The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-01

was thrown from a horse That en-
| counter was in the Doctors parents
| farr, house, and they parted lovers, yet
| didn't know each other so much as by
name. How they met again at his
London office. where she was sent by
| her mother TO be treated for lovesick-
ness, and how the course of their true
| love was at length made to sun
| smoothly over obstacles of social
| caste, were set forth divertingly. Dan
iel Frohman bought the play for use
| by his wife, Margaret Ellington, and
she was getting ready to act in it.
| when along came Pinero's remarkable
| drama, THE Thief" with a particu-
| larly suitable role for Margaret. So
the Mackay hearts were sickened by
| the deferring of their hopes.
AT matinee performance of DIR.
| Wakes Patient" though. with smooth
| and plump Grace Elliston as the pa
| tient, and Bruce McRae as the doctor.
the authors figured as comedians. too.
If you have ever seen Bruce McRae
and Charles Wyndham, also. has their
strong resemblance struck you? That
comes of their being uncle and nephew.
McRae now looks and acts just about
| as Wyndman did thirty years ago. In
the audience, next row in front of me,
were his aunt, Wyndham's sister and
wife or Bronson Howard; also Uncle
Bronson and Mrs. McRae. AS the OBJ
Ject of McRae's ardent wooing in the
play, Grace Elliston, was in size. con-
f1guration and style much like Mrs
McRae, the wife had rare opportu-
nifty to see how he and she had looked
when, in the process of real betrothal
he rugged and kissed while telling her
how. why. and how much he loved
her. McRae is the heartiest of make
believe lovers, and I wondered as
watched Mrs. McRae and she watched
Mr.. MCRae-but what's the use of
guessing at such a problem?
X
A magazine story by Anne Warner,
entitled THE Regeneration of Aunt
Mary. contained a wealthy New Eng
land old maid. who dOtingly mothered
nephew. and came to New York to
help him out of a scrape with a girl
While here, Aunt Mary fell into the
kindly yet jovial hands of the nephew s
| fast-tiving chums. who made a sport
of introducing her to the manners and
customs of the Tenderloin. At a sup
per which they gave I'm her honor. she
| thought a sOft-shell crab was an over
grown spider. that champagne was bot
| tied cider and that oysters in their
shells were meant for jokes on her
strength of stomach. She took to CITY
ways lONtNEls anu lUeIl
| her country home. This character
looked to Miss Warner and May Rob
son like a good one for Miss Robson
eccentric style of acting.
X X x
The core of New York, the center of
| life that rises above the normal ninety
eight in temperature, and stays fever
| ishly above a hundred, is after all a
village unto itself-a big and very So
phisticated village, yet one in which
everyone knows everybody else by
sight, if not by acquaintance. In this
community, May Robson is a consider
able hgure-a cut-up-in short. a the
atrical sumter. May is no relative to
the dead Stuart Robson, nor to the live
Eleanor Robson, and I don't suppose
she is known at all throughout the
country, but to the Broadway public
she is a familiar parsonage. As an ac-
tress, her speciality is eccentric make
up She keeps so thriving a boarding
house that she doesn't need to work on
the stage for a living, and so she has
acted only when some manager wanted
her at $500 week. AS she hasn't been
worth that off Broadway, she isn't a
professional tourist. Her deferred hope
and Miss Warmers may be realized.
but they erred in making the play
themselves, instead of turning the story
over to some expert farce writer. and
so it is weakly amateurish where it
might be professionally strong It was
all right, however, to the mind of her
friends who composed the first audience.
They laughed at all the fun, and even
tried to weep at the pathos.
Skill in eccentric makeup. as I said.
is Miss Robson's peculiar value. She
introduces the old maid at her home
as an Abigail Prue like Neil Burgess
in The County Fair'-ruralistic in
dress, irascible In temper. but kindly
at heart; in second act, in her nepb- |
ew's New York bachelor quarters. she
is a feminized Uncle Josh Whitcomb. |
resembling in her initiation To CITY
ways the adventures of Denm4n |
Thompson in THE Old Homestead"
and in the third act. back at the farm |
house, she Is original with the "reiu- |
Venaton' of Aunt Mary. When the |
curtain goes up. she is in bed with !
headache from her visit to her nephew. /
Her hair is in curl papers. and her
night gown is plain: so that when she |
gets up the figure she presents is still |
old-maldish. But as the action pro- |
ceeds. point after point of change IN /
her Is disclosed. She smokes a cigar
cite and drinks cocktail before break
fast; has a maid dI ess her hair i'm the |
latest mode and. throwing off the I'M /
adorned nightie. steps forth i'm the gid |
diest OUTFIT of lingerie that ever a belle |
of the Tenderloin wore.
X
Miss Robson's debut was one of the
funny stage incidents of a dozen wears |
ago. In girlhood, she had done some |
dancing, and she hired out to be merely |
one of many in the ballet chorus of an |
extravaganza. Skirt dancing was at |
that time fad, and one of its experts |
was TO be a feature i'm the new show. |
on her way home from a rehearsal. |
with the skirt dancer in mind, Miss
Robson saw in store window a wax
leg with stocking drawn over it. That |
gave her an idea. The manager said |
it seemed to be good.
well, if IL proves to be-" said the /
thrifty woman. how much will it lift |
my pay from fifteen peri"
Leave that to me-" he replied.
In the program on the opening night.
an unknown May Robson was set down |
for "a dance" Awhile after the well