The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-30
BY FRANKLIN FYLES.

Meanwhile ii has been good light di-
version.
The assertion is made in the other
play. The Call of the North" that the
bosses of the Hudson Bay company's
fur trading posts infiict capital punish
ment upon men who hunt independent
ly in their districts. George Broad
bursts acting version of Stewart Ed
ward Whites novel. "Conjurer's
House. in which il is set forth that
although upper Canada is no longer ex-
elusive by British franchise to the once
monipolistic corporation. it's local
tyrants, on catching a trapper a third
time, drive him into the woods without
a weapon and let him starve to death;
and II by rare chance his woodcraft is
whom New York audiences are quick
ly fond of. and that is the untutored
French-Canadian young girl of natural
impulse. She is a soubrette turned Sc
rious. and the novelty of her. although
we don't yet know her breakage of
English so as to know always what she
is talking about, is apt to beat the he
rOine in the competition for our heart.
She is in this latest two-dollar melo-
drama, and / guess, reckon, calkerlate
and everything but fawncy, doncher
know, that if Canadian annexation
comes, she will have been a potent fac
tor.
Douglas Fairbanks is made a star
actor in ''All For a Girl" and retired
from the stage while ago as a con-
dition, il was said, of his marriage with
a multi-millionaire's daughter; yet here
he is as the mock hero of a romance
based on a poor fellows refusal to use
any of his rich brides money. Fair
banks is extremely clever in the per-
sonation of everyday, good-humored
sharp-tongued. boyish young fellows.
The opening audience gave him much
of the applause. but was uncertain
where to place the remainder of the
COMMUNICATION. The circumstances were
peculiar and puzzling. Rupert Hughes
had written the comedy originally for
Grace George. who tried it obscurely
several years ago under the title of
The Richest Girl in the World" but
the girl was oVermatched for possible
popularity by her lover, which wouldn't
do; and worse still, she was of less
account with the audience than a city
salesgirl. whose vacation spooning was
sufficient to feed him on tramp of 500
or 500 miles to civilization, fleet Indians
are sent on his trail to murder him.
Ned Trents real call to the far north
is to find and Stay whoever put his IA
Their to death. He Conceals his purpose
under the pretense that he is pelf
hunter. He is caught the third time
by factor who chances TO be the very
man whom he is seeking vengefully
How can The Call of the North be
else than a melodrama? 1t is romantic
though. with the mutual love of Ned
and the factors daughter, Virginia, and
beautifully picturesque with its prime
val forest
Writers of American dramas beyond
Civilizations edge. if they time the ac-
ton in the present, must place 1t out
side of the United States. No longer
have we a wild enough west. Several
went to Mexico. but a later hegira is
to Canada. and The Call of the North
is the fourth play of that country in
Broadway theatres within a twelve
month. In it we still have the stoical
and laconic Indian, but none of the
Buffalo Bill scouts and cowboys, or
Bret Harte miners and gamblers. In
stead of those tiresomely familiar types
Of rough humanity. we get French-In-
dian half-breeds and Scotch pioneers,
with dialects that our audiences are not
educated I'D to as Yet, and the heroes
are apt TO be English lords younger
sons, for the most daring of play
wrights don't ask us to believe that
Uncle Sans Adventures ever cross
into John Bulls dominion. unless they
are on their way TO our own Alaska.
x x x
There Is a character i'm this new out
put of stage fiction, though-one that
takes the place of the formerly recur-
rent Miss of Bret Harte's origination
altogether comic In the DELAYED New
York production. all went well for Fair
banks, but il was nip and tuck be-
tween adelaide Manola and Jane Cor
coran. AS a daughter of Jack Mason
and Marian Manola, Sembling her
| triSlIy mother in face and her dignified
| father in stature, the first-nighters took
| an interest in Adelaide's first import
ant essay on the stage. She was nice
and sweet, but not yet proficient. Jane
was vaguely known for having made
/ starring tours in Grace George, roles.
and for having distinguished herself as
an actress of Ibsen; yet she took the
| assignment TO play the sassy, slangy,
gum-cnewing salesgirl, gave TO it the
manner of the typical chorus girl. and
mace ii go we'll for laughter. So, you
| see. while the audience made merry
over Jane, it didn't know how it ought
to divide applause between her and
Adelaide.
Robert Edeson suffers a setback in
self chose the book, and made dra-
matization, which was acted In corner
On the sly with an unfavorab BILE result;
but some of the material still was TO
his actors liking. and BrOadhurst was
| brought into the work After seeing
the failure of this second play, | know
what misled his judgment Ned Trent,
the hunter. who is sentenced to starve
IN the forest. could save himself per-
| hapS, if he had a rifle The agent
fair daughter has one. and to get il he
makes love to her; but when she of
| fers it 10 him. his manliness revolts and
! he cOnfesSes his duplicity to her. II
seems as though mis- going wrong like
| that. and then turning right at the
crucial point, ought to be captivating
bravery, yet not buncome, Cor an actor
| Of Blossoms hearty personality. 1t
proves Intellectual, however because
the growth of his genuine love of the
girl. and his change of purpose from
deceit Of her to devotion, are not gra ph-
ically shown in the play as they were
in the book. With that element in
effectual the whole play goes 10
naught.
- =
A curious theatrical fact was Illus
trated when, at a matinee, a play was
acted by three separate companies. Two
casts were ready to go on tours. a
n ed ~n-o