The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-15
FROM BEHIND THE CURTAIN.

Clyde Fitch was greatly enjoying a
musical comedy.
1T is superb" he said to one of
the authors.
But that gentleman, With a sour
smile, replied:
You are not complimenting me. You
are oomplimenting the manager. | con-
TESS l don't recognize my own book at
ALL"
Mr.. Fitch laughed. Take that in
good part" he said. You are coming
money. Then take it as 4 friend of
mine in london did At a musical
comedy in London. from my seat in
the stalls, | noticed a young man in
one or the boxes laughing uproarious-
~ My companion was critic. | said
Il him:
" That chap in the box seems to be
enjoying himself
He's the author said my friend.
Wen, then said I, I think he
ought to have better taste than to
laugh so loud
Oh said the critic, he is the au-
thor, but he never heard these jokes
before: They were put in py the come
dian "
Henry Woodruff says he Glanced to
be in ticket office al Trenton one
Day when woman came into the sta
lion Tor the purpose of buying half
rare tickets for two childrea she
brought with her.
How old are your children, madam q"
asked the ticket seller
only o, sir
Both of them?"
Yes, sir; they're twins"
The agent smiled Then, after eye
ing the youngsters with an expression
of incredulity, ne observed:
Pretty lads. Where were they
born?''
This one replied the unwary moth
er was porn in Elizabeth md the
other in Jersey CITY"
Willis p. SWeatnam, whose interpre-
tation of Sassafras Livingston in THE
county Chairman" was one of the most
delightful bits of legitimate bIackface
work seen here in recent wears. will
appear next season with George Co
han In George Washington, Jr.." ap-
pearing in a role of similar nature.
1t IS likely that Mr.. Sweatnam will
elaborate and build up the part as he
did that of Sassafras until it proves
one of the features of the play. 1t
was with this end in view that Mr..
Conan secured the popular actor and
manager.
Mr.. sweatnam has had a long and
interesting career on the stage. and
like several we'll known performers i'm
blackface, has had an extensive expert
ence in minstrelsy. For several years
he was d prominent manager In Phil
adelphia and has starred several times
besides appearing in the support of
We'll known actors. His record IN
vaudeville is an enviable one and he
has also appeared in musical and farce
comady.
Sarah Bernhardt, once again in Flu
rope, is reported to have expressed an
enthusiastic admiration for Americans
There is no parasite class in Amcri-
ca, she said. They constitute a veri-
table nation in the best sense of the
word. They are proud of their achieve
ments and grateful to the land. which,
so to speak, recreated them, inspired
them with ardOr and opened to them
vistas of boundless hopes It is not
astonishing that they should be in
spired with patriotic fire, which burns
brighter nowhere
Taking as his excuse for reVerting
TO the question rs acting an art?'
from the idea that although people do
not nowadays say that actors are par
rots, they still think so. Coquelin the
other day in London in an address
again declared that acting really is
an art-an assertion that to the in
telligent was not needed Insisting
that the actor is an artist, Coquelin
declares that the player works on
himself" while the poet is an artist
a., he. sv1V1
colors. and the musician an artist in
sound. 1T is upon himself that the
actor works" says Coquelin, Ito real
ize a thought, an image, human
portrait" 1t is not difficult for any
student of the theatre TO realive that
this is true, taking some noted play
ers various and varying charaeteriza-
tons for the perusal. Such an artist
as Mrs. Fiske, for instance, whose per-
SOnality is so vital that to the merely
superficial observer she may seem in
several characters to project her own
personality, fully proves that acting is
really an art; for 10 the observer who
really sees and knows, Mrs. Fiske
absolutely discloses the souls as well
as the physical habits of her charac-
| tiers. Take from her gallery of i'm
presentations but a few of the more
striking, and their unlikeness is APP
parent. Those who remember her in
hCesarine, in La Femme de Claude, =
| saw a creature wholly different from
any other that this great actress had
impersonated. Contrast this terrible
woman, as Mrs. Fiske pictured her
with that lovable heroine I'm 1.-THE Right
to Happiness" Madeline, and no two
parts more dissimilar could be inn
agined. Still distinct and individual
were her Marie Deloche, the woman
who sought by deceit to find happiness
and oblivion for her past, and her Tess,
a lovable, tender creature, betrayed, in