The Mormons and the Theatre; or, The History of Theatricals in UtahLindsay, John S. (John Shanks)
Religion
The Mormons and the Theatre; or, The History of Theatricals in Utah
Lindsay, John S. (John Shanks)
Latter Day Saints; Theater -- Utah -- History
Lyne had made his visit remunerative and had enshrined himself in the
hearts of the Mormon people, as the sequel will show: but he drifted
away from them as unexpectedly as he had come. Having become a convert
to the new religion, it was confidently expected that he would remain
among the Saints and be one of them; but he drifted away from them and
the Mormons saw no more of "Tom" Lyne till he turned up in Salt Lake
twenty years later, soon after the opening of the Salt Lake Theatre.
Lyne was the first star to tread its stage and played quite a number
of engagements during the years from '62 to '70. He made money enough
out of his engagements at the Salt Lake Theatre to live on for the
remainder of his days. For the last twenty years of his life, he
rarely appeared in public except to give a reading occasionally. With
his French wife, Madeline, he settled down and took life easy, living
cosily in his own cottage, and in 1891 at the advanced age of
eighty-four Thomas A. Lyne passed peacefully away, a firm believer in
a life to come but at utter variance with the Mormon creed, which he
had discarded soon after his departure from Nauvoo.
CHAPTER II.
Thus far into the bowels of the land
Have we marched on without impediment.
--Shakespeare.
When the Mormons came from Nauvoo to Salt Lake they brought with them
to this wilderness in the Rocky Mountains, the love of the drama, and
as a consequence it was not long, only a few years from 1847 to 1850,
before they began to long for something in the way of a theatre.
The pleasant recollections of the drama as interpreted at Nauvoo by
Mr. Lyne and his supporting cast, were still fresh in their memories,
and almost before many of them had comfortable houses to live in they
began to yearn for some dramatic amusement. As a result of this strong
inclination for the play and a still more universal desire for
dancing, it was but a short time before their wishes materialized.
As early as the fall of 1850 they had formed a club called the Musical
and Dramatic Association. The name was a comprehensive one,
intentionally so, for the organization included the celebrated "Nauvoo
Brass Band," a number of whose members also figured in the dramatic
company. Indeed it was from this musical organization that the
dramatic company really sprang.
The members of this original dramatic company were John Kay, Hyrum B.
Clawson, Philip Margetts, Horace K. Whitney, Robert Campbell, R. T.
Burton, George B. Grant, Edmond Ellsworth, Henry Margetts, Edward
Martin, William Cutler, William Clayton, Miss Drum, Miss Margaret
Judd, and Miss Mary Badlam. Miss Badlam, in addition to playing parts,
was very popular as a dancer and gave her dancing specialties between
the acts, making something like our up-to-date continuous performance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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