The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-03-05
JULIE iERNE'S PLAY ~RlCHIfR'S WIFE"
...BY FRANKLIN FYLES...

a THAT moment no one in the the
y atre could be sure whether Julie
Herne was acting or was not.
Julie and her sister. Chrystal, had re-
Eponded to many recalls during play
which Julie had written, and now the
audience wished her to say something
on her own account. Julie is but TWEEN
ty and hundred, years and pounds,
which is young and light enough 10
render girlish modesty a probable sight
And she is blonde, besides, which gave
TO her exhibition OF fright an appealing
aspect of pale prettiness. She twisted
her form, twirled ner hands, STAN
mered I thank you" and collapsed in
her tail and composed sisters arms.
Now, in a box sat Leslie Carter, who
at every performance of 'Adrea' goes
through with a never-varied process of
being surprised by her audiences en-
thusiasm, becomes almost hySterical
under the nervous tension, runs as if
by a sudden impulse to the wing, seizes
David BelaScO, leads him forward to
speak for her. and ShrinkS behind him.
Acting? Undoubtedly. Yet sometimes
she has to be carried TO her dressing
room In another box sat Ethel Barry
more. who eight times a week comes
out after the penultimate act Of Sun
day." astonished beyond anything by
the tnsistent applause. falls into a
panic at a call for a speech and runs
OtAAAAU tie SCGueS AS i Uldu Will ter
ror- Acting? UnquestionabIy. Yet
sometimes she drops in a genuine faint
when the curtain goes down. Emotion
al creatures, these players Julie Herne
isn't the artist that Leslie and Ethel
are, and for that reason, If no other,
there was no need to doubt the sin
certify OF her collapse.
This daughter of the late James A
Herne had subjected herself TO a Sc
we're ordeal Minnie Madden Fiske
was among those present to scare her.
! assume that Miss Herne had written
'2ichter's WIFE, for Mrs. Fiske. as one
or Its two women was OF a kind which
that actress could make much of; and
Mrs. Bfske had given her theatre for a
week OF afternoon performances of the
play; but instead Of Mrs Fiske5s genius
20 illunine the role. there was only
Miss Herne's moderate ability to dim
II. 1t wasn't any wonder that the poor
girl, who had Striven in vain to get in
side the part. fell to pieces the instant
she got out of it However, she has
distinguished herself as a. novice at
play-wTiting who may become prof
cient If Mrs. Fislxe were personating
the wife of Richter the half success of
the production might be a whole one
Mrs. Hdchter is specifically like Sar-
dous feather-brai fiuffy-hearted
Frou-Frous with no care for her solid
husband, who therefore turns to her
cousin, as Frou-Frou's did to her sister
Tor sympathetic Solace. These surface
indications are all that Miss Herne's
actng makes US see in the uneasy life,
ana so we don't pity her: but Mrs
FfSke could render visible all that Miss
Herne had in mind when writing-that
Mrs. Richter loves her husband. that
she IS madly Jealous of the fair cousin
IN whom he finds an affinity, that she
is agonized while seemingly careless.
that ThRrPfOrca hn
them in a passionate embrace drives
her reasonably and pitiably to suicide.
It was expected that play written
py James a. Herne'S daughter and
staged by his widow, would be an ex-
IRENE outbreak of dramatic Hernea.
But "Richter's Wife" had no such pbe-
nomena. Herne, after many years in
uemonstrative melodrama, become a
convert to quiet liberalism. Like many
convert from one faith to a. very
inherent one. he was an extremist. Be
tore reaching that enthusiastic state
however, he achieved his one really
great popular success by retaining in
Snore Acres, the violent fight in a
lighthouse, and the ensuing ShfpWreck
spectacle, from the old play from
which he re-wrote that otherwise de-
EghCfully natural depletion of normal
human feelings Herne's great merit
was truthfulness, and it led him into
physical as TO mental matters. The Wis
iOle nursing Of a babe at it's mothers
breast in Margaret Fleming was
made to seem more consequential than
the invisible breaking of that mothers
heart. Julia Herne does no such things
in her play. Indeed, she is more like a
pupil of 1bsen than her father. She
makes Mrs. Richter an Ibsenish study
in unlovely femininity. Then, again,
she is diSsimilar to Ibsen in striving
ter for her fair cousin. The husband
is music master, the cousin IS a sin
ger under his tutelage, both are soul
full, and they convince themselves that
their mutual passion is not a carnal
disorder, nor even an ordinary heart
disease, but a case of paroxysms of the
soul brought on by a complication OF
propinQuity and affinity.
A case of marital infdelity is set
forth oddly in the QUarter-hOur drama
OF THE Threshold" by Jackson D.
Haag. The manner Of the illustration
IS as peculiar as the matter. At first
we see nothing but a rainstorm at
night Silvery threads, electric CLEANS
end camera reflections produce an IL
fusion of a downpour OF real water.
After a minute OF this in silence, eX-
cept for the splashing Of the rain and
the blowing Of the wind, we hear a
mans voice, and then woman's re-
and never more than dimly the thresh-
old of a country house is outlined; also
the figures Of the man, who implores
the woman to elope with him, and the
woman, who is persuaded to consent
Finally a. second man appears vaguely
to confront the lovers with a pistol
and compel them to go into the house
There is nothing in that. you say, to
make it q variant from common melo-
drama. Don't pass a hasty judgment
I did, and had to reverse it when I
found that the captor Of the couple was
not the husband. but a burglar who, by
chance had chosen that time to break
into the premises
We had our first clear view Of these
three persons when, inside the house,
the burglar turned up the light of
lamp. He looked like an ordinary op-
orator of the jimmy and the dark Ian
tern. I wonder why hOusebreakers
never shave themselves or put on col
lars before going out on job Per-
naps they 90 in real life. This one was
the stage type as to eXternals. But he
soon let the culprits know that he was
a rare bird of prey. The nbertine was
a rich fellow and willing TO buy the
other scoundrefs silence He would
give him twice as much I'm money as he
Inc off II, leave