The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-19
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

vdntes; but nothing remains in my
dramatic memory more wildly salts
factory than Irving's Don Quixote pa
trolling around the pump of the La
Mancha inn to repel enemies of his
fanciedly adora BILE lady love, Dulcinea
del ToboscO-who, you may recall is
a doughty maiden unaware of him;
The Sothern long play has in its first
act this scene from the Irving short
one, and IL enables me to tell you that,
where Irving turned himself by little
more than a change of clothes into the
Spanish monomaniac, Sothern must
spend an hour before each performance
painting, wigsing and trickily clothing
his width and shortness to look like
naIToWness and length Sothern takes
on, also more of Characterization than
irving did; for Irvins's Quixote was no
more than the caricature Cervantes
created; but Sothern depicts clearly
and strongly the mentality OF a Gull
tured gentleman with a fine mind dis
ordered. The incidents chosen from
the book for the play are the vigil at
the pump, the fight in the inn. the com
pat with the knight of the Silver
Moon, the mock elevation of Sancho
TO governorship. and the death of
Quixote with sanity restored.
x X
Sothern is his ownPstage director, and
he does odd things in this pIav. lie
Keeps 1T dim throughout. He doasr'.
let the sun shine by day in la Mancha,
nor the moon by night He has light
thrown on his own face in a degree
varying from barely perceptihle
gieam TO a mild illumination, bur it i,
never bright even on his own visage,
and as to the other folk, the women
may as wen be ugly as pretty. -except
when the spotlight hits them in missing
the boss. Its operator Is a sIlaf5shoot-
er, though, and seldom aims wide of
the mark Another singuIarity is tina
IN the last act no one save QuixOte and
Sancho speaks above whisper The
Don has been brought home bruised in
body and broken in spirit. The daIu-
sion that he is knight Grant passes
away in dream wherein vague shapes
and Incoherent voices return TO ni1l
from his misadventures These 1hincs
are made visible and audible very
weirdly, with the best craft of the
modern stage. The fun is past. The
chorus of laughter is gone The dear
old gentleman's dementia IS over. So
is his strength. The members of his
househaid tiptOe into and out of the
room, putter around him. talk to him
and to one another; but all Of il is
whispered, only the make-beIieVe
knight and his squire speak out so as
to be understood. A shaft of light
pierces the darkness and falls on
Quixote's wan face. Thus death scene
is made TO haunt the beholder after he
quits the theatre.
Busy Ivy and Happy Hooligan. The
names may strike you vaguely us IA
miliar for they have been printed big
in posters these half dozen years If
you frequent the lower-price theatres
you know that the Izzy who is busy is
Jew, and the Hooligan who is
happy isn't an Irishman. but n typical
American tramp. If it further chaEces
that you keep aware of the show bdsi-
ness, 1 need not tell you that Izzy and
HOoligan are not coupled in popularity
with the actors who impersOrate them
That means a lesson for you if you
have money to multiply BY CONNER
cializing dramatic art. Joseph K. EN-
met died wealthy because he had con-
nected his name with series OF
Fritz" plays. Denman Thompson and
Neil Burgess will die with their rar,es
on the welcome doormats of THE EIj
Homestead and The County Fair. "
But it is a hundred to one that you
can't. Offhand, name the actors of
Busy Izzy" and Happy HoOigan:
and. after this seasons new plays
bearing those titles, / can't tell you who
the authors are, as the programs don't
and l have no inside information.
The point / am driving at is that
these two farcical characters, OF anc-
nymous authorship. and not associated
with any fame of their comedians. are
making money for their owners in an
nual new versions The fact is incl
dental that George Sidney Is IZzy
now. and that an Eddie De E6yes g
Hooligan: for last season they nay
have been a Smith and a Brown: next
season they may be Jones and a Rob
ison; for the characters are typed big
and the actors very small. i'm all tho
printing. Therefore. Sidney may be
bounced, and De Moves fired. withou,
the loss of Izzy or Hooligan: for q
days search along Broadway would
discover comedians able TO keep ihe
Jew and the tramp effecIually alive.
1t was shrewd device in the exploit
tation of Gus and Max Rodgers t.
name their first play The Rodgers
Brothers in Wall Street" and to change
to another place for each subsequent
season; for it wasn't possible to men