The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-02-01

n earnest, honest desire Tor ndIural-
~ ness has led modern playwrights
into ending their plays sadly. OF
late the audiences, at the Salt Lake
theatre especially, have been going
home with tear-stained countenances.
They tell us that the sad ending is
the natural ending; but is it so?
Is human life so full of tragedy as
all that? Do no men and women IN
this world conquer the ills that beset
them and live happily ever after ?
If the questions could be truthfully an
5Wered in the affirmative, what a
weary. weary world this would be, and
how glad every one of us should be
to quit it, Comparatively few of us
however, are so pessimist1c as TO De
lieve the play must end sadly TO De
true to life
Let US take "Zaza," for instance. A
strong play it is, and strongly pre-
scented by Miss Florence Roberts and
her company. Was it necessary for
''Zaza'' TO end so badly? Would man
and a woman in real life who loved
each other as did Zaza and Bernard
have gone cropping through life apart?
Not today. Bernard would have gone
to South Dakota for a divorce, and,
having secured it, he would have mar
ried Zaza and all would have been
we'll
her heart? Hardly, for women in her
class very rarely break their hearts
over any man. L came into TINS
world wrong. but I'm going out of il
right" said SaphO. How could she &c
out of the world right by entering into
a loveless marriage contract? Would
your real life woman have done it?
The unwelcome Mrs. Hatch died
at the moment she was reclaimed by
her daughter. JOY very rarely kills II
an
stage? Would not the play be i'm
proved if the curtain fell at the mo-
ment mother and daughter are claspeC
in loving embrace2 Certainly the au
dience might have been spared tina
agonizing death scene without materia
injury to the play.
Oh, yes. we like to be narrowed oc
casionally; we like for our hearts t
be wrung and our eyes to be moist
ened, but, after all, the best play i
the play that sends us away happy
There is tragedy in the off-stage land
plenty of it. but there is much NOR
of JOY if we look for it. Sad ending
natural? Well, perhaps one in a hun
bred.
Manager Curtis of the Florence Rob
erts company is an old timer in tn
theatrical business. During his thirty
nine years Of stage experience he Ia
been everything, from call boy to lead
ing man, and he has enjoyed the &C
quaintance OF every actor and actres
of prominence since the war. Mr. Cur
It's knew John Wilkes Booth very we
indeed. Booth was recalled to hiT
through a dispatch published in tn
Herald which told of the death in In
dian Territory, of a man who elaine
TO be Booth.
That fellow was no more Booth tha-
you are" said Mr.. Curtis. II person
a lnrl hot
" after he assassinated Lincoln. Hi
body was brought back to Washing
ton. thoroughly identified and burie
in quickiime in the jail yard. I knee
Booth well, and a charming fellow h
was. He was so gentle, so kindly, thu
when I heard he was the assassin c
President Lincoln I could not credit tn
report.
Edwin Booth was never the sam
after that tragedy. 1t Swallowed an
darkened his whole life, and believe
had much to do with his DEATH
Manager Curtis visited Salt Lake las
in 1886 as the manager of the origini
Hermann, the magician. It was i
midwinter and the mud was so dee
that he had to wear wading boot
Hermann became angry because hi
audience would not lend him handkel
chiefs and rings and other articles f.
use in his tricks, and rang the curtai
dOWn- 1hen MI GURUS MADE SpeeC
from the stage, in which he implore
the people to assist the magician. H
talk had the desired effect and the sho
went on.
Manager Pyper of the Salt Lake tn,
atre has received notice that Hele
Grantley has abandoned her tour. 81
was starring in The Girl and Il
Judge" and was booked for the ear
spring season. Miss Grantley plays
katherine to Charles 3. Hanford's p
trucchio in Tanning the Shrew' he
last season
An unusual feature about the col
tract between the Theatre and the WI
liam Gillette company is that it +
quires the removal of all the regul
footlghts and the border lights. The