The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-05-14
Evived "Ligh 0 London" Blink Badly
lpsrs Again Make First Night Hideous
Are Targets Of Burning Rdcue They Try to Make Old Meo
drama Go in Realistic Era

things went wrong. A piece of
house fell on horse that had
been an actor many years in
fWay Down East and made
him prance with his first attack
of stage fright. A cafes ceiling
wrecked the glassware of Il bar.
A descending curtain caught three
policemen by their buttons in its
fringe of slllien rope and held
them for laughter. The merriment
turned to guying when Douglas
Fairbanks. AS a fighting coster,
knocked down FIVE hobbies as
though they were ten pins; and
from that time every familiar old
melodramatic phrase or stunt got
its jolly roars. There. was turn
to sincere applause, though, when
Brad. responding to call, came
out with his arm in surgical
splints, A piece of scenery had
fallen on him.
Old Lines Guyed.
Nobody cared, though, for the
miseries of the play S persons.
When the hero's final triumph
was declared in that fine old line,
FtThe lost will is found - it was
roared at like Joke in a bur-
Iesque. Nor was Charles Richman,
The villain, regarded as less anus
ing in his chagrlu of downfall
when he hissed. "I have been be
trayed.' - 1t was poor William
Courtenay. that idol of the girls,
who suffered most cruelty from
the guyers, in the hero's leap
from a bridge to save the life of
his murdcrous enemy. There was
where Thorne and Barrett used
to craze beholdcrs with en-
thusiasm.
Poor Courtenay seemed to have
no heart courageous. BY that time
the audience was laughing at all
the Sims things once potent TO
thrill. The actor was nerveless
when the moment came for HIM
to quit a low spot from which he
might drop easily into the water,
pass around TO the center of the
stage, and he followed ZIP by a
spotlight to the high parapct and
dive from there. A dramatist of
today wouldn t be as crude as
that; but the production was TO
be a copy of the original, and
Courtenay had 10 do III 1911 Just
what his predecessor had done III
1881. Or start in to. But on his
way around 10 the diving point,
and when nearest to the audience,
a giggle here. q snicker there and
a gufIaw yonder bit his ear drums.
He threw up his hauds-physi-
caIly, not Observation-Disclosures
off his hat, ard sent it sailing
out into the parquet. The curtain
went down in great bilarity.
One More Failure.
Is there nothing theatrical at
the Atlantic edge Of the country
10 write about, you ASK, that ism t
frivolousl Yes. A comedy writ
ten for fun that became a tragedy
by mischauce, When a play Is
ready for its first performance on
earth in New York. usually it is
sueaked to some near town to get
a little accustomed to itself before
professional original prcsenta.
tion in Broadway. Sometimes |
have thought it Il neat trick TO
trail along and see ii in what cs-
sentially is Il public dress re-
hearsal; but as rule the actors
are unrcady, the scenery has been
left IN town, and the play doesu
show what is in II. So | dldn t 90
TO Trenton TO see the birth throcs
of "What the Doctor Ordered" D."
Jacob Wendell. Jr., born to So
cial position, but none too well
endowed by family wealth, needed
to choose, upon emergence from
college, between skimping along as
society drone and working Tor
name, fame and fortune. He had
been an amateur athlete and actor
at Harvard. He declined an offer
TO go into professional baseball,
and took AN engagement at the
New thcater The first role given
10 him was dog in Maeterlinck $
"'The Blue Bird" in which he
bow.wowed like the bully creature
that his friends say he was of him
self He was patted and petted at
the theatcr in fancy by fond WON
en- and children out of reach in
fact: and with bOou companions
after the show-for he was con-
vivialist-he talked of himself as a
lucky CUouGu hpS iH+ib i'p'' " ~
up on its hind legs aud be dra'
matte hero.
The opportunity came with
"What the Doctor Ordered. - The
play was taken TO Trenton for
final rehearsal before an audience
prior to opening in town. An as
sertion of success was telegraphed.
Who believed it? No one WAS
credulous when word came that
Jack 0endell was i'll. and that the
Broadway initial, FOR which three
hundred of his modish friends had
bought seats, WAS postponed. y
sub.crfugc To cover failure and
get time for further preparation,
You can't fool u New York theat.
rical sharp. Too bad that good old
chap Jack hadn { The gall TO face
down iav Trenton, bat hraced up
too copiously with alcohol, and hy
that was Aooyed. However. Jack
is dead The account Of his col
lapse on the stage, and OF the read.
ing Of the remnant 0f his part by
the director. WASH t fiction. In
the dcIirinm Of pneumonia, Jack
cracked the Jokes OF his star role,
and coming before an imaginary
curtain. thanked his friends for
their applause.
I1Jai1 of q We1cheT