The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-19

scene: Anne Hathaway's cottage at
Stratford- The characters:
Shakespeare and Anne? No. Mark
Twain and Ethel Barrymore. They are
discovered in a conversation that looks
all-absorbing. They don't show that
they know they are observed. Has no
body told them that the front wall of
the room has been cut out, and that
the street is crowded by people look
ing in7 They gaze into each others
eyes soulfully, though neither is
aware of any other person on earth
than t'other. If the dialogue could be
heard it might run, You are the great
est ever" There's been a greater than
you. no never" and so on in adulent
fiattery. Is the play entitled "Propos-
1ng?" No. If / were asked to name it,
/ should say, Posing" For Ethel,
loveliest of this-day pets of the stage,
is never off guard. No camera could
catch her in other than pictorial pose.
This daughter OF Drews and Barry
mores was born in a spotlight, and has
never been out of the focus At this
disclosure, she is dressed for the role
of a Gibson girl out for afternoon social
calls She may have dropped in to pay
her respects to Shakespeare, yet there
is no hint of that once well known man
in view. while on the wall is a portrait
in bas-relief of EthePs uncle, John
Drew, an old etching of her Grandma
Drew, a photograph OF Papa Barry
more. and sketch of her own rare
self
So young Ethel Barrymore is holding
the bright center of the stage and old
Mark Twain is circling in the outer
dimness2 Well, not much, and not any.
This Mark isn't an easy mark to miss.
He stands out for all the shots of pub
1icity that go flying around. EthePs
hair is brown and soft, but Marks is
white and stiff. If her face is the CEN
ter of a rose with petals gently edging
it. his is the middle of a chrysanthe-
mum with a mass of fluff flying wildly.
And his raiment, oh, his raimenti It
is all as white as his hair; the linen of
his shirt, of collars and cuffs, the fan
mel OF his coat, vest and trousers, the
silk of his stockings, necktie and
watchgard, the leather of his shoes-all
spotless white. Such is the costume in
which the aged humorist holds his own
with the young actress as a poser at
the actors fund fair. AT the time of
my description they are at the booth
of the Players club. Circumstances
have doomed him. too. Another theat-
rical coterie, the Century Theatre club.
invited him to be it's star sinner at the
fair. The clubs president, Mrs. Rosen-
field, an ardent Christian Scientist, be-
thought her that he had written down
Mrs. Eddy as a faker, and she made a
row, ending in her resignation. Daniel
FrOhman, president of the actors fund,
and away up in the Players club, made
Twain the oratorical opener of the fair.
That fixed the great ! ker in the public
eye. And from Mrs. Eddy came to the
Players a copy of her Science and
Health" marked by her own hand ito
the players of good dramatic lessons, >"
which has been sold at 5000, and a por-
trait to the Century inscribed, Having
one infinite God unifes men and ma
TONS constitutes the brotherhood of
men, ends wars, fulfills the scriptures -
Chances to draw that were taken at an
aggregate of $3.50 Christian Science is
the religion of many of our stage peo-
pie.
AS to Mark Twain and Ethel Barry
more in the pantOmime of Posing" it
ended with his writing his name in as
many Of his books as tie people would
buy. and her selling by auction. at $50
doll that she had dressed in imitation
of herself iii a play. Maybe 1 have Civ
en- undue space to Ethel, as she is but
one among hundreds of actresses who
have given a nine days wonder of q
show continuously from noon to mid
night at the Metropolitan opera house
Adults nave Dttn III IL, LOO, Dul l1G lair
have been the making of the fair to
get mOrey 70, the actors fund, and a
memorable affair they have made of it
The opportunity TO get closely next to
the celebrities of the stage has been
utilized by the moneyed public eagerly.
for an admission fee of dollar was
mere preliminary TO the spending of as
many more dollars as the visitor cared
TO, or as he or she could be coaxed to.
1t was quite reasonable, yet a disap-
pointment TO many visitors, to look in
vain for some of the actresses who are
foremost in fame. Few of them are
young beauties, and could they be ex-'
pected to expose that fact to close sight
under glaring light? Some OF the stage
queens were off on tours, but there were
those who could have been there but
wouldn't. AT least two retired SOU
brettes, however. were not afraid to
come out into the glare.
'HoWdy do, Chariotte?" said one
CHEEKY matron to another.
Pretty well, Margaret" was the re-
ply.
They were the Maggie Mitchell and
the Lolita Crabtree of former favorit-
ism.
The most observed among the ac-
tresses next to Ethel Barrymore, was
Anna Held, and the smart type of the
one and the STACEY aspect of the other
made a violent contrast Perhaps the
most striking combination of stage
beauty and modish air among the &C
tive workers was Margaret Ellington. A
singular exhibit was Bonita, because
she had Gibson girl shape and man
ner, while her entirely local renown
had come of being the principal singer
and dancer in a female minstrel COM
pany which the fashionable town has
made a freakish fad of. Indeed, Bonita
and Barrymore changed places day aft
er day at the top of the voting list for
1.-The most popular actress the prize
TO be the diamond awarded to the late
Georgia Cayvan at the actors fund fair
of 1892.
X x x
The beauties of the booths were at
least so per cent unknown to other Wis
itors thar those who go to the theatres
a great deal. President Frohman had
decided beforehand that notorious
SHOW girls should be barred; that the
fair shouldn't be a Tenderloin exhibit
ton of tainted loneliness; that the rep
utable women of the st5 ge who worked
for the good cause should NOT have m