OCR Text |
Show NJniciue Locaf Presentation of 'UncfeTom's Cabin Recaffed B. T. Pyper Grows Reminiscent and Talks of Star Cast Which Appeared Here in Famous Old Play. SPEAKING of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' " remarked B. T. (Brig) Pyper tentatively, when nobody in the crowd was speaking of anything, "I guess I can say that when I was operating the little theater located just west of the Cullen hotel in 1597, I put on the greatest presentation of the grand old play from the standpoint stand-point of histrionic ability ever seen in this country. "If I wanted to boast, I would designate des-ignate it as "The greatest aggregation aggrega-tion of stars and stars-to-be ever corralled under a single roof; but I don't boast and am going to let 11. go by simply stating that it was the best 'Uncle Tone's Cabin' company ever seen In theTJnited States some cast'. " 'Uncle Tom' was played by Edmund Ed-mund Hayes, at that time one of the leading actors of the country, and now a. vaudeville star of high reputation. Hayes was recently seen here at the Orpheum. .iF 'Simon Legree' was 'done' by Wal-Jra.c! Wal-Jra.c! Monroe, who, since that famous presentation, has been manager for f Louis James, now deceased; Char- C lotte Tittle and Minnie Maddern f Flske. "Harry Corson Clarke, widely known comedian, now in India, making mak-ing money faster than he knows what to do with it, was 'Marks, the Lawyer.' Law-yer.' Clarke had previously been a member of the famous Grand Stock company in this city. "John J. Williams, the original Peck's Bad Boy,' played the role of the Quaker, and DeWItt Jennings, now one of the famous 'heavies' of the country, took the part of 'St. Clair, father of 'Little Eva,' and 'Little Eva' was played by 'Baby' Bryor, a famous child actress. "Elhlly Lytton (Mrs. J. K. Em-mett) Em-mett) took the role of 'Topsy' and did a wonderful piece of work, while Maud Edna Hall also had a prominent part. "There were only two other theaters thea-ters in Salt Lake at that time, and our little place, known as the Lyceum Ly-ceum theater, took the town by storm. At the performances of 'Uncle 'Un-cle Tom's Cabin,' the house was Jammed, ae the highest priced seats were only 30 cents. On one occasion we gave a matinee in the forenoon, and hundreds of persons were turned away, because our seating capacity was not great enough to accommodate accommo-date them. "I could talk further concrnlng the "Uncle Tom's Cabin' show, but. as I remarked before, I am not going to boast, as boasting Is repellent to me. "As you insist, however, I might add that the little Lyceum theater was opened with 'Jim the Penman.' Charles Richmond, then, as now. one of 'vthe greatest leading men In the country, and Salt Lake's own Edna Dwyer took the leading roles, and we scored a wonderful success. "Preceding these presentations we had presented 'Blind Tom,' the negro freak pianist, and Alice Nielsen, now one of the leading stars In light opera In. this country. At that time Miss Nielsen was in her teens, but her voice gave abundant promise of what it Is today." |