The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-04-25

I.ug 10 OHeEQ FEellt. No more WODlU IL De
sensible to run hard against the anti
Jewish feeling of Gentle. 'she feat of
sitting on two stools. and ,iot humping
the ground between them, is accom-
plfshed dexterOusly. Sir John Is an
irasc bic old man, a tyrant in his fam
ily, and embittered against all Israel
! ties because a successful one of them,
Sir Isaac. has acquired the Cotswold
real estate. and lives in the old Cots
void mansion, while he is a tenant in
the small house next door.
Sir John is a hateful old cusss ridicu-
lous in his Assumption OF bold superiori-
Fly, and so disdainful OF earned money.
while HIS household is supported by his
wife's and daughters toll. that he
scOlds Ike a ter-nagant when his son
hits prosperity as an operate singer.
This character is despicable yet anus
ng, landmark the clever DEVICE. L.
DodsOn is set up as starred actor to
persOnate il. Dodson has considerable
vogue here. and makes the part dom
inant; 50. don't you see, Sir Johns
violent voicinS Of hatred of Hebrews
hits with the Gentle and doesn't miss
with the people he assails.
In the balance, though, Sir John is
outweighed by Sir Isaac; for the Cen
tie has never been of any use to man
kind while the Jew has done things to
some way or another the Jew has made
fortune sufficient to buy the next
door Gentile's estate. none of his COM
mercial instinct or acumen is shown in
the play He stands out clean and
sharp as philanthrOpist. So how can
the Israelitos help liking THE House
Next Door," I don't know how it
struck its first audience, as I went to
another opening. but at the third per-
u. aE.U1
open-frOnt evening suits and women in
toilets fit for the opera, and two-thirds
were pleased Israelites. yet the other
third were ass well-dressed Gentiles well
entertained.
The American spirit of money max
ing is shown in the sOrdid, not artistic,
view taken by first audiences as TO the
future of productions The question
heard on all sides in a dispensing as
semblage isn't rs the composition good
literatuTe?" or. rs the acting good
art?" but "Will it rum" and rs il a
money maker?" As you have perceived,
I have been disposed to estimate THE
House Next Door for its ssleable value
rather than its intrinsic qualities.
So let me say right off that it is
above the middling as a dramatic
achievement, although it's use of the
j
neighboTing families is against il. Sir
John wildly denOunees the marriage of
his son and daughter with the Off
spring of Sir Isaac as crushing social
disgrace. Sir Isaac opposes the we'd
locking of his son and daughter with
the CotswOlds because the pride of his
race and the tenets of his religion for
bid it. The upshot is that the fathers
give their consent, as they do frequent
ly nowadays in real life.
The most salient scene is that in
which Sir John, having opened a letter
to his son from Sir Isaac's wife asking
him to sing at her soiree, and enclosing
a hundred pounds as compensation,
CONSTITUTES IL as a studied insult, and
goes to the JacObson's house. next door.
70 get his wrath off his mind. There
he learns that Sir Isaac has enabled
the scion of the COtswolds, by advanc
ing thousand pounds, to prepare HIM
self for an operatic career. ThereupOn
Sir John declares that. to repay the
degrading benefaction, he will so far
bemeau himself as to go 10 the Hebrew
money lenders of London and permit
them to take his honored name in
pledge for a loan.
lie comes home crushed to report that
the Cotswoid name can't be hooked for
a shilling. lie is in an humbled mood
when Sir Isaac comes to him with an
olive branch of peace to withdraw his
ban on his childTen's marriage with
Gentilss If Sir John will sanction his
children's wedlock with Jews. All the
play settles IS that two couples of hus-
bands and wives set out to arnalgamate,
so far as in them lies. the separated
and sadly antagonistic races.
Y
Imagine the live picture Of a Lady
Macbeth, TObed white in the night
draperies Of her somnambulistic walk
seated in the midst Of a hundred men
and women IN modern afternoon
clothes, and bidding them a dying
ad eu, while 1000 spectators are wiping
off tears, or letting them tTickle. Such
was Clara Morris goodbye to her pro-
fession and the public. II was not an
easily forgettable sight. Mrs. Norris
HarriOtt had a nervous disorder away
back in the time of her best acting.
She used to have medicine in cups
placed on tables and mantels to be
drained during her performances. else
she couldn't have got through with the
stress and strain. Her ailment pro-
crossed until il incapacitated her, and
the business failure of her husband inn
fpoverished her. OF late years she has
earned some money by writing for ma
gaines and newspapers: and lately she
undertook a sketch in vaudeville; but
now. at 20. she is unable TO do any
more. So the Twelfth Night club got
up an afternoon show that put $500 in
her empty purse.
Clara Morris delivery Of the sleeping
LADY Macbeth's soliIoquy OF murderOus
guilt was feeble; yet her voice had the
melting. mellow tone of her prime: and
there were reminders Of her failure
with the Shakespearean ira gedy. Yes, I
the Lady Macbeth Of this great actress
was a fiasco equal 10 that Of the far
lesser Lily Langtry's. for both made the
reRicidsl woman cOaXer and wheel
Ter of Macbeth. instead of an obdurate
dorninator: and the public wouldn't
tolerate any such variant of the ira
ditional manner illustrated IN this coun-
try by Charlotte Cushman.
The slight and calm demands of that
scene were ali that the i'll actress could
respond to; and after a minutes drop
OF the curtain. she was seen seated TO
address those who had given and those
who had witnessed the rest of the en-
tertainment. Not for an instant did I
doubt the genuineness of her emotion.
Real tears dripped from her eyes into
her voice al she babe farewell to the
public, 10 her career and to life Itself. I
Yet Wilton Lackaye in opening the
chou bad O1roFa1 Sarah Reruhard tfc (