The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-02-04
Music and Drama

II Sidney Grundy mad called this play
The Cess Poor instead Of The Degen-
( crates" he would have had name fully
as appropriate and not less forbidding
I The play IS not so degraded 81 its n0men-
ciature might imply. It should really be
known as Mrs. Langtry's Defense" To
approach il with the yardstick of rigid
moral standards is TO condemn. To have
any feeling of appreciation one must take
an extremely charitable attitude and start
out looking for good in the hardened
character OF a worldly world. II is
impossible even with microscopic exam
nation to find any redeeming TRAIT in the
couscienceless schemer, De Loranos or
Lne unScrupulOuSIy mercenarE M0Sentndi
OF the drunken, Drawing, cruel NlscOunt
StornaWay. Neither was there much ap-
. pealing in the wife Of StOrnaway. who
posed as a crushed flower. As this is
supposed 10 be written in a charitable
spirit, let us blame the stage manager
for the way in which Miss Nellie
Malcolm who took she part, stuck her
self around and signed and mOped and
cast ewes upon the ground in such an
eXaEgeTatedly crushed manner that q
person itChed to stick a hat pin into her
10 see If she really would jump and show
any human interest In life. Then there
IS a man with rCpuisive C0untcnance, a
bad heart half lung, eight million
pounds money and a financial luck that
does not desert him. He IS not quite a
degenerate. because ne shows a glimHer
of courtesy at timeS The gabby Mrs
BQldeTO is d harmless soul. Lady
Samaurez is a woman who means all
right but has q jealous mania that nearly
breaks up her happy home. Her huS-
band who doesn't appear to amount to
much, gets tired of II, and seeks game
merely the background Of the three char
acters We are supposed TO admire One
Is the Duke Of Orme, j worldly and Z
manly man, who has Travelled the earth
over and remains a bachelor until middle
life Then there is the heroine, q woman
with q reputation deseTvedly about as Ce
void of spots as leopard. The third is
her daughter, innocent OF the WIckedneSS
into which she is suddenly thrown when
she returns from boarding school TO be
with her mother.
The lesson we are supposed to learn Is,
BE charitable" The effort is made To
show that she heroine. Mrs Treyelyan. is
gOOd-hearted. reckless in her impulses,
but not essentially wicked, careless OF
conyentiOnalties but with a desire 10
protect another woman and with better
nature that IS stirred by her love for the
manly man and by d sudden, realization
of her responsibility TO her daughter She
prevents the jealous husband and wife
from falling out; she loves the duke des-
peFately, and when he proposes and Is ac-
eepted we are glad of it ana hope she
won't change her mind As far as that
Is concerned, We have the comforting
thought that she is growing "a Their old to
get another husband. which should tend
There's the Story. Many read past the
lines. OF the play-whiCh are fun of bright
epigrams-and draw parallel with the
life of the Jersey Lily. Whether the he
rome should BE- Cond0ned or thoroughly
condemned is q question each person must
answer for himself or herself
Mrs. L2ugtry never made pretense Of
being great actress. but in one or two
instances last night she did some artistic
work. One of these is her exit when she
assumes the burden of another woman's
folly. even though she feels she is for
feitiug the respect Of the man she really
loves he support is mediocre. Miss
Helen AmOry is good as the awkward
school girl and Miss Ina Goldsmith as
Lady SamaureZ. The others did nothing
70 distinguish themselves. The house was
iight.
Way Down East, which has been 50
successful the past six years viii open
at the salt Lake theatre tonight. 1t is q
play Of New England lite end viii be
presented as heretofore under the stage
direction l0f Joseph r. Grismer. The play
viii rUnftEe balance Of the week.