The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-29

ran away from his house with a pretend
ed ache for circus life, which really he
had taught her to despise she reJonsd
the show upon its return WISH TO the
village. he sought to WOO her to wedlock,
and the deacons We're scandalized
Moonlight and gasoline light blended IN
the space between the dressing room tent
and the auditorium tent, while a per-
Torrance was going on. The linmlned
windows of the adjacent church @r-icated
that religious meeting was being held
simultaneously. Acrobats and clowns,
athletes and all sorts of ringsters. trained
dogs and trick ponies. went IN and come
out. The parsOn came from the churcn
to make love to Polly. who for the Ilfst
time felt abashed in the short skirts of
her arade and hid her slender legs from
her lover under "A cloak. The shopping
deacons trailed him, and spied on the rue
lovers tTYst which TO them seemed 10 be
an ungodly scandal. When you THINK OF
IT, wasn't parsons ardent courtship OF
a circus girl, even with no wickedneSs m
it, quite enough to impair his usefulness
as a spiritual guide in a staid village? But
then deacols were depicted as unpleasant
old fellows. the girl was sweet enough TO
eat for candy. and the slump didn't come
i'm that first scene of the last act.
This Is nothing" said an enthusiast
behind me: wait for the circus.
Very patiently | waited. because the out
side dOings had been admirably realistic.
The minister had intercepted Polly on her
way to the ring. and begged her to aban-
don this circus for his parsonage For
her love Of him. she had broken away
from his enciIcling arms, let the ring
master snatch away her wrapper. and.
skirtless. made a dash into the big tent
curtain.
During the intermission I looked with
scorn al the clear water that an usher
passed. and thirsted for pink lemonade;
also, hungered for peanuts while reading
over and over the programs promise of
five circus stunts in the ring. knew,
of course. that the nervouSly oVerWrOught
Polly would have another fall, and would
be picked up again by the pdrSon. TINS
time to hold for wedlock; but ] would be
glad to have the dramatic interest sus-
pended during a half hour of old-fash-
Toned single-ring circus. But Thompson
had changed his mind between Philadel-
phia and New York; even so late that the
bills had been printed with list of arena
acts; and | was not after all. to get
spell of real circus. 1t was well that
hadn't heightened my expectation with
pink lemonade and yellow peanuts AS it
was, the disappointment was all that
could bear. Up went the curtain. A
wide-back horse was circling around with
a ShOrt-Skirted girl on him. A glance
showed that the girl was not Mabel Tai
liaferTO's slender Polly but a rather plump
substitute in duplicate costume. muir
muir throughout the theatre told that she
audience wasn't fooled, and resented the
attempt to fool il. ThereupOn the play
fell to pieces. 1t was of no avail that
POlly's double, after making several eX-
pert rOubOS on ln6 nOISS Ddchs Itll OIL
in a fit of modesty, or whatever else it
was when she saw the minister among
the spectators. Everyone was onto the
fact that the ethereal Polly hadn't in
minute dstended to this material eques-
tTienne. The curtain went down and up
in a jiffy: but il gave time for the actress
to take the place of the equestrienne on
the ground. and continue her OutcrieS. II
wasn't any more deceptive than the shift
from a fat prima donna to slim dam
seuse, and back again, had been in grand
opera for the notorious dance in Sa-
lone" The people felt II duty TO them
selves to show that they hadn't been fool
ed; and so, when the actress moaned from
the hurt of a substitutes fall, they clap
ped no hands and voiced no braves. There
was no call for the authOress who had
satisfied them hitherto, for Thompson,
the mighty Thompson, like Casey at the
bat, had struck out. STILL his wife had
made a hit and Polly of the Circus" is
a good enough play to save the dissent
of its first night in New York, to the
contrary notwithstanding.
Roosevelt Rockefeller and Teddy bears
are in a new play. 1t is all jolly,
though, and none of the fun is other
than childish, for this is a holiday show.
the first one in many years here, meant
to amuse youngsters, and OldSters, be-
darn. New York law requires, however
that persons under 16 at the theatre shall
be accompanied by adult custodisns, and
once in a while the Gerry society makes
at half a dollar or less cost him $50 or
more in fine. So there are stunts in
THE Bad Boy and the Teddy Bears
which grown folk have been known to
enjoy, such as a dozen singing and dan
cling girls Can it be that l. too view
these blIthesome creatures with a COM
placency rising to qualification? For aft
er seeing one-half dozen of them in the
afternoon | went in the evening to see
the other half-dozen. As Christmas week
was to bulge with new plays, and this
one was to be performed for practice in
YOnkers a day before opening in town.
was at the matinee in that suburban city
The theatre had q stage none too big
to give a concert on. and as to holding
the persons and properties of a dra-
matte outfit IL couldn't do il without
crowding that the influx of ia dozen
violently active show girls additionally
was simply impossible. A file of six
with elbow and knee room for activity,