The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-28

Salt Lake City. June q.
Dear Old Boy:
I grieve TO see that your last letter
has a distinct tinge of blue about it,
and, 1 am in despair when you say
that you are hungrily waiting for the
next batch of diary leaves to pull you
up. You can't know what you're say
Ing Do you realize that we are in
the height of the AT Liberty sea-
son? That the theatre is invested with
the silence of morgue; that the grass
is waving in the lobby of the Grand;
that people are pulling UP to get out
of town, and that the mountains and
the lake are making everyone forget
there ever We're such things as indoor
amusements? All this we are in the
midst of, and yet you look 10 me to
brighten you UP a bit with a lot of
theatrical gossip" My poor Hal! Your
life on the Nevada Sahara is a whirl-
wind of excitement compared to mine
in these days. and right gladly would l
exchange lots with you. But better
days are at hand. l hope. The car
nival sounds are IN the air, and next
week we shall see all the Thespians
who came home TO rest trotted out in
benefit performance al the theatre,
while John Rogers house will indulge
in a scenic production. So don't lose
heart; the next letter may atone for
this.
Saturday, Midnight.
l draw my pencil through the dates
of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday; that Indicates silence, vacu-
um, inertia. torridness beyond enduT-
ing. / come down TO Friday and revive
q. little. Two or three thousand people
woke up and divided themselves be-,
tween the lake, where "Pinafore" was
going on, on a real ship, in real wa
ter that threatened real seasickness on
the part of the chorus girls; and the
Assembly hail. where George Piper
was receiving his well-merited testi-
monial from his friends and we'll
wishers. l hesitated some time be-
tween the two and then cast my lot
with Pyper. The programme was
dainty, artistic, and nine numbers
just right for summer night-but the
auGience-or parts of it-tried to spoil
ii all by frightening it out to fifteen
or eighteen. But it was less the pro-
gramme, good as it was, that at
tracted me, than the reflection of the
strange changes brief time has
brought about in this community
changes which were so well illus ,raled
in this testimonial concert. Only to
think of a Mormon missionary taking
a benefit and of the Tribune giving
him a handsome editorial send off,
OF the swell GENTLE singing club
turning out to aid in the programme,
in the heartiest fashion possible, and
OF the United States marshal not only
taking part in the concert, but lending
ii the most generous kind of aid. Mr..
Pyper's personal popularity. one will
say; but four or five years ago the
man who 11-o1,id, have stood nm
said such thing could transpire in
Utah within the r.eXt generation,
would have been sneered at as a Wis
ionary fool. Nest blessed change,
say /
But this is q 5igression. Mr.. Brig
ham was the feature of the night, and
his fiuty voice exercised all the old
magic of the Sampson of Omaha"
Gays. Has he forgotten that Union
Pacific idyl, l wonderi The pro-
gramme was ali excellent. but ercores
were not Instituted for June, July or
August. Tne two gifted twentieth
ward girls q had almost said twentieth
century girls, they are so advanced
are admirable pianists. Their only mis-
take was their encore; no response
should ever be as long as the original.
which Mr.. Goddard appreciates. Mr..
Pyper was at his best at the last, not
at the first. 1t was handsome tribute
to him, and 70 one would begvudge
him the receipts if they had been a
thousand dollars.
''Pinafore." One loses sight of the
performance altogether in the memories
it inspires. All, met il suggests the
sere and yellow when one owns UP to
having been one, of the original sisters.
cousins and aGnfs who "gaily tripped
and lightly skipped it in the blithe
days Of rs! Let me see. Mrs. 10
Siegel was the Josephine, and Rome
McAlIister the "audacious tar:" Dr.
White, the ideal Sir Joseph; Charley
Huey. the very untuneful bos'n; Ed.
Snalgrove. his mate; Sallie Olsen then,
now Mrs. Langford, the buxom But
the captain; Lizzie Sanders, the Hebe /;
Ed Jones, the Deadeye-whateve be-
came OF him, / wonder? Professor
Careless was the director. Krouse and
s. ephens were unknown in those days,
and the sisters, cousins and aunts were
the Salt Lake bellies of those days
the mothers and matrons of these
Salt Lake was virgin soil for amateur
opera, and the town went mad over
the production. Money was plentiful,
business good. and "Pinafore" set the
Philharmonic on its feet. Beautifully
was il done, too. and it is small Won
Ger that the "Pinafore' craze was
greater at It's height than the TTilby
craze ever became. AS for the Pima
fore OF this week, it is amusing and,
seen on the water at night, pictur-
esque Musically. it can't but suffer in
the open air. and what will happen
when thu breezes blow it is hard to
say. While calm weather lasts it is
more than worth paying q visit to see.
MARGE.