The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-10-01
ACTORS ON EXHIBITION

Considerable fuss is making over
the announcement that somebody
is going to fit up a green room in a
theatre in the highest style of art.
WLv a fuss should be made over it
we cannot understand. 1t sounds
very much like the attempt to fit up
an editors room in the Etruscan
style. AS if a place where work is
to be done should be luxurious.
We should like to know what bane-
fit it is to the actor to have a mag
nifcent waiting room behind the
scenes, sumptuously decorated and
extensively furnished. Actors do
not go, to the theatres to enjoy
themselves in indolept ease. They
have no time TO loll In satin chairs,
or study French pictures or exam
Inc Japanese vases. The very pres
ence or such things on the stage, or
anywhere near it, except for the
purpose of the play, is an ~impertin-
ence and an insult. 1t pre-
SuppOseS that the actors are
there to entertain, to meet their
friends and admirers, and that
such a snowy reception room
is not to be used exclusively for the
workers, but for idlers, visitors and
patrons. Actors no more need
luxurious waiting rooms than they
need g0ndolas to take them from
the theatres to their boarding.
houses.
1t is quite true that a wealthy
and somewhat profigate proprietor
of a theatre may. if he sees fit, fur
nish all sorts of expensive trim
mings both to the stage and to his
auditorium. Mr.. jim Fisk in
dulged his taste in this direction to
the fullest extent. He may be said
! to have discovered the common
chord of sympathy between a rail
road and a theatre-which proved a
silver chord. He prefaced some of
his rehearsals with ~saturnalia. He
threw in champagne between the
ACTS, and tie reporters and the
actresses were RECALLED with state
banquetS in the foyer. Chariots
were held in readiness to speed the
weary actresses home, and the dull
Get ripple Of Shakespeare and Often
bach mingled nightly with the flow
of whisky.
But we never heard that Mr..
Fisk'S inordinate taste or luxurious
appointments made his shows any
better or helped to establish the
drama on a legitimate and paying
basis. On the contrary, we have
heard that he Gid more to debauch
and destroy the drama than any
PTohigate Of his era. If the enter
prising manager Will add to the
comfort of the actors by building
them larger and better ventilated
dIessing-rooms. and insure their
efficiency by keeping the idle young
men with money in their pockets Off
the stage, he Will do good work. But
when he talks about luxurious re-
ception rooms and parlorS and green
rooms, he is talking about some
thing that ought TO make every
honest actor mad, for the very idea
of these things springs from the
false estimate which Il few monied
men have of late years put upon
the stage.
They seem to regard it as a place
where capital can buy intimacy,
and do it under the plea of advanc-
ing dramatic art.
Everybody remembers with a
smile how strenuouSly Charles
Lamb and even HazIitt objected to
actors ever being seen in front of
the house. These old WORTHLESS ap-
peared to think that half the charm
and illusion vas gone when "Bene-
dick" or "Othello" was seen in the
lobby tWirling his mouStache and
talking about lamb chops and ale.
| We laugh at that notion now. But
it is worth considering whether we
have not robbed the theatre of
much of its fascination by our in
timacy with the players. We can
not think so much OF Daniel Ro-.
chat after we have matched pen
MES with him for drinks.
Somehow the fine mystical bloom
is rubbed off the Prince Of Denmark
if we see him t3king his siesta or his
Tom Collins in the Morton House,
or hear him loudly discussing his
tailor on the sidewalk.
Desdemona, and even Camille, will
cease to interest us after we have sat
on the other side of the beer table at
Theis' for several nights and heard
her narrate her domestic troubles .
The stage makes a certain amount
of illusion with regard to the players
necessary. We identify those great
actors that we have never seen off
the boards with tile great parts they
have performed.
Nowadays we have tried so hard
to destroy the seclusion of the actor
that the illusion is well nigh all
gone. We know more about Clara
Morris private affairs than we do
about her art. We hear more OF
Mr.. Charles Thorne's movements
than we do of his achievements.
The actor has got into the private
box. lie has professional matineeS.
He hobnobs with the club men, the
Bohemians and the sports.
To make the matter worse, class
of monied men, who like the society
of the players, have introduced new
customs, new habits, new methods
of nOtoriety behind the scenes, and
they have thrown down the last
barrier that saved luere idle curlos-
ity from peeping into the dressing