I had been absent from October 14th, 1874, to January 26th, 1875, a little over three months, during which time the following attractions appeared at the Salt Lake Theatre: The Wheeler Comedy troupe, October 29th to 31st. On November 2nd, Risley's Panorama "Mirror of England" opened for a week. On the 13th and 14th the Infantry combination. On the 16th Frank Mayo and Rosa Rand opened a week's engagement presenting "Davy Crockett" and "Streets of New York." On the 25th Agnes Booth and Joseph Wheelock opened in "Much Ado About Nothing," and filled out a week with "King John" and the comedy "Engaged." On December 2nd R. H. Cox, familiarly known as "Daddy Cox," among professionals on the coast, opened a four nights' engagement with "The Detective," which went for two nights. The other two nights he gave "The Bells That Rang Nellie a Bride." Daddy Cox had recently left Piper's theatre in Virginia City, where he had been stage manager for a time.
On the 9th, Harry Rickards, an English comic singer of great spread and self importance, opened for a week's engagement in conjunction with the stock company. Rickards was recently from Australia and put in a week at the Bush Street during the writer's engagement there. His singing and style did not catch on with the San Franciscans. He was too "awfully English, yer know." He did not prove any great attraction in Salt Lake. On the 21st a grand concert was given for the benefit of the Catholic church. On the 22nd, W. J. Florence opened for a week, supported by the stock company. His opening play was "Dombey and Son." He gave besides "No Thoroughfare" and the "Colleen Bawn." Each piece ran two nights, carrying the season through the Christmas holidays and the house closed with his last performance on the 26th until New Year's day. January 1st, 1875, the theatre reopened with the stock company, who, without the assistance of any stellar attraction, played two weeks when the house closed again until the 25th inst.
Of the people who had comprised the stock company the previous season, the following members had drifted away: J. Al. Sawtelle, leading man; Mrs. Sawtelle, general utility; John S. Lindsay, leading heavy; Asenith Adams (Mrs. Kiskadden), leading juveniles; W. S. Crosbie, comedian; Arrah Crosbie, characters; J. H. Vinson, first old man and stage manager; Buck Zabriske, prompter. The uncertain and spasmodic nature of the engagements this season, which had caused this strong contingent of the company to seek other engagements, also prevented the accession of new people to the ranks of the stock company, so that it was in a rather dilapidated and weakened condition, especially for the support of legitimate repertoire, such as Katherine Rogers presented for the patrons of the drama.
On January 25th she opened in "Romeo and Juliet." Mr. "Mike" Foster was the Romeo for the occasion. The "leading men" were all out of the way and this was sudden promotion for Foster one of those opportunities that come but rarely to the ambitious young actor, and nearly always bring new honors and distinction. "Mike" struggled manfully with his task, but he did not make an ideal Romeo. On the following evening the writer made his reappearance with the company, after an absence of three months. He played Master Walter in the "Hunchback" on the occasion and was warmly welcomed by the audience. Miss Rogers played in addition to "Romeo and Juliet" and the "Hunchback," "As You Like It," "Love's Sacrifice," "Pygmalion and Galatea," "Lady of Lyons," "Leah," in which the writer played the following characters respectively: Jacques, Matthew Elmore, Pygmalion, Claude Melnotte, Lorenz. Such a repertory, where each play ran for but two performances, put the company on high tension. Those who had new parts, and particularly if they had never played in the pieces, found it very exacting work. Fortunately for the writer, he had played most of the parts before, yet it was a busy time for him during that engagement.
Following closely on Miss Rogers with her legitimate plays, came the English comedian known professionally as Willie Gill and his wife, Rose Bain. These co-stars had recently been associated with the writer at Piper's theatre at Virginia City, where they played for a month or so in stock and it was a little of a surprise to me to find they had suddenly materialized into stars and were billed for a week at the Salt Lake Theatre. With sublime assurance, especially for a play writer, which Willie even then professed to be (as well as a comedian), he put up Mark Twain's "A Gilded Age." The piece had been but recently dramatized and had made a marked success with John T. Raymond as Col. Sellers. Raymond had played several engagements with us at the Salt Lake Theatre and was a great favorite, and was looking forward to another visit in the near future with his greatest success, Col. Sellers. Some one apprised him by telegram that Gill was billed to play the piece here and he promptly wired a well known law firm to enjoin Gill from playing it. The managers, Clawson and Caine, were also warned not to play it, so an emergency bill was prepared in the event that they should be stopped. The law firm had taken the necessary proceedings and just before "ringing up" time, as no change of performance had been announced, they appeared on the scene with the necessary officer and papers and the performance of "A Gilded Age" was formally and effectually enjoined. "All That Glitters Is Not Gold" was substituted. This was a lesson to the English comedian late from Australia which he possibly never forgot, especially as a few years later he retired from the stage and settled down in New York as a professional writer for the stage. He was a clever adapter and dramatizer, as his version of "A Gilded Age" bore witness, and he no doubt found plenty of materials to use in his craft, whose authors were not so well known as Mark Twain nor so particular in regard to their copyrights. Willie learned the truth of the axiom that "All that glitters is not gold," even "A Gilded Age" on that memorable night, for it materially injured the business during the remainder of his engagement.
"Built on Sand" was the next evening's offering and it was probably too suggestive of Willie's hopes in respect to "A Gilded Age" to be a good drawing card, so it only went the one night. The company had their work cut out here also; the next play was a new one with them; he called it Madge of Elvanlee; it was a dramatization of Charles Gibbons "For the King," a very powerful story of the Restoration period, and gave Rose Bain, his wife, the chance of her life to make a hit as a leading actress; but she failed to score any marked success, giving only a passable rendition of the character. Fortunately again for this individual, he had during his absence played in this play at the Bush Street Theatre. Jim Herne used it as the vehicle for the debut of a talented San Francisco' lady, who created a little ripple of excitement by her advent on the stage. I afterwards played the leading character in it at Virginia in conjunction with Miss Bain and Mr. Gill, so that it was comparatively easy for me in regard to study. This play was forced two nights, meantime the company had another new play sprung on them for Friday night. Miss Rose Bain was evidently bent on being the bright particular star of this engagement. Willie had failed in his Col. Sellers scheme, and Rose saw her opportunity and pushed it to the utmost. "The Sphinx," a mythological play, taxing the powers of no less an actress than Annette Ince (one of the greatest of her time) was the next offering to the public, and an exacting task for the company. Here again I was lucky, as I had only about six weeks before played a week in the piece with Miss Ince at the Bush Street theatre, and although I had now a different part, I was sufficiently familiar with the play to make my task easy, as compared with the rest of the company.
"The Sphinx" did not prove popular, owing largely to Miss Bain's inadequacy. So "Madge of Elvanlee" was restored for Saturday night, and so ended a very unprofitable week, both for "stars" and management. Willie Gill afterwards acquired fame as the writer of several successful comedy sketches. Rose Bain we have never heard of since. From the 13th to the 22nd of February, the theatre was dark, which gave the overworked stock company a rest they no doubt enjoyed, but cut off their salaries, which they did not relish.
On the 22nd, Washington's Birthday, the theatre was used as a ball room—the Firemen gave a "Grand Ball" and for the occasion the theatre was transformed, as it had been a number of times before, to accommodate an enormous crowd of dancers. The entire parquet was covered with floor made in sections, making the stage and the auditorium into one vast dancing hall. Hundreds who did not participate in the dance paid admission fees to sit in the circles and watch the dancers go through the bewitching and bewildering figures to the strains of a fine orchestra secured for the occasion. By the following evening, the floor was removed, the chairs back in place, and the theatre had resumed its normal appearance. On this date, the 23rd, The Alleghanians, a company of Swiss Bell Ringers and Vocalists, opened and played throughout the remainder of the week, five nights and a matinee. The company had now had a three weeks' rest and were anxious to be doing something again, so a series of "benefits" were put on. Commencing on March 6th, Clara Jean Walters took a benefit, playing Edward Tullidge's "Ben Israel," a very powerful play commemorative of the return of the Jews to England. On the 8th Mr. Lindsay "benefited," played "Jack Cade," and on the 10th E. B. Mar den, who had been in the stock for several years, took a benefit, playing Featherly in "Everybody's Friend." The theatre was again closed until the 22nd inst., when The Lingards came in and, supported by the stock, stiffened up business to some extent; continued until the 31 st. The April Conference being close at hand, it was decided to play the stock through the Conference in some of the old favorites, and they continued right along after the Lingards left. That is the marvelous part of it that they could do any business after dropping out a strong stellar attraction, but on they played through the Conference and on up to the 1st of May, when the season closed and with the season the management under the "Salt Lake Theatre Corporation" closed.
Their second season had not proved sufficiently profitable, although they had severely curtailed expenses by cutting down the company, to clear them of indebtedness, and the corporation quit badly in the hole.
The close of the Clawson and Caine management and the end of the Salt Lake Theatre Corporation was virtually the retirement of the stock company, which had been playing from the opening of the theatre in '62 up to the present date, May 1st, 1875, a period of 13 years. Of course a great many changes had taken place during those years in the personnel of the company, but a few of the original members remained, and the organization or ensemble of the company had been kept intact. Now, however, the gradually encroaching combination system made it impracticable for the managers to offer a season's engagement to those who were willing and anxious to engage. The necessity for a stock company became rapidly less from this time on, until in the year 1878 it had become defunct altogether.