The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-06
BY FRANKLIN FYLES.

BY HANhEiN 1EES.
Sew York. Dec. 1.-Two plays smear
Broadway stages with blood and two
let laughter loose. Edith Wynne Mat
thison and Mimi Aguglia are grew
some. FRITZ Scheff and Anna Held
are blithesOme.
Let us laugh last and weep first
The Winterfeast" is so grim a TRACE
dy that ten of its men. ali it has save
NO. are stabbed 10 death and a wo-
man dies of heartbreak This tragedy
with such an abnorlnally high death
rate is Of Iceland ages ago. Its ThOrkel
is a fierce old Viking. ashamed of his
son Nalbrand for writing with the pen
Of bard rather than, like his foster
brother. Bjorn, fighting with the sword
Of a warrior. The young man loved
HeTdiSa. but the poet would have
Wooed in vain if, through lie, she had
not been made to believe that the war
rior scorned her love. During twenty
years she was Valbrand's wife and
Bjorn was thought to have been killed
by Indians while exploring America
but the absentee returned, and Her
disa learned how she had been de-
oeived. Then the bloodshed set in. Old
Thorkel put on his horned cap of valor,
Shouldered his long sword. went out
Tor vengeance on a hateful priest. who
mad let Herdisa know the truth. and
soon came back TO tell that he had
slain his enemy's seven bTawny- sons in
fair combats. TnOrkel, with head built
up by a false forehead and a shaggy
wig. with heels three inches high on his
boots, and with a voice so big that il
might have served as a sea trumpet in
his stormy vOyagingS. looked and
sounded ferocious enough to turn off 2
job Of slaughter like that
X x
There are two ways to look at The
Winterfeast'' -appreciativeIy and dis
disparaglnSly. 1t is one OF six dramas
which Charles Ram Kennedy. unable
To stage in his native England. brought
.long when he came to America with
his wife. Edith Wynne Matthison. to
act in the old morality play of Every
man. a Brooklyn Irishman. Walter
hampden, who had become a thor
nughly English actor, but retained a
uusllng Americanism. induced Henry
'iiIier with argument and money To
produce one Of those pieces. The Ser
l@nl IN the House" In that daringly
lvASouS drama HampGen perSOnated
'hIlSt reincarnated as a butler in
manner 50 reverent that church people
generally We're pleased. Mrs Mattni-
>'h-kennedy accepted an unpleasant
."ie Then with a promise of the Ice
-+hulc wife if The N'interfeaSt'
should follow. She had worked on
N"dNespearean. lbSenian. Greek-tra gle
-Ha othe~ upper dramatic planes. and
was eager 10 go to the Iceiandic.
=
our actresses are named above as
'g.hS here this week with new plays.
rear IDEAS If their endcaVorS may Dc
4lNtn by describing their best fou~
scenes. The Iceland wife. Her,iisa has
savage nature. Mistakenly hating
'Jorn for his supposed fioutjng of her
'N>lon- she demands of her unIoved
,.II,, inVl2S husband. Valbrand. that he
Eui MS foster brother. The combat is
-'1~iil on brige i'm % storm. anc
l''u comes To her that not Bjorn'S
.'-fced body but Nalbvand's. is
GROWN INTO the ley stream 10 be car
--v@ out 10 sea Her distress is Wild
.l' not boisterous. and I don't know
IN American actress capable OF show
.S such long-ago. PARKWAY. bar
ARC sort of despair. Olaf young
- OF Rjorn. is an acceptable wOoeI
"@f Young daughter: Vet in her saw
10y size makes him take an oath to
"a! an unnamed man who has ira
-lceo ner; nor will she when he learns
-- ms man is his own father. release
..'Hi from his solemn VOW Of ASA sSina-
In 50 Olaf goes into an adjoining
,-,,n and dies on his own sword Next.
10 u.aiid comes back alive. In report
bi. Sllilns OF Bjorn: and. On witnessing
- udughter's insane grief ut her low
~ suicide. 0ashes out of the house n
himself rather than I've with such
le and mother. Thus Iisraisa has
Ls.iout herself striking blow. killed
men and crazed her daughter.