The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-26
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs,

glimpse of her the actress assuming to
be a male lover sta nds like a fond wor-
shipper of the maiden, and not a lit
eral possessor. Thus all thought of
comic opera, or any sort of burlesque,
is kept out of mind.
x X X
Maude Adams is a recluse when not
on stage view. I am told that her
strength is frail, that she gives it all
to her dramatic work, and that there
fore she avoids the social activity
which her close friend, Ethel Barry
more, engages in vivaciously. Her be-
haviOr on opening nights proves that
her nervous force is exhausted uttere
ly in the role she plays, leaving none
for responses in her own personality to
the audiences curtain calls. 1 am an
incredulous first-night observer of act
resses' tricks of shyness and astonish-
ment nervousness and exhaustion. and
assure you that Maude's collapses
are not counterfeit. She does not dare
to walk forward to the footlights
alone and bow TO the applause, After
acts of '"The testers" she had to come
out twenty-One times: but only twice
did she let go of somebody's hand, and
those times she held fast to the seen
cry. She took support from one after
another of her fellow players. Sew
eral times it was little COnsuelo Bailey,
herself too scared TO serve the pur-
pose. Once it was Charles Frohman,
whom she seemed to have seized I'M
awares. and who is so aVerse to pos
ing publicly that this momentary ap-
pearance was, so far as 1 recall, the
third he has made in twenty years. The
audience insisted on a speech from the
actress.
Goodness knows" she gasped. as
CHI i Iaf Of
a wing. Il wish I could tell you how
grateful / am. Why can't I?''
Why, indeed? The usual inability of
actors, so glib with authors words, TO
utter any of their own, is a wonder.
X X
Tt was a tense scene of an estranged
wife's unhappy return to her husband
i'm the domestic tragedy of Irene
WyCherly'' that stirred the audience to
enthusiasm when revealed in London a
few months ago by Lena Ashwell, and
again when shown this week here by
Viola Allen. Mrs. Wycherly bore the
brutality of her ibertine husband, even
TO blow across her face with a riding
whip, and did not leave him until his
relations with a Mrs. Cave drove that
woman's husband to suicide. Thereaft-
er she lived five years alone in London.
shot while hunting, and permanently
blinded. Irene then consents to go to
him. His face is SCARED and his sight
less eyes are horrible, yet he is brood
ing sensually over his amOurs, and is
hateful to Irene, who is resigned to do
her torturing routine of daily duty.
Now, for an episode such as Viola AL
len has never before taken part in.
Wycherly asks Irene to invite a former
paramour Of his TO join their house
party, and she has just written the
letter when the hideOus blind man,
coming in contact with her, leers il
sensual recollection of her and puts his
arms about her. She recoils, but keeps
silent He tells her she need not send
for the other woman. He moves his
hand across her face. ''The scar is al
most gone" he says, as he touches the
place where his whip cut her cheek
He becomes more amorous. She car
bear it no longer, but cries out, ana
shrinks from him. In a frenzy Of rage
he picks up the letter to the other wO-
man and, staggering and stumbling IL
his blind course. grOpes his way from
the room, crying, I'm show you, damn
YOUTH show you
There is another engrossing passage
in Irene Wycherly," and this one give:
| TO Edward Arden a half share in the
/ plays climax. WyCherly's paramOur j;
! a guest, but Irene is unaware that she
| is the Mrs. Cave of his infamous liaison
| This woman refuses the disfigured man
] brutally telling him he is repulsive Il
/ her. The blind man seeks consolation
/ i'm drink. Irene becomes aware of the
/ identity of her guest, whereupon. in Z
powerful scene of dUelling wits, the wo
men fight for the upper hand. Mrs
| Cave charges Irene with Illicit love o.
faithful friend, and for that Islander
is ordered from the house, but is per
| mitted a thin veil of excuse to protec
her from her second husbands ieal
ousy His suspicion is kindled, how
ever. and in an interview with TIT
| Wycherlys, man and wife. he demand: