The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-11-22
= , = , y , y , ~
THIS WEEK AT
The THEATRES

=
: SALT LAKE THEATRE :
. Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday =
= and Wednesday matinee, "The =
= Dairy Farm; Thursday matinee ?
= and evening, Friday, Saturday =
= matinee and evening, Foxy >
= Grandpa
GRAND HEATRE-Tonight =
= Held's band concert; Monday, ?
2 Tuesday, Wednesday matinee ?
> and evening, ''Mr. Jolly Of Jol- ,
= iet''; Thursday matinee and y
> evening, Friday, Saturday matt =
= nee and evening, Joe Kelly in >
p ''The Headwaiters." =
%+%+ = = , = = = 4 , = = p =
NEW YORK, Nov. 1S.-The failure
Y of a new play may be as interest
ing as a success, particularly TO
those who like to look for the why and
the wherefore. Major Andre" is an
illustrative case. That drama was
written by Clyde Fitch years ago, and
was under consideration by various
managers and actors. to be accepted
finally by Frank Mckee as a means
of making a star of Arthur Byron. 1t
will be performed ten nights and then
consigned 20 the limbo Of dascos. We
shall soon forget that the most pros
porous of American dramatists ever
wrote such thing. Who remem berS
that David Belasco's "The Younger
SON. was discarded by his own hope
less consent after five performance?
Now that Major Andre has been
rejected. we can all see clearly enough
the impOssibility of making the unfOr-
tunate British officer stage hero here,
H.
II is I'm vain that MI. Fitch insists, in
the Introductory passages Of his play.
that Andres errand to West Point was
lawful, that he was a spy in a tech
uical sense only, and that Washington
wouldn't have hanged him If Clinton
hadn't sent Nathan Hale to the gal
lows. The fate of Andre can't be men
toned without reviving our pity and
admiration ofo Hale. Our hero bars
the other martyrs way to theatrical
popularity. Mr.. Fitch has made
strenuous effort. but it Is futile
Tt IS after the condemnation of Major
Andre to death that some of Mr. Fitchs
ingenuity is shown I'm unusual scenes.
Up to that point the play is biOgraph-
ical except i'm its fiction of a New
York girl for the hero to love un-
Tequitedly. Yet she is a sOlace to him
IN his last sad hours. The author util-
ICES her for that purpose cUriOUsly and
enfectually. Andre falls asleep I'm his
chair on the night before his death.
His waking eyes have last rested on a
portrait Of her. which he has painted.
Therefore, she comes into his sleeping
vision He dreams that she is alive in
the picture and speaks 20 him. The
stage is kept black for a minute, and
then a bright light falls on the pOr-
trait The girl leans from the frame
and encourages him with promise
that she VIII walk hand I'm hand with
him when he goes TO the scaffold
James A. Herne's daughter. Crystal
can't act very well as yet, but she is
dcliCately pretty, and she poses and
speaks well in this exhibit. OF course
a vivifed portrait is an old dramatic
trick. but what fl leads TO I'm this In
stance is original with Mr.. Fitch. The
ensuing scene shows Andre on his way
90 the gallows. No voice is heard The
only sounds are a muhled drum and
the tread of marching feet, as the Brit
ish soldiers move before and behind
the doomed man. The girl. I'm a white
robe and looking like a wrath, holds
him by the hand as she glides by his
side. That ghostly sight VIII haunt my
memory long after I have forgotten
everything else in the play.
Arthur Byron. who impersonates An
DIRE well, but hOpelessly. is a son of the
Oliver Doud Byron who. though he be-
gan as a member of the modish Wal
lack company. quit that TO make a
fortune with his sensational nelodrama
OF Across the Continent" and retired
10 Long Branch years ago to multiply
his wealth I'm real estate operations.
Young Arthur's mother was known on
the stage as Kate Byron, and Ada
Rehan and Hattie Russell are his
aunts. He is heir 10 dramatic talent.
II ever a soubrette had a good name
Tor the posters she is FRITZ Scheff.
That short line i'm tall letters win tell
don't you think. that she is frisky ac-
tress? Miss Schem has quit grand
opera this week and gone into comic
opera She was a minor light In the
pretentiOus realm Of stately music, be-
Titled by the vocal giants around her.
and getting few opportunities to dis
play her pTettiness and pertness.
Charles 3. Dillingham; who has come
into theatrical management with some
ones sufficient money to finarce his
ventures. saw I'm FRITZ a hopeful re-
cruit for his band of stars. Now. this
genuine artist has had The time acd
the inclination, in the intervals Of sing
ing in grand opera, TO make numerous
friendly acquaintance among the mo-
dish people who sit I'm the subscribers
boxes; and so. when she made her de-
out as star In Be bette. there was
a fine assemblage Of people who. be-
sides, applauding, knew that they ought
20 cry bravo and not bravo They made
tremendous noise for her. and. If IL
had been at a football match. ] should
call them rooters. And their enthusi-
asm was warranted. FRITZ sh0ne re-
splendently in her new environment.
Her freshness was Infectious "a She is
what the women term cute and cum
ning-slender, graceful agile and an