The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-09-18
Che Drama Tn 1eW York
===-= By FRANKLIN FYLES -===
: BT FRRNkLlN FYLES

%~~@&~%~1~%~%H %~~~~%~%|~~~
before coming into New York, is Mrs.
Wigs Of the Cabbage Patch" from
the book of that name and Lovely
Mary" the two stories being twisted
and twined into one. An interesting
fact is that as a stage character Mrs.
Wigs is a failure, while uncommon
success for the play is caused by the
caricatures of the bridegroom ana the
bride, the drunken Virgins and the
lugubrious Miss Hazey. Mrs. Wigs
hon1eiy sayings, which were so rel
ished by readers Of the narrative, are
disregarded by audiences. and so as a
comedy the piece comes to naught; but
every word and move Of the wildly far
cical couple is laughed at. Broadway
doesn't take kindly TO rural plays, but
seems to accept this one.
1t is a quarter of a century since
Denman Thompson introduced at Tony
then in Broadway. sketch called
Joshua Whitcomb." That was the ba-
sis of the "Old Homestead" but it
contained none of the country scenes
of that comedy, being confined to I'm
Gle JOsh's experiences in Gotham-his
ready responses to alarms of fire. mis-
encounters with bunco swindlers in the
street anu MS QdnCe III the DdElpI u
his fashionable relatives. Thompson
and George Ryer expanded the half
hour of fun into the three-hOur enter
tainment which probably has enriched
it's actor beyond any other American
instance except that Of Joseph Jeffer-
son and RIP Van Wrinkle" Yet THE
Old Homestead" never was played I'm
Broadway until this week. 1t began
with a long season in this city, but off
nn f,a az eli
undergrade theatre, and none of its
many visits has until now brought it
into a central house. Therefore many
of our people are seeing it for the
first time. Thompson has given to ii a
new and good outfit of scenery and
engaged four members of the original
company The riaIto has often heard
that, whenever he gets tired of his
role, he hires Archie Boyd as a substi-
tute and audiences don't suspect the
difference. In the current performances
Thompson is as painstaking and spOn-
taneOus as ever. Not a line does he
speak as if he had ever spoken it be-
fore and his air Of quietly relishing his
own humor is unimpaired.
Broadway's disposition to disdain
rural plays is so strong that such en-
during successes as Shore Acres" and
perity i'm that nifty. snifty thorough
fare in their original runs though
they have returned often to make
money in the by-streets, and in all
the years Of tke life of In Old Ken
lucky" 1t has never yet been in
Broadway theatre. The resumption of
The County Chairman" with its rep
resentation of rustic politics and the
promising start made by Mrs Wigs
- ~, Dol
our more pretentious folks are deign-
ing to appreciate native Americanism
on the stage.
The scent Of sentiment and the
stencil Of onions are mixed in a love
episode of 1.-THE SpeIIbinder," one of
the three new farces that have failed
here within as many weeks. Indeed
and surely there is no delicate develop
ment Of American humOr to consider in
this play-rather may il be Classed as
strong delicatessen. like limburger and
sauer kraUt-but ] am under agree |
ment TO describe all that is new and |
strange in the Broadway theatres. The |
first raise of the curtain shows clerk |
in law office eating a luncheon COM |
posed mostly of onions. He conceals |
them when the lawyer comes in, but |
their smell betrays them; and the clerk |
onion is a sure cure for just such
hoarseness as his employer, the spell |
binder, has acquired as an electiOneer- !
ing orator in his candidacy for the
state senate.
The lawyer swallows the remedy in
a large dose. RECEIVERS his voice, and |
Immediately uses it to declare his love
for the girl of his heart. He puts his
face fondly close to hers, ske seems to !
inv Z nd he
very essence of his Onionated eloquence
right into the middle OF her romance.
She recoils as with sudden pain, and
he thinks il is ardor, not odor, that
she doesn't like. SO he stops short of
the avowal whick she is eager TO hear /
and she. deeming him perfidious, draSs
herself heartbroken hence leaving him
to slump into a. chair and weep in an
guish. That scene is acted with the
utmost gravity. TO plaintive music, and
of course is meant for burlesque. Nat F,
uraIly. the audience is apt to sniff at !
those onions, rather than smile.
Regard for the gallantry of the au-
thOrs of ''The Spellbinder" makes me |
try to believe that the heartiest laugh !
ter raised by their play is accidental f,
A bride elect goes to a manicure shop |
to be beautified. An admirable but |
very ugly young actress has that role, |
and when she asks TO have her face |
the audience is actually hilari- |
Gus. She makes extensive purchases |
of toilet articles, and among them are
three boxes Of rouge and a rabbits |
foot TO apply il with. The clerk shows ]
several sizes. and when she says, TN |
take the largest the laughter is rude |
again. People have begun 10 feel for |
the actress, and TO restrain their jol-'
lily. when the manicUrist tries to sell |
her rubber mask 10 beautify her face.
She buys it, and rubber gloves, too, all |
20 be worn at night to improve her |
complexion. At that the man who is TO |
marry her protests. A kind friend sug-
gests that. with wife who dons such |
things on retiring. husband would be |
justifiable in going to bed in boxing
gloves and a baseball catcher's mask.
1t is not clear whether Herbert Hall
WinslOw and Charles Dickson meant
after all, to write a straight farce The
uncertainty is increased by some melo-
dramatic twists. Thus, after an emo
tiOnal passage with a woman in deep
distress. eliminating in the wrongful
arrest of a Virtuous young man, how
can I be sure how the authors would
have the audience regard the last ten
minutes of their play? The hero, a
candidate for state senator, and the
villain, the boss of the campaign, have
fallen out over a woman. The validity
of the spellbinder's election is to be
decided by the legislature A German
member. whose vote win break the tie,
goes out to see his boss. who will tell
him TO oppose the candidate.
What simpler. therefore, than that
orr resOurceful politician should nut on