SEASON '65 AND '66.
The next star to appear at the Mormon theatre was Julia Dean Hayne,
and a brilliant one she proved to be. She created on her first
appearance an impression that was profound and lasting, and each
additional character she appeared in only served to strengthen her
hold on the admiration and affection of her audiences.
The advent of such a well-known and popular actress into the heart of
the Rocky Mountain region at such a time, years before the completion
of the overland railroad, had in it a rich tinge of romance and wild
managerial venture. Julia Dean came to Salt Lake City under the
management and in the dramatic company of the veteran Western manager,
John S. Potter. Some time prior to this she had gone to San Francisco
from New York by way of the Isthmus, had played a successful
engagement there, and being "at liberty" after it was over, Mr.
Potter, who was an old acquaintance of Mrs. Hayne, made her a
proposition to organize a company and play her through the principal
towns of California. This was done, and after the state had been
pretty thoroughly toured, the fair Julia appearing in many places that
had very "queer" theatres, the tour was extended through the cities of
Oregon and then through the sparsely inhabited territories of Montana,
Idaho and Utah, finally arriving in Salt Lake July 26th, 1865, on a
regular old-time stage coach, a tired and jaded-looking party. There
was in this company John S. Potter, manager (then a man of sixty or
more), Julia Deane Hayne (the star), George B. Waldron (leading man),
Mr. and Mrs. O. F. Leslie (juveniles), Mr. A. K. Mortimer (heavies),
Charles Graham (comedian). Mr. Potter himself played the "old man"
parts, Miss Belle Douglas playing characters and old woman parts, and
"Jimmie" Martin, property man and filling-in parts. The fame of
Brigham Young's theatre had reached them in their travels, and they
had traveled many miles to get the opportunity of playing in it. A
week's engagement was soon effected, and on August 11th, 1865, "The
Potter Company" with Julia Dean Hayne as the stellar character, opened
up in the play of "Camille." They were received by a packed house, and
with every demonstration of welcome and approbation. Mrs. Hayne, who
was no longer girlish in face and figure but a mature woman, verging
on towards the "fair, fat and forty" period, was nevertheless so
exquisitely beautiful and girlish-looking when made up for "Camille"
or "Julia" in the "Hunchback," that everybody sang her praises. The
entire community seemed to have fallen irresistibly in love with the
new star, and henceforward she had fair wind and smooth sailing while
her lot lay cast among the Saints. While the Potter Company were
playing in the theatre, supporting Mrs. Hayne, the stock company were
of course getting a needed rest, but their salaries (?) were going on
as usual, and the management could not well afford to have two
companies on its hands, so after the first week, the novelty being
over, the Potter company were let out, and the regular company
reinstalled. The Potter Company, however, had lost its "star;" the
theatre managers had effected an engagement with Julia Dean to remain
with them for the rest of the season as stock star with George B.
Waldron, also to play her leading support, and direct the staging of
her plays.
This proved a severe blow to the Potter Company, who now had no place
to play in in Salt Lake and could not well take to the road again,
having lost their principal attraction. Potter had not expected to
have been so soon supplanted. He came to Salt Lake, expecting to find
a company of amateurs, and thought no doubt the managers would be glad
to supplant them, at least for a good long season, with the Potter
Company and its distinguished star. Outside of Mrs. Hayne and Mr.
Waldron, however, the Salt Lake Company was much more numerous,
talented and capable than the Potter Company. It took but one or two
performances for the managers to discover this, and they hastened to
make the arrangements with Julia Dean and Mr. Waldron and to reinstate
their own company.
Poor Potter and his remaining company were in a sorry strait. Their
overland jaunt, through Oregon, Montana and Idaho, had not been very
lucrative, and now they were out in the fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains, a thousand miles from any metropolis with a theatre, and no
railroad to get away on; nothing but the overland coach. Potter was a
resourceful manager, however; he was not easily daunted; with him
Richmond's admonition to his army was ever present. "True hope never
tires, but mounts on eagle's wings. Kings it makes gods, and meaner
creatures kings." He found in "Tom" Lyne an old acquaintance, and a
strong ally. Lyne was by this time disgruntled and dissatisfied with
the theatrical outlook in Salt Lake; he was not getting any more the
plaudits and the "star's" share of the receipts. He wanted some place
to play in. So he inspired Potter with the notion of building an
opposition theatre to that "monopoly" of Brigham Young's. Potter drank
in Lyne's inspiration fervidly. The idea took a frantic possession of
him, and plans were at once devised for getting up another house as
speedily as possible, for the season was advancing and if the project
was not hurried the Potter company would be scattered beyond all
recovery. So it was decided to erect a cheap frame building, and push
it to completion as rapidly as possible. This decision served to keep
the Potter Company in Salt Lake, as they all had faith in the scheme,
and faith in themselves that they could win out. They argued that by
the time the new play-house was ready to open that Julia Dean and
Waldron would be played out at the Salt Lake Theatre, and something
new would catch the people. Poor, deluded actors, they did not know
the people of Salt Lake; they knew them better after. How much money
Mr. Lyne put into this scheme the writer never could learn from him,
but I opine it was very little. He, however, secured the building
site, by some kind of a deal with "Tommy" Bullock. It was about where
Dinwoodey's furniture store now stands. Potter had little or no money
with which to start such an enterprise, so Lyne introduced Mr. Potter
to such of the merchants and lumbermen as he wanted to do business
with. Potter played a bold game, and really accomplished a great feat
in the building of this theatre. He got from sixty to ninety days'
credit for everything nearly that went into the construction of the
building. It was a cheap affair; built of poles, hewn to an even size
and placed in the ground like fence posts; then boarded on both sides
with rough boards, the space between the inside and outside boarding
being filled in with sawdust and refuse tan bark from the tanneries,
to make the building warm. The place was about half the size of the
Salt Lake Theatre; that is, it had about half the seating capacity and
a stage about one-fourth the size of the theatre. The structure,
including the lease of ground, cost about $7,000. It was put up in
about thirty days, so that Potter had a month's more time in which to
pay for the bulk of the material, but the merchants and laborers who
did the building were worrying his life out long before he got it
going, for their money. He proved to be an expert at "standing off"
his creditors, however, so by hook and crook he got the building
completed, his company reorganized, and the theatre started. Some very
amusing stories were related of him at the time; how he would cajole
and stuff with promises the dissatisfied workmen as to what he would
do as soon as he got the house open. One man went to him with the
sorrowful story that his landlady had refused to credit him any
longer, and he must have money to pay his board and lodgings. Potter
looked at him pityingly, and expressed his regret that he could do
nothing for him till he got the theatre going. "It will soon be
finished now; tell your landlady this, and if this will not appease
her, change your boarding house." To such like desperate shifts and
subterfuges was he obliged to resort to keep the men at work, doling
them out a few dollars at a time, when they became unmanageable or
threatened to quit. Eventually the house was ready for opening and
"Tom" Lyne had to have the first "whack" at the new box office
receipts.
With woeful shortsightedness they put up for the opening, "Damon and
Pythias," with Lyne starred as "Damon," a character he had already
played three or four times at the other theatre. Lyne probably
thought, however, with Richard that "the king's name is a tower of
strength, which they on the adverse faction want." Such did not prove
to be the case, however, as the "adverse faction" having in view the
opening of the opposition house, put on a strong new bill with Mrs.
Hayne in a new and powerful character, so that there was no apparent
diminution of patronage, and the Salt Lake Theatre kept on the even
tenor of its way "with not a downy feather ruffled by its fierceness."
Potter and Lyne had succeeded in getting "Jim" Hardie away from the
other house by offering him the part of Pythias and a larger salary
than he was getting at the older house. "Jim" at this time was the
youngest actor in the Salt Lake Theatre company, and had not yet made
much advancement; he was ambitious, however, and this opportunity to
play "Pythias" to Lyne's "Damon" was very alluring to him, so he
deserted the ranks of the D. D. A. and allied himself with
Lyne-Potter, et al., with what poor judgment the sequel will show.
The new theatre was christened "The Academy of Music," with what
reason or consistency no one could ever conceive, unless it was to
give it a big sounding name, to allure the unwary, for it was as
utterly unlike an Academy of Music as anything could be.
On the opening night, the novelty of the new theatre opening, and
curiosity to see the Academy and Mr. Lyne with his new support,
sufficed to draw a fairly full house.
Several amusing incidents transpired on that eventful evening. First
and most laughable was the following: "Jim" Hardie had a
brother-in-law named "Pat" Lynch. Pat had been clerk of the district
court for a number of years and was well known for a big-hearted,
generous man, his greatest fault being that he would indulge
occasionally too freely in the ardent. "Pat" had loaned "Jim" ten
dollars to help him get a costume for "Pythias" the Academy had no
wardrobe department and "Jim" could not with any grace attempt to
borrow one from the Salt Lake Theatre. It would appear he had promised
to get an advance as soon as the box office had begun to take in
money, and Pat had expected the return of his money that day; at all
events, he was present at the play, occupying a front seat in the
parquette. He had been indulging freely, and his sight was not so
clear as usual; besides, he had the character of Pythias and Dionysius
mixed in his imagination. Mr. Potter was playing Dionysius, and as he
strode on at the rise of the curtain and began to speak, Pat mistook
him for Hardie and bawled out at the top of his voice, "See here,
Dionysius, where's that ten dollars you owe me?" Potter was filled
with consternation; Pat's friends who were with him succeeded in
quieting him and Potter made another start, this time without
interruption. Pat had discovered his mistake, that he had dunned the
wrong man, and it took but little persuasion to get him to leave the
theatre. Hardie, behind the scenes waiting for his entrance, and
fearing a second explosion when he should make his appearance, was
immensely relieved to see from the side wings Pat's companions lead
him up the aisle and out of the theatre. Potter, not aware but what it
was one of his numerous creditors dunning him, when he made his first
exit, threw up his hands in dismay, and said to Lyne in the wings: "My
G--d, they won't give me any peace! Even dunning me from the
audience." When Lyne, who had caught the truth of the matter,
explained to him, he was greatly relieved.
Another amusing incident, and one which nearly wrecked the scene, was
furnished by the little girl they had for Damon's boy. It has never
been a difficult task to find in Salt Lake a pretty and clever child
to play the child's part in this or any other play. On this occasion,
the selection was probably limited to a small circle, owing to the
feeling engendered by this opposition to the favorite theatre; at all
events, the "Damon's" child of the occasion was an uncultured looking
little miss of about six years; she was so dark and tawny-looking that
she might have had Indian blood in her veins, and certainly she had a
touch of the obduracy and stolidness that characterize that race;
Belle Douglass was the "Hermion" of the occasion, and she was obliged
to improvise and speak most of the child's lines for her; when "Damon"
came on for the farewell interview with his beloved "Hermion" and his
darling boy, he strove in vain to get a response from his young
hopeful; the child had become thoroughly nervous, and seemed
apprehensive of some danger and when "Damon" interrogated her, "What
wouldst thou be, my boy?" instead of the cheerful response, "A
soldier, father," there came only a frightened look, and the child put
its finger in its nostril, and swayed to and fro, as if she would say,
but dare not, "I want to go home." Miss Douglass, annoyed, pulled the
little hand down testily from the child's nose, and "Damon" repeated
the question, "What wouldst thou be, my boy?" No answer, but up went
the finger again to the nose. "Hermion" again pulled down the hand,
and rather harshly demanded, "Come, say, what wouldst thou be, my
boy?" The child by this time was nearly terrified, and only repeated
the nose business with more emphasis and began to cry--and "Damon"
utterly disgusted with his youthful prodigy, hurried him off to pluck
the flower of welcome for him. The child's queer action of sticking
its finger up its nose sent the house almost into convulsions of
laughter, and came near converting one of the greatest scenes of the
play into a burlesque. Lyne played all the other plays in his
repertoire in rather rapid succession, as the aim was to keep the
Academy open every night (except Sundays) and as each play would bear
but one repetition, this repertoire was soon exhausted, and as there
was no other "star" in the Utah firmament to fill the place, the
Academy went into a rapid decline. As the business had not proved to
be what the promoter and manager had calculated on, Potter was daily
besieged by creditors, until the poor man was almost driven frantic.
The heavy creditors, those who had furnished material on sixty days'
time, now began to grow troublesome, and one attachment after another
followed, until the house fell into the hands of the sheriff--and
Brigham Young, through T. B. H. Stenhouse, as agent, made a deal by
which the property came into his hands. He soon put a force of men to
work who tore it down, hauled it away and fenced a farm with it.
Such in brief is the history of Potter's Academy of Music. The
merchants and lumbermen who had given Potter such liberal credit were
now sadder but wiser men.
Potter got away as soon as possible, for matters were very pressing
and unpleasant for him. His company drifted off in various directions,
except Belle Douglass, who got married to Captain Clipperton and
settled down in Salt Lake, and after a while got into the Salt Lake
Theatre. Hardie also got back after a time, long enough for him to
become repentant and express his regrets for what he had done.
The season, by the time the Academy's brief career had ended, was well
advanced into the spring. Julia Dean Hayne had not only not played
out, but had steadily grown in the affection of the people. Mr.
Waldron continued to to be a favorite also; but Julia Dean was the
bright particular star whose effulgence can never be effaced from the
memories of those who attended her performances during that memorable
engagement. She received many marks of personal favor from President
Brigham Young; indeed, it was current gossip that the President was
very much enamored of the fair Julia and had offered to make her Mrs.
Young number twenty-one. How much, if any, truth there was in this
gossip will perhaps never be known; the fact that Brigham did pay her
unusual attention and gave several parties in her honor and had a fine
sleigh built which he named the Julia Dean was quite enough to set the
people talking. The probability is that the President was very much
charmed with her, and sought to win her to the Mormon faith; had he
succeeded in this, he might then have felt encouraged to go a step
further and win her to himself, for in spite of his already numerous
matrimonial alliances, he did not consider himself _ineligible_. The
fair Julia was not ineligible, either, for she was divorced from her
husband, Dr. Hayne, the son of a "favorite son" of South Carolina.
Speculation was rife, and much surprise and wonder was excited in
certain quarters that President Young should go out of his way to show
more marked attention to an actress than he had ever shown to any of
his wives; but he was bent on getting Julia into the fold; once there,
he could have played the good shepherd, and have secured her an
exaltation. She had another man in her eye. One she had set her heart
upon, too. "As hers on him, so his was set on her, but how they met
and wooed and made exchange of vows I'll tell thee as we pass."
James G. Cooper was at this particular time secretary of the territory
of Utah--an appointee of the United States government. He was a
cavalierly man of southern birth and breeding--tall and handsome, and
of courtly bearing, a great lover of the theatre. He was never known
to miss a performance during Julia Dean's engagement. He was one of
the most enthusiastic admirers she had; night after night, all the
season through, he sat in front, early always in the same seat, and
with eyes aglow and ears alert, he seemed to absorb every tone of her
voice and catch, every gleam of her eyes--her every move was to him a
thrill of rapture. Out of her thousands of admirers he was the most
devoted worshipper at her shrine. Up to a certain time he worshipped
in silence as if she were a deity. Chance had made them neighbors: the
secretary's office and Mrs. Hayne's apartments were in adjoining
houses, and it was not long before an acquaintanceship was formed
which rapidly grew into a friendship and friendship soon ripened into
love.
These lovers were discreet, however. Many happy hours they passed in
each other's company, but they did not parade their love, nor "wear
their hearts upon their sleeves for daws to peck at." Little did her
audience suspect that often when she cast her most bewitching glances,
and brightened their faces with her radiant smiles, that those smiles
were mounted especially for him; but he knew--how could he help but
know. Cupid had drawn his bow and sped his dart.
"Where on a sudden one hath wounded me, that's by me wounded
Both our remedies within thy help and holy physic lie."
So after the close of the season, much to the surprise of her numerous
admirers, "these 'twain were made one flesh." They bade a rather hasty
farewell to the land of the Saints, and wended their way to the far
East by stagecoach, the terminus of the Pacific road being yet some
hundreds of miles from Salt Lake.
Mrs. Hayne's last appearance at the Salt Lake Theatre was an event
marked with quite as much if not more of interest than her first
appearance. She had become endeared to the Salt Lake public, and they
regarded her approaching departure with genuine regret. At her last
performance, June 30th, 1866, she appeared as "Camille," the same
character in which she opened her engagement, and was the recipient on
this occasion of many tokens of kindness and appreciation. Being
called enthusiastically to the front of the curtain after the
performance, she bade a loving farewell to Salt Lake and its people in
one of the most delicately and tastefully worded speeches ever made in
front of a theatre drop. During her long engagement, lasting from
August 11th, '65, to June 30th, '66, she played all the great classic
female roles that were then popular, a number of comedies, and even
took a dip into extravaganza or burlesque, appearing during the
holiday season in the character of Alladin in "The Wonderful Lamp,"
which ran for eleven consecutive performances. Her best remembered
characters are "Camille," "Lady Macbeth," "Leah," "Parthenia," "Julia"
(in the "Hunchback"), "Lucretia Borgia," "Medea," "Marco," "Lady
Teazle," "Peg Woffington," and "Pauline" in the "Lady of Lyons." In
her ten months' engagement, she played a great many plays besides
those mentioned, each play being presented twice or three times,
according to its popularity.
Among others, an Indian play, entitled "Osceola," written by E. L.
Sloan, then editor of the Salt Lake Herald, in which Mr. George
Waldron played the title role and Mrs. Hayne the chief's daughter. The
piece had a fair success, but has never been heard of since. Mr. Sloan
wrote another play a year or two later, about the time of the
completion of the overland railroad, which he called "Stage and
Steam." This was a melodrama with a stage coach and railway train in
it, intended to illustrate the march of civilization. It had two
presentations, and was never acted again that we are aware of. It was
during Mrs. Hayne's engagement also that Mr. Edward W. Tullidge made
his first essay as a dramatic author--Mrs. Hayne and Mr. Waldron had
exhausted the list of available plays and new plays were in demand.
Tullidge's play was entitled "Eleanor de Vere," or "The Queen's
Secret," an episode of the Elizabethan Court--in which Queen Elizabeth
was a secondary character. Tullidge had written his play with various
members of the company in his eye, and succeeded in fitting them very
well. This play made a very favorable impression and was repeated
several times to large and appreciative audiences. Mrs. Hayne's
character, "Eleanor de Vere," was one of the Queen's waiting women, in
love with "Rochester," and afforded the actress very good scope for
her great talent, but the character of Queen Elizabeth, although a
secondary part in the play, made such a favorable impression on Mrs.
Hayne that she asked Mr. Tullidge if he could write her a play of
Elizabeth, making the Queen a star character for her. She believed
from what Mr. Tullidge had done in "Eleanor de Vere" that he could
write a great play of Elizabeth. Tullidge felt that he had a great
subject; it was a favorite theme, however, and one on which he was
thoroughly posted, and encouraged by Mrs Hayne's faith in his ability,
he at once commenced the task. "The labor we delight in physics pain,"
and Elizabeth became a labor of love with Edward Tullidge, for he was
very enthusiastic in his love of Julia Dean, both as a woman and as an
artist; and so familiar with all the heroes of Elizabeth's court, that
his task, though Herculean, was a pleasant one, and before Julia Dean
was ready to leave Salt Lake, Tullidge had completed a great
historical play, "Elizabeth of England." It was with a view of
presenting it in New York that Mrs. Hayne (now Cooper) went there soon
after her departure. Before she had concluded any arrangement for its
production, however, Ristori, the great Italian actress, loomed up on
the dramatic horizon in Elizabeth. She had crowned all her former
achievements in a great triumph in this same Elizabeth of England.
Although the play was written by an Italian author (Giogimetta) and
was not as true to history as the Tullidge play, it filled the
particular historical niche so far as the stage is concerned. Ristori
had a great success with this play, both in Europe and this country.
It must have broken Julia Dean's heart professionally. She might have
been the first in the field, at least in this country, if she had not
dilly-dallied. She was having a delightful honeymoon and was too
indifferent in this important affair, and when the advent of the great
Italian in Elizabeth awoke her from her reverie, her opportunity had
gone and Tullidge's Elizabeth never saw the light. Very keen indeed
was the disappointment of the author. Julia Dean was his ideal for
Elizabeth, and when he found to his amazement that the Italians
(author and actress) had gained the field ahead of them, poor Tullidge
went crazy with grief, and for a time had to be confined in the city
prison, there being no asylum in Utah at that time. Mr. Lyne, who read
the play to a large audience in Salt Lake, pronounced it one of the
greatest historical plays he had ever read.
Whether the great disappointment had any effect in hastening Mrs.
Cooper's death or not can not be known, but "it is pitiful, 'twas
wondrous pitiful," that she did not live longer to enjoy her new-found
happiness, and add a crowning glory to her brilliant career, for she
was without doubt the greatest favorite of her day in America, and
Americans everywhere would have hailed her with delight in any new
achievement. She only lived about a year after her marriage to Mr.
Cooper. She died in New York, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
The news of her demise was received with profound sorrow by her
numerous Salt Lake admirers, and many a silent tear paid tribute to
her memory.
"There is a destiny that shapes our ends,
Rough hew them as we will."
Through the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Johnson, our popular photographer, I
am enabled to append the following information in relation to Julia
Dean's death and burial:
THE UNMARKED GRAVE OF JULIA DEAN.
NEW YORK, August 26, 1897.
_To the Editor of the Dramatic Mirror_:
SIR:--While recently walking through the beautiful Laurel Grove
Cemetery at Port Jervis, New York, the aged caretaker called my
attention to a good-sized circular burial plot overlooking a lake
in the centre of which, surrounded by mountain laurel shrubs and
lilac bushes, is a sunken mound under which the venerable keeper
declared rested "as great and fine a looking actress as the
country ever had," and further stated that "much of a time was
made over her years ago in New York." Also that "when her body was
brought on here a big crowd of theatre folks came on to see her
buried and they cried over her open grave."
Becoming thoroughly interested, I carefully noted the location of
the actress' lot, and immediately visited the little cemetery
office on the grounds, and in looking over the admirably kept
records, I was astonished to find that it represented the grave of
a fair member of the dramatic profession whose tomb had been
entirely lost sight of, and dramatic historians and editors have
been unable for years to enlighten those of their readers who
sought to discover her grave rest. Beneath this mound rests all
that is mortal of the once lovely Juliet of the American
stage--Julia Dean.
The complete record of the Laurel Grove Cemetery reads:
"Name--Julia Dean-Hayne-Cooper.
"Place and time of nativity--Pleasant Valley, Near Poughkeepsie,
N. Y., July 21, 1830.
"Names of parents--Edwin and Julia Dean.
"Age--Thirty-five years.
"Place and date of death--New York City, May 19, 1866.
"Cause of death--Childbirth.
"Second husband's name--James G. Cooper.
"Buried in Lot No. 3, Section B, owned by her father-in-law,
Mathew H. Cooper.
"Remains of deceased first placed in the Marble Cemetery General
Receiving Vault, Second Street, New York City. Transferred to
Laurel Grove Cemetery, Port Jervis, April 16, 1868."
The lone cemetery official states all of Julia Dean's kindred
passed away years ago, and together they are buried in the old
Clove graveyard at Sussex, N. J.
At the time of their deaths, they were in reduced circumstances,
and while still well-to-do, years before Julia Dean's demise they
acquired this Port Jervis burial lot that she might await the
resurrection in the place where her childhood days were so
pleasantly passed.
At the foot of the eminent actress' grave slumbers the unnamed
girl infant for whom Julia Dean surrendered her illustrious life.
None of her relatives were ever able to erect a monument over her
remains, and it seems a pity that this exquisite actress of
another generation should forever sleep in an unrecorded
sepulchre.
Having heard and read that the noble Actors' Fund of New York has
caused' many a granite tombstone to be erected over the graves of
their worthy comrades, and as Julia Dean was so sweet and
accomplished an artiste, I thought that by calling attention to
this forgotten and out of the way tomb through the columns of the
most powerful of America's dramatic journals, _The Dramatic
Mirror_, it might result in placing a modest memorial stone of
granite at the head of the mound under which so peacefully reposes
Julia Dean, whose splendid genius Dion Boucicault compared to that
of another gifted and beautiful daughter of the drama, the ideal
Juliet, Adelaide Neilson, who awaits the final call in distant
England, beneath an imposing mortuary memorial, thanks to the
influence of the loyal William Winter.
LOVER OF THE STAGE.