The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-18

DOQleS Dug out OF a burned playhouse
on that same spot. What was the use
Of staying there miserabiy? l had
grasped my hat for a retreat when a
caricature of Rose Stahfs chorus girl
came on the stage. This type has null
tiplied in vaudeville, and now she is
going to be numerous in the popcorn
and popgun melodramas. This one
had a back that followed more than
the aggregate curve-in of a whole sex
tete of Gibson girls spines, walk
that blended the Gibson saunter and
the Bowery swing, and fact that
could look at viii like Jimmie Rus
sells servant girl CT an ape. She was
an Interpolation. and 1 settled back in
my chair to watch her; but she be-
came an ordinary song-and-dance girl
so soon that ! would have quit when
the first act was over. if another
change from last winters representa-
ton of the play. hadn't developed to
keep me interested.
The hero is a boyish thief who tries
to turn honest, but is run down by his
pals. He takes along in his flight
from them a little waif girl, who
shares the hardships of his struggle to
be good. A year ago she was a child
of s; but now l was surprised to see
her Is and upwards. l marvelled at
her advance in adolescence until I be-
thought me that the Gerry society
won't let children act I'm New York in
summer. So the hero's infantile COM
rade. who lodged with him under a
wharf, and was rocked to sleep in his
arms, was developed into an adult. She
spoke babyishly, to be sure, and
Rugged the young fellow childishly.
but the audience took her, reasonably,
for his sweetheart, and didn't look
kindly on his love of an heiresS, whose
silken wealth seemed to rival the 9TH
ers ragged poverty.
Noisy boys filled two galleries be-
fore the curtain went up, and to quiet
the clamor for the play to begin, the
bouncers up there didn't switch the
back of a railing with a light cane,
but whacked the iron with ferruled
clubs. making a noise like an anvil
chorus. A policeman and a fireman
insisted that the law against unseat-
ed auditors be enforced in the par
quet; so the ushers began to fill the
aisles with camp stools, but were COM
PEELED to take them out Immediately.
Then twenty chairs were set on the
stage at the wings. This will remind
me of the chronicles of the Elizabeth
an drama" said / to myself, when
gallant knights and fair ladies shared
the platform with the actors" but /
soon gave up all effort to make my
fancy hold out against the sight of the
gum-cheWers and candy-munchers
who edged the scenes in Kidnapped for
Revenge" so harmoniously that, es-
pecially in BOwery scenes, they looked
like characters belonging to the play.
At the extreme other end of Gotham,
in Bronx borough, I found a theatre
filled on Monday afternoon for its
opening of the season with THE Life
of an Actress" The audience was
shirt-waisted mainly, the shirts being
feminine; but here and there a mascu-
line shirt was uncovered by the re-
moval Of a coat, for the temperature
was above 100 in that place of heated
breathers: and whenever an usher es-
pied fellow in an orchestra seat with
his coat III his lap, instead of on his
back, the rank ungentlemanliness
brought a positive reprOOf.
'Youse wants t climb up to Their
gallery, er put on yer coat" said an
usher to a chap near me.
''Wot yer hollering fer?" was the
reply; amt 1 got er collar on all right
all right? p"
Which informed me that. besides
coats being required in the parquet
of this theatre, there must be collars
to the shirts that are exposed to a
| proper degree and no more. AS to
culSr HeSleCleO 10 ascertain
Dat tips no difference" the usher
retorted; git inter yer coat or git out
| der t'eatre."
| Now, this patron of the drama wore
a spotless shirt; his collar had a mod
/ ish tie around it and his suspenders
were unsulliedly pink; whereas his
coat, when he sullenly. put ii on, was
| seen to be frayed and stained; so l
suppose he was excusable for peaching
on another breaker Of the house rule
/ of decoTum. Pointing into the midst
/ Of a dozen shirt-waisted women and
girls, he said: IVY doncher grab dat
guy ez well ez me?"
The person he indicated was rather
more than a boy, yet will never be
| quite man. so giTlishly delicate was
he in his weak face and curly head.
| He was coatless, but his shirt was as
| soft and white as those of the girls
who sat beside him, and his stand-up
| little collar had a silken tie knotted
prettiiy. The usher ran his eyes along
| the row of seats, but didn't distinguish
the masculine break in the femininity.
Does yer want de ladies L wear
coats?' he retorted. ''YOu'se kow-dOw
t de rule. err it's twenty-t'ree m
skidoo fer youse."
AS the usher passed on, the sissy
chap Strengthened up from his slumped
| attitude, and was about to pull his
dangling suspenders over his Shout
| der's.
Don't do that" said the girl at his
side. who must have been his sister
| IF you hadn't slipped your susDenders
off with your coat, as I told you to-
! you never'd have passed for a girl
Next time you come to the theatre
with me on a not day, I'll lend you a
peek-a-boo waist, and you needn't
bring any coat at all"
Not calculated to lift stage folk out
of general disrepute is THE Life of an
Actress The heroine is a good cir
singer in vaudeville, but the other
girls in the company are bad ones, the
manager is a ruffian, and bestia1
i scOuDdrels are permitted behind the
scenes. We shall get drama to praise
in September, no doubt, but in August
the productions are either musical
froth or melodramatic scum. This
pieces incidents in New York are as
replete with gunplay as though they
4 were in a shoot'em-up mining town
l don't know how 1t is in the rea'
rough-hOusing of the wild west, but
4 in stage representations there is hard
ly any such thing as a duel with pis.
tolls. One fellow always gets the
drop" on the other fellow, who at once