The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-15

more damnS in one performance of Sir
Peter Teazle than 1 hear in a year
from 2ctors in their personal CONVERSE
tion with actresses
The same writer's contention is that
the stage is not in any general way,
demoraiz1ng to those connected with it.
Few of the disreputable women en-
gagged in acting got their wickedness
at the theatre Most of them were So
cial Outcasts before they became &c
tresses. They degraded the stage.
Moreover. the daughters of actors, born
to and reared in the glare of the foot
lights, hardly ever contribute to the
scandals which, to indiScriminate read
ers of the news of the day. seem to
Characterize pretty nearly all players.
The exploits in infamy are chiefly those
of women whose reDute was bad be-
fore they ever entered a theatre by the
stage door. The fragrant misbehaVior
IS commonly among the singers and
dancers employed meretriciously, or at
least fndecorOuSly, in comic operas and
eXtraVaganzas, where we can hardly
expect to see public viciOusness accom-
panied by private virtues. The cast
of such pieces" EverybOdys writer
says, ARE largely registers of social
eva In justice to those who live cir
cumspectly there should be plain
speech about those who do not"
The author of "Petticoats and Bayo-
nets" the new play in which Wagon
halls and Kemper are soon to launch
Arthur Byron as star, is no longer a
mystery. 1t is not the work of Bron-
son Howard, Gus Thomas or that of
any of the celebrated dramatists as
many of the wiseacres have guessed
but of Asa NJ. Steele, a literary light
of Philadelphia and at present an IN
known quantity in stageland. The
technical knowledge of Stagecraft of
Which there is said to be ample evil
dence in the manuscript of "Petticoats
and Bayonets, he is said to have ac-
quired by serving a two years appren-
ticeShip as an actor in the Girard Ave
nue. Stock company in PhiIadeIDbia
Mr. Steele is said to have had tho
usual struggles in getting this. his FIRST
play, accepted. He waited until no
/ thence was exhausted and finally turnea
the play into a novel, which vsas
promptly accepted by one of the
monthly magazines. Mr.. Steele is not
permitted TO give the name of the
periodical. but il is understood that If
will appear in the November or De
cember number and continue in serial
form. When the play is presented
however, it will probably be no easy
matter to convince the public that il IS
not dramatized novel. That the plav
has landed with publisher. manager
and actor must be encouraging to the
author.
William H. West has been delving
lately into all sorts Of forgotten lore
bearing upon his professionally has
discovered the origin of the bones !"
in which the end men delight and from
which they are the only living beings
/ who can get any music. West claims
/ that they were the invention of the
/ Chinese emperor Fou Hi the First
/ who lived at what Olive Logan called
/ the 'wake-and-call- early period
/ OF 346S b. G. The minstrel magnate
/ bewails the lowness of public taste in
/ America shown BY the public ir{ffrs,-
ence as to the composition of the
aforesaid homes" He calls attention
to the nicely of taste shown by the
before mentioned Fou Hi, who had his