The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-10

ming. They witnessed one of the very
best spectacular presentations that
have ever been seen in Salt Lake, and
many times over the most pretentious
attraction that has ever been attempt
ed at either of the lake resorts.
THE Carnival Of Madrid" was fully
as successful as pretentious, which is
saying a great deal; built upon a slen-
der thread of a plot, just sufficient to
lend an air of romance and give occa-
sion for the introduction Of the special
ties which form the principal features
OF the performance, it proved equally
as entertaining and enjoyable as pre-
tentlous and successful. There were
nearly 200 people engaged, and all
We're so admirably trained that not a
hitch occurred.
The production. as the public has
been made aware through advance
mention, is given on an immense plat
form, 100 by 200 feet in dimensions.
which was built for the occasion and
which is located some 200 feet to the
east of the pavilion and north of the
railroad pier. On the platform, or
stage, is erected in the rear the castle
royal, home of Don de Pareja, a board
structure, painted to represent the
stone castle of ancient Spanish DAYS,
with battlements and colonades, which
give it the semblance of what it is
supposed to represent in more realism
than is ordinarily attained in the aver
age production of the kind.
From the massive doors in the center
of the castle emerge the performers,
I, the ballet and all the personages who
N5articipate, to perform their various
feats in the open before the assemblage
of dignitaries. for the carnival is sup
posed to be a fete given for the especial
delectation of the alcade. or mayor of
the commune, and his invited guests,
the occasion being the celebration of
the wedding of the alcade's niece to
wealthy duke.
The performance begins with the ar
rival Of the bridal party and the we'd
ding guests, who march in attended by
toredorS, amazonS. royal body guard
and peasants, all gorgeously attired.
While the dignitaries, members of the
bridal party and guests range them
selves at one side. the ballet executes
numerous evolutions and figures in
marching, and then the show begins. for
Which the alcade has secured the best
talent among acrobats, gymnasts,
dancers, ETC., that can be obtained. and
an hour of specialTies follow, in which
are to be seen some of the best people
in their line to be found anywhere.
= During the performance a band dis
COURSES excellent music, and no tagging
is permitted. but one act follows an
other in such rapid succession that
great amount OF entertainment is
crowded into the hour.
Cabellos, down on the bills as the
liking of the high wire" gives an ex-
cellent exhibition on the slack wire,
followed by the ballet of the toredors,
in which the marching is done most
admirably. Rosello follows with
nondescript dance, in which he mingles
some exceedingly difficult contortion
acts with his dancing, keeping time
the while to the music. The Laverne
brothers give an excellent trapeze per-
Torrance, and then comes another bal
let, after which Waiter White does
more things on g safety bicycle than
the average scorcher ever dreamed was
possible His performance was one of
the features Of the evening, as was
also the act which followed. This was
a most daring piece Of work A wire
cable is stretched from one of the up
per towers Of the pavilion to the stage,
and on this Mons Turbers rides or
slides the entire distance suspended
from q pulley block and holding only
by his teeth. More than one gasp came
from the crowd as the daring aerialist
shot like q. flash down the steep in
cline and landed safely.
Van Ness and Media performed Sc
ries Of eccentric gymnastic feats, while
Demonica. the human frog, went
through some most exciting contor-
tons. The brothers LIE Rose. made up
as Cinnamon, did a wonderful aero
battle act and were followed by Made
moiselle Giovini in a pleasing exhibit
ton of dancing in hoop of flame and
skipping the rope. The last speciality
was perhaps the best on the pro-
gramme. 1t was an exhibition of
strength by team named Johnson
and Lundin, and the way they juggled
with solid iron spheres, which an ordi-
nary individual could hardly lift, was
simply astounding. They closed their
act by the former making a horse of
himself, across which a teter board
was placed. and an even dozen heavy
men balanced themselves
The speciality performance over, the
theme of the plot was REQUIRED to- The
party retired 10 the castle and the
character Ferdinand, who had selected
the occas sion to wreak vengeance upon
~ the alcalde for putting to death some
soldier companions. stole forth from
his hiding place, steals the alcalde's
niece from her intended bridegroom,
,lIaces her safely in a boat and ignites
the fuses to the bombs with which he
intends To- destroy the castle and its
villainous master He succeeds and
a pyrotechnical display follows. That
of last evening was very beautiful and
furnished a most satisfactory close of
an excellent performance, Batteries of
rockets. candles. zig gags, etc, and
innumerable set pieces lighted up the
night scene and kept the heavens
aglow for a space of fifteen minutes
with varicolored lights, which had
gorgeous effect as viewed across the
water, the reflections in which We're
scarcely less brilliant than the original
effects.
AS a whole the performance was one
OF great excellence-not a feature but.
was of the highest grade-and could
only have been improved upon by
more light, the Illumination not being
adequate to enable the audience TO see
everything distinctly. This, however,
the spectators made allowances for on
the opening night, and confined their
complaints against the fact that all
A,Seating space was reserved and an
extra charge had to be paid or stand
UP. The result was that but small
percentage Of the crowd sat down. The
weeks business would doubtless be
considerably larger were the seats fur
nfshed free.
SPECIAL CARNIVAL EXCURSIONS,
Via Rio Grande Western Railway.