The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-03-26

field in Don Carlos" 1t cannot be
proved positively that Mr., Mansfield
waits till next week so as to avoid the
opposition of Mr.. Corbett this week.
Nor is the evidence conclusive that
some of the dozen new plays in prep
aTation are held back until after the
revival of Mr.. Smooth" But the fact
remains that there is no other novelty
on Broadway's legitimate stage be-
tween the two Sundays than this fellow
who IS no more great pugilist and not
yet q great comedian, but anyway is
an actor. Let us not jibe at Corbett
He is aspiringly in earnest. After his
failure in 'Cashel Byron's Profession,
he was offered a number-said to be
seven-of hundreds of dollars per week
TO deliver his mOnolOgue of prize-fght-
ing "reminiscences in a round of the
Proctor vaudeville houses.
Il want folks to forget / ever was a
pugilist," he said. "and get convinced
that l am an actor, not an exhibit
They wouldn't go to see me in the
Cashel Byron play, because the hero
was a prize-fighter and they said, That
is a fake-he can't act l shall never
speak that monologue again, but I'll
play a part at your stock theatres in
any play that doesn't mention the prize
ring. at two-thirds the monologue SAL
arv."
So here we have Jim Corbett as a
stage buffer That is to say, aside
from any impertinence of the word, he
is playing the buffer that Willie Col
lier did in MIR. Smooth" Rated by
Golfers, the buffer of Corbett is a
duffer. Mr.. Smooth is a cheeky rogue
who plays thimbie-rig tricks on a
wealthy family. and If he were cul-
prit in a court he would be sent to quod
as a swindler.
In a play, a humorist of the Nat
Goodwin type, as Collier is, can recon-
mend such a confidence man to merry
mercy for being no worse than a funny
fraud. 1t is critical, but not satirical,
to say that Corbett does not make him
seem TO deserve anything less than the
penalty of the law.
Still, Corbett is not a bad actor-not
dreadfully bad-probably as good as he
was when, in San Francisco, before he
went from bank clerking into prize
fighting land this is a fact probably
new to YOU'D, he was a fellow member
with William A. Brady I'm an amateur
dramatic society and was coached by
! David BelascO in a public performance
Corbetts sweetheart in MIR. Smooth
is Amelia Bingham. He has a woOing
| scene, and that is where he is at his
best. Yes, indeed. He goes at the &C
tress as though awed by her superior
a rush. That gives him blend of hest
fancy and haste, timidity and audacity
/ that looks like aTdOT. ferVOT and quite
/ the Hackett sort of lOve-making Jim
kisses Amelia on the cheek as reso-
/ lutely as though it were not before
/ folks. But d minute later, when Amelia
! kisses Jim on the lips, it jolts his nerves
and for a moment he goes groggy.
The lease of a big Broadway theatre
| viii expire next month. 1t has been d
! dramatic house for twenty years under
! alternating syndicate and independent
management. and those fighting inter
/ ests bid against each other for further
/ possession, but d vaudeville concern
/ has taken it away from both by paying
/ an advanced rental. The prices for va
riety shows to be given in it are to be
/ kept up to 81 for the best seats and 81
/ cents for the worst in the evenings. q
| cut being made in the afternoons only
/ The new director says he will pay $4,000
| a week to his performers. Yet the ven
| ture does not look reckless Vaudeville
/ has so risen in New York esteem thai
! this move is no great leap upward
| Do not take the idea, however, thai
vaudeville advance means dramatic
| staudstill. The ratio of success to fail
\ ure on the dramatic stage here, arts
/ tically and commercially, is higher thar
/ for some years past. Thirteen of the
plays now in Broadway will stay TO the
end of the season, although they have
! been there from one to eighteen months
/ Three that are just going away have
! lasted a quarter to three-quarters of Z
| season. Four that started more recent
/ ~ range from moderate profits to small
! losses. There have been failures by the
/ dozens, but undeseTved success cannot
| be forced by persistency, as used to be
| done sometimes, and the present policy
of throwing rejected plays into limbo
/ is the reason why two theatres are shut
The decline OF musical plays In the
dramatic theatres gives a boost t.
/ vaudeville in it's better grades, anC
widens the separation between 1t anC
the female burlesquery of the beer-and
smoke houses. Fragments of big, fins
shows that have gone to pieces MAKE
| better acts than those prepared imita
| lively for vaudeville. This week pro
/ vides examples. Cheridah Simpson anC
/ eight girls are giving the section o
THE Prince of PilSen' wherein tn
| widow sings about the characteristic!
| of bellies of American cities, and afte
| each verse a suitably coStumed ant
hammered representative comes forward
1 to illustrate the peculiarities- Arthur
| Dunn is presenting the scene from ''Th
~ -
elegant Gibson girls were objects of ad
/ miration-and of some commiseration
too. when the dWarfish, grOtesqu
| stretched, leaped and finally used
stepiadder to kiss every lovely mouth
In neither of these transfers to vaude
vile is there any deterioration I'm tn
show girls. They include some Of thos
/ who were in the original productions
the substitutes are as pretty, clever an
( modish as their predecessors; and tn
show-girI chasers hardly know what t
do. Shall they follow these and othe
| adorabl creatures to the variety thea
| tres? Some of the FOUNDERS say yes I
that question, and have decided 1t
quite the proper thing to ascertain tn
thine to drop in, see the one specialt-
that they want to and quit before tn
next one At a matinee / saw seVera
come i'm cabs and go away with shoV
girls in them. 1t was in the afternoo
/ and maybe they went to o'clock teas
At that point in Peter Pan wher
it's invisible fairy is said to be dyin
/ because no one will give credence I
her existence, Miss Maude Adams run
to the footlights and cries to the audi
| or,7ofionaIIx-- do Won believe 1