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Show 'With the First JSfidhters. l ; ATTRACTIONS FOR WEEK OF MARCH 9. H Salt Lake Theatre. All weelc, Florence Rob- B erts in "Carnille," Monday and Tuesday nigbts H and Saturday matinee; Wednesday night and H Wednesday matineo, "The Adventures of Lady Ur- H sula"; Thursday night, "The Unwelcome Mrs. H Hatch"; Friday night, "Magda,' ' and Saturday H night, "Zaza." H The Grand. Monday, Tuesday and Wednc. B day, "The Darkest Hour." Thursday, Friday and H Saturday, "Sandy Bottom." H tC 5 v H Florence Roberts. H The Salt Lake Theatre will have for its at- H traction for six evenings and Wednesday and H Saturday matinees next week a return engage- H ment of that popular emotional actress Florence H Roberts, supported by the same excellent com- H pany under the direction of Messrs. Belasco and H Thall that appeared here about a month ago. Miss H Roberts will be seen in two new roles in which H she has won much fame. The opening play will H be Alexander's great emotional drama "Carnille," H wnich will be repeated on Tuesday evening and H Saturday matinee. At the Wednesday matinee and Wednesday and Thursday night Anthony Hope's four-act romantic comedy, "The Adventures Adven-tures of Lady Ursula," this being the first time the play has been seen in this city. Friday night frMagda" will again be seen, and on Saturday nighty by general request, David Belasco's great play "Zaza," will finish the week's engagement. The same prices as the former engagement will prevail. Miss Roberts is most welcome to Salt Lake again. A few weeks ago we thought her an experiment, ex-periment, but found her to be a wonderful actress. ac-tress. A dramatic treat is in store for every night of next week. . . i tV t&v "Sherlock Holmes." "Sherlock Holmes," the play is just as unconvincing, uncon-vincing, as "Sherlock Holmes" in story, but there aren't any of us who have seen it, that-would have it otherwise. It is a real melo-drama, but in the hands of William Gillette, and his people, that fact is completely lost sight of in the persistent intensity of every situation. Yet when you get away from the play house, and come to, it is horrible hor-rible to think what some Lincoln J. Carter company com-pany will do to the production when this prince of stage craft finishes his work as "Holmes." It Is not too much to say that Gillette is a better "Sherlock "Sher-lock Holmes," than the great detective Doyle has pictured. He has put more into the character than the author ever did, and his performance is an artistic study of the ideal in dramatic art. It is pre-eminently the play of our little season, sea-son, and the interest and attention centered in the one man, William Gillette, is greater than many more could ever claim. There is something about the man that puts another something into your system while you are watching him with breathless interest, and it takes two or three days and nights to get it out. The one disappointment among the people with Gillette was Griffith, Evans as Professor Moriarty. His should have been the cool, unscrupulous, un-scrupulous, plotting picture of a leader of such men as he commanded, but with all the brutality bru-tality and baser passions In his nature, the outward out-ward appearance should have been more the polished pol-ished criminal. His rant of rage after his defeat in Holmes' apartments, positively unbalanced the act. But tne tableau of that act had a world in it, when the lights appeared, and showed the boy, and tho master, Holmes. If worship of an ideal, ami in reciprocation, tho approval of tho master was ever shown, it was in that minute. Probably this suggestion will not change the play, but how much more effective the finale of the third act could be made. When the lights come on in the Stepney gas chamber, Holmes tells the murderers that he has put his cigar near the window, then turning with Miss Faulkner, they escape. During the fearful minute after the overturning overturn-ing of the lamp, that burning cigar never ceases ) to talk to you, and when the light comes on, it needs no explanation. If instead, when you again see the ghastly chamber, the door should close . with a bang, the bolts and bars should drop, with Holmes and Alice Faulkner gone, wouldn't it bo a little more real, a great deal more dramatic? Quinton McPherson as Sidney Prince, was a ', j hit, and the same on and off the stage. The Doc- I tor Watson of Herbert Percy was perfect, and the "Forman" of Sidney Herbert, a gem. The f "Cragin" of Thomas McGrath, was beautifully done, and Margaret Gordon's "Therese" was a neat bit. Ida Conquest as Alice Faulkner won her audf-ence audf-ence but what do you think of not saying a word x about her in the advance stories? Down in a line with the rest on the program, and that's the first you know of her appearance. All the falling stars are not in the sky. . z i z t t (iT V A NEW BEN HUR. f 1 Poor old Sheik Ilderim, turn in thy long lost tomb, and shudder. 'Tis well thine eyes are sightless, sight-less, and that thy rest is final, for if thou couldst see the cherished children of Mira prancing to-' to-' ward the audience on the new curtain of the Theater, The-ater, it would be up to you to corner all the Ar-rak Ar-rak in Antioch to hold intact your tingling nerves. I But leaving the good sheik out of the game, and coming right down to the present, it is impossible im-possible to refrain from remarking on the horror of the new drop curtain. Many, many, people have been compelled to see the thing, but it is only fair to take it down, or rather haul it up at once, and forever. ' As the man behind me remarked "to those who have even the least appreciation of art, it is an outrage, and to those who have not, it is an awful object lesson." There is one good reason why very little should be said of it. The smudge is so terrible that it is ;, not worth serious consideration or criticism, and 'J there is one thing we all ought to know. Did the I' artist fall out of bed when he finished it? The race is evidently a trial heat or a private exhibition, for the bleachers are empty, save for a few of the sporting fraternity, who are way back sitting down, or standing shading their eyes with tho weirdest arms ever made on human being. be-ing. f Ben himself looks like tho next morning, and ! holds the reins over the dashing beasts like a ci3- I sy with a bunch of May-pole ribbons. i And the horses they are on the audience, and j it would be natural to hear Messala cry out, "Get your tickets for the merry-go-round." ' The animals are the weirdest shapes imag inable, out of proportion, out of all understanding, and Ben-Hur's horses have Roman noses, and , Messala's have the proboscis Jewish. The distorter was clever enough to put a great deal of dust in the picture, and lots of things are hidden. One of the features of the smirch is the point-lace dripping drip-ping from the mouths of all the steeds, and tho glad eyes cast on the audience by all the undismayed undis-mayed nags. All in all, it is the limit, but how can you get away from it tho theatre people have tho drop on you. And whilo on tho subject of paint and painters, there is really room for somo new scenery at the old play-houqe. Did you all see tho Devil's Auction? I hope not, but if you did, you may have noticed some scenery used in the first act. That was painted by a man named Methua, the husband of Mme. Schel-ler, Schel-ler, who played a brilliant engagement nere in the sixties. Whether it was used in respect to the chorus, I do not know, but it has seiTed its time. 5 & There is no question but that a new curtain is needed. "The Return of a Victorious Fleet," painted by Henry C. Tryan, some twenty years ago, was originally a beautiful thing, but it has been used until it is threadbare. That genius also painted several sets of scenery, among them the rocky pass, which is still doing duty. In Tl Trovatore, the Gordon-Shay Imposition company used the pass three times, in the Abbey and Gypsy Gyp-sy scenes, and even then didn't let it pass. When the season closses, let the man behind the paint brush reign supreme we can stand the smell, it will help stand off the mothballs when the women drag out their winter furs next fall. T. G. |