The house cheered the letter, and when it was put to vote decided
unanimously that the play had been a success--a verdict more kindly than
true.
J. I. Ford, of the theater management, wrote to Clemens, next morning
after the first performance, urging him to come to Washington in person
and “wet nurse” the play until “it could do for itself.”
Ford expressed satisfaction with the play and its prospects, and
concludes:
I inclose notices. Come if you can. “Your presence will be worth ten
thousand men. The king's name is a tower of strength.” I have urged the
President to come to-night.
The play made no money in Washington, but Augustin Daly decided to put
it on in New York at the Fifth Avenue Theater, with a company which
included, besides Parsloe, Edmund Collier, P. A. Anderson, Dora
Goldthwaite, Henry Crisp, and Mrs. Wells, a very worthy group of players
indeed. Clemens was present at the opening, dressed in white, which he
affected only for warm-weather use in those days, and made a speech at
the end of the third act.
“Ah Sin” did not excite much enthusiasm among New York dramatic
critics. The houses were promising for a time, but for some reason the
performance as a whole did not contain the elements of prosperity. It
set out on its provincial travels with no particular prestige beyond the
reputation of its authors; and it would seem that this was not enough,
for it failed to pay, and all parties concerned presently abandoned
it to its fate and it was heard of no more. Just why “Ah Sin” did not
prosper it would not become us to decide at this far remove of time and
taste. Poorer plays have succeeded and better plays have failed since
then, and no one has ever been able to demonstrate the mystery. A touch
somewhere, a pulling-about and a readjustment, might have saved “Ali
Sin,” but the pullings and haulings which they gave it did not. Perhaps
it still lies in some managerial vault, and some day may be dragged to
light and reconstructed and recast, and come into its reward. Who knows?
Or it may have drifted to that harbor of forgotten plays, whence there
is no returning.
As between Harte and Clemens, the whole matter was unfortunate. In the
course of their association there arose a friction and the long-time
friendship disappeared.