The Mormons and the Theatre or The History of Theatricals in Utah

ing into Montana; returning a year or so later in conjunction with Mrs. Waldron. He had found his mate and brought her to Salt Lake to make her acquainted with his many friends

drifted off to the East in company with a literary lady named Lisle Lester. They took with them Sarah's little niece, her dead sister's baby, Baby Finlayson, then but two years old. Miss Finlayson, under her aunt's c

ake and the West. At this writing George Waldron has been dead for ten years,

k" days meant far more than that office means today. "Why, in the elder day to be a 'stage manager' was greater than to be a king," in any of the plays. Briefly enumerated, his duties were: First, to read carefully and then cast all the plays. The casting of a play is a most important affair. It must be done with great care and consideration so as to get the best results, and at the same time each actor his "line" of parts as near as practicable; then he must write out the cast, and hang it up in the case in the green room-write out all "calls" for rehearsals, and hang them up in the case. Then he must direct all rehearsals. To do this, he must study out all the "business" of the play in advance of the rehearsals, so he will be able to dir

d well ahead, so as to give the copyist plenty of time to get parts ready for distribution. Besides these duties, the stage manager had to write out all the "copy" for advertisements and posters and house programs, see to the painting of new scenes, and the making of new properties; also, any new costumes that had to be ma

People's Lawyer," W. C. Dunbar being the "Solon Shingle" on the occasion. Her maiden effort proved very successful and satisfactory to the management, and during Julia Dean's long engagement she proved to be a valuable acquisition to the stock company. She made rapid progress in the dram

ndsome and cavalierly as he could be, he was classed as a gambler; while Jim could flip the pasteboards just as skillfully, and lay them all out at billiards, he did not follow it for a "stiddy liven," but held the cashier's box in his brother's bank, for a steady job, and only sported on the side, and so it came to pass that in the course of time Jim distanced his handsome rival and bore off the prize. Many of "Senith's" friends regretted this, as Jim did not belong to the household of faith, but was a rank, out-spoken Gentile, utterly opposed to Mormon ways, and not afraid to say so. Whereas all of "Senith's" folks were staunch adherents of the Mormon faith and were striving to live their religion in all its phases. So they did not rejoice over "Senith's" marriage to a Gentile (as all non-Mormons were called-Jews included). They regarded it as equivalent to apostasy from the faith in which she had been reared, periling her soul's salvation. She was not appalled, however, by the gloomy and hopeless pictures some of her friends were kind enough to paint for her, and bravely married the man she had set her heart upon and stuck by him through thick and thin, sunshine and storm, prosperity and adversity. On November 11th, 1872, Maude Kiskadden was born, within a stone's throw of the Salt Lake Theatre, and before she was a year old made her debut on the stage where her mother was a debutante some eight years before. It looks now as if it were fate, as if she was predestined for a great stage career. There was an emergency and Maude, not yet a year old, was there to fill it. It happened in the following manner. In those palmy days of the profession, the old stock days as they are now called, it was customary to supplement the play with a farce-no matter how long the play-even if a five-act tragedy, the evening's performance was not considered complete without a farce to conclude with. On this particular occasion, the farce was the "Lost Child," a favorite with our comedian, Mr. Phil Margetts. He played Jones, a fond and loving parent, who goes distracted over his lost child. Instead of providing a real baby, as the property man had been instructed to do, he had a grotesque-looking rag baby, not at all to the comedian's taste in the matter. Millard, the property man, declared he had been un

rts both before and after Maude's birth, often taking Maudie with her, both to rehearsals and performances, so that she became a familiar litt

hould be late and make a "stage wait," the stage manager might reprimand him, and impose a fine. Fines were also imposed for being tardy at rehearsals. There was seldom any occasion for the enforcement of this penalty, except in the case of "Jim" Hardie. "Jim" was a notorious laggard, and often kept the company waiting for him. On one occasion the company had been waiting his arrival for fifteen or twenty minutes, when he strode in very hurriedly and taking the centre of the stage, took off his hat and wiping the perspiration from his brow, began an apology to the stage manager for being late. He had only just begun to talk

ompany, including the writer, to form a stock company for Mr. John Piper, the Virginia City manager. "Maudie," now nearly two years old, formed one of the party. After playing a season with Mr. Piper, Miss Adams went to San Francisco, where her husband had preceded her some months previou

he family is quite enough." Maude looked up with a touch of his own determination in her voice: "Papa, I won't make a fool of myself." She was irresistible-her papa had to consent. Her second part was Crystal in Herne and Belasco's "Hearts of Oak," then played under the name of "Chums." She afterwards played a part with Oliver Doud Byron-and in 1878, when six years old, played little "Adriene" in "A Celebrated Case" at the Baldwin Theatre. In this character she made a decided hit. After the run of the play at the Baldwin, it was tak

t its conclusion, she and her mother returned to San Francisco, and she was not seen again in public for some years. Mr. Kiskadden died in San Francisco in '83, and Mrs. Kiskadden took his remains to Salt Lake for burial. There she settled down for a time and sent Maudie to school. Here in the city of her birth she attended school for