The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-01-20
THE. CRITIC WAS BARRED.

which he had been sitting. he stepped
around one corner of screen. and bid
me. i'm a whisper. to follow. On turn
ing the corner of the screen. saw
that, for some reason, two screens had
been put up which conVerged at dis
lance of about twenty feet from the
point whore we entered the space be-
tween them. The doorkeeper carried
the chair down this narrow aisle until
he had reached the point where the
chair filled an the width Of the space
between the screens, and where. hear
mS everything. but unseen and seeing
nothing. | Was left. / bowed my ac-
howlCd gments of his courtesy, when
J saw him waving his hand and smil-
ins as he turned the corner. The next
rive minutes were passed by me I'm
wrestling with wave after wave of ir-
lcsistsble laughter. AS one would re-
cede another would arise until in the
I effort l put upon myself 20 avoid an
explosive outburst my sides were grow
ing palpablY sore. [ might have
Gained myself sooner bur for the
handsome and benignant face Of nv
friend looking around the corner to see
how / was getting along. When I be-
came composed enough TO listen 10
anything, a false heir who was inper-
Sonat.ng one whom he thought he had
eifectually disposed of, was making
love 10 the young lady who had shut
me out OF the light and put me in the
/ little end OF this telescope. But she
! was clearly afraid of him. as she was
| of me, and would have none Of him
/ I he fine Scorn she put into her voice
/ in letting him know that he was with
! out hope convinced me that / might
/ have broken up the entertainment. and
/ made myself unpopular. had 1 man
| aged 10 get i'm. The manner in which
/ she Slan1sDpn him N. no ,,-.t
! he Kissed that she should yet be his
! were pieces OF acting which / greatly
/ enjoyed. The only thing marring my
/ enjoyment was To hear the hotel boy,
who had got me the only COX seat in
the house, greeted with cries Of rats
go soak your head, and other like
criticisms from the other town bows
when he said his little piece. Finally
the real heir appeared on the scene.
and il was not long until ne was hug
Ging the young lady who had inte-dict o.
ed me until ! could hear the stays OF
her corset crack. In the finale. when
. the false heir asked: Who then. am
IY the true heir answered: You? You
are a besgar.
The audience roared. and so did L.
It was the first general laugh OF the
, night, and IL gave me the chance / had
= been waiting for. But was il art?
, contend that IL was. but unconscious
! art. OF course. The amateur actor I'm
I the Iowa town was as dramatic as pos
5 sible He had no intention OF raising
2 a laugh. But the joke was on the false
= heir wasn't it? He had played a mean
= game and lost and It was up to some
BODY to give him the horse laugh. II
: the actors OF the stage didn't know
: enough about art 10 do Ii. the human
y nature in the audience saw the point.
= and rose to it. Richard Mansfield. in
= the same lines, couldn't make an au-
= dicnce laugh, where they ought Ia
Y laugh, as that Iowa boy did that
E night"
, There You go again" said the critic
j but how did you get out Of there?"
Cot UP and walked out" said me
= man who laughs. MY friend at the
e door asked me how ] liked it, and ]
a told him that had never enjoyed any
e other theatrical performance as well
e which was the gospel truth. And
= have never seen one since which lin
e gers in my recollection as that one
n does.