The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-04

[ Interest AIMING loo2l theatre gOsrs who
are familiar Tien LHe BEST forms OF dIa-
matte enuertGlhme.l,- -'rClly OF the Cir
Gus is the work OF MargArey Mayo, z
young woman who hos made an envi-
able reputation as q writer or successful
plays. her other works that have
achieved success are the Marriage Of
! William Asche' and ar adaptation o.
Victorien SaruOu's ''Dvorcons.'
Consistency and natUralness are
prominent qualities in Polly OF the
Circus. The play is a simple love
story throughout. One may Goubt that
clergyman would lose his heart TO a
eircus-rider who could neither read nor
write; but that is a detail and I'm no
way affects the plays grip on one who
enjoys variety in his theatrical fare.
The everlasting triangle" is missing
here; Polly has no other lover, and
the interest in the story is kept up sim
ply through the conflict between her de-
sire 10 lead the new and peaceful life
that is offered to her and the fear that
by so doing she viii bring harm to her
sutton
Frederic Thompson of New York Hip
pOdrome and Luna park fame produced
Polly of the Circus" originally with
his wife at the title role. The play ian
for upwards of year at the Liberty
theatre, New York, where II made
strong appeal to hundreds Of thousands
Of people, anu duplicated this success il
chicago and other large cities.
It is rather an odd circumstance
is II only natural after aIl?-that while
the circus, as an institution, is growing
less popular year by year, the lure of II
In story and verse wakes continually
stronger. Years ago, New York boast
ed a permanent circus, open all the year
around. Now, even Paris is giving its
circus buildings to moving picture ex-
hibitions, while with US the consolida-
ton of the small tent shows with the
big ones is gradually wiping out the
sawdust troupes that formerly dotted
the country from March to November.
In Polly of the Circus" we find all
the dear old ring institutions of tradi-
tlOn and bOyhOOd memories We see
the clOWn-WhG, in private life. is in
Variably a sOber-sided individual with
secret grief gnawing at his heart; the
boss Canvasman, lord and master Of the
tents, and the circus proprietor himself.
with a stentOrian voice, and with a
huge fake diamond sparkling in his
shirt front. Probably these types never
really existed, but we have grown So
accustomed to seeing their counterfeit
presentments that Miss Mayo has wise
ly kept to the established grooves. In
a play you must give the public not
the real truth, but what it fOndly be
lieves to be the truth Possibly that is
why Ibsen is not as big money maker
as Paul Armstrong, VINO knows, for
instance, that western cowboys are NOS
as ignorant as he makes them with re-
gard to dress and department. but who
realizes, too. that audiences would not
think them true to their environment if
they seemed comfortable in starched
collars.
Polly Of the Circus" is a romance
redolent of the fresh sawdust of the
ring; vibrant with the incessant clamor
Of the band, panoramic in its ever-mov-
ing display of clowns, acTObats. horses. /
and trained animals. You will see Polly.
the daughter of the circus: you will see
BingO, the trained Arabian thorough
bred, on whose back she rides. in fun
view Of the audience, and you will see
Muvver Jim, the boss canvasman. and /
Toby, the clown, who loved the circus
orphan, and cared for her like a father
and mother. You will see Deacon |
Strong. who hated a circus, and Rev |
ereud John Douglas. who grew to love
a circus girl. You will hear the COS
sip that threatened to divide the pas
tor and his flock, and you viii hear
read the biblical story of Ruth and Ma
omi; and the curtain drops on the final /
scene with the lines, Whittier thou |
goest I will go, thy people shall be my |
people, and thy God my God"