Show f f J Y ras OK the camu an huele by MYRL PORTER tooele thoele has been favored more than many cities with its abend ance of talent and especially is this true in the field of drama from the time of its earliest set up lip until not so long ago tooele thoele s home talent actors and actresses were as colorful as any troupe ever to face an audience the variety of plays they produced i is proof of this because of the na ture of these plays it took not only great acting ability but also re quiren the ability to memorize as all parts were fully costumed the job of costuming was not easy matter in those days it took both originality and ability there was no great abundance of mater lal ial to work with money was scarce so the costumes that were used were masterpieces of economy as well as originality and were also authentic like all small isolated comman aties tooele thoele depended almost en upon its own people to fur nish its amusement and nearly al ways these were under direction or approved of by the church our pioneers being a fun loving people as well as builders of a western empire took great pleasure in all amusements and celebrations as is proved by the following article taken from a diary written by ly sander gee the procession moved through the city to a special bowery which had been erected for the oc assion when the assembly was called to order prayer was offered by chap la n wm win C gollaher hon eli B kelsey delivered an oration tol fol lowed with an address by elder wm win C martindale after which toasts and sentiments were given this was followed by music by the band from 2 to 6 there was ing under the bowery at 7 p in the doors of the city hall were opened and the house was filled to excess to witness the opening performance of the tooele thoele dramatic association which con trued till 12 0 clock in the evening of the following day the dramatic association gave another performance which pas sed off pleasantly the members of the association performed admirably well and are deserving of much credit As yet the association is in its infancy but from it may be expected stars to arise whose light may possibly be reflected by larger bod es lysander gee writes again under date of august 1863 as follows we of tooele thoele city are somewhat fun loving people and suppose the idea has become prevalent hence the salt lake city thespian as made us a visit and gave us six nights of dramatic herfor mances on monday and tuesday they gave the rose of ettrick vale and the farce dont forget your opera glasses classes on wednes day and thursday they performed the lucky horse shoe and dia mond cut diamond friday even ing was roberts wife and the irish post and on saturday the idiot witness concluding with the irish rose in all perform ances the characters were well sus tamed mr J A thompson the manager did exceptionally well in his parts john S lindsay was another favorite the best lady character was portrayed by miss victoria clayton miss M hunting ton miss jeannette part miss isa bella park and miss susan paul the first dramatic club was or in 1860 john was the bishop of tooele thoele among the members of the dramatic troupe were hugh gowans george atkin james dunn andrew galloway annie wright caroline nelson and jane dew barbara bawel recalls seeing the play ten nights in a bar room presented in the old caldwell house also known as the old foote house she was then a very young girl which would make the year of the play about 1862 along about this time william foster a school teacher organized a dramatic club using some of the members of his class as the members for his dramatic club A mong them were thomas nix har ry haynes who also had the dis of playing with maude adams and julia ward howe in the famous old salt lake theatre john mc mcclaud claus alvin me mc austin henry dolling lavenia adams moroni england john W tate tyce gol laher robert elizabeth green gillespie henry green mary delamare mccuistion I 1 the old rock city hall was then the amusement center of tooele thoele ordinary farm lanterns were used for foot lights and were borrowed from all over the city A small ad mission fee was charged and the proceeds from these early plays were used to help missionaries and the worthy poor the players them selves never received any pay for their services lizzie lizzle tate recalls playing the page boy in sherlock holmes during bishop tuttle tattles s adminis the library association was formed and in february 1864 the tooele thoele library association was or and chartered by the utah legislature the directors were ell eli B kelsey john and rew galloway hugh S gowans john shields thomas lee george atkin and richard warburton lib this association continued its work for several years early in 1876 the library association and relief society united together in commencing the erection of a so cial hall for amusement and read ing rooms the building was erect ed in 1877 and used for amuse ments now known as the old op era house destroyed by fire in 1922 about this time the owners were in debt and finally the whole affair with books went into the ward ecclesiastical board who were the owners up to about 1904 when the tooele thoele lyceum co purchased the building lib gillespie recalls playing in a benefit performance to help raise funds to go on the debt of the old social hall she was then 16 or 17 among its first owners were nor ton tuttle matice nelson john gillespie sr robert mckendrick and george the work on this old build fig was done by george bunn thomas whitlock isaac elkington ed broad and others there was a rough floor of boards 12 inches wide but the new bu iding was the pride and joy of the residents of tooele thoele later of course the building was wag improved and a new stage built and a new dance floor which at that time was the larg est in this state mr foster moved away and ly sander gee took over the manage ment of the dramatic club among those to join the troupe were hen ry dolling who painted some of the early scenery sarah gee em ein ily caldwell mary kirk lois ly man flossie nellie lee mrs frank sh elds alonzo gowans brigham tot lee let call delamare adams and her sister th s troupe became widely known for its superb acting and ac cepter many invitations to play in mercur grantsville Grants ville and surround ing towns As time went on new names and faces were seen among the dramatic troupe among them were san johnson sarah lee em ily annie marshall ida and lavern mcbride ann e green herbert and harry bill heg gie alvin mccuistion was a leader in music and dramatic circles in too ele from the early 70 s until 1908 when he moved from tooele thoele he recalls some of the plays played in tooele thoele in the early days among them were green bushes jack 0 diamonds captain racket heroic dutchman of 75 east lynn velvet and rags and others in or about 1885 the social hall passed the ward and up until 1903 was under the direct super su pervis vison on of the church thomas atkin bishop in 1904 the tooele thoele lyceum co composed of alvin mccuistion pharis dunyon alonzo gowans james gollaher henry dolling har ry haynes tyce gollaher arch abald bevan frank atkin and A M nelson took it over it was then that the new stage was built and the new swing floor the stage was real large and often teams of horses wagons and even cows were used in some of the plays the first performance on the new stage was Wana toon make up was still in its early stages flour and starch stove black and shoe black sulphur and mustard were used for makeup make up purposes prior to the advent oti of electricity lamps were used for the footlights brigham was one of the best known local actors of his day and it is said his favorite role was danny boy in the two or ahans and in this same play mol iv mccuistion gave her masterpiece of acting portraying the hateful old hag and then the heart rend ing side of her role as the mother with tears rolling down her cheeks brigham painted much of the old scenery and the last cur tain to grace the old opera house was painted by him and was a most beautiful piece of art all these were destroyed by the fire in 1924 harry played in tooele thoele dramatic circles for 15 or 20 years his f performance was when he was 16 or 17 his roles were us bally the corned coined an with darkies his specialty in hebor he por brayed the character of roaring rickey deseret a play written and d erected by brigham al ways played to a full house bert lee alonzo gowans us bally played the heavy parts brig ham the villian although it is said brigham could memorize and play any part with ease and skill the last and perhaps the most fully organized troupe consisted of alvin mccuistion harry haynes bert lee brigham flor ence bill heggie W B city C ity loi lyman gertie gertle hanks harry and ernie barlow ng troupes came to too ele in the early 1900 s gradually re placing the dramatic clubs these early plays were always well pre dented by a talented group of play ers the plays ranging from light comedy to the most heavy trag edies later musical comedies and op came into their own alfred nelson mr bowden and stanley johnson were among some of the well known directors of these tul ful ly and elaborately costumed oper etta weeks of practice were re qu red for rehearsing all songs speeches chorus among one of the best loved and best remembered of these musical shows was the immortal snow white with kath er ne gillespie johnson playing the lead time marches on and only in our memory dwell the plays and play ers of yesterday who all so nobly d d their part in building up the drama of the west |