The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-03-05

Apropos of Joaquin Miller's appear
ance at Keith's continuous perform
ance theatre, Alan Dale makes a few
remarks in his usual interesting and
piquant style. He describes the APP
pearance of the Poet of the Sierras, :"
objects to his Santa Claus makeup,
and deplores the fact that Mr.. Miller
is forced to seek his nuggets thus. after
his return from the KlOndike, but wise
ly concludes that this is the poets own
affair. 1t seems that Mr.. Miller ends
his act by singing an Indian dirSe,
Which certainly deSn't sound dS though
il would be particularly cheerful, and
Alan Dale says it wasn't. In fact, it
is apropos of this very song" that he
wonders why the Cornish inquest ism
held at Keith's, as the continuous aud
fences seem to stand anything.
Well, it is truly astonishing how
many incongruous things are done to
catch the public in these degenerate
days. And they are not by any means
confined to. the vaudeville houses,
either. There, one has become accustonl-
ed to expect novelties, as well as in
consistencies. But on the legitimate
stage, also, one occasionally finds much
TO wonder at For instance, many have
taken exception to Lewis Morrison's
portrayal of Mephisto, because Of the
up-to-date slang, etc, which he intro
duces.
There certainly is no doubt that it
detracts from the artistic value of the
performance, yet. on the other hand,
the audience takes a huge delight in
the gags" and modern expressions. AS
may be expected from an actor of Mr..
Morrison's standing, he has a reason
for so violating the original conception
of the famous part. When he first
1,a
phisto as was originally intended-in
the classic style, as Irving played it.
But he very soon found out that this
was not interesting to the average aud
fence. and he came near to starving IN
consequence. 1t was then that he de-
cided TO make Mephisto a slangy, up
to-date person-place him nearer to his
audiences, as it were. Since then he
has known nothing but success. In
speaking of it, Mr. Morrison says that
he was perfectly aware IL wasn't art,
and all that, but 1t was case of bread
and butter. and it is better to give peo-
pie what they want, even at a sacrifice
of artistic principles, than to starve. 1t
was for the same reason that the final
tableau was changed. IN the original
version, Faust goes down with MephiS-
to. which seems but right and proper,
for did he not make the bargain him
self? But the audience rebelled-it left
a bad taste in the mouth and [ dare
say they thought that poor Faust had
had a sufficient share of Hades right
here on earth At any rate, again Mr..
Morrison shrugged his shoulders and
said: Let them have their way" so
ever since Faust has gone upwards,
along with Marguerite. and Satan has
been obliged to descend alone.
John Philip Sousa is another artist
who has been criticised for his poses
and Alterations. which are classed as
But here, also. one must
remember the delight of the audience
when he turns and bends as though to
express the character of the music rem
dered. During q tySo-step he always
looks as though he is ali ready to do a
and every movement is stud
led with view to its effectiveness. But |
ali this was, no doubt. done with a view
of increasing his popularity. for there
is no doubt that it makes him doubly
10 his audiences. one can
the tendency. This busy
world Of today wants to be amused, and |
isn't looking out for the preservation of |
high artistic principles.
Mrs. Robert Osborn, q. society wo-
man, under the necessity of earning |
her own living, has introduced the lat |
est novelty in the entertainment line 1
into New York. She appreciates the 1
ribly dull TO society, SO she devised a |
series Of musical teas" to be given at !
the WaldOrf-Astoria. Society well /
coined the innovation, and ACCORDINGLY |
10 Mrs. Osborn's first tea in |
large numbers, thankful for an excuse I
20 kill the afternoon. The tea was ex- (
cellent, likewise the music. The La /
dies Orchestral society and Madame
Saville were the attractions, and the
affair was a great success.
But unlooked-for interference came,
In the form of the Society for the Pro-
lection of the Sabbath, or something
Of similar name. This organization
wrote scathing letters TO Mrs. Osborn.
and also sent her her portrait, clipped
from one Of the newspapers, with every
available space thereon filled with
warming texts and Biblical references.
The society also made it known that
while the tea was going on, they were
10 meet, and spend the time praying
ror the failure of the scheme 1t seems
-ather late in the day to pray for the
allure of Sunday entertainments in
New York. after all the years that Mr..
Maurice Grau has been giving Sunday
at the Metropolitan. Mrs Os-
BORN says they singled her out because
she is a woman, but il seems that the
prayers availed not, for the second tea
vas more largely attended than the
irst.
1t seems pity that there should be