with never-failing confidence and temerity, put\nforward the stock once more to plough through the billowy Christmas\ntime, past the new year and on to February 10th, when we welcomed\nanother acquisition to the ranks in the person of Miss Annie Lockhart.\n\nMiss Lockhart was an English lady of liberal education, refined and\ncultured; and although she had not posed as a \"star actress,\" she had\nan extended and varied experience on the stage. She had been for\nseveral years in Australia in the stock companies of Melbourne and\nSidney, where she had met, loved and married an actor by the name of\nHarry Jackson. Harry was a talented character man, but the flowing\nbowl was his weakness and Annie in time wearied of his indiscretions\nand indulgences, \"shook him off to beggarly divorcement,\" left him in\nSan Francisco and came to Salt Lake in quest of an engagement. She\nmust have made a very favorable impression on the managers, for they\nput her in as stock \"star\" up to March 1st, and she continued a member\nof the company up to her fatal illness in the following November.\nAnnie Lockhart was at this time about thirty-two years of age, a woman\nof comely appearance and gentle mien, and if not great like Julia\nDean, Annette Ince, or Charlotte Crampton, was always pleasing and\nsatisfactory. She delighted in such characters as \"Matida\" in \"Led\nAstray,\" the dual role in \"Two Loves and a Life,\" \"Janet Pride,\" \"Peg\nWoffington\" and kindred light comedy characters. Miss Lockhart was a\nvery tasteful dresser; she always made a good appearance in her part.\nDuring her long stay with the stock company a number of stars\nappeared. The first after her engagement was James A. Herne, who\nopened on March 1st, 1869, in \"Rip Van Winkle.\" Herne's \"Rip\" made a\ngreat hit and had an extraordinary run of five nights. Herne played\nten nights doing \"Solon Shingle,\" \"Captain Cuttle,\" and some other\ncharacters. Then he was joined by Lucille Western who appeared as the\nleading stellar attraction supported by Herne and the stock company.\nMiss Western opened in her original character of \"Lady Isabel\" in\n\"East Lynne.\" It was undoubtedly a great performance of the character,\nbut the recollection of Julia Dean Hayne in the part was still fresh\nin the public mind, and she had made such a powerful impression in\nthis character that Lucille Western was compared with her only to her\ndisadvantage, notwithstanding she was the original \"Lady Isabel.\" We\nhad now in rapid succession Western's entire repertory which included\n\"The Child Stealer,\" \"Green Bushes,\" \"Oliver Twist,\" \"Flowers of the\nForest,\" \"Don Caesar de Bazan\" (with Western as the Don), and \"Foul\nPlay.\" Miss Western's engagement proceeded smoothly and drew large\naudiences. One of the Herne-Western performances created a genuine\nsensation in Salt Lake. It was \"Oliver Twist.\" In the scene where Bill\nSykes (Herne) kills Nancy (Miss Western), both Herne and Miss Western\nsought to make the murder as realistic and blood curdling as possible.\nThe murder is done off the stage in a room on the left; Sykes is\nsupposed to beat Nancy to death with his ugly stick which he carries\nthrough the play. To carry out the realism of the beating a pad was\nmade of a number of wet towels; these Herne struck with a piece of\nboard, making a sickening thud which Lucille accompanied with a\nscream, each one growing fainter, until it became a groan, then Bill\nsteals across the stage and off at an outer door and Nancy, almost\ndead, drags herself on till she gets to the centre of the stage, her\nface completely hidden by her dishevelled hair when she gets to\nposition centre she turns her face which has been covered from the\naudience, throws her hair back and reveals her face covered with stage\ngore. On this occasion the picture was so revolting that several women\nin the audience fainted--everybody was shocked. The actress had made\nit as revolting as possible, thinking to make a sensation. She\nsucceeded, but had she been a woman of finer feelings, instead of\nseeking to make the picture as horrible and repulsive as she could she\nwould have studied how to make it effective without being repulsive.\nPresident Young was very angry over it. The picture was very\nabhorrent; there is no knowing what the physiological results were; it\nwas rumored afterwards that a number of children were birthmarked as\nthe result of it. The President gave orders that the piece should not\nbe played again and sent messengers all over the city to tell the\npeople not to go and see it if it was put on again. Of course the\nmanagers withdrew it in deference to his wish, but there is no doubt\nthe house would have been crowded had it been repeated, for the\nprohibition only aroused a greater curiosity to see it; forbidden\nfruit, you know, is generally most hankered after. The play has been\ndone here several times since President Young's death, but never in\nsuch a shocking manner.\n\nOn the night of the \"Benefit\" Lucille chose to show us what she looked\nlike in male attire, so she put up \"Don Caesar\" and appeared in the\nrole of the ragged cavalier. Before the play was over it was very\napparent that Lucille had been indulging in the ardent, but she\nmanaged to get through without materially marring the play. The next\nnight, however, was Charles Reade's \"Foul Play.\" This piece was\nentirely new to the company, never having been done in the theatre\nbefore, so that the stock company was hard pushed with study to get\ntheir lines, but with their accustomed industry and regularity they\nwere all _au fait_ on this first occasion, and the play might have\nscored a genuine success if the \"star\" had done her part towards it;\nbut she repeated her indulgence of the night before and to such a\ndegree that by the opening of the fourth act she was in a very sorry\nplight. This act is on an uninhabited island; there has been a\nshipwreck and the hero and heroine have been washed or driven or blown\nonto this island and with a few of the ship's crew are the only\nsurvivors. As the act opens Robert Penfold (Lindsay) and Helen\nRolleston (Miss Western) are discovered on a high cliff looking for a\nsail. The few survivors of the crew have gone in search of fresh water\nand something to eat, and the two leading characters have the entire\nact between them until the finale when a rescuing party arrives with a\nboat. Here was a dilemma; never was a stage lover placed in a more\nembarrassing position. It was quite apparent to him as they ascended\nto the cliff before the rise of the curtain that the stalwart Lucille\nwas not in proper condition for climbing cliffs, more particularly\nstage cliffs, which are generally pretty shaky affairs, and the\nprobability of a sudden and unlocked for descent was anything but a\npleasing prospect to Mr. Lindsay. To still further embarrass him he\ndiscovered that Lucille's tongue was decidedly thick, in fact she\ncould scarcely articulate. The curtain should never have gone up; it\nwould have saved the management, the actors, and particularly Miss\nWestern, a vast amount of humiliation; Miss Western should have been\nsuddenly ill; or an announcement made to that effect and the audience\ndismissed and their money refunded if necessary; they should have been\nspared the agony of witnessing a really great artiste rendered\nimbecile and helpless by an uncontrollable appetite for liquor. But\nthe curtain did go up and down went Lucille. At the very first step\nshe made to descend she staggered, and in spite of all that her stage\nlover could do to steady her she made a sudden unsteady descent and\nlanded in a kneeling position on the stage. Oh! the agony of that\nmoment! With assistance she staggered to her feet, and now as she\nattempted to speak her first speech in the act, a new terror seized\nme. Her words were thick and inarticulate--not heard at all by the\nmajority of the audience, who now began to realize the true condition.\nIt was evident to everybody on the stage that she could never get\nthrough the act, and so the stage manager, after another abortive\nattempt on her part to say her lines, sent on the boat with the rescue\nparty and the finale of the act was reached. Never was such a scene\nbetween a pair of stage lovers so horribly mutilated as this; never\nwas an act so fearfully and unintelligibly abbreviated as this one,\nand never did a rescue party arrive more opportunely. It plucked the\n\"star\" from immediate disgrace, an embarrassed actor from despair. It\nwas no wonder the audience remained for the last act, for they had\nbefore the end of the fourth act divined the true state of affairs and\nthey stayed, curious to see how it would or could end. The last act\nwas a court room scene and the star had to sit on the witness stand.\nShe did not make a very intelligent witness but sat there with a\nbright green silk gown, with a face flushed to redness, and looking\nthe picture of helplessness. How we got through that act, I don't\nthink anyone engaged in it could have told, but with the prompter's\nassistance reading most of Miss Western's lines, we blundered through\nand the final drop came on the most inglorious and trying performance\nI ever had part in.\n\nThe manager promptly cancelled Miss Western's engagement, although she\nhad one more night to play. The following night \"Arrah Na Pogue\" was\nput up with Mr. Herne in the part of \"Shaun the Post,\" but as if the\nfates had decreed that this Herne-Western engagement should end\ndisgracefully, if not disastrously, this last night went on record as\nlosing one for the managers and a discreditable one to the solitary\nremaining star. Owing to the fiasco of the night before, a rather\nslender audience was in attendance to witness Mr. Herne's last\nappearance. Whether this fact had to do with the sudden indisposition\nand collapse of Mr. Herne on this occasion, there is no means of\nknowing, but the writer has ever been of the opinion that it was the\nvery perceptible falling away of the patronage and his chagrin and\nvexation over Miss Western's conduct of the night before that wrought\nupon the actor's nervous system to such a degree that he declared\nhimself unable to appear. The writer's dressing room was so situated\nthat he could not hear what was transpiring on the stage. When the\ncurtain time arrived and I came down to the stage all made up for\n\"Michael Feeney,\" to my great surprise I was informed there was to be\nno performance; the audience had been dismissed owing to the sudden\nillness of Mr. Herne. Herne was seated on the big curtain roller and a\nnumber of the company around him, offering sympathy and assistance to\nthe disabled star who appeared to be in great agony. I returned\nhastily to my dressing room and divested myself of Michael Feeney's\nhabiliments, and resuming my own attire, was soon back to Mr. Herne's\nside and proffered my assistance to help him to his hotel. In the\nmeantime a doctor, who kept his office a few doors west of the\ntheatre, had been called in and he requested us to bring Herne to his\noffice. There were few hacks or gurney cabs in those days, and so with\nthe assistance of Mr. Hardie and myself, Mr. Herne managed with\ndifficulty to reach the doctor's office. This doctor was one of the\nold school of practitioners and like Felix Callighan, in \"His Last\nLegs,\" he proceeded to \"cup\" or bleed the patient. After he had\nrelieved Herne of a quart or so of superfluous blood, he bandaged the\ncupping; gave the patient a dose of regulation stimulant and directed\nthe patient to be taken to his hotel and placed comfortably in bed. It\nwas a quarter of a mile to the White House and there was not a hack or\nvehicle of any kind available, so Hardie and I formed a seat for the\nsick actor by locking our hands together and getting the patient's\nhands over our shoulders, we carried him to the White House. By the\ntime we got him up a long flight of stairs to his room, we were tired\nand winded, although Margetts and McKenzie, who had accompanied us,\ntook turns at the carrying business. Scarcely had we got the sick\nactor in bed before a knock at the door (a sort of frightened knock)\nwas heard, and as we said \"come in\" the door opened and Miss Western,\nclad in her night gown, with a shawl around her, timidly entered and\ninquired with great anxiety what the matter was. On being informed\nthat Mr. Herne had been taken so ill that the audience had to be\ndismissed, and he carried home to his room, she became hysterical.\nBursting into tears she exclaimed, piteously, \"Oh, my God! This is\nawful! Oh, Jimmie!\" addressing herself passionately to Herne. \"I wish\nwe were home with mother!\" She evidently had not fully recovered from\nher carousal of the night before, and in her half stupid, half\nhysterical condition, moaned and prayed as if some terrible calamity\nhad befallen her. Herne rapidly recovered from his illness and the\nco-stars left Salt Lake. Lucille never returned, but Herne came back\nearly in 1874 and hovered between Salt Lake and Ogden for a long time,\nand finally drifted to San Francisco, where he became the stage\nmanager of the Bush Street and afterward of the Baldwin theatre when\nTom Maguire, \"The Napoleon\" of the Pacific coast, as he was called at\nthe time, opened that popular theatre. That was before any of the\nEastern managers had invaded San Francisco.\n\nThe Herne-Western engagement closed on April 17th and was closely\nfollowed by Fannie Morgan Phelps, who played from April 20th to May\n20th, appearing in a new line of plays for the diversion of the stock\ncompany as well as the public. She opened in \"Meg's Diversion,\" and\nproved to be a prime favorite. \"The Deal Boatman,\" \"Black Eyed Susan,\"\nshe seemed to have a partiality for nautical pieces and succeeded in\nmaking the seashore heroines very attractive. Fanny stayed four weeks\nwith us, then went to Montana. She never paid us a second visit\nalthough Salt Lake treated her very handsomely in the way of\npatronage. Mrs. Phelps was a widow; her husband, Ralph Phelps, a\npopular actor, was killed by a blow from a tackle block on board of\nthe steamer coming from Australia.\n\nOur next stellar attraction was Charles Wheatleigh, who opened on May\n20th in \"Sam,\" supported by Annie Lockhart and the stock company.\nWheatleigh gave nine performances, the pieces presented being \"Sam,\"\n\"Lottery of Life,\" \"Arrah Na Pogue,\" \"After Dark,\" and \"Under the\nGaslight.\" Charley Wheatleigh was rather a brilliant comedian. His\nplays proved very popular and he played a memorable engagement.\n\nThe next engagement was one that eased the labors of the stock\ncompany, giving most of us a rest. It was the Howson Opera company. It\nwas quite a family affair. The company consisted of Pere Howson, Mere\nHowson, John Howson, Frank Howson, Clelia Howson, and Fannie Howson.\nThey were a very talented musical family and played light opera very\nwell indeed. They opened in the \"Grand Duchess,\" their cast being\nfilled up with members of the stock company who could sing. They\nplayed from January 1st to the 20th, each opera being played twice or\nthree times. The Howsons were well liked and made many friends, both\nin and out of the theatre.\n\nProf. Hartz, a magician, followed the Howson engagement, holding the\nstage from January 21st to the 26th.\n\nOn June 28th, 1869, George D. Chaplin made his first appearance at\nthis theatre in \"Hamlet,\" playing thirteen performances, closing July\n10th in \"Armadale.\" Chaplin made a very favorable impression and later\nplayed a longer engagement. He had been leading man for Ben DeBar in\nSt. Louis, and was a versatile actor, fond of playing \"Hamlet\" and\n\"Macbeth,\" in which, if not great, he was always pleasing. Then, as if\nto prove his versatility, he would put on a burlesque called \"The\nSeven Sisters,\" and appear as the principal sister. George had a\nhandsome face, and a very plump physique, and made up for a woman, he\nwas a study.\n\nOn July 12th, Lotta opened in \"Little Nell,\" and played during the\nweek \"Captain Charlotte,\" \"Firefly,\" and \"Topsy\" in \"Uncle Tom's\nCabin.\"\n\nGeorge Chaplin resumed on July 10th, opening in the burlesque of \"The\nSeven Sisters\" and filled out a week with \"Ten Nights in a Barroom,\"\n\"Money,\" and the burlesque of \"Pocahontas,\" in which he played\n\"Powhattan\" very cleverly.\n\nJuly 26th, Kennedy's Scottish Entertainment held the boards, and on\nthe 28th a new star was ushered in that gave the stock company more\nwork, just as we were expecting a brief summer vacation--Geraldine\nWarden. She played four nights and a matinee. This engagement closed\nthe season as far as the stock company was concerned. It was now July\n31st and the company had the month of August in which to rest from\nstudy and rehearsals, for the fall season would open early in\nSeptember.\n\nThe theatre was not entirely closed, however, in August. On the 18th\nof that month, Murphy and Mack's minstrels opened and continued until\nthe 28th giving eleven performances. This was Joe Murphy's first visit\nto Salt Lake, when he was a black face artist, and before he had\ndreamed of becoming an Irish comedian. The fact of this company giving\neleven performances in the theatre in August shows how very popular\nthey were, and how Salt Lake liked minstrelsy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nSEASON OF '69-70.\n\n\nThe season of '69 and '70 opened auspiciously on September 4th with\nthe now recuperated stock company in a new play. \"The Captain of the\nVulture\" was played one week and another new star dawned on the\nhorizon. September 13th Mr. Neil Warner was the star attraction.\nWarner was an English actor and had been in the supporting company of\nthe late lamented Gustavus Brooke, who gave promise of becoming\nEngland's greatest tragedian, but whose already resplendent career was\nunfortunately cut short by the loss of the steamship London. Brooke\nwas making a second visit to Melbourne and Sidney in '66, where he had\nachieved a remarkable triumph a year before, but alas! for the irony\nof fate, he was doomed to be cut off in the very unfolding of the most\nbrilliant talents the English stage had yet seen. The unfortunate\nLondon went down in the Bay of Biscay and some two hundred souls\nperished in the wreck and among them the brilliant Gustavus Brooke. A\nfriend of the writer, now in this city (Salt Lake), Mr. Jack Cooey,\nhad a brother who was one of the very few survivors of that ill-fated\nship, there being but sixteen in all. So America never got to see\nBrooke, who was regarded by his countrymen generally as the greatest\nof all their tragic actors.\n\nNeil Warner was said to be a copyist of Brooke; undoubtedly he had\nplayed with him, and learned much from him, and if not as great as his\nacknowledged tutor, Warner was not unworthy to be called great. He had\na splendid physique and a magnificent voice, which he could use with\nmagnetic effect. Its transitions were at times marvelous and in this\nwriter's opinion, he was the superior of all our American tragedians,\nwith the exception of Davenport, whom he very much resembled both in\nthe majesty of his presence and in mental superiority. Warner opened\nin \"Richard III\" and made a most decided hit in the character,\nnotwithstanding he had several notable predecessors in the part,\nnotably McCullough and Stark. He played twenty-four performances,\nembracing a wide range of legitimate plays--\"Hamlet,\" \"Macbeth,\"\n\"Richelieu,\" and his \"Macbeth\" was the greatest of all his fine\nperformances. He went to New York from here and we quite expected to\nhear great things about him, but for some cause or other he never\nplayed a stellar engagement in New York, and the following year the\nwriter, much to his astonishment and disappointment, saw him playing a\nsecond heavy part in support of Charles Wyndham the English comedian\nat a theatre in Brooklyn. Warner did not make a go in New York, and\ndrifted over to Montreal, Canada, where he stayed for many years; but\na few years ago he toured California in connection with a rising young\nactress of that state, in a round of his favorite characters. Annie\nLockhart played the leading female characters in all Warner's\nperformances here. They had known each other in Australia, and there\nseemed to be a very warm friendship between them and it was certain\nthat Annie was an ardent admirer of her talented countryman, and some\nof us rather feared she would go with him when he took his departure\nfrom Salt Lake; but something occurred between them that must have\nangered him, for a day or two before his engagement closed, he spoke\nto Miss Lockhart at a rehearsal in words and tones so heartless and\ninsulting that the company were amazed at him, and poor Annie sought\nthe seclusion of her dressing room to have a good cry. Conjecture was\nrife and pointed to a rival in the lady's affections as the cause of\nhis tirade. Warner departed, leaving Annie with us, very much to the\ngratification of the company and public, but it was not for long; poor\nAnnie Lockhart had received a wound from which she never recovered.\nShe only lived five weeks after this and the cause of her sudden\ndecline and death was more or less of a mystery, for up to this time\nshe was a hale, hearty woman, in the very prime of life. She was laid\naway tenderly by loving hands and hearts, whom she had never known\nuntil eight months before, but whom she had endeared to her by her\nsweet, womanly ways. Many a tear was shed and genuine sorrow was felt\nwhen Annie Lockhart was laid away in Olivet.\n\nThe night after Warner's engagement closed, Sunday, October 12th,\nStephen Massett lectured.\n\nOctober 13th, Madam Scheller opened her second engagement, playing six\nnights, and gave \"Roll of the Drum,\" \"Child of the Regiment,\" \"Enoch\nArden,\" etc. The theatre closed from the 18th to the 23rd on account\nof the Militia Muster. The Nauvoo Legion, as the Territorial troops\nwere called, had a big encampment on the banks of the Jordan river and\nof such importance was it that the theatre had to close, as every able\nbodied man was expected to drill and all the women and children, of\ncourse, had to go and see them. The late George Q. Cannon and other\nhigh church dignitaries fell into the ranks on this occasion and\ncarried muskets, whether from the love of exercise or a keen love of\nduty, or for the effect of example, this deponent saith not. Nearly\nall the dramatic company were in the big drill, so, of course, there\ncould be no theatres until it was over. It was intended to be a great\ndemonstration, and it was; almost every Mormon man was in the ranks.\nThe theatre resumed business with the rest of the town, Saturday the\n23rd inst., when one of Madam Scheller's pieces was repeated. This was\nMadam Scheller's last appearance at this theatre. She and her husband,\nMethua Scheller, went East from here, and died in Memphis in 1878,\nduring the yellow fever contagion of that dread disease.\n\nOn October 25th, the Stones, Amy and Harry, opened up a return\nengagement in \"French Spy.\" They played twelve nights, giving\n\"Fanchon,\" and \"Little Barefoot,\" etc. Their engagement closed\nNovember 6th, after a very satisfactory engagement.\n\nOn the 8th the stock company resumed, and played \"Waiting for the\nVerdict.\" Annie Lockhart, who had rested during the Stones'\nengagement, resumed and was playing the leading female character in\nthis play when she was taken very ill. With the aid of kind attention\nshe got through the night's work, but she went home so ill that she\ntook to her bed, and on the 18th of November, died. Three days\nprevious to her death, on the 15th of November, John Wilson and Kate\nDenin were ushered in as stock stars, and continued until January 5th,\n1870, when they withdrew for a week to give place to Charlotte\nThompson, who played a six nights' engagement, playing \"Julia\" in the\n\"Hunchback,\" \"Leah, the Forsaken,\" \"Sea of Ice,\" and \"Court and\nStage.\" Miss Thompson was a pretty woman and a pleasing actress--a\nfavorite in the South where she belonged.\n\nFrom the 14th to the 24th, the stock company held down the business\nwithout stellar assistance, when Kate Denin and John Wilson returned\nand played another engagement. As stock stars they remained until\nFebruary 14th. Then came another siege of stock work without any star,\nbroken intermittently by lectures and concerts. Ole Bull gave concerts\nMarch 8th and 9th; Alf Barnett's entertainment, March 22nd and 23rd;\nSatsuma's Japanese troupe from March 25th to 30th. These attractions,\nof course, gave the company some respite from their arduous studies,\nbut it was only brief, and we were already rehearsing for the ensuing\nconference dates. So the stock company resumed their labors and played\nall through April and up to May 16th when the season of '69 and '70\nclosed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nSEASON OF '70-'71.\n\n\nThe theatre did not reopen until August the 27th when the season of\n'70 and '71 was ushered in with a \"Benefit\" to Miss Colebrook. This\nwas really the first summer the theatre had remained closed and given\nthe company a needed rest. The stock company played one week only when\nthe veteran tragedian, T. A. Lyne, began an engagement which ran from\nSeptember the 3rd to the 20th. This was Lyne's fourth engagement since\nthe opening of the theatre, and it proved what a remarkable hold he\nhad upon our theatre goers when he repeated his well known and well\nworn repertoire to splendid business. As there was no other star in\nthe dramatic firmament when Lyne's engagement expired, the stock\ncompany was put on its own resources once again and continued\nsuccessfully up to the 10th of December, when the monotony was in some\nmeasure broken by the accession to the company of Mr. and Mrs. John S.\nLangrishe, and the following week C. W. Couldock and his daughter,\nEliza, floated the stellar flag for the third time, repeating a\nportion of their old repertoire. They played from the 26th to the\n31st. Mr. Couldock went East, leaving Eliza (who was in poor health)\nhere to recuperate. They were succeeded by George W. Thompson and\nSallie Hinckley, who played a week's engagement, presenting \"Man and\nWife\" and the \"Persecuted Dutchman,\" filling dates January 2nd to the\n7th, of 1871. The stock company then played along again until February\n13th, when McKee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard and W. H. Power opened a\nstellar engagement, playing two weeks to February 25th. Everywhere\nelse the Rankins were playing \"The Danites,\" but owing to the odious\nlight in which that play presented the Mormon leaders, they did not\ndare to produce it at the Salt Lake Theatre. Of course the managers\nwould not consent, and the great wonder is that Rankin could secure\ndates at all at Brigham Young's theatre while he was starring through\nthe country in a play so well calculated to stir up prejudice against\nthe Mormons. \"The Danites\" had to be eliminated while the Rankins fell\nback onto some old plays in which the stock company was up in. \"Rip\nVan Winkle,\" \"Little Barefoot,\" and \"Colleen Bawn\" were given.\n\nIt may be of interest to note the fact here that \"The Danites\" has\nnever been played in Salt Lake or anywhere in Utah.\n\nAbout this time George B. Waldron turned up again in Salt Lake, and\nwas installed as leading man to strengthen the company and ease\nsomewhat the labors of David McKenzie.\n\nRose Evans, a lady who was enamoured of \"Hamlet,\" and made a specialty\nof playing it, was introduced to Salt Lake soon after Waldron's\naccession to the company, and we had during her engagement which ran\nthrough the April conference, \"Hamlet,\" \"Twixt Axe and Crown,\"\n\"Ingomar;\" Miss Evans as \"Parthenia\" and Waldron as \"Ingomar;\" \"Lady\nAudrey's Secret,\" \"Romeo and Juliet;\" Waldron as \"Romeo.\" Rose Evans\nestablished herself very strongly in the favor of the Salt Lake\ntheatre goers. Her \"Hamlet\" was liked, and she played it intelligently\nand perhaps as well as a woman could play it, but no woman can ever\nplay \"Hamlet\" satisfactorily to the critical mind; and very few men\nout of the thousands of actors ever reach and handle it\nsatisfactorily. Her \"Juliet\" was very acceptable, but Waldron's voice\nwas' too basso profundo for \"Romeo.\" It was hard to imagine him as the\nyouthful love-distraught Romeo with his deep set vocal organ.\n\nMiss Evans closed on April 8th and was closely followed by Mlle. Marie\nRavel, who opened on the 10th, supported by Waldron and the stock\ncompany and played an engagement of twenty nights. On May 4th Herr\nDaniel E. Bandmann and his wife (his first one) opened an engagement\nof five nights, presenting \"Macbeth,\" \"Hamlet,\" \"Merchant of Venice,\"\n\"Narcisse,\" and \"Richard III.\" Bandmann, at this time, was a very\npopular tragedian. He had played as early as '65 in San Francisco a\nvery successful engagement. He was now returning from his second visit\nto San Francisco. He spoke with a decided German accent, which was,\nhowever, not disagreeable to the ear, his voice being musical and his\nreading very artistic and finished. Bandmann bought a ranch near\nMissoula, Montana, some ten or twelve years ago and went into\nsemi-retirement. He had a curious advertisement in the Dramatic\nMirror, about as follows: \"Daniel E. Bandmann, Tragedian and breeder\nof fine horses and cattle.\" He also bred a large family of children on\nthat same ranch. When he went into retirement he took with him his\nlatest \"leading lady,\" Mary Kelly, as his wife, and they have a number\nof heirs to succeed to the tragedy and breeding business. His first\nwife, Millie Palmer, still figures in London theatricals, and she has\na son who is conspicuous in theatrical management. Herr Bandmann still\nmakes spasmodic incursions into the surrounding country with an\nimprovised dramatic company and plays his favorite characters.\n\nThe next star to shine in our firmament was J. K. Emmett. \"Joe,\" as he\nwas familiarly called, was just at the zenith of his fame about this\ntime, and he filled the theatre from pit to dome. The character of\n\"Fritz\" appealed strongly to nearly all theatre goers, and \"Joe\"\nEmmett with his bewitching voice and catchy lullabies, had an easy\nroad to fame and fortune. Emmett played from the 10th to the 13th.\n\nThe Couldocks, father and daughter, now played a return engagement,\ncovering two weeks, from May 22nd to June 5th, repeating mostly old\nrepertoire. They were followed closely by Mr. and Mrs. Ida Hernandez,\na Polish couple, who came to this country with Madam Modjeska, and\nwere now working their way to the East. They were clever performers,\nbut being unknown, they did not draw heavy houses. June 8th to the\n11th.\n\nThe Lingards followed Hernandez in a brief engagement of three nights,\nJune 12th to 14th. The following week was filled in by the Hernandez\nand the Carter-Cogswell contingent of the Salt Lake stock company. J.\nM. Carter and his wife, Carrie Carter (nee Lyne-Cogswell) had recently\narrived from Denver and had been added to the stock company, which had\nbeen weakened materially by the loss of several of its prominent\nmembers. Hardie had gone to the Virginia City theatre; Lindsay had\ngone on a visit to England and had withdrawn from the company for a\ntime; Miss Alexander had also drifted away to the East, so that when\nthe Carters arrived and sought engagement, the managers readily\navailed themselves of their services. They played here for a few weeks\nand at the close of the season went on to California.\n\nOn July 3rd, Edwin Adams made his first appearance at this theatre. He\nopened in the character of \"Rover\" in \"Wild Oats\" and played in\naddition, \"Extremes,\" \"Enoch Arden,\" and \"William\" in \"Black Eyed\nSusan.\" Mr. Adams filled out a week with great satisfaction to our\ntheatre goers, the managers, and the company, and with very\nsatisfactory financial results to himself. He was a gratification to\nboth eyes and ears a brilliant actor with a melodious voice, and in\nappearance the ideal actor.\n\nThe following week John McCullough, who had with him Helen Tracy as a\nleading female support, played a notable engagement, rendered more so\nby the fact that Edwin Adams was retained to appear in conjunction\nwith Mr. McCullough. They gave \"Damon and Pythias,\" with McCullough as\n\"Damon\" and Adams as \"Pythias,\" and notwithstanding McCullough made an\nexcellent \"Damon,\" so convincing was Adams as \"Pythias,\" that the\ncritical Salt Lakers declared it was \"Pythias\" and \"Damon\" on that\noccasion, putting the brilliant Adams ahead of McCullough in their\nadmiration. Adams played \"Iago\" to McCullough's \"Othello\" and even\nstrengthened the favorable opinion of him. For their closing\nperformance together, \"Hamlet\" was given with Adams as the Prince and\nMcCullough as the King. Miss Helen Tracy lent some lustre to the\ntriple alliance and this engagement is remembered as one of the most\nnotable ever given in the now historic theatre.\n\nJust how it chanced that McCullough and Adams got dates so close\ntogether, the one immediately succeeding the other, I have forgotten,\nbut as Adams was going to the Pacific coast and McCullough and Miss\nTracy were going East, I presume that their meeting here was purely\naccidental.\n\nThey were very glad to see each other, \"John\" and \"Ned,\" and decided\nto have a good time while they were together; to that end Adams, who\nwas in no great hurry to get to San Francisco, decided to stay over\nduring McCullough's engagement and play in some of his pieces with\nhim, which he did as stated above. The combination was a strong one,\nand no doubt helped McCullough's engagement, as this was his second\nvisit; but the primary object of the combination was evidently to have\na good time. We had an actors' club here at that early day which must\nnot be forgotten.\n\nOn January 16th preceding, Milton Nobles played the \"Marble Heart,\"\nappearing as Raphael. Nobles was then a young actor, comparatively\nunknown. He was on his way to the East, where some years later he\nbecame widely known through his plays of \"The Phoenix,\" \"From Sire to\nSon,\" etc.\n\nThere was at this time residing in Salt Lake a gentleman by the name\nof Bentham Fabian. Fabian was widely and favorably known for certain\npeculiarities. He was extremely fond of the theatre, and every actor\nwas his friend. He was one of those versatile fellows that could turn\nhis hand to many things. He organized a public library here, which he\ncalled \"The Salt Lake Exchange and Reading Rooms,\" and he was the\nlibrarian. It was while Milton Nobles was here that Fabian worked up a\n\"benefit\" for this library, at which Governor Vaughn, (then Governor\nof Utah), recited Poe's \"Bells,\" and Nobles and the writer gave the\nthird act of \"Othello\" (in evening dress), Nobles reading \"Iago,\" and\nthe writer \"Othello.\" There were several other numbers by Fabian and\nothers, and music by the Military band from Fort Douglas. One of\nFabian's strong peculiarities was that he loved his pipe and glass and\noccasionally his courtly bearing and Chesterfieldian manners would get\na little lopsided and obscure. This benefit, being a sort of royal\noccasion with Bentham, he had a fresh keg of beer in his den behind\nthe library, and after the entertainment was over he invited all the\nperformers (except the \"band\") to go and help drink it.\n\nGovernor Vaughn having a prior engagement, declined, but the rest of\nus adjourned to the library. Fabian, eager to treat \"the boys,\" made\nhaste to tap the keg, but there was a decided uncertainty about his\nmanipulation of the mallet and tap, which plainly indicated that he\nhad already been tapping something. So Cyrus Hawley (Judge Hawley's\nson) rather impatiently and dramatically exclaimed, \"Give me the\ndaggers!\" (the mallet and tap), and taking them from Fabian with the\nair of an expert tapster, he proceeded to drive the tap; he made a\nmisslick, and in an instant he was covered from head to foot in foamy\nbeer. His nice clothes were apparently ruined, and he was roundly\nsworn at for wasting so much good beer. After stopping the flood,\nthere proved to be sufficient left to make all hands merry and happy.\n\nAbout this time Fabian, who was a great projector of schemes,\nsucceeded in organizing an actors' club, to which he made us all pay\ntribute, not only the actors, but a number of other professional men\nand good fellows were made members, and when the transient \"stars\"\ncame along, we generally contrived to give them a good time, although\nour quarters were not so pretentious as those of the Alta or Comcial\nclubs of today. During the Adams-McCullough engagements these actors\nwere the guests of \"the club,\" and dear old Fabian was in his glory.\nFabian was the president of the club, and he certainly wined and dined\nMcCullough and Adams to their hearts' content. On their closing night\nwe had a great carousal, even Miss Tracy did not escape. It was a\nmemorable night truly. Everybody present seemed determined to give\n\"John\" McCullough and \"Ned\" Adams a royal time, and they had it.\n\n    \"Care mad to see a man sae happy;\n    E'en drowned himsel among the nappy.\n    Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,\n    O'er all the ills of life victorious.\"\n\n                 _Burns' \"Tam O'Shanter\"_.\n\nThe stock company played one week, even after this brilliant\ntriumvirate had united its course, with Mr. and Mrs. Carter doing\nleads. That they could hold the interest of the public after such a\ncombination of talent as Adams, McCullough and Tracy dropped away from\nthem was not to be expected. In looking back at it from this distance,\nthe wise thing for the managers to have done would have been to close\nthe season with that extraordinary engagement, but the Carters were\nhere and had a play or two to exploit, and struggled through a week\nwhen the management were glad to close the season, with the Pioneer\nholiday, July 24th. Here was another case of playing all summer, for\nthe theatre only remained closed about ten nights, opening on the 10th\nof August. The advent of the Carters into Salt Lake and their\nengagement at the Salt Lake theatre was not devoid of interest. It\nwas well-known to many that Mrs. Carter (Carrie Cogswell) had been the\nwife of the veteran tragedian, Mr. T. A. Lyne, who was very much\nperturbed at their presence here. He declared that she had come here\nexpressly to annoy him, and nothing could convince him to the\ncontrary, so when after a short stay here, Mr. and Mrs. Carter and\ntheir son, Lincoln J., now the celebrated Chicago playbuilder and\nmanager, took their departure for California, Lyne's heart was joyful.\nThere were two children, a boy and a girl, the offspring of the\nLyne-Cogswell marriage. The court, in giving Lyne the deliverance\nwhich he sought on the grounds of desertion, gave him the custody of\nthe two children, and he had them in Salt Lake attending school, and\nhe was very apprehensive that the mother might kidnap them. So when\nshe had departed without any signs of having molested the children the\nveteran was happy, for he never dreamed they would return, but alas!\nfor the contrariness of human nature, in this he was doomed to\ndisappointment. Lyne had been for the second time a widower when he\nmet Miss Carrie Cogswell. She was about sixteen and he about fifty.\nLyne at this age was an active, fine-looking man with hair as dark as\na raven's wing and a very commanding presence. Miss Cogswell was\nenamored of the stage and soon became not only Mrs. Lyne, but \"leading\nlady\" for Lyne. After some years of married life, and two children had\nbeen born to them, there came a cloud in their sky. In the same\ncompany chanced a young man by the name of Carter, whose father, Jared\nCarter, had been a leading light in the Mormon Church in the Nauvoo\ndays. Disparity in age and incompatibility of temperament between Mr.\nand Mrs. Lyne gradually brought about a separation and divorce. By\nthis time both had sought and found new matrimonial alliances. Mrs.\nLyne had some years now been Mrs. Carter and Mr. Lyne had found\nconsolation in a French widow whose Christian name was Madeline. Such\nwas the situation at the time when the Carters made their first visit\nto Salt Lake, and the veteran tragedian having settled down in Salt\nLake to end his days, was in mortal dread of the Carters fixing their\nfuture home here too.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nSEASON OF '71-'72.\n\n\nThe season of '71 and '72 opened on August the 4th, only two weeks\nafter the closing of '70 and '71. The Lingards were the opening\nattraction; they played only two nights. The Lingards consisted of\nHorace W. Lingard, Alice Lingard, his wife, and \"Dickie\" Lingard, a\nsister to Horace. They played short cast pieces and did not require\nmany members of the company. The repertoire included \"Caste,\" \"The\nWeaver of Spitaefield,\" \"Morning Call,\" \"A Happy Pair,\" etc. They were\nfollowed closely by Kate Newton and Charlie Backus of minstrel fame,\nwho stayed two nights; and these were succeeded by the Hyers Sisters,\na colored concert troupe, who gave five concerts, opening August the\n9th and playing up to the 13th.\n\nOn the 21st Joseph and Mrs. Murphy made their debut in drama--the\nmedium being a hash-up of improbable incidents put together to string\nJoe's specialties on. He played a sort of stage detective and\ndisguised variously as an Irishman, a Swede, a Dutch Girl, and a\nNigger. This was the first performance of \"Help\" on any stage, and\nshould have been the last, if merit alone counted.\n\nThe Salt Lake Theatre was made the bridge to carry a number of new\ndramatic ventures across the quicksands of dramatic speculation.\nAfraid to make the trial of a new play in San Francisco or New York,\nthey have brought them to Salt Lake to \"try them on the dog.\" \"Help\"\nran three nights, 21st to the 24th, and was fairly launched on the\ndramatic sea, and Joe Murphy was no longer a blackfaced comedian but a\nversatile actor of the Irish comedy persuasion. \"Help\" served Joe\nfaithfully for several seasons and put him on Easy street,\nfinancially.\n\nAugust 25th the Stock Company, strengthened with the Cogswell-Carter\ntroupe, resumed. J. W. Carter was engaged to play leads for a time;\nMcKenzie was absent, Lindsay was gone, Hardie had deserted, and the\nmanagement were in sore straits for a leading actor. The Stock played\nfrom August 25th to September 25th, when Mrs. Lander opened a star\nengagement in \"Mary Stuart,\" continuing one week, during which she\ngave, in addition to \"Mary Stuart,\" \"Camille,\" \"The Hunchback\" and\n\"Marie Antoinette.\" Mrs. Lander was at this time one of the bright\nparticular stars of the American stage. She was a woman of superior\nintelligence and rare dramatic talent and played a fine engagement.\n\nAfter the Lander engagement, the house closed for a few nights, to\ngive the Stock company a chance to prepare for the approaching October\nconference. The management could always count on packed houses during\nthese conferences, and it was like giving money away to engage any\nstellar attractions at these times, so the Stock company was up\nagainst their work once more. On October 3rd they opened and played\nthrough conference, to the 9th.\n\nOn the 10th Robert McWade made his first bow to a Salt Lake audience,\nin \"Rip Van Winkle.\" McWade had a very good reputation through the\nwest in this character, and drew a very good house for his first\nnight. If we had never seen \"Jim Hearne\" as \"Rip Van Winkle\" we might\nhave thought more of McWade, but the impression Hearne made in the\ncharacter was so strong and still so fresh in the public mind that\nMcWade's \"Rip\" did not become a favorite. He played some five nights\nand then the Stock had to go alone again for a while, so on the 16th\nthey resumed and played up to November 7, only relieved a little by\nthe Japanese jugglers, who put in an hour each evening for a week,\nfrom October 23rd to 28th. On November 9th, Johnny Allen and Alice\nHarrison opened a four nights' engagement, closing on the 13th. On the\n15th the Stock resumed the even tenor of its way, and played\nunassisted up to December 10th, when J. M. Ward came in with \"Through\nby Daylight,\" and got through by gaslight in two nights. Jim Ward was\na very versatile and capable actor with a racy Irish brogue, that was\nsuggestive of the \"ould sod.\" He has had rare experiences in\ntheatrical life, and they would make a volume of interesting reading,\nbut as he is still having them, being yet upon the stage, it is too\nearly to add his experiences to the general history of the stage,\nespecially his matrimonial ones.\n\nAn entire troupe of juvenile actors followed Jim Ward's advent into\nSalt Lake City. Whether Jim was in any way accountable, we are not\nadvised; they were called \"The Nathan Juvenile Troupe,\" and put in one\nweek from the 15th to the 20th.\n\nOliver Doud Byron followed them, opening on December 21st, and playing\ntill January 3rd, \"Across the Continent,\" being his piece de\nresistance. Ben McCullough filled out the week. Eliza Couldock, who\nwas in delicate health, and had been left here by her father after\ntheir last engagement, was now called in for a week to assist the\nStock in a production of \"Uncle Tom's Cabin.\" Miss Couldock was cast\nfor the character of Eliza. The writer, who was playing George Harris\nand Legree, well remembers how nervous and poorly the lady was during\nthis week's engagement. She was over ambitious and worked beyond her\nstrength, and it was evident she was in a decline. This was her last\nappearance, poor girl, and it was not long before we were paying the\nlast respects, and with loving hands laying her gently i' the earth,\nalongside of dear Annie Lockhart, whom we had performed the same\nservice for only a short time before. \"Lay her i' the earth and from\nher fair and unpolluted flesh may violets spring.\"\n\nRose Evans came to us for a second engagement, after the \"Uncle Tom\"\nweek, and played from January 8th to the 27th, repeating her former\nrepertory. Stock company put in the following week alone, then\nfollowed E. T. Stetson for a week in his melodramas, \"Neck and Neck\"\nand \"Old Kentuck.\" This puts us along to February 7th, '72, when the\nStock played another week without any star; then the Stock got a\nweek's rest, the time from the 15th to the 20th being filled by Purdy,\nScott, and Fostelle's minstrels. Refreshed with a week's vacation, the\nStock company started in afresh on February 22nd--great George's\nbirthday--and played till April 9th, getting through another\nconference without the aid of a star. Here the company had another\nbrief respite while \"The Child American Concert Company\" filled time\nfrom April 10th to the 13th, when the company resumed their labors and\nplayed up to the 20th. On April 22nd, Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Bates began a\nstellar engagement which ran three weeks, up to May 11th. Mrs. Bates\nwas the lead horse in this team, and the repertory was selected to\ngive her prominence as the principal star, and the announcement should\nhave been _Mrs._ and Mr. F. M. Bates. She played \"Pigeon the Torment,\"\n\"Camille,\" \"Leah,\" and \"Lucretia Borgia,\" and all the great popular\nroles for tragediennes, and was the first to introduce to us the great\nhistoric play of \"Elizabeth.\" The Bateses made a very good impression\nand were so pleased with the result of their engagement that they\nremained in Salt Lake during the ensuing summer. Blanche Bates, now a\nvery successful star under David Belasco's management, was with the\nBateses then, and as she had not been christened Blanche, she was just\ncalled Baby Bates.\n\nMay 13th to 16th was filled by Berger's Swiss Bell Ringers, and Sol\nSmith Russell, who was then doing specialties with the Bergers little\ndreaming of his \"Poor Relation\" or \"Peaceful Valley.\"\n\nA few nights of stock followed this, and not proving strong, the\nBateses were re-engaged and put in another week, from the 22nd to the\n28th, introducing some new plays of lighter caliber.\n\nMay 29th the Majiltons put in a date, and the stock then played a lone\nhand up to June 8th. Billy Emerson's minstrels held the boards June\n10th, 11th and 12th, and Joe Murphy came and gave us some more of his\n\"Help,\" 13th, 14th, 15th. Stock put in another week alone, 17th to\n22nd, when Charles Wheatleigh opened a return engagement, 24th and\nplayed till July 1st. Wheatleigh gave \"Lottery of Life,\" \"Flying\nScud,\" \"After Dark\" and \"Arrah Na Pogue.\" That was Charley\nWheatleigh's farewell, we never saw him more.\n\nThe Bergers and Sol Smith Russell had swung around the circle and came\nback for a second engagement. They found Salt Lake a congenial and\nprofitable place and put in another three nights with us, 4th, 5th and\n6th.\n\nJames M. Hardie, who had just returned from a long professional\nengagement in San Francisco, played a two nights' engagement, opening\nin a play called \"Early California.\" Season closed June 8th. \"Jim\"\nHardie left Salt Lake for the East soon after this his last appearance\nhere, as it proved, for he has never since returned. After playing in\nsupport of stars several seasons, \"Hoey and Hardie\" starred for\nseveral seasons in \"A Child of the State,\" but it was not a money\nmaker, and after several losing seasons the firm of Hoey and Hardie\ndissolved, and Jim cast about for a new \"angel.\" Hoey's \"old man\" had\nbeen the angel in the \"Child of State\" venture and it was understood\nat the time that after making up some rather heavy deficits, he grew\nweary and refused to put up any longer for \"The Child of the State.\"\nHardie had some money which came to him through his wife, who had an\nannuity, but \"Jim\" had a strong touch of the \"canny Scot\" in him, that\nalways impelled him to let someone else \"put up,\" In time he found a\nnew \"angel,\" and one more to his taste, for this one was of the female\npersuasion, and Jim always was a favorite with the ladies. He caught a\nsociety woman who was stage struck and wanted to star; she had the\nmoney to pay for the privilege, and this was just such a snap as \"Jim\"\nwanted. So the lady put up the money to put out the show, and she was\nstarred in conjunction with Jim. The firm name stood \"Hardie and Von\nLeer.\" \"A Brave Woman\" was the name of the play they chose for the\nventure; there was a great significance in that title. The show went\nout with a stock of $1,200 worth of special printing, so Hardie\nhimself informed me in New York. They went into the south, but in six\nweeks the company was disbanded and Hardie and Von Leer were back in\nNew York. Then they got up a cheaper company and went into the dime\nmuseums, where they made a little money. The dime museums were very\npopular just then and a number of good attractions played them. The\nplay of \"A Brave Woman,\" however, was not an unqualified success,\nalthough Sarah Von Leer seemed to be, and held onto her partnership\nthrough thick and thin. After a while Hardie got a play called \"On the\nFrontier,\" and conceived the idea of getting a brass band made up of\nreal Indians. It proved a ten strike, and, after doing a big business\nwith it in this country for two seasons, he took it to England in '93\nand made a barrel of money with it. Sarah is still his partner and\nstill stays by him. They built a fine theatre in Manchester, which has\nbeen their headquarters for the last twenty years. Mrs. Hardie and her\ndaughters have been back in Salt Lake for a number of years. They have\nnever crossed the ocean to join the husband and father. It must be\nacknowledged that the dramatic profession is altogether too prolific\nof this sort of thing. Its tendencies are to draw even well mated\ncouples apart--a hundred cases could be cited; but we will let the\nreader think the matter over and divine the cause.\n\nOn July 31st Jim McKnight, a young fellow of ambition and talent, put\non a play of his own writing, which he called \"The Robbers of the\nRocky Mountains,\" with an exclusive amateur company. Young McKnight\ndrew on his imagination for his robbers; had he written years later he\ncould have taken his characters from life, with Butch Cassidy and the\nwhole Robber's Roost gang in the cast.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nSEASON OF '72-'73.\n\n\nThe season of '72 and '73 opened on August 7th with George Chaplin and\nClara Jean Walters as stock stars. They opened in the classical drama\nof \"Buffalo Bill.\" This was a long time before Cody started his wild\nwest show and probably this play was what put him in the notion of\nstarting in the show business. Chaplin made a fine Buffalo Bill, and\nif Cody saw him in the part it must have made him envious to see\nanother fellow stealing his thunder. The combination ran two weeks,\nwhen Stetson came in \"Neck and Neck\" with us and played a week,\npresenting also \"Daring Dick\" and \"The Fatal Glass.\" Chaplin had a\ndecided objection to supporting male stars of mediocre ability, and\nsecond class repertory, and so he generally laid off on such occasions\nas the Stetson engagement; besides it was a matter of economy with the\nmanagement; they did not need him, so George laid off during Stetson's\nweek, and then came with his \"Seven Sisters\" the following week.\nGeorge was immense as the big sister and was just a trifle vain over\nthe fact that he could outshine all the women in the company in female\napparel.\n\nOn September 2nd Ada Gray opened a week's engagement in \"Article 47\"\nand gave besides, \"Jezebel\" and \"Whose Wife.\" Ada was a pleasing\nactress, of fine appearance, but didn't seem to quicken the pulse of\nher Salt Lake patrons, after their seeing some of the greater ones.\n\nOn the 9th Chaplin and Walters resumed as stock stars and played\ncontinuously up to the 23rd, T. A. Lyne taking a benefit on the 20th\ninstant and playing \"Richelieu.\" On the 23rd Chaplin dropped out of\nthe company, closing in \"School,\" and on the 25th the stock company\nkept right along with Clara Jean Walters featured through the October\nConference and up to the 12th.\n\nOn October 1st W. T. Harris made his initial bow to the Salt Lake\npublic; he came from one of the Omaha theatres, accompanied by Annie\nWard and Miss Blanche de Bar, a sister of the popular manager and\nactor, Ben de Bar. Miss De Bar had already grown old in the\nprofession, but proved nevertheless a very useful member of the stock\ncompany. She played old women and characters and on more than one\noccasion proved her agility in spite of years and gray hairs, by doing\nan Irish jig or a \"Dolly Varden\" lilt. The rag time had not yet come\nin vogue or Miss De Bar could have done a cake walk with the best.\n\n\"Jimmy\" Harris, as he was familiarly called, cut quite a figure in the\nfuture history of the theatre as manager and deserves more than a\npassing notice. He was featured on his opening night in an Irish\nfarce, \"That Rascal Pat,\" and made a very fair impression. Miss Annie\nWard, who accompanied Harris to Salt Lake, and who at first was\nsupposed to be \"Jimmy's\" wife or _fiancee_ (from all appearances), was\na young woman who had been beautiful, but her face was now so deeply\npitted with small pox that she invariably in public kept it covered\nwith a veil, except when on the stage, where she could veil the\nblemish under a thick coat of grease paint, and, this artistically\ndone, she presented as fair a face as one could wish to look at.\n\"Annie,\" 'twas said, had been the _fiancee_ of the great African\nexplorer, Henry Stanley, before he caught the African fever, which\ntore him away from her and all his early associations. Annie found\nconsolation for her bereavement in a close friendship with \"Jimmy.\" So\nclose was their alliance that on their joining the stock company here\ntogether, everybody judged they were man and wife, or ought to be.\nThey had taken a room together in old man McDonald's house, just under\nthe shadow of St. Mark's church, and everything went well for a little\nwhile--but by some inadvertence the good Mr. McDonald discovered that\nthey had not secured the necessary license for rooming together, and\nhe very promptly and perhaps rudely gave them notice to vacate. They\nthought the old man was a crank and quite unreasonable, to turn them\nout of his house for such a slight offense, in a community where many\nof the men were living with a plurality of wives. They had an idea it\nwas a sort of Oneida community here; free love, etc. They secured\nanother lodging house, but the lady who ran that was a very strict\nMormon also, and so soon as she found out how matters stood she served\nthem with a notice to quit. \"Jimmy\" got a \"hunch\" from some one that\nhe would have to _marry_ Annie or sever the alliance altogether, as\nthe Mormons would not stand for anything of this kind. It was even\nintimated to him that he might be indicted for _lascivious cohab_,\nwhich so terrified him that he suddenly ceased his relationship with\nAnnie altogether, and left her to paddle her own canoe. Those who were\nacquainted with the circumstances have always blamed Harris for his\ntreatment of Annie Ward; he should have married her, was their\nthought, but he turned away from her in this time of mutual trouble.\nHis offense was condoned, and gradually he worked himself into favor\nuntil he became quite an object of interest with the ladies about the\ntheatre, while those same ladies turned up their noses at Miss Ward,\nand made it so unpleasant for her, that she was glad to terminate her\nengagement long before the season was over, and go back to her former\nhaunts. Poor girl! She went down hill rapidly after returning and died\nwretchedly in St. Louis a year or so later, while Harris remained\nhere, married one of Brigham Young's daughters and was given the\nmanagement of the theatre, which he held for several years. Harris and\nhis wife went to New York in about '80, where they have resided ever\nsince. \"Jimmy,\" who has wealthy relatives there, has a good easy\nposition and raised a nice family of four or five children, to whom he\nhas bequeathed his real name of Ferguson, that of Harris being merely\nadopted to hide him from his relatives while he was a profane stage\nplayer. So runs the wheel of fortune.\n\n    Hamlet. I did love you once.\n\n    Ophelia. Indeed, my honored lord, you made me believe so.\n\n    Hamlet. You should not have believed me; for virtue can not so\n    inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it. I loved you\n    not.\n\n    Ophelia. I was the more deceived.\n\n    Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery.\n\n                                              --Shakespeare.\n\nOn November 8th Mr. Al Thorne was added to the stock company and made\nhis first appearance in the play of \"Maud's Peril.\" Al Thorne came to\nUtah as a soldier in Johnston's army. He was a member of the Camp\nFloyd Theatre company and played with Dick White, Mrs. Tuckett et al.\nHe contrived in some way to remain in Utah when the Civil War broke\nout, instead of following \"the uncertain chance of war.\" He had\nmarried and settled in the north part of the territory, and was\nassociated with the Richmond Dramatic Company for several years and\nnow found a place in the Salt Lake stock, where he remained for\nseveral years, doing excellent work in \"heavies\" and \"old men.\" Thorne\njoined the Mormon church and got more family than he could take care\nof--two families in fact, which proved his ruin. He became estranged\nfrom them both, and for the last twenty years of his life was\npractically an exile, living a solitary life in the mining camps of\nNevada. He died three years ago at De Lamar, Nevada, a prematurely old\nman, with no relative near. But Al always had friends, for he was a\ngood natured, generous hearted man--his own worst enemy. \"Requiescat\nin pace.\"\n\nGeorge Chaplin having exhausted his extensive and variegated\nrepertory, and taken his departure for pastures new, the stock\ncompany, with Clara Jean Walters, played through the October\nconference. The very palpable weakness occasioned by Chaplin's\nretirement was filled by F. M. Bates, who with his wife and Baby\nBlanche had been rusticating in the vicinity ever since their\nengagement in the previous May. Bates opened on the 14th of October,\nas joint star with Miss Walters, and continued until November 21st,\nthe only interruption being a three nights' engagement of the\nAustralian actor, James J. Bartlett, who gave \"David Garrick,\" \"New\nMagdalen,\" and \"Married for Money.\"\n\nOn November 25th Mrs. Bates opened her second engagement at this\ntheatre, supported by her husband (Frank), Miss Walters and the stock\ncompany. She played two weeks, repeating mostly her favorite roles,\n\"Elizabeth,\" \"Lucretia Borgia,\" \"Camille,\" etc. Mrs. Bates during the\ntime her husband, Frank, had been playing with the stock company, had\nplayed an engagement with John Piper, the Virginia City manager.\nReturning here she sent ahead of her to exploit her return engagement\nMr. John Maguire, who has since made a name as a theatrical manager,\nbut who was then a very enthusiastic disciple of Thespis, and was\nambitious to make a mark in the histrionic art. Maguire by his own\nconfession had been educated for the Catholic priesthood, and\ncertainly a good priest was spoiled when John turned Thespian, but the\nstage fever caught him, and struck in so deep that he was irrevocably\nlost to a profession which he was capable of adorning, and exposed \"to\nthe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune\" that are generally in\nquiver to be hurled at the unfortunate actor or manager who does not\nachieve an unqualified success. At the time of which I write, 1872,\nJohn Maguire was young (about 30, eh, John?), and handsome; he was\noften mistaken for Lawrence Barrett, the tragedian, which was a\nflattering compliment to John, as he was a very great admirer of\n\"Larry\" Barrett. We don't know just how it came about, but he was cast\nin Mrs. Bates' opening performance of \"Elizabeth\" for the part of the\nyoung Scottish king, James VI, unless it was that he had played it in\nVirginia City with the lady, and she thought he looked the part so\nwell. Any way the company was numerous and the managers let John out\nafter his performance of King James. The week following the Bates\nengagement, there being no star attraction booked, the managers gave\nit to the writer, who had not been playing in the stock company that\nseason. I arranged a repertoire for the week which included \"The\nDuke's Motto,\" \"Macbeth,\" \"Louis XI,\" \"The Stranger,\" \"Jack Cade,\" and\n\"The Three Guardsmen.\" A very ambitious attempt, as I view it now, but\nall parts that I was \"up\" in, having played them in the company\nbefore. While rehearsing before I opened, Maguire, who was out of a\njob and evidently out of money, come to me and in a very friendly and\nconfidential way informed me that he had just received the bells. \"The\nbells?\" I inquired, \"what bells?\" \"Why Henry Irving's Bells, that has\njust completed a year's run in London.\" \"Take my advice, John,\" said\nhe, \"take down some of those 'old' chestnuts you have billed and put\non 'The Bells' for two nights in their place and you'll be money in by\nit.\" \"Oh, that's impossible,\" I objected, \"my plans for the week are\narranged and cast, besides I know nothing about the play of The\nBells.'\" Maguire was earnest, however, for he had a point to make, so\nhe urged me to make a change. \"I have two printed copies of the play,\"\nsays he, \"and will let you have them and copy the remainder of the\nparts for you for $10. I want to get to Pioche; things are booming\nthere and I am short of money; you can advertise the wonderful run the\nplay has had in London, and you'll be the first to play it west of New\nYork, where Studley is playing it now.\" John arguments prevailed with\nme and I took down \"Louis XI\" and \"The Strangers\" and put up \"The\nBells\" for the Wednesday and Thursday nights. Maguire delivered the\ngoods, got his money and took the stage for Pioche. Bidding me good\nbye and good luck, he says, \"There's a theatre down there, and if I\ncan secure it, you will hear from me before long.\" \"The Bells\" gave me\nthe hardest day's study I ever did; playing \"Macbeth\" the night before\nand staying out later than was discreet, I was reading \"Mathias\" at\nrehearsal next morning to play that night, but we got through it\nfairly well, and to my surprise the local papers praised the\nperformance highly next morning, but \"The Bells\" did not prove the\ngreat drawing card Maguire had so sanguinely predicted, the older and\nbetter known plays drawing better.\n\nOn Friday evening, while playing \"Jack Cade,\" a few of my admirers\nsent up a request to have me play \"Othello\" on the following night\ninstead of \"The Guardsmen,\" with Mr. F. M. Bates as Othello, Mrs.\nBates as Emelia and myself as Iago. I should have promptly decided not\nto make the change, but nothing in the way of work seemed too onerous\nfor me, and too willing to oblige, I sent back word that if they could\nget Mr. and Mrs. Bates to volunteer I would make the change. Some of\nthem waited on the Bateses with the result that Mrs. Bates declined to\nbe Emelia, and Mr. Bates had never played Othello, but would play Iago\nif I would do Othello. I was in Mr. Bates' fix, having played Iago\nseveral times but never Othello. However, I consented to try it and\ngave myself another hard day's study to get perfect in Othello. Next\nmorning Sloan, in the Herald, roasted me for playing a \"star\" part\nlike Othello in stock costumes, notwithstanding I had been wearing\nstock costumes all the week. He spoke rather favorably of my acting,\nhowever, which was more than I should have expected. I would not be\nnearly so accommodating now. This my first \"stellar\" engagement closed\non December 14th, 1872. The record shows that the farce of \"The\nSpectre Bridegroom\" was played after Othello, with Phil Margetts in\nhis great part of Diggory. In those \"palmy days of the drama,\" it was\nquite usual to have a farce after a five-act tragedy. On benefit\noccasions not infrequently there would be a long play, then an olio of\nsinging and a fancy dance, and a farce to close the \"evening's\nentertainment.\"\n\nDuring this engagement Clara Jean Walters played the leading female\nroles, and rendered effective support, as indeed she always did. She\nwas the most capable and versatile \"leading lady\" the stock company\never had and remained with it for several seasons a well-established\nfavorite.\n\nCarl Bosco, a very clever magician, put in two nights following the\nLindsay engagement, 16th and 17th, and Mrs. Chanfrau opened the 19th\ninst. for two nights and appeared in \"A Wife's Ordeal\" and \"The\nHoneymoon.\" On the 26th John T. Raymond opened a two weeks'\nengagement, giving \"Toodles,\" \"Only a Jew,\" \"Rip Van Winkle,\" and \"The\nCricket on the Hearth.\" Johnny Allen and Alice Harrison and \"Little\nMac\" for three nights. These parties put in from January 6th to the\n15th. Johnny Allen and Alice Harrison were a great attraction in those\ndays; how many remember them now? And \"Little Mac,\" that homely dwarf,\nwhat wonderful stunts he could do with those stunted legs of his!--a\ncircus in himself was Little Mac.\n\nOn the 20th of January William J. Cogswell joined the stock as leading\nman, Miss Walters still retaining position of leading lady. A Miss\nFlorence Kent (Mrs. McCabe) had been added to the company, and being\npetite and good looking, as well as talented, Miss Walters saw a\nchance to gratify a long-cherished ambition, which was to play Romeo.\n(She would show some of us men folks how to make love.) So the piece\nwas put up with Miss Walters as Romeo and Kent as Juliet; they made a\npretty couple. Miss Walters looked very dashing, being a nice size for\nRomeo, but making love to one of her own sex was not such an easy task\nas she imagined and although it was a very fair \"Romeo and Juliet,\" it\ndid not make so great a mark as many of her female performances. The\nstock with the new leading man, Cogswell, played along till February\n3rd, when Yankee Robinson came in for a week in \"Sam Patch\" and \"The\nDays of '76,\" February 3rd to the 8th inst.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nSEASON OF '72-'73.--CONTINUED.\n\nBefore this time John Maguire had been heard from; he had found on his\narrival at Pioche that there was some sort of a theatre there. It had\nbeen built for a minstrel company of whom Harry Larraine, formerly of\nthe Fort Douglas band, was the leader. At the expiration of the\nminstrel engagement, Maguire secured the theatre when he immediately\nset about to put a dramatic company in there. He telegraphed for Mr.\nand Mrs. Bates, offering them a strong inducement to go there. He also\ntelegraphed for the writer, offering him a salary that was sufficient\ninducement for him to go. John W. Dunne, a young Californian, who had\nbeen in the Salt Lake Theatre company, was also engaged. Our fares\nwere arranged for and about the middle of January this nucleus for a\ndramatic company left Salt Lake City for Pioche for a six weeks'\nengagement. Our party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Bates, Baby Bates\n(Blanche), the now famous actress, who was then about a year and a\nhalf old; Mrs. Bates' sister, Miss Wren, who acted as the chief nurse,\nand Mr. John W. Dunne. It is a matter well worthy of record that Mr.\nDunne was married the night before he left for Pioche, to Miss Clara\nDecker, a niece of Brigham Young, a very pretty and attractive girl,\nwho had been assistant costumer in the ladies' department of the\ntheatre for some time. It was of course, a great trial to the young\ncouple to have to part so soon, after one brief night of married life,\nbut the exigencies of the theatrical business are at times merciless.\nAs they had been engaged for some time, it was decided when Mr. Dunne\naccepted the Pioche engagement, that it would be best for them to get\nmarried before he went away lest absence and distance might cause one\nor both to change their minds. How wise a precaution this proved the\nsequel will show. This proved to be a memorable trip. Every member of\nthe party will remember that trip to their dying day except Blanche,\nand she was too young to remember anything about it. The schedule time\nfrom Salt Lake to Pioche was fifty-five hours. We were five days and\nnights, or one hundred and twenty-five hours making that journey. The\nUtah Southern was then running only as far as York, about seventy-five\nmiles south of Salt Lake. This left two hundred and seventy-five miles\nto be traveled by stage. Our stage was not a Concord, but a rather\ndilapidated specimen of the \"jerkie\" or \"mud wagon.\" It had seating\naccommodations for nine persons, and two could ride on the \"boot\" with\nthe driver. There were two male passengers in addition to our party of\nsix--six counting Baby Bates, who must be figured in as one, for\nalthough quite small, she was very much in evidence throughout that\njourney. One of the gentlemen rode most of the time on the \"boot\" and\noccasionally one or another of the men would take a spell on the\ndriver's seat so that we were never crowded uncomfortably; yet, oh,\nhow tired we did get and especially the ladies, before that ride was\nended. It was the 18th of January, the weather very pleasant but very\ncold nights, and our first night on the stage was decidedly\nuncomfortable. We reached the terminus of the railroad, York, about\nnoon, ate dinner in a shack of a restaurant and started on our stage\nride about two p. m. We were not long in discovering that there was\nsomething the matter with the horses. The driver, in answer to our\nqueries, informed us that they were all suffering from the epizootic;\nit was getting awful bad, he explained, \"don't believe we've got a\nhorse on the line that is free from it.\" We agreed with him that it\nwas awful bad. The poor beasts coughed and sneezed continuously,\nthrowing off effluvium, the odor of which was disagreeable in the\nextreme. On our second day out a regular January thaw set in and the\nsnow melted so rapidly that the roads got very bad; a number of times\nthe men had to get out and walk, and on several occasions the well\nnamed \"mud wagon\" got mired so deeply and the horses were so weak, we\nhad to get a fence pole from the neighboring fence and lift the wheels\nout of the holes, the horses being unable to budge the old coach. The\nfurther south we got the worse the roads got. We had to change the\nhorses about every twenty miles, but they were all alike, weak and\ndispirited, and the stench about the stables at the different stations\nwas nauseating. On the fifth day out we arrived at the last station.\nBetween it and the mining camp there was a hard mountain to climb and\nthe snow was falling thick and fast. It was then well on to sunset and\nto our keen disappointment the station man and driver decided it would\nbe folly to try to get over the \"divide\" in that storm, and that we\nwould have to remain at the station until morning. Here was an\nunlooked for and unpleasant predicament, but there was no help for it,\nand it was better than getting stuck on the \"divide\" in a heavy\nsnowstorm. The hostler was a good natured fellow and tried in his\nhomely way to reconcile us to our fate. \"I ain't got so very much grub\nhere and what there is ain't very dainty, I 'low, especially for the\nladies, but such as it is you're welcome to, and you can have a good\nfire, and if youse want to stretch yourselves out after supper, I can\nrake up quite a few blankets and laprobes, and ye can lie down when\nyouse tired of settin' 'round the fire.\" The odor of the stable from\nthe epizootic was almost sickening and the thoughts of eating there\nwas anything but cheering, but we were all hungry, almost famished,\nhaving had nothing since breakfast. So we made the best of it. The\nhostler hustled in great shape, the presence of the ladies and the\nbaby inspiring him to extra exertions in our behalf. He soon had a big\npot of coffee and a pan full of bacon cooking, and he had to make some\nbread too, in which Mrs. Bates and her sister lent him their\nassistance. The quickest thing he suggested was slapjacks, and we all\nagreed to the quickest thing, and so before long we were all partaking\nwith what relish we could of the hostler's coffee, slapjacks and\nbacon, and, notwithstanding the disagreeable odor of the stable, we\nall contrived to satisfy our hunger. After the hostler cook had\ncleaned away the few tin plates and cups, he proceeded to strew the\nend of the little \"hostler's room\" farthest from the stove with a\ndiversity of blankets and laprobes, all of which were permeated with\nthe odor of the stable, and suggested in his rough but kindly way\n\"that we had better stretch ourselves on the floor as it was a long\ntime till morning\" and he knew \"we must be pooty darn tired a ridin'\nso long in the coach.\" Mrs. Bates and her sister would have preferred\nsitting up if they only had comfortable chairs, but there was nothing\nbut a rough bench and a couple of rough stools in the place and the\nmajority of the men had been standing about or sitting on the floor\nall through the supper function and sleep gradually overpowered the\nparty, and one by one they \"knit up the raveled sleeve of care\" and\nwere glad to bunk down on the uninviting bed the kindly hostler had\nimprovised for the occasion. In less than an hour after our sumptuous\nrepast, the entire party were in the arms of Morpheus. The women and\nthe baby Blanche were in the most secluded corner, then Frank Bates,\nJohn Dunne and myself stretched out on the hospitable blankets. These\ntook all the space and the two strangers and the driver wrapped up in\ntheir overcoats and betook themselves to the portion of the floor\nunoccupied; this was close around the stove. The floor of that\nhostler's room was literally covered with the sleepy travelers. It was\na change of position and measurably restful, but our sleep was broken\nand anything but sweet, even though it was the \"innocent sleep.\" The\nconstant coughing of the poor, afflicted horses and the peculiar and\ndisagreeable odor of the epizootic, rendered sleep anything but\ndelightful, but \"necessity knows no law,\" and in spite of all the\ndisadvantages we managed to snatch some repose from the \"chief\nnourisher in life's feast.\" Unenviable as was our position in the\nhostler's room on this memorable night, it would have been much worse\nhad we undertaken to cross the mountain. Snow was falling thick and\nfast, and the wind blowing hard enough to be very disagreeable. After\nwe were all asleep, or apparently so, the hostler shoved a stick of\nwood in the stove which was getting cold, and then turned into the\nhayloft to get a little sleep himself, for he had to be astir before\ndaylight. Before daybreak the storm had spent itself and the sun rose\nbright and cheerful, mountain and vale deeply covered with snow. Our\nbreakfast, which the hostler prepared while the driver was feeding and\nwatering the horses, was exactly the same as we had for supper:\ncoffee, slapjacks and bacon, with the addition of some tea which one\nof our fellow passengers prepared for himself and the ladies. It was a\nsample package he had and cost him, he solemnly declared, $5.00 a\npound. This gave an extra flavor to it no doubt, at all events the\nladies declared it was fine and we did not doubt its being more to\ntheir taste than the coffee the good hostler provided. Breakfast over,\nwe once more clambered into the shaky old jerkie with the admonition\nfrom the driver that we men would have to walk when we came to the\nsteep places. We thanked the kindly hostler and invited him to come to\nthe show when we got to playing in Pioche. The snow was six or eight\ninches deep and even on the gradual ascent, as we started up the\ngrade, it was all the horses could do to pull us, and the snow soon\nbegan to melt and the road to get steeper. It was evident we men would\nhave to foot it, and most of the way to the top, and so we got out one\nor two at a time till we were all walking and occasionally we had to\ngive a shove on the coach to help the willing but weakly horses get to\nthe top. Once there we were all very glad to get in; we were not long\nin rattling along the down grade into Pioche, all very glad to get\nthere. Maguire, who had been impatiently expecting us for two days,\nwas overjoyed to see us, for he was full of expectations as to the\nbusiness we were going to do. He had secured us the best hotel\naccommodations the camp afforded, and they were duly appreciated after\nour recent experience at the station.\n\nAfter dinner we all took a walk with Maguire at his invitation, to see\nthe theatre where we were to play our six weeks engagement. The\nbuilding stood back from the principal street which was built right in\nthe ravine, the stage entrance facing the street, and the entrance for\nthe audience facing the street above. We had ventured various\nconjectures in reference to this theatre that the always over sanguine\nMaguire had secured a lease of. We had not expected very much and yet\nwe were disappointed. We all entered at the stage door which opened\ndirectly from a flight of steps onto the back of the stage, and as we\nbeheld the wonderful temple of Thespus, where we were to do honor to\nhis art, the exclamations that escaped us were not well calculated to\nenthuse John Maguire, but rather to make him feel a little shaky about\nthe venture he was making. Ye gods! What a transition from the Salt\nLake Theatre to this shack! The theatre was about 35x75 feet, the\nstage occupying twenty-five feet. The orchestra floor for reserved\nseats ran from the stage towards the front about 15 feet. The rest of\nthe space was fitted with rough board seats a la circus, the natural\ndeclivity of the ground giving the seats the necessary pitch for the\naudience to see the stage. The walls of the building were of rough\npine boards about ten feet in height and the entire auditorium was\nroofed in with ducking or light canvas. The stage part was roofed with\nshingles so as to preserve the scenery from the rain. Of scenery there\nwas a very limited supply and that not very artistic, being painted by\nan amateur. The stage projected beyond the curtain some six feet and\non each side of this apron or projecting stage was a private box,\nfinished off with cheap wall paper similar to the interior scenes on\nthe stage. These boxes were well patronized. Every night they were\nfilled with the fair, frail denizens of the camp at the rate of $10 a\nbox. The opening play had already been announced, but owing to the\nlateness of our arrival, was necessarily postponed for a few nights.\nMaguire had gotten together some people of more or less experience\n(mostly less) to fill up the minor parts in the cast. He also took a\nhand himself and rehearsals were started the same night we arrived.\n\nThe opening night came around and the Opera House (that's what John\ncalled it) was packed to suffocation. The boxes were filled to\noverflowing with the swellest looking women in the town. The play was\n\"Camille\" and Mrs. Bates had them all shedding tears. The girls in the\nboxes were deeply affected. Most of them were \"like Niobe, all tears,\"\nbut we received no intimation that this powerful sermon of Dumas was\ninstrumental in turning them from their life of shame.\n\nPioche was a camp of about eight thousand people and was \"booming.\" We\nplayed four weeks to good paying business. This fairly exhausted the\nBates repertoire, and business began to fall off appreciably. So a\nfarewell benefit was worked up for Mrs. Bates and she made her final\nappearance at Pioche in a blaze of glory, chiefly emanating from a\ndiamond ring with which she was presented on the memorable occasion as\na token of regard to a distinguished actress from a few of her Pioche\nadmirers. The Bateses were fortunate. They had been playing on a large\npercentage of the gross receipts and had cleared up quite a nice\nlittle stake in the four weeks they had played and they struck out at\nonce for San Francisco, and from there went to Australia where, in\n'78, Frank Bates died, after which Mrs. Bates and Blanche, now a girl\nof eight, returned to San Francisco in 1880. Maguire still kept myself\nand Dunne and the rest of the company, thinking that with some new and\nlighter plays we could still do a paying business. The results were\nnot very satisfactory. We played several weeks in a sort of spasmodic\nway, and then organized a little traveling company in which a clever\nyoung girl, Maggie Knight, whom Maguire had discovered, was a feature,\nand we played back to the C. P. R. R. On one of these occasions in\nPioche, a very ludicrous thing happened which should not go\nunrecorded. We were playing the burlesque of \"Pocahontas.\" Maguire was\nplaying Captain John Smith, the writer Powhatan, and Johnny Dunne, as\nwe were short of ladies, was playing Pocahontas. In the scene where\nSmith is brought in a prisoner and is about to be executed, a\ncatastrophe happened to John Maguire, so sudden and appalling, should\nhe live to be as old as Methusaleh, I doubt if he would ever forget\nit. Where Smith says, after viewing the stone on which he is to be\ndecapitated,\n\n    \"It's a hard pill, but a harder piller,\n    Life's a conundrum,\" and Powhatan replies:\n    \"Then lie down and give it up.\"\n\nJust at this point a sudden scream emanated from one of the boxes,\nwhich were well filled on this occasion with the demi monde, then\nseveral screams of laughter, then the whole audience began to roar\nwith laughter. I knew something had gone wrong for there was nothing\nin the text to extort such screams and peals of laughter. I glanced\nover the group on the stage, and to my amazement I saw Mac's trunks\nhad dropped down to his feet, and he, all unconscious of the fact, was\nstanding there in a pair of thin cotton tights. His knee pants or\ntrunks, were of very light material and the drawstring with which they\nwere fastened around his waist, had given way and they dropped to the\nfloor, and so excited was he in his character he did not notice it. I\nsaid to him in _sotto voce_, \"Your pants are down.\" Then he cast his\neyes down, and the look of abject despair that came over his face as\nhe said in a subdued tone, \"Oh, my God!\" and stopped and pulled the\ngauzy things up to their place and walked off the stage to readjust\nthem, we can never forget. The girls at this resumed their screams of\nlaughter and the audience roared until they were tired. When the noise\nsubsided, Maguire, with his costume adjusted, came back to finish the\nscene, but it was several minutes before we could proceed, so much did\nthe audience enjoy this simple accident. Maguire remained in Pioche\nsome time after I left there, and finally left the place worse off by\nfar than when he went there, and I did not see the genial John again\ntill I went to Portland in '78 to play in the New Market theatre of\nwhich he was the manager. Just before the departure of Mr. and Mrs.\nBates, John Dunne and myself for Pioche, the Cogswell-Carter company\narrived in Salt Lake, having traveled by stage and team from\nCalifornia, playing the towns en route.\n\nThis company consisted of J. W. Carter, Carrie Carter, W. J. Cogswell\n(Carrie's brother), Ed. Harden, Lincoln J. Carter (then a very small\nboy), and probably one or two others, minor people who did not come\ninto publicity here. On arriving here the party waited upon President\nBrigham Young to pay their respects, and to inform him that they had\nbeen commanded by the spirit world, with which they had been having\ncommunications (by the \"Planchette\" route), to go to Salt Lake and\njoin the Mormon church as that was the true church and the only one\nthat could save them. This told in all apparent sincerity, with the\nrequest to be baptized, was altogether a pleasing surprise to Brigham\nand his counsellors, and the Cogswell-Carter company were warmly\nwelcomed. They were baptized and confirmed into the church without\ndelay, and within a few days they were all engaged at the Salt Lake\nTheatre. Their coming was very timely for the theatre managers, for\nthey had lost several of their leading people. \"Jim\" Hardie had gone\nfor good, McKenzie, who had been playing steadily since the opening of\nthe theatre in '62 and was wearied with study, had been released and\nsent on a mission in the belief the change would benefit him; John\nLindsay was off on a \"fool's errand\" playing for John Maguire in\nPioche, and the Cogswell-Carter-Marden accession filled the gap very\nnicely, and the season progressed to its close without much friction.\n\nDuring the absence of Mr. Dunne and myself from Salt Lake the\nfollowing attractions appeared at the theatre. Jean Clara Walters, W.\nJ. Cogswell and the stock company from February 8th to March 10th, on\nwhich date a new play by Edward L. Sloan (then editor of the Salt Lake\nHerald) was produced. It was entitled \"Stage and Steam.\" It was\nintended to show the advance of civilization. It had a railroad scene\nand a stage coach in it and a sensational saw mill scene, where a man\nwas placed on the log carriage to be sliced into boards, but was\nrescued just in the nick of time. Jos. Arthur's saw mill scene in\n\"Blue Jeans\" is exactly the same thing, although it is scarcely\nprobable that Mr. Arthur ever saw Sloan's play. The play only had two\nperformances. March 10th to 15th, Frank Hussey and Blanche Clifton\nheld the boards in \"Hazard\" and some other plays. Marion Mordaunt was\nthe next stellar attraction and gave \"The Colleen Bawn\" and \"Hearts\nare Trumps\" the 17th to 10th. On the 24th a star of the first\nmagnitude appeared. It was Augusta Dargon. She opened in \"Camille\" and\nplayed also \"Deborah (Leah),\" \"Lady Macbeth,\" \"Meg Merrilles\" and\n\"Lucretia Borgia.\" Miss Dargon was one of the greatest actresses our\ncountry ever produced, but she was not financially successful. She is\nthe only American actress who has ever played Tennyson's \"Queen Mary.\"\nMrs. John Drew made a costly production of this play at the Arch\nStreet Theatre, Philadelphia, with Augusta Dargon as the star during\nthe Centennial. But it was not a financial success. The writer did not\nmeet Miss Dargon till 1878, when she came to the New Market theatre in\nPortland and played a two weeks' engagement under the management of\nour old friend John Maguire. Here I had the pleasure (and hard work)\nof playing the opposite roles to her in her extensive repertory,\nchanging the bill nearly every night during her engagement. Toward the\nclose of it she put up Tennyson's \"Queen Mary\" in which I had to play\nKing Phillip of Spain on two days' study, a very long, arduous part,\nthat put me on my mettle to master it; also studied and played\n\"Cardinal Wolsey\" for the first time during this engagement. Miss\nDargon, who was under the management of Henry Greenwald, after her\nPortland engagement, made a tour of the \"sound\" playing Tacoma,\nSeattle, Port Townsend and Victoria, supported by the New Market\nTheatre company, and returning, played a few more nights in Portland,\nthen took steamer for Australia. Under Mr. Greenwald's management she\nhad played successful engagements both in San Francisco and Portland,\nand when she opened in Melbourne she just captivated the city, playing\nextraordinary engagements both there and in Sidney. The press of\nAustralia printed volumes in her praise. She made a great triumph, and\nin the very flush of her victory, some wealthy Australian captured\nher. She got married and retired from the stage, and Greenwald was\nforced to return without her. She never came back to us. Her return\nengagement here was played before she went to Australia.\n\nMr. \"Bill\" Cogswell seemed to have dropped out of the company before\nMiss Dargon's engagement and consequently David McKenzie was her\nprincipal support. After the Dargon engagement, which closed March\n29th, Jean Clara Walters, Florence Kent and the stock company played\nthrough the April conference without a star attraction, and filled up\ntime to April 28th when for some reason the season closed but was\nreopened on May 3rd with the stock company who played up to the 6th.\nOn the 8th of May, Augusta Dargon began a return engagement which\nlasted till the 15th. She opened in the new play \"Unmasked,\" and\nrepeated \"Deborah,\" \"Camille,\" and \"Lady Macbeth,\" and closed in a new\npiece \"The Rising of the Moon.\" It speaks highly of Miss Dargon's\npopularity in Salt Lake that she should play a return engagement in\nfive weeks after her first one.\n\nBlind Tom, the musical prodigy, was the next attraction. He played but\none night, May 17th. On the 19th Annette Ince began a return\nengagement of six nights and a matinee and the record shows a change\nof play for each performance. She gave \"Elizabeth,\" \"Mary Stuart,\"\n\"Medea,\" \"The Hunchback,\" \"The Stranger,\" \"The Honeymoon,\" and the\n\"Lady of Lyons.\" This repertory in one week undoubtedly kept the\ncompany right busy. Miss Ince was a sterling actress, and always gave\nsatisfaction, but she did not possess the faculty of making your blood\nthrill in your veins and your hair rise occasionally that Miss Dargon\nhad. It is just a little singular how she came so close on Miss\nDargon's heels this time. It seems like poor management to play two\nlady stars, so nearly alike in repertoire, so close together, but\nthese accidents would happen once in a while. Frank Hussey and Blanche\nClifton came back for two nights, May 26th and 27th. Then the stock\nhad to take up the burden again and carry it from May 28th to June\n21st. By June 1st John Dunne and the writer had returned from the\nPioche trip and were back in their old positions in the company. Dunne\nhad a surprise party in store for him on his return. Instead of being\nreceived with open arms and loving embraces by his bride of a night,\nshe coldly repulsed him and refused ever to live with him, and she\nkept her word. This was owing to things she had heard about John and\nhis freedom with other females while he was at Pioche. This did not\ndiscourage Dunne, however, from trying again. He has had several wives\nsince, the best known being Patti Rosa, a talented actress whom he\nmanaged and married. Clara, on the other hand, was not inconsolable,\nand her enchantment with the stage and stage actors having been rather\nrudely dispelled, she sought \"surcease from sorrow\" in the affections\nof a well to do farmer, who has proven more constant, and with whom\nshe has raised a representative Mormon family.\n\nMadam Anna Bishop put in a week of high class concert from June the\n25th to 30th. On July 2nd John W. Dunne took a benefit, on which\noccasion we repeated one of our Pioche performances with an important\nchange of cast. \"Theresa, or the Cross of Gold\" and \"Pocahontas\" was\nthe bill. Dunne did not find the atmosphere of Salt Lake so congenial\nto him as it had been and did not remain for the next season. I next\nmet him in Cheyenne in '78. He was married and apparently contented,\nworking at his trade of printer.\n\nThe business, after Dunne's benefit, seems to have been spasmodic. The\nstock kept on playing, however, during the month of July. That it did\nbusiness at all was remarkable, but there being no \"resorts\" and the\ntheatre the coolest place in town, in some measure accounts for its\nkeeping open during the torrid heat of the summer.\n\nWeiniawska, the Polish violinist, gave a concert on the 12th. George\nWaldron and his wife drifted in and played a few nights up to the\n17th. Then W. O. Crosbie and his wife, Arrah Crosbie, and James A.\nVinson, drifted in from the northwest and were given a few nights.\n\"Jim\" Vinson was featured in the play of \"Quits\" and \"Billie\" Crosbie\nin some favorite farce, supported by Arrah and the stock company. Both\nVinson and Crosbie made a very favorable impression which resulted in\nthem being engaged by the management for the following season. It\nlooked as if all the other theatres in the West had closed and the\nactors had come trouping to Salt Lake to get summer engagements. Now\ncomes Carrie Cogswell-Carter and the available stock to the front.\nThey opened on the 26th and played till the 30th, and the season\nclosed.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nSEASON OF 73-74.\n\nThe season of 73 and '74 was somewhat later than usual in opening. The\nreasons were, Clawson and Caine had renewed their lease of the\ntheatre, and having done so well with it financially, they were not\ncontent to \"let well enough alone,\" but felt that they should make\ncertain imaginary improvements that different wise-acres had\nsuggested, and embellishments commensurate with the liberal patronage\nthey had received during their previous lease of the house.\nAccordingly some radical changes were made which cost a plenty of\nmoney and made the managers scratch their heads many a time before\nthey were all paid for. As an example of how much costly mischief one\ninterfering \"know-it-all\" can accomplish, the managers were persuaded\nby their prospective new stage manager, \"Jim\" Vinson, that the stage\nof the theatre did not have sufficient pitch or slope from back to\nfront. It had a slight pitch one-eighth of an inch to the foot, or\nabout eight inches in its entire depth, which was just perceptible,\nbut not sufficient to be particularly noticeable or to render it\nuncomfortable to walk on or to dance on. But the wisdom of the new\nstage manager was paramount, and that immense stage whose huge\nsupports were built into the solid stone walls, had to be cut loose\nfrom its bearings and the front of it lowered until it had\nthree-eighths of an inch fall to the foot, a slope that made it\nuncomfortable to walk on, indeed, entering in a hurry, one was quite\ninclined to slide on. It made it awkward too for stage settings. Every\npiece of scenery that was set up and down the stage or at any angle\nsave that paralleling the front curtain, was thrown out of the\nperpendicular that is so essential to make the scenery look well. At\nthe very time that this alleged improvement was being made, the\npitching or sloping stage (once thought to add perspective to the\nscenery) was obsolete and all the new theatres in the country were\nbeing built with level stages. It cost hundreds of dollars to make\nthis change and instead of being an improvement it was a positive\ndetriment, is still, and always will be. So much for the advice of a\nstage manager. The proscenium doors that had been used for coming in\nfront of the curtain, were done away with and the present boxes put in\ntheir stead, a very sensible and profitable improvement. Something\nlike $8,000 was expended in these and other improvements--a costly\nexperiment the sequel proved. The managers, Clawson and Caine, had in\ncontemplation a very profitable season and engaged an unusually large\nand expensive company. The old stock members had been now so many\nseasons constantly before the public that it was thought their drawing\npowers were waning, and it was considered necessary to get some new\nblood into the stock. Accordingly, while nearly all the old stock was\nretained, a number of new people were added to the company, vastly\nincreasing the salary list. First in prominence was Kate Denin (Mrs.\nJohn Wilson) who was featured as a stock star. Mr. W. J. Cogswell, who\nhad been playing leads during the latter part of the previous season,\nwas retained as leading man. \"Jim\" Vinson, who had put into Salt Lake\nbefore the close of the last season, was retained as stage manager and\nto play \"old men.\" \"Billie\" Crosbie was engaged for the principal\ncomedy roles, thus displacing the local favorites, Margetts, Graham,\nand Dunbar from the choice comedy parts. Arrah Crosbie, Billie's wife,\nhad to have a place and she made a good utility woman; or she could\nplay Irish characters. From the mere force of assimilation \"Billie\"\nwas a good Irish comedian. Mr. \"Al\" Thorne, who was added to the\ncompany in the previous November, was retained especially for the\n\"heavies.\" \"Buck\" Zabriske was engaged as prompter at a good fat\nsalary, because the prompter was a very essential feature in the\nmakeup of a stock company and generally earned his salary, for he\noften had a hard part to play behind the scenes on a first night. Then\nthere was dear old Frank Rea, with his face and head of antique\nbeauty; always full of Forrestonian reminiscences, and his wife of\nblessed memory, who had grown old in the service, along with her\nhusband. Then there was Carrie Cogswell-Carter, and Ed Marden was\nthere. J. W. Carter had parted company with theatrical business and\naccepted an engagement to preach the gospel for a while. He succeeded\nin making one convert that we know of whom he brought to Utah later\nand made Mrs. Carter No. 2. This was a bitter pill for Carrie Carter\nand she revenged herself in time by becoming the fourth wife of Bishop\nHerrick of Ogden. Apropos of this latter event, about a year later,\nDecember, 1875, Miss Carrie Cogswell was playing Julia in the\n\"Hunchback\" to the writer's \"Master Walter\" at Ogden. There was a\nGentile paper there at the time called the Ogden Freeman. It was\npublished by a man named Freeman, who came to Ogden with the advent of\nthe Union Pacific railroad. Freeman had published his paper at each\nsuccessive terminus of the road until it reached Ogden, and then he\nsettled down there and ran the \"Ogden Freeman\" as a rabid anti-Mormon\npaper. We had journeyed northward and were in the town of Franklin.\nPhil Margetts, \"Jimmy\" Thompson and myself were seated in the hotel\nparlor when Carrie came in with a paper in her hand, and in her\nlively, good-natured way, said \"Boys, I met Freeman of Ogden, in the\nCo-op. store just now, and he gave me a copy of his paper. He says it\nhas a long notice of the 'Hunchback' in it. Let us see what he says.\"\nWith that she threw herself into a chair, turned over the paper and\nfound the notice. It was generally favorable but criticised her Julia\nrather adversely, at which she said rather petulantly, \"Well, I know\nI'm not an Adelaide Neilson, but I guess it was good enough for\nOgden.\" On further examination of the paper she came across a\n\"personal\" which read as follows: \"We understand that Miss Carrie\nCogswell, now playing here with the Salt Lake company, is the fourth\npolygamous wife of Bishop Herrick, having herself had three husbands:\nfirst, Thomas A. Lyne, the tragedian; second, J. A. Carter, and third,\nBishop Herrick.\" She read this notice to us and as she did so she grew\nvery angry. She strode out of the hotel like an enraged tigress. We\nall wondered what she was going to do, but in about five minutes she\nstrode back in again with a handful of poor Freeman's whiskers in her\nclenched fist and her parasol broken to smithereens over the\noffender's face and head. In explanation she said, \"I don't care how\nmuch he criticises my acting but he mustn't meddle in my family\naffairs.\" Freeman took revenge for this upon the writer several years\nlater in Montana, by giving him a red hot roast while playing in a\nneighboring town. He evidently thought that I had prompted her to the\ncastigation act, which was not true, and totally unnecessary.\n\nThe season was ushered in very auspiciously with the \"School for\nScandal,\" with Miss Denin as Lady Teazle and Mr. J. H. Vinson as Sir\nPeter; Mr. Cogswell playing Charles Surface and Mr. Crosbie, Benjamin\nBackbite, and the full force of the stock company in the cast.\n\nStock played through conference dates as usual and up to the 11th when\nLaura Alberta and George W. Harrison hoisted the stellar flag, which\nthey floated for two weeks, opening in \"Uncle Tom's Cabin,\" which ran\nfor three nights, and then gave place to other pieces in Laura's\nrepertory. Then followed Fanny Cathcart and George Darrell for a week,\npresenting \"Man and Wife,\" \"Woman in Red,\" \"Masks and Faces,\" \"Black\nEyed Susan,\" \"Stranger,\" \"Happy Pair,\" \"Mysteries of Stage,\" and\n\"Mexican Tigress.\" Eight different plays in one week must have kept\nthe stock company out of mischief, one would naturally think. The\nreverse proved true, however, in this case, for the leading man,\n\"Bill\" Cogswell, from over-study (we had no understudies in those\ndays), was driven to drink; Bill got on a jamboree and didn't care\nwhether school kept or not, and the managers were in a dilemma. Their\nnext star was May Howard, who opened on November 3rd for a three weeks\nengagement of legitimate. It was essential to have a good, reliable\nleading man to help May through such a long engagement. Both McKenzie\nand Lindsay were away and a new leading man was considered an all\nimportant factor in this emergency. So a Chicago dramatic agent,\nArthur Cambridge, was wired to and he sent out the \"brilliant young\nAmerican actor, J. Al. Sawtelle.\" Sawtelle opened on Miss Howard's\nsecond night, playing \"Armand Duval\" in \"Camille.\" It was a part well\nsuited to him and he made a satisfactory impression. Miss Howard\nplayed \"The New Magdalen\" (opening night), \"Guy Mannering,\" \"Romeo and\nJuliet,\" and \"East Lynne.\" Harry Eytinge rendered support in most of\nher plays--he being the lady's husband this was a very fitting and\ngraceful thing to do. After three weeks of Howard and Eytinge, Fanny\nCathcart and George Darrell came back as \"Man and Wife,\" doing \"Dark\nDeeds\" and filling in four nights with a \"Woman in Red,\" and doing\nfunny things in \"Masks and Faces.\"\n\nOn November 28th and 29th, an original historical play by Edward W.\nTullidge, entitled \"Oliver Cromwell,\" had its initial performance.\nSawtelle was cast for the title role. \"Jim\" Vinson, the venerable\nstage manager, was greatly impressed with the merits of Cromwell and\ncast and staged it to the best of his ability, with the resources\navailable, but it was far from being an ideal cast. Sawtelle, tall and\nslender, looked as little like Cromwell as he did Napoleon, and he was\nas far from the character in temperament as he was in stature. The\nplay with so many historical characters, Cromwell, Charles I., Ireton,\nMilton, Vane, Bradshaw, Harrison, et al., was very exacting in its\nmental requirements, and was easily greater than the company, yet\nnotwithstanding this drawback and the fact that nothing was done for\nthe play in the way of special scenery or costuming, it met with very\nfair success. A strong local interest was exhibited and the house was\nwell filled to witness the first performance of a great play by a\nlocal author. Mr. Vinson said it was the greatest play that had been\nwritten since Bulwer's \"Richelieu\" and told John McCullough on his\nnext visit, that if he would take Tullidge's \"Oliver Cromwell\" and\nplay it there was a fortune in it for him. McCullough would have made\nan ideal Cromwell, and Vinson recognized the fact that he was the man\nto make a success of it, but McCullough, like Davenport, who read the\nplay and made a contract with Tullidge to produce it, had already\npassed the meridian of his fame and had not ambition sufficient left\nto engage in a new and venturesome undertaking; so Cromwell dropped\nback into oblivion. It was revived a dozen years later with the writer\nin the title role. The play this time was costumed correctly and the\ncast, although still weak in places, was somewhat better than the\noriginal. It was played again in the Salt Lake theatre, at Ogden,\nLogan and Provo, and met with a hearty endorsement by the press of\nthose towns, but it needed more money to tide it to a financial\nsuccess than the promoters had to invest, and so Oliver Cromwell has\nrested in honorable repose, waiting for some enterprising manager to\nunveil him on the stage as Lord Roseberry unveiled his statue facing\nWestminster hall only a short time ago; a late but fitting tribute to\nthe genius of the uncrowned king.\n\nFollowing Oliver Cromwell, Shiel Barry, a clever actor of Irish\ncharacter, filled the week, December 1st to 6th. On the 8th and 9th\nOliver Cromwell was repeated, this making four performances in all,\nwhich spoke well for the popularity of Tullidge's play. On December\n16th, Kate Denin took a farewell benefit and made her last appearance\nfor this season. Mrs. Frank Rea took a benefit on the 19th and on the\n22nd Jean Clara Walters reappeared after an absence of about three\nmonths in the \"French Spy.\" Miss Walters had not appeared this season\nuntil now, on Kate Denin's retirement. They were both stock stars and\ntwo lady stock stars keep not their course in the same orbit. Denin\nhad been shining refulgently since the opening of the season, and\nWalters, although in the city, had not appeared, but now she burst\nagain into public view resplendent in green tights and spangles. On\nthe 25th Eliza Newton, as the bright particular star, appeared in the\n\"Nymph of the Luleyburg,\" a beautiful spectacular piece well suited\nfor the holidays. Close following the holiday production with its\nnymphs and fairies our old friend \"Jim\" Herne opened a three weeks'\nengagement on January 5th, 1874, in the now familiar Rip Van Winkle,\nfollowing it up with a variegated repertoire, including \"Bombey and\nSon,\" \"Rosina Meadows,\" \"Wept of the Wishton Wish,\" \"People's Lawyer\"\nor \"Solon Shingle,\" etc. Herne, during his previous engagement,\nestablished himself as a great favorite with Salt Lake audiences, and\nnow he added new laurels to his wealth of fame. Herne was a great\nactor. He excelled in eccentric comedy all the actors I have known. On\nJanuary 26th, John McCullough began a three weeks' engagement in \"Jack\nCade.\" Annie Graham, herself an attractive legitimate star, was\nespecially engaged to play the opposite roles to McCullough. This made\na remarkably strong company and Mr. John McCullough had every reason\nto be satisfied with his support and proud of the engagement he\nplayed. In addition to \"Jack Cade,\" a long list of legitimate plays\nwere presented, including \"The Gladiator,\" \"Damon and Pythias,\"\n\"Virginius,\" \"Hamlet,\" \"Macbeth,\" \"Romeo and Juliet,\" \"Merchant of\nVenice,\" and \"Othello.\" He exhausted his legitimate repertoire and\ndrew on his comedy resources, playing \"Dr. Savage\" in \"Playing with\nFire\" and \"A party by the name of Johnson\" in \"The Lancastershire\nLass.\" This was a notable engagement and was followed by another great\ncelebrity, Dion Boucicault, the author of so many successful plays.\nBoucicault appeared as \"Miles Na Copaleen\" in his own popular play,\n\"The Colleen Bawn;\" also as \"Shaun the Post\" in \"Arrah Na Pogue,\" and\non his third and last night in \"Kerry.\" His dates were February 16th,\n117th and 18th. On the 19th Maggie Moore and Johnny Williamson of\nCalifornia theatre fame, opened a nine nights' engagement. We have no\nrecord of what pieces they played except one. They had a new play to\nexploit. They had feared to make the venture with it at the California\ntheatre in San Francisco where they had been favorites, so they\nbrought it to Salt Lake to \"try it on the dog.\" This is a phrase\nthoroughly understood among theatrical people although it may savor of\nambiguity to the uninitiated. It means simply that when a manager is\nat all dubious about the merits of a new production, he sends it into\nsome comparatively obscure town to try its qualifications for pleasing\nin the metropolis. The origin of the phrase is obscure, but probably\nsprang from the similarity of trying a collar on a dog. Inferentially\nthe play is a collar and the obscure town the dog. In this particular\ncase \"Struck Oil\" was the collar and Salt Lake the dog. The collar\nhappened to fit; the play was a howling success (no suggestion of dog\nintended here) and it ran three consecutive nights in the Salt Lake\nTheatre, and then with the Salt Lake stamp of approval on it the\nWilliamsons, Johnny and Maggie, took it out into the theatrical world\nand made a fortune with it. Joe Murphy had the collar on us before\nwith his \"Help\" and was successful, and that encouraged the\nWilliamsons and others that have since come, until Salt Lake has won a\nreputation among dramatic people for being an easy and gentle canine\non which to try the collar.\n\nNow comes the prince of comedians, John T. Raymond, back again and\nstays a short week, during which he sprung on the actors and the\nconfiding and admiring community the following plays: \"Our American\nCousin,\" \"Everybody's Friend,\" \"Toodles,\" \"Serious Family,\" and \"Only\na Jew.\" In \"Our American Cousin,\" Raymond starred as Asa Trenchard,\nthe \"American Cousin,\" and not in Lord Dundreary, the part Sothern won\nboth fame and fortune in. In this instance my old schoolmate and\npresent colleague, John C. Graham, was intrusted with the character of\n\"Dundreary\" and did himself and the company credit by his humorous and\nartistic rendering of it. Raymond was so thoroughly American (a Yankee\nin fact) that Dundreary was not in his way, while Asa Trenchard fitted\nlike \"ze paper on ze vall.\" Raymond as Major Wellington De Boots was\nimmense, but it scarcely gave him the scope he was looking for so he\nwas playing a half dozen different plays, none of which were making\nhim any great fame or money. When \"The Gilded Age\" was ushered in by\nMark Twain, people who knew John T. Raymond, on reading Col. Seller's\npeculiarities, were quick to recognize in Raymond the living\ncounterpart of Mark Twain's imaginary hero. It was not long before\nRaymond was the only authorized stage edition of Col. Sellers and his\npopularity increased rapidly until it seemed \"there was a million in\nit\" for the genial comedian, but before he had time to amass a million\nor two \"Atropos came with her shears and clipped his thread.\" \"Alas,\npoor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most\nexcellent fancy.\" Miss M. E. Gordon followed, playing from the 9th to\nthe 14th, opening in \"Divorce.\" Miss Gordon was closely allied to\nRaymond. Whether they divided evenly the profits of the two\nengagements we cannot tell, but we know that in many other places they\nplayed in conjunction.\n\nKatherine Rogers opened a two weeks' engagement on March 16th, playing\n\"Galatea,\" \"Leah,\" \"Hunchback,\" \"Unequal Match,\" \"Lady of Lyons,\" \"As\nYou Like It,\" \"Masks and Faces,\" and \"Love's Sacrifice.\"\n\nA series of \"benefits\" followed this engagement, beginning with W. H.\nCrosbie, April 3rd. On the 6th, Belle Douglass reappeared in the stock\nafter a long absence. On the 7th Carrie Cogswell had a \"benefit,\" and\nJ. H. Vinson on the 10th. On the 13th Mr. and Mrs. Rea \"benefited\"\nwith the play of \"Rob Roy,\" and gave out satin programs as souvenirs\nof the occasion. On the 14th Miss Annie Graham commenced an engagement\nof eight nights in the \"Lady of Lyons,\" and played legitimate\nrepertory. On the 24th Asenith Adams (now Mrs. Kiskadden) had a\nbenefit and played \"Elzina.\" This was some seventeen months after\nMaude was born, A. J. Sawtelle had a benefit on April 27th. On the\n29th H. F. and Amy Stone opened a two weeks' engagement in \"Under Two\nFlags,\" producing besides \"Elfie,\" \"Pearl of Savoy,\" \"Fanchon,\"\n\"French Spy.\" On May 11th T. A. Lyne had a benefit, giving scenes from\n\"Hamlet\" and \"Macbeth.\" On the 12th Victoria Woodhull lectured. On the\n13th William Hoskins and Fannie Colville opened four nights'\nengagement in \"The Heir at Law,\" \"A Bird in the Hand,\" and \"The\nCritic.\" On the 18th inst, there was a revival of Edward Tullidge's\nhistorical play, \"Eleanor De Vere,\" with Jean Clara Walters in the\ntitle role, the character originally played by Julia Deane Hayne, and\non the 22nd another play from the pen of Mr. Tullidge had its first\nproduction. The play was entitled \"David Ben Israel.\" As the title\nindicates, the play is Jewish and commemorates the return of the Jews\nto England in the reign of Charles II. after a banishment of four\ncenturies. John S. Lindsay played the title role, and Miss Walters,\nRachel the Jewess. The play made a very pronounced hit and placed\nanother plume in Mr. Tullidge's cap as a dramatic author.\n\nOn the 25th, W. A. Mestayer opened a week's engagement in \"On the\nSlope,\" and with \"The Octoroon\" and \"An Odd Trick\" gave much\nsatisfaction. \"Bill\" Mestayer for years was the heavy man at the old\nCalifornia theatre in its palmy days. As Jacob McClosky in the\n\"Octoroon\" he was simply great. On his last night he appeared as Don\nCaesar for the benefit of the Ladies' Library Association. On June\n1st, George Chaplin made his regular summer appearance in the comedy\nof \"School,\" from which he graduated in one night and appeared on the\nfollowing evening as Count Monte Cristo. He played Monte again on the\n4th. On the 5th George took a layoff as the Lingards, Horace and\nDickie, got in on that date with \"The Spitsefields Weaver,\" and gave\none performance. Chaplin resumed with the stock company on the\nfollowing night, June 6th, and played the week out, giving his\nservices on the last night for the benefit of the Theatre corporation.\nThe following week the stock company gave a liberal proportion of\ntheir salaries to the series of performances for the benefit of the\ncorporation. Seven performances were given for this benefit. James A.\nHerne appeared in four of them, Chaplin in one, the company in all\nseven. Although Clawson and Caine were the nominal lessees and\nmanagers, they had associated with them before opening this season,\nseveral partners in the venture and the concern was known as the Salt\nLake Theatre Corporation. Mr. Thomas Williams was the treasurer and\npresided over the box office during this regime, and with such\npeerless _bonhomie_ as made \"Tom\" (everybody called him \"Tom\") the\nacknowledged prince of ticket sellers. It was evident from this\nbenefit business that the corporation had not had the profitable\nseason's business they had expected when they opened with such flying\ncolors in the previous October. The truth was the corporation was very\nmuch in the hole, and this series of benefit performances were\ndesigned to lighten their financial burdens and did to some extent,\nyet the close of the season found them heavily in debt, and there were\nserious results threatening, but the leniency of the creditors averted\ndisaster. The summer was now on but the stars kept on coming. Salt\nLake was a regular resort for them. When they could do no business\nelsewhere, owing to heat, they made for the Salt Lake Theatre. It was\nthe coolest place in the city in those days and before we had any\nsummer resorts the people would go and see these midsummer night\nperformances. Our old Hibernian friend, Joe Murphy, was the next in\nline, opening on the 15th inst. with more \"Help,\" which he worked for\nall it was worth three nights and filled out the remainder of the week\nwith a new Irish drama, \"Maum Cree.\" This was Joe's debut in Irish\ncharacter work and he had come to Salt Lake City again to \"try it on\nthe dog.\" He had good support and \"Maum Cree\" received a favorable\nverdict from the Salt Lake theatre goers and Joe Murphy was\nsuccessfully launched onto the dramatic sea as an Irish comedian.\nFollowing Mr. Murphy came the Coleman Sisters for a week. They opened\non the 22nd of June in Charles XII and played besides this piece, \"Day\nafter the Fair,\" \"The Deal Boatman,\" and \"Pouter's Wedding.\" In common\nwith many others the Colemans flitted across our dramatic horizon and\nnever returned. On the 30th inst. John S. Lindsay had a benefit on\nwhich occasion he appeared in the character of Rolla in the play of\n\"Pizarro.\" The farce of the \"Lottery Ticket\" was played after\n\"Pizarro\" to make up a good full evening's entertainment. \"Billie\"\nCrosbie was the star comedian in \"The Lottery Ticket.\" The stock\nplayed only a few nights after this, closing the season on the 4th of\nJuly.\n\nOn July 18th, Victoria Woodhull drew a large audience to hear her\nlecture on \"The Beecher Scandal.\" The Beecher trial at that time was\nthe sensation of the day. The lecture drew a crowded house and\nVictoria took occasion to fire red hot shot at Beecher and the clergy\nin general, getting in some hard blows on the perfidy of the men in\ngeneral and the advantage they took of poor, confiding women.\n\nIt seemed impossible to keep the theatre closed for more than a few\nweeks even in the hottest portion of the summer, owing more to the\nanxiety of the \"strolling players\" to put in a portion of their summer\nin Salt Lake than any feverish desire on the part of the theatre\npatrons to see them. Companies going to and from San Francisco were\nalways glad to get in a few nights at the Salt Lake Theatre as it\nbroke the long jump between the coast and Denver and was pretty sure\nto be profitable. Accordingly the theatre was reopened on August 3rd\nwith the Vokes family for one week. The Vokeses were great favorites\nhere and did a very fair business despite the hot weather prevailing.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nSEASON OF '74-'75.\n\n\nTo open this season the stock company were brought into requisition\nagain and played up to the 5th of September. On the 7th and 8th\nHowarth's Hibernica, a panoramic show with specialties filled in the\ntime. The Vokeses returned on the 9th and filled out the remainder of\nthe week, making ten nights and two matinees they got in during the\nheated term which was sufficient proof of their popularity. Close on\ntheir heels came the Hoskins-Darrell combination, consisting of\nWilliam Hoskins, his wife, Fannie Colville, George Darrell and his\nwife. They were supported by the stock company and played from the\n14th to the 23rd inclusive. Hoskins was an English actor of great and\nvaried experience, and in high comedy roles was greatly admired. He\nwas a man of sixty years of age and had been in Australia for a good\nmany years. His wife, Fannie Colville, was very much his junior, in\nfact, it was a May and December alliance and apparently bore the usual\nkind of fruit. Fanny was not a great actress but was very pretty and\nattractive, in fact, too much so to prove comfortable to her much\nsenior lord and master. The Darrells were clever and talented. The\ncombination proved fairly successful. They toured about the country\nfor a year or so and then returned to Australia with more experience\nthan money, wiser if not richer. They wooed content in their former\nhome.\n\nThe October conference approaching, the stock company were put in\nrehearsal for some suitable plays and the \"Royal Marrionettes\" were\nput in as an additional attraction for the conference season and\ncontinued for nine nights from October 5th to the 13th inclusive. The\nMarrionettes proved to be highly amusing and interesting entertainment\nand combined with the efforts of the stock company in drama gave the\nconference visitors the worth of their money and replenished the\ntreasury to a considerable extent.\n\nThe next attraction also worked in conjunction with the stock company.\nThis was Laura Honey Stevenson (now Mrs. Church), a lady of some\ncelebrity as a reader. She was assisted in her entertainments by a\nbrilliant young baritone singer, Mr. John McKenzie, whose singing\nproved to be quite taking and this conjunction lasted for eight\nnights.\n\nIt was during this last engagement that there occurred quite an exodus\nfrom the Salt Lake Stock company to John Piper's theatre at Virginia\nCity, Nevada. Mr. J. A. Sawtelle and wife and daughter, a girl of\ntwelve or fourteen years, Miss Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden), her daughter\nMaude, now two years old, accompanied by Mr. Kiskadden, Miss Carrie\nCogswell-Carter with her son Lincoln J., then about ten years of age,\nand the writer went to Virginia City, all with the exception of Mr.\nKiskadden and the children being under engagement to play with Piper\nfor the ensuing season. There is much of interest connected with this\nexodus from Salt Lake. It materially weakened the stock forces, taking\naway the leading man, Mr. Sawtelle, the leading heavy (the writer),\nand leading juvenile lady, Miss Adams, and Miss Cogswell, the\nprincipal heavy woman; but their places were filled in a little while\nand the stock pushed along in the same old way.\n\nThe combination system, however, was now gaining ground and the stock\ncompanies throughout the country began to suffer correspondingly,\ntheir engagements becoming more and more intermittent as the traveling\ncombination became more numerous.\n\nAt the opening of the season of '74 and '75 there were so many\ncombinations booked that the managers of the Salt Lake Theatre could\nnot offer the stock company a season's engagement, but only brief\nperiodical engagements between the dates of the various combinations.\nIt was in consequence of this that the above mentioned members of the\ncompany took a season's engagement with Mr. Piper of Virginia City.\nThe Comstock was booming in those days and the theatre ran every\nnight, Sundays included. At the close of the Piper season, Miss Adams\nwent to San Francisco taking Maudie with her. There they made their\nhome; Mr. Kiskadden having preceded them there and obtained a good\nsituation as a bookkeeper with the firm of Park & Lacy. Mrs. Kiskadden\nplayed occasional engagements at the San Francisco theatres and there\nin due time little Maude made her first voluntary appearance on the\nstage, her first appearance which occurred at the Salt Lake Theatre\nwhen she was yet in long clothes, having been an involuntary one in\nwhich her feelings or inclinations were not consulted.\n\nThe writer's stay in Virginia City was brief. Receiving an offer from\nJames A. Herne, who was managing stage at the Bush Street, San\nFrancisco for Tom Maguire, and being anxious to visit the Golden Gate\ncity, I got Mr. Piper to honorably release me by showing him how he\ncould get along without me and save my salary. So, after playing a\nweek at Sacramento during the State fair, I left the Piper company and\nwent to San Francisco by steamboat which was running opposition to the\nrailroad, giving very low rates--only fifty cents from Sacramento to\nSan Francisco. Mr. Kiskadden, who had been with his wife and baby\nMaude since leaving Salt Lake, decided to take advantage of this low\nexcursion rate on the steamer and go to San Francisco also in the\nsearch of a situation. \"Jim,\" as he was familiarly called, was always\nready for a little sport in the way of a game of cards or billiards,\nso as soon as the boat got under way, he got into a game of cards with\nsome kindred spirits and although a crack player and usually a winner,\non this occasion he lost every cent he had moreover he likewise lost\nhis hat, a nice new summer one he had recently purchased. The wind was\nblowing strong upstream and a sudden puff took his hat into the river,\nleaving \"Jim\" bareheaded and dead broke; not a very desirable plight\nto be in going a stranger into a strange city. Moreover, to add to his\ndiscomfort, he was wearing a summer suit and as we approached San\nFrancisco the weather was cold and foggy, and \"Jim's\" clothes were\ndecidedly unseasonable when we reached our destination. Fortunately he\nhad his trunk along and as soon as he got located he effected a change\nof costume, but he was in a dilemma for money to live on till he could\nfind a job and he appealed to me to lend him a certain sum, which I\nwas unable to do, having barely enough to see me through till I would\nhave a week's salary due, but I let him have enough for immediate\nnecessities, and he was not long in finding friends and a good\nsituation.\n\nMy engagement at the Bush Street did not last very long. The house was\ndoing a struggling business when I went there. Emerson's minstrels\njust across the street were doing a phenomenal business, turning\npeople away every night, while \"Jim\" Herne at the head of a good\ncompany, was playing to very meager houses. \"Zoe the Cuban Sylph\" was\nthe reigning star when I opened there and my opening part was an\nIndian--Conanchet, chief of the Naragansetts, in the \"Wept of the\nWishton Wish.\"\n\nThe Bush Street theatre season ended rather ingloriously soon after\nthe New Year holiday. I had on the very morning preceding our closing\nnight, received a telegram from Mr. Piper of Virginia City, offering\nme the leading business for the remainder of the season, but declined\nit, believing the Bush would struggle along. That night we had a new\npiece on, \"The Circus Queen,\" and it proved such a failure that Tom\nMaguire decided to close, which he did without any previous notice, so\nthe entire company were out of a job. Next morning I lost no time\nwiring to Piper to know if the engagement was still open to me and in\na few hours I had received the agreeable answer \"yes\" and took the\ntrain the same day for Virginia City. I had been there about three\nweeks when I met T. B. H. Stenhouse, who was there writing up the\nComstock mines for the New York Herald. He said to me, \"They need you\nin Salt Lake badly; why don't you wire them? Katherine Rogers opens\nthere Monday night for a two weeks' engagement and they have no\ncompetent leading man to support her.\" \"Well,\" I said, \"they know\nwhere I am. If they want me why don't they wire me?\" \"Will you go,\"\nsaid he, \"if I wire for you and get you the engagement?\" \"Yes,\" I\nreplied, \"I shall be glad to go, for I am tired of this.\" So he went\nright off and wired, and the next day I left for home, but did not\narrive in time to open with Miss Rogers in the opening bill, but got\nin on the second night and played throughout the rest of the\nengagement.\n\nI had been absent from October 14th, 1874, to January 26th, 1875, a\nlittle over three months, during which time the following attractions\nappeared at the Salt Lake Theatre: The Wheeler Comedy troupe, October\n29th to 31st. On November 2nd, Risley's Panorama \"Mirror of England\"\nopened for a week. On the 13th and 14th the Infantry combination. On\nthe 16th Frank Mayo and Rosa Rand opened a week's engagement\npresenting \"Davy Crockett\" and \"Streets of New York.\" On the 25th\nAgnes Booth and Joseph Wheelock opened in \"Much Ado About Nothing,\"\nand filled out a week with \"King John\" and the comedy \"Engaged.\" On\nDecember 2nd R. H. Cox, familiarly known as \"Daddy Cox,\" among\nprofessionals on the coast, opened a four nights' engagement with \"The\nDetective,\" which went for two nights. The other two nights he gave\n\"The Bells That Rang Nellie a Bride.\" Daddy Cox had recently left\nPiper's theatre in Virginia City, where he had been stage manager for\na time.\n\nOn the 9th, Harry Rickards, an English comic singer of great spread\nand self importance, opened for a week's engagement in conjunction\nwith the stock company. Rickards was recently from Australia and put\nin a week at the Bush Street during the writer's engagement there. His\nsinging and style did not catch on with the San Franciscans. He was\ntoo \"awfully English, yer know.\" He did not prove any great attraction\nin Salt Lake. On the 21st a grand concert was given for the benefit of\nthe Catholic church. On the 22nd, W. J. Florence opened for a week,\nsupported by the stock company. His opening play was \"Dombey and Son.\"\nHe gave besides \"No Thoroughfare\" and the \"Colleen Bawn.\" Each piece\nran two nights, carrying the season through the Christmas holidays and\nthe house closed with his last performance on the 26th until New\nYear's day. January 1st, 1875, the theatre reopened with the stock\ncompany, who, without the assistance of any stellar attraction, played\ntwo weeks when the house closed again until the 25th inst.\n\nOf the people who had comprised the stock company the previous season,\nthe following members had drifted away: J. Al. Sawtelle, leading man;\nMrs. Sawtelle, general utility; John S. Lindsay, leading heavy;\nAsenith Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden), leading juveniles; W. S. Crosbie,\ncomedian; Arrah Crosbie, characters; J. H. Vinson, first old man and\nstage manager; Buck Zabriske, prompter. The uncertain and spasmodic\nnature of the engagements this season, which had caused this strong\ncontingent of the company to seek other engagements, also prevented\nthe accession of new people to the ranks of the stock company, so that\nit was in a rather dilapidated and weakened condition, especially for\nthe support of legitimate repertoire, such as Katherine Rogers\npresented for the patrons of the drama.\n\nOn January 25th she opened in \"Romeo and Juliet.\" Mr. \"Mike\" Foster\nwas the Romeo for the occasion. The \"leading men\" were all out of the\nway and this was sudden promotion for Foster one of those\nopportunities that come but rarely to the ambitious young actor, and\nnearly always bring new honors and distinction. \"Mike\" struggled\nmanfully with his task, but he did not make an ideal Romeo. On the\nfollowing evening the writer made his reappearance with the company,\nafter an absence of three months. He played Master Walter in the\n\"Hunchback\" on the occasion and was warmly welcomed by the audience.\nMiss Rogers played in addition to \"Romeo and Juliet\" and the\n\"Hunchback,\" \"As You Like It,\" \"Love's Sacrifice,\" \"Pygmalion and\nGalatea,\" \"Lady of Lyons,\" \"Leah,\" in which the writer played the\nfollowing characters respectively: Jacques, Matthew Elmore, Pygmalion,\nClaude Melnotte, Lorenz. Such a repertory, where each play ran for but\ntwo performances, put the company on high tension. Those who had new\nparts, and particularly if they had never played in the pieces, found\nit very exacting work. Fortunately for the writer, he had played most\nof the parts before, yet it was a busy time for him during that\nengagement.\n\nFollowing closely on Miss Rogers with her legitimate plays, came the\nEnglish comedian known professionally as Willie Gill and his wife,\nRose Bain. These co-stars had recently been associated with the writer\nat Piper's theatre at Virginia City, where they played for a month or\nso in stock and it was a little of a surprise to me to find they had\nsuddenly materialized into stars and were billed for a week at the\nSalt Lake Theatre. With sublime assurance, especially for a play\nwriter, which Willie even then professed to be (as well as a\ncomedian), he put up Mark Twain's \"A Gilded Age.\" The piece had been\nbut recently dramatized and had made a marked success with John T.\nRaymond as Col. Sellers. Raymond had played several engagements with\nus at the Salt Lake Theatre and was a great favorite, and was looking\nforward to another visit in the near future with his greatest success,\nCol. Sellers. Some one apprised him by telegram that Gill was billed\nto play the piece here and he promptly wired a well known law firm to\nenjoin Gill from playing it. The managers, Clawson and Caine, were\nalso warned not to play it, so an emergency bill was prepared in the\nevent that they should be stopped. The law firm had taken the\nnecessary proceedings and just before \"ringing up\" time, as no change\nof performance had been announced, they appeared on the scene with the\nnecessary officer and papers and the performance of \"A Gilded Age\" was\nformally and effectually enjoined. \"All That Glitters Is Not Gold\" was\nsubstituted. This was a lesson to the English comedian late from\nAustralia which he possibly never forgot, especially as a few years\nlater he retired from the stage and settled down in New York as a\nprofessional writer for the stage. He was a clever adapter and\ndramatizer, as his version of \"A Gilded Age\" bore witness, and he no\ndoubt found plenty of materials to use in his craft, whose authors\nwere not so well known as Mark Twain nor so particular in regard to\ntheir copyrights. Willie learned the truth of the axiom that \"All that\nglitters is not gold,\" even _\"A Gilded Age\"_ on that memorable night,\nfor it materially injured the business during the remainder of his\nengagement.\n\n\"Built on Sand\" was the next evening's offering and it was probably\ntoo suggestive of Willie's hopes in respect to \"A Gilded Age\" to be a\ngood drawing card, so it only went the one night. The company had\ntheir work cut out here also; the next play was a new one with them;\nhe called it Madge of Elvanlee; it was a dramatization of Charles\nGibbons \"For the King,\" a very powerful story of the Restoration\nperiod, and gave Rose Bain, his wife, the chance of her life to make a\nhit as a leading actress; but she failed to score any marked success,\ngiving only a passable rendition of the character. Fortunately again\nfor this individual, he had during his absence played in this play at\nthe Bush Street Theatre. Jim Herne used it as the vehicle for the\ndebut of a talented San Francisco' lady, who created a little ripple\nof excitement by her advent on the stage. I afterwards played the\nleading character in it at Virginia in conjunction with Miss Bain and\nMr. Gill, so that it was comparatively easy for me in regard to study.\nThis play was forced two nights, meantime the company had another new\nplay sprung on them for Friday night. Miss Rose Bain was evidently\nbent on being the bright particular star of this engagement. Willie\nhad failed in his Col. Sellers scheme, and Rose saw her opportunity\nand pushed it to the utmost. \"The Sphinx,\" a mythological play, taxing\nthe powers of no less an actress than Annette Ince (one of the\ngreatest of her time) was the next offering to the public, and an\nexacting task for the company. Here again I was lucky, as I had only\nabout six weeks before played a week in the piece with Miss Ince at\nthe Bush Street theatre, and although I had now a different part, I\nwas sufficiently familiar with the play to make my task easy, as\ncompared with the rest of the company.\n\n\"The Sphinx\" did not prove popular, owing largely to Miss Bain's\ninadequacy. So \"Madge of Elvanlee\" was restored for Saturday night,\nand so ended a very unprofitable week, both for \"stars\" and\nmanagement. Willie Gill afterwards acquired fame as the writer of\nseveral successful comedy sketches. Rose Bain we have never heard of\nsince. From the 13th to the 22nd of February, the theatre was dark,\nwhich gave the overworked stock company a rest they no doubt enjoyed,\nbut cut off their salaries, which they did not relish.\n\nOn the 22nd, Washington's Birthday, the theatre was used as a ball\nroom--the Firemen gave a \"Grand Ball\" and for the occasion the theatre\nwas transformed, as it had been a number of times before, to\naccommodate an enormous crowd of dancers. The entire parquet was\ncovered with floor made in sections, making the stage and the\nauditorium into one vast dancing hall. Hundreds who did not\nparticipate in the dance paid admission fees to sit in the circles and\nwatch the dancers go through the bewitching and bewildering figures to\nthe strains of a fine orchestra secured for the occasion. By the\nfollowing evening, the floor was removed, the chairs back in place,\nand the theatre had resumed its normal appearance. On this date, the\n23rd, The Alleghanians, a company of Swiss Bell Ringers and Vocalists,\nopened and played throughout the remainder of the week, five nights\nand a matinee. The company had now had a three weeks' rest and were\nanxious to be doing something again, so a series of \"benefits\" were\nput on. Commencing on March 6th, Clara Jean Walters took a benefit,\nplaying Edward Tullidge's \"Ben Israel,\" a very powerful play\ncommemorative of the return of the Jews to England. On the 8th Mr.\nLindsay \"benefited,\" played \"Jack Cade,\" and on the 10th E. B. Mar\nden, who had been in the stock for several years, took a benefit,\nplaying Featherly in \"Everybody's Friend.\" The theatre was again\nclosed until the 22nd inst., when The Lingards came in and, supported\nby the stock, stiffened up business to some extent; continued until\nthe 31 st. The April Conference being close at hand, it was decided to\nplay the stock through the Conference in some of the old favorites,\nand they continued right along after the Lingards left. That is the\nmarvelous part of it that they could do _any_ business after dropping\nout a strong stellar attraction, but on they played through the\nConference and on up to the 1st of May, when the _season_ closed and\nwith the season the management under the \"Salt Lake Theatre\nCorporation\" closed.\n\nTheir second season had not proved sufficiently profitable, although\nthey had severely curtailed expenses by cutting down the company, to\nclear them of indebtedness, and the corporation quit badly in the\nhole.\n\nThe close of the Clawson and Caine management and the end of the Salt\nLake Theatre Corporation was virtually the retirement of the stock\ncompany, which had been playing from the opening of the theatre in '62\nup to the present date, May 1st, 1875, a period of 13 years. Of course\na great many changes had taken place during those years in the\npersonnel of the company, but a few of the original members remained,\nand the organization or _ensemble_ of the company had been kept\nintact. Now, however, the gradually encroaching combination system\nmade it impracticable for the managers to offer a season's engagement\nto those who were willing and anxious to engage. The necessity for a\nstock company became rapidly less from this time on, until in the year\n1878 it had become defunct altogether.\n\nTwo entertainments were given after the closing of the stock company,\nbefore the corporation relinquished the house--on May 4th, Petroleum\nV. Nasby lectured, and on the 8th Mr. Mark Wilton rented the theatre\nand put up \"The Ticket of Leave Man\" for a benefit. To show the status\nof the company at this particular time, the program for the benefit\nperformance is here appended:\n\n    SALT LAKE THEATRE.\n\n    Salt Lake Theatre Corporation ............... Proprietors\n    Clawson and Caine .............................. Managers\n\n    SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 8TH, 1875.\n\n    Mr. Mark Wilton has engaged the Theatre for this night and will\n    produce the great drama of\n\n    \"THE TICKET OF LEAVE MAN.\"\n\n    Supported by the following\n\n    CAST OF CHARACTERS:\n\n    Bob Briefly, a Lancashire lad ....... Mr. John S. Lindsay\n    James Dalton (the Tiger) ................ Mr. M. Forester\n    Hawkshaw (a detective) .................. Mr. Mark Wilton\n    Melter Moss (a crook) .................. Mr. J. C. Graham\n    Mr. Gibson (a bill broker) ............. Mr. Harry Taylor\n    Sam Willoughby ...................... Miss Dellie Clawson\n    Maltby ................................... Mr. Logan Paul\n    Burton ................................... Mr. H. Horsley\n    May Edwards ..................... Mrs. Clara Jean Walters\n    Mrs. Willoughby ...................... Miss Belle Douglas\n\nThis was the last performance given under the corporation managers and\nfor some time the theatre remained without a manager; if any one\nwanted it, they had to rent it from President Brigham Young through\none of his clerks. My record shows that the writer, on July 24th\nfollowing, rented the house at the modest sum of one hundred dollars\nfor the bare house. We gave Bulwer's five-act comedy of \"Money\"\nbesides the farce \"A Fish Out of Water\" and a musical interlude, by\nLaura Honey Stevenson and John W. McKenzie, a popular young baritone\nfrom San Francisco. The total expense of this performance was $357.00,\nso it was a risk for an individual to take, but we pulled through\nclear and had a little left for our trouble.\n\nAbout this time Mr. W. T. Harris or \"Jimmy\" Harris, as he was\nfamiliarly called, was installed as \"business manager\" of the theatre;\nhe had succeeded in winning one of Brigham Young's daughters, Miss\nLouise Young, affectionately called by her friends \"Punk.\" The Annie\nWard episode was forgotten or condoned, and Jimmy had ingratiated\nhimself so strongly in the President's good graces as to receive the\nhand of his favorite daughter, and in order that he might provide\nliberally for her, he was given the business management of the\ntheatre. He assumed no financial responsibilities in accepting the\nposition, but simply acted as the agent for Brigham Young, to whom he\nsubmitted matters of importance. He held down his job for two years or\nmore, until some time after the death of Brigham Young, when the Salt\nLake Theatre, which had been appropriated by the late President,\n(although built with Church means) in the settlement of Brigham's\nestate reverted to the Church. This brought a change of management and\nMr. Harris was superseded by H. B. Clawson, one of the former\nmanagers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nSEASON OF '75-'76.\n\n\nIn the following chapter, no attempt will be made to give a\nconsecutive and complete list of the attractions which appeared during\nthe season, but a running notice will be made of the most important\nengagements, and especially of the new stars that appeared.\n\nThe combination system was gradually forcing the stock company from\nthe theatre. Engagements with the stock people were now intermittent\nand uncertain, and for that reason the company kept dwindling until\neventually it became a thing of the past. During this season, however,\nthey were called in to support a good many stars. It took several\nseasons for the combination system to completely supersede the stock\nsystem.\n\nOn August 12th, Jennie Lee, who had been a favorite soubrette in the\nCalifornia theatre, San Francisco, and her husband, J. T. Burnett,\nopened a week's engagement in the play of May Blossom, supported by\nthe stock. Immediately following, opening on the 20th of August, came\nAugustin Daly's company on their way to San Francisco. They played\nthree nights, presenting \"Saratoga,\" \"The Big Diamond\" and \"Divorce.\"\n\nFanny Davenport was the \"leading lady\" of this company. It was the\nfirst dramatic company to cross the continent direct from New York to\nSan Francisco. The fame of Daly's company had preceded it, and as a\nresult they played to big businesses both here and in San Francisco.\n\nOn the 27th and 28th, the English Opera Company played to good houses.\n\nOn September 25th, the stock company reopened the theatre which had\nbeen dark for several weeks. Charley Vivian, who afterwards organized\nthe order of Elks, opened in conjunction with the company, giving his\nclever entertainment, and this combination pulled through the October\nConference, when there was another intermission. In December, the\nstock company made another spurt, headed by Clara Jean Walters.\n\nThey reopened with \"Cherry and Fair Star,\" a spectacular play which\nhad an unusual run; with this and other pieces they managed to keep\ngoing until January 20th, 1876; from this date to April 1st, there\nwere occasional attractions but none of great importance.\n\nOn March 1st, John S. Lindsay, who had been playing leads in the\nstock, was tendered a complimentary \"benefit,\" on which occasion he\nappeared in the character of \"Jack Cade.\" To show the personnel of the\ncompany at this particular period of its history, the following\nprogram of the performance is subjoined:\n\n    SALT LAKE THEATRE.\n\n    W. T. Harris ........................... Business Manager\n\n    _GRAND COMPLIMENTARY FAREWELL BENEFIT_\n\n    Tendered by the Members of the Dramatic Profession, and Prominent\n    Citizens of Salt Lake City to the popular actor\n\n    JOHN S. LINDSAY.\n\n    On which occasion Mr. Lindsay will essay the great character of\n    Jack Cade.\n\n    WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 1, 1876,\n\n    Will be presented Judge Conrad's celebrated tragedy in four acts,\n    entitled\n\n    \"JACK CADE, THE CAPTAIN OF THE COMMONS.\"\n\n    The entire Corps Dramatique have generously volunteered.\n\n    CAST OF CHARACTERS:\n\n    _Nobles_.\n\n    Lord Say ................................ Mr. Mark Wilton\n    Lord Clifford ........................ Mr. Emmett Mousley\n    Duke of Buckingham ..................... Mr. Gus M. Clark\n    Duke of Suffolk ........................ Mr. B. W. Wright\n    Courtnay ............................... Mr. J. C. Graham\n\n    _Commons_.\n\n    Jack Cade }\n    Aylmere } ........................... Mr. John S. Lindsay\n    Friar Lacy ........................... Mr. John T. Hardie\n    Wat Worthy ............................ Mr. Phil Margetts\n    Will Mowbray ............................ Mr. J. E. Evans\n    Jack Straw ............................... Mr. E. Mousley\n\n    Bondmen to Lord Say--\n\n    Dick Pembroke ............................ Mr. H. Bowring\n    Roger Sutton ............................. Mr. Wm. Wright\n    Cade's Son (5 years old) .............. Miss Edie Lindsay\n    Marinanne (Cade's wife) ............... Miss Lina Mousley\n    Widow Cade (Cade's mother) ............ Miss Sarah Napper\n    Kate Worthy, betrothed to Mowbray ..... Miss Lizzie Davis\n\n    Lords, Officers, Peasants, Bondsmen, Etc.\n\n    To be followed by a musical interlude.\n\n    Song--\"Give a Poor Fellow a Lift\"  Mr. Phil Margetts, Jr.\n\n    For the last time, the great Specialty of the Mulligan\n    Guards ................ By W. T. Harris and H. E. Bowring\n\n    The performance will conclude with the side-splitting farce,\n\n    \"A BASHFUL BACHELOR.\"\n\n    Hector Timid ........................... Mr. J. C. Graham\n    Captain Cannon .......................... Mr. Mark Wilton\n    Dr. Wiseman ........................... Mr. H. E. Bowring\n    Thornton ................................ Mr. J. E. Evans\n    Louisa ................................ Miss Lina Mousley\n    Chatter ............................... Miss Sarah Napper\n\nIt would be unreasonable to expect an audience to sit through such a\nlengthy performance nowadays, but such was the dramatic pabulum with\nwhich we had to entice them into the theatre \"_in that elder day_.\"\n\nThe \"cast\" in the above program shows that the stock company had\nbecome decidedly weak, a number of amateurs were worked in, and the\nthree comedians, Margetts, Bowring and Graham, are playing parts\naltogether out of their line. The lady assigned the \"leading lady's\"\npart (Miss Mousley) was a clever amateur and this was about her first\nappearance at this theatre. The \"leading ladies\" \"seem to have been\nall in retirement.\" Mr. Wilton, \"a serio-comic,\" playing the \"leading\nheavy,\" Lord Say, and Mr. Graham playing\" the \"second heavy,\"\nCourtney, shows there was a great sparsity of \"heavy men,\" and\nMargetts and Bowring both playing serious \"character parts,\" plainly\nindicates the low ebb the company had reached. It was now a difficult,\nnay an impossible, task to adequately \"cast\" one of the great\nclassical plays.\n\nSuch was the status of the stock company at this period, its\nefficiency having been gradually weakened by the steadily increasing\ninnovation of the combination or traveling companies.\n\nMany of the most popular stars had not up to this time surrounded\nthemselves with their own supporting companies, but continued to flit\nto and fro across the dramatic firmament, pausing to shed their luster\nfor a new nights wherever they could find a cluster of nebula (stock\ncompany) to shine among.\n\nOn April 1st a bright and attractive star appeared in the person of\nMr. Edwin Adams. Mr. Adams made a splendid impression on his first\nvisit to Salt Lake and a full house was on hand to greet him. The\ntrain on which Mr. Adams arrived was several hours late and the\naudience was kept waiting more than an hour after the specified time\nof commencing. It was nearly ten o'clock when the curtain rang up on\n\"The Marble Heart,\" but the audience exercised great patience, and\nwhen at length Mr. Adams appeared as Phidias from between the curtains\nthat concealed the statues, exclaiming \"The man whose genius formed\nthem,\" he received such a warm and generous welcome as must have\nbanished any doubts or misgivings he may have had as to how Salt Lake\nwould receive him. As he had not rehearsed with the company, some\napprehensions were felt as to how the play would go; but, after it was\nover, Mr. Adams warmly complimented everybody--especially the stage\nmanager--and declared it went just as well as if he had been here to\nrehearse it with us. This was a notable engagement, Mr. Adams playing\nten nights in all, his engagement running through the April\nConference. In addition to \"The Marble Heart,\" he played \"Hamlet,\"\n\"Richelieu,\" \"Rover\" (in \"Wild Oats\"), \"Narcisse\" and \"Enoch Arden.\"\n\nEdwin Adams was destined to a career as brief as it was brilliant.\nAfter leaving us he went to San Francisco and played a successful\nengagement, then went to Australia. When he returned from Australia to\nSan Francisco he was a dying man. A benefit was given him there, and\nhe was wheeled onto the stage in an invalid's chair to acknowledge his\ngratitude to the San Franciscans for their kindness to him. This was\nthe last seen of poor Edwin Adams by the public. Only a few days later\nand that dramatic genius that was shedding luster on the American\nstage was extinct. He had contracted quick consumption in the\nantipodes, and by the time he got back to San Francisco his friends\nrealized he had not long to live and did what they could to show their\nlove for him and ease his passing to the great beyond.\n\nThe next important engagement was that of John T. Raymond, who\nappeared on August 5th in \"A Gilded Age,\" the play in which Willie\nGill was enjoined more than a year before. As Colonel Sellers, Raymond\nwas simply inimitable; Mark Twain might have had him in his eye when\nhe created the character. It ran three performances, and if there were\nnot \"millions in it,\" it was at least a profitable engagement both for\nMr. Raymond and the manager. Notwithstanding it was the hottest part\nof the summer, Raymond filled out a week with Major de Boots in the\n\"Widow Hunt,\" and Caleb Plummer in \"Cricket on the Hearth.\" Raymond's\nengagement virtually closed the season of '75 and '76, and there was\nnothing of importance until the commencing of the next season.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nSEASON OF '76-'77.\n\nWith the approach of the October Conference, which is always a harvest\nfor the theatre, Mr. Harris got together as strong a company as\npossible and revived some of the old favorite plays, opening the\nseason of '76 and '77 a night or two before and continuing through the\nConference dates to satisfactory business. There was no \"star\" to\nshare with, and the theatre reaped a handsome profit.\n\nThe next engagement of importance was that of Mr. George Rignold, an\nEnglish actor, who was starring in \"Henry V.\" Rignold had come from\nEngland and under the management of Jarrett and Palmer, \"Henry V.\" was\ngiven a fine production in their New York theatre. For some reason or\nother, after a short but successful run of the play, a disagreement\narose between those popular managers and Mr. Rignold. They decided to\nsupersede Mr. Rignold with Lawrence Barrett. They notified him\naccordingly and at the expiration of the time for which he had been\nengaged Mr. Barrett stepped into Rignold's place and the run of the\nplay was extended for several weeks. It was the intention to take the\nplay to San Francisco after the run in New York. This change of stars\nthrew Rignold out of the San Francisco engagement, much to his chagrin\nand disappointment. Not to be out-generaled the English actor quietly\nhastened to San Francisco. The California Theatre having been secured\nfor the Jarret and Palmer company, with as much dispatch and secrecy\nas possible Rignold got a company together. Soon as it was known that\nRignold was in San Francisco and was preparing to give the play of\n\"Henry V\" at the Grand Opera House, the news was duly wired to Jarrett\nand Palmer; not only were they surprised, but greatly chagrined, on\nlearning that the English actor had gotten the start of them and was\nin a fair way to eclipse their Western engagement. Mr. Barrett and the\nmanagers, after a rather excited consultation, decided to close the\nrun of \"Henry V\" with the end of the current week, and have everything\nin readiness to leave New York for San Francisco on the following\nSunday. The manager of the California was telegraphed to announce the\nplay for the following Thursday night. This gave scarcely a week for\nadvertising, and it seemed incredible that the company could reach San\nFrancisco by the time, but Jarrett and Palmer had at great expense\nmade arrangements with the railroad company for a special train, that\nwas to rush them through from New York to San Francisco in four days.\nBarring accidents, they would arrive in San Francisco on Thursday\nmorning, in time to get their scenery in place and play that night.\n\nIt was taking desperate chances, but it was at the same time a great\nadvertising scheme, for never before had such a flying trip been made\nacross the continent, and every paper in the country had an account of\nit. \"From Ocean to Ocean eighty-three hours.\" Rignold had arranged to\nopen the following Monday, but learning to his amazement of the great\ncoup that Jarrett and Palmer were performing to get in ahead of him,\nhe got a move on too and decided to keep the lead, and open up at\nleast one night ahead of them, which was as soon as he could possibly\nget ready. The fast train was the sensation of the hour, everybody was\ntalking of it and awaiting its arrival with keen expectancy. This\nnational advertisement gave the Jarrett and Palmer company a great\nadvantage over Rignold; besides, they had much the better production,\nand the best company, as Rignold had to gather what support he could\nand very hurriedly in San Francisco. This was very sharp managerial\npractice; what especial reason Lawrence Barrett and the Jarrett and\nPalmer management had for this extraordinary coup to down the English\nactor we never learned. The rivalry of the two Henrys served to throw\ntheatrical circles in the Golden Gate City into a feverish excitement,\nand the result was that both houses did a good business, as every\ntheatre-goer felt in duty bound to see both actors, and then compare\ntheir respective merits. Until Rignold played \"Henry V\" in New York no\nAmerican actor had ever attempted the character; Barrett who had in\nconjunction with John McCullough managed the California theatre during\nthe first three years of its career, saw an opportunity to do some\nbusiness there and win some fresh laurels in a new part. This in a\nmeasure explains the _haste_ with which the thing was done. The rival\nHenrys, however, did not succeed in giving the play a permanent\nabiding place in popular favor. We think no other American actor has\never had the temerity to try it, until the bold and undaunted Richard\nMansfield gave a superb production of it a quarter of a century\nlater--1902.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: The above account of the \"Henry V\" excursion is written\nentirely from the writer's recollection of the affair, having no\navailable data. It may contain some slight inaccuracies, but the main\nfacts were about as here related.]\n\nAfter the Rignold date here, when \"The Lady of Lyons,\" \"Black-Eyed\nSusan,\" and \"Henry V\" were given with such support as was available,\nthe stock played fitfully, interrupted by occasional novelties, such\nas panoramas and concert companies, minstrels and the like, along the\nholiday season and into the spring. On February 3rd, John S. Lindsay\nwas the recipient of another \"benefit,\" on which occasion he exhibited\nhis strong predilection for Shakespearian roles by appearing as\nHamlet, a character in which he had already won some local\ndistinction. As on a previous benefit occasion, there were several\nfirst appearances, and the cast as a whole was not very satisfactory,\nbut our friends were inclined to overlook many shortcomings on those\nbenefit occasions. As if \"Hamlet\" was not enough for a benefit\nperformance, we had to tack on the farce of \"The Trials of Tompkins,\"\nin which Mr. Graham was wont to shine.\n\nOn the 23rd and 24th of February, Mr. E. A. Sothern, the world\nrenowned Dundreary, filled his first engagement at the Salt Lake\nTheatre. He exacted a certainty of one thousand dollars in gold coin\nfor the two nights. Mr. Harris very naturally had some hesitancy about\nclosing an engagement with him on such exorbitant terms, so he made a\ncanvass of his patrons, and after a careful consideration, \"closed the\ndeal\" with Mr. Sothern. The prices were advanced from the usual scale\nof twenty-five cents to one dollar, to fifty cents to two-fifty. The\nhouse was well filled on both nights and the management, not having a\nvery expensive company or any production to pay for out of its share,\ncame out all right. There was much dissatisfaction, however, that such\nexorbitant prices should be charged for what at best was but an\nordinary \"show,\" especially the last night when David Garrick was\npresented, and by ten o'clock the play was over, and the general\nexpression of the patrons of the theatre was \"Sold!\" Indeed so\noutspoken was the dissatisfaction with David Garrick, and so severe\nwere the strictures of the press the following morning, that Mr.\nSothern could not have gotten fifty cents a ticket for a third\nperformance. As a natural consequence, it was a long time before he\ncame to Salt Lake again.\n\nOn March 10th, Miss Annie Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden) who had recently\nreturned on a visit to Salt Lake after an absence of three years in\nSan Francisco, assisted by the stock company, gave a production of\n\"The Two Orphans,\" Miss Adams appearing as Louise and Miss Colebrook\nas Henriette, the writer in the character of Pierre. This was the\nfirst presentation of this play at this theatre and it proved a great\ndrawing card.\n\nThe next star attraction was one of more than ordinary interest. The\nanniversary of Shakespeare's birth (and death) on April 23rd, Adelaide\nNeilson, the world acknowledged Juliet, was announced to appear in\nthat character. Miss Neilson was well-known to our theatregoers by\nreputation as the greatest Juliet of the age, and the demand for seats\nwas extraordinary. The prices were advanced, but not to exorbitant\nfigures, the prices ranging from 25c to $1.50. Every seat in the house\nwas filled, and numbers were glad to stand on both evenings rather\nthan miss seeing the beautiful and popular actress. There was no\ndissatisfaction with this engagement; everybody was pleased and\ndelighted, and Adelaide Neilson's praises were on everybody's lips.\nShe could have remained a week and played to full houses, but\nengagements ahead precluded a longer stay; she only gave two\nperformances, \"As You Like It\" being the second bill. There was only\none opinion as to her Juliet, that it was the perfect embodiment of\nthe character, her rich beauty of face and form, her exquisite grace,\nher melodious voice, and the marvelous power of expression in her soft\ntender eyes, equipped her completely for the part. As Rosalind she was\nequally as charming if not as brilliant as in Juliet. The playing of\nRomeo to her Juliet, the writer cherishes as one of the pleasantest\nmemories of his long professional career. A year later the beautiful\nNeilson was dead. Alas! for the mutability of all that is mundane:\n\n    \"She should have died hereafter;\n    There would have been a time for such a word.\n    Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,\n    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day\n    To the last syllable of recorded time.\n    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools\n    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!\n    Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,\n    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage\n    And then is heard no more.\n    It is a tale told by an idiot;\n    Full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.\"\n\n                                  --_Macbeth_.\n\n    \"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,\n      And all that beauty, all that wealth ere gave\n    Await alike the inevitable hour;\n      The paths of glory lead but to the grave.\"\n\n                             --_Gray's Elegy_.\n\nThe next stellar attraction was Ben de Bar. Ben was the manager of one\nof the St. Louis theatres when the writer was a boy, and my first\nintroduction to the stage was at De Bar's theatre. A young fellow who\nwas our neighbor in St. Louis induced me to go with him and go on as a\nsuper. The play was \"Sixtus V., Pope of Rome.\" Mr. and Mrs. Farren\nwere the stars. I made my first acquaintance with the stage in that\nplay, as one of the mob, little dreaming that I would one day be cast\nto play Sixtus V., which I was some years afterwards in the Salt Lake\nTheatre.\n\nBen De Bar was a popular comedian as well as manager at the time of\nwhich I am telling, but for some half dozen years now he has been\nstarring in the character of Sir John Falstaff. He was very stout, and\nwell suited to the character and confined himself to it exclusively,\nvarying the monotony, however, by playing both the plays in which Sir\nJohn is so prominent, \"Henry IV\" and \"The Merry Wives of Windsor.\"\n\nBen had been to San Francisco and had just played an engagement there,\nbefore coming to Salt Lake. He opened here on May 17th in \"The Merry\nWives.\" He complained of not feeling well and it was quite perceptible\nthat something was the matter; he was uncertain and forgetful. On the\nsecond night in \"Henry IV,\" his lapses of memory were still more\nperceptible. In short, it was palpable to all the company, if not the\naudience, that Mr. De Bar was suffering from some derangement of\nmemory to such an extent as to in places mar the scenes, and very much\nembarrass those who had dialogue with him. The writer was playing\nHotspur on the occasion, and had but little to do with the boastful\nSir John, but noticing his lapses of memory in several places and his\nconsequent and apparent distress, kindly inquired as to his trouble,\nwhen he feelingly told me he had suffered in San Francisco the same\nway, and he felt no confidence in himself whatever. He said his memory\nwas deserting him and he feared his professional career was at an end.\nAfter the play was over he called me into his dressing room, and said:\n\"Mr. Lindsay, I have made my last appearance on the stage. I am done,\nsir. I feel that I have subjected the entire company tonight to a\ngreat deal of embarrassment, and my lapses of memory must have been\nquite apparent to the audience. No, sir, I can no longer rely on my\nmemory, and I shall never attempt to play again. I feel my career is\nended.\" His words were pathetic, and as it proved, _prophetic_; he\nnever did appear on the stage again. In less than a year dear old Ben\nde Bar died of softening of the brain. Ben de Bar was about sixty\nyears of age when he died. \"What old acquaintance! Could not all this\nflesh keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! I could have better\nspared a better man.\" Prince Hal in \"Henry IV,\" Part First.\n\nSalt Lake seemed to be an attractive summer resort for a certain class\nof attractions, and quite a number found their way here during the\nvery hottest of the weather. On July 24th Robert Heller, a very clever\nmagician and an excellent pianist, assisted by Miss Helen (his\nsister), entertained the patrons of the theatre for a week with his\nvery clever tricks and fine piano playing. His second sight business,\nin which he was ably assisted by Miss Helen, was wonderfully clever,\nand mystified the beholders very much indeed. He was the first to\nintroduct a second-sight business here, and was as much of a wonder as\nAnna Eva Fay has since been.\n\nOn August 6th, Rose Eytinge, then in the zenith of her fame, opened a\nthree nights' engagement in the play of \"Rose Michel\" and followed it\nwith \"Miss Multon\" and \"Macbeth.\" The writer had some hard work during\nthis brief engagement, the two first plays being entirely new to him,\nin both of which he had very long and arduous parts, and on the third\nnight he had to do Macbeth. Rose Eytinge at this time was one of the\nbest actresses and most beautiful women we had on the stage. Good\ngracious! that is twenty-eight years ago, and she is still acting! but\nshe has to play the old woman now. When I played with her two years\nlater in Portland, Oregon, she was married to an English actor named\nCyril Searle, who insisted on playing Macbeth, but made me study\nAntony in \"Antony and Cleopatra\" on very short notice as the San\nFrancisco papers had criticised his Antony so severely he declared he\nwould never play it again.\n\nOn August 14th, the Richings-Bernard Opera Company played one night.\nPlayed again on the 16th. On the following night, the 15th, Tony\nPastor with a fine vaudeville company, gave a great show the first\ncompany of that kind to cross the continent and play in the Salt Lake\nTheatre. He had a packed house, for his show was a great novelty.\n\nIt was a little surprising that with the love of the drama so\nuniversal in Utah so few contributions to dramatic literature were\noffered by local authors for representation on the stage. Those\nthought worthy of presentation by the managers we have already\nrecorded. Mr. E. L. Sloan's \"Osceola\" (an Indian play), in which Julia\nDean and George Waldron played the leading characters, and his \"Stage\nand Steam,\" a later production, contrasting the old stage coach with\nthe locomotive methods and results. By far the most important local\ncontributions to the stage were the plays of Edward W. Tullidge:\n\"Eleanor de Vere,\" played by Julia Dean and stock company, \"Ben\nIsrael\" and \"Oliver Cromwell,\" played by the local company. Now comes\nJohn S. Lindsay with \"Under One Flag,\" a drama of the Civil War. This\nplay was presented for the first time on September 13th and made so\nfavorable an impression as to hold the boards for three nights. It was\nrepeated on October 5th, during the conference season, and has been\nplayed by the author and his company in nearly all the towns and\ncities of the Northwest. These performances of \"Under One Flag\"\nvirtually closed the season of '76 and '77, which had run\nintermittently all through the summer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nSEASON OF '77-'78.\n\nOn October 5th, the fall Conference was provided for. The house opened\nfor the season of '77 and '78 on this date with a reproduction of\n\"Under One Flag.\" The stock played through the Conference date,\nreviving some of the old favorite plays, and continued playing until\nNovember 12th. On November 14th The Kellogg-Cary Concert Company\nopened a three nights' engagement and sang to big houses. Miss Louise\nKellogg was one of the greatest singers of her day, and Miss Cary was\nequally popular, their concerts being very well patronized and highly\nappreciated by the music lovers of Salt Lake.\n\nOn November 23rd, Mrs. D. P. Bowers and Mr. \"Jim\" McCollom (who was\nMrs. Bowers' second husband) opened a week's engagement in\nGiogametti's play of \"Elizabeth,\" which was played for three nights,\nand the week was filled out with \"Lady Audley's Secret,\" \"Married\nLife\" and \"Camille.\"\n\nMrs. Bowers was beyond question one of the greatest actresses our\ncountry had ever produced. She was the first American actress to play\nthe character of Elizabeth. After Ristori, the great Italian actress,\nhad played this great character in a few of the principal cities of\nour country only, Mrs. Bowers took it up and starred the country with\nit, making a great success.\n\nMr. James McCollom was a very efficient support to her in the\ncharacters of Essex in \"Elizabeth,\" Armand in \"Camille\" and Robert\nAudley in \"Lady Audley's Secret.\" Mrs. Bowers achieved her celebrity\nas Mrs. Bowers and never changed her name to McCollom on the stage.\nMrs. Bowers was supported by the stock company in this engagement.\n\nOn December 8th, J. K. Emmett opened a three nights' engagement in\n\"Fritz,\" supported by the stock. On December 20-21-22, The Lilliputian\nOpera Company. Christmas Day the stock resumed operations and played\nthrough the holidays and up to the 13th of the month; they were\ntemporarily retired again to make room for Ilma de Murska and her\nconcert company, who gave scenes from \"II Trovatore,\" \"Martha,\"\n\"Crispina,\" and other operas, remaining three nights, 15th to 17th,\ninclusive. De Murski was not only a great singer but a great actress\nas well, and her singing and acting were received with unusual\nenthusiasm.\n\nJanuary 18th and 19th, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Frayne were the attraction\nin the play of \"Si Slocum.\" Frayne \"was the fellow who won renown\" by\nshooting an apple from his wife's head (a la William Tell), only\nFrayne split the apple with a rifle bullet instead of an arrow. After\nperforming this and other dexterous feats with rifle and revolver many\nhundreds of times without accident, he did it once too often; he\nfinally missed his aim and shot his wife dead. How confiding women\nare! Poor Mrs. Frayne! Thank heaven that did not happen _here_!\nWhether Frank ever found another woman so confident of his skill as to\nhold that apple on her head, we know not and hope not. He had a bull\ndog that played a star part in the show; he may have trained the dog\nto hold the apple after his wife's awful fate. Sad to relate, the\nstock company supported Mr. and Mrs. Frayne and the bull-dog.\n\nOn the 22nd and 23rd, Mile. Rentz's female minstrels gave Salt Lake\nanother exhibition of musical extravaganza, the chief attraction being\nthe free and lavish display of beautiful female shapes. A whole\nphalanx of voluptuous, rotund forms encased in a dazzling and\nbewildering variety of colors--moving in splendid harmony--keeping\ntime, time, time, in a sort of runic rhyme. Why no wonder the\nbaldheads crowded into the front rows and outrivaled all other\nspectators in applauding the bold and beautiful Amazons.\n\nOn February 22nd the community having recovered somewhat from the\nexcitement of Amazonian marches, Rentz minstrel choruses, and the\nbewildering effect of so much female beauty, the present writer having\naccepted an offer to go to Denver to play a star engagement at the\nDenver theatre, summoned sufficient courage to take a \"farewell\nbenefit.\" The plays given on this occasion were \"Evadne\" and the farce\nof \"Nan, the Good-for-Nothing.\" Soon after the \"benefit\" the writer\ndeparted for Denver, accompanied by Mr. Harry Emery, who had played\nwith him in the recent benefit bill and on some previous occasions;\nhis work being so satisfactory as to secure him an engagement in the\nDenver company that was to support me. Denver at this time had but one\ntheatre; it was not nearly so large or so good a theatre as the Salt\nLake Theatre; in fact, Denver was not then (1878) as large a city as\nSalt Lake. Nick Forrester was the manager, and his wife was the\n\"leading lady\" of the company, and insisted on playing all the leading\nlady parts whether suited to them or not. This caused Nick and the\ncompany a whole lot of trouble as she was already fair, fat and forty,\nand not suited to many of the parts.\n\nMy opening bill was \"Hamlet,\" and she was my Ophelia, much to my\ndissatisfaction, as there was a juvenile lady in the company, Miss\nBaker, who should have been cast for the part; but with a woman's\npersistent inconsistency, in spite of my demurrer, she would be\nOphelia, and Miss Baker had to do the Queen, which she was quite as\nunsuited to as Mrs. Forrester was for Ophelia. This was the \"leading\nlady's\" reward:\n\n\"Not all the artifices of the stage would suffice to make Mrs.\nForrester look young enough for Ophelia, or Miss Baker old enough for\nthe Queen.\"--Rocky Mountain News.\n\nAfter \"Hamlet,\" \"Richelieu\" was given (my first appearance in the\ncharacter), then \"Jack Cade,\" Bulwer's comedy of \"Money\" and my own\nplay, \"Under One Flag.\" After filling in three more weeks with the\nForresters on their circuit, Mr. Joe Wallace, the comedian of Mr.\nForrester's company, made a contract with me to play me through the\nstate of Colorado, supported by the Forrester Stock Company. The\nseason was over in Denver, so we went _en tour_. Before the tour\nended we went to Leadville with teams from Canon City, and gave the\nfirst dramatic performance ever given in Leadville. This was in the\nsummer of '78; the boom did not strike Leadville till '79. We were\nthere too early to do much in the theatrical way--the population was\nnot there. Emery and I got back to Salt Lake about the first of\nAugust. The next attraction at the Salt Lake Theatre after \"Evadne\"\nwas the Union Square Theatre Company with Charley Thorne at the head\nof it. On February 12th, this company opened in the Russian play, \"The\nDanicheffs,\" following it with \"The Two Orphans\" and \"Pink Dominoes.\"\nIt was the foremost company of the time, and of course gave great\nsatisfaction. On February 22nd, Washington's Birthday was celebrated\nby a big masquerade ball in the theatre, given by the L. H. B.\nSociety. This was a big affair, this masquerade. Hundreds of maskers\nwere on the floor and the grand march, led by our late lamented friend\nNed Wallin, and the writer, was a very fine pageant--and it was\naltogether a very successful revel.\n\nNext came Fanny Louise Buckingham and her finely trained horse, James\nMellville. They starred in conjunction for three nights in the play of\n\"Mazeppa,\" supported by the stock company. This was the last\nperformance the writer took part in before leaving for his Denver\nengagement. There was much more satisfaction in supporting Fanny and\nher horse than there was in supporting Frayne and his bulldog. Fanny\nwas a beautiful creature, so also was her horse James; and although\nFanny couldn't act Mazeppa very well, James did his part splendidly,\nand Fanny could stick on him in good shape, and James carried her\nthrough all right. The following week we were in Denver together, she\nplaying, I rehearsing, so we saw a good deal of each other, and when\nshe parted from us at Denver, she had established a reputation among\nus for a \"jolly good fellow.\" She loved her horse James Mellville, and\nshe loved a jolly crowd.\n\nNext came J. Al. Sawtelle, who had been touring around in Utah and\nMontana, and put his name up for a performance at the Salt Lake\nTheatre. As he had only played there one season and had not been there\nsince '74, he was almost a stranger. He played \"Rosedale\" on March\n2nd. On March 5th, Denman Thompson opened a three nights' engagement\nin \"Joshua Whitcomb.\" The 11th and 12th, Signor Eduardo Majeroni, a\nvery clever Italian actor, played \"The Old Corporal\" and \"Jealousy.\"\n\nOn the 14th, Ada Richmond opened for a week, supported by the stock,\nwhich also supported the three preceding attractions. On April 4th,\n5th and 6th, Haverly's minstrels filled the time, giving the\nConference visitors a taste of genuine minstrelsy.\n\nThe last nights of Conference, 7th and 8th, were filled by the stock,\nwho kept it going until Oliver Doud Byron came in on the 15th and 16th\nto crave their help \"Across the Continent.\" On the 19th Frank C.\nBangs, one of the _big four_ in the \"Julius Caesar\" production at\nBooth's theatre, gave a reading entertainment. Why he didn't give a\nplay I don't know, the same old reliable stock was here and had just\nsupported Oliver Doud Byron. The only reason I can assign is that he\nhadn't time to stay.\n\nApril 25th and 26th Ada Gray appeared in \"Whose Wife?\" and \"Miss\nMulton.\"\n\nMay 2nd Prof. La Mar, leader of the Fort Douglas Band, gave a band\nconcert. La Mar was a very clever musician and had a fine band; he\ndeserved to be well patronized for he was very accommodating, and\nvolunteered the services of his band on numerous \"benefit occasions.\"\n\nOn the 7th and 8th Dick Roberts in \"Humpty Dumpty;\" 13th and 14th, Sol\nSmith Russell and Rice's Evangeline combination.\n\nOn the 27th and 28th Harrigan and Hart in \"Doyle Brothers,\" \"Old\nLavender\" and \"Sullivan's Christmas.\"\n\nJune 14th and 15th, Salisbury's Troubadores.\n\nJuly 15th, Joseph Jefferson in \"Rip Van Winkle.\"\n\nSeptember 10th, Henry Ward Beecher in lecture, \"Wastes and Burdens.\"\nThis was after the notorious Beecher-Tilton scandal and Henry had been\nstudying social economy. The Mormons didn't like Henry very much, but\nhe had a big house.\n\nSeptember 12th and 13th, entertainments were given for the benefit of\nthe yellow fever sufferers in Memphis and vicinity. These\nentertainments did not \"pan out\" very well, and the theatre managers\ndecided to get all the dramatic talent they could get to volunteer and\ngive a popular play, in hopes to materially increase the charity fund.\nThe \"School for Scandal\" was selected and given with a pretty strong\ncast, embracing Miss Colebrook as Lady Teazle, David McKenzie as Sir\nPeter, John T. Caine as Charles Surface, John S. Lindsay as Joseph\nSurface. Phil Margetts and John C. Graham were in the cast, and a\nnumber of others, I cannot remember. The play was given on September\n16th, and netted a very tidy sum for the sufferers.\n\nOn the 18th, 19th and 20th, Calender's Georgia minstrels held the\nboards, and business was light. The writer and Harry Emery had but\nrecently returned from their Colorado tour, and both were anxious to\nbe doing something, so I got a cast together and put on \"Richelieu,\"\nwhich I had recently played in Denver, and received flattering notices\nfor, from the press of that city. I had given away my first appearance\nfor the \"benefit\" to the yellow fever sufferers, so there was no other\nattraction than to see me in a new part and that did not prove\nsufficient to save me from disaster. I had a losing game of it, the\nreceipts being some $75 less than the expenses of the performance.\nThis was the only time I ever failed to make something when I had\nrented the theatre and taken chances, which was quite often. This\nperformance, given on the 25th of September, virtually closed the\nseason of '77 and '78.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nSEASONS OF '78-'79 AND '80-'82.\n\n\nThe season of '78 and '79 was opened on October 4th by Haverly's\nminstrels, who filled the night of the 5th also, when the stock\ncompany stepped to the front once more, and filled out the remainder\nof the Conference dates with the \"Lancashire Lass\" and the \"Hidden\nHand.\" On the 23rd Susie Spencer was a beneficiary, playing \"The\nLittle Rebel.\" Susie's life was not without a spice of romance, and\nits chapter of sorrow. Susie Spencer was a very pretty little girl and\ntalented; the managers found her very useful in parts where her petite\nstature was suited to the character, and such occasions were not\ninfrequent. Miss Spencer was progressing nicely in her art and had\nalready become a favorite with the patrons of the drama, when she met\nher fate in the person of Mr. Ed Marden. Marden was one of the\nCogswell party who came from California by way of Southern Utah, and\nwaiting on Brigham Young, informed him they had received a revelation\n(via the Planchette route) instructing them to come to Salt Lake and\njoin the Mormon Church, as it was the only true and authorized church.\nThe party were duly baptized and confirmed into the Church, and at\nonce installed as members of the stock company. Marden became on very\nshort acquaintance infatuated with the pretty Susie and laid siege to\nher young and guileless heart with that adroitness and dexterity which\ncome from much experience, with the result that Susie soon became Mrs.\nMarden. Marden was a member of the stock here all during the \"Jimmy\"\nHarris regime. He and \"Jimmy\" were fast friends, they both came to\nUtah Gentiles, joined the Church and married Mormon girls. Soon after\nthe close of the Harris management in '77, Marden drifted off and left\nhis Susie a heart-broken little woman. He was through with Utah, and\nthrough with the Mormon Church, and through with his little Mormon\nwife, and cast them all aside as he would a worn-out suit. He never\ncame back, and Susie, after a year or two of repining, found\nconsolation in the affections of a better man. She became the wife of\nMr. Rice, a well-to-do banker of the mining town of Frisco, Utah,\nwhere she lived happily in her new alliance until a few years ago,\nwhen she passed away from earth, still young in years.\n\nThe next stellar attraction was Mrs. Scott Siddons, a niece of the\ngreat Sarah Siddons, who appeared on November 22nd in a dramatic\nrecital; with what success the writer cannot tell, as he was away\nagain at this time. This lady had just closed a week's engagement at\nPortland, Oregon, when I arrived there. I met her at the hotel before\nher departure, and she impressed me as being an extraordinary woman\nand a brilliant actress.\n\nDecember 25th, Nat Goodwin and Eliza Weatherby opened a four nights'\nengagement in \"Hobbies;\" they gave on the following evenings \"Under\nthe Rose\" and \"Cruets.\" This was Goodwin's first engagement in Salt\nLake.\n\nOn January 10th and 11th, 1879, Alice Gates' Comic Opera Company\nplayed to exceptionally large houses.\n\nBarney Macauley in \"The Messenger from Jarvis Station\" was the next\nstellar attraction.\n\nThere was a dearth of star attractions along about this time and the\nstock company had plenty of time to fill in, but it had become so\ndepleted as to be unable to keep up the interest for more than two or\nthree nights at a time.\n\nOn May 2nd, \"Buffalo Bill,\" Col. Wm. F. Cody, gave an exhibition,\nassisted by the stock company. He called it \"A Knight of the Plains.\"\nOn May 8th, Annie Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden) and her daughter Maude, who\nwere in Salt Lake on a visit, created some interest in her\nreappearance here, and that of Maude who on this occasion played her\nfirst _speaking part_ in Salt Lake. Miss Adams assisted by the stock\n(what remained of it) and some amateurs, gave on the 8th, \"A Woman of\nthe People.\" This was the old French play of \"Madeline, the Belle of\nthe Faubourg,\" which Julia Dean had played some years before. Like\nmany another good play since, it was made to do double duty by\nappearing under a new title. For the second night's bill, the comedy\nof \"Stepmother\" and the farce of \"Little Susie\" were given. In the\nfarce Little Maude played the name part, \"Little Susie.\" Maude was\nthen six years and six months old, and had already played several\nparts in San Francisco, the most notable one, Little Adrienne in \"A\nCelebrated Case,\" which she played in the Baldwin production of the\nplay, and afterwards in Portland with John Maguire's production of it,\nfor which she and her mother were especially engaged. Afterwards with\nthe Maguire company _en tour_ through Oregon and Washington, when\n\"Little Maude\" was featured in \"The Case\" and also in \"Ten Nights in a\nBar Room,\" her mother and the writer playing the leading roles in\nthese plays. This second bill was repeated on the 10th inst., the\nprobability being that Maude had caught the public favor at that early\nday.\n\nThe next attraction of note was Lawrence Barrett, who opened on July\n8th (midsummer nights--no dream) for four nights, opening play\n\"Richelieu\" followed by \"Hamlet,\" \"A New Play\" and \"Julius Caesar.\"\nHow the fastidious and exacting Barrett managed to cast these great\nplays here has never been explained to me. He must have carried his\nprincipal support with him.\n\nIn the fall of this year Miss Annie Adams revived \"The Two Orphans\"\nwith a complete cast of amateurs, excepting herself and Jimmy Harris.\nThe cast included Mr. Laron Cummings as the Chevalier, Heber M. Wells\nas the Doctor, Orson Whitney as Jacques, John D. Spencer as Pierre,\nJohn T. White as Picard, W. T. Harris played Frochard, which fact\ncertainly denoted a great paucity of female talent here about that\ntime. Annie Adams played Louise and Delia Clawson, Heriette, which is\nas much of the cast as we can gather from Miss Adams' own account of\nthis performance. So successful was the performance as a whole and so\nmeritorious the acting of the numerous debutants on this occasion that\nMr. Bud Whitney who was managing the business end of the affair,\nproposed the organization of a \"Home Club,\" which should comprise all\nof the amateurs who had taken part in \"The Two Orphans.\" The\nproposition was readily adopted by those concerned, and out of this\nsprang \"The Home Dramatic Club.\" The time was most opportune, for\nthere was a dearth of dramatic attractions at the time; the old stock\nhad dwindled until there were but a few of its members left in Salt\nLake, and some new blood and talent was needed to give renewed\ninterest to home productions. \"The Home Dramatic Club,\" with great\nprudence and foresight, secured the ensuing April Conference dates on\nwhich to make their initial bow to the Utah public. It was a good long\ntime to wait but they were sure of big results in a financial way, and\nit gave them plenty of time in which to perfect themselves in their\nopening play, which was \"The Romance of a Poor Young Man.\" It was a\ngood selection, well suited to the young people, and scored a success;\nonly the older people in the community could remember George\nPauncefort opening in the same play in 1864, and scoring a great\ntriumph. The club had large and friendly audiences and their\nintroductory play was pronounced a genuine success, both artistically\nand financially. It could not be otherwise than a good paying\nproposition, as Conference nights are always a harvest time for the\ntheatre. So well encouraged were they that the club continued in the\nbusiness of playing _occasionally_, whenever they could secure\nfavorable dates, such as Conferences and other holiday times, for a\nnumber of years. \"The Home Dramatic Club\" averaged about three or four\nplays a year during their career of about ten years. The club being\nmore of a society affair than a professional theatre company, they\npicked their times and opportune ones, and playing so seldom they\nnever were subjected to the tasks in study and rehearsals and dramatic\nwork which characterized the busy years of the old stock company. It\nwas a talented company, however, and no doubt could have made good\nunder different and more exacting conditions.\n\nIn March, 1881, the writer was back in Salt Lake after a two years'\nabsence, principally in Portland and San Francisco. On my return there\nwas nothing doing in the theatrical line. The \"club\" had been\norganized nearly a year, yet had given only a very few plays. There\nwas a dearth of theatricals, and the writer with the acquiescence and\nassistance of Mr. Clawson, who was again manager of the theatre, got\nup occasional performances with such assistance as he could procure.\nThe first of these was \"A Celebrated Case,\" in which he had the\nassistance of Manager Clawson's daughters, Miss Edith Clawson and Mrs.\nArdelle Cummings. Other performances were given in connection with\nDavid McKenzie, Philip Margetts and John C. Graham, with such support\nas we could muster from the depleted ranks of the old stock, and what\nnew aspirants were in the field for dramatic honors. The \"gallery\ngods\" honored the three gentlemen and myself with the somewhat\nflattering appellation of the _big four_, the same title the New\nYorkers bestowed on Booth, Barrett, Davenport and Bangs when these\nfour stars formed the great constellation in the play of \"Julius\nCaesar.\" These performances, however, like those of \"The Home\nDramatic,\" were few and far between, and to a person depending on\nacting for a livelihood, did not prove very remunerative.\n\nAbout this time another project which interested the writer hove into\nview. Dr. D. Banks McKenzie, a temperance lecturer and reformer, had\nsucceeded after a considerable effort in organizing a temperance club\nin Salt Lake City (a prodigious task to accomplish at that time). He\nhad succeeded in raising a fund of some thirty thousand dollars in\ncontributions towards the erection of a first-class lecture hall, with\nlibrary, and various other nice accommodations for the society. The\nWalkers Brothers had contributed a building site where the Atlas block\nnow stands, 50x100 feet. This was put in at $13,000, making nearly\none-half of the $30,000 contributed. On being informed by one of the\nWalker Brothers of what was projected, the writer with some\nself-interest suggested that inasmuch as they were going to put up a\nbuilding of such size and cost, that they might just as well make it a\nlittle larger, and make a theatre of it; that a theatre would answer\nall the purposes of the proposed hall, and often rent when the hall\nwould not. The idea grew with them, and the Walker Grand Opera House\nwas the result. It occupied a year in building. It was opened on June\n5th, 1882, with a vocal and instrumental concert, with Prof. George\nCareless as conductor. As a matter of historical interest and to show\nthe musical status of Salt Lake at that time, a copy of the opening\nprogram is here appended.\n\n    OPENING OF THE WALKER GRAND OPERA HOUSE.\n\n    Monday Evening, June 5th, 1882.\n\n    Lessee ................................ D. Banks McKenzie\n    Manager ................................. John S. Lindsay\n\n    PROGRAM.\n\n    1. Overture--\"William Tell\" ..................... Rossini\n    2. Quartette--\"The Night Before the Battle\" ....... White\n\n     Misses Olsen and Richards, Messrs. Whitney and Spencer.\n\n    3. Flute Solo--\"Concert Polka\" .................. Rudolph\n\n                     Mr. George Hedger.\n\n    4. Aria--Il Profeta ........................... Meyerbeer\n\n                      Mrs. J. Leviburg.\n\n    5. Selection Favorite ......................... Donozetti\n\n                         Orchestra.\n\n    INTERMISSION.\n\n    6. Overture--Pique Dame ........................... Suppe\n\n    7. Aria--E. Puritane ............................ Belline\n\n                    Mr. Robert Gorlinske.\n\n    8. Piano Solo--Trovatore ..................... Gottschalk\n\n                      Mrs. Helen Wells.\n\n    9. Song--\"My Own Dearest Child\" ..................... Abt\n\n                    Mrs. George Careless.\n\n    10. Selection ...........................................\n\n                   Croxall's Silver Band.\n\n    Conductor ......................... Prof. George Careless\n\n    Thursday, June 8th--For Three Nights. Louis Aldrich Company in his\n    very successful play, \"MY PARTNER.\" Superb Star Company.\n\nIn the spring of '82, when the Walker was approaching completion, Dr.\nMcKenzie hied him to New York to secure attractions for the new\ntheatre, for the erstwhile temperance lecturer had developed into the\nsole lessee and manager of a $100,000 theatre. He had already chosen\nme to attend to the local management, for which I was to have 5 per\ncent of the gross proceeds of everything we played there, with the\nprivilege of getting up local performances in the interims. I had\nworked eleven months, superintending the construction of the building\nand was quite in favor. \"Doc\" was very successful in securing\nattractions, his somewhat extravagant and florid descriptions of the\nWalker Grand, as they chose to christen it, and its superiority to the\nold theatre, caught the agents and managers, and he secured so many of\nthe attractions going to the coast the ensuing season that he\nvirtually had the Salt Lake Theatre out of business.\n\nThe first dramatic performance given in the Walker was the Louis\nAldrich Company in \"My Partner.\" The house was well filled but not\ncrowded; there was a very strong prejudice against the Walker among\nthe Mormon part of the community, and a malicious report to the effect\nthat the galleries were not safe was put in circulation with a view to\ninjure the new theatre. Such mischievous whisperings, however, only\nhad a temporary effect.\n\nOne of the earliest attractions at \"The Walker\" was Haverly's\nminstrels, and the house was crowded to its utmost capacity; as the\ngalleries did not give way on that occasion, the reports which had\nbeen so industriously circulated were seen to be \"a weak invention of\nthe enemy.\"\n\nThe new house continued to get the attractions to such an extent, that\nthe Salt Lake Theatre was virtually out of the swim. This was\naccomplished by Dr. McKenzie putting The Walker under the direction of\nJack Haverly. Haverly at the time was one of the foremost managers of\nthe country. He controlled more companies and theatres than any one in\nthe field of amusement; so he booked everything in his control at The\nWalker, and the house during his _regime_ was called Haverly's Walker\nGrand Opera House. \"What's in a name?\" In theatrical business much; it\nis everything. So serious indeed was the situation for the Salt Lake\ntheatre that Mr. David McKenzie, who was at this time the acting\nmanager of the house, found it necessary to go to San Francisco and\nhave a business interview with Mr. Fred Bert, who was Haverly's San\nFrancisco manager.\n\nThe result of his visit was an agreement on the part of Haverly to\nplay his attractions alternately between the two theatres, thus giving\nthe Salt Lake theatre one-half of their Salt Lake bookings. In the\nagreement it was stipulated that the Salt Lake Theatre must also float\nthe Haverly flag, and while this contract lasted the old house was\ncalled \"Haverly's Salt Lake Theatre.\" Here was an interesting\nsituation; both theatres flying the Haverly flag. Haverly's name at\nthe head of every bill and program. It was not at all pleasing to the\nMormon people to have their theatre, in which they took so much pride,\npass under the direction and management of a Gentile manager. Many of\nthem didn't know but what Haverly had bought it. The Walker Brothers\ndid not relish the idea either of their house being called Haverly's;\nbut such were the exigencies of the theatrical business. To the Walker\nit was a great advantage, as without Haverly's prestige the new house\nwould have had a hard time in getting first-class attractions.\n\nThese circumstances go to show what an immense influence Jack Haverly\nwielded in the theatrical business of this country at that time. He\nwas almost as potent then as Klaw & Erlanger of the syndicate are\ntoday. These conditions did not last very long, as the managers and\nagents came to learn that the Salt Lake Theatre was the only one that\nthe Mormon people would patronize, and they being so largely in a\nmajority of the theatre-goers, the older theatre gradually won back\nthe great bulk of the traveling combinations, and the Haverly\nagreement having expired, his flag was hauled down, much to the relief\nof a great many, to whom it had always seemed a reproach to have\n_Brigham Young's_ Theatre called Haverly's. Jack Haverly had too many\nirons in the fire; his numerous theatrical enterprises were managed by\na corps of lieutenants, too numerous for Mr. Haverly to keep in line.\nSome of them proved shrewder, more adroit, and less principled than\ntheir general. He trusted them too implicitly, and this was his\nundoing. Some of them managed his enterprises into their own hands,\nwhile he was giving his personal attention very largely to his mining\ninterests. These, too, turned out disastrously, and Haverly's star,\nwhich had been so prominent and bright in the theatrical firmament,\nbegan to wane and in a very few years was totally eclipsed. After all\nhis great enterprises, he became a bankrupt in 1898, and he died poor\nin 1901 in a Salt Lake Hospital. He was reduced in health and\ncircumstances to such a degree as to be unable during the last year of\nhis life to manage even a minstrel company, and others paid him for\nthe use of his name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\n\nRetrospectively considered, the building of the Walker Opera House was\npremature. There was one good theatre here, and not half enough of\nbusiness for that one; but it served to enliven things for a little\nwhile, and did its share toward liberalizing and metropolitanizing\nSalt Lake City. The Walker had a brief and rather checkered career; it\nwas destroyed by fire on July 4th, 1891, after a performance of \"Held\nby the Enemy.\" The audience were all home and the company had left the\ntheatre; the stage hands were lowering a drop, when a gust of wind\nblew open the front door and sent the drop sailing against a gas jet;\nin a moment it was all ablaze. The stage hands lost their heads and\nmade for the exit, when a little presence of mind would have saved the\nbuilding. The house, especially the stage, was well provided with\nwater plugs and hose, and it seems incredible that any effort was made\nto extinguish the fire.\n\nMr. Will Burgess was manager at the time it burned down. It is a\nremarkable fact that two other fine theatres burned under this same\ngentleman's management within a few years afterward. The Farnham\nStreet Theatre of Omaha, where a number of lives were lost, and The\nAuditorium of Kansas City. Notwithstanding these very serious\ndrawbacks, Mr. Burgess is one of the wealthy managers of the West\ntoday.\n\nAfter the burning of \"The Walker,\" Malloy's Livery Stable, directly\nopposite the Walker, was converted into a theatre, when it was decided\nto build an office block on the ruins of the Walker. For some time it\nwas known as \"Wonderland,\" and was a two storied show; the upper story\nbeing a sort of curiosity shop--or Wonderland with specialties and the\nlower story having a small stage was devoted to vaudeville, and short\nplays. Afterwards the two stories were thrown into one room, and\nconverted into a theatre with capacity for about six hundred people.\nIt was called the Lyceum. Here a stock company was run for about a\nyear with varying fortune. Some actors who have since won high places\nin their professions were members of this stock, notably Charles\nRichman, Ed Hayes, Victory Bateman.\n\nThe Lyceum soon went into a decline struggled along for a few years\nagainst adverse fortune and finally yielded up the ghost. It was\ntransformed into a handsome saloon and wholesale liquor house, from\nwhich a greater revenue is derived than it yielded as a theatre.\nBefore the Lyceum went out of commission as a theatre another\ntheatrical venture was launched. This was the Grand. This theatre was\nbuilt (or partly so) by Mr. Frank Maltese and Mr. \"Brig\" Pyper. The\nstory of how they projected, planned and built this theatre is told as\nfollows: \"Brig\" and \"Frank\" made a winning in a \"policy drawing.\" They\nheld between them a one-fourth interest in a fifty-dollar policy\nticket. In a sporty manner they bantered each other as to what they\nshould do with their big winning of $12.50. One was in favor of\nreinvesting it in the next policy drawing, the other for trying their\nluck at the \"faro-bank.\" Finally, in a lurid flash of imagination one\n(which one we don't remember, but we believe it was Frank), exclaimed:\n\"Let's build an Opera House with it.\" The idea was so absurd, they had\na good laugh over it; but the thought took hold of them, and one of\nthem suggested, \"Let's figure up and see _how much more_ it will\ntake.\" So on the back of the policy ticket they figured up roughly\nwhat it would take in addition to their winnings to build \"The Grand.\"\nThe result was no doubt staggering; but undismayed they went about to\nsee how they could accomplish such a herculean task. They owned some\nproperty, or their folks did, and this they decided to put in jeopardy\nin order to carry out their designs. They secured the building site,\nand got the walls up and the roof on--and then they were stuck. They\nhad reached the end of their financial tether, and were forced to stop\nuntil they could make some new deal by which to complete the building.\nMr. Alec Rogers was the party who now came to the front and put up\nsome $16,000 to complete the building. We don't know just how much\ninterest the boys Maltese and Pyper had remaining in it when the\ntheatre was completed, but we opine it was little if any. The Grand\nopened with the house in the possession of Alex. Rogers and sons, and\nJohn Rogers was installed as the manager. He secured a very good\ncompany for the opening, announcing a season of stock performances.\nThe house was opened on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1894. The\npersonnel of the company was as follows: Jane Kennark, Blanche Bates,\nMadge Carr Cook, Jean Coy, Howard Kyle, Tim Frawley, Charles King,\nHarry Corson Clarke, H. D. Blackmore, Fred Fjaders, Mr. Mannery. The\nopening play was \"Moths.\" It was a good performance, and the company\nmade a very favorable impression. The axiom that \"A new broom sweeps\nwell\" had a number of exemplifications in this theatre. It was so with\nthis first company, notwithstanding it was a talented and capable one.\nAfter it had been seen in a few plays, and the _novelty_ of the new\nhouse, miscalled \"The Grand,\" was over, business began to drop off and\nit was more than the manager could do to keep ahead with the expensive\ncompany he had.\n\nWhy this theatre was called \"The Grand\" we were never able to divine,\nas it was at the opening positively severe in its plainness. There is\na great tendency in our country to buncombe, aside from the genuine\npatriotism that exists in it; this tendency leads many of our fellow\ncitizens into silly extravagances, especially is this noticeable in\nthe naming of theatres, hotels and restaurants; more particularly is\nthis the case in the small towns. A man opens a little restaurant\nscarcely big enough to accommodate a dozen persons, and everything in\nit of the plainest and commonest kind, and he dubs it the \"Palace\"\nrestaurant. \"Opera House\" is a much abused appellation. Nearly every\ninsignificant, dingy, dismal, inconvenient, and homely theatre and\nhall throughout the land is dubbed Opera House. It is a dreadful\nmisnomer--inconsistent and absurd in three-fourths of the houses to\nwhich it is applied. \"The Theatre\" is dignified enough and much more\nconsistent and suitable. \"The Grand\" during the ten years of its\nexistence has had a checkered career. We doubt if any of its half\ndozen different managers have made it pay. The first company, as\nalready stated, was found to be too expensive, the business would not\nsustain the heavy salary list, not only was the salary list large, but\nMr. Frawley made a demand for a percentage of the receipts in\naddition. This sprung a disagreement, and the company was after about\nfour or five weeks superseded by another less expensive. The Rogers\nmanagement was able, liberal and intent on giving the public\nsatisfaction. After a fair trial of the business, lasting three years,\nthey disposed of the house on a lease to Mr. Garvey of pageantry fame,\nwho spent a few hundred he had made on the \"Pioneer Carnival\" on the\nhouse in the way of improvements, and then called it \"The New Grand.\"\n_Ad captandiun vulgas_.\n\nGarvey's reign was brief and unprofitable. Then Mr. Martin Mulvey took\na swing at it, and made things lively for two seasons, but the\nsupposition is that he did not make money with it or he would not have\ngiven up the lease. The last management, Messrs. Jones and Hammer,\nhave seemingly had the most prosperous time with the house; they have\nprofited by the experience of their predecessors, and yet it appears\nthey have not realized their expectations, and so have re-leased the\nhouse to Denver parties.\n\nHaving brought the history of the Salt Lake Theatre through the first\ntwenty years of its existence up to the time when the stock company\nwas altogether disbanded, owing to the fact that the combination\nsystem had come so fully into vogue as to displace the stock system\nall over the country, I shall not attempt to give its history after\nthis time, as my connection with it had altogether ceased. I shall\nonly add that for the past twenty-three years it has kept the even\ntenor of its way, under able managers (notably Mr. Charles R. Burton\nand later George Pyper), playing the leading attractions of the\ncountry to a splendid patronage, keeping up the reputation of Salt\nLake as \"the best show town of its population in the world.\"\n\nMore than twenty years ago several attempts were made to establish a\nvaudeville theatre in this city; two houses were built at different\ntimes for the purpose, but they were short-lived, dying out for lack\nof patronage. Within the last three years, however, the city's\npopulation having greatly increased, no less than four have been\nstarted here, two of which survive and seem to be doing well.\n\nDuring the early years of the drama in Utah, several of the towns\nbesides Salt Lake had very talented companies. Provo, Springville,\nOgden, Brigham City, and St. George each had fairly good theatres and\nmany very capable players. It is somewhat remarkable, however, that\nout of the hundreds of persons who have \"gone on the stage\" in Utah,\nso few have drifted into the profession and left their homes to follow\nit; the percentage is very small. Miss Sarah Alexander was the first\nto drift off, and although she has not made much stir on the stage\nherself, she has chaperoned her niece Miss Lisle Leigh to fine\nsuccess. Mr. James M. Hardie was the next to break away; then Miss\nAnne Adams, Mr. Logan Paul and the writer complete the list so far as\nthe Salt Lake Stock Company is concerned. Later Miss Ada Dwyer and Mr.\nDeWitt Jennings. This is accounted for by the fact that, much as the\nMormons love the theatre, they love their homes and their religion\nbetter. The theatre is a pleasant pastime with them, but the staying\nat home and building up of their kingdom is a religious duty, and\nunless they are \"called on a mission,\" they prefer to stay with home\nand Church.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nA few reflections on the theatre and its work in concluding this\nlittle history may not be out of place.\n\nThe cultivation and progress of the drama in connection with its\nkindred arts, poesy and painting, marks the progress of civilization,\nculture and refinement at any given period in any country. Without the\naid of the theatre and the actors' art, the great majority of mankind\nwould remain in ignorance as to the works of the most gifted writers;\nwithout those great reflectors of human thought, how many thousands\nthere have been and are who never would have heard or read the plays\nof Shakespeare and other writers of genius, but who, by the assistance\nof the actor's delineations, have become familiar with the most\nsublime and beautiful thoughts and sentiments that adorn our language.\nI make mention particularly of Shakespeare's plays, as they are beyond\nall question the greatest and grandest compositions ever written.\nAmong the thousands of plays that have been written during and since\nthe great dramatic renaissance of Elizabeth's reign, they still stand\nout incomparable as models _par excellence_ of dramatic composition,\nchallenging competition, and as yet unrivaled after a lapse of more\nthan three centuries.\n\nThat the stage is a great factor in our modern civilization, for the\neducation of the people, no reading, reflecting person would attempt\nto deny. It is true that some pernicious things occasionally creep in\nthat would be better suppressed, but they are rare and exceptional.\nThe great bulk of dramatic entertainment is uplifting in its\ntendencies. The infinite variety of plays presented, showing human\nlife in all conditions, and under every variety of circumstances, can\nnot be otherwise than educational in effect upon those who witness\nthem. However crude or devoid of literary merit a play may be, there\nseldom is one, however bald in plot or uninteresting in sentiment, but\nwhat \"points a moral and adorns a tale.\"\n\nIn Shakespeare's day the theatre was even more or an educational\ninstitution than it is today. Books were scarce in that age, and the\nnewspapers were an undiscovered medium of information, so that plays\n(especially historical plays) possessed a wonderful interest for the\nmasses, who had little chance for schooling or the acquirement of\nknowledge from books.\n\nThe old chronicles and legends were freely used by the dramatists of\nthe Elizabethan era, and the incidents of history were made so\nfamiliar to the habitues of the theatre that the common people\nacquired a good knowledge of history by witnessing the representation\nof those plays. To illustrate how much this was the case, Ben Jonson\ntells the story of a fellow who, having been taken to task on some\nquestion of history and the accuracy of his position being assailed\nand the authenticity of his assertions being called in question,\nreplied by way of defense: \"No, I confess I had it not from the\nhistories but from the play books, and consider them the more\nauthentic.\"\n\nMany dramas have been written (and more especially by the poets)\nwithout perhaps having in view their exploitation on the stage, but\nlike their other poetry, to be read, suitable only for the library,\nmore poetical than dramatic.\n\nSuch are the plays of Byron, Shelley, Keats, Moore, and others. A\nstill greater number have been written solely for acting purposes; and\nthe majority of these may not lay claim to any permanent abiding place\nin literature. Others still are admirably adapted to both the library\nand the stage. Such are the plays of Sheridan, Knowles, Bulwer,\nSchiller, Kotzebue, and later of Heinrick Ibsen. Of such a character\nalso are the plays of our gifted Salt Lake dramatist, the late Edward\nW. Tullidge. The present-day theatre-goers have little time to indulge\nin the reading of plays. The overwhelming mass of reading matter\nthrown from the press, keeps the general reader busy to keep abreast\nof the current literature of our times. So that plays form no part of\nthe world's reading matter; here and there is one, some stagestruck\nsoul who loves to get hold of and read a play, but the vast majority\nare content to let the actors read the plays for them, preferring to\nwitness the acting of them. It is a fact and a very gratifying one\nthat Shakespeare's plays are about the only ones that are read\nnowadays, and these are by no means so universally read as they should\nbe. The masses have not time for reading Shakespeare, or other\ndramatists, so it is a fortunate thing for them that the theatres are\nso popular and accessible; here, they can hear the thoughts and\nsentiments, and see in literal action the characters of both ancient\nand modern times, and gather from the mimic scene suggestions of the\ntremendous throes and struggles through which the human race has\npassed.\n\nDuring the forty-three years that the Salt Lake Theatre has been in\nexistence, an almost infinite variety of plays have been presented and\nthousands of actors (as infinite in variety as the plays) have\n\"strutted and fretted their brief hour upon its stage\" and now are\nheard no more. It is a solemn reflection that in all probability more\nthan three-fourths of all who have trod the stage of this theatre,\nboth local and transient actors, in less than half a century of\nexistence are \"heard no more.\" The voices that have thrilled us, the\nanimated and beautified forms that have called forth our admiration\nand praise, are stilled forever by the chilling touch of death;\ngenius, mediocrity, incompetency, all alike go down, and the greatest\nnames in a few brief years are forgotten; so transitory is the actor's\nfame. Yet it is not more so perhaps than that of other professions,\nand certainly not quite so much of a \"will o' the wisp\" as \"seeking\nthe bubble reputation in the cannon's mouth.\"\n\nOut of the multitudinous dramatic pictures that have been presented on\nthe stage of this theatre during its forty-three years of existence,\nit is interesting to know which stand out in bold relief. We need not\nhesitate to reply, the plays of Shakespeare, and those that are\nnearest akin to them, such as Bulwer's \"Richelieu,\" Knowles'\n\"Virginius,\" Banim's \"Damon and Pythias.\" The Irish plays of Dion\nBoucicault, \"Colleen Bawn,\" \"Arrah Na Pogue,\" \"Shaugraun,\" \"Kerry,\"\nand even his \"London Assurance,\" made very strong impressions, were\nvery popular, and made money both for actors and managers. So with\nmany other plays we might cite; but compared with Shakespeare's plays\nthey have proven to be short-lived and their fame but transitory. They\nhave never found a permanent abiding place in the world of literature.\n\nThere is a strange, a marvelous thing in connection with the plays of\nShakespeare. In his day the theatre was not popular, as it is in our\ntimes. The religionists held it in reprobation; actors were looked\nupon by the good church people as little better than vagabonds, and\nthe occupation of play writing was scarcely reputable. The Globe\nTheatre, the best there was in London at that time, was little better\nthan a barn. The art of scene painting was unknown. Candles were the\nbest artificial light they had, all the accessories of the stage were\nof the most primitive description. The art of costuming plays was\ncrude in the extreme, and woefully inadequate and incorrect. In short,\nthe facilities for staging plays were poor, extremely poor, as\ncompared with those of our own time. The greatest drawback of all\nhowever was this. They had no women on the stage; all those beautiful\nfemale characters of Shakespeare's were impersonated by men. Woman had\nnot yet asserted her independence and equality with man in this domain\nof art; and yet under these most adverse conditions, _the greatest\nplays the world has ever seen were written_. Three centuries have\nwinged their flight into the past, and in all that time no other\ndramatist has arisen that can rival Shakespeare. The popularity of the\ntheatre and the actor's art have steadily grown since his time until\nin our own day we have the most costly and elaborate theatres. In\nevery city, and almost every town of the civilized world, there is\nsome sort of a theatre; many of them are truly _temples_ of the\nThespian art; invention has racked its brains to supply original and\ncostly adjuncts to the drama in the way of scenery and mechanical\ndevices; realism has run mad in its efforts to produce novel illusions\nand startling stage effects. Woman has long since demonstrated her\nequality with man in the arena of dramatic art, and for more than two\ncenturies she has adorned the stage with her beauty, grace and\ntalents. There is an eager and expectant world of theatregoers waiting\nfor some new genius to come forth and give to the stage another halo,\nto shed a radiance over its flickering lights, and fill the world with\nwonder and delight; but alas! no other Shakespeare has arisen; with\nthe models he gave before them, in three centuries no dramatist has\narisen that could write a \"Hamlet,\" a \"Macbeth,\" or a \"Lear;\" nothing\nin all that time to equal \"Romeo and Juliet,\" \"As You Like It,\" or\n\"The Merchant of Venice.\"\n\nThere have been hundreds of playwrights since Shakespeare's time,\nthousands of plays have been written, the greater portion of them\nworthless to the stage, but a great number of excellent playwrights\nhave flourished since then, and their plays have had a greater or less\ndegree of success. We will just instance a few of the most successful\nones. Otway wrote \"Venice Preserved;\" Massinger, \"A New Way to Pay Old\nDebts;\" Addison his \"Cato,\" Goethe his \"Faust;\" Schiller \"The\nRobbers;\" Kotzebue, \"The Stranger;\" Bellinghousen, \"Ingomar;\"\nSheridan, \"The School of Scandal,\" \"Pizarro\" and \"The Rivals;\"\nKnowles, \"The Hunchback,\" \"Virginius\" and \"William Tell;\" John Howard\nPayne, \"Brutus;\" Bulwer, \"The Lady of Lyons,\" \"Richelieu\" and \"Money;\"\nDr. Bird, \"The Gladiator;\" Judge Conrad, \"Jack Cade;\" George F. Boker,\n\"Francisca de Rimini.\" I might instance many others, but these will\nsuffice tor my purpose. Now these are all noble productions, and have\nwon fame and money for both authors and actors; but it is questionable\nif any of them will live indefinitely. Already many of the plays I\nhave named are waning in the dramatic firmament; some of them have\nalready set. Why is it, let us ask. What is there in Shakespeare's\nplays that lifts them so far above the average of merit and sets them\non a plane so distinctively their own? Other authors have certainly\nequaled Shakespeare in erudition, have even excelled him in the\ndescription of the sublime and terrible, surpassed him in glowing\npictures of supernatural imagery. Why, then, does the world attach so\nmuch importance to the work of Shakespeare? Why are they so highly\nprized? It is because Shakespeare was the grand High Priest of Nature!\nHe got closer to the human heart than any and all other authors. To\nhim nature was an open book, and he was so thoroughly in love with it,\nthat he left no page unturned or unobserved; from the primer page or\nthe humblest creations of nature's lavish hand up through the\ncountless and variegated specimens of her handiwork to the crowning\nproduction of her creative power, _man_--this son of genius penetrated\nall her secrets, delved all her depths, scaled her loftiest heights.\nThe heart of man, that secret repository of so many contending\npassions; that cradle where the affections are rocked into life; that\nfountain whence so many varying emotions spring, that sea o'er which\nare swept the multitudinous passions of life, was also to him an open\npage; the last and greatest chapter in nature's wonderful volume. He\nunderstood life in all its phases.\n\nNo plays afford greater opportunity for scenic splendor than\nShakespeare's, yet none are less dependent on the adjuncts of scenery\nand outward realism. Shakespeare put his realism into his characters\nand no inadequate surroundings can rob them of their wondrous charms;\nthey possess such range of mental vision, such tremendous power of\nthought, such depth and placidity, such glowing imagination; his\ncharacters are living, breathing, speaking types of the age in which\nthey lived, and he their creator stands out wholly beyond question or\ndispute, the most transcendent genius our earth has ever produced.","title":"The Mormons and the Theatre; or, The History of Theatricals in Utah","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":67661}