The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-11-15

there she doubtless stay till
some one removed her, hus.Arld or I'M
! dertaker. She had no wants eonse-
quently no incentives; she had no am
bition, and could not be spurred; nc
vanity. and could not be -coaxed. She
| had good nature, good health, good
appetite and perfectly fiawleSs
beauty of face and figure Why, in
deed, should she crave more? Perha ps
we were the fools, not she. If she
lacked intellect, she possessed memory
the best substitute for intellect
! Without memory her accent and lido
matte vuIgarisms would have broken
through into some of her brief speeches
| on the stage, and then even her beauty
could not have saved her from ridicule
but, as Ii was, her unvexed memory
enabled her to repeat every word just
as it had been drilled into her with the
undertaking correctness and monotony
of photograph.
Yet once Studheim leaned too heavi-
ly upon the prop of Brenda's stolid
memory; and his fall was bad. All this
time we were playing summer stock
in Schenectady. where Studheim had
leased a theatre and engaged his own
company for the express purpose of
being able when he liked to introduce
himself to the public in Shakespearean
roles. Morris was a good actor of
splendid gifts, but Shakespeare always
went him one better than he had. The
easy-tempe-ed public kindly put up
with his fortnightly tragedies for the
sake of the good old melodrama he al
ways gave them the week after. Not
but that Morris was losing money hand
over fist, But he never let US lose; our
salary never failed to get into the
weekly envelope, even though Morris
bank account grew slim to fill it. That
is why we liked him immensely and
tried to do the best we could for him.
The day after pay day we often told
him what a fine Hamlet he was. That
was the only day we could do 1t.
though.
But about Brenda SwensoD's slip. We
were doing Macbeth that week, "doing
him good and plenty Nina said; and
at the last moment Studheim recalled
the fact that he was short on "appari-
lions for the caldron scene. Previous
ly, on the road, little Jane Duke had
done them all, one after the other,
shooting up through the trap and let
ting off her small speeches as noncha-
lantly as a child. You couldn't scare
Jane Duke. That is one reason, though.
why Morris let her go. He liked rea-
sonable bit of awe from his troupe; and
the rest of us. we fed it to him, but
Jane Didn't, AS a consequence, we
now lacked Jane and had no "appari-
TONS" SO Brenda. with a splash of
gore on her brow. was given the task
of appearing in the witcn-fire Stud
helm hated to trust her with. luckless
combination like the Thane of Fife"
but had to-therefore drilled her and
gave her intonations, even on the word
beware"
t. - I,
Venus. trying TO magnetic her with
his magnificent eyes, Macbeth, be-
ware, bewarei bewarer"
"All right" whispered Brenda stole
ally. The performance was under way
and they dared not be too vocal. She
glanced out to the stage in order to fix
locations. 81 say be where?' and where
ISIS ii you viii be. Mr.. Studheim?"
Right in front OF you. CYou cold
storage swab@ And it's beware. It
means look out look out look out
(and God help us all if We don'tD"
''Oh, I dank you. Mr.. Studheim. for
your explaining Kindness" murmured
Brenda
He shot herNan alert look, to detect
possible sarcasm, but of course saw
none, because there was none. With a
tragic supphcation to the helpful pow
ers above. Norris went to his doom.
For the wabbly passage up the tran.
the glare of fire, the bloodshot agony
in the eyes of the tortured Thane. ajI
proved unsettling to the second anna
rition." who gutturally walled:
Ach, look oudt, Macbeth: look oudt
two dimes. and look oudt some more
yet" Inc my
Strange to say, not word Jared on
the audience. They really did not get
much of. it, for Macbeth rared with .
most quick and saving sanity. tba
incanted unduly but with com