SEASON OF '69-70.
The season of '69 and '70 opened auspiciously on September 4th with
the now recuperated stock company in a new play. "The Captain of the
Vulture" was played one week and another new star dawned on the
horizon. September 13th Mr. Neil Warner was the star attraction.
Warner was an English actor and had been in the supporting company of
the late lamented Gustavus Brooke, who gave promise of becoming
England's greatest tragedian, but whose already resplendent career was
unfortunately cut short by the loss of the steamship London. Brooke
was making a second visit to Melbourne and Sidney in '66, where he had
achieved a remarkable triumph a year before, but alas! for the irony
of fate, he was doomed to be cut off in the very unfolding of the most
brilliant talents the English stage had yet seen. The unfortunate
London went down in the Bay of Biscay and some two hundred souls
perished in the wreck and among them the brilliant Gustavus Brooke. A
friend of the writer, now in this city (Salt Lake), Mr. Jack Cooey,
had a brother who was one of the very few survivors of that ill-fated
ship, there being but sixteen in all. So America never got to see
Brooke, who was regarded by his countrymen generally as the greatest
of all their tragic actors.
Neil Warner was said to be a copyist of Brooke; undoubtedly he had
played with him, and learned much from him, and if not as great as his
acknowledged tutor, Warner was not unworthy to be called great. He had
a splendid physique and a magnificent voice, which he could use with
magnetic effect. Its transitions were at times marvelous and in this
writer's opinion, he was the superior of all our American tragedians,
with the exception of Davenport, whom he very much resembled both in
the majesty of his presence and in mental superiority. Warner opened
in "Richard III" and made a most decided hit in the character,
notwithstanding he had several notable predecessors in the part,
notably McCullough and Stark. He played twenty-four performances,
embracing a wide range of legitimate plays--"Hamlet," "Macbeth,"
"Richelieu," and his "Macbeth" was the greatest of all his fine
performances. He went to New York from here and we quite expected to
hear great things about him, but for some cause or other he never
played a stellar engagement in New York, and the following year the
writer, much to his astonishment and disappointment, saw him playing a
second heavy part in support of Charles Wyndham the English comedian
at a theatre in Brooklyn. Warner did not make a go in New York, and
drifted over to Montreal, Canada, where he stayed for many years; but
a few years ago he toured California in connection with a rising young
actress of that state, in a round of his favorite characters. Annie
Lockhart played the leading female characters in all Warner's
performances here. They had known each other in Australia, and there
seemed to be a very warm friendship between them and it was certain
that Annie was an ardent admirer of her talented countryman, and some
of us rather feared she would go with him when he took his departure
from Salt Lake; but something occurred between them that must have
angered him, for a day or two before his engagement closed, he spoke
to Miss Lockhart at a rehearsal in words and tones so heartless and
insulting that the company were amazed at him, and poor Annie sought
the seclusion of her dressing room to have a good cry. Conjecture was
rife and pointed to a rival in the lady's affections as the cause of
his tirade. Warner departed, leaving Annie with us, very much to the
gratification of the company and public, but it was not for long; poor
Annie Lockhart had received a wound from which she never recovered.
She only lived five weeks after this and the cause of her sudden
decline and death was more or less of a mystery, for up to this time
she was a hale, hearty woman, in the very prime of life. She was laid
away tenderly by loving hands and hearts, whom she had never known
until eight months before, but whom she had endeared to her by her
sweet, womanly ways. Many a tear was shed and genuine sorrow was felt
when Annie Lockhart was laid away in Olivet.
The night after Warner's engagement closed, Sunday, October 12th,
Stephen Massett lectured.
October 13th, Madam Scheller opened her second engagement, playing six
nights, and gave "Roll of the Drum," "Child of the Regiment," "Enoch
Arden," etc. The theatre closed from the 18th to the 23rd on account
of the Militia Muster. The Nauvoo Legion, as the Territorial troops
were called, had a big encampment on the banks of the Jordan river and
of such importance was it that the theatre had to close, as every able
bodied man was expected to drill and all the women and children, of
course, had to go and see them. The late George Q. Cannon and other
high church dignitaries fell into the ranks on this occasion and
carried muskets, whether from the love of exercise or a keen love of
duty, or for the effect of example, this deponent saith not. Nearly
all the dramatic company were in the big drill, so, of course, there
could be no theatres until it was over. It was intended to be a great
demonstration, and it was; almost every Mormon man was in the ranks.
The theatre resumed business with the rest of the town, Saturday the
23rd inst., when one of Madam Scheller's pieces was repeated. This was
Madam Scheller's last appearance at this theatre. She and her husband,
Methua Scheller, went East from here, and died in Memphis in 1878,
during the yellow fever contagion of that dread disease.
On October 25th, the Stones, Amy and Harry, opened up a return
engagement in "French Spy." They played twelve nights, giving
"Fanchon," and "Little Barefoot," etc. Their engagement closed
November 6th, after a very satisfactory engagement.
On the 8th the stock company resumed, and played "Waiting for the
Verdict." Annie Lockhart, who had rested during the Stones'
engagement, resumed and was playing the leading female character in
this play when she was taken very ill. With the aid of kind attention
she got through the night's work, but she went home so ill that she
took to her bed, and on the 18th of November, died. Three days
previous to her death, on the 15th of November, John Wilson and Kate
Denin were ushered in as stock stars, and continued until January 5th,
1870, when they withdrew for a week to give place to Charlotte
Thompson, who played a six nights' engagement, playing "Julia" in the
"Hunchback," "Leah, the Forsaken," "Sea of Ice," and "Court and
Stage." Miss Thompson was a pretty woman and a pleasing actress--a
favorite in the South where she belonged.
From the 14th to the 24th, the stock company held down the business
without stellar assistance, when Kate Denin and John Wilson returned
and played another engagement. As stock stars they remained until
February 14th. Then came another siege of stock work without any star,
broken intermittently by lectures and concerts. Ole Bull gave concerts
March 8th and 9th; Alf Barnett's entertainment, March 22nd and 23rd;
Satsuma's Japanese troupe from March 25th to 30th. These attractions,
of course, gave the company some respite from their arduous studies,
but it was only brief, and we were already rehearsing for the ensuing
conference dates. So the stock company resumed their labors and played
all through April and up to May 16th when the season of '69 and '70
closed.