The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-14


= inimitable Hebrew character 4
> and play, "The Auctioneer." \
At the Grand Eugene Cowles =
= and his grand concert company ?
+ appear Thursday evening. =
= Except for these attractions =
4 and the regular band concert at 4
= the Grand tonight, both houses =
= will be dark. =
++A%&%@&@@&&@&%@%%%
TT is a strange fate that requires a
man to act funny under any and
all circumstances. Last Friday
the opening night of Primrose & Dock
stader's minstrels it was actually ira
gic to the few who knew the condition
of things to see Lew DocBstader work
out in his mOnOlOgue.
Arriving here in the morning after
hard all-night trip from Grand juno
ton, having been unable TO get
sleeper at any cost, the minstrel found
n lot of private business awaiting him
that demanded immediate attention.
He missed his lunch and would not
take the time to eat dinner, trying 70
satisfy himself with sandwich
grabbed from a counter early in the
day. He waited until the last minute
before hurrying to the Theatre. By
the time he arrived there, he was weak
and exhausted and his head began to
ache. 1t gave him more trouble as
each minute went by, until finally he
was in the throes Of a genuine case Of
acute neuralgia.
a doctor was summoned. Messen-
gers were dispatched for drugs and
medicines. The head was bathed in
all sorts of solutions. 1t got no bet
ter. The manager was frightened
half out of his wits by his own sugges-
tion that perhaps Lew" wouldn't be
able to go on. And il was getting
mighty near the hour for his mono
logue turn. Out in front a house
filled from surface to dome was look
ling forward eagerly to Dockstader's
turn. The head got no better. The
trouble seemed only to increase with
each succeeding effort to allay it.
But the minstrel man. moaning with
pain, was helped into his famous mis-
lit. and when the minute arrived he
came on the stage. He had to tell
jokes, sing comic songs. roll around
On the floor, stand on his head and all
that sort of thing, but he did il, some
how, and only three people in front. in
Guiding the manager. knew what the
man was going through. The crowd
laughed with him and at him, while
DOckstader was suffering one of the
worst torrents known to man.
There was striking illustration of
the irony of fate in an actors life at
Victoria, b. G, a couple of months ago.
The victim was no less d parsonage
than the veteran Louis James. With
Mr.. Warde he entered the opera house
On this particular night to get into his
hideOus makeup of CaIiban in 1.-The
Tempest" The two stars had hardly
entered their dressing rooms wken a
telegraph messenger came in with two
dispatches, one for each.
Here's great news" cried Warde.
jumping up with his dispatch in hand.
Lou, congratulate me, I'm a grand
father. There's a new baby back
home"
My God. Fred, read this. My
mother is dead was the reply.
The grand old gov nor" though so.
was affected as a boy of 90 He had
lost his best friend in the whole world
and there he was, donning the garb OF
the most awful Of Shakespeare char
acters. The house had been sold out.
The audience was in front. James
was in tears. To dismiss the house
would mean much and the public
would not, of course. listen to an un-
w oNuu9- mere WAS npl0lnS Tor the
actor TO do but play his part, and he
did 50; with what effort can hardly be
imagined.
But whether the fact itself or the oc-
currence of the next morning was the
most lamentable may be questioned.
At breakfast Mr.. James picked up the
paper and read these agonizing lines
from some laundering critic: Mr..
James ruined an otherwise first-class
performance as usual. by his insane
desire to josh the other players and
turn Shakespeare's serious lines into
ridiculous self-inteTpolated comedy"
That was the cruel stroke and it al
most broke the 'gov'nor's" heart. Yet
they ask, What is yeputation?"
But lets speak of pleasanter things
and there are pleasanter things tC
speak of this morning. Lew Dockstad-
er recovered from his neuralgia attack
with a good meal and some rest. and
unfolded the prize story of the season
With Happy" Cal Wagner who
CHANGED 70 be in town yesterday on
business for the Milwaukee & st. Pau
road, he was going over some expert
ences encountered in earlier days
Wagner had finished telling how old
Burgess lost one of his stuffed shoes
through the kindness of a practica
Joker one night, and couldn't raise Z
single smile in his monologue, owing
to the absence Of the shoe.
"Wen. you talk about funny things
that have happened in minstrel shows,
remarked Dockstader, Il ran into ths
limit. 1t was in the town of Talbotton
Ga. in '92, / think. The curtain haC
Just gone up and the Introductory over.
ture was in progress. when the judge Of
the supreme court, the jury and
the lawyers in a celebrated murder
trial filed into the opera house, walked
calmly onto the stage and took seats
next TO the fOotlights. The show was
interrupted by the judge and a scene