The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-04-02
TELLS ABOUT
STAGE THRILLS
Lincoln J. Carter, king of Melo-
drama" Talks of His Work.
GOT START IN SALT LAKE
SAYS FUNCTION OF STAGE is TO
DEPICT HUMAN EMOTION.
GOT START IN SALT LAKE

MI Carter, many years ago, had his
first start i'm Salt Lake, and is today
the owner Of the Criterion theatre in
Chicago, and is one of the most pro-
life producers of melodramic pieces
this country has ever known. During
the brief span of less than two score
years he has written eighteen plays,
nearly all of which have been success
/ full.
Something like twenty-five years ago
Nj. Carter, then boy of about a dozen
years, was a press kicker in local
printing office, and while enEa ged there
one day nearly lost his right arm by his
clothing being caught in the coss Of
/ the press a a result of that accident
nine pieces of flesh were nipped out of
his arm, and BY the same process his
! ambition to become practical printer
was nippcd in the bud.
Got Start in Salt Lake Theatre.
From the printing office he went to
the salt Lake theatre as call boy a
position of no moan Importance in
those days Speaking of his experience
during that period of his youth last
night Mr.. Carter said:
Il went to the Old theatre tonight
just TO sec if there had been many
changes in the structure. There have
( been very few during the past thirty
years. In my day Brigham Young was
always the principal parsonage at any
performance given at the theatre. At
the extreme back OF the dress circle,
just within the entrance, there was a
. large space rallied in for the exclusive
use of the president of the church. his
family and his guests 1t was not an
unusual sight to see the president sit
ting there surrounded by his family,
and he enjoyed the plays as much as
anyone Down through the center of
the house there was another railing,
and in those days the women sat in
right section
left. The theatre compared favorably
with any structure of the kind between
Chicago and San Francisco, and, out
side of the external appearance, 1 think
its arrangements and equipment today
are fully as good as any theatre in the
country I thought it was the most
glorious building I had ever seen. and
now. after the lapse of so many years,
I still think that there are features
tbout the old theatre that should en-
dear it to the heart of every resident Of
Salt Lake"
Mr.. Carter was III a reminiscent mood
and was inclined to tell more of the
early Impressions he had gathered and
: fostered concerning the scene Of his
: early career. but he was induced by
gentle persuasion to tell somethink
about his own success as d playwright.
Career as a Playwright.
My first play was The Fast Mail
he said. i wrote il when | was 3 years
old. and counting all the performances
given by the various companies pre-
senting it it would be equivalent to a
! continuous performance of twenty-SiX
/ years. l got my idea about it in this
| way: I was riding down State street
/ in Chicago one day i'm a grip car. I
was then, as I am now. an ardent
smoker, and in order to enjoy the fun
/ benefit OF the cigar I sat in one of the
! forward seats of the grip, and just
as We approached Twelfth street the
( car had to come TO halt in order to
I let an Illinois Central train cross the
street. 1t was a wabbly train. and
there Was more or less noise made by
/ the train men as the cars slowly passed
] over the crossing. The idea suggested
itself to me then that if I could build
play in which there should be Il NOV
! ing train of cars il would he the acme
{ of realism. You. and everybody else.
who has ever been near a railroad
I crossing. have seen trains OF cars NOV
/ ing back and forth, but 1 venture to
/ say that you have given it very little
! thought. Yet, if you We're 10 see the
/ same thing done on the stage you would
/ be impressed and thrilled by the action.
/ That was my first thought, and around
the idea ! built structure which after
wards became known as The Fast
3 Mail / invented all the stage ma
. chInery in order to make it a success,
and I believe It was such in view of the
J number Of perfOTma noes given through
/ the country from that day to this l
. failed. however. to patent my inVen-
ton, and the same idea has since been
repeatedly used by other playwrights.
other Plays Written.
My ncxt play I called The Tornado
! The very name suggests the principal
! feature of the plot. but in order to make
/ il successful ! had to invent a number
/ of stage effects and I took care to COW
er them by patents, as / have since
| done with any other stage effects l
might have found necessary to employ.
! Ny next play was The Heart of Chi
! cago. and that has had performances
/ enough to aggregate at least ten years.
/ Following those were The Defaultcr,
! Down Mobile Under the Dome.
/ Chattanooga, Mid Ocean, TWO Lit
! tie Waits Eleventh Hour Darkest
of the Maine The Eye Witness Too
| Proud to Beg 'knObs of Tennessee,
and Just Before Dawn.
while 1 have been on the coast dur
ing the past winter [ have completed
a drama which / have entitled Bed
| fOrds Hope I got the idea in a certain
! way from a short story ! read in a
! magazine. Its stirring realism APP
pealed to me. but after digesting il for
some time l came TO the conclusion ]
| would have to eliminate some of the
| features and build it up from the fun
| damental point. That 1 have done. and
! the play viii have its first production
in New York City in February of next
year. No theatre has as yet been Sc
lccted for the initial performance, but
/ am decidedly in favor of a playhouse
of about 1900 seating capacity MY
! reason for that is this: Edwin BOOtl
used to say: The artistic success OF a
performance depends on whether al
the persons in the house are able t.
! hear the dialogue or not. If your house
is too large the people in the back rows
| cannot hear the words unless the ac-
tors rant and scream. Should the latter
| do that they destroy the illusion looked
! for by the persons in the front rows
! Your greatest success viii come WhcI
you can give a play in a house wherein
| the people in the back seats can see
| the whites of the actors eyes. WheT
| you have gotten the production dow
! to that point then you may be reason
| ably sure of success. for then every on,
| in the house viii be able to hear the
slightest whisper on the sta ge.' Tha
was the advice given by America D!
| greatest traSediau, and / have pro6teC
| by his admonitiOn-
Explains Scope of MeIodrama.
Asked as to what he should term tn
real melodrama Of the stage today. Nh
! Carter said:
'MeIodrana is a much-abused word