Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-03-10
PLAYHOUSES OF THE METROPOLIS

New York. March l0,-A very curious
thing happened at Weber's Musical this
week. Plays which have proved n fail
ure have frequently been whipped into
shape later on, but in an experience OF
nearly is years of constant theater GO
ing. ] have never seen or known such
complete change OF tone In a play AS
happened 10 THE Squlw Man ana His
Gill OF the Golden West between It's
first and second performances, The
skit. which is sort OF amslgamated
hurlesque OF the "Squaw Man and
Mr. Belasco's "Glrl OF the Golden
West" was produced ON a Monday
night, when nearly all the regular crlt-
les were at the first night Of Brown
of Harvard" hut II wouldn't have
made any difference. Acturs and public
alike were agreed that the irst per-
Torrance of the new piece was one OF
the most disastrous that had ever tax
en- place In that cosy lltte playhouse.
The piece ran for an hour aud 40 min
utes; It had been insulliciently rehears-
ed and altogether In It's drearuess It
a
"rwiddie Twaddle," the first part OF
the evenings entertainment, that when
the final curtain fell. the audience, un-
leGshed from boredom rushed for home
without waiting TO give the actors a
solitary curtain.
Several tons of flowers which. ac-
Cording TO tNa time honOred custom OF
this theater, were to be handed across
the footlghts, were left 10 bloom IN
seen In the foyers, while behind the
scenes Joe Weber was tearing his hair
and Charles Bigelow would have been
doing the same thing II he had had any
while the star, that best balanced OF an
women OF the stage, Marie Dressler
was for once in a way IN blazing rage
with everything and everybody, from
the author of the piece to herself. Az
ter little bit of supper and good
half hours cry, Miss Dressler began
TO take heart again. She and Joe We
Der put their heads together for a BIT
and before she left the theater Miss
DRESSER said, Call rehearsil for
o'clock, Joe. You bring your axe and
III bring along a stick OF dynamite.
OF course. We are all going 20 catch
particular Ilades IN the morning from
the papers and we deserve Il, too, but
never mind. the stuff is there, there's
q very funny piece In that manuscript,
and It is up to you and me and the au-
thor TO see that we can bring II out
What he can't erase with his blue pencil
you can hack out with your little
Ratchet and II there's any lotsam and
jetsam left after that III simply blow
it out with my stick of dynamite. The
second night found all the critics who
make practise Of doing all the plays
themselves in their seats. We must
have looked like so many lambs led "a
the mint-sauCe for Of course, the news
OF the failure had been bruited all over
the town. And even mt the best OF
times a second performance Of play
Is nearly always the worst that Is ever
given OF II. The first night excitement
! Is over all, the cast Is usually suffering
from either slump or collapse and tho
whole affair, even when the play has
scored, is apt to fall below par for that
| particular performance. But to the
| amazement fevery one, including the
| actors. The Squaw Mans Girl OF the
| Golden West ran along like CREASED
| lightning. With 40 minutes Of It's eN.
| cess dialogue cut out the piece rushed
along and when the curtain fell, LITTLE
| Manager Weber found himself witt
| another genuine success on his hands
| The next days verdict In the newspa.
| pers reversed the judgment OF the frs
| performance completely, and Marie
Dresser and q. J. Connolly, who bur
| lesqued Miss Blanche Bates and Mr.
| Frank Keenan,, were credited viii
scoring two OF the biggest hits Of the
careers. The piece will easily run tn,
| season out. Everybody who has seel