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Show Barefool" Dancer Strikes Tack J & "Kismet" Star Tells Experience MISS MERLE MADDERN, who dances herself to popularity popular-ity as Marsinah in "Kismet." llli ipl I 1 "When It Happens, Keep on Dancing," Says Miss Maddern. TO be dancing around In bare feet and also in ecstacies, because your father brought you home a pair of sliver anklets and, while daiulng, to step on a perfectly good ambitious am-bitious and Hfe-lllce tack is one of tlie experiences which is not Infrequent In the stage life of Miss Merle Maddern, who plays the part of Marsinah In "Kismet," which is now at the Salt Lake theater. "In the two seasons which I have been playing the part of Marsinah I guess I must have stepped on a hundred lacks or sharp pieces of inctal." said Miss Maddern last night when asked whether she had ever had such an experience by a. Tribune reporter. "But what do yon do when such a thing happens?" she was asked. "Oh. Just dance on. A littlo thing like a tack must not stop a performance," she added lightly "They arc just lijco soldiers when they are on the stage." commented Manager A- L. Flynn of the Kismet company, who had piloted the reporter through the bewildering be-wildering mazo of scennry to Miss Mad-dern's Mad-dern's dressing room. "We try to keep r'.io stage us clean as possible in this production pro-duction on account of the fact that there arc so many bare-fooled actors and actresses in it. But occasionally it happens hap-pens that a tack or .'something sharp like that slips by. And In the three seasons that I have walc.hcd 'Kismet played I havo never known by any 'hitch' In tho performance that Miss Maddern or anyone else has mot with such an experience until un-til they have left tho .stage" Miss Mcrlr Maddern, the attractive young leading woman who supports Otis Skinner in "Kismet." smd who is seen In the role of Marsinah. the daughter of lJajj. the lovable beggar, is an exceedingly exceeding-ly quiet girl. Sho has been with "Kismet" "Kis-met" since Its successful debut In Xew York Ihreo years ago. She has played the part of iMarsinah for the past two seasons. sea-sons. Miss Maddern Is a niece of Minnie Maddern Mad-dern Flske. and until sho Joined tho ranks of the "Kismet" company, played with Mrs. Klskc after entering upon her stage career in 1007. She was in Salt Lake with Mr.; Flske in "Mrs. Bumpstead-Lelgh." Bumpstead-Lelgh." Harrison Grey Flske Is the producer pro-ducer of "Kismet." henre Miss Maddern Is still "In the family" of the famous actress while sho is delighting thousands of theatergoers as the altogether charming charm-ing daughter or the altogether fascinating fascinat-ing beggar, IlaJJ. Miss Maddern loves her work In "Kismet." "Kis-met." She Is thoroughly absorbed by the role of Marsinah, and when she walks Into a "set" on tho stage before the curtain cur-tain arises she sits down In truly Oriental Orien-tal fashion and drops completely into her Oriental role. When railed upon In her dressing room last night hotween scenes during a few moments of spare time, she was weaving upon a piece of cloth stretched over the loom used In tho third scene of the first act. She wasn't using that yellow yarn that sho sent the housekeeper after In order or-der to have an opportunity to visit with Cier stage lover, the Caliph either. She was weaving the name of her stage father, fa-ther, HnjJ, into the cloth with red yarn. And right here the writer must Inform tho public that Miss Maddern Is only human hu-man deliriously, femininely human. Girlishly, Girl-ishly, she had turned the tails of the two "J's in IlaJJ to the right instead of to the left as sho weoved It into the cloth. |
