SEASON OF '70-'71.
The theatre did not reopen until August the 27th when the season of
'70 and '71 was ushered in with a "Benefit" to Miss Colebrook. This
was really the first summer the theatre had remained closed and given
the company a needed rest. The stock company played one week only when
the veteran tragedian, T. A. Lyne, began an engagement which ran from
September the 3rd to the 20th. This was Lyne's fourth engagement since
the opening of the theatre, and it proved what a remarkable hold he
had upon our theatre goers when he repeated his well known and well
worn repertoire to splendid business. As there was no other star in
the dramatic firmament when Lyne's engagement expired, the stock
company was put on its own resources once again and continued
successfully up to the 10th of December, when the monotony was in some
measure broken by the accession to the company of Mr. and Mrs. John S.
Langrishe, and the following week C. W. Couldock and his daughter,
Eliza, floated the stellar flag for the third time, repeating a
portion of their old repertoire. They played from the 26th to the
31st. Mr. Couldock went East, leaving Eliza (who was in poor health)
here to recuperate. They were succeeded by George W. Thompson and
Sallie Hinckley, who played a week's engagement, presenting "Man and
Wife" and the "Persecuted Dutchman," filling dates January 2nd to the
7th, of 1871. The stock company then played along again until February
13th, when McKee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard and W. H. Power opened a
stellar engagement, playing two weeks to February 25th. Everywhere
else the Rankins were playing "The Danites," but owing to the odious
light in which that play presented the Mormon leaders, they did not
dare to produce it at the Salt Lake Theatre. Of course the managers
would not consent, and the great wonder is that Rankin could secure
dates at all at Brigham Young's theatre while he was starring through
the country in a play so well calculated to stir up prejudice against
the Mormons. "The Danites" had to be eliminated while the Rankins fell
back onto some old plays in which the stock company was up in. "Rip
Van Winkle," "Little Barefoot," and "Colleen Bawn" were given.
It may be of interest to note the fact here that "The Danites" has
never been played in Salt Lake or anywhere in Utah.
About this time George B. Waldron turned up again in Salt Lake, and
was installed as leading man to strengthen the company and ease
somewhat the labors of David McKenzie.
Rose Evans, a lady who was enamoured of "Hamlet," and made a specialty
of playing it, was introduced to Salt Lake soon after Waldron's
accession to the company, and we had during her engagement which ran
through the April conference, "Hamlet," "Twixt Axe and Crown,"
"Ingomar;" Miss Evans as "Parthenia" and Waldron as "Ingomar;" "Lady
Audrey's Secret," "Romeo and Juliet;" Waldron as "Romeo." Rose Evans
established herself very strongly in the favor of the Salt Lake
theatre goers. Her "Hamlet" was liked, and she played it intelligently
and perhaps as well as a woman could play it, but no woman can ever
play "Hamlet" satisfactorily to the critical mind; and very few men
out of the thousands of actors ever reach and handle it
satisfactorily. Her "Juliet" was very acceptable, but Waldron's voice
was' too basso profundo for "Romeo." It was hard to imagine him as the
youthful love-distraught Romeo with his deep set vocal organ.
Miss Evans closed on April 8th and was closely followed by Mlle. Marie
Ravel, who opened on the 10th, supported by Waldron and the stock
company and played an engagement of twenty nights. On May 4th Herr
Daniel E. Bandmann and his wife (his first one) opened an engagement
of five nights, presenting "Macbeth," "Hamlet," "Merchant of Venice,"
"Narcisse," and "Richard III." Bandmann, at this time, was a very
popular tragedian. He had played as early as '65 in San Francisco a
very successful engagement. He was now returning from his second visit
to San Francisco. He spoke with a decided German accent, which was,
however, not disagreeable to the ear, his voice being musical and his
reading very artistic and finished. Bandmann bought a ranch near
Missoula, Montana, some ten or twelve years ago and went into
semi-retirement. He had a curious advertisement in the Dramatic
Mirror, about as follows: "Daniel E. Bandmann, Tragedian and breeder
of fine horses and cattle." He also bred a large family of children on
that same ranch. When he went into retirement he took with him his
latest "leading lady," Mary Kelly, as his wife, and they have a number
of heirs to succeed to the tragedy and breeding business. His first
wife, Millie Palmer, still figures in London theatricals, and she has
a son who is conspicuous in theatrical management. Herr Bandmann still
makes spasmodic incursions into the surrounding country with an
improvised dramatic company and plays his favorite characters.
The next star to shine in our firmament was J. K. Emmett. "Joe," as he
was familiarly called, was just at the zenith of his fame about this
time, and he filled the theatre from pit to dome. The character of
"Fritz" appealed strongly to nearly all theatre goers, and "Joe"
Emmett with his bewitching voice and catchy lullabies, had an easy
road to fame and fortune. Emmett played from the 10th to the 13th.
The Couldocks, father and daughter, now played a return engagement,
covering two weeks, from May 22nd to June 5th, repeating mostly old
repertoire. They were followed closely by Mr. and Mrs. Ida Hernandez,
a Polish couple, who came to this country with Madam Modjeska, and
were now working their way to the East. They were clever performers,
but being unknown, they did not draw heavy houses. June 8th to the
11th.
The Lingards followed Hernandez in a brief engagement of three nights,
June 12th to 14th. The following week was filled in by the Hernandez
and the Carter-Cogswell contingent of the Salt Lake stock company. J.
M. Carter and his wife, Carrie Carter (nee Lyne-Cogswell) had recently
arrived from Denver and had been added to the stock company, which had
been weakened materially by the loss of several of its prominent
members. Hardie had gone to the Virginia City theatre; Lindsay had
gone on a visit to England and had withdrawn from the company for a
time; Miss Alexander had also drifted away to the East, so that when
the Carters arrived and sought engagement, the managers readily
availed themselves of their services. They played here for a few weeks
and at the close of the season went on to California.
On July 3rd, Edwin Adams made his first appearance at this theatre. He
opened in the character of "Rover" in "Wild Oats" and played in
addition, "Extremes," "Enoch Arden," and "William" in "Black Eyed
Susan." Mr. Adams filled out a week with great satisfaction to our
theatre goers, the managers, and the company, and with very
satisfactory financial results to himself. He was a gratification to
both eyes and ears a brilliant actor with a melodious voice, and in
appearance the ideal actor.
The following week John McCullough, who had with him Helen Tracy as a
leading female support, played a notable engagement, rendered more so
by the fact that Edwin Adams was retained to appear in conjunction
with Mr. McCullough. They gave "Damon and Pythias," with McCullough as
"Damon" and Adams as "Pythias," and notwithstanding McCullough made an
excellent "Damon," so convincing was Adams as "Pythias," that the
critical Salt Lakers declared it was "Pythias" and "Damon" on that
occasion, putting the brilliant Adams ahead of McCullough in their
admiration. Adams played "Iago" to McCullough's "Othello" and even
strengthened the favorable opinion of him. For their closing
performance together, "Hamlet" was given with Adams as the Prince and
McCullough as the King. Miss Helen Tracy lent some lustre to the
triple alliance and this engagement is remembered as one of the most
notable ever given in the now historic theatre.
Just how it chanced that McCullough and Adams got dates so close
together, the one immediately succeeding the other, I have forgotten,
but as Adams was going to the Pacific coast and McCullough and Miss
Tracy were going East, I presume that their meeting here was purely
accidental.
They were very glad to see each other, "John" and "Ned," and decided
to have a good time while they were together; to that end Adams, who
was in no great hurry to get to San Francisco, decided to stay over
during McCullough's engagement and play in some of his pieces with
him, which he did as stated above. The combination was a strong one,
and no doubt helped McCullough's engagement, as this was his second
visit; but the primary object of the combination was evidently to have
a good time. We had an actors' club here at that early day which must
not be forgotten.
On January 16th preceding, Milton Nobles played the "Marble Heart,"
appearing as Raphael. Nobles was then a young actor, comparatively
unknown. He was on his way to the East, where some years later he
became widely known through his plays of "The Phoenix," "From Sire to
Son," etc.
There was at this time residing in Salt Lake a gentleman by the name
of Bentham Fabian. Fabian was widely and favorably known for certain
peculiarities. He was extremely fond of the theatre, and every actor
was his friend. He was one of those versatile fellows that could turn
his hand to many things. He organized a public library here, which he
called "The Salt Lake Exchange and Reading Rooms," and he was the
librarian. It was while Milton Nobles was here that Fabian worked up a
"benefit" for this library, at which Governor Vaughn, (then Governor
of Utah), recited Poe's "Bells," and Nobles and the writer gave the
third act of "Othello" (in evening dress), Nobles reading "Iago," and
the writer "Othello." There were several other numbers by Fabian and
others, and music by the Military band from Fort Douglas. One of
Fabian's strong peculiarities was that he loved his pipe and glass and
occasionally his courtly bearing and Chesterfieldian manners would get
a little lopsided and obscure. This benefit, being a sort of royal
occasion with Bentham, he had a fresh keg of beer in his den behind
the library, and after the entertainment was over he invited all the
performers (except the "band") to go and help drink it.
Governor Vaughn having a prior engagement, declined, but the rest of
us adjourned to the library. Fabian, eager to treat "the boys," made
haste to tap the keg, but there was a decided uncertainty about his
manipulation of the mallet and tap, which plainly indicated that he
had already been tapping something. So Cyrus Hawley (Judge Hawley's
son) rather impatiently and dramatically exclaimed, "Give me the
daggers!" (the mallet and tap), and taking them from Fabian with the
air of an expert tapster, he proceeded to drive the tap; he made a
misslick, and in an instant he was covered from head to foot in foamy
beer. His nice clothes were apparently ruined, and he was roundly
sworn at for wasting so much good beer. After stopping the flood,
there proved to be sufficient left to make all hands merry and happy.
About this time Fabian, who was a great projector of schemes,
succeeded in organizing an actors' club, to which he made us all pay
tribute, not only the actors, but a number of other professional men
and good fellows were made members, and when the transient "stars"
came along, we generally contrived to give them a good time, although
our quarters were not so pretentious as those of the Alta or Comcial
clubs of today. During the Adams-McCullough engagements these actors
were the guests of "the club," and dear old Fabian was in his glory.
Fabian was the president of the club, and he certainly wined and dined
McCullough and Adams to their hearts' content. On their closing night
we had a great carousal, even Miss Tracy did not escape. It was a
memorable night truly. Everybody present seemed determined to give
"John" McCullough and "Ned" Adams a royal time, and they had it.
"Care mad to see a man sae happy;
E'en drowned himsel among the nappy.
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
O'er all the ills of life victorious."
_Burns' "Tam O'Shanter"_.
The stock company played one week, even after this brilliant
triumvirate had united its course, with Mr. and Mrs. Carter doing
leads. That they could hold the interest of the public after such a
combination of talent as Adams, McCullough and Tracy dropped away from
them was not to be expected. In looking back at it from this distance,
the wise thing for the managers to have done would have been to close
the season with that extraordinary engagement, but the Carters were
here and had a play or two to exploit, and struggled through a week
when the management were glad to close the season, with the Pioneer
holiday, July 24th. Here was another case of playing all summer, for
the theatre only remained closed about ten nights, opening on the 10th
of August. The advent of the Carters into Salt Lake and their
engagement at the Salt Lake theatre was not devoid of interest. It
was well-known to many that Mrs. Carter (Carrie Cogswell) had been the
wife of the veteran tragedian, Mr. T. A. Lyne, who was very much
perturbed at their presence here. He declared that she had come here
expressly to annoy him, and nothing could convince him to the
contrary, so when after a short stay here, Mr. and Mrs. Carter and
their son, Lincoln J., now the celebrated Chicago playbuilder and
manager, took their departure for California, Lyne's heart was joyful.
There were two children, a boy and a girl, the offspring of the
Lyne-Cogswell marriage. The court, in giving Lyne the deliverance
which he sought on the grounds of desertion, gave him the custody of
the two children, and he had them in Salt Lake attending school, and
he was very apprehensive that the mother might kidnap them. So when
she had departed without any signs of having molested the children the
veteran was happy, for he never dreamed they would return, but alas!
for the contrariness of human nature, in this he was doomed to
disappointment. Lyne had been for the second time a widower when he
met Miss Carrie Cogswell. She was about sixteen and he about fifty.
Lyne at this age was an active, fine-looking man with hair as dark as
a raven's wing and a very commanding presence. Miss Cogswell was
enamored of the stage and soon became not only Mrs. Lyne, but "leading
lady" for Lyne. After some years of married life, and two children had
been born to them, there came a cloud in their sky. In the same
company chanced a young man by the name of Carter, whose father, Jared
Carter, had been a leading light in the Mormon Church in the Nauvoo
days. Disparity in age and incompatibility of temperament between Mr.
and Mrs. Lyne gradually brought about a separation and divorce. By
this time both had sought and found new matrimonial alliances. Mrs.
Lyne had some years now been Mrs. Carter and Mr. Lyne had found
consolation in a French widow whose Christian name was Madeline. Such
was the situation at the time when the Carters made their first visit
to Salt Lake, and the veteran tragedian having settled down in Salt
Lake to end his days, was in mortal dread of the Carters fixing their
future home here too.