Show + the Year Drama The past year has been far from one of which lovers of the drama In Salt I Lake have anything to boast In fact this state of affairs Is not confined to Salt Lake but can be applied to almost every city west of the Missouri river Whether the halcyon days of amusement amuse-ment In Salt Lake have gone forever owing to the new conditions that have Obtained In the dramatic world or that there will be a return to better things it is very hard at the present time to determine There has been a unification unifica-tion and solidification of theatrical interests in-terests in the United States that now place the movement of great organiza tlons practically under the direction of a few men This has resulted beneficially benefi-cially from a business standpoint but Its l outcome from a local point of view cannot be regarded with such satisfaction satisfac-tion The great industrial revival which has been the marked feature of I the United States during the past two years has made the amusement business busi-ness everywhere a thriving one New York continues to be as It always has been the center of the American amusement amuse-ment world From this point radiate the dramatic Interests of the country Year after year new theaters have gone up in the great metropolis until It seemed Impossible to find patrons for them and yet far from overstocking I the market New York seems to be insatiable M in-satiable in Its demands With New York Boston Philadelphia Clnclnnnll I Washington Pillaburg and Chicago ii Bccms possible now for any attraction of superior strength to 1111 an entire season in these cities alone All that Is left for the lost of the country IH the leaser lights of the dramatic firmament and the refleclloiiB of the Now Yorlc flucccuees In the way of second third or fourth companies Not within a decade and povubly not within two decades liar Sail Lake seen UH small or inferior a class of attractions as It has had during the present season While there have been n few of the lirslflasx productions they have been r no few and far between as only to arouse remenibrnneoa of other days r r In the late talk with Alf Ilayman the director of the road QiiiarprlmiH of Chants Frohman In regard to this de proclallfjn In the iheutrlcula of the Weal Mr Ilayman look the stand that It had been brought about partially by the upgrowlh of cheap theater Moreover It was the former custom said Mr Ilayman of Mr Frohman mind many other prominent Now York I managers to nend their noted encl com I sFrancisco panics to San Fninclnco at the clone of y the New York season The cool wcalh or of the sprint nl the Golden Gate enabled en-abled us to play a very aallafnclory season at count I points during a time when Now York was sweltering under the Intense ray of the Him with the growth and the consolidation of the theatrical bualncsK during the past live or nix yearn however these manager have acquired a territory of operations that has taken the place of the far 14rslern field It Is now possible said Mr III1 man for ua to rend our com ponlM at the close of each Nov York lion to London giving the players a muchneeded rest during their ocean rip and presenting hem to the Lon dbn public In Ibo HUCCCWB which have been inUdy font us thwulfh new YUille run It coals loss l to send a company < I to London than it does to San Francisco I co and of course there IB nothing like a comparison to be made between the 1 two cities us to the population from which we can draw business The result re-sult of all this isj to withdraw from your I section the splendid companies which were wont to ero there during their supplementary sup-plementary spring season In former years The actors much prefer tho ocean trip to the overland trip and we ourselves have found that It is a far more profitable undertaking Another thing said Mr Ilayman Is of course the fact that there is a continual demand de-mand In the E8t for strong attractions and as the Jumps hem are few and the opportunities for long runs numerous I It becomes possible to keep our companies I com-panies continually employed in the East We do not however Intend to neglect your section of the country and shall endeavor from time to time to give them a taste of the best You must not however expect any such feasts an you got in the old days The No 2 companies which we are sending out arc organized with a view of maintaining maintain-ing the reputation made by the original companies which stay in the East If any company does not come up to this standard you may be assured It will not be allowed to play In the cities of the caliber of Salt Lake r This statement of Mr Ilayman taken In connection with what has already been said about the decline In local theatricals very clearly defines the position po-sition of Salt Lake City at the present time With the public clamoring for good plays and good players with the Theater anxious to supply this demand It Is yet an Impossibility to draw hero the same class of organizations which were here In years past As a corollary of this proposition the growth of the popularpriced drama Is a natural result re-sult Manager Mulvoy of the Grand operahouse has very wisely dropped the stock system whIch had been an expensive luxury at his house and which It was Impossible to maintain satisfactorily either from an artistic or financial standpoint Taking tlmu by the forelock he spent the past summer In New York buoklng attractions for his house in such a way as to lilt the season almost solid It would be folly to say that these attractions arc ouch I as to appeal to a critical taste but they serve a good purpose In educating a class of the public which otherwise would not attend the theater Here as elsewhere It has been proven that many people start In with cheap drama who never could be Induced In ho I beginning I be-ginning to part with 1 for an evenings recreation Once however the appetite for amusements IH cultivated the tusk becomes jfruluully Improved and the natural result Is that the cheap theatergoer theater-goer eventually becomes the high priced thenter goer In this way each houxe fullllip Its own purpose thu Grand drawing the masses and the Salt Lake Theater appealing to the higher class of theatergoers A bettor line of plays Is In store for I I Salt Lake during the remainder of limn season than It hub se nIn the Unit half of the year The BOJSloniuna Blanche Walsh and the JamesKldrierIlnnford combination are a few of the more prominent attractions 110 In the mutter of management both Sail Luke theaters are In the name hndfi is ilt tills lime last year Manager I Mana-ger Pypor haw familiarized himself with the duties devolving upon an amusement I amuse-ment purveyor and has handled them as ably us possible under limo unfuvoru i ble circumstances affecting the genera Western dramatic market t Hu has to confront a problem directly opponlle from thai which mol his prcdccOHaor In former days It was an easy platter tin gel attractions but something of a difficulty to conjure uudlunoeH Now It Is a Uffht talk to draw to the Theater n goodsizid house but an entirely different differ-ent story when It comes to bringing a nottd organization It hun of Bourse been unfortunate that several attrac llonsi hooked for this city have rune by us wltlOnLgltng Sail Lako a hearing I0u gen Blair hUll made good the die appointment created through the recent i I cancellation of her engagement by promising to play here on her return I i trip The Christian which was I I booked for the last three nights of December I De-cember rushed through to California In I I order to got the benefit of holiday audiences l audi-ences In San Francisco and thus Salt I i j Lake was cheated of one of the best companies that had been promised It I I The Christian company appeared at Omaha and Denver but this Is the only prominent Instance In which any company com-pany has gone through Utah without I appearing here Sol Smith Russell was to have appeared at the Salt Lake Theater the last of the present month but his unfortunate collapse in Chicago a week ago has caused him lo give up his work for the whole season r Few clllos arc boiler roprescn led upon the stage than Is Salt Lake With Maude Adams Jennie Ilawley Bertha Bayless DcWitl Jennings Ada Dwyer I lo say nothing of players like Allco Nielsen Charles Richman William In gcrgoll Miss heft and a score of others I who have come to be regarded as our I own players through long seasons spent in Sail Lake there is a perpetual fund I I of interest to home people in tho move ments of tho stage It Is a somewhat I conspicuous fact that nearly every aspirant aspi-rant for dramatic or lyric honors that has gone from Salt Lake has met with unqualified success Both houses have been very much Improved Im-proved In appearance during the past year The Salt Lake Theater with Ito brilliant and showy electric sign has for all the world the appearance of an Eastern theater Both It and the Grand hove been materially Improved al the hands of the decorator and furnisher the past season 04 The one event In the years chronicles to cast gloom over theatergoers In Salt Lake has been the death of Oscar Ella son Of all those who have gone from the town EllaHon was the one In whom the city fell he I keenest sense of proprietorship pro-prietorship It was here that an u boy he essayed his first illlempl ut slelght ofhund it was here he developed Into It clever prestidigitator and It wan hero that he acquired the means through which he got his start upon the professional stage It is now nearly eight years since the dramatic critic of The Tribune wilt lo a private house in the city to view Ella onK attempts in magic Expecllng to be bored by avery a-very commonplace and 1 amateur exhibition exhi-bition in sleightof hand ho was surprised sur-prised to llnd an entertainment mystifying mysti-fying clever and Mulshed Shortly after that Eliason gathered together the apparatus with hlch to give a Ihst public performance Thin was mostly manufactured by his own hnmiii I I In hours after the days work In the jewelry store was finished By ha own exertions Ellnson grew from his humble hum-ble surroundings lo be one of the foremost fore-most neeromancers of the world In Austinlla and New I England his MICCCSH wan phenomenal At the present writing writ-ing Il IH Impossible to toll what wail the causn of his unllmoly death but be that aa It may ll will be mourned ua the taking oft of a nosh promising and deserving artist |