The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-03

this week. An old woman takes the
walk from her home in a play bearing
the title of VIII Carleton's pathetic
story in verse, and child moves In the
other direction in The Girl Patsy
No time in the year is livelier to the
searcher Of theatrical novelty than the
dull time; the meaning of which is that
stage experiments at Mays end are apt
to be more peculiar than those that Oc-
cur in midwinter.
I was one OF seventeen men at a mat
inee on Monday. There were 1854 wo-
men and children. Notwithstanding
that Monday is wash day, women were
overwhelming in the ratio shown by
those box Office figures at q theatre
where the best seat Of the afternoon
costs but 20 cents, except that one can
squander half a dollar on place in
a box. That turned out to be a good
purchase, for it gave a view of the au-
dience as well as the actors, and the
audience was the more worth watching.
Not that the play that F. M. Knowles
had written on the theme of cover the
Hills to the POOrhOuse" was devoid Of
interest, either, but that its effect on
1,654 women and children was the more
noteworthy.
The woman who went over the hills
was a dear. gentle, hOmely, plaintive
old rustic widow, who had two sons.
one Of whom had ran away from a
false but plausible charge Of horse
stealing. while the other had brought
into the country home a vixen Of a
wife from the city. So the aged angel
mother was driven out into snow
storm by young devil wife, and he
saw her not only on her way over the
hills. but also falling cold and tagged
on the doorstep Of the pOOrhouse. A
survey of the audience at this juncture
showed q full thousand white handker-
chiefs wiping fearful eyes, or bIotting
damp noses. Monday looked indeed like
washday with the clothes all hanging
wet on the afternoon lines.
But Mr.. Knowles knew 8 trick worth
two of Mr.. CarletOn's. After sending
the woman over the hills, and getting
all the weep value out of that, he
started a little tot of a girl on the
same snowy road to the poOrhOuse.
Now, Dolly Weithoff may be a medic
ere actress twenty years from now.
Child prOdigies usually turn out that
way. But on Monday afternoon she was
the most remarkab bic 6-vear-old I have
ever seen on the stage. She played an
orphan child, beloved by the grand
mother who went t. the pOOrhouse and
maltre6ted by the stepmother who
drove the old woman out. Evidently
the sorrow of the poor grandma had
made deep impression on Dolly at the
rehearsals; and in this first perform
ance II seemed all realism to her in
nOCent heart Her voice quavered be-
cause she couldn't help II. and her eyes
ran real tears. when the. old woman
bade her adieu. In the ensuing scene.
neighbCr found her shivering in the
snow, and asked: Where are you 60
ing. child?'
I'm gOin' L gran'ma at the poor
house. she said.
There was something further in the
role for little Dolly to saw. and the
prOmpter tried to remind her Of It: so
did the actor who shared the dialogue.
but she sobbed instead Of Speaking and
tears rolled down her blushed cheeks.
The actor was blackened for a negro.
and he tried 20 keep her hands and face
away from the smut, but she didn't
care for that. and weeping threw her
arms around his neck. Even if Dolly
should be an exception to the rule of
/ infant phenOmenas, and grow I'D to 4
great actress. she will never affect an
audience as she did the ten-to-twenty-
cent one that wept with her when She
followed grandma to the poOrhOuse
| The other point in the play that needs
TO be noted is that #. let her smile
when grandma was finally brought
home.
The Patsy who is the girl in 1.-THE
/ Girl Patsy" started in a poorhouse and
/ went over the hills to good fortune. but
I found it a long, hard road TO travel
Patsy was born while 'Finafore'' was
still extant. Of rich parentage. stimuli
| taneously with an infant Of unrighteous
/ birth; and the mutual nurse. taking a
cue from Little BUttercup, mixed those
| babies up so that Patsy was cheated
/ Of her heritage and became a found.
/ ling. Theatrically, she will thrive. but
not in the part OF the town where she
| is trying to make friends. She will have
/ TO seek them off Broadway; and sweet
/ young Mary Ryan, who personates her
/ with wistful pathos, needs the kind 81
| audience that wept with Dolly Welt
/ hOff. The Broadway public is in a
mood for next weeks openings Of the
| roof gardens. not for sentiment. and al
/ no time would Patsy's case reach its
! heart as presented in this new play.
J. Mau1din FeigFs Texas" a rat.
/ Ting good melodrama. was brought out
! effeCtually at an aside theatre. People
/ were surprised to learn that the initia
/ J in the name of the author of a TO.
/ bustly masculine work stood for Jane
/ When Mrs. Feigl was called on the
/ opening night Of THE Girl Patsy" and
/ she was pulled into partial view. I saw
/ only the tip OF her nose and a big pink
/ hat. It was a good hat, with roses al
! over it, and I am sure there was goOt
/ brain under it; for the play is good IL
/ its way; but the way doesn't appea
/ to people who can pay 81 apiece fol
/ seats. Mrs. Feigl has brought forward
! the servants Of a household to extol
and the wealthy employers 20 berate
! Broadway smiled at much that Eight
/ avenue may weep at.
! OF course II came Of exigency, and
not by intention, that the COstuming o
/ this play counted for the servants and
/ not for the masters. The men of as
/ serted wealth and fashion were impeT.
/ sOnated BY actors who. with but brie
| engagement In prospect, had bough
no new clothes for it, and SO they were
about the fakiest lot of dressers evel
| seen in the stage drawingrOoms of 6
fashionable theatre. In striking con.
| trast was the brand new and absolutely
| correct liveries Of the men servants
| Each OF them had been measured and
fitted by some modish tailor. When tht
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