The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-29
THE VAUDEVILLE THEATRE

edwin. Milton Royle in the October Serb
ner's Magazine. New York. Condensed
for Public Opinion)
The vaudeville theatre is an Ameri-
can invention. There is nothing like it
anywhere else in the world. 1t is neither
the cafe chantant, the English music
hall, nor the German garden. What has
been called by variety of names, but
has remained always and everywhere
pretty much the same-reeky with
smoke, damp with lbations, gay with
the informalities of the half worlds
now doing business with us under the
patronage of the royal American fam
lily.
A holiday to an American is a serious
affair." so the doors of the theatre are
open and the performance begins when
most people are eating breakfast; $3.50
a. m. is not too soon for the man who
pursues pleasure with the same inten-
sity he puts into business There are
no reserved seats, so one must come
first to be first served. One may go in
at $3.50 a. m. and stay until 1880 at
night. If he leaves his seat. though,
the nearest standing socialist drops
into it and he must wait for a vacancy
in order to sit down again. Not over 2
per cent of an audience remains longer
than to see the performance through
once, but there are persons who secrete
campaign rations about them, and camp
there from $3.50 a. m. to 1890 p. M,
thereby surviving all of the acts twice
and most of them four or five times.
The character of the e.. -ertainment is
always the same. There is a sameness
even about it's infinite variety. No act
or turn" consumes much over thirty
minutes Everyone's taste is consulted,
and if one objects to the perilous feats
of the aerobats or jugglers ne can read
his programme or shut his eyes for a
few moments and he will be compen-
stated by some sweet bell ringing or
sentimental or comic song, graceful or
grotesque dancing, one-act farce,
trained animals. legerdemain, inperson-
atoms, clay modelling, the biograph pic
lures, or the stories of the comic mono
logist. The most serious thing about
the programme is that seriousness is
barred, with some melancholy results.
From the artist who balances a set of
parlor furniture on his nose to the
academic baboon there is one concen-
trated, strenuous struggle for laugh.
The funniest farce ever written could
not be done at these houses if it had
any of the earnarl1s of the thing in
vogue at many of our first-class the
aires. Said a lady to me: 'tThey (the
vaudeville theatres) are the only thea
tres safe in taking young girl with
out making preliminary inquiries
Though they may offend the taste, they
never offend ones sense of decency."
The vaudeville theatre may be said to
have established the commercial value
of lecency. This is their cornerstone
They were conceived with the object of
catering to ladies and children and
| strange to say. a large, if not the larger
part of their audiences is always men
1T is manifest, / think. that vaude-
vile is very American. It touches us
and our lives at many places. 1t APP
peais to the business man, tired and
worn, who drops in for half an hour on
his way home: TO the person who has
an hour or two before the train goes. or
before a business appointment: to the
woman who is wearied Of shopping: to
the children who love animals and ae-
robats: to the man with his sweetheart
or sister; to the individual who wants
| to be diverted. but doesn't want to
think or feel; to the American of all
grades and kinds whd wants a great
deal for his money. The vaudeville
| theatre belongs to the era of the Depart
ment store and the short story. 1t may
| be kind of lunch counter art. but then
art is so vague and lunch is 50 real.