Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-02-02


A Ew YORK, Jan, 2S.-We have
M gone stark. staring, ravlng mad
y about "salome." Oscar Wide
at the Irving Place; Oscar Wilde
and Richard Strauss at the Metropolis
tan: Herman Sudermann at the Lyric.
The condition might be described best
by paraphraslng the late lamcntcd
Samuel Taylor Colcridgo IN lines Ike
these:
'iSaioipc. Sulumc, everywhere.
And all tho bards do shrink
Salome SalOmc, everywhere,
Nor any stop to think"
In the gentle art OF following the
bclMether our managers are unsur-
passed by any sheep that ever aoclSed
Years ago somebody dramatizod pu-
mas "1hc Three Muskotccrs2--I have
forgotten who saw II frst-and ini-
nediately aftcrward thnrO was bar
gain-counter rush for Athos PorihoS
and Aramis, sufficiently frcnzied TO III
duce the belief that the book had been
published half q month before instead
OF half a century Last season tNp
inclodramas of western life made
money, and so everybody from Rlchel
Crothcra to owen Davis vcdlsc0Vcrcd
the west. No one pauscs 10 reflect lnat
none of these pieces after the originals,
made great hits. The originals scored
because of their novelty. but those
that followed were not novelties, To
my mind. the best reason for proguos-
ticating failure FOR n play Is 10 say that
II Is very much Ike such -and-such
SUCCESS But that Is another story.
anyway as Bobby Gaylor used to
remark tho woods are full Of ''Sa-
lomesH Mercedes Leigh began It early
IL, hAF u
matinee at the Astor. Now Julia Mar
lowe and u. II. Sothcrn are ncung
Sudermann's version, called John the
Baptist, AT the Lyric, and Helurch
Conried, not TO be ontdOne by tho man
who conceived the idea OF having two
uppsies Is Offering Wilde's tragedy
with or without gas~-I mean music;
with music IN tho Metropolitan at $40
and without music in German and the
Irying-Placc at dollar and n hair
Madame Pillar Norm. who once got into
trouble with the authorities here be-
cause OF their different ideas OF what
constituted THE limit" IN French farce.
is going to do "The Dance Of the Seven
Wells" AT Keith & Proctors Fifth Ave
nue, while n real Baroness explains
what little that tit-bit of torid Torpsi-
rhoreanlsm leaves TO the imagination.
dozen lectures on the subject are an-
nounoed, and the book-shop windows
are filled with guides TO Strauss and
recollections of Wilde. Not since the
Introduction of the "peok-a-boo shirt
waist" have we had anything Ike this
newest sensation, IT Is only matter
of time before "Salume" Will reach the
stag burlesque houses, where she viii
be called Salloam and win perform
1.-THE Dance of the Seven Wells to the
strains of Milo"
know that "salome" Is wicked ANA
Indecent because the Rev. Madison Pc
tiers says SO. The Rev. Madison Peters
is AN expert on morals, whose brand OF
piety Is advertised as being Just a little
bit better than that of the Rev, DR..
parlShurst. Mr.. Peters grnciousy tells
us precisely what It is good Tor us 10
see and what isn't. and am sorry TO
say that he approves neither of "Sa-
lone nor OF 'srhe Partisan Model"
The Rev. Madison Peters isn't the
only safeguard between our souls and
the frightful influence OF "Salome.' Tho
public press has devoted its regular am
nual spasm of editorial horror to Oscar
Bernard Shaw. incidentally, amid all
the racket over the daughter of Hero
dias. MRS. WarreRs Profession IL
about to slip back into town without
word from anybody. from which de-
duce that what Is 'pernicious" and
danger to the community IN 1905 my
DC most proper ana liinOtuOuS VI iJA.
But that again, 10 borrow once more
from kipliDg. is another story.
attended the dress rehearsal of "Sa-
Iome' on Sunday at the Metropolitan,
and ! am bound to confess that my
morals do not seem to have been ar
fected TO ar appreciable degree. I did
drink u glass OF beer the next night,
but, excepting for that have noticed
no symptom of deterioration in char
acter. l"Salome" struck me as n mar
velousy beautiful production of a work
of art comprehending a wonderful score
and q rather dun and tiresome llbretto
The Strauss setting for Wilde's drama
tic poem certainly Is richly sensuous
and sensual, but so is most music
worthy of the, name To reach the
senses, take It, Is one of the purposes
OF music, and ! am perfectly sure that
"Salome" wouldn't be worth while sot
TO the cadences OF MARY Had a Little
Lamb" There should be no more sex
in art than In commerce. AS TO the
poem Itself | don't care for It. There
may be people who do. l don't want
the Rev. Madison Peters TO compel me
TO see a performance that doesn't please
me, and l am convinced that he had no
right to hold back those whom IL does
please. Tho theme OF unbrldled passion,