The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-04
Cool Drama Preferred to Novelty
by New Workers BY FRANKLIN rvLzs.
BY FRANKLIN FYLEs.

vaudeville stands for that most I'M
known of quantities, the added attrac-
| tOn,' which is a polite way of saying
trial turn" Frequently the actors and
! the audience are tired in about equal
proportions
After the furry of many new musical
/ plays the New York stage has suddenly
realized it has novelties enough. He
/ who seeks something new must resort to
vaudeville Even there he finds the
managers feeling that familiar special
| ties pass as new enough If shown on
4 airy roofs instead Of indoors. And there
/ is something cooling, these sweltering
1 nights. in seeing Annette Kellermann
/ dive gaily into cool water and scramble
smiling up and down messy, dripping
rocks A group of living statuary,"
/ whitewashed but almost naked, do not
occur to US as at ali immOdest-as even
third cousins Of SalOme or the Girl from
RectOr's or any such people-but only
as very cool and sensible folk dressed
saneiy for such weather as New York
is suffering.
One Y quantity I saw was tried on
/ Sunday afternoon before an audience of
city-bOund sufferers who were deprived
Of even the privilege Of a sunstroke on
Broadway by a sudden thunder shower.
The names of the new play and its au-
thor and its actors are all KS to me.
You cannot accuse me of the slightest
prejudice. True, when the curtain rose
revealing an artists studio some famil-
lar faces greeted me. There was Amelia
Bingham, handsome and cool. though
buxOm, being present in the form Of a
plaster cast such as generally spends a
week in the lobby Of the vaudeville the
atre upon whose stage the flesh and
Z 4
the left, her chin uptilted and her sin
gle visible eye blinking piquantly, Mrs
Fiske treasured US that we were not in
the house Of total strangers. Again
| looking about, we found Mrs. Leslie
/ Carter among US, her hair so passion
ate as to throw US into added perspira-
ton, but herself, for the rest, most vel
come.
When the X play begins We are hard
~ surprised to learn that the artist
graced with such distinguished sftters
. bears a name no less impressive than
Charles Dana Ibsen. Going out to a
dinner, Mr.. Ibsen leaves his studio I'M
watched and it presently is invaded by
an impecunious friend. The Iatter's
trouble is that he wants to meet a the
atrical manager, as he possesses a voice
which no opera house should be without
Pretending to be Mr.. Ibsen. ne teIephon-
ically entices a prima donna to the stu
diO under the ruse OF wanting to sketch
her. / need hardly say she appears as
Carmen. On her arrival they indulge in
some polite. sparkling repartee, as, for
instance, when she asks why he wants
her to pose by the piano:
Il always introduce the piano in nv
pictures" the bogus Charles Dana Ibsen
explains. 1T gives them tone"
ND MT fo do q. e
feet" breaks in the lady. not to be out
done, you always have the high c."
Shall 1 detail the complications which
ensue2 The artist returns. catching the
intrUding baritone running his canvases
by trying to sketch the prima donna.
Look" he cries, exhibiting a crimson
daub, my Beautiful Blue Danube
looks like the Red Sea Naturally
the triCkster's chest notes cOmpleteIy
overcome the Carmen lady, who invites
him to meet a good dinner and g man
ager all at once; he steals Charles Dana
is evening clothes. locks him in q room
and exits to merriment. applause and
excitement music" BY all Of which
you can see that an y play is very like
any other piay-in vaudeville. This
Sketch Without Title" may live for
years or it may live forever OF il nav
speedily become an eN-play. Mrs. Leslie
Carter. Mrs. FiSkC and Amelia Bingham
smiled from first 70 last. Still. between
you and me, they were reproduced that
way, and vould have mad to remain as
serene and cheerful had the entertain
ment been Ibsen's Ghosts or the SigeI
murder group newly exhibited in wax.
Z. =
The coolest dramas to be seen I'm siz-
cling New York are without actors.
without footlights. without the spectacle /
Of heating activity. without noise. Tbs
number of theatres turned over to NOV
ing picture exhibitions-uot the fnnu-
merable and generally temporary small I
halls. but large, fully equipped theatres
Leaves no question as to the popularity
of this form Of entertainment. A round /
Of them reminds one to what a preten-
tious level these picture plays have. been
developed. Necessarily catch-as-catch- /
can views Of celebrities in living charac- /
teristiC mOtion-a DOrandO running OF
a monarch smiling grsciOusly-are not
always perfect. But the STORY pic |
lures" have been carried far past the /
haruIn- scarum pursuit of the tramp who |
has stolen a squealing pig or the clown ]