Retrospectively considered, the building of the Walker Opera House was
premature. There was one good theatre here, and not half enough of
business for that one; but it served to enliven things for a little
while, and did its share toward liberalizing and metropolitanizing
Salt Lake City. The Walker had a brief and rather checkered career; it
was destroyed by fire on July 4th, 1891, after a performance of "Held
by the Enemy." The audience were all home and the company had left the
theatre; the stage hands were lowering a drop, when a gust of wind
blew open the front door and sent the drop sailing against a gas jet;
in a moment it was all ablaze. The stage hands lost their heads and
made for the exit, when a little presence of mind would have saved the
building. The house, especially the stage, was well provided with
water plugs and hose, and it seems incredible that any effort was made
to extinguish the fire.
Mr. Will Burgess was manager at the time it burned down. It is a
remarkable fact that two other fine theatres burned under this same
gentleman's management within a few years afterward. The Farnham
Street Theatre of Omaha, where a number of lives were lost, and The
Auditorium of Kansas City. Notwithstanding these very serious
drawbacks, Mr. Burgess is one of the wealthy managers of the West
today.
After the burning of "The Walker," Malloy's Livery Stable, directly
opposite the Walker, was converted into a theatre, when it was decided
to build an office block on the ruins of the Walker. For some time it
was known as "Wonderland," and was a two storied show; the upper story
being a sort of curiosity shop--or Wonderland with specialties and the
lower story having a small stage was devoted to vaudeville, and short
plays. Afterwards the two stories were thrown into one room, and
converted into a theatre with capacity for about six hundred people.
It was called the Lyceum. Here a stock company was run for about a
year with varying fortune. Some actors who have since won high places
in their professions were members of this stock, notably Charles
Richman, Ed Hayes, Victory Bateman.
The Lyceum soon went into a decline struggled along for a few years
against adverse fortune and finally yielded up the ghost. It was
transformed into a handsome saloon and wholesale liquor house, from
which a greater revenue is derived than it yielded as a theatre.
Before the Lyceum went out of commission as a theatre another
theatrical venture was launched. This was the Grand. This theatre was
built (or partly so) by Mr. Frank Maltese and Mr. "Brig" Pyper. The
story of how they projected, planned and built this theatre is told as
follows: "Brig" and "Frank" made a winning in a "policy drawing." They
held between them a one-fourth interest in a fifty-dollar policy
ticket. In a sporty manner they bantered each other as to what they
should do with their big winning of $12.50. One was in favor of
reinvesting it in the next policy drawing, the other for trying their
luck at the "faro-bank." Finally, in a lurid flash of imagination one
(which one we don't remember, but we believe it was Frank), exclaimed:
"Let's build an Opera House with it." The idea was so absurd, they had
a good laugh over it; but the thought took hold of them, and one of
them suggested, "Let's figure up and see _how much more_ it will
take." So on the back of the policy ticket they figured up roughly
what it would take in addition to their winnings to build "The Grand."
The result was no doubt staggering; but undismayed they went about to
see how they could accomplish such a herculean task. They owned some
property, or their folks did, and this they decided to put in jeopardy
in order to carry out their designs. They secured the building site,
and got the walls up and the roof on--and then they were stuck. They
had reached the end of their financial tether, and were forced to stop
until they could make some new deal by which to complete the building.
Mr. Alec Rogers was the party who now came to the front and put up
some $16,000 to complete the building. We don't know just how much
interest the boys Maltese and Pyper had remaining in it when the
theatre was completed, but we opine it was little if any. The Grand
opened with the house in the possession of Alex. Rogers and sons, and
John Rogers was installed as the manager. He secured a very good
company for the opening, announcing a season of stock performances.
The house was opened on Christmas Eve, December 24th, 1894. The
personnel of the company was as follows: Jane Kennark, Blanche Bates,
Madge Carr Cook, Jean Coy, Howard Kyle, Tim Frawley, Charles King,
Harry Corson Clarke, H. D. Blackmore, Fred Fjaders, Mr. Mannery. The
opening play was "Moths." It was a good performance, and the company
made a very favorable impression. The axiom that "A new broom sweeps
well" had a number of exemplifications in this theatre. It was so with
this first company, notwithstanding it was a talented and capable one.
After it had been seen in a few plays, and the _novelty_ of the new
house, miscalled "The Grand," was over, business began to drop off and
it was more than the manager could do to keep ahead with the expensive
company he had.
Why this theatre was called "The Grand" we were never able to divine,
as it was at the opening positively severe in its plainness. There is
a great tendency in our country to buncombe, aside from the genuine
patriotism that exists in it; this tendency leads many of our fellow
citizens into silly extravagances, especially is this noticeable in
the naming of theatres, hotels and restaurants; more particularly is
this the case in the small towns. A man opens a little restaurant
scarcely big enough to accommodate a dozen persons, and everything in
it of the plainest and commonest kind, and he dubs it the "Palace"
restaurant. "Opera House" is a much abused appellation. Nearly every
insignificant, dingy, dismal, inconvenient, and homely theatre and
hall throughout the land is dubbed Opera House. It is a dreadful
misnomer--inconsistent and absurd in three-fourths of the houses to
which it is applied. "The Theatre" is dignified enough and much more
consistent and suitable. "The Grand" during the ten years of its
existence has had a checkered career. We doubt if any of its half
dozen different managers have made it pay. The first company, as
already stated, was found to be too expensive, the business would not
sustain the heavy salary list, not only was the salary list large, but
Mr. Frawley made a demand for a percentage of the receipts in
addition. This sprung a disagreement, and the company was after about
four or five weeks superseded by another less expensive. The Rogers
management was able, liberal and intent on giving the public
satisfaction. After a fair trial of the business, lasting three years,
they disposed of the house on a lease to Mr. Garvey of pageantry fame,
who spent a few hundred he had made on the "Pioneer Carnival" on the
house in the way of improvements, and then called it "The New Grand."
_Ad captandiun vulgas_.
Garvey's reign was brief and unprofitable. Then Mr. Martin Mulvey took
a swing at it, and made things lively for two seasons, but the
supposition is that he did not make money with it or he would not have
given up the lease. The last management, Messrs. Jones and Hammer,
have seemingly had the most prosperous time with the house; they have
profited by the experience of their predecessors, and yet it appears
they have not realized their expectations, and so have re-leased the
house to Denver parties.
Having brought the history of the Salt Lake Theatre through the first
twenty years of its existence up to the time when the stock company
was altogether disbanded, owing to the fact that the combination
system had come so fully into vogue as to displace the stock system
all over the country, I shall not attempt to give its history after
this time, as my connection with it had altogether ceased. I shall
only add that for the past twenty-three years it has kept the even
tenor of its way, under able managers (notably Mr. Charles R. Burton
and later George Pyper), playing the leading attractions of the
country to a splendid patronage, keeping up the reputation of Salt
Lake as "the best show town of its population in the world."
More than twenty years ago several attempts were made to establish a
vaudeville theatre in this city; two houses were built at different
times for the purpose, but they were short-lived, dying out for lack
of patronage. Within the last three years, however, the city's
population having greatly increased, no less than four have been
started here, two of which survive and seem to be doing well.
During the early years of the drama in Utah, several of the towns
besides Salt Lake had very talented companies. Provo, Springville,
Ogden, Brigham City, and St. George each had fairly good theatres and
many very capable players. It is somewhat remarkable, however, that
out of the hundreds of persons who have "gone on the stage" in Utah,
so few have drifted into the profession and left their homes to follow
it; the percentage is very small. Miss Sarah Alexander was the first
to drift off, and although she has not made much stir on the stage
herself, she has chaperoned her niece Miss Lisle Leigh to fine
success. Mr. James M. Hardie was the next to break away; then Miss
Anne Adams, Mr. Logan Paul and the writer complete the list so far as
the Salt Lake Stock Company is concerned. Later Miss Ada Dwyer and Mr.
DeWitt Jennings. This is accounted for by the fact that, much as the
Mormons love the theatre, they love their homes and their religion
better. The theatre is a pleasant pastime with them, but the staying
at home and building up of their kingdom is a religious duty, and
unless they are "called on a mission," they prefer to stay with home
and Church.