The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-09-20
BY Franklin FyIes.

n n " jim sept. 1f---ANe lheeNileetl
" stage Of this town has an access 4
of dignity this week Up to Mon
day not a serious new play had been
brought TO Broadway this season, but
ON that evening Stephen Phillipss dra-
matte poem on a Homeric theme. "Uly-
sscs,' was introduced impressively. I
suppose that a reasonable portion Of
its first American audience was appre-
ciative of the composition, which is in
pretentiOns metre running once i'm
Wnle into rhyme. What l am sure OF
II is that the visitors OF Hell were gazed
a with shUddering interest by the en-
tire assemblage- The scenery is the
same that BeerbOlm Trees experts
made for his London production such
an exhibition would not have been pos
sible before electricity was utilized IN
stagecraft. The painted canvas repre-
sents simply i'm sOmbre hues the rocky
sides and roof of a subterranean place.
These surfaces are never move q
dimly visible. The lighting iSalIoSethe
in spots whenever and wherever nceucd
for Weired effect. TPus Ulysses, who
enters by an aperture away up at the
top is kept In sight by 81 reflected IL
Elimination which hardly extends be-
yond his figure and which follows him
throughout the act i'm his slow descent
to the bottom of the awful cavern. The
story Of the play. you may already
know from reading the published book,
is that Ulysses was enthralled by
CALYPSO and held a passionately willing
captive on her island until the friendly
Minerva induced Jupiter to break the
spell and permit him to return to Ithaca
and his wife, Penelope. The condition
of his release is that he shall journey
TO his home by the way of Hell, where
he has to witness the fortunes of the
been adhered to by Mr.. Phillips. Troops
of women who are there because they
have committed suicide, and infants
fOreOrdained to eternal torture, tread
The steaming ground. float in the hot
air and vail dreadfully. At intervals
the famous cOnvicts in this awful pris-
on. such as Agamemnon and PrOmeth-
Gus. are suddenly illumined into view,
one after another, and each tortured
I'm the manner described i'm the ancient
legends. This illustration OF Hell lasts
twenty minutes.
The opening night was eNtrinsiCaliy
interesting by reason Of Rose Coghlan
and Tyrone Power. and not because
the one did well as Penelope and the
other as Ulysses, but owing to their in
dividuaIty. Many of the old timers
present recalled Miss Coghlan as hav-
ing once held a fond place in the Wal
lack succession of brilliant leading ac-
tresses, but for many years she has
been away from Broadway, and she
was welcomed tremendously Finally
she wept with real tears. Mr.. Power
is one of those actors who usually dis
guise themselves unrecognizably in the
characters they assume. and are there
fore unknown personally to their aud
fences. There had been a law suit to
decide whether he might quit Minnie
Madden Fisk's company to accept
Frohman engagement in Ulysses;
So for the first time he found himself
thoroughly advertised to the public.
And he seemed to have seized the op-
portunity to introduce himself as he
really is. He wore no beard. as Mr..
Tree did in London. but showed his
bare face. and he employed no mimicry
I'm voice or action, but played the part
straight as the actors put il. In this
disclosure of himself he reminded me
much of John Mccullough
Not more than once in a thousand
first nights does New York see such
uncontrolled enthusiasm as greeted Ed
ward Harrigan on his return to "the
island where I belong" the city that
once took him up and later threw him
down. It is a peculiar sort of lump-in-
the-throdt welcome home greeting that
the metropolis reserves for favOrites
whom misfortune has overtaken. Some
thing like it greeted Sir Henry Irving
when, defraying financial losses and i'll
health. he came glOTiOusly before US
again in 'RObeSpierre" But as Mon
days audience prolonged its hubbub for
HaTrigan, I could think Of but one oC-
casion equal 20 IL en- the last ten years.
That was upon the temperance Of
Ada Rehan. after two years of retired
mourning for the dead Austin DAILY
and at that time she was i'm money
difficulties, since reversed to wealth.
Each member Of the Harrigan company
was greeted raptUrously; and the eli
max seemed reached when Harrigan
himself appeared. Two minutes Of
noise with voices and hands were not
enough. He had 10 step out Of his
character before ne had spoken a word
of IT,, and give the first Of what turned
out to be an evenings series of speeches
OF thanks. It looked as if the audience
was about to quiet down and give the
new play "A chance when a wagon.
drawn by a shabby old nag brought
good old Annie Y0umans into view.
Here at last was the climax OF mad joy
when Harrigan and Mrs. Yeamans
stood hand in hand. applause and
cheers were not enough now. but things
had to be waved-handkerchie pro-
Erammes, hats, anything
With such acclaim still in my ears.
iJ would be impossible for me to give
YOU an idea OF the plays effect on q
normal audience. It seemed ilCOherent
yet what perfectly constructed drama,
what ClOsest-knit masterpiece Of "A Pr
nero could create an illusion or impress
connected idea. Interrupted every
third minute by personal ovation? 1t
all seemed 10 be very much as of yore
Collyer and Sparks as r lazy negro. and
his lady friend. Mrs Yeamans as a
grimacinR Irishwoman. Harrigan as a
hearty, philosophisinE Irishman Tn
EIaTrigan hUmOr still was forceeul and
rough whether physically with slap
sticks or verbally with indicate jests
Harrigan, for instance, hoped that the
woman he was "cOurtin' would be So
warm as to melt his shirt front And
the story of the play revolved around a
negro corpse that had been some weeks
cut Of grave, and. it being midsun-
mer. simply couldn't be above ground
any longer But it was ever so with
HarriEan. There have been better Har-
rigan plays. and worse. and the fate
Of Under Cover" depends on the pub
lie demand for that old form of enter
tainment
oddly enough, the one i'm this COM
pany who did something that wOuld
make her name. were they all strangers
amongst us. brought few memories or
the old DAYS. Jennie Yeamans has al
ways been to a great extent merely
Annie's daughter and, with "a mother
50 uncOmmouiy comic. it would be diff
G,ult for any actress to be the star OF