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The Mormons and the Theatre; or, The History of Theatricals in Utah

by John S. Lindsay · English · Gutenberg #35565 · 410,821 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Mormons and the Theatre; or, The History of Theatricals in Utah

Author: John S. Lindsay


        
Release date: March 12, 2011 [eBook #35565]
                Most recently updated: January 7, 2021

Language: English

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Credits: Produced by the Mormon Texts Project. Volunteers: Eric Heaps with a little help from Benjamin Bytheway and Ben Crowder


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Produced by the Mormon Texts Project,
http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Eric Heaps
with a little help from Benjamin Bytheway and Ben Crowder.








_The_ Mormons _and the_ Theatre

OR

_The History of Theatricals in Utah_

With Reminiscences and Comments
Humorous and Critical


_By_ JOHN S. LINDSAY


SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
1905




CHAPTER I.


In rather sharp contrast to other Christian denominations, the Mormons
believe in and are fond of dancing and the theatre. So much is this
the case that Friday evening of each week during the amusement season
is set apart by them in all the settlements throughout Mormondom for
their dance night. Their dances are generally under the supervision of
the presiding bishop and are invariably opened with prayer or
invocation, and closed or dismissed in the same manner, with a brief
return of thanks to the Almighty for the good time they have enjoyed.

The theatre is so popular among the Mormon people, that in almost
every town and settlement throughout their domains there is an amateur
dramatic company.

It is scarcely to be wondered at that Salt Lake has the enviable
distinction of being the best show town of its population in the
United States, and when we say that, we may as well say in the whole
world. It is a well established fact that Salt Lake spends more money
per capita in the theatre than any city in our country.

Such a social condition among a strictly religious people is not
little peculiar, and is due, largely, to the fact that Brigham Young
was himself fond of the dance and also of the theatre. He could "shake
a leg" with the best of them, and loved to lead the fair matrons and
maidens of his flock forth into its giddy, bewildering mazes. Certain
round dances, the waltz and polka, were always barred at dances
Brigham Young attended, and only the old-fashioned quadrilles and
cotillions and an occasional reel like Sir Roger de Coverly or the
Money Musk were tolerated by the great Mormon leader.

That Brigham Young was fond of the theatre also, and gave great
encouragement to it, his building of the Salt Lake Theatre was a
striking proof. He recognized the natural desire for innocent
amusement, and the old axiom "All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy," had its full weight of meaning to him. Keep the people in a
pleasurable mood, then they will not be apt to brood and ponder over
the weightier concerns of life.

There may have been a stroke of this policy in Brigham Young's
amusement scheme; but whether so or not he must be credited with both
wisdom and liberality, for the policy certainly lightened the cares
and made glad the hearts of the people.

Although Salt Lake City has been the chief nursery of these twin
sources of amusement for the Mormon people, to find the cradle in
which they were first nursed into life, we will have to go back to a
time and place anterior to the settlement of Salt Lake. Back in the
days of Nauvoo, before Brigham Young was chief of the Mormon church,
under the rule of its original prophet, Joseph Smith, the Mormon
people were encouraged in the practice of dancing and going to witness
plays. Indeed, the Mormons have always been a fun-loving people; it is
recorded of their founder and prophet that he was so fond of fun that
he would often indulge in a foot race, or pulling sticks, or even a
wrestling match. He often amazed and sometimes shocked the
sensibilities of the more staid and pious members of his flock by his
antics.

Before the Mormons ever dreamed of emigrating to Utah (or Mexico, as
it was then), they had what they called a "Fun Hall," or theatre and
dance hall combined, where they mingled occasionally in the merry
dance or sat to witness a play. Then, as later in Salt Lake, their
prophet led them through the mazy evolutions of the terpsichorean
numbers and was the most conspicuous figure at all their social
gatherings.

While building temples and propagating their new revelation to the
world, the Mormons have always found time to sing and dance and play
and have a pleasant social time, excepting, of course, in their days
of sore trial. Indeed, they are an anomaly among religious sects in
this respect, and that is what has made Salt Lake City proverbially a
"great show town."

Mormonism during the Nauvoo days had numerous missionaries in the
field and many converts were added to the new faith. Among others that
were attracted to the modern Mecca to look into the claims of the new
evangel, was Thomas A. Lyne, known more familiarly among his
theatrical associates as "Tom" Lyne.

Lyne, at this time, 1842, was an actor of wide and fair repute, in the
very flush of manhood, about thirty-five years of age. He had played
leading support to Edwin Forrest, the elder Booth, Charlotte Cushman,
Ellen Tree (before she became Mrs. Charles Kean), besides having
starred in all the popular classic roles. Lyne was the second actor in
the United States to essay the character of Bulwer's Richelieu--Edwin
Forrest being the first.

The story of "Tom" Lyne's conversion to the Mormon faith created quite
a sensation in theatrical circles of the time, and illustrates the
great proselyting power the elders of the new religion possessed.

Lyne, when he encountered Mormonism, was a skeptic, having outgrown
belief in all of the creeds. It was in 1841 that George J. Adams, a
brother-in-law of Lyne's, turned up suddenly in Philadelphia (Lyne's
home) where he met the popular actor and told him the story of his
conversion to the Mormon faith. Adams had been to Nauvoo, met the
prophet and become one of his most enthusiastic disciples. Adams had
been an actor, also, of more than mediocre ability, and as a preacher
proved to be one of the most brilliant and successful expounders of
the new religion. Elder Adams had been sent as a missionary to
Philadelphia in the hope that his able exposition of the new evangel
would convert that staid city of brotherly love to the new and
everlasting covenant.

In pursuance of the New Testament injunction, the Mormon missionaries
are sent out into their fields of labor without purse or scrip, so
Elder Adams, on arriving at his field of labor, lost no time in
hunting up his brother-in-law, "Tom" Lyne, to whom he related with
dramatic fervor and religious enthusiasm the story of his wonderful
conversion, his subsequent visit to Nauvoo, his meeting with the young
"Mohammed of the West," for whom he had conceived the greatest
admiration, as well as a powerful testimony of the divinity of his
mission.

Adams was so convincing and made such an impression on Lyne that he at
once became greatly interested in the Mormon prophet and his new
revelation. This proved to be a great help to Elder Adams, who was
entirely without "the sinews of war" with which to start his great
campaign.

The brothers-in-law put their heads together in council as to how the
campaign fund was to be raised, and the result was that they decided
to rent a theatre, get a company together, and play "Richard III" for
a week. Lyne was a native of Philadelphia and at this time one of its
most popular actors. It was here that Adams had met him a few years
before and had given him his sister in marriage.

The theatrical venture was carried through, Lyne playing Richard and
Elder Adams, Richmond. The week's business, after paying all expenses,
left a handsome profit. Lyne generously donated his share to the new
cause in which he had now grown so deeply interested and Elder Adams
procured a suitable hall and began his missionary labors. His eloquent
exposition of the new and strange religion won many to the faith; one
of the first fruits of his labors being the conversion of Thomas A.
Lyne.

Such an impression had Adams's description of the Mormon prophet and
the City of the Saints (Nauvoo) made upon Lyne that he could not rest
satisfied until he went and saw for himself. He packed up his wardrobe
and took the road for Nauvoo. With a warm letter of introduction from
Elder Adams to the prophet, it was not long before Lyne was thoroughly
ingratiated in the good graces of the Mormon people. He met the
prophet Joseph, was enchanted with him, and readily gave his adherence
to the new and strange doctrines which the prophet advanced, but
whether with an eye single to his eternal salvation or with both eyes
open to a lucrative engagement "this deponent saith not."

The story runs that after a long sojourn with the Saints in Nauvoo,
during which he played a round of his favorite characters, supported
by a full Mormon cast, he bade the prophet and his followers a
sorrowful farewell and returned to his accustomed haunts in the
vicinity of Liberty Hall.

During his stay in Nauvoo, Mr. Lyne played quite a number of classical
plays, including "William Tell," "Virginius," "Damon and Pythias,"
"The Iron Chest," and "Pizarro." In the latter play, he had no less a
personage than Brigham Young in the cast; he was selected to play the
part of the Peruvian high priest, and is said to have led the singing
in the Temple scene where the Peruvians offer up sacrifice and sing
the invocation for Rolla's victory. Brigham Young is said to have
taken a genuine interest in the character of the high priest and to
have played it with becoming dignity and solemnity. Here was an early
and unmistakable proof of Brigham Young's love for the drama.

Mr. Lyne, while relating this Nauvoo incident in his experience to the
writer, broke into a humorous vein and remarked:

"I've always regretted having cast Brigham Young for that part of the
high priest."

"Why?" I inquired, with some surprise.

With a merry twinkle in his eye and a sly chuckle in his voice, he
replied: "Why don't you see John, he's been playing the character with
great success ever since."

There are still a few survivors of the old Nauvoo dramatic company,
who supported "Tom" Lyne, living in Salt Lake. Bishop Clawson, one of
the first managers of the Salt Lake theatre, is among them.

Lyne played a winning hand at Nauvoo. He made a great hit with the
prophet, who took such a fancy to him that he wanted to ordain him and
send him on a mission, thinking that Lyne's elecutionary powers would
make him a great preacher. But "Tom" had not become sufficiently
enthused over the prophet's revelations to abjure the profession he so
dearly loved, and become a traveling elder going about from place to
place without purse or scrip, instead of a popular actor who was in
demand at a good sized salary.

Lyne had made his visit remunerative and had enshrined himself in the
hearts of the Mormon people, as the sequel will show: but he drifted
away from them as unexpectedly as he had come. Having become a convert
to the new religion, it was confidently expected that he would remain
among the Saints and be one of them; but he drifted away from them and
the Mormons saw no more of "Tom" Lyne till he turned up in Salt Lake
twenty years later, soon after the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre.

Lyne was the first star to tread its stage and played quite a number
of engagements during the years from '62 to '70. He made money enough
out of his engagements at the Salt Lake Theatre to live on for the
remainder of his days. For the last twenty years of his life, he
rarely appeared in public except to give a reading occasionally. With
his French wife, Madeline, he settled down and took life easy, living
cosily in his own cottage, and in 1891 at the advanced age of
eighty-four Thomas A. Lyne passed peacefully away, a firm believer in
a life to come but at utter variance with the Mormon creed, which he
had discarded soon after his departure from Nauvoo.




CHAPTER II.


    Thus far into the bowels of the land
    Have we marched on without impediment.

                           --Shakespeare.

When the Mormons came from Nauvoo to Salt Lake they brought with them
to this wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, the love of the drama, and
as a consequence it was not long, only a few years from 1847 to 1850,
before they began to long for something in the way of a theatre.

The pleasant recollections of the drama as interpreted at Nauvoo by
Mr. Lyne and his supporting cast, were still fresh in their memories,
and almost before many of them had comfortable houses to live in they
began to yearn for some dramatic amusement. As a result of this strong
inclination for the play and a still more universal desire for
dancing, it was but a short time before their wishes materialized.

As early as the fall of 1850 they had formed a club called the Musical
and Dramatic Association. The name was a comprehensive one,
intentionally so, for the organization included the celebrated "Nauvoo
Brass Band," a number of whose members also figured in the dramatic
company. Indeed it was from this musical organization that the
dramatic company really sprang.

The members of this original dramatic company were John Kay, Hyrum B.
Clawson, Philip Margetts, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R. T.
Burton, George B. Grant, Edmond Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward
Martin, William Cutler, William Clayton, Miss Drum, Miss Margaret
Judd, and Miss Mary Badlam. Miss Badlam, in addition to playing parts,
was very popular as a dancer and gave her dancing specialties between
the acts, making something like our up-to-date continuous performance.

The first public dramatic performances were given in the "Bowery" (a
very reminiscent name for a New York theatre goer of that day). "The
Bowery" in this case was a summer place of worship which stood on the
Temple Block near where the big Tabernacle now stands. In this place
of worship as early as the year 1850, with the aid of a little
home-made scenery and a little crude furniture, were the first plays
presented to a Salt Lake audience.

The first bill consisted of the old serio-comic drama, "Robert
Macaire, or the Two Murderers," dancing by Miss Badlam, and the farce
of the "Dead Shot."

Judging by their titles, these plays were rather a gruesome selection
to play in a church. As it is a matter of historic interest the cast
so far as procurable is appended of "Robert Macaire:"

    Robert Macaire ................................. John Kay
    Jacque Stropp ............................. H. B. Clawson
    Pierre .................................. Philip Margetts
    Waiter .................................. Robert Campbell
    Clementina ................................ Margaret Judd
    Celeste ....................................... Miss Orum

Several other plays were given during this first dramatic season and
were creditably performed, affording pleasure both to the audiences
and actors; the only remuneration the actors received, by the way, for
it must be remarked that these first dramatic efforts were entirely
voluntary on the part of the company.

The orchestra which played in connection with this first dramatic
company deserves to be made a matter of record quite as much as the
company itself, for it was also drawn from the ranks of the historic
"Nauvoo Brass Band."

William Pitt, the captain of the band, was the leader of the
orchestra. He could "play the fiddle like an angel," handling the bow
with his left hand at that. The associate players of Captain Pitt were
William Clayton, James Smithers, Jacob Hutchinson, David Smith, and
George Warde. The Musical and Dramatic Association played in the
Bowery occasionally from 1850 to 1852.

The first amusement hall built in Salt Lake, which was used chiefly
for dancing, was erected at the Warm Springs in the year 1850. It was
a good sized adobe building and served as a social hall until 1852,
when the Social Hall proper was completed. It was built at this out of
the way place so as to combine the use of the Warm Springs for bathing
with the social meetings held there. But it proved to be too difficult
to get to, when the nights were dark and the roads were bad, so
Brigham Young had the Social Hall built which was quite central and
the Warm Springs music hall was converted into a roadside tavern and
was run by Jesse C. Little for a time.

The first string band to furnish music for dances played at this hall
and was composed of Hopkins C. (familiarly known as "Hop") Fender,
Jesse Earl and Jake Hutchinson. These gentlemen deserve to be
remembered in the musical history of Salt Lake City as the first to
furnish the inspiring strains to which the worthy pioneers danced.

In the fall of 1852, the Musical and Dramatic Association was
reorganized and renamed the "Deseret Dramatic Association." In this
year the historic Social Hall was erected, and with a view to opening
it with becoming brilliancy the original company was greatly added to,
for the drama had become a popular amusement with the Saints, and many
of the chiefs of the church, including President Young, held honorary
membership in the "D. D. A."

The Social Hall, which is still standing and in well preserved
condition, is one of the old landmarks that are fast disappearing. It
is a comparatively small structure about 40x80 feet. It was considered
in its time a fine amusement hall but has long since become dwarfed by
the greater buildings which have gone up around it. It has a stage
twenty feet deep, two dressing rooms under the stage, an ample
basement under the hall for banqueting purposes. This auditorium is
about 40x60 feet with a level floor for dancing for the amusement of
the play and dancing were fairly and considerately alternated by the
managers of the D. D. A.

In the early winter of 1852 this hall was opened with a dance to which
the elect were invited, and it was a great crush. The first social
gathering in the new hall formed a sort of punctuation mark in the
social caste among the Saints.

Of course, the hall being small, the invitations had to be limited and
many there were who felt slighted because they were not among the
invited. Envy on the one hand and a supercilious superiority on the
other gave birth to a feeling of caste which was altogether in bad
taste among professing Saints.

The great event of this season in the amusement line was the dramatic
opening. Local artists had been employed for some time and had stocked
the stage with excellent scenery. Bulwer's classic play "The Lady of
Lyons" was selected for the opening bill. The company had been so
strengthened that the members could cast any of the great plays. To
the original company had been added besides a long list of honorary
members, the following named active male members: James Ferguson,
Bernard Snow, David Candland (stage manager), John T. Caine, David
McKenzie, Joseph Simons and Henry Maiben; to the female contingent had
been added Mrs. Cyrus Wheelock, Mrs. Henry Tuckett, Mrs. Joseph Bull,
Mrs. John Hyde, Mrs. Sarah Cook. It will be observed that they were
all married women. This is a very noticeable feature, as it is so
unusual in a dramatic company nowadays, either amateur or
professional. The explanation of it, however, is simple enough. At
that time there were few if any unmarried women in Utah that had
arrived at the marriageable age. The only three women whose names
appear in the original company were unmarried, Miss Judd, Miss Orum
and Miss Badlam, which seems exceptional and they now seem to have all
disappeared, or they are overshadowed by the married women, or perhaps
they appear in the reorganized company under a new name with Mrs.
attached.

The Social Hall theatrical opening was an event in the history of
Utah. It may be truly said that it marked an epoch in the development
of civilization in the Rocky Mountain region and the growth of the
drama in the far West. Even San Francisco had not up to this time made
any such ambitious attempt in the dramatic line.

I have not been able to procure a program of this opening performance
but the cast of the principal characters was as follows:

    Claud Melnotte ........................... James Ferguson
    Monsieur Beauseant ....................... David Candland
    Monsieur Glavis ........................... John T. Caine
    Col. Damas ........................ John D. T. McAllister
    Mons. Deschapples ..................... Horace K. Whitney
    Landlord ................................ Philip Margetts
    Pauline Deschapples ....................... Mrs. Wheelock
    Madame Deschapples ................... Mrs. M. G. Clawson
    Widow Melnotte .......................... Mrs. Sarah Cook

The play was a pronounced success and the players covered themselves
with glory. A number of plays were now put on in rapid succession, for
the D. D. A. had caught the true dramatic fire, and the people were
hungry for the play. In the great plays, a number of which were
essayed, the characters were strongly filled.

Bernard Snow, who had played with the elder Booth in California, which
gave him a brief professional experience, was easily in the lead of
all the Mormon actors. He played an Othello that would have done
credit to Shakespeare anywhere, while Ferguson as Iago was scarcely
less convincing. In "Damon and Pythias" also these players shone with
more than ordinary brilliancy. Snow's Damon was pronounced a work of
art, while Ferguson looked and acted Pythias to the admiration of all
who witnessed it. Mrs. Wheelock as Calanthe and Mrs. Tuckett as
Hermion made up a quartet of players that would have graced any stage
in the country.

"Virginius" was also played here with Snow in the title role, a
favorite with him. When Lyne came ten years later and played these
same characters in the Salt Lake Theatre, many of the old frequenters
of the Social Hall ranked Bernard Snow as Lyne's equal and they had to
be brought to play together in the Salt Lake Theatre to gratify the
many admirers of both.

"Pizarro" was the play chosen for this event and it served to pack the
theatre. Lyne appeared as Pizarro for the occasion although Rolla was
his favorite part. This gave Snow the advantage as Rolla is the star
part. It proved a great hit both financially and artistically.

The Social Hall orchestra was a feature at all the dramatic
performances, and came in for its due share of praise and admiration.
It was under the direction of Domenico Ballo, who had formerly been a
band master at West Point. He was a fine composer and arranger, and
one of the best clarinet players ever heard. Professor Ballo was a
graduate of the Conservatory of Music at Milan. He served several
years as band master at West Point. He drifted into Utah at an early
day and cast his lot with the Mormons. He organized a fine brass band
here and built a fine dance hall which was known as "Ballo's Music
Hall."

Salt Lake City has from a very early period in its history enjoyed an
enviable reputation in a musical way. Its first musical organization
as already mentioned was the Nauvoo Brass Band, organized originally
in Nauvoo in connection with the Mormon militia known as the "Nauvoo
Legion," of which Joseph Smith held the distinguished office of
Lieutenant General. The exodus from Nauvoo and the formation soon
afterwards of the "Mormon Battalion" demoralized to a great degree
both the legion and the band. Both organizations, however, were
reconstructed soon after the settlement of Utah, and each played a
conspicuous part in its early history.

At the laying of the corner stone of the Salt Lake Temple as early as
1853, the Nauvoo Brass Band and Ballo's Brass Band were consolidated
for this occasion and increased to sixty-five players under the
leadership of Professor Ballo, who gave the people of Salt Lake a
musical treat that would have been a credit to any metropolitan city.
Ballo was a thorough and accomplished musician and his masterly work
at such an early period had much to do with developing Salt Lake's
musical talent.

From 1852 to 1857 the Social Hall continued to be the principal place
of amusement for the people of Salt Lake City, as well as those who
came in from various parts of the Territory. Those living at a
distance and visiting the city either on business or pleasure (which
were generally combined) deemed themselves extremely fortunate if
there chanced to be a play "on the boards" during their brief sojourn
in the city.

The fame of the Social Hall and its talented company of players,
dramatic and musical, had spread abroad in the land and many of the
smaller towns began to emulate Salt Lake City and organized dramatic
clubs.

In the year 1857 amusements as well as business of all kinds received
a sudden and severe shock from which it took a year or more to
recover. In this year a rupture occurred between the Mormon chiefs and
the United States Judges, which resulted in President Buchanan sending
Albert Sidney Johnson to Utah with an army to crush the incipient
rebellion. The heroes of the Social Hall stage now were cast to play
more serious parts. The stage was now to be the tented field, their
music, the roll of the drum and the ear-piercing fife.

"Jim" Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was Adjutant General of the
"Nauvoo Legion," as the Territorial militia was called, and all the
other stage heroes were enrolled under its banners. The "Legion" was
sent out into the mountains to check the advance of the invading army.
Not only did all amusement and business generally come to a sudden
stop, but so serious was the situation that a general exodus of the
people to the south was ordered by the church authorities and Salt
Lake City was abandoned.

Meeting houses, theatre, stores and nearly all the dwellings in the
city were vacated, and the intention was to burn the city rather than
this "hell born" army should occupy and pollute it.

No occasion for carrying into effect this insane resolution
transpired, for which the people have ever since been thankful. Soon
after its adoption a better understanding was reached between the
refractory Saints and Uncle Sam's government, and the people gradually
came back to their homes in the city, glad indeed that the sacrificial
torch had not been applied to them.

"The invading army" had passed peacefully through the city and made
its encampment forty miles away. Things began to resume their normal
condition, but the winter of 1857-8 was a blank in the Mormon
amusement field.




CHAPTER III.


    Now is the winter of our discontent
    Made glorious summer by this son of York,
    And all the clouds that lowered upon our house,
    In the deep bosom of the ocean buried;
    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
    Our bruised arms hung up for monuments,
    Our stern alarums are changed to merry-meetings
    And our dreadful marches to delighted measures.

                                 --Richard III.

The Mormon war cloud that lowered so portentously during the winter of
1857-8 had been dispelled without bloodshed, and peace once more
brooded over the land. The soldiers of the "Nauvoo Legion" had "hung
up their _un_-bruised arms for monuments" and resumed their old
avocations, and the wheels of trade, "the calm health of nations,"
were once again running in their accustomed grooves.

The people had set to work with redoubled energy to make up for the
losses "the war" had entailed upon them, so that they had little time
or inclination for amusement. The advent of Johnson's army into Utah,
although encamped forty miles from the city, had its effect; it
brought in its wake, as an army always does, a lot of camp
followers,--hangers-on--a contingent that was thrown largely into Salt
Lake, and not a desirable one. This made the Mormon people wary and
suspicious, and inclined them more than ever to isolate themselves
from strangers.

Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, in the winter of '59 they
began to resume their usual amusements, and a number of plays were
given that winter in the Social Hall.

By this time the "army" having no active service, began to feel the
need of some amusement, and some of the soldiers improvised a theatre
in the camp.

Sergt. R. C. White, better known later among Pacific coast theatricals
as "Dick" White, was the leading spirit in this affair. White was a
scholar as well as a soldier; moreover, he had the poetic and dramatic
instinct in him, and in common with all living creatures, he felt that
he must exercise his faculties. So in order to give vent to his pent
up love of the drama, he organized a dramatic company among the
soldiers of Camp Floyd. The Sergeant, or "Dick" as he was called, was
not only a clever amateur actor but a poet, and something of an artist
as well. By his skill in this latter line he soon had the necessary
scenery painted for the Camp theatre. Pigments were scarce in the camp
and even in Salt Lake at that time, but White was resourceful, and
equal to every emergency, so he made levy on the quartermaster's
department for liberal supplies of mustard, red pepper, ox blood, and
other strange materials with which to get in his color effects.

The "Camp Floyd Theatre" as it was called, was not a stupendous
structure, only large enough to accommodate about two hundred persons,
and the stage in proportion to the auditorium. It was built of rough
pine boards and canvas--principally canvas--but answered all the
requirements of a theatre for the amusement of the camp.

White had but little trouble in organizing his corps dramatique, so
far as men were concerned, but the female contingent gave him much
concern and considerable trouble to secure. Women in the camp were
scarce, and female talent was at a premium. There were a few officers
whose wives were with them and some "hired help" of the female
persuasion, but none of the women of the camp had any experience in
theatricals. Several were willing, and even eager to try; so White
made a selection and cast a play and put it in rehearsal, but "woe is
me!" the women were all such tyros that he was almost in despair,
until he suddenly conceived the project of engaging one of the Social
Hall actresses to play the leading female character; if he could do
that, then, he reasonably argued that he could get along, but could a
Mormon actress be induced to come to Camp Floyd?

Here was a dilemma; but the bold Richard perhaps thought of the lines
of his renowned namesake, Richard Plantagenet:

    "Dangers retreat when boldly they're confronted,
    And dull delay leads impotence and fear,"

so he took courage. He opened up a correspondence with Mrs. Tuckett of
Social Hall fame. White was an accomplished writer, and poetical, and
there is no doubt he could write a winning letter. We have no
knowledge of what inducements he offered, so can only surmise that a
liberal salary was the temptation held out to her. Suffice it to say
that Mrs. Tuckett accepted the offer and joined the Camp Floyd Theatre
Company, thus making a noticeable weakening of the Social Hall force,
and creating a commotion among her fellow players in Salt Lake, and
the people generally, as she went in opposition to the wishes of her
husband and friends and the church authorities. It was regarded not
only as an unwise step for Mrs. Tuckett to take, but a discreditable
one.

It was a reproach to the Saints to have one of their number go and
mingle with the ungodly soldiers who had come out here to destroy
them. Mrs. Tuckett was looked upon from the moment of her departure as
a lost sheep from the fold. These apprehensions were not unfounded,
for Mrs. Tuckett, whether wearied of her Mormon environment, or led
away by the unusual attentions shown her by the officers and men of
the camp (with whom her acting soon made her a great favorite), lost
any former love she may have had for Salt Lake, and sundered all
social and family ties there.

"Dick" White, poet, actor, artist, achieved another conquest; not only
had he succeeded in getting Mrs. Tuckett away from the Social Hall
company, but later on he won the affections of the Mormon actress and
took her completely away from her family, friends and church. In some
way White severed his connection with the army before the breaking out
of the Civil War and had gone to California "taking the fair Desdemona
with him." He married her and they lived together in Folsom,
California; only a few years, however; Mrs. Tuckett-White died there
in '63.

Mrs. Tuckett, whose maiden name was Mercy Westwood, was of English
birth, came to Utah in the early '50s where she soon afterward married
as a polygamous wife. The Westwood family had a strong predilection
for the stage; three of her brothers, Richard, Phillip and Joseph
Westwood, figured conspicuously a little later on in the Springville
Dramatic company. Her desertion from the ranks of the Social Hall
company had created a vacancy they found it difficult to fill. She had
been playing the leading roles, filling the place of Mrs. Wheelock who
also became disaffected and went to California in '57 with a number of
others, under protection of Col. Steptoe's command.

What particular reason Mrs. Wheelock had for withdrawing from the
Mormon people, we do not know. She settled in Sacramento where after a
time she became Mrs. Rattenbury, and has never returned except for a
brief visit and this quite recently.

Mrs. Tuckett was the wife of Henry Tuckett who is still living in Salt
Lake; and had four children by him at the time she left, and in
abandoning husband and children to share the fortunes of the soldier
actor Dick White, she subjected herself to a vast amount of severe and
apparently just criticism. There is little known of her life after she
left Utah even by her relatives; she probably regretted the step she
had taken when too late.

The Mormons never forgave White for taking Mrs. Tuckett from them. He
visited Salt Lake about four years after the death of his Mormon wife,
in the dramatic company of John S. Langrishe, who had Mr. C. W.
Couldock with him and was traveling by stage overland to the gold
mining towns of Montana; Virginia City of vigilante fame being their
objective point.

The Langrishe-Couldock company opened in the Salt Lake Theatre, August
the first, 1867, in the "Chimney Corner" with Couldock in his favorite
character of Peter Probity. R. C. White was the Solomon Probity of the
cast. White was apprehensive of trouble if he should be discovered by
the friends of Mrs. Tuckett, who regarded her peculiar "taking off"
almost in the sense of an abduction. Conspicuous among Mrs. Tuckett's
friends were the managers of the theatre, H. B. Clawson and John T.
Caine; so White discreetly kept himself secluded during the day as
much as possible, and only put in an appearance at the theatre when it
was time to dress for the play.

White was not personally known to the managers, or any of the
employees about the theatre. He had been little in Salt Lake during
the army's occupation of Camp Floyd and consequently was scarcely
known. Trusting to these circumstances he hoped to escape recognition,
and avoid the storm of abuse he felt sure would be showered on his
guilty head; but unfortunately his name was on the program and
although a common name and one that might easily escape especial
notice, White was by no means a common man and his performance of
Solomon attracted special attention to him.

Some man in the audience who had met him at Camp Floyd recognized him,
and quietly informed the managers who he was. The whisper spread about
with amazing rapidity and he began to be pointed out as the "reprobate
and unscrupulous scoundrel" who had enticed Mrs. Tuckett away from
home and friends and people.

To make sure that this was the veritable White, the manager made some
inquiries regarding him of Jack Langrishe, his manager. This was
sufficient to arouse the curiosity of the company with regard to
White's previous experience in Utah. White did not make a second
appearance at the theatre. He had caught something of the buzz that
was in the air about him, and quietly dropped out of the Langrishe
company for the remainder of its Salt Lake engagement.

The Langrishes remained two weeks and then moved on to Montana. White
had not been entirely idle in the interim. He had made the
acquaintance of a second Salt Lake woman, whom he prevailed upon to
join him soon after his departure, and they were married shortly
after; the woman casting in her fortune with the Langrishe troupe and
doing such parts as they thought fit to cast her in.

Mr. and Mrs. White eventually drifted into Portland, Oregon, and made
that their home for many years. It was there the writer made their
acquaintance some fifteen years later when he went to play leads for
John Maguire at the New Market Theatre. They appeared to be living
harmoniously and had four lovely children, two boys and two girls, the
eldest about twelve years of age and a promising young actress. White
was then the editor of the "Bee," an afternoon paper, and played on
occasions in Maguire's Stock company.

Some years later White with his family removed to San Francisco, where
he became the stage manager of the Tivoli. It was during his
incumbency of this position that he made the first dramatization of
Rider Haggard's "She," and gave it its first production on the stage,
which proved to be a great success and started numerous other
companies to play it.

White has now "fallen into the sere and yellow leaf" and for the last
dozen years has been affectionately called by the profession "Daddy
White."




CHAPTER IV.


Notwithstanding that during the winter of 1859-60 a number of dramatic
performances were given in the Social Hall, they were nearly, if not
all, revivals of plays that had been performed there previous seasons.
Interest had declined from some cause or other. It was probably
attributable in some measure to the departure of first Mrs. Wheelock
and then of Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of the company;
and then Jim Ferguson, one of the leading actors, was now engrossed in
the publication of The Mountaineer, a weekly paper he had started in
connection with Seth M. Blair and Hosea Stout, and for which he wrote
most of the editorials, so that he had little if any time to devote to
the playhouse. Bernard Snow, too, was absent from the company that
winter and as a consequence plays of a lighter character were selected
that did not require Snow and Ferguson.

"The Golder Farmer," "Luke the Laborer," "Still Waters Run Deep," "All
That Glitters Is Not Gold," were the principal plays given. During the
following winter, 1860-61, there was nothing doing in the dramatic
line in the Social Hall. One reason for this was that a new company
had arisen, which, if not exactly a rival, was a strong competitor for
public favor. Some of its principal members belonged to the Deseret
Dramatic Association, and had been conspicuous in the ranks of its
performers.

The new company was called the Mechanics' Dramatic Association, and
was headed by the favorite Social Hall comedian, Phil Margetts, who
was president and manager of the new organization. The members of this
new company were Phil Margetts, Harry Bowring, Henry McEwan, James A.
Thompson, Joe Barker, John B. Kelly, John Chambers, Joseph Bull, Pat
Lynch, William Wright, Bill Poulter, William Price, Mrs. Marion
Bowring, Mrs. Bull, Mrs. McEwan, Elizabeth Tullidge and Ellen Bowring.
Harry Bowring had in course of construction a new dwelling house; it
was covered and the floors laid, but no finishing or plastering had
been done, no partition walls had been put in, so that the entire
lower story was one room, not more than 18x40 feet in dimensions,
about one-third the size of the Social Hall. The stage occupied about
one-third of the same, leaving an audience chamber of about 18x25
feet, not large enough, as it proved, to accommodate the numbers that
were anxious to witness the new performances. For dressing rooms, they
had the house at the back, in which Mr. Bowring and family resided,
and which communicated with the stage by a doorway in the new
structure. The scenery and drop curtain, which was necessarily of
small dimensions, was painted by the sterling and versatile artist,
William P. Morris. The auditorium was seated a la circus, with board
seats rising one above the other, with a row of chairs in front for
the distinguished guests and patrons.

Such was "Bowring's Theatre," as it was called. Whether the managers
christened it that, or the name was given it by the patrons and
guests, we do not pretend to know, nor does it matter; but this fact
may be mentioned in relation to it, that it was first place in Salt
Lake City to be called a theatre.

The Bowery being a place of worship (although the name was strongly
suggestive of the New York Bowery theatre), could not consistently be
called a theatre and the Social Hall embracing all the social
features--plays, dances and banquets--never came to be called a
theatre, Social Hall fully covering its functions, so that the Bowring
was really the first place to be known distinctively as a theatre.
Although the theatre was so very small the company did not appear to
be circumscribed in their histrionic efforts by any mere limitations
of space or stage appurtenances, as the following list of plays will
show:

"The Honeymoon," "The Gamester," "Luke the Laborer," and "Othello,"
and the farces of "Betsy Baker" and "Mr. and Mrs. Peter White."

In the dramas, Mr. Margetts, who was recognized as the comedian par
excellence, chose to assume the tragic mask and appeared in the
leading roles, leaving the principal comic parts to his friend and
colleague Harry Bowring. It was somewhat of a surprise to "Phil's"
friends and admirers who knew his qualifications for comedy, to see
him in these tragic characters, but he is said to have given everybody
a pleasant surprise in them and Harry Bowring carried the comedy roles
so successfully as to divide the honors with "Phil." Mrs. Bowring, who
played the "lady leads," also distinguished herself to such a degree
that she took a prominent place in the Salt Lake Theatre soon after
its opening.

It was during the performance of "Betsy Baker" in this place that
"Jimmy" Thompson, who was playing the part of Mr. Crommie, won such
distinction in that character that the name of "Crommie" has attached
to him among his acquaintances ever since. Harry McEwan, Joe Barker,
Billie Wright, Bill Poulter and dear old John Kelly and Mrs. Bull and
Mrs. McEwan all achieved some celebrity in connection with the little
playhouse--"Bowring's Theatre."

Manager Margetts waited one day on President Brigham Young and invited
him, with his family, to see their play. The President of course had
heard of the new theatre, (what was there he didn't hear of?) but
affected some surprise that Phil and his associates should have
started what might be considered a rival to the D. D. A.

"When do you play?" inquired the President.

"We have a play tonight," answered Phil; "'Luke the Laborer,' but we
could not accommodate your family tonight, President Young, as the
seats are mostly engaged, but we would be pleased to reserve the house
for yourself and family for our next play, 'The Honeymoon,' which will
be on Friday night."

"Well," says Brigham, "I would like to see the play tonight. Why can't
Heber (meaning Heber C. Kimball, his chief counsellor, who was sitting
within hearing) and I come tonight, and the family can come the next
night?"

The President thought to catch them in a state of unpreparedness by
going sooner than was arranged for him, but Phil readily acquiesced in
the President's wish, and he and Brother Kimball "took in the show"
that night. They both expressed their pleasure and spoke words of
encouragement to the performers.

On the following day Manager Margetts sent ninety tickets, the entire
seating capacity of the theatre, to President Young for himself and
family. The tiny theatre was packed to see "The Honeymoon." The Young
family certainly was in evidence on that occasion, but there was quite
a sprinkling of "Heber's" folks and other friends to whom the
President had given tickets from his wholesale reserve.

"The Honeymoon" was a pronounced success. After the play Phil appeared
before the curtain and in a happy way thanked the President and those
of his family and friends present for honoring the company, and
expressed regret that they had not a more commodious and comfortable
theatre in which to entertain their friends.

Brigham, evidently pleased, made a return speech from his place in the
audience and complimented the company. He encouraged them to go ahead
and told them he intended before long to build a good big theatre,
where they could have ample room to develop their dramatic art,
observing in his characteristic way, that the people must have
amusement.

It will thus be seen that these performances led indirectly to the
building of the Salt Lake Theatre, for immediately after this the
President instructed Hyrum Clawson to reorganize the Deseret Dramatic
Association and to unite it with the Bowring Theatre Company, for he
was going to build a big theatre. The idea had evidently entered his
mind to stay.

"Brother Brigham," as he was popularly and lovingly called, was quick
to comprehend the financial results of a great theatre in a community
whose members were all lovers of the drama, and two large dramatic
associations, bursting with ambition and only too anxious for a good
place and opportunity to air their talents. So he gave it out in
meeting one Sunday, much to the gratification of his congregation,
that he was going to build a big "fun hall," or theatre, where the
people could go and forget their troubles occasionally, in a good,
hearty laugh.

"We have a large fund on hand," said he, "for the erection of a
Seventy's hall, but not enough to build such a hall as I want for the
Seventies; so we will use that fund to help build the theatre, and
when we get the theatre running we can pay back the Seventy's hall
fund with good interest, and in that way the Seventy's will get their
hall sooner than if they started to build it now."

The Seventy's hall has never been built!

The big theatre was planned and erected. William H. Folsom was the
architect and personally superintended the construction of the
building. This same gentleman, also, designed and built the big
turtle-shaped Tabernacle, proving that he was a constructive genius.

On March the sixth, 1862, the Salt Lake Theatre, although far from
being finished, was so far completed as to be used, and on this date
it was opened with such ceremonies as would not only be deemed unique
in any other community, but would be set down as sacriligious by pious
people of other faiths.

On this occasion the theatre was filled to its utmost capacity by
invitation. No admission fee was charged, the invitations being
extended by President Young to the church authorities, state, county
and municipal officers, the workmen who had erected the building, some
two hundred with their families. Some even who held invitations could
not get in; it resembled a huge revival meeting.

The President and his counsellors, a number of the apostles and other
church dignitaries sat on the stage in front of the green baize drop
curtain. The parquette was filled with the officials, church and
secular, and the dramatic company and members of their families. The
circles were filled principally by the men who had worked on the
building and their families. There was a feeling of greatest
expectancy pervading the large audience. The people were there to
witness not a play on this occasion, but something deemed of still
more importance, the dedication of the new theatre.

The Mormons dedicate all of their public buildings, whether temples,
tabernacles, stake houses, ward houses, school houses, theatres, dance
halls, or co-operative stores to the service for which they were
erected.

The ceremony is much like one of their religious meetings with the
addition of the dedicatory prayer.

On this occasion President Brigham Young occupied the center of the
stage. There was a program of vocal and instrumental music, a special
choir gotten together for the occasion, and the theatre orchestra, led
by Professor "Charlie" Thomas, furnished the music.

President Young called the large audience to order and the choir sang.
Then Daniel H. Wells, or "Squire" Wells as he was popularly called,
offered up the dedicatory prayer. "Squire" Wells no doubt made a good
city mayor and an efficient general of the Nauvoo Legion, but the
worthy "Squire" was not an orator, moreover, he had his piece written
for this occasion and read it; his peculiar mode of delivery was
tiresome even when at his best, when he had his choice of subject and
all the latitude he could desire; but it was especially so on this
occasion, when he was circumscribed to a most monotonous enumeration
of everything that entered into the construction of the huge building.
Beginning with the ground on which it stood and going in systematic
order up through it foundation, walls, floors, doors, windows, to the
roof, particularizing even the timbers, nails and bolts, the laths and
plaster, the glass and putty, no detail he could think of was omitted.
Each and all were especially dedicated to their particular purpose and
use, and the blessing of the Almighty invoked to be and continue with
each of these materials, and with the structure as a whole. Even to
those who believed in dedications, who were the great majority of
those present, the dedicatory prayer was just a little wearisome and
the audience experienced a feeling of relief when it was over and
William C. Dunbar stepped to the front and assisted by the choir and
orchestra, sang "The Star Spangled Banner."

Brigham Young then made an address on the mission of the drama and his
object in building the theatre, which avowedly was to furnish innocent
and instructive amusement to the Saints. He inveighed somewhat
extravagantly against tragedy and declared he wouldn't have any
tragedies or blood-curdling dramas played in this theatre. This people
had seen tragedy enough in real life and there was no telling the
far-reaching and evil effects tragedies on the stage might have. He
strongly opposed, too, the idea of having any Gentile actors play in
this theatre. We had plenty of home talent and did not need them.

President Heber C. Kimball followed in a brief address, strongly
supportive of what President Young had said.

Apostle John Taylor then gave a short address; then came selections by
the orchestra, and more singing by the choir, and Mr. Dunbar sang
another song written by Apostle Taylor for the occasion and set to
music by Professor Thomas.

For the grand finale an anthem written for the occasion by Eliza R.
Snow and set to music also by Professor Thomas was sung by the choir,
accompanied by the orchestra and and brass band consolidated for the
occasion. The solo parts of the anthem were sung respectively by Mr.
Dunbar and Mrs. Agnes Lynch.

The musical program ended, an announcement was made that the theatre
would be formally opened on Saturday evening, March the eighth, when
the plays of "The Pride of the Market" and "State Secrets" would be
presented. The people anxiously awaited the opening night. The
performance was advertised to begin at 7 o'clock. At 5 o'clock
hundreds were at the doors waiting to get in and before the time of
the beginning every available spot of both seating and standing room
was taken. The prices of admission were 75c for parquette and first
circles; upper galleries 50c.

The plays, both drama and farce, were capitally acted. Dunbar's song
between the plays, "Bobbin' Around," made an immense hit. The merging
of the M. D. A. into the D. D. A. made up a strong company. The roster
of the Deseret Dramatic company as it stood at this opening
performance and the cast of the initial plays cannot fail to be of
interest after a lapse of more than forty-two years and so many of the
original players have passed away.

The members were: Hyrum B. Clawson, John T. Caine, Managers and both
players; Philip Margetts, David McKenzie, William C. Dimbar, John R.
Clawson, Henry Maiben, Jos. Simmons, Horace K. Whitney, Henry E.
Bowring, R. H. Parker, George M. Ottinger, C. R. Savage, George
Teasdale, Henry McEwan, John Kelly, Richard Mathews, John D. T.
McAllister, Sam Sirrine, Henry Snell, Mrs. Marian Bowring, Mrs. S. A.
Cook, Mrs. Woodmansee, Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Mrs. Alice Clawson, Miss
Maggie Thomas, and Miss Sarah Alexander. Of the above-named the
following have passed away: John R. Clawson, Henry Maiben, Jos.
Simmons, H. K. Whitney, Henry McEwan, John B. Kelly, Richard Mathews,
Henry Snell, Mrs. Bowring, Mrs. Alice Clawson, and Mrs. Cook. Bernard
Snow and James Ferguson of Social Hall fame were on the roster, but
not active members; they too are gone.

The following is the opening bill:

    SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 8, 1862.

    A Beautiful Comedy in Three Acts,

    _THE PRIDE OF THE MARKET._

    Cast of Characters.

    Marquis de Volange ........................ John T. Caine
    Baron Troptora ............................. Henry Maiben
    Chevalier De Bellerive ..................... Jos. Simmons
    Ravannes ................................... R. H. Parker
    Dubois ................................... David McKenzie
    Isadore Farine ............................ H. B. Clawson
    Preval .................................... S. D. Sirrine
    Servants ..................... R. Mathews and Henry Snell
    Waiter .................................... John B. Kelly
    Mille De Volange ........................ Mrs. Woodmansee
    Norton (pride of the market) ......... Mrs. M. G. Clawson
    Comic Song, "Bobbing Around" ............... W. C. Dunbar

    To Conclude With the Laughable Farce

    _STATE SECRETS._

    Cast of Characters.

    Gregory Thimblewell (the tailor of Tamworth) .. H. E. Bowring
    Robert (his son) ............................... R. H. Parker
    Master Hugh Neville ........................... S. D. Sirrine
    Calverton Hal ................................... W. H. Miles
    Humphrey Hedgehog ............................. Phil Margetts
    Maud Thimblewell (tailor's wife) ............... Mrs. Bowring
    Letty Hedgehog (with song) ............... Miss Maggie Thomas

Such was the superb comedy bill with which the Salt Lake Theatre was
auspiciously and successfully launched into the great dramatic sea on
which she has made such a long and splendid voyage.

The company played a few other plays between the opening date and the
15th of April, catching conference, which closed the first season of
about six weeks' duration. They gave fifteen performances in this
time. The company during this first short season scarcely found its
bearings, much of the best talent was in the background and it took
time and opportunity to discover it and place it to the best
advantage.

During the first season of the Theatre, Miss Sarah Alexander, in
addition to playing many of the soubrette roles, was the _premiere
danseuse_ of the company, and gave exhibitions of her skill in the
terpsichorean art between the plays almost nightly; she was eventually
superseded, however, by Miss "Totty" Clive (a daughter of Mr. Claud
Clive, the costumer), who became so proficient in the art of dancing
that before she was 15 years of age she was an established favorite
with the public, and a feature of the theatrical entertainments.




CHAPTER V.


The isolation policy peculiar to the Mormons at this period, found
expression in a discouragement of all Gentiles (as all non-Mormons
were called) and Gentile enterprises in Utah. This feeling also found
expression to some extent, for a short time in the sphere of the
theatre, and it was boldly announced by some who were close in the
councils of the Mormon chief, that he would have no Gentile actors in
his theatre. A policy which was much more strongly emphasized at the
time, however, was as to the character of the plays that should be
presented. President Young set his foot down very firmly against the
presentation of any tragedies, or plays of tragic character. The
people he said had seen and felt too much of the tragic side of life;
he wanted them to be amused, and not have their feelings harrowed up
by tragic representations. This policy obtained for a short time only;
gradually the general growing desire for the higher class of plays had
to be taken into consideration by the managers, Clawson and Caine, who
were running the house in the interest of the box office, chiefly, and
this initial policy of the founder of the theatre was gradually
abandoned, as well as the isolation policy which was to debar Gentile
actors from the stage of the Mormon Theatre.

During the summer of '62 the theatre was rushed to completion. On
December 24, '62, the completed theatre was again formally dedicated
and the following night, Christmas, the Stock Company opened up for a
regular winter season in the "Honeymoon" under the direction and
tutorship of our old Nauvoo favorite, Tom Lyne, who had learned of the
opening of Brigham Young's new theatre, and saw a chance to renew his
acquaintance with his old friends, and do a little business with them
in their new temple of the drama.

After a lapse of nearly twenty years, during which his old friends and
admirers had completely lost sight of him, he suddenly "bobs up
serenely" at Denver where he had been playing an engagement with J. S.
Langrishe; from here he corresponded with Manager Clawson with the
result that he was engaged to come to the Salt Lake Theatre as a tutor
to the company. He was received with great kindness by the company and
managers, and especially by Brigham Young, who treated him with marked
consideration. He coached the company and directed several plays for
them, but that was an irksome task for Lyne; he wanted to face the
public himself. He saw a great opportunity and did not rest content
until he had secured a starring engagement with the managers.

Accordingly it was not long before the veteran tragedian (Lyne was now
fifty-six) was announced to appear in a round of favorite characters
supported by the Theatre Stock Company. He opened on January 14th in
"Damon" to a packed house and played in quick succession the
characters of "Richelieu," "Othello," "Richard," "William Tell," "Sir
Giles Overreach," and Rolla in "Pizarro." In the latter play he could
not expect to have any of the old Nauvoo cast, especially Brigham
Young for the "High Priest," as he was now reigning as High Priest in
reality; but he found a very capable successor in the person of George
Teasdale, who since his experience in this part found promotion in the
priestly line until he became one of the chief high priests of the
church and a member of the Twelve. There is certainly some charm in
that character of the "High Priest" in "Pizarro."

Lyne's engagement was the first one made with any outside actor and
broke almost in the very start the President's avowed policy of having
no Gentile actors in his theatre. It was a comparatively easy step,
however, as Mr. Lyne was regarded as almost, and likely to be
altogether, one of us again, which idea, however, proved quite
erroneous for Tom Lyne, after playing several profitable engagements
during his first years in Salt Lake, where he settled down to end his
days, became unnecessarily cynical and bitter against the dominant
party; and especially against the proprietor and managers of the Salt
Lake Theatre, when they decided that they had played him all that was
profitable. Lyne's first engagement had "let down the bars," broken
the isolation policy to such an extent that other Gentile actors soon
followed. The truth is that the managers discovered even at that early
period in Salt Lake's theatrical experience that the local Stock
Company could not hold up the interest unaided and alone, especially
after the Lyne engagement had shown the public the difference between
a past master in the art (as Lyne was), and a company of comparative
novices however talented they might be. Another line of policy which
had been laid down by the chief of the new amusement bureau (that he
would not have any tragedies nor murder plays performed in the new
theatre) was sadly tangled and demoralized, during the very first
engagement of an outside actor. "Virginius" was a favorite part of Mr.
Lyne's and it went on, notwithstanding some discussion and protest,
with Mrs. Alice Clawson (Brigham's prettiest daughter) as Virginia.
When Virginius thrust the death dealing butcher knife which he
purloins from the neighboring butcher stall into the trusting bosom of
the fair Virginia, exclaiming "It is to save thine honor," the Rubicon
was crossed the leap was taken, and the second cherished whim of the
chief promoter of amusements for the Saints was shattered; it fell a
sacrifice to a worldly "box office" policy; and significant to relate,
his favorite daughter Alice was made the principal accessory to this
disregard of his desires and counsel.

The step once taken could not be retraced. Mr. Lyne's "Virginius" like
his "Damon" and "Richelieu" proved very popular, and justified several
repetitions. It was found that tragedy had its votaries quite as
numerous as those of the Comic Muse; and there were no more protests
either against the Gentile actors or the tragic plays, for the varied
tastes of theatre patrons had to be considered and from this time on
"box office" considerations wholly dictated the managerial policy of
the Salt Lake Theatre.

During the early days of the Salt Lake Theatre, that is to say, the
first short season of 1862 and part of the season of '62-3, the
company was somewhat handicapped by the lack of a competent "leading
lady." Mrs. Wheelock and Mrs. Tuckett, the two leading actresses of
the Social Hall days, had both left the Territory for California, and
this left the D. D. A. weak in this respect. The comedy roles were
well represented in the persons of Mrs. Margaret Clawson, Miss Sarah
Alexander, Miss Maggie Thomas, and the character parts and old women
by Mrs. Sarah Cook. Mrs. Marian Bowring was good in heavies, while
pretty Alice Clawson could make good in a walking lady or light
juvenile but they were short a "leading" woman. In the classic plays
which Lyne put on: "Virginius," "Damon and Pythias," "Richelieu,"
etc., (Mrs. Alice Clawson was cast for the leading juvenile roles; she
filled all the requirements so far as looks were concerned, but was
not at all convincing where any impassioned acting was required) the
popular verdict was "She's pretty, but can't act." Soon the managers
discovered a very talented and promising actress to fill the place, in
one Mrs. Lydia Gibson. Lydia was the young and pretty wife of Elder
William Gibson, who had recently converted Lydia to the Mormon faith
in the old country and brought her to Salt Lake and prevailed on her
to become Mrs. Gibson number two. She was a very lovely woman and when
she made her advent into the dramatic company soon became a general
favorite both with the company and the public, and more than one
fellow experienced a pang of envy when he learned she was the wife of
Elder Gibson, a man old enough to be her father. Mrs. Gibson remained
in the company only two seasons, long enough to establish herself
thoroughly in the affections of everybody, when she sickened and
shortly after died. She was buried in Brigham Young's private burying
ground near where the prophet himself is buried. The entire dramatic
company and many of the community followed her to her last resting
place with every evidence of genuine sorrow. Her dramatic career was
brief but brilliant.

There had been some trouble on the male side of the cast also. On
Lyne's first appearance the part of "Pythias" was cast to the old
Social Hall favorite "Jim" Ferguson he had played the part with Snow
in the Social Hall and was "accounted a good actor;" but on this
particular occasion, one of no small importance, being his first
appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre as well as the first appearance of
Mr. Lyne, Mr. Ferguson did not win fresh laurels. No doubt the fact of
appearing alongside of a veteran like Lyne, made "Jim" more or less
nervous. Somehow he did not "screw his courage to the sticking place,"
whether from nervousness or other causes, and failed to give a
satisfactory performance of the part; he was over-excited, and the
Calanthe complained that he was too realistic. He terrified the
soldiers of Dionysius to such a degree that they wanted to desert, and
Mr. Lyne declared he was the most vigorous Pythias who had ever played
with him, but he could not rely on him; his stage business was so
eccentric and uncertain. "Jim" thought he was making a great hit, but
the managers decided to make a change. At the following performance
the character was essayed by Mr. John R. Clawson, who if not so
brilliant as Ferguson, proved to be less erratic and more steady and
reliable.

Ferguson never again appeared on the stage but devoted his brilliant
talents to his paper, The Mountaineer, and the practice of the law.
John T. Caine was now nominally the leading man of the theatre. He had
played with stately dignity the parts of "Dionysius" in "Damon and
Pythias" and "Pizarro" to Lyne's "Rolla," and before the season was
over a number of leading characters in plays such as "Eustace Baudin,"
"Senor Valiente," "Serious Family," "All That Glitters," etc.

Each of Lyne's characters was played twice or three times, and went
far toward filling up the season as the company played but two nights
in the week. The Stock Company filled out the season of '62-63 which
closed after the April conference, '63. Soon after the opening season
of '63 and '64, the Irwins were engaged, and opening on November 4th
played the entire season till April 10th, 1864.

When the Irwin engagement began, November 4th, 1863, this put Mr.
Selden Irwin in all the leading parts. Early during this engagement
Mr. David McKenzie, who had already scored a success in "old man"
parts, came strongly to the front in the play of "Evadne" in which he
was cast for the part of "Colonno," a character of the "Hotspur" type.
He made a distinct and pronounced hit in this character, fairly
dividing honors with Irwin, who played "Ludovico," a character of the
"Iago" type, and second only to that "great villain," perhaps, in the
whole range of the drama. This performance brought McKenzie
conspicuously to the front so that he was promoted to the leading
position and held it with public approval for a number of years.

A year or so ago a "write up" article in "Munsey" claimed for George
B. Waldron the distinction of being the first Gentile actor to play in
the Mormon theatre. How far astray from the historical record the
writer was can be gleaned from the foregoing facts, and those which
are to follow.

Mr. Lyne's first engagement lasted into March, close up to the April
Conference, when a season of stock work was resumed with some special
attraction in the way of spectacular effects for the conference
season. It was the custom during the first regular season to play but
two nights a week Tuesdays and Saturdays the other evenings of the
week being devoted to the necessary rehearsals, as it was
impracticable to get the company together in the daytime for that
purpose, as they all had other occupations which demanded their
attention. Each play was given twice, this was the rule; it was the
exception when a piece ran _three_ nights in succession. It was the
custom to put up a new bill each week, so this gave the company about
a week to get up in a new play and a new farce; with their daily
occupations to attend to as well. Actors today would consider it a
task to get up in a new play and a farce each week with nothing else
to attend to. It will readily be understood from this statement that
the original stock company of the Salt Lake Theatre had no sinecure,
or "soft snap," to phrase it in the present vernacular, especially
when it is made known that during all this season there was no such
thing as salary attached to their positions. They were all working for
honor and glory, and to help Brother Brigham pay for the theatre; but
there was no grumbling; all went merry as a peal of wedding bells for
"the labor we delight in physics pain," and the first regular season
of the Salt Lake Theatre closed after the April Conference, 1863, with
a good financial showing, much of the indebtedness on the building
have been wiped out, and everything in good shape for the ensuing
season.

This first long season's work had to a great extent disclosed the
respective merits of the various members of the company, so that a
number of changes were wrought out, some members gaining promotions in
accordance with public voice and approbation.

During the summer of 1863, the interior decorations of the theatre
were completed and preparations were made for opening the season of
'63 and '64 a little in advance of the October Conference, which
always brings the people in even from the remotest settlements, and
consequently makes a great harvest for the theatre. The stock company
opened up the season without any assistance from the "Gentile"
dramatic world no second star had as yet appeared on our dramatic
horizon. Some additional interest, however, was lent to the stock
company by the accession to its ranks of two new members, who had been
selected from an amateur club called the "Thespians," whose
performances, given in a little crib, popularly known as "Cromie's
Show," so designated because the manager, "Jimmy" Thompson, had
acquired the nickname of "Cromie" from an excellent performance he
gave of that character in the farce of Betsy Baker.

The new accessions were John S. Lindsay and James M. Hardie, whom the
theatre managers had picked from the ranks of the young "Thespians" as
being of promise and worthy a place in the big theatre. The company
presented a number of comedy dramas; did the usual S. R. O. business
during the October Conference and played well on into the month of
November, when "The Irwins" were engaged as stock stars for the
remainder of the season. This engagement proved to be a wise move on
the part of the management, for the strain on the stock company was
becoming apparent, and it is questionable whether they could have held
the public interest with them throughout the season; so the Irwins
were welcomed by both the company and the patrons of the theatre.
Selden Irwin (or as he was familiarly called "Sel") was at this time
in the very flush of manhood, full of life and ambition, with a
plethora of good looks and activity. He was essentially a dashing
actor, and pleased the public immensely. Mrs. Irwin was even more of a
favorite than "Sel." If not great, she was very versatile, and they
gave Salt Lakers a series of plays of very great variety, embracing
classic tragedy, comedy and farce. Everything from "Camille" and the
"Lady of Lyons" to "That Rascal Pat" and "In and Out of Place." With
Mr. and Mrs. Irwin was Harry Rainforth, a boy of sixteen years, a son
of Mrs. Irwin by a former marriage, who in after years became a
well-known manager, being a partner with Bob Miles in the Grand Opera
House at Cincinnati. Harry was quite an actor as a boy, and helped out
the cast on several occasions; his most conspicuous effort, however,
was Lord Dundreary in "Our American Cousin," which was put up to give
"Sel" a chance at "Asa Trenchard." It is not of record that Harry ever
became a formidable rival of Sothern's in this part, but on this
occasion he filled the role very acceptably.

The Irwins remained as stock stars to the end of the season, which
came to a close after the April Conference, 1864. They were well liked
by the Utahns, and came back for a short starring engagement the
season of '66, after making a tour of Idaho and Montana with a small
road company. The Irwin engagement inaugurated the three night
performances a week and Saturday matinees. This increased the work of
the company to such an extent that they had to neglect to a greater or
less degree their regular business, that on which they depended for
their living, for it must be understood that there was no compensation
attached, beyond the honor of acting in the Salt Lake Theatre. So
there began to be some dissatisfaction with this part of the business,
and complaints from some that they were neglecting their business for
the theatre and ought to be made good, so it was arranged near the end
of the season to give two benefit performances one for the gentlemen
and the other for the ladies of the company, and then divide the
results pro rata among the members of the company. This scheme was
carried out and served to conciliate the players and smooth the way to
another season's work for the managers.

The writer at this time was probably the youngest member of the
company and had attained but little prominence, hence his "divvy" was
a very modest one, yet quite acceptable, as it was unexpected. The
following autograph letter of Brigham Young's will show the method
adopted by the management to carry on the business and make the
company contribute liberally to the building of the theatre:

                           SALT LAKE CITY, April 15th, 1864.

    _Mr. John S. Lindsay_.

    DEAR BROTHER:--Inclosed please find Twenty Dollars, being amount
    assigned you out of the proceeds of the Benefit recently given at
    the theatre.

    Appreciating your faithful services, and the alacrity with which
    you have contributed to our amusement during the past season, I
    pray God to bless you, and increase your ability to do good.

    Your brother in the Gospel,
                               BRIGHAM YOUNG.

This plan served to keep the company in a contented mood, and was
repeated at the close of the following season with like result.

The writer had made some progress in the company, and at the next
benefit got seventy-five dollars for his pro rata; this was less than
a dollar a performance during the season of seven months, but then we
were doing good missionary work, in the way of amusing the people, and
this company were engaged in a labor they delighted in; while they
were assisting in a great measure to pay for the great Thespian temple
in which they were performing, they were enjoying the labor immensely
and gave the same enthusiastic efforts to it they would have done to a
mission, had they been called to go and preach the gospel. Moreover,
they were gaining an experience in art that would have been perhaps
impossible for them, had not this splendid theatre been erected in the
home of the Saints. Brigham Young's comprehensive mind had grasped the
advantage to his people of blending art with religion, and relieving
the monotony of arduous pioneer toil with innocent and refreshing
amusements.




CHAPTER VI.

SEASON OF '64-'65.

_A Metropolitan Theatre in the Wilderness_.


The Salt Lake Theatre was a source of wonder and admiration to all
strangers visiting it. Considering the time and the place of its
erection, the isolated condition of the people, the meagre facilities
within reach for so big a project, the quadrupled cost of everything
that had to be imported, such as glass, nails, paints, cloth for
scenery and everything in the shape of decorations, it was then, and
remains today, a monument to the liberality, foresight and enterprise
of Brigham Young. Since its erection, forty-three years ago,
theatrical architecture has been vastly improved, and in many respects
the Salt Lake Theatre is old-fashioned, but few theatres in the
country, with all the improvements which have been introduced, surpass
it in point of comfort and convenience, especially behind the curtain.
When it is considered that not only the architectural designs, the
mechanical construction, but all the interior decorations and the
scene-painting was done by local talent, it speaks highly for the
artistic and mechanical skill that was centered in Salt Lake even at
that early period of its history. William H. Folsom was the architect
and personally superintended its construction. He was also the
architect of the big Tabernacle with its turtle-shaped roof spanning a
stretch of 150 feet without a supporting column. The first
installment of scenery was painted by W. V. Morris and George M.
Ottinger, both clever artists, and with their assistants they gave the
theatre stage a very nice investiture in the way of scenery. As the
seasons rolled around the stock of scenery was continuously growing,
for every new play had to have something done for it in the way of
scenery, so that the painters were always working, and as a
consequence the Salt Lake Theatre has probably a larger stock of
scenery than any theatre in the country. The same may be said in
regard to the stage properties. "Charley" Millard was the property
man, and Charley could manufacture anything in the shape of a "prop"
from a throne chair to a cuspidor, from a papier mache cannon to a
firecracker, from a basket horse to a baby; so that in the course of a
dozen years the property room became a veritable museum, an "old
curiosity shop" well worth an hour of anybody's time to examine.

There was a wardrobe department, which was equal in importance if not
superior to the scenic arid property departments. This was presided
over by Mr. Claud Clive, an expert tailor, who with his assistants,
manufactured all the costumes for the male characters of the plays,
while the female costume department was presided over by Mrs. Marion
Bowring. Mr. Robert Neslen had general charge of the costume and wig
department, and dispensed the necessary apparel and wigs to the
company. There was also a tonsorial artist connected with the house,
who was always there to curl a wig or put it on in good shape for the
actors who needed such assistance. John Squires was the tonsorial
artist--he was a busy man in those days. He had his shop in a little
adobe house that stood directly opposite the "President's Office" on
the lot where the Amelia Palace was afterwards erected. John was the
President's barber, and had a large run of custom from the church and
tithing offices, besides nearly all the actors patronized him, so that
he was a prosperous man in the community. He continued to shave his
share of the people up to within a recent date, when he was obliged to
retire; "age with his stealing steps had clawed him in his clutch," so
this knight of the razor was reluctantly compelled to lay down the
implements of tonsorial art, the strong steady hand that once could
clean a man's cheek in about three strokes had grown weak and
tremulous, and but recently he passed peacefully away to that better
land where it is to be hoped there is no shaving or need of hair-dye.
His place is amply filled, however, for John has a numerous
progeny--and all his sons and grandsons, so far as we know them, are
barbers. Here we find a true touch of heredity.

After such a brilliant and successful season as the Irwins had just
concluded, it seemed like a daring venture to open up the ensuing
season with the stock company unassisted by the strength of a star;
but notwithstanding this seeming riskiness, the managers did not wait
for the _ensuing season_, but bravely ushered in a supplemental season
on May 14th. Only five weeks after the Irwins had closed their long
and brilliant run, the stock were hard at it again, notwithstanding
the summer days were come; they kept going till the 18th of June, when
the "veteran tragedian" (Lyne, at the time 58 years of age) was
engaged to reinforce the stock, and add to the box office receipts. He
opened this, his second star engagement, on June 25th and played up to
July 16th. He repeated all his former triumphs and achieved some new
ones, notably in "Sir Giles Overreach" in "A New Way to Pay Old
Debts."

In the meantime a new star had appeared in our dramatic horizon; by
the time Lyne had closed his engagement, it was in our ascendant,
astrologically speaking, and by the time it had reached our zenith, or
midheaven, it had shed another halo over the Salt Lake Theatre and the
drama in Utah. This bright particular star was George Pauncefort. "He
was a scholar, and a ripe and good one," an actor of rare and varied
accomplishments, and proved to be an invaluable instructor and model
for the company. Under his leadership a great progress was made.
Pauncefort was an English actor, who had acquired considerable
celebrity on the London stage. He was a married actor, and his wife
and several daughters, at the time of which I am writing, were quite
popular on the stage, and their names appeared frequently in the
London casts. Pauncefort came to the United States as early as 1858.
He was the original "Armand Duval" in "Camille," when Matilda Heron
first produced that play in New York. After his New York engagement,
Pauncefort drifted West, and in 1864 came to Salt Lake for a brief
engagement of a week or two. He had just concluded a stellar
engagement with Jack Langrishe at Denver. Denver at that time was not
so large as Salt Lake City, nor could it boast anything like so good a
theatre. The great overland road had not been projected at this time,
and people crossing the country from Denver to Salt Lake or San
Francisco were obliged "to stage it," or travel with private
conveyances. So George had to stage it, not a difficult thing for an
actor to do. He was accompanied by Mrs. Florence Bell who was featured
with him as co-star during his first engagement. He opened on July
20th, 1864, just four nights after Lyne closed, in "The Romance of a
Poor Young Man," in the character of "Manuel," Mrs. Bell playing
"Marguerite." Pauncefort's "Manuel" made a great hit, and stamped him
at once as an actor of superior parts. It was a new awakening. His
style was so different from anything we had seen, either in Lyne or
Irwin. Mrs. Bell, however, fell as far below public expectation as
Pauncefort went above it. She was not the equal of our own leading
lady, Mrs. Gibson who in consequence of this engagement had to be
retired from the leading roles, and bear with what grace she might to
see an inferior actress usurping her place. The popular verdict was
all in Mrs. Gibson's favor. Mrs. Bell was a pretty woman, but a very
mediocre actress. The management would gladly have retired the lady
after the first performance, but there was a contract, and she was
allowed to play the leads in several plays, during this engagement.
Pauncefort played until September 30th, when the season closed.

It no doubt cost the princely George a pang to realize that Mrs. Bell
had not made a favorable impression with the public, as he had
featured her on the bills. She had found great favor in his eyes, if
not so fortunate in gaining the public favor. Their admiration was
mutual and so apparent that it was frowned upon by "the powers that
be." George was given plainly to understand that although Mormons
believed in and practiced polygamy, they drew the line in morals at
promiscuity, and he could not continue his present intimate relations
with Mrs. Bell and his engagement at the Salt Lake Theatre. George
took the hint and severed the "entangling alliance;" all the easier,
no doubt, as Mr. Bell had come closely on their heels from Denver.
Bell was a good cornet player, and secured an engagement in the
Theatre Orchestra, where he played until the end of the Pauncefort
season, and then drifted off to Montana, "taking the fair Desdemona
along with him."

That the Bell alliance worked to Pauncefort's injury there is no
question. President Young took great offense at it, and never attended
the theatre during Pauncefort's engagement after the opening
performances, when he became apprised of the intimacy existing between
George and Florence. On Brigham's first visit to the theatre after the
Pauncefort season, the writer met him on the stage near his box and
took occasion to express his pleasure at seeing him occupy his
accustomed seat after so long an absence, remarking, "It is a long
time since you were here, President Young." "Yes," he replied. "I told
John T. and Hyrum (the managers of the house) that I would not come
into the theatre while that man Pauncefort was here." This showed how
strong a prejudice he had conceived against Pauncefort--and
notwithstanding the very favorable impression his acting had made, it
was quite a long time, nearly four months, before he again appeared.

The Lyne and Pauncefort engagement following each other in such close
succession and in an extra season, and that season a mid-summer one,
had given the theatre-going public a very gratifying sufficiency of
theatricals, and consequently it was not thought advisable to open the
theatre again until the ensuing October Conference; so the house was
closed up for a period of five weeks and reopened on the 5th of
October, just in time to catch the Conference gatherings. Although
both Lyne and Pauncefort were in the vicinity, neither of them were
engaged until after the Conference dates were passed. The management
could rely on full houses during the Conference and could not see the
policy of sharing up the profits with a star when the stock company
could fill the house to its capacity. The Conference over, the
following week T. A. Lyne opened his third engagement and played up to
the 10th of December; a very long engagement, lasting eight weeks.
Pauncefort should naturally, according to all professional ways of
looking at it, have filled this time; and no doubt would have had the
preference over Lyne if the managers had not been handicapped by the
strong prejudice of the "President" against this actor; for he was the
newer and more attractive star. Lyne had already played two long
engagements and exhausted his repertoire, besides Pauncefort had
introduced us to a more modern and popular school, and from financial
considerations alone, any manager would have given him the preference,
but he did not get back into the theatre for a second engagement until
after Lyne had played everything he knew; still he lingered in the
vicinity. He went out through the provinces--played smaller towns,
such as Springville and Provo, with their home companies--and dabbled
in merchandising, shipping fruit to Montana; it was bringing big
prices just then. On the 17th of December, 1864, George Pauncefort
began his second engagement in "A Bachelor of Arts" and "Black-Eyed
Susan." It was during this engagement that "Hamlet" and "Macbeth" had
their initial performances in the Salt Lake Theatre. Both of these
plays were marked events in the history of the theatre, more
particularly "Macbeth," which called into requisition the Tabernacle
choir to play the witches and sing the music of the play, which was
ably conducted by Prof. C. J. Thomas.

"Macbeth" was the last play of this engagement and closed the second
Pauncefort season on January 7th, 1865--a brief season of three
weeks--after waiting around about four months. Why this engagement
ended so suddenly in the very height of its brilliancy is somewhat
puzzling to understand, as there was no other star to follow, and the
stock company played unassisted by any stellar attraction up till May
20th, which closed the season of '64 and '65.

Pauncefort shortly after the closing of his engagement went to San
Francisco, where he remained for more than two years playing there at
intervals.




CHAPTER VII.

SEASON '65 AND '66.


The next star to appear at the Mormon theatre was Julia Dean Hayne,
and a brilliant one she proved to be. She created on her first
appearance an impression that was profound and lasting, and each
additional character she appeared in only served to strengthen her
hold on the admiration and affection of her audiences.

The advent of such a well-known and popular actress into the heart of
the Rocky Mountain region at such a time, years before the completion
of the overland railroad, had in it a rich tinge of romance and wild
managerial venture. Julia Dean came to Salt Lake City under the
management and in the dramatic company of the veteran Western manager,
John S. Potter. Some time prior to this she had gone to San Francisco
from New York by way of the Isthmus, had played a successful
engagement there, and being "at liberty" after it was over, Mr.
Potter, who was an old acquaintance of Mrs. Hayne, made her a
proposition to organize a company and play her through the principal
towns of California. This was done, and after the state had been
pretty thoroughly toured, the fair Julia appearing in many places that
had very "queer" theatres, the tour was extended through the cities of
Oregon and then through the sparsely inhabited territories of Montana,
Idaho and Utah, finally arriving in Salt Lake July 26th, 1865, on a
regular old-time stage coach, a tired and jaded-looking party. There
was in this company John S. Potter, manager (then a man of sixty or
more), Julia Deane Hayne (the star), George B. Waldron (leading man),
Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Leslie (juveniles), Mr. A. K. Mortimer (heavies),
Charles Graham (comedian). Mr. Potter himself played the "old man"
parts, Miss Belle Douglas playing characters and old woman parts, and
"Jimmie" Martin, property man and filling-in parts. The fame of
Brigham Young's theatre had reached them in their travels, and they
had traveled many miles to get the opportunity of playing in it. A
week's engagement was soon effected, and on August 11th, 1865, "The
Potter Company" with Julia Dean Hayne as the stellar character, opened
up in the play of "Camille." They were received by a packed house, and
with every demonstration of welcome and approbation. Mrs. Hayne, who
was no longer girlish in face and figure but a mature woman, verging
on towards the "fair, fat and forty" period, was nevertheless so
exquisitely beautiful and girlish-looking when made up for "Camille"
or "Julia" in the "Hunchback," that everybody sang her praises. The
entire community seemed to have fallen irresistibly in love with the
new star, and henceforward she had fair wind and smooth sailing while
her lot lay cast among the Saints. While the Potter Company were
playing in the theatre, supporting Mrs. Hayne, the stock company were
of course getting a needed rest, but their salaries (?) were going on
as usual, and the management could not well afford to have two
companies on its hands, so after the first week, the novelty being
over, the Potter company were let out, and the regular company
reinstalled. The Potter Company, however, had lost its "star;" the
theatre managers had effected an engagement with Julia Dean to remain
with them for the rest of the season as stock star with George B.
Waldron, also to play her leading support, and direct the staging of
her plays.

This proved a severe blow to the Potter Company, who now had no place
to play in in Salt Lake and could not well take to the road again,
having lost their principal attraction. Potter had not expected to
have been so soon supplanted. He came to Salt Lake, expecting to find
a company of amateurs, and thought no doubt the managers would be glad
to supplant them, at least for a good long season, with the Potter
Company and its distinguished star. Outside of Mrs. Hayne and Mr.
Waldron, however, the Salt Lake Company was much more numerous,
talented and capable than the Potter Company. It took but one or two
performances for the managers to discover this, and they hastened to
make the arrangements with Julia Dean and Mr. Waldron and to reinstate
their own company.

Poor Potter and his remaining company were in a sorry strait. Their
overland jaunt, through Oregon, Montana and Idaho, had not been very
lucrative, and now they were out in the fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains, a thousand miles from any metropolis with a theatre, and no
railroad to get away on; nothing but the overland coach. Potter was a
resourceful manager, however; he was not easily daunted; with him
Richmond's admonition to his army was ever present. "True hope never
tires, but mounts on eagle's wings. Kings it makes gods, and meaner
creatures kings." He found in "Tom" Lyne an old acquaintance, and a
strong ally. Lyne was by this time disgruntled and dissatisfied with
the theatrical outlook in Salt Lake; he was not getting any more the
plaudits and the "star's" share of the receipts. He wanted some place
to play in. So he inspired Potter with the notion of building an
opposition theatre to that "monopoly" of Brigham Young's. Potter drank
in Lyne's inspiration fervidly. The idea took a frantic possession of
him, and plans were at once devised for getting up another house as
speedily as possible, for the season was advancing and if the project
was not hurried the Potter company would be scattered beyond all
recovery. So it was decided to erect a cheap frame building, and push
it to completion as rapidly as possible. This decision served to keep
the Potter Company in Salt Lake, as they all had faith in the scheme,
and faith in themselves that they could win out. They argued that by
the time the new play-house was ready to open that Julia Dean and
Waldron would be played out at the Salt Lake Theatre, and something
new would catch the people. Poor, deluded actors, they did not know
the people of Salt Lake; they knew them better after. How much money
Mr. Lyne put into this scheme the writer never could learn from him,
but I opine it was very little. He, however, secured the building
site, by some kind of a deal with "Tommy" Bullock. It was about where
Dinwoodey's furniture store now stands. Potter had little or no money
with which to start such an enterprise, so Lyne introduced Mr. Potter
to such of the merchants and lumbermen as he wanted to do business
with. Potter played a bold game, and really accomplished a great feat
in the building of this theatre. He got from sixty to ninety days'
credit for everything nearly that went into the construction of the
building. It was a cheap affair; built of poles, hewn to an even size
and placed in the ground like fence posts; then boarded on both sides
with rough boards, the space between the inside and outside boarding
being filled in with sawdust and refuse tan bark from the tanneries,
to make the building warm. The place was about half the size of the
Salt Lake Theatre; that is, it had about half the seating capacity and
a stage about one-fourth the size of the theatre. The structure,
including the lease of ground, cost about $7,000. It was put up in
about thirty days, so that Potter had a month's more time in which to
pay for the bulk of the material, but the merchants and laborers who
did the building were worrying his life out long before he got it
going, for their money. He proved to be an expert at "standing off"
his creditors, however, so by hook and crook he got the building
completed, his company reorganized, and the theatre started. Some very
amusing stories were related of him at the time; how he would cajole
and stuff with promises the dissatisfied workmen as to what he would
do as soon as he got the house open. One man went to him with the
sorrowful story that his landlady had refused to credit him any
longer, and he must have money to pay his board and lodgings. Potter
looked at him pityingly, and expressed his regret that he could do
nothing for him till he got the theatre going. "It will soon be
finished now; tell your landlady this, and if this will not appease
her, change your boarding house." To such like desperate shifts and
subterfuges was he obliged to resort to keep the men at work, doling
them out a few dollars at a time, when they became unmanageable or
threatened to quit. Eventually the house was ready for opening and
"Tom" Lyne had to have the first "whack" at the new box office
receipts.

With woeful shortsightedness they put up for the opening, "Damon and
Pythias," with Lyne starred as "Damon," a character he had already
played three or four times at the other theatre. Lyne probably
thought, however, with Richard that "the king's name is a tower of
strength, which they on the adverse faction want." Such did not prove
to be the case, however, as the "adverse faction" having in view the
opening of the opposition house, put on a strong new bill with Mrs.
Hayne in a new and powerful character, so that there was no apparent
diminution of patronage, and the Salt Lake Theatre kept on the even
tenor of its way "with not a downy feather ruffled by its fierceness."
Potter and Lyne had succeeded in getting "Jim" Hardie away from the
other house by offering him the part of Pythias and a larger salary
than he was getting at the older house. "Jim" at this time was the
youngest actor in the Salt Lake Theatre company, and had not yet made
much advancement; he was ambitious, however, and this opportunity to
play "Pythias" to Lyne's "Damon" was very alluring to him, so he
deserted the ranks of the D. D. A. and allied himself with
Lyne-Potter, et al., with what poor judgment the sequel will show.

The new theatre was christened "The Academy of Music," with what
reason or consistency no one could ever conceive, unless it was to
give it a big sounding name, to allure the unwary, for it was as
utterly unlike an Academy of Music as anything could be.

On the opening night, the novelty of the new theatre opening, and
curiosity to see the Academy and Mr. Lyne with his new support,
sufficed to draw a fairly full house.

Several amusing incidents transpired on that eventful evening. First
and most laughable was the following: "Jim" Hardie had a
brother-in-law named "Pat" Lynch. Pat had been clerk of the district
court for a number of years and was well known for a big-hearted,
generous man, his greatest fault being that he would indulge
occasionally too freely in the ardent. "Pat" had loaned "Jim" ten
dollars to help him get a costume for "Pythias" the Academy had no
wardrobe department and "Jim" could not with any grace attempt to
borrow one from the Salt Lake Theatre. It would appear he had promised
to get an advance as soon as the box office had begun to take in
money, and Pat had expected the return of his money that day; at all
events, he was present at the play, occupying a front seat in the
parquette. He had been indulging freely, and his sight was not so
clear as usual; besides, he had the character of Pythias and Dionysius
mixed in his imagination. Mr. Potter was playing Dionysius, and as he
strode on at the rise of the curtain and began to speak, Pat mistook
him for Hardie and bawled out at the top of his voice, "See here,
Dionysius, where's that ten dollars you owe me?" Potter was filled
with consternation; Pat's friends who were with him succeeded in
quieting him and Potter made another start, this time without
interruption. Pat had discovered his mistake, that he had dunned the
wrong man, and it took but little persuasion to get him to leave the
theatre. Hardie, behind the scenes waiting for his entrance, and
fearing a second explosion when he should make his appearance, was
immensely relieved to see from the side wings Pat's companions lead
him up the aisle and out of the theatre. Potter, not aware but what it
was one of his numerous creditors dunning him, when he made his first
exit, threw up his hands in dismay, and said to Lyne in the wings: "My
G--d, they won't give me any peace! Even dunning me from the
audience." When Lyne, who had caught the truth of the matter,
explained to him, he was greatly relieved.

Another amusing incident, and one which nearly wrecked the scene, was
furnished by the little girl they had for Damon's boy. It has never
been a difficult task to find in Salt Lake a pretty and clever child
to play the child's part in this or any other play. On this occasion,
the selection was probably limited to a small circle, owing to the
feeling engendered by this opposition to the favorite theatre; at all
events, the "Damon's" child of the occasion was an uncultured looking
little miss of about six years; she was so dark and tawny-looking that
she might have had Indian blood in her veins, and certainly she had a
touch of the obduracy and stolidness that characterize that race;
Belle Douglass was the "Hermion" of the occasion, and she was obliged
to improvise and speak most of the child's lines for her; when "Damon"
came on for the farewell interview with his beloved "Hermion" and his
darling boy, he strove in vain to get a response from his young
hopeful; the child had become thoroughly nervous, and seemed
apprehensive of some danger and when "Damon" interrogated her, "What
wouldst thou be, my boy?" instead of the cheerful response, "A
soldier, father," there came only a frightened look, and the child put
its finger in its nostril, and swayed to and fro, as if she would say,
but dare not, "I want to go home." Miss Douglass, annoyed, pulled the
little hand down testily from the child's nose, and "Damon" repeated
the question, "What wouldst thou be, my boy?" No answer, but up went
the finger again to the nose. "Hermion" again pulled down the hand,
and rather harshly demanded, "Come, say, what wouldst thou be, my
boy?" The child by this time was nearly terrified, and only repeated
the nose business with more emphasis and began to cry--and "Damon"
utterly disgusted with his youthful prodigy, hurried him off to pluck
the flower of welcome for him. The child's queer action of sticking
its finger up its nose sent the house almost into convulsions of
laughter, and came near converting one of the greatest scenes of the
play into a burlesque. Lyne played all the other plays in his
repertoire in rather rapid succession, as the aim was to keep the
Academy open every night (except Sundays) and as each play would bear
but one repetition, this repertoire was soon exhausted, and as there
was no other "star" in the Utah firmament to fill the place, the
Academy went into a rapid decline. As the business had not proved to
be what the promoter and manager had calculated on, Potter was daily
besieged by creditors, until the poor man was almost driven frantic.
The heavy creditors, those who had furnished material on sixty days'
time, now began to grow troublesome, and one attachment after another
followed, until the house fell into the hands of the sheriff--and
Brigham Young, through T. B. H. Stenhouse, as agent, made a deal by
which the property came into his hands. He soon put a force of men to
work who tore it down, hauled it away and fenced a farm with it.

Such in brief is the history of Potter's Academy of Music. The
merchants and lumbermen who had given Potter such liberal credit were
now sadder but wiser men.

Potter got away as soon as possible, for matters were very pressing
and unpleasant for him. His company drifted off in various directions,
except Belle Douglass, who got married to Captain Clipperton and
settled down in Salt Lake, and after a while got into the Salt Lake
Theatre. Hardie also got back after a time, long enough for him to
become repentant and express his regrets for what he had done.

The season, by the time the Academy's brief career had ended, was well
advanced into the spring. Julia Dean Hayne had not only not played
out, but had steadily grown in the affection of the people. Mr.
Waldron continued to to be a favorite also; but Julia Dean was the
bright particular star whose effulgence can never be effaced from the
memories of those who attended her performances during that memorable
engagement. She received many marks of personal favor from President
Brigham Young; indeed, it was current gossip that the President was
very much enamored of the fair Julia and had offered to make her Mrs.
Young number twenty-one. How much, if any, truth there was in this
gossip will perhaps never be known; the fact that Brigham did pay her
unusual attention and gave several parties in her honor and had a fine
sleigh built which he named the Julia Dean was quite enough to set the
people talking. The probability is that the President was very much
charmed with her, and sought to win her to the Mormon faith; had he
succeeded in this, he might then have felt encouraged to go a step
further and win her to himself, for in spite of his already numerous
matrimonial alliances, he did not consider himself _ineligible_. The
fair Julia was not ineligible, either, for she was divorced from her
husband, Dr. Hayne, the son of a "favorite son" of South Carolina.
Speculation was rife, and much surprise and wonder was excited in
certain quarters that President Young should go out of his way to show
more marked attention to an actress than he had ever shown to any of
his wives; but he was bent on getting Julia into the fold; once there,
he could have played the good shepherd, and have secured her an
exaltation. She had another man in her eye. One she had set her heart
upon, too. "As hers on him, so his was set on her, but how they met
and wooed and made exchange of vows I'll tell thee as we pass."

James G. Cooper was at this particular time secretary of the territory
of Utah--an appointee of the United States government. He was a
cavalierly man of southern birth and breeding--tall and handsome, and
of courtly bearing, a great lover of the theatre. He was never known
to miss a performance during Julia Dean's engagement. He was one of
the most enthusiastic admirers she had; night after night, all the
season through, he sat in front, early always in the same seat, and
with eyes aglow and ears alert, he seemed to absorb every tone of her
voice and catch, every gleam of her eyes--her every move was to him a
thrill of rapture. Out of her thousands of admirers he was the most
devoted worshipper at her shrine. Up to a certain time he worshipped
in silence as if she were a deity. Chance had made them neighbors: the
secretary's office and Mrs. Hayne's apartments were in adjoining
houses, and it was not long before an acquaintanceship was formed
which rapidly grew into a friendship and friendship soon ripened into
love.

These lovers were discreet, however. Many happy hours they passed in
each other's company, but they did not parade their love, nor "wear
their hearts upon their sleeves for daws to peck at." Little did her
audience suspect that often when she cast her most bewitching glances,
and brightened their faces with her radiant smiles, that those smiles
were mounted especially for him; but he knew--how could he help but
know. Cupid had drawn his bow and sped his dart.

    "Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, that's by me wounded
    Both our remedies within thy help and holy physic lie."

So after the close of the season, much to the surprise of her numerous
admirers, "these 'twain were made one flesh." They bade a rather hasty
farewell to the land of the Saints, and wended their way to the far
East by stagecoach, the terminus of the Pacific road being yet some
hundreds of miles from Salt Lake.

Mrs. Hayne's last appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre was an event
marked with quite as much if not more of interest than her first
appearance. She had become endeared to the Salt Lake public, and they
regarded her approaching departure with genuine regret. At her last
performance, June 30th, 1866, she appeared as "Camille," the same
character in which she opened her engagement, and was the recipient on
this occasion of many tokens of kindness and appreciation. Being
called enthusiastically to the front of the curtain after the
performance, she bade a loving farewell to Salt Lake and its people in
one of the most delicately and tastefully worded speeches ever made in
front of a theatre drop. During her long engagement, lasting from
August 11th, '65, to June 30th, '66, she played all the great classic
female roles that were then popular, a number of comedies, and even
took a dip into extravaganza or burlesque, appearing during the
holiday season in the character of Alladin in "The Wonderful Lamp,"
which ran for eleven consecutive performances. Her best remembered
characters are "Camille," "Lady Macbeth," "Leah," "Parthenia," "Julia"
(in the "Hunchback"), "Lucretia Borgia," "Medea," "Marco," "Lady
Teazle," "Peg Woffington," and "Pauline" in the "Lady of Lyons." In
her ten months' engagement, she played a great many plays besides
those mentioned, each play being presented twice or three times,
according to its popularity.

Among others, an Indian play, entitled "Osceola," written by E. L.
Sloan, then editor of the Salt Lake Herald, in which Mr. George
Waldron played the title role and Mrs. Hayne the chief's daughter. The
piece had a fair success, but has never been heard of since. Mr. Sloan
wrote another play a year or two later, about the time of the
completion of the overland railroad, which he called "Stage and
Steam." This was a melodrama with a stage coach and railway train in
it, intended to illustrate the march of civilization. It had two
presentations, and was never acted again that we are aware of. It was
during Mrs. Hayne's engagement also that Mr. Edward W. Tullidge made
his first essay as a dramatic author--Mrs. Hayne and Mr. Waldron had
exhausted the list of available plays and new plays were in demand.
Tullidge's play was entitled "Eleanor de Vere," or "The Queen's
Secret," an episode of the Elizabethan Court--in which Queen Elizabeth
was a secondary character. Tullidge had written his play with various
members of the company in his eye, and succeeded in fitting them very
well. This play made a very favorable impression and was repeated
several times to large and appreciative audiences. Mrs. Hayne's
character, "Eleanor de Vere," was one of the Queen's waiting women, in
love with "Rochester," and afforded the actress very good scope for
her great talent, but the character of Queen Elizabeth, although a
secondary part in the play, made such a favorable impression on Mrs.
Hayne that she asked Mr. Tullidge if he could write her a play of
Elizabeth, making the Queen a star character for her. She believed
from what Mr. Tullidge had done in "Eleanor de Vere" that he could
write a great play of Elizabeth. Tullidge felt that he had a great
subject; it was a favorite theme, however, and one on which he was
thoroughly posted, and encouraged by Mrs Hayne's faith in his ability,
he at once commenced the task. "The labor we delight in physics pain,"
and Elizabeth became a labor of love with Edward Tullidge, for he was
very enthusiastic in his love of Julia Dean, both as a woman and as an
artist; and so familiar with all the heroes of Elizabeth's court, that
his task, though Herculean, was a pleasant one, and before Julia Dean
was ready to leave Salt Lake, Tullidge had completed a great
historical play, "Elizabeth of England." It was with a view of
presenting it in New York that Mrs. Hayne (now Cooper) went there soon
after her departure. Before she had concluded any arrangement for its
production, however, Ristori, the great Italian actress, loomed up on
the dramatic horizon in Elizabeth. She had crowned all her former
achievements in a great triumph in this same Elizabeth of England.
Although the play was written by an Italian author (Giogimetta) and
was not as true to history as the Tullidge play, it filled the
particular historical niche so far as the stage is concerned. Ristori
had a great success with this play, both in Europe and this country.
It must have broken Julia Dean's heart professionally. She might have
been the first in the field, at least in this country, if she had not
dilly-dallied. She was having a delightful honeymoon and was too
indifferent in this important affair, and when the advent of the great
Italian in Elizabeth awoke her from her reverie, her opportunity had
gone and Tullidge's Elizabeth never saw the light. Very keen indeed
was the disappointment of the author. Julia Dean was his ideal for
Elizabeth, and when he found to his amazement that the Italians
(author and actress) had gained the field ahead of them, poor Tullidge
went crazy with grief, and for a time had to be confined in the city
prison, there being no asylum in Utah at that time. Mr. Lyne, who read
the play to a large audience in Salt Lake, pronounced it one of the
greatest historical plays he had ever read.

Whether the great disappointment had any effect in hastening Mrs.
Cooper's death or not can not be known, but "it is pitiful, 'twas
wondrous pitiful," that she did not live longer to enjoy her new-found
happiness, and add a crowning glory to her brilliant career, for she
was without doubt the greatest favorite of her day in America, and
Americans everywhere would have hailed her with delight in any new
achievement. She only lived about a year after her marriage to Mr.
Cooper. She died in New York, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
The news of her demise was received with profound sorrow by her
numerous Salt Lake admirers, and many a silent tear paid tribute to
her memory.

    "There is a destiny that shapes our ends,
    Rough hew them as we will."

Through the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Johnson, our popular photographer, I
am enabled to append the following information in relation to Julia
Dean's death and burial:

    THE UNMARKED GRAVE OF JULIA DEAN.

                                     NEW YORK, August 26, 1897.

    _To the Editor of the Dramatic Mirror_:

    SIR:--While recently walking through the beautiful Laurel Grove
    Cemetery at Port Jervis, New York, the aged caretaker called my
    attention to a good-sized circular burial plot overlooking a lake
    in the centre of which, surrounded by mountain laurel shrubs and
    lilac bushes, is a sunken mound under which the venerable keeper
    declared rested "as great and fine a looking actress as the
    country ever had," and further stated that "much of a time was
    made over her years ago in New York." Also that "when her body was
    brought on here a big crowd of theatre folks came on to see her
    buried and they cried over her open grave."

    Becoming thoroughly interested, I carefully noted the location of
    the actress' lot, and immediately visited the little cemetery
    office on the grounds, and in looking over the admirably kept
    records, I was astonished to find that it represented the grave of
    a fair member of the dramatic profession whose tomb had been
    entirely lost sight of, and dramatic historians and editors have
    been unable for years to enlighten those of their readers who
    sought to discover her grave rest. Beneath this mound rests all
    that is mortal of the once lovely Juliet of the American
    stage--Julia Dean.

    The complete record of the Laurel Grove Cemetery reads:

    "Name--Julia Dean-Hayne-Cooper.

    "Place and time of nativity--Pleasant Valley, Near Poughkeepsie,
    N. Y., July 21, 1830.

    "Names of parents--Edwin and Julia Dean.

    "Age--Thirty-five years.

    "Place and date of death--New York City, May 19, 1866.

    "Cause of death--Childbirth.

    "Second husband's name--James G. Cooper.

    "Buried in Lot No. 3, Section B, owned by her father-in-law,
    Mathew H. Cooper.

    "Remains of deceased first placed in the Marble Cemetery General
    Receiving Vault, Second Street, New York City. Transferred to
    Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, April 16, 1868."

    The lone cemetery official states all of Julia Dean's kindred
    passed away years ago, and together they are buried in the old
    Clove graveyard at Sussex, N. J.

    At the time of their deaths, they were in reduced circumstances,
    and while still well-to-do, years before Julia Dean's demise they
    acquired this Port Jervis burial lot that she might await the
    resurrection in the place where her childhood days were so
    pleasantly passed.

    At the foot of the eminent actress' grave slumbers the unnamed
    girl infant for whom Julia Dean surrendered her illustrious life.

    None of her relatives were ever able to erect a monument over her
    remains, and it seems a pity that this exquisite actress of
    another generation should forever sleep in an unrecorded
    sepulchre.

    Having heard and read that the noble Actors' Fund of New York has
    caused' many a granite tombstone to be erected over the graves of
    their worthy comrades, and as Julia Dean was so sweet and
    accomplished an artiste, I thought that by calling attention to
    this forgotten and out of the way tomb through the columns of the
    most powerful of America's dramatic journals, _The Dramatic
    Mirror_, it might result in placing a modest memorial stone of
    granite at the head of the mound under which so peacefully reposes
    Julia Dean, whose splendid genius Dion Boucicault compared to that
    of another gifted and beautiful daughter of the drama, the ideal
    Juliet, Adelaide Neilson, who awaits the final call in distant
    England, beneath an imposing mortuary memorial, thanks to the
    influence of the loyal William Winter.

                                              LOVER OF THE STAGE.




CHAPTER VIII.

SEASON OF '66-'67.


After the close of this eventful season, Mr. George Waldron, who had
played the leading support to Mrs. Hayne and become an established
favorite, drifted away from Salt Lake, going into Montana; returning a
year or so later in conjunction with Mrs. Waldron. He had found his
mate and brought her to Salt Lake to make her acquainted with his many
friends there. George tried very earnestly to get a Salt Lake wife. It
looked for a while as if Miss Sarah Alexander was destined to fill
that place; she certainly filled George's eye. He was very much
enamored of the petite and lithesome Sarah, but the expected union did
not materialize, and George sought pastures new, and ere long
returned, bringing a beautiful wife with him. Meantime, Sarah had
drifted off to the East in company with a literary lady named Lisle
Lester. They took with them Sarah's little niece, her dead sister's
baby, Baby Finlayson, then but two years old. Miss Finlayson, under
her aunt's careful guidance and training, developed into a very clever
and capable actress, and for many years now has been holding leading
positions in prominent companies and theatres. She is known
professionally as Lisle Leigh.

The Waldrons played a short engagement and then bade a long farewell
to Salt Lake and the West. At this writing George Waldron has been
dead for ten years, his wife, a son and a daughter survive him; all
follow the stage successfully.

During the season of '65 and '66, there were few changes in the
supporting stock company. Mr. Waldron doing the leads, lightened
considerably the labors of the "leading man," Mr. D. McKenzie, who was
quite content to escape the onerous study the leading parts would have
imposed, and play something easier. Before the beginning of this
season, Mr. H. B. Clawson had retired altogether from the field as an
actor, although still one of the managers of the house, and Mr. Phil
Margetts was the acknowledged premier comedian of the company. Mr.
John T. Caine, too, Clawson's associate manager, and also stage
manager, yielded up his line of parts to John S. Lindsay and devoted
himself exclusively to the duties of stage manager, which in the old
"stock" days meant far more than that office means today. "Why, in the
elder day to be a 'stage manager' was greater than to be a king," in
any of the plays. Briefly enumerated, his duties were: First, to
_read_ carefully and then _cast_ all the plays. The casting of a play
is a most important affair. It must be done with great care and
consideration so as to get the best results, and at the same time each
actor his "line" of parts as near as practicable; then he must write
out the cast, and hang it up in the case in the green room--write out
all "calls" for rehearsals, and hang them up in the case. Then he must
direct all rehearsals. To do this, he must study out all the
"business" of the play in advance of the rehearsals, so he will be
able to direct intelligently. When a "star" is rehearsing, he
generally directs the rehearsal, thus relieving the stage manager of a
great responsibility; but he must be around, and see what is required
for the play in the way of scenery and properties and make out
complete and detailed plots for scene-men and property-men, and in
this particular case where the theatre furnished the actors with all
wardrobes (except modern clothes), the stage manager had also to make
out a _costume plot_. The costumer would then distribute the wardrobe
for the play according to his best judgment, and the conceit or fancy
of the actor, which often made the costumer's duty a perplexing one,
for actors are so full of conceits and fancies that they are a hard
lot to please.

In the Salt Lake Theatre a first-class copyist was constantly employed
in copying out parts--books were not so easily procured in those days.
It took from three to four weeks to get a book from New York, so where
the manager had but one book all the parts had to be copied, and the
stage manager had to have his plays selected well ahead, so as to give
the copyist plenty of time to get parts ready for distribution.
Besides these duties, the stage manager had to write out all the
"copy" for advertisements and posters and house programs, see to the
painting of new scenes, and the making of new properties; also, any
new costumes that had to be made. His decision was final in all these
matters, so that the stage manager of the "old stock" days was no
sinecure. Mr. Caine filled the position with rare ability, and his
regime in the Salt Lake Theatre was distinguished for its prompt
executive alertness, and the utter absence of any trifling or
inattention to business.

One important accession there was to the company just before this
engagement, that of Miss Annie Asenith Adams. Miss Adams made her
debut on the 25th of July, 1865, (the same night that Julia Dean-Hayne
and the Potter Company arrived in Salt Lake), in the character of
Grace Otis in the "People's Lawyer," W. C. Dunbar being the "Solon
Shingle" on the occasion. Her maiden effort proved very successful and
satisfactory to the management, and during Julia Dean's long
engagement she proved to be a valuable acquisition to the stock
company. She made rapid progress in the dramatic art, and before the
close of the season had attained a prominent position in the company
which she held with credit to herself and satisfaction to the public
until 1874, when the stock company was virtually retired to give place
to the "combination" system which then came into vogue.

On August 15th, 1869, a little more than four years after her debut,
Miss Adams was married to Mr. James H. Kiskadden. Between the time of
her debut and her marriage, Asenith (she was always called "Senith" in
those days) was not only a favorite with the public, but she had a
number of ardent admirers among the "opposite sex." There was quite a
rivalry for her affections between several members of the company, but
the most ardent of them were already married, and although _they_ did
not consider that a bar to their hopes, in Annie's case they were not
eligible; so the chief rivalry existed on the outside of the theatre.
Mr. Kiskadden, or "Jim," as he was universally called by his
acquaintances, was cashier in his brother William's bank (the location
is the identical room where Walker Brothers' Bank is today). Jim was a
dashing sort of fellow, big and manly, with a determined kind of air,
that seemed to say, "Things must go my way." He drew a good salary,
dressed well, and always wore immaculate linen, his shirt front always
illuminated with a large diamond. He was inclined to "sporting," and
was recognized as the champion billiard player of the town in those
days. How much apprehension "Jim" endured regarding "Senith's" married
suitors in the theatre we have no means of knowing, but it is probable
she set his doubts at rest on that score by assuring him that she
would never marry an already married man. She had seen enough of that
to make her dread it. However this might be, "Jim" had a rival and a
dangerous one in the person of Mr. Jack O'Neil. Jack was beyond
question the handsomer fellow of the two; indeed, he was handsome as a
prince, always dressed superbly and was one of the most attractive
looking men in Salt Lake. Jack was very much infatuated with the
rising young actress and missed no opportunity to make known to her
his appreciation of her talents and his admiration and adoration of
herself. The rivalry between Jack and Jim was at white heat for a
spell, and it would not have been very much of a surprise to their
intimates if there had been a challenge sent and accepted, and a duel
fought over the young Mormon actress. Unfortunately for Jack and his
aspirations for the lady's affections, he was a _professional_ sport,
and that was against him. He had no other profession, and handsome and
cavalierly as he could be, he was classed as a gambler; while Jim
could flip the pasteboards just as skillfully, and lay them all out at
billiards, he did not follow it for a "stiddy liven," but held the
cashier's box in his brother's bank, for a steady job, and only
sported on the side, and so it came to pass that in the course of time
Jim distanced his handsome rival and bore off the prize. Many of
"Senith's" friends regretted this, as Jim did not belong to the
household of faith, but was a rank, out-spoken Gentile, utterly
opposed to Mormon ways, and not afraid to say so. Whereas all of
"Senith's" folks were staunch adherents of the Mormon faith and were
striving to live their religion in all its phases. So they did not
rejoice over "Senith's" marriage to a Gentile (as all non-Mormons were
called--Jews included). They regarded it as equivalent to apostasy
from the faith in which she had been reared, periling her soul's
salvation. She was not appalled, however, by the gloomy and hopeless
pictures some of her friends were kind enough to paint for her, and
bravely married the man she had set her heart upon and stuck by him
through thick and thin, sunshine and storm, prosperity and adversity.
On November 11th, 1872, Maude Kiskadden was born, within a stone's
throw of the Salt Lake Theatre, and before she was a year old made her
debut on the stage where her mother was a debutante some eight years
before. It looks now as if it were fate, as if she was predestined for
a great stage career. There was an emergency and Maude, not yet a year
old, was there to fill it. It happened in the following manner. In
those palmy days of the profession, the old stock days as they are now
called, it was customary to supplement the play with a farce--no
matter how long the play--even if a five-act tragedy, the evening's
performance was not considered complete without a farce to conclude
with. On this particular occasion, the farce was the "Lost Child," a
favorite with our comedian, Mr. Phil Margetts. He played Jones, a fond
and loving parent, who goes distracted over his lost child. Instead of
providing a real baby, as the property man had been instructed to do,
he had a grotesque-looking rag baby, not at all to the comedian's
taste in the matter. Millard, the property man, declared he had been
unable to procure a live baby, nobody was willing to lend a baby for
the part--older children he could get, but he could not get a baby,
and the rag baby was the best that he could do under the
circumstances, and on such short notice. Margetts was in distress.
"What, in Utah!" he exclaimed. "The idea!" Where babies are our best
crop, to be unable to procure one for his favorite farce. It was
simply preposterous, absurd, incredible; he objected to play with
nothing but a miserable makeshift of a rag baby. In agony he appealed
to the stage manager, Mr. Caine, to know if the farce was to be ruined
or made a double farce by the introduction into it of a grotesque doll
like that! It would be worse than a Punch and Judy show. Sudden as a
bolt from a clouded sky, while the altercation was still at its
height, Mrs. Kiskadden appeared in the centre of the stage with her
baby in her arms, and in a good-natured tone that ended all the
trouble, exclaimed, "Here's Maude, use her!" Maude was indeed a good
substitute for the inartistic-looking "prop" the property man had
provided. Phil was happy and played the distracted parent with a
realism and a pathos he never could have summoned for the rag baby.
When the cue came, Maude was ushered into the mimic scene, making her
first entrance on a large tray carried by a waiter. Then she was taken
from the tray into somebody's arms and tossed from one nurse to
another throughout the farce, until finally, as it ends, she is lodged
safely in the arms of Mr. Jones, her distracted father. To her credit,
be it recorded, she never whimpered or made any outcry or showed any
signs of alarm, but played her first part bravely, though perhaps
unconsciously; winning the admiration and love of the entire company.
It was a lucky accident that Maude was in the theatre that evening,
for her mother was not in the habit of bringing her to the theatre
when she had any one at home to take care of her, but this evening was
the "nurse's evening out," and "Maudie" had to be toted to the theatre
and carefully put to sleep before mamma could "make up" and go through
her part. Here she was safely stowed away in a safe and quiet corner
of the green room, where she had been blissfully reposing all through
the first play, and was now rather rudely awakened to fill the
distressing emergency.

It will be readily seen from this narration that Maude Adams was
virtually "born to the stage," her mother studying assiduously and
playing parts both before and after Maude's birth, often taking Maudie
with her, both to rehearsals and performances, so that she became a
familiar little object in the theatre before she could walk or talk,
and long before she could ever essay a speaking part she was the pet
of the Green Room.

We had a Green Room in the Salt Lake Theatre in those days, and a very
capacious and comfortable one, too. Such a commodious and luxurious
adjunct is scarcely known in the theatres today. Here the actors could
retire between the acts or during the scenes they were not engaged in,
and study over their lines, or if already easy in their parts, pass
the time in reading or social chat. It was the prompter's business to
send the "call boy" to the Green Room and all dressing rooms to "call
the act," a few minutes before he was ready to "ring up." The act
being called, each actor was required to be at his entrance on time;
if he should be late and make a "stage wait," the stage manager might
reprimand him, and impose a fine. Fines were also imposed for being
tardy at rehearsals. There was seldom any occasion for the enforcement
of this penalty, except in the case of "Jim" Hardie. "Jim" was a
notorious laggard, and often kept the company waiting for him. On one
occasion the company had been waiting his arrival for fifteen or
twenty minutes, when he strode in very hurriedly and taking the centre
of the stage, took off his hat and wiping the perspiration from his
brow, began an apology to the stage manager for being late. He had
only just begun to talk when a general laugh broke the gravity of the
occasion. Jim had just come from the barber's where he had his head
shaved, and his entire scalp down to the hat line was as smooth as a
billiard ball. His monkish appearance created much merriment, in which
the stage manager and Jim himself joined. Jim at a very early age
showed a tendency to baldness, and he had been told that shaving the
head was not only a check to it, but would stimulate the growth of the
hair, so he had to get his head shaved, even though he kept the
rehearsal waiting. I think the fine was omitted on this occasion,
owing to the fun the company had over it.

In the fall of 1874, after a connection of nine years with the Salt
Lake Theatre, Mrs. Kiskadden and her husband, no longer a cashier, the
bank having been long a thing of the past, removed to Virginia City,
where Miss Adams was engaged with a number of others from the Salt
Lake Theatre Company, including the writer, to form a stock company
for Mr. John Piper, the Virginia City manager. "Maudie," now nearly
two years old, formed one of the party. After playing a season with
Mr. Piper, Miss Adams went to San Francisco, where her husband had
preceded her some months previous, and secured a good position as
bookkeeper for the firm of Park & Lacy. Here they made their home for
about eight years, Annie playing at the San Francisco theatres
whenever she could get an engagement, and making occasional excursions
with dramatic companies into the neighboring cities.

In September, 1877, before she was five years old, "Maudie" played her
first speaking part with Joe Emmett in "Fritz" at the Bush Street
Theatre. When the question of Maudie playing in Joe Emmett's piece was
under consideration by Mrs. Kiskadden and she informed Mr. Kiskadden
she had an offer from Mr. Emmett for Maudie to play the child's part,
Mr. Kiskadden did not encourage the idea; he had a plenty of the
theatre as it was, so he rather bluffly remarked: "No, indeed, we
don't want Maude to make a fool of herself; one actress in the family
is quite enough." Maude looked up with a touch of his own
determination in her voice: "Papa, I won't make a fool of myself." She
was irresistible--her papa had to consent. Her second part was Crystal
in Herne and Belasco's "Hearts of Oak," then played under the name of
"Chums." She afterwards played a part with Oliver Doud Byron--and in
1878, when six years old, played little "Adriene" in "A Celebrated
Case" at the Baldwin Theatre. In this character she made a decided
hit. After the run of the play at the Baldwin, it was taken to
Portland, Oregon, and produced under John Maguire's management at the
New Market Theatre, with Annie Adams and little Maude specially
featured in the cast, the writer playing "Jean Renan" in this
production. "Ten Nights in a Bar Room" was then put on, little Maude
being made a feature as Mary Morgan, the writer playing "Joe." After
the close of the season at the New Market Theatre, the company went
out under the writer's management and played the Puget Sound circuit
in those two plays, little Maude being made a special feature.

During this trip Maude had her first "Benefit" at Walla Walla,
Washington. She was "put up" for a "benefit," extensively advertised,
and helped out the company's treasury--after netting something liberal
for her. In this tour Maude played in all the Puget Sound towns from
Portland to Victoria and all the principal towns of Washington. At its
conclusion, she and her mother returned to San Francisco, and she was
not seen again in public for some years. Mr. Kiskadden died in San
Francisco in '83, and Mrs. Kiskadden took his remains to Salt Lake for
burial. There she settled down for a time and sent Maudie to school.
Here in the city of her birth she attended school for the next four or
five years, but always had a yearning to get back to the stage; and
eventually her mother secured an engagement for herself and Maude in
"My Geraldine" and the "Paymaster" under the manager of Duncan B.
Harrison. From that she got into Frohman's "Lost Paradise," and from
that on her history is known to the theatre world.




CHAPTER IX.

SEASON OF '66-'67.

_An Interesting Prayer Meeting_.


Julia Dean Hayne's final appearance closed the fourth season of the
Salt Lake Theatre, counting the opening one which only lasted from
March 8th, '62, to the end of April, about eight weeks, the Irwin
season of '63 and '64, the Pauncefort season of '64 and '65, and the
Julia Dean Hayne season of '65 and '66.

Up to this time the only compensation the stock company received was a
pro rata dividend of the benefits given at the end of each season--no
one had been put on a salary. The stars, of course, got good liberal
percentages or salaries, but even the leading people of the stock
company realized but a very meager compensation from the two
performances that were gotten up as benefits, one for the ladies of
the company and the other for the gentlemen--the two nights' receipts
were aggregated and divided up among the company according to their
respective merits or worth to the management. These two benefit
performances alone probably aggregated twenty-five hundred dollars,
which, divided up among about thirty performers, actors and musicians,
did not prove satisfactory to a number of the company--more especially
some of the orchestra. As a consequence, the ensuing season
approaching, the salary question came to the front again very
strongly, and the "management" found a well-grounded reluctance on the
part of the company to enter upon a new season's work without a
certain and satisfactory compensation. This feeling was even stronger
among the orchestra than among the stage players, a number of them
being quite outspoken in their sentiment: "No pay, no play." The
principal agitator among the musicians was Mark Croxall, the brilliant
young cornetist recently from England. Mark could not see the
propriety or consistency of playing to help pay for the theatre. He
had not been used to that kind of thing in England, and although he
had been playing but a very short time as compared with the majority,
both of the orchestra and the dramatic company, he vowed he would play
no longer without a stipulated salary. This, of course, aroused all
the others to a certain show of opposition. The leader of the
orchestra, Prof. Thomas, or "Charlie," as he was affectionately called
by his familiars, was probably as dissatisfied with the existing
regime as Croxall or David Evans, the second violin, who was another
Britisher of recent importation and quite pronounced in his views
about the way the theatre should be run. Prof. Thomas was not of the
stuff that kickers are made of, and could doubtless have been managed
with the majority of his orchestra had it not been for the
recalcitrant Croxall, and the equally pugnacious Evans. The
dissatisfaction spread rapidly and alarmingly to the management, until
the entire dramatic company as well as the orchestra, was in a state
of semi-rebellion. All the actors and most of the musicians had other
occupations, as I have stated in a former chapter, and now the number
of performances and rehearsals had increased their work to such an
extent they could not see how they could give satisfaction to their
various employers and keep up their work at the theatre too. Some of
these declared it had to be one thing or the other, the theatre now
demanded the greater part of their time, and the employers had in
several instances intimated that they would have to give up the
theatre or be replaced in their employ by others. Mr. David McKenzie,
the leading man of the company, held a clerkship in President Young's
or the Church office; "Joe" Simmons, our juvenile man, and Horace
Whitney, the "old man" in the company, also held clerkships in the
same office; Mr. W. C. Dunbar, the Irish comedian, was a clerk in the
"tithing office," so their time went on whether they were working in
the "Church offices" or at the theatre; of course all their night work
at the theatre was extra work, but the day time they put in at the
theatre they were not docked for at the office; but with the other
leading members of the company it was quite different; the hours they
spent at the theatre in the day time was a positive loss to them. Phil
Margetts was a blacksmith, Lindsay and Hardie were carpenters, Evans
and Kelly were printers, and so on. So that several hours each day
spent in rehearsal meant a heavy tax when at the end of each week they
were docked for time lost, so there was a committee appointed to wait
upon the managers, Clawson and Caine, and present the situation. The
managers being only employees of Brigham Young and not proprietors or
lessees, passed the company's grievance up to their chief. The
managers saw plainly that a crisis had come, and a new departure must
be made. "The President," accustomed to having things his own way, and
with confidence in his influence, thought he could effect a
compromise, or adjust the matter without much trouble or cost, so in
pursuance of this idea a notice was posted for all the company and
orchestra to assemble in the Green Room of the theatre on a certain
evening to consider the question of salary. There was no tardiness on
that occasion, even "Jim" Hardie, notorious for being tardy, was on
time. Every employee of the theatre was there from the managers to the
night-watchman. The orchestra was in full force, and the ladies of the
company, even to the smallest utility, were there, all inspired with
the hope of being put upon the theatre salary list. The Green Room was
found to be too small to accommodate all the company, so the meeting
was shifted to the stage, which afforded the necessary room. President
Young called the meeting to order, and requested the company to join
him in prayer. It is customary in the Mormon Church to open all
meetings with prayer, even political ones where those present are all
of the household of faith. Brigham offered up a fervent prayer, asking
the blessing of the Almighty upon that meeting, and each and every one
present, that they might all see with an eye single to the glory of
God, and the building up of his Kingdom here on the earth. The prayer
over, the President arose and in a brief but very adroit speech, told
the object he had in view in building the theatre, the recreation and
amusement of the people, thanked those who had contributed to that
end, whether as actors or musicians, told them that they were
missionaries as much as if they were called to go out into the world
and preach the gospel, and the Lord would bless their efforts just as
much if they performed their parts in the same spirit. He understood
there was some dissatisfaction, however, and some of the brethren
thought it was too much of a tax upon their time to continue to do
this without proper compensation. He called on the brethren to state
their feelings in regard to this question that he might judge what was
best to do in the matter. It seemed as if the prayer and speech had
almost made them forget that they had any cause or grievance to
present, or it had blunted the edge of their courage. Every one was
expecting to see Mark Croxall, the principal agitator, get up and make
a statement in behalf of himself and the orchestra; but Mark's
courage, like that of many another agitator, seemed to have sunk into
his boots, when the ordeal came; he opened not his mouth. So the
second violinist, David Evans, who was a shoemaker by trade and a
cripple from birth, pulled himself to a standing position by the aid
of his crutches and spoke to the question. He told how hard he had to
work, and what a loss of time the rehearsals and plays occasioned him;
being up so much at nights, he could not get up very early in the
morning--and could not but lose several hours every day. Besides, he
said he did not think it right and just, when the theatre was taking
in such large sums of money at every performance, that those who
furnished the entertainment, whether in the art of music or the drama,
should be expected to continue to do it gratuitously. It was a bold,
fearless, manly speech and coming from a man who was obliged to sling
himself along through life on a pair of crutches, and a recent comer
from the old country, it sent a thrill of astonishment through the
company and fired some of the others with a spark of courage, too. Mr.
Phil Margetts, the leading comedian, arose and made an explanation of
his case; then a number of the other fellows followed suit. A sort of
"no pay, no play" sentiment pervaded the entire company. President
Young saw here an end of the old method; he discovered that a new deal
would have to be made with his actors if he wanted to continue in the
amusement business, so he tried an expedient. He was evidently a
little irritated at Evans, the crippled shoemaker, who had presumed to
take the initiative in the affair and express his views so fearlessly,
inspiring the others with a little of his own courage, but Brigham did
not show the lion's paw but spoke in rather a patronizing way of
Brother Evans's crippled condition, and said it was right that he
should have some additional pay, owing to his misfortune of being a
cripple. He told Evans he could have anything he needed out of his
private store; that if he would leave his flour sack there, it should
be regularly filled, and whatever else was there he was welcome to
what he needed of it. This savored a little too much of charity for
Evans, who although badly crippled in his limbs, was by no means a
weakling in his brains; and hurt a little by the President's
patronizing manner, he arose and said about as follows:

"President Young, I have had my flour sack at your store for more than
a month, and every time I have gone in to try and get it filled, the
clerk has told me the flour was all out." Evans's unique relation of
the flour sack incident injected a spark of humor into the
proceedings; a suppressed titter ran through the crowd, and even
Brigham, although nettled at this unexpected sally, could not repress
a grim smile.

That the reader may better understand the flour sack incident it must
be explained here that what little pay the actors and musicians had
been receiving for their services through the benefits was not all in
cash, but store orders mostly on the tithing store. The cash receipts
of the theatre up to this time and indeed as late as 1870 were
probably one-third of the gross receipts, the other two-thirds
consisting of orders on various stores or tithing pay, which consisted
of all kinds of home products--so that when the "benefits" were
divided up among the company each member got about one-third of his
"divvy" in cash and the other two-thirds in store orders and orders on
the tithing office. Evans was the possessor of an order on Brigham
Young's private store, and he felt chagrined that he had been so often
with that order and failed to draw it. Flour was flour in those days,
running as high at one time as twenty dollars per hundred, but the
uniform church or tithing office price was six dollars per hundred,
which was what the actors had to pay for it, but it was doled out very
sparingly to them at times when it was commanding high prices in
outside markets. With these orders they drew about all their
provisions from the tithing store. Artemus Ward amused the world by
telling how the Salt Lake Theatre used to take in exchange for tickets
cabbage, potatoes, wheat, carrots, and even sucking pigs through the
box office window. It was perhaps nearer the truth than he himself
suspected, for these tithing office orders were good for all these
things.

After the titter had subsided Brigham arose again, and answered
Brother Evans that he was sorry he had been disappointed so, but there
really had been a great scarcity of flour during the past month or so,
but he would see to it in the future that he would meet no more
disappointments. To Brother Phil Margetts he made an offer to come and
work in his blacksmith shop (Phil was running one of his own) and then
he need not lose any time; his pay would go on whether working in the
shop or in the theatre. Brother Lindsay could bring his carpenter
tools to the theatre and he could find plenty of work for him to fill
up the time between the rehearsals. To others he made similar
propositions; but these suggestions were not in harmony with the
feelings of the company, who thought they had given their time to
Brother Brigham long enough, and now contended with Brother Evans,
that as they were furnishing the amusements for the people, it was
only right that they should be paid for their services, so the result
of the meeting was that the company was put on salary. Salaries ranged
from $15.00 to $50.00 per week, one-third cash, the balance in store
orders and tithing office pay.




CHAPTER X.

SEASON OF '66 AND '67.


The season of '66 and '67 opened on September 8th with Alonzo R.
Phelps as the star attraction. Mr. Phelps opened in the character of
"Damon" and made a fairly good showing, although he appeared to much
greater advantage in some lighter roles, and particularly as "Crepin,"
the Cobbler, in "A Wonderful Woman." His engagement lasted two weeks,
when the Irwins returned after an absence of over two years. They
opened on September 29th, just in time to get well ready with a
repertory of plays for the approaching conference. Their engagement
lasted up to November 15th, when they departed for the East and Salt
Lake was never favored with a visit from them afterwards. "Sel" Irwin
"died young in years, not service," after very intense suffering for
several years from rheumatism, which virtually made a helpless cripple
of him. He died in New York in 1886, being only a little over fifty
years of age. His widow, Maria Irwin, still survives, and up to a
recent date was playing in a road company. Harry Rainforth, her son by
her first marriage, who was a mere boy of sixteen when they played
their first engagement in Salt Lake, has been for many years manager
of the Pike Grand Opera House, Cincinnati, the associate and partner
of "Bob" Miles. It was during this last Irwin engagement that Miss
Nellie Colebrook, who later on became leading lady of the company,
made her debut. Her first appearance was in the comedy of "Dominique,
the Deserter." The first line she had to speak was, "Oh, I'm half dead
with fear," which was literally true of Miss Colebrook on the
occasion. She was shaking like an aspen leaf in a strong wind, but her
nervous condition fitted the character remarkably well and the lady
sailed at once into public favor. Miss Colebrook was tall and stately,
with a very winning face and musical voice; she went rapidly to the
front, being especially well suited to many of the leading roles. Mrs.
Lydia Gibson, the leading actress of the theatre, died on January 8th,
1866, a little less than three years after her first appearance. This
left a vacancy in the company difficult to fill, and afforded Miss
Colebrook many excellent opportunities in leading roles, which she
always filled satisfactorily, so that by the time Pauncefort returned
to play his third engagement--after an absence of more than two years
Miss Colebrook was doing most of the leading female roles.

After the departure of the Irwins, the stock company finished out the
season without the assistance of a star, playing from November 15th
until after April Conference. It was during the conference that our
old friend George Pauncefort, suddenly and unexpectedly to most of us,
returned from San Francisco after an absence in that metropolis of
more than two years. He opened a return engagement on April 16th in
"Don Caesar de Bazan." The season was virtually over after the April
Conference, but notwithstanding he played to splendid business, he
gave repetitions of his previous plays and won out splendidly on a
production of "Arrah Na Pogue," in which he had played "Col. O'Grady"
during a successful run of this play in San Francisco.

"Arrah Na Pogue" drew good houses for three or four nights, and closed
the season of '66 and '67. Robert Heller got in a three nights
engagement, commencing May the 20th, while the company was getting up
in "Arrah Na Pogue." He was the first to introduce the mysterious
second sight illusions and succeeded in bewildering and mystifying the
patrons of the theatre to an unusual degree.

During the last engagement of Pauncefort most of the opposite roles to
his own were assigned to Miss Colebrook, who had in the past year,
since Mrs. Gibson's demise, divided honors with Miss Adams, and owing
to her more stately appearance had been entrusted with many of the
leading lady roles and was an established favorite. Pauncefort, who
had never met her before (her debut having occurred after his
departure for the coast), was much surprised and pleased to find a new
and attractive leading lady in the company. He took an especial
interest in her, and she was cast for all the leading roles during his
engagement, beginning with "Maritana" in "Don Caesar," and including
"Lady Macbeth" and "Ophelia." Pauncefort discovered that she had
exceptional dramatic ability and encouraged her in every possible way;
for "Miss Nellie" was not over-confident of her own abilities, and
suffered keenly from nervousness or stage fright, especially on the
first time in a part; and to receive encouragement and compliments
from a star of Pauncefort's acknowledged luster was doubtless sweet
and flattering to the lady, who as yet was all unconscious of the
impression she had made on the susceptible George. "The fair Elizabeth
has caught my eye, and like a new star, lights onward to my wishes."
Possessed of a sweet and loveable disposition and a musical voice
added to her charms of personal appearance, Miss Colebrook was a
general favorite, not only with the public, but with the company. She
had numerous admirers, and several rival aspirants for her affections,
both in the company and out. With what surprised and ill-concealed
chagrin they viewed the growing attentions of the reigning star can
better be imagined than described. The princely George had enrolled
himself in the list of her devotees and it was very much in evidence
that he was enamored of the lady, for George had a keen eye for the
beautiful, and "a free and open nature, too," most susceptible to
female charms, so he entered the race with the others for the fair
"Nellie's" hand. While he was considerably older than any of his
competitors, being now close onto fifty, he probably had the advantage
over them all in looks, being generally regarded as a handsome man,
and most decidedly he had the advantage of experience, for George had
been a gay Lothario. He seemed in a fair way to carry off the
much-coveted prize. Notwithstanding the disparity of age, the fair
"Nellie" seemed strongly attracted to the princely George. Playing
"Ophelia" to his "Hamlet" and "Lady Macbeth" to his "Macbeth," and a
long series of opposite characters to him, he had not failed to make a
powerful impression on her, and if she had been left to herself
without guidance or counsel, there is little question but what
Pauncefort would have won her; but her mother had more penetration,
and could see the objections which "Nellie" either did not see, or
care to raise, so the chief arbitrator of the Church, President Young,
was appealed to by Miss "Nellie's" mother to decide the case for them.
Brigham decided very quickly and positively against an alliance
between his fair leading lady and the "stock star," with a great big
emphatic _No_. He had formed a strong prejudice against Pauncefort
during his first engagement, owing to his reputed intimacy with Mrs.
Bell, which was rather flaunted in the face of the community on their
arrival in Salt Lake. So this ended the Pauncefort-Colebrook romance.

During this engagement, Pauncefort played in addition to his previous
repertory "The Dead Heart," "Man with the Iron Mask," "Lavater," and
"Arrah Na Pogue." The latter piece closed the season on June the 15th,
being the fourth performance of the piece. Very soon after, Pauncefort
purchased a horse and chaise, fitting himself out with gun and fishing
tackle for a long jaunt. He headed for Portland, giving readings by
the way--hunting and fishing by day--and evenings entertaining the
towns along his route. How far he got with his one horse chaise is not
exactly known, but the probability is he traded it off before he
passed the Utah border line, and took the stage for Virginia City,
Nevada, where he played for a short time and then drifted over to the
coast, and finally got lost to view.

A dozen years later he was discovered by some American actors in
Japan, keeping a roadside tea house for travelers with a set of pretty
Japanese girls for waiters. He married a Japanese girl and latest
reports credited him with a fine young Japanese colony of his own. A
picture of himself and Japanese wife and three children in the
possession of Jack Langrishe's widow at Wardner, Idaho, was shown to
the writer there recently, and was a strong verification of what had
been told by parties who had seen Pauncefort in Japan. George had let
his beard grow and was quite a patriarchal looking man when Joseph
Arthur met him there in 1880. Pauncefort died in Japan in 1893,
leaving a Japanese wife and four semi-Jap children. George Pauncefort
missed the greatest opportunity of his life by not joining the Mormon
Church; he had all the natural endowments to make a great patriarch.




CHAPTER XI

SEASON OF '67-'68.


On the first of August, this same year, '67, C. W. Couldock made his
first appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre, supported by Jack Langrishe
and his company from Denver, where they had been running a stock
company. It was an unfavorable time for opening, in the hottest nights
of summer, but there were no resorts in those days and it was not so
hard to get them into the theatre as it would be now. Langrishe had a
full road company and was traveling through to Montana in his own
teams, the Union Pacific Railroad not being nearer than Rawlins at
that time. The company comprised Mr. Couldock and his daughter, Eliza
Couldock, John S. Langrishe and Mrs. Langrishe, Richard C. White (he
of Camp Floyd fame, referred to in a previous chapter). The Langrishe
company played a week, then went to Virginia City, Montana. Couldock
and his daughter returned later and played a long engagement as stock
stars.

On the 5th of September, Amy Stone, supported by her husband, H. F.
Stone, began a stock star engagement which lasted a little more than
four months. Opening the regular fall season on September 5th, by the
time the fall Conference came on, October 6th, the Stones had the
stock company up in a very attractive repertoire of plays to present
to "our country cousins" attending the Conference. Fanchon, Pearl of
Savoy, "Little Barefoot," "French Spy," "Wept of the Wishton Wish,"
were leading favorites in the Stone repertory, and proved to be very
popular, serving to keep the exchequer in a satisfactory condition.
Their engagement lasted until January the 6th, 1868. Amy, if not a
great actress, was at least a fascinating one. She was blessed with a
superb form and an attractive face; she fairly reveled in parts where
she could wear tights and display her shapely form, and it must be
frankly confessed that "the folks" loved to see her in that kind of
attire. She was more at home in it than in an evening dress with a
bothersome train; there was a freedom of movement and a candor of
expression about Amy that was positively refreshing, and we all liked
her and got along with her with very little trouble. "Harry," as her
husband was always called, was not a brilliant but a good, useful
actor, and had a good knowledge of her plays, and could direct the
staging of them. Besides, he attended to the making of engagements,
and the financial end of the business, and as he was devoted to Amy,
they were apparently one of the happiest couples I have ever met in
the theatrical business. The Stones were a very prudent and saving
couple, and by the time they had finished a four months' stock star
engagement, they had a very handsome deposit in the local bank, and
they left Zion feeling a very warm affection for the Saints, and so
went on their way rejoicing.

On the night immediately following the close of the Stones'
engagement, January 7th, Mr. James Stark opened in John Howard Payne's
play of "Brutus, or the Fall of Tarquin." This was the first
presentation of this play in Salt Lake. Mr. Stark made a fine
impression as Brutus. He followed it in quick succession with
Richelieu, Damon, Jack Cade, Alfred Evelyn in "Money." His engagement
lasted two weeks and closed with the play of "Victorine, or Married
for Money." Stark was a very talented tragedian of the Forrest school,
and his engagement proved quite popular and successful. He went to San
Francisco, and played an engagement there, and returned to New York by
the Isthmus, the Overland railroad not yet being completed. Mr. Stark
had a brother, Daniel Stark, a pioneer Mormon, who settled at Provo
among the earliest settlers of that place. James, who had not seen him
for many years, availed himself of the opportunity his Salt Lake
engagement afforded him, and arranged a meeting with his "long lost
brother" (?). He paid Daniel and his family a visit, and was most
hospitably received and entertained. The family made much ado over
him, and Daniel, like his namesake of old, "prophet-like," sought to
show James the error of his ways, pointing out to him the emptiness
and effervescence of dramatic fame, and the poor illusive thing that
was as compared with the real joys and blessings of the Latter-Day
Gospel. "Jim" accepted it all in good part, but he could not see "eye
to eye" with his elder brother Daniel, but he promised to consider
seriously what he had heard and bade them a loving goodbye till they
could meet again. He rather expected to play a return engagement when
he left here, and see the folks again, but he never returned. Stark
died in New York before the close of the year 1868, in his 50th year.

After the Stark engagement, the stock company continued the season,
starting off with a series of annual benefits which by this time were
given the leading actors of the company in addition to salaries.
January the 23rd, D. McKenzie "Benefits," playing "Huguenot Captain,"
with an Olio and a farce to conclude. February 4th, John S. Lindsay
"Benefits" and essays Hamlet for the first time. The farce that
followed Hamlet was "Boots at the Swan;" think of it, "ye modern
school actors." A five-act play and a farce, this meant being in the
theatre from seven o'clock till midnight, but the people stayed to see
it all, and many of them would have stayed till morning, if we could
have kept on playing pieces for them. J. M. Hardie "Benefits" with
"Jack Cade," Miss Colebrook with "Leah," etc., and so the season ran
along without a star from January 23rd till April the 23rd, when the
company was stiffened up again by the accession of Mr. and Mrs. George
B. Waldron, who played up till May 16th. On May the 19th, Madam
Scheller opened in "Pearl of Savoy," gave us "Pauline" in "Lady of
Lyons," "Enoch Arden," "Lorlie," "The Phantom" and "Hamlet." Madam
Scheller was Edwin Booth's "Ophelia" during the one hundred nights'
run of Hamlet at Winter Garden Theatre, in New York.

Very naturally the Salt Lakers conversant with the facts were anxious
to see her in "Ophelia," so Lindsay who had recently played "Hamlet"
for his "benefit," was admonished to prepare himself for another go at
the melancholy Dane with the new "Ophelia;" and in due time we had the
novelty of Scheller's "Ophelia." She was irresistibly charming in it,
in spite of her German accent, which in moments of unusual excitement
was quite pronounced. Madam Scheller proved to be a pleasing and
accomplished actress and filled a long engagement at the Salt Lake
Theatre. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Methua, who was a
skillful scenic artist, and put in a lot of new scenes for the theatre
during his wife's engagement. Here was a model couple, courteous and
refined; they left many warm friends in Salt Lake at their departure,
whose best wishes for their success went with them. Unhappy to relate,
this worthy and respected pair died of yellow fever during the deadly
siege of that disease at Memphis in 1878. "United in life, in death
they were not separated."

On January 9th, after playing three weeks Madam Scheller was rested
for a week to give an opening to Charlotte Crampton. Crampton was a
genius and in her younger years had astonished the dramatic world by
her histrionic gymnastics. She affected the male characters almost
exclusively--"Hamlet," "Richard III," "Shylock," "Don Caesar," and in
"Lady Macbeth" and "Meg Merrilles" she rivaled the great Charlotte
Cushman. The writer remembers seeing her when a boy at the old Bates's
Theatre, St. Louis, which was her home. She was erratic as a comet,
and her eccentricities were the town's talk. How often she was married
this deponent saith not, but remembers that at the time he saw her
playing in St. Louis in 1857, she was the wife of a Mr. Istenour. When
she appeared here in Salt Lake City in 1868, she was far past the
meridian of life and was accompanied by her husband, "Mr. Cook," young
enough to be her son. The novelty of a woman essaying those characters
was a strong one, and served to draw out good houses. She played
"Hamlet," "Shylock," "Richard III," and "Don Caesar," which with two
repeats, filled up her week.

Crampton was a woman rather below the medium height, and looked
insignificant dressed up for those male characters, but when she got
animated she made you forget her size, and at times she seemed to fill
not only the center of the stage but the entire stage. She had passed
the zenith of her fame some years before she made this trip to the
coast. She bore all the evidences of an erratic life and premature
age; her sun had nearly set when she played with us here; and after
her departure for the East, we heard but little of her. Charlotte
Crampton's engagement was like the flashing of a meteor across the
dramatic firmament. Like the elder Booth, she was notorious for her
eccentricities, and in genius was akin to him. "How close to madness
great wits are allied."

After the passing of this meteor, the steady star, Madam Scheller,
resumed her reign, reappearing as "Laura Courtland" in "Under the Gas
Light." This was the first production of this play in Salt Lake City,
and it had an unprecedented run, going for an unbroken week to full
houses. As an index to the personnel of the company at this time, June
16th, 1868, we append the cast of "Under the Gas Light."

    "UNDER THE GAS LIGHT."

    Ray Trafford ............................ John S. Lindsay
    De Milt ..................................... Mark Wilton
    Wilton ..................................... Bert Merrill
    Byke ...................................... Phil Margetts
    Joe Snorkey .............................. David McKenzie
    Bermudas ................................. John C. Graham
    Peanuts ................................... Johnny Matson
    Station Man ................................. Mark Wilton
    Police Judge ............................... J. M. Hardie
    O'Rafferty ................................ John E. Evans
    Martin .................................... John B. Kelly
    Police Patrol ........................... Richard Mathews
    Laura Courtland .......................... Madam Scheller
    Pearl Courtland ........................ Miss Annie Adams
    Mrs. Van Dam ........................... Nellie Colebrook
    Sue Earlie ................................ Alice Clawson
    Peachblossom ........................ Miss Sara Alexander
    Judas ................................ Mrs. M. A. Clawson

Summer heat had but little affect on the business of the Salt Lake
Theatre in those days of which I am writing. Madam Scheller played
from May 10th to August 1st, excepting the one week allotted to
Charlotte Crampton, all through the hot nights of June and July and
there was no perceptible or serious diminution in the attendance. This
can only be accounted for in the fact that there were no resorts in
those days, and the theatre was the coolest place in the city. We
naturally looked for and expected a rest through August after the long
season we had put in, but there was no respite. On the 4th of August,
Annette Ince opened in "Julia" in the "Hunchback" and gave in rapid
succession "Evadne," "Medea," "Ion," "Mary Stuart," "Elizabeth," "As
You Like It," "Camille," and other pieces filling a three weeks'
engagement. She was followed by E. L. Davenport, who opened on August
the 27th in "Richelieu," supported by Annette Ince as "Julia de
Mauprat," and the full strength of the company. Mr. Davenport gave us
his "Richelieu," "Julian St. Pierre," in "The Wife," "Hamlet,"
"William" in "Black-Eyed Susan," "Rover" in "Wild Oats" and "Sir Giles
Overreach" in "A New Way to Pay Old Debts." Mrs. Davenport (Fanny
Vining) appeared in conjunction with Mr. Davenport in this engagement,
playing the "Queen" in "Hamlet" and kindred parts, and with Miss Ince
in the leading female roles, Mr. Davenport had a supporting company in
every way worthy of him. His engagement was a memorable one, as Mr.
Davenport was thought by many to be our greatest American actor. He
was certainly a worthy rival of Edwin Booth and had he, like that
actor, confined his brilliant talents to the great Shakespearian
roles, he would undoubtedly have made a greater name for himself, but
he was too versatile and he scattered his efforts on the "Williams"
and "Rovers" and the other trifles that he should have dropped as he
advanced in years and concentrated his efforts on a repertory of his
greatest characters only. When he played this Salt Lake engagement he
had declined into "the vale of years." As Hamlet, he looked older than
the "Queen" but he possessed all the fire and animation necessary; as
"St. Pierre" in the "Wife," he was at his best, and fairly lifted the
audience into enthusiastic demonstrations of applause. It was not long
after this that Davenport was pitted against the English tragedian
Barry Sullivan in New York. An exceedingly interesting and able
criticism and comparison of these two great actors appeared in Wilke's
"Spirit of the Times," headed "The Two Rossi." This was Davenport's
last memorable engagement. He was already an old man and failing fast.
He died in 1871.

    "Ay, but to die and go, we know not where, to lie in cold
      obstruction and to rot,
    This sensible warm motion to become a kneaded clod,
    And the delighted spirit to bathe in fiery floods,
    Or to reside in chilling regions of thick ribbed ice,
    To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
    And blown with restless violence about the pendant world.
    'Tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life,
    That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment can lay on nature,
    Is paradise to what we fear of death."

It will be observed that there was no summer vacation this year of
1868. The Davenport engagement carried us into September, the time for
opening the season of '68 and '69. Miss Ince's engagement following
the Davenports was really the beginning of the season '68 and '69.




CHAPTER XII.

SEASON OF '68 AND '69.


Davenport's engagement ended, Miss Ince resumed and played from
September the 5th to the 17th, then departed for the Golden Shores of
the Pacific. Now again, after this brilliant succession of stars, the
stock company was left to its own unaided efforts, and from September
the 17th to November the 26th they kept the wheel turning with a
steady stream of stock pieces, and the old mill grinds, and the box
office does business and the actors get their salaries. "Stars may
come and stars may go, but the stock keeps on for aye." This was a
good long stretch of stock work from September the 17th, through the
October Conference and away to nearly the end of November, ten weeks
of it; broken only by a rest of three nights, when Perepa Rosa gave us
a series of Operatic Concerts, November the 14th, 15th and 16th. Salt
Lake even then had a great love of music and turned out large
audiences to hear the famous prima donna and her talented support,
including her husband, the brilliant violinist and conductor, Carl
Rosa.

Now we arrive at another important event in our theatre's history, the
first engagement of John McCullough. For several years Lawrence
Barrett and John McCullough had been the lessees and managers of the
old California Theatre in San Francisco, and in spite of Barrett's
known sagacity as a manager and notwithstanding the succession of
brilliant stars presented at the California and the magnificent stock
company kept to support them, the venture was not a financial success,
and Barrett and McCullough were forced to succumb. Then it was that
McCullough began his career as a star; what reputation he had made up
to this time was as Edwin Forrest's leading man. "Larry" Barrett had
"starred" some in the character of Elliott Gray in "Rosedale," now
they were both out of a job and looking for engagement. Barrett went
East and resumed his starring in "Rosedale" and gradually drifted into
the Shakespearian roles. McCullough went to Virginia City, Nevada,
with a picked-up company, and played his first star engagement. They
took to the "genial" John very kindly there, and worked him him up a
rousing big benefit; those were the palmy days of the Comstock and
everybody had money, actors were at a premium in the camp and the old
theatre was packed at every performance. The "Benefit" netted
McCullough over two thousand dollars and "John" was glad he was an
actor. He knew we had a fine theatre and a good company in Salt Lake,
so he made arrangements to come and play with us a spell. On November
the 26th, he opened in "Damon" and followed it in quick succession
(playing nightly) with "Richelieu," "Hamlet," "Othello," "Shylock,"
Volage in "Marble Heart," "Richard III," "Robbers," "Macbeth,"
"Brutus," "Romeo and Juliet," etc., etc.

This was a very notable engagement, in more ways than one. It was
notable for its length, covering a stretch of twenty-three nights;
likewise for its strength, as George B. Waldron and Madam Scheller,
who had both returned from a Montana tour, were added to the company
to stiffen the cast--here we had really three stars and a strong,
capable, self-sustaining stock company in the cast of all the plays
during McCullough's first Salt Lake engagement, which lasted three
weeks, terminating on September 17th. Again the stock company was left
to its own strength and resources and even after this brilliant trio
of dramatic artists, McCullough, Scheller and Waldron dropped away
from us, the managers, with never-failing confidence and temerity, put
forward the stock once more to plough through the billowy Christmas
time, past the new year and on to February 10th, when we welcomed
another acquisition to the ranks in the person of Miss Annie Lockhart.

Miss Lockhart was an English lady of liberal education, refined and
cultured; and although she had not posed as a "star actress," she had
an extended and varied experience on the stage. She had been for
several years in Australia in the stock companies of Melbourne and
Sidney, where she had met, loved and married an actor by the name of
Harry Jackson. Harry was a talented character man, but the flowing
bowl was his weakness and Annie in time wearied of his indiscretions
and indulgences, "shook him off to beggarly divorcement," left him in
San Francisco and came to Salt Lake in quest of an engagement. She
must have made a very favorable impression on the managers, for they
put her in as stock "star" up to March 1st, and she continued a member
of the company up to her fatal illness in the following November.
Annie Lockhart was at this time about thirty-two years of age, a woman
of comely appearance and gentle mien, and if not great like Julia
Dean, Annette Ince, or Charlotte Crampton, was always pleasing and
satisfactory. She delighted in such characters as "Matida" in "Led
Astray," the dual role in "Two Loves and a Life," "Janet Pride," "Peg
Woffington" and kindred light comedy characters. Miss Lockhart was a
very tasteful dresser; she always made a good appearance in her part.
During her long stay with the stock company a number of stars
appeared. The first after her engagement was James A. Herne, who
opened on March 1st, 1869, in "Rip Van Winkle." Herne's "Rip" made a
great hit and had an extraordinary run of five nights. Herne played
ten nights doing "Solon Shingle," "Captain Cuttle," and some other
characters. Then he was joined by Lucille Western who appeared as the
leading stellar attraction supported by Herne and the stock company.
Miss Western opened in her original character of "Lady Isabel" in
"East Lynne." It was undoubtedly a great performance of the character,
but the recollection of Julia Dean Hayne in the part was still fresh
in the public mind, and she had made such a powerful impression in
this character that Lucille Western was compared with her only to her
disadvantage, notwithstanding she was the original "Lady Isabel." We
had now in rapid succession Western's entire repertory which included
"The Child Stealer," "Green Bushes," "Oliver Twist," "Flowers of the
Forest," "Don Caesar de Bazan" (with Western as the Don), and "Foul
Play." Miss Western's engagement proceeded smoothly and drew large
audiences. One of the Herne-Western performances created a genuine
sensation in Salt Lake. It was "Oliver Twist." In the scene where Bill
Sykes (Herne) kills Nancy (Miss Western), both Herne and Miss Western
sought to make the murder as realistic and blood curdling as possible.
The murder is done off the stage in a room on the left; Sykes is
supposed to beat Nancy to death with his ugly stick which he carries
through the play. To carry out the realism of the beating a pad was
made of a number of wet towels; these Herne struck with a piece of
board, making a sickening thud which Lucille accompanied with a
scream, each one growing fainter, until it became a groan, then Bill
steals across the stage and off at an outer door and Nancy, almost
dead, drags herself on till she gets to the centre of the stage, her
face completely hidden by her dishevelled hair when she gets to
position centre she turns her face which has been covered from the
audience, throws her hair back and reveals her face covered with stage
gore. On this occasion the picture was so revolting that several women
in the audience fainted--everybody was shocked. The actress had made
it as revolting as possible, thinking to make a sensation. She
succeeded, but had she been a woman of finer feelings, instead of
seeking to make the picture as horrible and repulsive as she could she
would have studied how to make it effective without being repulsive.
President Young was very angry over it. The picture was very
abhorrent; there is no knowing what the physiological results were; it
was rumored afterwards that a number of children were birthmarked as
the result of it. The President gave orders that the piece should not
be played again and sent messengers all over the city to tell the
people not to go and see it if it was put on again. Of course the
managers withdrew it in deference to his wish, but there is no doubt
the house would have been crowded had it been repeated, for the
prohibition only aroused a greater curiosity to see it; forbidden
fruit, you know, is generally most hankered after. The play has been
done here several times since President Young's death, but never in
such a shocking manner.

On the night of the "Benefit" Lucille chose to show us what she looked
like in male attire, so she put up "Don Caesar" and appeared in the
role of the ragged cavalier. Before the play was over it was very
apparent that Lucille had been indulging in the ardent, but she
managed to get through without materially marring the play. The next
night, however, was Charles Reade's "Foul Play." This piece was
entirely new to the company, never having been done in the theatre
before, so that the stock company was hard pushed with study to get
their lines, but with their accustomed industry and regularity they
were all _au fait_ on this first occasion, and the play might have
scored a genuine success if the "star" had done her part towards it;
but she repeated her indulgence of the night before and to such a
degree that by the opening of the fourth act she was in a very sorry
plight. This act is on an uninhabited island; there has been a
shipwreck and the hero and heroine have been washed or driven or blown
onto this island and with a few of the ship's crew are the only
survivors. As the act opens Robert Penfold (Lindsay) and Helen
Rolleston (Miss Western) are discovered on a high cliff looking for a
sail. The few survivors of the crew have gone in search of fresh water
and something to eat, and the two leading characters have the entire
act between them until the finale when a rescuing party arrives with a
boat. Here was a dilemma; never was a stage lover placed in a more
embarrassing position. It was quite apparent to him as they ascended
to the cliff before the rise of the curtain that the stalwart Lucille
was not in proper condition for climbing cliffs, more particularly
stage cliffs, which are generally pretty shaky affairs, and the
probability of a sudden and unlocked for descent was anything but a
pleasing prospect to Mr. Lindsay. To still further embarrass him he
discovered that Lucille's tongue was decidedly thick, in fact she
could scarcely articulate. The curtain should never have gone up; it
would have saved the management, the actors, and particularly Miss
Western, a vast amount of humiliation; Miss Western should have been
suddenly ill; or an announcement made to that effect and the audience
dismissed and their money refunded if necessary; they should have been
spared the agony of witnessing a really great artiste rendered
imbecile and helpless by an uncontrollable appetite for liquor. But
the curtain did go up and down went Lucille. At the very first step
she made to descend she staggered, and in spite of all that her stage
lover could do to steady her she made a sudden unsteady descent and
landed in a kneeling position on the stage. Oh! the agony of that
moment! With assistance she staggered to her feet, and now as she
attempted to speak her first speech in the act, a new terror seized
me. Her words were thick and inarticulate--not heard at all by the
majority of the audience, who now began to realize the true condition.
It was evident to everybody on the stage that she could never get
through the act, and so the stage manager, after another abortive
attempt on her part to say her lines, sent on the boat with the rescue
party and the finale of the act was reached. Never was such a scene
between a pair of stage lovers so horribly mutilated as this; never
was an act so fearfully and unintelligibly abbreviated as this one,
and never did a rescue party arrive more opportunely. It plucked the
"star" from immediate disgrace, an embarrassed actor from despair. It
was no wonder the audience remained for the last act, for they had
before the end of the fourth act divined the true state of affairs and
they stayed, curious to see how it would or could end. The last act
was a court room scene and the star had to sit on the witness stand.
She did not make a very intelligent witness but sat there with a
bright green silk gown, with a face flushed to redness, and looking
the picture of helplessness. How we got through that act, I don't
think anyone engaged in it could have told, but with the prompter's
assistance reading most of Miss Western's lines, we blundered through
and the final drop came on the most inglorious and trying performance
I ever had part in.

The manager promptly cancelled Miss Western's engagement, although she
had one more night to play. The following night "Arrah Na Pogue" was
put up with Mr. Herne in the part of "Shaun the Post," but as if the
fates had decreed that this Herne-Western engagement should end
disgracefully, if not disastrously, this last night went on record as
losing one for the managers and a discreditable one to the solitary
remaining star. Owing to the fiasco of the night before, a rather
slender audience was in attendance to witness Mr. Herne's last
appearance. Whether this fact had to do with the sudden indisposition
and collapse of Mr. Herne on this occasion, there is no means of
knowing, but the writer has ever been of the opinion that it was the
very perceptible falling away of the patronage and his chagrin and
vexation over Miss Western's conduct of the night before that wrought
upon the actor's nervous system to such a degree that he declared
himself unable to appear. The writer's dressing room was so situated
that he could not hear what was transpiring on the stage. When the
curtain time arrived and I came down to the stage all made up for
"Michael Feeney," to my great surprise I was informed there was to be
no performance; the audience had been dismissed owing to the sudden
illness of Mr. Herne. Herne was seated on the big curtain roller and a
number of the company around him, offering sympathy and assistance to
the disabled star who appeared to be in great agony. I returned
hastily to my dressing room and divested myself of Michael Feeney's
habiliments, and resuming my own attire, was soon back to Mr. Herne's
side and proffered my assistance to help him to his hotel. In the
meantime a doctor, who kept his office a few doors west of the
theatre, had been called in and he requested us to bring Herne to his
office. There were few hacks or gurney cabs in those days, and so with
the assistance of Mr. Hardie and myself, Mr. Herne managed with
difficulty to reach the doctor's office. This doctor was one of the
old school of practitioners and like Felix Callighan, in "His Last
Legs," he proceeded to "cup" or bleed the patient. After he had
relieved Herne of a quart or so of superfluous blood, he bandaged the
cupping; gave the patient a dose of regulation stimulant and directed
the patient to be taken to his hotel and placed comfortably in bed. It
was a quarter of a mile to the White House and there was not a hack or
vehicle of any kind available, so Hardie and I formed a seat for the
sick actor by locking our hands together and getting the patient's
hands over our shoulders, we carried him to the White House. By the
time we got him up a long flight of stairs to his room, we were tired
and winded, although Margetts and McKenzie, who had accompanied us,
took turns at the carrying business. Scarcely had we got the sick
actor in bed before a knock at the door (a sort of frightened knock)
was heard, and as we said "come in" the door opened and Miss Western,
clad in her night gown, with a shawl around her, timidly entered and
inquired with great anxiety what the matter was. On being informed
that Mr. Herne had been taken so ill that the audience had to be
dismissed, and he carried home to his room, she became hysterical.
Bursting into tears she exclaimed, piteously, "Oh, my God! This is
awful! Oh, Jimmie!" addressing herself passionately to Herne. "I wish
we were home with mother!" She evidently had not fully recovered from
her carousal of the night before, and in her half stupid, half
hysterical condition, moaned and prayed as if some terrible calamity
had befallen her. Herne rapidly recovered from his illness and the
co-stars left Salt Lake. Lucille never returned, but Herne came back
early in 1874 and hovered between Salt Lake and Ogden for a long time,
and finally drifted to San Francisco, where he became the stage
manager of the Bush Street and afterward of the Baldwin theatre when
Tom Maguire, "The Napoleon" of the Pacific coast, as he was called at
the time, opened that popular theatre. That was before any of the
Eastern managers had invaded San Francisco.

The Herne-Western engagement closed on April 17th and was closely
followed by Fannie Morgan Phelps, who played from April 20th to May
20th, appearing in a new line of plays for the diversion of the stock
company as well as the public. She opened in "Meg's Diversion," and
proved to be a prime favorite. "The Deal Boatman," "Black Eyed Susan,"
she seemed to have a partiality for nautical pieces and succeeded in
making the seashore heroines very attractive. Fanny stayed four weeks
with us, then went to Montana. She never paid us a second visit
although Salt Lake treated her very handsomely in the way of
patronage. Mrs. Phelps was a widow; her husband, Ralph Phelps, a
popular actor, was killed by a blow from a tackle block on board of
the steamer coming from Australia.

Our next stellar attraction was Charles Wheatleigh, who opened on May
20th in "Sam," supported by Annie Lockhart and the stock company.
Wheatleigh gave nine performances, the pieces presented being "Sam,"
"Lottery of Life," "Arrah Na Pogue," "After Dark," and "Under the
Gaslight." Charley Wheatleigh was rather a brilliant comedian. His
plays proved very popular and he played a memorable engagement.

The next engagement was one that eased the labors of the stock
company, giving most of us a rest. It was the Howson Opera company. It
was quite a family affair. The company consisted of Pere Howson, Mere
Howson, John Howson, Frank Howson, Clelia Howson, and Fannie Howson.
They were a very talented musical family and played light opera very
well indeed. They opened in the "Grand Duchess," their cast being
filled up with members of the stock company who could sing. They
played from January 1st to the 20th, each opera being played twice or
three times. The Howsons were well liked and made many friends, both
in and out of the theatre.

Prof. Hartz, a magician, followed the Howson engagement, holding the
stage from January 21st to the 26th.

On June 28th, 1869, George D. Chaplin made his first appearance at
this theatre in "Hamlet," playing thirteen performances, closing July
10th in "Armadale." Chaplin made a very favorable impression and later
played a longer engagement. He had been leading man for Ben DeBar in
St. Louis, and was a versatile actor, fond of playing "Hamlet" and
"Macbeth," in which, if not great, he was always pleasing. Then, as if
to prove his versatility, he would put on a burlesque called "The
Seven Sisters," and appear as the principal sister. George had a
handsome face, and a very plump physique, and made up for a woman, he
was a study.

On July 12th, Lotta opened in "Little Nell," and played during the
week "Captain Charlotte," "Firefly," and "Topsy" in "Uncle Tom's
Cabin."

George Chaplin resumed on July 10th, opening in the burlesque of "The
Seven Sisters" and filled out a week with "Ten Nights in a Barroom,"
"Money," and the burlesque of "Pocahontas," in which he played
"Powhattan" very cleverly.

July 26th, Kennedy's Scottish Entertainment held the boards, and on
the 28th a new star was ushered in that gave the stock company more
work, just as we were expecting a brief summer vacation--Geraldine
Warden. She played four nights and a matinee. This engagement closed
the season as far as the stock company was concerned. It was now July
31st and the company had the month of August in which to rest from
study and rehearsals, for the fall season would open early in
September.

The theatre was not entirely closed, however, in August. On the 18th
of that month, Murphy and Mack's minstrels opened and continued until
the 28th giving eleven performances. This was Joe Murphy's first visit
to Salt Lake, when he was a black face artist, and before he had
dreamed of becoming an Irish comedian. The fact of this company giving
eleven performances in the theatre in August shows how very popular
they were, and how Salt Lake liked minstrelsy.




CHAPTER XIII.

SEASON OF '69-70.


The season of '69 and '70 opened auspiciously on September 4th with
the now recuperated stock company in a new play. "The Captain of the
Vulture" was played one week and another new star dawned on the
horizon. September 13th Mr. Neil Warner was the star attraction.
Warner was an English actor and had been in the supporting company of
the late lamented Gustavus Brooke, who gave promise of becoming
England's greatest tragedian, but whose already resplendent career was
unfortunately cut short by the loss of the steamship London. Brooke
was making a second visit to Melbourne and Sidney in '66, where he had
achieved a remarkable triumph a year before, but alas! for the irony
of fate, he was doomed to be cut off in the very unfolding of the most
brilliant talents the English stage had yet seen. The unfortunate
London went down in the Bay of Biscay and some two hundred souls
perished in the wreck and among them the brilliant Gustavus Brooke. A
friend of the writer, now in this city (Salt Lake), Mr. Jack Cooey,
had a brother who was one of the very few survivors of that ill-fated
ship, there being but sixteen in all. So America never got to see
Brooke, who was regarded by his countrymen generally as the greatest
of all their tragic actors.

Neil Warner was said to be a copyist of Brooke; undoubtedly he had
played with him, and learned much from him, and if not as great as his
acknowledged tutor, Warner was not unworthy to be called great. He had
a splendid physique and a magnificent voice, which he could use with
magnetic effect. Its transitions were at times marvelous and in this
writer's opinion, he was the superior of all our American tragedians,
with the exception of Davenport, whom he very much resembled both in
the majesty of his presence and in mental superiority. Warner opened
in "Richard III" and made a most decided hit in the character,
notwithstanding he had several notable predecessors in the part,
notably McCullough and Stark. He played twenty-four performances,
embracing a wide range of legitimate plays--"Hamlet," "Macbeth,"
"Richelieu," and his "Macbeth" was the greatest of all his fine
performances. He went to New York from here and we quite expected to
hear great things about him, but for some cause or other he never
played a stellar engagement in New York, and the following year the
writer, much to his astonishment and disappointment, saw him playing a
second heavy part in support of Charles Wyndham the English comedian
at a theatre in Brooklyn. Warner did not make a go in New York, and
drifted over to Montreal, Canada, where he stayed for many years; but
a few years ago he toured California in connection with a rising young
actress of that state, in a round of his favorite characters. Annie
Lockhart played the leading female characters in all Warner's
performances here. They had known each other in Australia, and there
seemed to be a very warm friendship between them and it was certain
that Annie was an ardent admirer of her talented countryman, and some
of us rather feared she would go with him when he took his departure
from Salt Lake; but something occurred between them that must have
angered him, for a day or two before his engagement closed, he spoke
to Miss Lockhart at a rehearsal in words and tones so heartless and
insulting that the company were amazed at him, and poor Annie sought
the seclusion of her dressing room to have a good cry. Conjecture was
rife and pointed to a rival in the lady's affections as the cause of
his tirade. Warner departed, leaving Annie with us, very much to the
gratification of the company and public, but it was not for long; poor
Annie Lockhart had received a wound from which she never recovered.
She only lived five weeks after this and the cause of her sudden
decline and death was more or less of a mystery, for up to this time
she was a hale, hearty woman, in the very prime of life. She was laid
away tenderly by loving hands and hearts, whom she had never known
until eight months before, but whom she had endeared to her by her
sweet, womanly ways. Many a tear was shed and genuine sorrow was felt
when Annie Lockhart was laid away in Olivet.

The night after Warner's engagement closed, Sunday, October 12th,
Stephen Massett lectured.

October 13th, Madam Scheller opened her second engagement, playing six
nights, and gave "Roll of the Drum," "Child of the Regiment," "Enoch
Arden," etc. The theatre closed from the 18th to the 23rd on account
of the Militia Muster. The Nauvoo Legion, as the Territorial troops
were called, had a big encampment on the banks of the Jordan river and
of such importance was it that the theatre had to close, as every able
bodied man was expected to drill and all the women and children, of
course, had to go and see them. The late George Q. Cannon and other
high church dignitaries fell into the ranks on this occasion and
carried muskets, whether from the love of exercise or a keen love of
duty, or for the effect of example, this deponent saith not. Nearly
all the dramatic company were in the big drill, so, of course, there
could be no theatres until it was over. It was intended to be a great
demonstration, and it was; almost every Mormon man was in the ranks.
The theatre resumed business with the rest of the town, Saturday the
23rd inst., when one of Madam Scheller's pieces was repeated. This was
Madam Scheller's last appearance at this theatre. She and her husband,
Methua Scheller, went East from here, and died in Memphis in 1878,
during the yellow fever contagion of that dread disease.

On October 25th, the Stones, Amy and Harry, opened up a return
engagement in "French Spy." They played twelve nights, giving
"Fanchon," and "Little Barefoot," etc. Their engagement closed
November 6th, after a very satisfactory engagement.

On the 8th the stock company resumed, and played "Waiting for the
Verdict." Annie Lockhart, who had rested during the Stones'
engagement, resumed and was playing the leading female character in
this play when she was taken very ill. With the aid of kind attention
she got through the night's work, but she went home so ill that she
took to her bed, and on the 18th of November, died. Three days
previous to her death, on the 15th of November, John Wilson and Kate
Denin were ushered in as stock stars, and continued until January 5th,
1870, when they withdrew for a week to give place to Charlotte
Thompson, who played a six nights' engagement, playing "Julia" in the
"Hunchback," "Leah, the Forsaken," "Sea of Ice," and "Court and
Stage." Miss Thompson was a pretty woman and a pleasing actress--a
favorite in the South where she belonged.

From the 14th to the 24th, the stock company held down the business
without stellar assistance, when Kate Denin and John Wilson returned
and played another engagement. As stock stars they remained until
February 14th. Then came another siege of stock work without any star,
broken intermittently by lectures and concerts. Ole Bull gave concerts
March 8th and 9th; Alf Barnett's entertainment, March 22nd and 23rd;
Satsuma's Japanese troupe from March 25th to 30th. These attractions,
of course, gave the company some respite from their arduous studies,
but it was only brief, and we were already rehearsing for the ensuing
conference dates. So the stock company resumed their labors and played
all through April and up to May 16th when the season of '69 and '70
closed.




CHAPTER XIV.

SEASON OF '70-'71.


The theatre did not reopen until August the 27th when the season of
'70 and '71 was ushered in with a "Benefit" to Miss Colebrook. This
was really the first summer the theatre had remained closed and given
the

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