The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-02-28

Miss Aliens voice is strong c0ntralto.
her outlines are not undiszuisabiy
feminine, and 50 she was able TO make
the deception sound ana look posssi-
bic. Unimpeachably good, toe. was
her Interpretation OF the char
aeter- Her early training for the stage
had been IN blank verse, giving TO her
certain formaHties of speech aud man
ner detrimental IA modern roles, but
charmingly suitable to this classic. The
news was given out that Miss Allen
had sore ear and might be compelled
70 let q surgeon get at il. But hardly
an actress nowadays ueglects the au-
vertising value Of an operation, wheth-
er for a corn or appendicitis, and VIC
guessed that Viola, dear was merely
lifting an imaginary scaipei from be-
low her d0elt line 10 the lever Of her
brain.
Our incredulity proved TO be cruel.
Her life was in danger. She had to
close the theatre and go TO 3 hospital.
Her luck is sadly bad, but il would be
worse il she were not really rich and
famous. She had a fine start with Sal
yini when yet q young girl and was
thereafter fer several years at the lead
Of the Empire stock company, which
she Quit to go a-starring in TIE
Christian" q fortunate choice Of
play for her purpose. because It's re
ligious title and subject enabled her to
gain popularity beyond ordinary the
atTical boundaries. She did not fail TO
cultivate this extension Of field. Did
YOU happen to see that magazine p0r-
trait 70 her, with piety in her face and
Christian grace in her pose, while I'M
derneath was printed. Miss Viola Al
len thinking Of her charitable work ?"
| However, 1t told no lie. She IS both
moral and religious. For several terms
I she was president of the Twelfth Night
club, a social organization of altogether
Unscaudalized actresses. Now, if she
were a quite commercial self-exploit-
! er, wouldn't she have utilized that
/ Twelfth connection to boom her
Twelfth Night" play? That she knows
how TO look out for her business inter-
ests is shown by her withdrawal from
/ her managers Liebler & Co, because
they chose Eleanor Robson instead Of
4 her to put into "Romeo and Juliet"
I Edith Wynne Matthison is the Viola
/ this week on the stage from which Miss
Allen had to remove her fine scenic out
, fit. Twelfth Night" is now placed
there, by the grace OF Charles Froh-
man. in the Elizabethan manner, or as
/ nearly ike that as anyone knows how
/ to do it-except as to the certainty that
! there were no actresses in those days,
/ and the herOines were played by boys.
! We had a revival Of Romeo and Ju-
/ liet" last year, with scenes placarded
for what our imagination was asked to
see in them. A barren platform was
occupied partly by lOunging patrons Of
the drama. The result was interesting
in a way. but ludior0us, too, as the
company was scant in talent. In the
lpresent exhibition of Twelfth Night
a large stage is set to represent the
great hail of the Middle Temple, Lon
don, as it was when the comedy was
introduced there in 1891. The play is
backed and sided with some degree OF
| architectural fmpressiveuess, though
no change is made and it is given III
one unbroI1en stretch, save for an in
PERMISSION of about three minutes. And
the players are those who were brought
from England last season with Every
man." the religious ailegory-
| Shakespearean devotees ought to md
! delight in this illustration. and 1 doubt
not that they Go. 1t is educational and
/ satisfactory. All Of the Shakespeare
text is given save some that is too in
decent to be uttered before folks. Miss
Matthieson is an elocutionary actress
not young nor beautiful and not
genius, but comparable with our Miss
Shaw and Mrs. Lemoyne for ability
to SPEAK. meaningly. Ben Greet, man
agek Of the company, which has foI
years been maintained in England for
outdoor theatrical service, appears
inteIIiSentIy as MaIvoIio. But with al
! the profundity Of my respect for the
faithful achievement, while 1 was VII
Messing it, my mind reverted to the
| nodernlv -artful representation BY Miss
Allen and her companions. And from
that I thought backward to the one
in which Sir Henry Irving and Ellen
Terry walked and talked more memoir
ably in scenes of ornate stagecraft
| with sansuous music wOOing our ears
| and devices Of light and shade charm
ing our eyes. I couldn't help feeling
that Shakespeare would have liked frv-
ing's management better than his
own.
I expected to write in this letter
8 bout a third experience with Shakes
peaTe along with Sydney Rosenfeld. Ht
/ expected TO revive Much Ado About
Nothing" as an admirably unbusiness-
like possibility. But his Century the
/ atre, to be made out of an old one
is delayed by the mayors order that i
must first be measuyably safe. Tina
may be accomplished by next week
Sydney is an eccentric. I knew hin
when he was prodigy. At fifteen h'
| was a reporter on the New York Sun
At eighteen h. was the editor Of Franz
Leslie's Boys and Girls. At twenty
! one he began to write plays. He fin
: fshed ''The Senator for Crane afts
Lloyd had stuck fast in the middle o
the job. For many years thereafter h
adapted German matter into comedies
farCes and comic operas. More thai
p fifty passed through his nimDle hands
But his ambition lay towards origina
and serious authorship. Lately he AM
some fellow members of the American
2 / Dramatists' club planned a nationa
theatre TO foster the American drama
He was the most sanguine and spirits
Of its promoters.
! One morning Sydney's comrade
| awoke to read in the newspapers tha
he had organized d Century theatre
which was 10 DO exactly what the Ma
ti0nal had undertaken. They made
row. He called them fools. They gale
him something different from tina
? and less excusable. There has been
/ tempest threatening to burst both tn
| National aad the Century teapots. Blu
sydney is naending his pot and he ma
? be able to pour Shakespearean tee frOI
il in time TO have it described in m
next letter.
Coincidental similarity is remarkabl
in the two musical farceS that are in
/ PRODUCED this week IN Broadway. Thei
names, The. Tenderfo0t and 'sTh