The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-10-03

self that I Will not call her by the
coarse. cheap, penny dreadful title of
star" Nobody so deliciCusly Winsome,
so tantaliZingly feminine, and SO amaz-
inGly naive as this daintiast of little
women, should be called a "star''-for
nowadays that word implies diamonds.
a few husbands, and other vulgaritieS
occasionally known as luXuries.
Little Miss Adams did nothing SO
usual as twinkle She delfcately dumi-
mated The Little Minister" and
stamped a highly romantic career with
the impress of her exquisite PERSONAL
ity- Personality, What a treasure 1t
Isl It cannot be bought; it cannot be
acquired: it cannot be absorbed in les
sons; it cannot be initiated. The world
loves personality. The world woos
personality. And in little Maude Adams
it is bright, distinct undaniabla and
enYiable. We saw it last night as it
was allowed to dominate We mad seen
it before, quietly subdued, tenderly held
in allegiance, in honor of Mr.. John
Drew. But at the Empire, on this &C.
CASTOR, Miss Adams was allowed fulI
sway. Her name adorned the pro-
granlIne in large letters (for this is a
vulgar age, and the audience was sat
isfied TO listen to nobody else. 1t was
all Maude Adams The theatre talked
But you are waiting to hear without
any higihfalutln business of the new
venture was q success. You are in
hurry. You are rushing d9Wnto 81
the elevated, and You have promised
Wife to take her tonight to see The
Little Minister" if it's a go" And
that is Where I come in. Right here
let me say that from the moment the
play opened there was not very much
doubt as to its merit. At tine end of
the third act the luminous word Sue
cess!' stood forth conspicuously in tsae
minds of all. The applause was spon-
taneouS-l know the exact odOr of an
plauSle; l can smell its genuineness-
and little Miss Adams was called again
and again 70 the front. And this vas
not due TO the glamour of her past. If
she had been playing in London, where
they don't know her, or in Johaunes-
burg, South Africa, where they have
never heard of her, her reception would
nave been very similar Her work was
very nearly perfect. In fact, it had
Just the charm of net being quite per-
feet that we all love. Hans perfez,-
ton! 1t is cold and a clammy thing.
The Little Minister gave Miss
Adams opportunities to he fluffy and
1eathery, to make simmeringly sensual
love TO tinl1le forth fond little feninini-
ties. and to dance her way into the
heart Of previously sedate gentleman
of the cloth 1t caused her 10 do this
as gypsy in the first instance, and 10
gradually reveal her charms in this
garb TO the happy Lothario And how
she Wooed himl st. Anthony himself
would have fallen. She caioled him
she petted him, she laughed at him. she
danced at him, she sang at him, ana
she captured him. How he could have
ever mistaken her for a gypsy no au
dience on earth viii ever know. Blu
it was fortunate that he did OtherNise
we might not have had THE Litu
Minister You can fol size any inco.l-
gDrity when the play is good 1t is on
~ when the play is had that you tu!
on the faucets OF your logic and swamp
il.
And then ensues the good old story
that we arc all alike when it has Il new
kink in it, They fan in love = plet-
tily as lover and his lass have eve.
done. If there were nothing in 9TH
Little Minister" hut the love scenes he .
tween B2bbie and Dishart, the play
would be destined to succeed, for they
are as poetic and as sweet as any !
have ever seen. The tea-drialiRg in
Mamie Webster's cottage is an intel
Ieetuai treat. Il vas tea TO Bab5ie /
and nectar to the audience. And in The
third act-a remarkably clever act
Dishart pursues his gypsy to her faith /
er's house and discovers his Identity. !
The cid Scotch law that proclains Il
man and woman husband and wife [
when they have been introduced to wit (
nesses as such is called iEto play, and /
furnishes 4 denouement that is capital |
" devised and most ingeniously han
died.
IN fact, as I said before, THE LII
tie Minister" is a real play. It has no (
purpose but to charm. 1t has no prob (
lem to set forth in lurid characters 1t |
IS not SCATTERED with epigrams it is /
not interlarded with tires0me "charac-
ter" sketches. 1t is the story of win |