The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-04-24

George Ade-Gustav buders opera, re-
wolves about an adventurous American
promoter named William Henry Span
gle. who halls from Iowa Spangle has
made fortune out OF the nanufac-
ture OF Spangle's Goo Goo gum, and.
oeing dssirous OF breaking into so
clety and acquiring a wife, he starts ON
tour of the world 70 annex some sort
Of title or discover some titled an
cestors. He lands I'm the imaginary
island Of Ka-ChOo. which is supposed
70 be located IN the sea Of Japan. be-
tween Japan and Korea, during the
absence OF the shotgun. and, while the
natives are observing one of their
reastS 10 departed ancestors, Spangle
makes his presence known by tacking
gum signs on the temples. and for this
offense he is taken captive and made
Prisoner. While confined there he
creates labor unions, makes threads
into the royal treasury to float various
corporations and companies formed for
his own benefit He also violates one
Of the most sacred OF Korean laws by
making love to the widow Of a depart
ed shogun. His operations finally be-
come 50 extensive and so fragrant that
the shotgun is recalled from his pill
grinage. He interrupts the wedding
ceremony OF Spangle and the widow,
Omee-Omi, and determines TO behead
! the American at once, But the exc
cutioners refuse to act because Span
gle is the walking delegate OF their
union. The royal guards are appealed
to. but it is found that they have gone
| on a strike for higher wages. which
the Shotgun cannot grant because the
| American has depleted the treasury
Spangle finally suggests an issue OF
bonds and agrees TO buy up the entire
! issue on condition that ne be given the
title of shotgun This arrangement
finally is brought about Spangie mar
ries the widow and starts for Iowa with
his bride and his title. The opera is
in two acts and all the characters are
Korean with the exception Of the Amer
lean promoter.
Henry Irving, quite naturally, be-
lieves in the Shakespeare setting that
| is modernized. He does not believe
that the greatest Of dramatists should
be presented upon a stage bare Of seen
| cry simply because ne wrote his plays
for an age that knew naught of stage
| accessories. In his book, shakespeare
on the Stage and in the Study" Eng
4 lands first actor wrote: Acting is an
art as distinct as any other. and If il
| be the most fleeting. it is also the most
vivid. Is il nothing that while
the spirit of the poet is preserved, his
ideas are illustrated by scholarly de-
tail, by harmonious pictures, by ap
prOpriate music, by all that appeals to
the sense of beauty? We do not quar-
rel with the novelist when he describes
the scene in which his creations live
and move. How many famous pas
sages in fiction can be quoted to show
that word picture adds Infinite force
/ o. charms to the most dramatic cpl
sode of human passion! So on the
hn fpTa
fectly attuned to the story must great
~ enhance its fascination. have
heard that some people still hold that
we should play Shakespeare very much
as he was played at his own time.
: But is one art to stand stfll while 9TH
! ers progress, or rather is the stage to
I repudiate all the aids OF painting and
music, to disdain the fruits of histor-
ical inquiry, to shun the archeOlOgist
and the antiquarian? 1 am
not pleading for pageants. Acting and
acting only can make a play success
full; but let US acknowledge that. by
I the legitimate arts of the stage, history
and poetry may be Illuminated for the
dullest understanding. and a new zest
i added TO the pleasures Of refined
/ taste.'
| Henry z. Dixey, most talented and
always most promising among the
! backsliders. started the season with a
: good part in J. NJ. Barrie's fantasy,
| Little Mary" The fate of the play
was unfortunate for its managers and
1 for Mr. DiXey, who is now in vaude-
/ Vile, and to many who enjoyed the
piece it's fate seems inexplicable. It
\ has been one Of the unqualified hits of
/ the London season. and Charles FrOh-
man counted on it to make a big hit in
/ this country. 1t lasted just three
| weeks at the Empire theatre in New
! York, and after q brief road trial was
| finally taken off. Dixey was recently
asked If he could explain why Little
| Mary" had failed so sadly in America
! The reply was.
That's easy to answer. It was an
English comedy. written by a Scotch
man, played by Americans before an
audience that had other limitations,
Another Dixey Renaissance he re-
Gently related 10 the friendly McCon-
! nell.
One time in Chicago he said, "and
that wasn't so far back, either. 1 could
have purchased the Chicago opera
house for $500. The man who owned
il then was a friend of mine, and he
offered me the bargain. It was about
midnight, and I was to meet him next
morning at IL with the money and get
the deed"
why didn't you?' put in John Gill
bert, who was in the conversation.
1T seems" replied MIR. Dixey, that
I didn't remember what happened aft
! er II o'clock that night"
Did your friend ever chide YOU
about wasting the opportunity" was
/ asked.
! No" said the actor. when 1 told
( him three weeks later he had made
the proposition he said I must have
been mistaken. If he did, he added. he
| didn't remember it. That's how lost
/ the greatest chance of my life-just a
failure of our memories"
! Mrs. Langtry, the prints would have
US believe, is becoming epigrammatic.
I She is possessed Of a natural wit and
alertness of mind, according to Mr..
Award, an acquaintance who travels
! ahead of her company.
You can lead Americans. but YOU
| cannot drive them" is one of the LiIy's
| latest. Another, AN American audi
ence understands all kinds OF humor:
an English audience only the English
| kind"
The English actress loves American
audiences for MANY reasons One of