The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-17
HGoldfields of Nevada as Gotham Sees 1t
BY FRANKLIN FYLES.

New York, June 15.-Some dramatic
conventions are fixed as firmly in the
| mind Of the theatrical mob as any
which the most erudite of the scholars
hold TO. The Americanized Polish Jew,
for an example has not been absent
| from one of this seasons melodramas
Of the Bowery brand, so far as I know,
and no matter where on earth the scene
| is placed he is in it with no variation
| of trait or manner from the dull yet
/ sharp, silly, yet shrewd David War
/ field type. In this weeks "Goldfields of
/ Nevada" he is peddling collar buttons
/ in mining camp where there are no
/ collars to button. He figures as a ten
] derfOOt exactly as he would in Tender
/ loin barrOOm hazings, and he gets out
/ OF stage coach TObberies with a share
Of the swag quite as adeptly as though
| he were engaged in the hold-up of an
eastern fire insurance company. His
humOr all relates to business thrift
| and so it makes Jews laugh as heartily
as Christians.
Edward H. Sothern is playing Shy
! lock at the Academy OF Music a spa
ciOus theater once the home of grand
mostly to drama cheap in nature and
price. The ticket schedule is logged
up for the parquet to a dollar fifty,
which still cuts IN half the Broadway
quotation for. the Sothern-Marlowe COM
binatiOn; 50 that part of the house is
filed by Shakesp eaTean bargain seek
ers; but the gallery admission is not
raised, and from that high distance of
dime-tO-a-Quarter taste comes down
than, believe, the character ever ex-
cited before. The boys UP there don't
fall into the error of CHASING The
Merchant of Venice as a tragedy;
neither do they accept 1t as a comedy;
but they take it for a farce so far as
ShylOCk is concerned, just as though
he were the comic relief in a mod
ern meIOdrama. The elOpement of his
daughter and her theft of the jewel
priced above a wilderness of mon
keys" are viewed with ki-yi hilarity;
the affair Of the pound of flesh is
case Of yah-yah merriment; and as for
the trial, with Portals -Ti5ks on Shy
lock, it is accompanied by gleeful whist
ling and yelling.
As soli1Iy established as the comic
Jew in stage cOnventiOnality with the
rabble is the melodramatic quartette
composed Of the falsely accused hero,
the pursued heroine, the gentlemanly
villain and the sirenic adventures. But
this week brings innovation as to their
relationships in "GOldfelds of Nevada
and In a WOman's Power" Is it pos
sible that the wicked womaL-she Of
the red or black, but ever shimmery
gOwns-she whom the villain has
wronged and sworn to marry if she /
viii aid his nefarioUS scheme-she /
whom audiences have learned to hiss /
for her deviltry until the third act, and /
then applaud for going over to the /
cause Of virtues it possible, I wonder, /
that this supposedly unalterable char /
acter is going to modify herself?
The one IL ON a Woman's Power" |
was al. enigma to the audience which 1 /
watched. She was tall, dark and de- /
clamatOTy: she wore gowns both red |
and black so spangled that she shOne /
under the calcium ike diamond mine |
in Darkest Africa; and she was in
cahOOts with the usual polished villain;
but the people waited in vain for her
to demand marriage of him. and send /
him to prison because he refused to
take her the altar She stayed bad /
to the end Of the play. I looked in
the bill for the name Of the IcOnOclaS-
tic author. He had not dared to have
it printed
Then again in "Goldfelds of Nevada"
a more conspicuous new play. the wick
ed woman is variant from the stand
ard She provides One-quaTter of a
which I ask you to COM
Drehend fer its bold novelty. The hero
and the heroine love each other. The
villain and the adventures used to
De lovers. but now he loves the heroine
Their is nothing odd in that But there
Gin ra~fHr 70
MS pal and mistress no longer loves
him, either faithfully or vengefulIy. but
sets her heart on becoming the wife of
he hero.
First along the play runs on the usual
racks The villain and the adventures
get together IN a plot to steal the half
million which the hero mas made in a
nine for that will, besides enriching :
he thieves, break off the match be
ween the good pair. But the new
dea soon develops. The villain wants
o kill the hero, but the adventures
insists on keeping him alive for maJTj- :
nOnial purposes. The adventures .
would sIay he heroine, but the william
esiring her for a wife. stipulates that :
he shall not be murdered. So, when
yer the villain gets the drop on the
zero. in pops the adventures with her !
niger on the trigger to save the man
=
ne adventures draws a knife on the {
Jerome, in dashes the villain with a
rawn blade 10 rescue the girl Of his :
worship. This mutual |
lIiance Of offense and defense puzzles
he audience It also drives the adven- q
uress to take off the naughty bodice
nd wayward skirts of a siren, and
ut on the mask, coat and trousers of
western daspeTadO, for the hero is
o be plundered in a train robbery :
" the Villains game, and she must :
e on the spot to see to il that his life
5n't taken along with his fortune.
Besides those Criss-crOSses of purpose
nth knives and pistols there is an In Q
ian to demand an additional paragraph =
OF "GOldfields of Nevada" He is one \
( those sOIemnly stalking chiefs upon [
those trail follows tOm-tom music by 5
he orchestra and who accounts for y
is presence in impossible places by Il
n blanket off his and s