The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-03-30

. the site OF the old. A benefit was give
. Mcguire at which, it is stated on al
. thentic authority, more than $500
passed through the box office To tn
sum it is said Marcus DAILY adde
$4,000. and John Mcguire was soon
managerial possession of handsom
playhouse
James a. Murray.the millionaire bank
er and mine owner of Butte, material
assisted Nj. Mcguire at this time an
until the time of Maguires death
is current report that Mr.. Murray
viii contains a provision setting asid
a substantial sum for Mr. Mcguire
benefit should the latter survive hi
benefactor. When the Grand oper
house became involved in deep and ap
parently lnterminable litigat ton, Nj
Murray told the newspapers tina
John Mcguire Will have a theatre il
this town, if I've got to spend half
million dollars TO get it for him,
Plans for a new Mcguire theatre Oh
| Granite street were once under seriou
consideration. but the house was neve
butt. The friendship that existed be
tween Mr.. Murray and Mr.. Maguir
was abiding: in California Mr.. Maguir,
and Mr.. Murray, who is at Monterey
were inseparable companions.
What Montana Owes Him.
Montana owes John Mcguire deb
| that it can scarcely repay. Mcguire il
was who brought attractions to Butte
and other cities which otherwise would
never have included them i'm their route
! book, The annual trip of John Ma
E03Te 10 Mem York for the purpose al
making his bookings for the following
season was an event; the announce
ment of his lists was eagerly awaited
And Mcguire never Disappointed his
people a home His purpose In going
to New York was to get the best there
was. and he got it. He enjoyed the
confidence of the big men in the the
atrical world, and they trusted him.
He told them that Butte would not
stand for" third-rate shows. and he
was right. He showed them that Butte
was Z show town" with carloads of
money to spend for first-rate attrac-
tons They believed him, and did
what he asked them to do. Thus it was
that John Mcguire brought to Butte
Adelina Patti. Sara Bernhard and no
END of enormously expensive plays and
players. Rut when John Mcguire said:
You just tell me l can have them and
I'll attend to the guarantee part of the
business" Butte was ready to back
him up. and Butte did.
For a time Mcguire managed cir
cult in Montana which included the ci-
ties of Butte, Anaconda, Missoula and
Great Falls.
Back to His First Love.
Times changes worked i'll for Ma
guire in Butte. The Grand passed into
other hands. The Broadway was built
and it overwhelmed its moro modest
competitor. For a time Mcguire
"hncked the trust" but Cort and his
associates were we'll organized, and the
best Mcguire could offer his patrons
was what the northwest did not want.
The Grand today is devoted to the pro-
duction of melodramas and stock COM
pany performances.
A few years ago Mcguire returned to
the stage as a lecturer and monologist.
A tour of Montana, Idaho and Nevada
was successful Mr.. Maguire's last APP
pearance in Salt Lake was when, under
his management. Sara Bernhard pre-
scented her plays at Saltair. Less than
the benefit for the victims of the san
Francisco earthquake and holocaust,
given in. the Tabernacle. At that time
he won merited approval by reciting
THE Blue and the Gray"
if TIC lCiQ OF
John Mcguire possessed a genius for
literature. His writings were scholarly
and entertaining. His mind was
Of "reminiscences. He WELD
ed a ready pen. His diction was pure
and his sentences rounded and smooth
Mr.. Mcguire wrote much for newsDa-
per publication. To The Herald he has
many pages of intensely
arti oil J
always read With an absorbing inter-
est. They were human. true to life,
heir descriptions accurate and, best of
all, truthful in every particular
In the old Grand opera house in
Butte, where Mcguire had apartments, |
here were piled cases of manuscript. |
heaps of books, thousands of photo |
graphs and pictures, and a collection
If curios and momentoes vast in its
John Mcguire at various |
lines devoted hours and days to d |
great work which one day he hoped to |
photographed history |
If the drama and the stage in the west |
t was only when the mood was upon |
him that Mr.. Mcguire turned to his |
lesk, although his friends urged him |
inc and again to apply himself to the
ask: "Oh, I've plenty of time yet"
Mcguire would say, you youngsters
ant kill me off just now" Perhaps
here is no individual collection of pa
'ers in the world such as Mcguire ac-
inundated during his long career as
ctor and manager.
A Life Full of Incidents.
Naturally, the life of John Mcguire
bounded IN extraordinary incidents.
t s-told, whether it be true or not,
hat one night John Mcguire, Frank
1aguire. another veteran theatrical
IAN, and Frank Mayo were together in
an Francisco. The story runs that
rank Mayo's real name was Mcguire.
nd that one of the group remarked:
1T strikes me that there are alto
ether too many Maguires around here
What do you think about it?"
TN tell you what I'll do, Frank"
aid Frank Mcguire, 'T'll agree to let
ohm here flip the coin to see which one
f us changes his name"
Mayo lost, and on the instant took
le name of his native county in Ire
md. That, at least, is the yarn John :
[agUire and Frank Mayo were life
ng friends.
It'll Death Do Us Part"