The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-28
ADJUSTMENTS.

1.-The Man of the Hour" has been
described by some critics as the great
American play 1t is not that, but it
certainly is a great American play. 1t
had its first production in Salt Lake City
last night at the Theatre and was well
coined by an audience that very nearly
measured the full capacity of the told
playhouse. The play is by George Broad
hurst 1t gives American citizens their
first real opportunity to see how the po-
litical wheels go around. The Man or
the Hour is said to have been written
about New York politics. There is in II
a suggestion of the present mayor OF the
metropolis, a hint at the story of his life
But il might have been written about
any large city, for in every large city
there is a boss who dominates until ne
is OverthrOWn. From the first act the
action is so swift, the dramatic situations
follow one another so closely. that one IS
tempted to hurl the adjective ''melodra-
matte at il. But every drama that is
worth while contains some Of the ele-
ments of melOdrama, for life is full OF
that very thing. To say that THE Man
of the Hour" is worth seeing Is to put
the case too mildly. 1t is worth seeing
more than once. The story IL tells is
worth telling. worth hearing often. be
cause it is story of brave man, who
dared risk everything. even the good
name of the father he had been taught
to honor all his life. even-the love of the
girl for whom he would have given his
life. rather than sacrifice his high ideals.
The tragedy of it all is that there are SO
few mayors like Alwyn Bennett. so many
bosses like Richard Horigan and so many
capitalists like Charles Wainwright. Still.
few people comparatively, are willing to
admit that The Man Of the Hour" pre-
sents a faithful picture of our munich
pal conditions To say that it does is
to say that the system reeks with graft,
with dishOnor with all that is repulsiVe
G,, SRTiOnCnPCg
of the story. 1.-The Man of the Hour is
iightened with much laughter. The wit
Of Alderman Phelan- capitally done by
Felix Hanev, Is worth the price of ad-
mission Mr. Hanev is exceedingly def
in his Characterization. He puts just the
right touches into bis work. His humor
is rich and his philosophy is projected
over the fOOtlghtS in such a way as to
captivate his audience instantly. Casting
about for stars in the plav one is at
loss to designate them. There are three
big parts. all for men-the parts of Al
WIN Bennett Richard Hnrigan and Al
derman James Phelan. They are taken
hv Lionel Adams. Louis Hendricks. and
Felix Haney. respectively. The charac-
tiers are 90 different that it is difficult
70 saw which of the three characterize
lions is the. hest viewed from the artis-
tic standnoint. hlthouok inclined Al times
tn stapinese. Mr.. Adams inlDresses his
observers and wins their symmetry al
most at the beginning. He is potentially
an extremely capnhle actOr: and it NAV
he said for him that. in snite Of stron@
tamn+a tons. he never Over6OeS the part.
In the scene with his mother. when he
reveals to her the fact that his dead
father was pot the honorable man thew
had believed him to he. Mr. Adams gave
a really snlendid examine Of reDressed
acting And in this connection the work
oF Ethel Brandon. as the mother. is en-
titled to honorable mention Miss Rran-
don is easily the most capable woman in
the cast AS Richard Horigan Mr.. Hend-
70 faaaF
ing his lines. Once it was necessary to
prompt him so obviously that the words
of the prompter filtered out into the au-
dience. 1t is a pity that this was true,
for Mr.. Hendricks is an actor of abil-
ity In the unlovelys character of the
boss he was very real very convincing
when he was perfect in his lines. which
was nearly all the time. The Alderman
Phelan of Mr. Hanev has been touched
uDon. Deserving of high praise was the
Henry Thomson of r. D. Cain His de-
nunciation of Charles WAINWRIGHT in the
last act was magnificentiy done and the
enthusiastic applause that greeted it was
worthily bestowed
1.-THE Man of the Hour runs through
the week at the Salt lake theatre There
will be matinees on Wednesday, and Sat
urday.
The Orpheum presents this week a bill
uniformly above passing grade. The one
possible exception, which is a headiner.
is George Beane with his. iDlaylet ~ (
Woman Way" in which he Is supported
by his tiny 2-year-old. and ably supported
too. OF course Mrs. Beaue. under the
name of Mabel Haines takes p hand
in the woman's way. hut the habv and
its dad are the show. The work is real !
" Of hiTh grade. Tt is the usual late
Homecoming. with the ACCOMMODATING lag !
hut il has its varia lions which are marv !
and which make il p real act Into the |
midst of this comes the tot and with |
his ''nightv'' his Teddy hear and his all
solutely seraphic smile he captures the |
house
The bill opens with the cleverest banjo !