The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-22
GIT HEIR MARKET VALUE" write


stamp OF approval of Salt Lake theater-
soers at Its first performance on any
stage presented by the Utah theater
company last night. II was generously
| appa uded and al the conclusion OF the
third act the audience was not satisfied
until Mr.. Mack made one OF his famed
Curtain speeches. MIR. Mack, his lau-
res resting modestly on his brow.
| thanked the first nighters for their warm
| approval and added that he was going
to offer three more plays. all OF which
he said he believed were better than
the current Offering
Mr.. Mack's play, styled by the author
as society comedy in four acts" pre-
sents some original ideas on old sub
jects. Further than that, the actor
author displays his knowledge Of stage
business by some clever bits Of c
max, in some cases effective and IN 9TH
ers not so effective-the latter perhaps
because they were so original that the
audience was not prepared for them.
On the whole the chief criticism that
could be made OF the piece Itself Is
that there are times when the plot
lacks cohesiveness, when the audience Is
keyed up TO a keen interest In what is
going TO happen. which way the action
is going to turn. and some trivial In
cident is introduced that tends to dispel
the grip" that the play has taken on
the spectators
The story Is based on the world old
plot OF two men in love with the anne
woman. Richard Ellis Livingstone is the
son OF an aristocrattc family He has
inherited blue blood and a stack OF
money, and also the caddishness which
Is frequently characteristic OF the sons
of the idle rich. II we are to believe the
story books. John LomaX is also a man
OF wealth. But Lomax made his first
stake at faro bank in Alaska. Later
real estate opera tlons in California added
largely to his fortune. Then he comes
10 New York, a sclf-made man seeking
TO become a power In the financial CEN
ter OF the country
These are the two men who love Mary
Abbott, the niece Of Colonel Caleb Jones.
lovable old aristocrat. In the first act
Livingstone matches swords with Lomax.
| and the two make known frankly what
they think OF each other Livingstone
tells LomaX that he doesn't believe he
| Lomax) belongs In the 'set" because
| LomaX asks Livingstone II he is as good
a man as his grandfather. morally men
tally and physically. Livingstone admits
that he is not LomaX then declares that
'All my grandfather left my father
| was a set OF carpenters tools. All my
| father left me was an educa ton. such as
1t was" saws Lomax. "And l. with my
own head and hands, have made for
tune which 1 expect to leave to perhaps
son who viii probably make a fool OF
Thus, in brief ''the market value" of
ca ch man Is expressed by his own ideas
OF value
Then it develops that Livingstone has
ward of Col. Jones. He has ruined her.
| IIe promises TO marry her and then sets
about to break that promise.
In the second act Livingstones affair
confesses to Mary Abbott after Living
| stone mas proposed to Mary In the third
act Mary and Lucy go TO Livingstone S
room in the ColoneIs home Mary makes
| him promise that the next morning he
Will slip away TO the nearby village qui-
city with Lucy and be married by cler-
| gyman who is also the house guest OF
Colonel Jones. LomaX and the Colonel
walk by outside on a balcony Fearing
| exposure Livingstone switches out the
light while the men pass. Lucy slips
out of the room. Livingstone turns on
the light again TO find himself alone in
| the room with Mary. the girl he wanted
for his wife. He locks the door When
his demands that Mary shall listen TO his
passionate declara ton Of love becomes too
insstcnt she cries for help. The summons
| is answered by Colonel Jones and LomaN,
| Livingstone and Mary both promise to
| explain everything In the morning
The last act is set In the morning room
NJ the colonel's summer home The next
morning. Livingstone appears, ready To
take Lucy TO the village and be married.
| lie tells the Rev. Edward Woolcot, n fell
the meantime has fallen In love with the
unhappy Lucy. When Livingstone tells
Woolcot the plan and the reasons for the
marriage the reverend gentlemen de-
nounces him bitterly and dashes in search
| Of Colonel Jones' Livingstone, fearing
that the colonel will kill him. escapes in
a machine, leaving word for Lucy to meet
| him In New York
Here Mr.. Mack brings IN a new thought
on marriage as a settlement of dis
graceful affair. Colonel Jones declares
that he will not permit Lucy to marry
livingstone. that such a marriage would
not be the solution of the situation He
declares, that Livingstone has done
enough harm TO Lucy without binding her
Word comes that Livingstone met with
an accident on the way To the station
and was fatally injured. In rapid fire Lo-
max has brief talk with Mary In which
she assures him that he has every chance
In the world to make good with her
and thus the play ends,
| The comedy part which liShtens the
piece Is that OF Burnie Abbott, young
man who Is very much stage struck" i"
| He reels off the latest gossip about stage
| folk and even tries some ventures In n
|
| struggle" Burnie doesn't get much SYM
| pathy, There are many genuine laughs
| from Burnie and the part was most cred
itably played by Walter Gilbert.
Mr.. Mack plays the part OF LomaX and
| II is a character well suited to his abil-
| tiles. Miss Rambeau is the charming
Mary Abbott, She Is called upon to take
| the center of tho most drama tic climaxes
of the play. She carried them splendIily
last night. considering the. fact that il
was the first performance. Only once
| nd ,,i
when the dlsgraceful affair was revea led
to her shortly after Livingstone had pro-
posed to her. The emotions which would
overwhelm her after such revelation
were not strikingly evident in her first
and carried It very credi,ably.' ''' part
| Arthur j. Price did not live up to his
| part, that OF very modern villain
| His villain was too much like the old
/ meIodramatic type that wore a long
| black mustache and whisIeers. II lacked
| the polish that would ma turaliy have been
| displayed by an arstocrat such as he
| represented. Anyone could have guessed
Il