The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-11
BY FRANKLIN FYLGS

fair listener is affected just as he means
she SHAH be When the trunk is ready
Crane offers TO write the tag for it, She
gives him the Berkshire address. But
when the tag is tied to the trunk she
reads, Mrs. Peter Percival Rines,
Skifalay Montana" She lets it go az
that. and so the fond old man wins a
bride for his grandson. That IS the
most fahcious passage Of the play,
IN both writing and acting.
The drama with which Orrin Johnson
becomes a star actor IS taken from Miss
Rives' Heart Courageous" and con-
tains romantic comedy and incidental
melodrama. Johnson embOdies the no.
bleman who brought French aid TO the
American revOlutiOnists, as il was in
history. and cOncurrently loved a beau
tiful maiden, as it is in the Rives fic-
non. His adventures with British foes
In Virginia, and while delivering the
vital message to the continental con-
gress in Philadelphia. are transferred
to the stage with episode strength; and
some Of the characters, notably Patrick
Henry, are delineated Q with graphic
truth; but the story is dim in spots and
the motives haZy. The hero and the
heroine, as set forth on the stage, are
too lovely for anything but adulation.
Mr.. Johnson may dislike to be described
for his looks instead of his art. but 4
fact is a fact, and he is the. handsomest
Of all our star actors. That Familiarity
photographed actress. Maude Fealy.
pictures all that Miss Rives wrote of
the Virginia bellies ioveifness. So
young Johnsons fervid alteration is
given TO the still younger and very
beautiful sweetheart. Youthfulness has
seldom had higher value in a play
which, of itself, is not nearly what it
should be. I saw it on a Wednesday
afternoon, when the theatre, a big one.
was crowded by an audience mainly
feminine. Crane is an actor who ap-
peals to men, Johnson is one who cap
uyates women and girls. have never
seen case Of more remarkable matinee
ldolatry. Truly, Johnson is now on
Broadway pedestal
s.
The makers of the stage version of
Hearts Courageous" L think mistak-
emily, have used for the duel of their
play the one which, carry in the novel.
is fought by the hero and a drunken
bully who insults the name of George
Washington. They have amalgamated
with il the desperate and more conse-
quential fight which Miss Rives de-
scribes as having occurred in a Phil
adelphia inn on the day of the signing
Of the Declaration of Independence.
And, oh, Isn't it a rousing duel? For
novelty. duration and excitement it
beats the one with which Kyrle Bel
lew made. the fortune of "AGentleman
of France wherein he vanquished four
ruffians and sent them headlong down
stairway. Johnson and his antagOn-
list cross swords in the sitting room Of
a Virginia tavern. fight their way out
Of sight through an open doorway,
cross past some windows at the back
and enter by a doorway opposite. to
complete the combat in the centre of
the stage. The clash OF the rapiers
while the duelists are momentarily in
visible, and the behavior Of several sill
ent characters who look down on the
fight outside from a balcony. are de-
vices that heighten and sustain the
AUDIENCES breathless interest. can't
see why people permit themselves to be
so thrilled by music duels, but they do:
and that is lucky for Mr.. Johnson and
Hearts Courageous"
Vaudeville has just gained the at
tentiOn Of some New Workers who or
dinarily give no heed TO il. This il has
done at a concert hall called the Circle
With the wife of Doctor Baey, a resi-
dent Of the fashionable neighborhood