The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-01

truth is that those New Workers who
go mdiscriminately to opening per
tormances are perpleXed by an I'M
theatric play, and in cases of absolute
novelty they wait for their morning
paper to tell them what to think. 1t
was so with Abraham Lincoln" with
Its study of L'nCOIn'S chara cteristfcs
and depletion of his personality The
lack of ordinary dramatic interest
bothered them. They were bold
enough to laugh at a caricature of
Rockefeller, but they hesitated over
Lincoln until his hOmesDun humOr be-
came distinct and his rugged strength
unmistakable. BY the time he waved
a flag and the orchestra played 1.-THE
Star-Spangled Banner" they stood UP
and cheered. I doubt. though. if Mr..
Chapin-LincOln's theatrical tours will
ever take him through the south
When circus hits drama: Biff! Down
goes drama, leaving circus lusty on it's
legs New York is a pretty good show
town, but when there comes a week
IN which two circuSeS have a hun
dred thousand visitors, theatrical man
ayers delay productions of new plays
Abraham Lincoln" was brought into
Broadway to fill a gap caused by the
poStponement of a cOstlier and less
prOblematical venture. The Barnum 81
Bailey show crowds the Madison
Square garden twice a day, yet the
immense HippOdrOme has no empty
spaces, and that means much money
diverted from the theatres, as large
proportions of the Barnum & Bailey
and the HippOdrOme audiences pay 81
apiece for seats, as do folks at the
tOpnOtch theatres. The circus is fash
ionable. Seven-eighths of the Barnum
show is the same this year that ii
was last year, and every other year
since tie three-ring era in circuSes be-
NavQC Of 6-cf .,-v;r,
aggregation has become a matter of
course, and now we expect to see an
acre of ground alive to a height of
seventy feet or so with all first rate
circus doings. Time was when sin
gle bareback rider, like James Robin
son, or 2 lone clown. like Dan Rice.
was sufficient tODliner for an entire
though small tent show. Now a pad
rider would be derided among the Bar
mum dozen RcbinsOns, and Rice
is multiplied in antics, though not in
testing, by two dozen pantomimic
fools. With the voice of the talking
clown has been silenced that of the
peanut and lemonade man. and the
only hawkers are those who sell pro-
grammeS.
But the enchanting scent of a me-
nagerie remains, for the single ele-
plant of the Olden time has become
twenty, though il would take two of
them to make uD the size of Barnum's
joy and pride. the lamented Jumbo.
And that object of Barnum's care and
triumph, the museum of unnatural his
tory, has no giant ike Ling Foo,
though there are as tall pair as Cap
tain Bates and Anna Swan: nor any
dwaTfS as small as Tom Thumb and
Minnie Warren were when first .eX-
hibited, although there are two no
bigger than Tom and Minnie grew to
be. What is to be done to check the
degeneracy in human freaks? BafIey's
ideals are no doubt as lofty as Bar
NUNS were, but nature is against him.
Anna SWan-BateS and Minnie Warren
Thumb gave birth to ba of ordi-
nary size. But, then, neither of the
tragic EdWinS, Forrest and Booth
fathered any kind of an actor much
less dramatic phenomenon. Don't
blame Bailey. He is sOrrier than we
can be that the Siamese Twins left
no joint heirs, and that the best he
can show is man with d third leg
dangling.
The new thing to thrill beholders in
the BarnCm show is a somerSault in
the air by a leap-gap car-what would
De called backward fiiD-ffap if it
were done by a man. Really. yes
clear and complete revolution, be-
tween the EN- of an inclined track and
the level on which the vehicle strikes
OF course the car carries a girl TO
make its feat interesting. she looks
and short frOck, her SWEET smiles and
graceful bows, as she is first taken
around the spacious arena in an auto
mobile. 1t IS feasible to have these
hOUp-ia -ioOpcrs beautiful because nc
skill whatever is required of them. but
just willingness to risk their lives.
There really is danger. No matter how
carefully the apparatus is set up. there
may be slip or break to throw the
girl to death
Octavia Latour mounts on foot to
the top OF a 35-degree incline where
she gets into 4 car and is strapped
to the seat. IT is a wadded vehicle.
and so small that she looks like a baby
tucked in a Derambuator for an air.
ng in the park. Airy indeed is the ride
she takes-a whizzing glide down the
slope. At the bottom TIE wheels strike !
with tremendous force sharp up
ward turn of the rails and a hidden /
Ourch of stiff springs. The impetus |
md the bounce hUrl the car upward 1
With a rotary motion and. while II is /
wenty feet above the ground. il makes
he back someTsault. Although it |
ONES down on a thickly-DaddeG sur
ace, the shock of the stop is so vio-
ent that the girl is ezed, her cap