Show l1f J < THE HERALD AND PLAYERS i i1 An incident occurred at the Salt Lake Theatre on Friday evening which it is 1 3G hoped will have a beneficial effect on j The management of the house in that = it will cause them to prevent a similar 11 t occnirence in the uture A gang oft of-t i strolling players of the barnstorming f class had been booked for a couple oft of-t evenings the first performance was c tj given on Thu sday evening and was oft of-t such a trashy inartistic character as to j weary and disgust the audiencelong before the curtain fell for the first intermission r 4 1 inter-mission and relief from the dreary rot Of those who paid the price of admission i i t1 admis-sion and witnessed the opening perhaps l t per-haps not more than half remained tot to-t the end of the succession of inanities Fr inani-ties and that half was largely confined to the galleries THE HERALD as is its r i custom spoke of the show the next mOini g in truthful terms and of I Ill course its remarks were anything but I complimentary to the members of then the-n troupe This paper has a habit of 1 k talking about public amusements in its own way its criticisms may not at I j all times be absolutely just but c tt 1 they are always honest reflecting t 1 t the opinions of the critic if errors are If made they are of the judgement neither friendship nor malice is allowed r to influence the criticism It is because f t of the honesty and fairness of THE HERALDS amusement criticisms that I t the public has come to look to this journal as an authority upon musical l and dramatic entertainments patronizing jl j 9 patron-izing liberally what THE HERALD pronounces A pro-nounces worth witnessing and letting i t severely alone the shows Thich this paper slates This reputation is 1 something for a newspaper to be proud of and reputable theatrical people also I take pride init as we are convinced by t many evidences It was THE HERALDS truthful criticism j k t critic-ism which caused the curtain to rise U t Friday eyening on a magnficent display t dis-play of empty chairs Stupid and r inartistic as the members of the company com-pany were they were shrewd enough to J i fathom the reason for the absence of 1 t If an audience and thty were low and I n vulgar enough to attempt a retaliation i F One of the proprietors of the t scurvy outfit publicly assailed THE J HURALDS dramatic critic and brazenly I uttered a malicious lie in a foolish attempt ¼ t at-tempt to scandalize the latter The f matter would be unwortny of notice if A it did not give an opportunity to say I ft 1 that the man who would deliberately t t humbug the public witbjsuch a gang as il he oilers for its delectation is capable f f of any degree of lying and slander The le insinuation annoys for I t Tl1e nobody i I iiI i every one of the s how mans hearers J I N know that the fellow was deliberately and maliciously lying iiH I l What THE HERALD wants to know is I S did the Theatre management consent I J i H j to the use of its stage for the purposes i 1 i to which it was put on Friday evening t t and does that management approve of J t t the beastly libel that was attempted on the occasion No protest was made by it then and we have heard of no 4 I i J Condemnation since It is certain that I I the patrons of the house do not approve J t1 J of that sort of thing People do not go to the theatre to hear t f scab actors who wQuldnt be j J listened to outside of low ginmills J it scandalize reputable persons We can I J i understandhow tneatre managers must ii I 1 1 necessarily be caught at times and innocently t in-nocently be made parties to humbugging i I humbug-ging and victimizing the public They dont know and cannot always ascertain I t ascer-tain in time to protect themselves and i l the community character and ability I Ii of strolling troupes But we do not understand h t t i4 un-derstand that it is necessary for a i j i manager or proprietor of a public t t f amusement place to remain silent when I i his house is being used to scandalize f and libel people It occurs to us at itt it-t i J will to the community that the proper t i thing for the management of the Theatre I i It Thea-tre to have done when the vulgir liar t I went out of his way to insult the audience t audi-ence was to inform him and the public Ig 1 t 1 i that the Salt Lake Theatre coud not be which it used for the vile purposes to I I t was being put We hope the managements I I r p it manage-ments silence wasdue to an oversight i < I and was not intentional I t 14 a 1 I It I r gb |