The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-06
Dear Hal:
March 5.

Dear Hal: March s.
From the superb tabernacle testi-
m0nial to Town Topics" is a big jump,
but that is the gamut we've had to run
this week, touching on the way down at
such notes as Harvest ''Fennel'' and
Broken Ties" Outside of the Steph-
ems event, which was an event in all
that the term implies, there has been
not much coin ratified anywhere. Steph.
ems receipts were $1,100 or $1,000, out
of which he must pay at least 5000 or
$500 for expenses. If $50 more could be
set aside to buy strait jackets for the
encore lunatics who infest the house, a
desperate public would rise up and call
Mr.. Stephens blessed.
There IS just a suspicion that the
town is growing aweary of monkey
shines Of the Town Topics" variety.
Coon songs, high kicks, gags, rough and
tumble horse-Dlay-when will the end
come, or when will someone ring a var
iation on the hackneyed theme?
Whether it be Lent, surfeit or some
thing else. certain it is that Town
Topics" which once would have been
good for packed houses from Monday
to Saturday, has only attracted an or
SAAieS1 ei1AAOUAAl VI ellbGllllOlA Oll lLC PAOS-
ent visit.
The amateurs, like the Jibbeonanas-
sic, are uD again, and their new
achievements have attracted more than
passing attention, though but few
ducats- Undeniably there is stuff of
the right sort scattered through the
company, which must be given decided
credit for the pains it has taken in
staging its plays. Taken up, shaken
and sifted, several clever people would
be found to stand the test. Mr.. Rogers
has the making of a good, earnest juve-
nile actor of the direct, manly sort;
Miss Alice Calder has the true comedy
instinct, and is a diamond as yet some
what in the rough; Miss Annie Calder
can be made a sweetheart of the ro-
mantle style with very little instruc
ton; Mr.. Meakin seems the reciter,
rather than the actor, but has voice
and physique, only needing a vigorous
coacher TO pull him out of himself; the
same might be said of Miss Ferguson,
who has intelligence and intuition, but
is inclined TO the dropping and plain !
tive. I recommend a strict, hard stage
manager, a disciplinarian from the
word go. and under such a tutor the |
next venture by this company would
show a world Cf difference. The old
popular Dramatic club for all its ma
tive talent, would, 1 fear, have given a |
AISl pGllOI very QlntIellI
the one it presented, had it not called |
in the services of David Mckenzie and |
allowed him to put il through a course |
OF the hardest rehearsing an actor of |
the old school knew how to conduct, be-
fore ever venturing before the public. |
The mishaDs of the stage were well |
illustrated in the recent presentation of |
said Pasha," when Mr.. Young's pistol |
absolutely refused to go off, and John |
Spencer accOmmodatingly died without |
receiving so much as q. wad. 1t is a
pity that Mr.. Young did not have the
happy thought" that flashed across
John Mcguire once under the same cir
cumstances: his gun would not dis
charge, though he pulled the trigger
with all his might, and his opponent.
after waiting q reasonable time, fell
down on the stage, whereupon Mcguire
turned 10 the audience and said:
What a, great thing these air guns
are. They make no noise and no smoke,
but they kill a man instantly" The
house Numbered with applause.
MARGE.