The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-11-29

guese, Greeks, Scols, Britons, Yankees,
Jews and negroes have been pictured on
the stage as heroes and comedians, but no
one ever thought till recently Of delving
into the field of Scandinavian character.
1t hit Gus Heege one day that a Swede,
properly portrayed, ought to be a taking
character and a money embarrassing that
an immense percentage of our population
is made up Of the Swedish nationality. He
evolved his play and it took" like a vac
cinatiop, and without doubt it will catch
on equally well here, where there is very
heavy Swedish contingent.
Relating the manner in which "Y or
Yonson" was suggested, Mr.. Heege says:
For two consecutive years | spent part
of each season in the lumber regions of
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, first
with the veteran comedian, John Dillon.
for whom / had written "Wanted-The
Earth" the season following with a
coterie of Chicago talent who had the
temerity TO go out and double in brass"
under my manageme Mt.
Managers touring that district make it a
point to do that country early in the
spring, when the first thaw breaks up the
winter camps and drives the lumbermen
into the towns for "hurrah'' time. Both
seasons we hit it squarely between the
eyes.
These men pass three or four months of
the winter in camp, telling and hauling
timber. During all that time they are re-
mote from the temptations of eftete ciVili-
cation, with no opportunity of spending
money. Picture two or three thousand of
these men streaming iuto town with their
winter lsavings; the widest kind of
revelry runs riot. Saloons and milling
houses are in full blast night and day.
while Sunday has merely calendar sig
nihcence no longer synonymous with the
Sabbath. Pandemonium! Why, a band
of bowling dervishes would be a Bible
class compared to gang of lumber boys
just let loose. A brawny, hardy set of men
they are, too; seasoned by vigorous work
In the open eir-that clear, dry atmosphere
of the northern woods, redolent with the
fragrance of the pines.
Still, boisterous as they are, their fun is
of harmless kinda good-natured, whole
souled lot OF men as q class-manly and
courageous, always ready to help COM
rade and generous without stint Rows
are of infrequent occurrence and then con-
fined to tisticuffs. Shooting and stabbing
ARRAYS are rarely heard of.
OF the foreign element the Scandipayians
are the most important factor, recruited
mostly by emigrants from the lumber
regions of Sweden and Norway.
Travelling so extensively among these
foreigners the idea of grating a Swedish
impersonation on the stage naturally sug-
gested itself to me. To that end / made a
close study Of the race characteristics.
Many an hour have 1 put in with Scan
dinavian lumbermen, observing their
quaint dialect and odd traits of character.
Their most distinctive points are stolidity,
Flooding perseverance and answering
honesty. II is by word among drummers
Ia the northwest that they never fear to
trust Scandinavian merchant for goods.
Those northern people have none of the
volatile, mercurial temperament of the
Latin races, their passions are not easily
swayed, but once aroused, either III anger
or Joy they burn a white heat-it is then
that the old Viking spirit flashes for
awhile-the fierce, tempestuous spirit of
those brave, warlike natures, that dreamt
of heaven as a never-ending tableau OF
wars and victory and glory.
The fourth performance of ga Straight
Tip went before somewhat meagre audi
ence last night. The truth is that people
are growing SO distrustful of farce comedies
that the lew deserving ones in the class
have TO suffer with all the rest. Powers
piece is really clever one, or his clever
ness and that of his company made it So
but its printing and notices denote that il
belongs in the category of farce comedy
and people won't go to see it-for all they
know that Powers is out of the general
run. The public wants standard drama
the drama that is presented by an al
around good stock company of the Lyceum
Palmer and Daily type-and the day of the
Hustlers, Rustlers and Ink Rollers is al
but done and over with.
From all over the land come the report,
of bad business in theatrical circles. New
York, Chicago, Boston and San FRANCHISES
are said to be the only ones among the bi.
cities where any profit is to be relied on
Two hundred and forty six organization.
went out of New York at the opening of
the season, and already eighty hrve been
"callsd back by the force of circumstan.
ces. Most of the eighty belonged to the
farce comedy variety, and if this can bs
taken as an indication that the sun of farce
comedy is setting, we shall not be deepl,
panied to go on recording the return OF
more of the stranded ones.
In Ogden, that nsrvy manager MIR