associations in Charles's career, because from that hour until the day
of his death Lestocq represented Charles Frohman in England with a
fidelity of purpose and a devotion of interest that were characteristic
of the men who knew and worked with Charles Frohman.
[Illustration: THE DOVER STUDIOS. LONDON
_W. LESTOCQ_]
Frohman now returned to America to produce "Charley's Aunt." In spite of
the success of the Empire, Frohman had "plunged" in various ways, and
had reached one of the numerous financial crises in his life. He
looked upon "Charley's Aunt" as the agency that was to again redeem him.
For the American production he imported Etienne Girardot, who had played
the leading role in the English production. He surrounded Girardot with
an admirable cast, including W. J. Ferguson, Frank Burbeck, Henry
Woodruff, Nanette Comstock, and Jessie Busley.
Frohman personally rehearsed "Charley's Aunt." He tried it out first at
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the reception was not particularly
cordial. He returned to New York in a great state of apprehension,
although his good spirits were never dampened. On October 2, 1893, he
produced the play at the Standard, and it was an immediate success. As
the curtain went down on the first night's performance he assembled the
company on the stage and made a short speech, thanking them for their
co-operation. It was the first time in his career that he had done this,
and it showed how keenly concerned he was. It was another "Shenandoah,"
because it recouped his purse, depleted from numerous outside ventures,
inspired him with a fresh zeal, and enabled him to proceed with fresh
enterprises. It ran for two hundred nights, and then duplicated its New
York success on the road.
While gunning for "Charley's Aunt," Charles Frohman made his first
London production with "The Lost Paradise." He put it on in partnership
with the Gattis, at the Adelphi Theater in the Strand. It was a failure,
however, and it discouraged him from producing in England for some
little time.
These were the years when Frohman was making the few intimate
friendships that would mean so much to him until the closing hours of
his life. That of Charles Dillingham is an important one.
Dillingham had been a newspaper man in Chicago at a time when George
Ade, Peter Dunne, and Frank Vanderlip (now president of the National
City Bank) were his co-workers. He became secretary to Senator Squire,
and at Washington wrote a play called "Twelve P.M." A manager named
Frank Williams produced it in the old Bijou Theater, New York, just
about the time that Charles Frohman was presenting John Drew across the
street in "The Masked Ball." Dillingham had previously come on to New
York, and his hopes, naturally, were in the play. "Twelve P.M." was a
dismal failure, but it brought two unusual men together who became bosom
friends. It came about in this extraordinary way:
During the second (and last) week of the engagement of "Twelve P.M." at
the Bijou, Dillingham, who came every night to see his play, noticed a
short, stout, but important-looking man pass into the playhouse.
"Who is that man?" he asked.
He was told it was Charles Frohman.
A few days later he received a letter from Frohman, which said:
_Your play lacks all form and construction, but I like the lines
very much. Would you like to adapt a French farce for me?_
Dillingham accepted this commission and thus met Frohman. Dillingham was
then dramatic editor of the New York _Evening Sun_. One day he called on
Frohman and asked him to send him out with a show.
"When do you want to go?"
"Right away."
"Very well," said Frohman, who would always have his little joke. "You
can go to-morrow. I would like to get you off that paper, anyhow. You
write too many bad notices of my plays."
Dillingham first went out ahead of the Empire Stock Company and
afterward in advance of John Drew, in "That Imprudent Young Couple." He
left the job, however, and soon returned to Frohman, seeking other work.
"What would you like to do?" asked Frohman.
"Take my yacht and go to England," said Dillingham, facetiously.
"All right," said Frohman. "We sail Saturday," and handed him fifty
thousand dollars in stage money that happened to be lying on his desk.
Dillingham thought at first he was joking, but he was not. They sailed
on the _St. Paul_. Frohman had just established his first offices in
Henrietta Street. There was not much business to transact, and the pair
spent most of their time seeing plays. Dillingham acted as a sort of
secretary to Frohman.
One day a haughty Englishman came up to the offices and asked Dillingham
to take in his card.
"I have no time," said Dillingham, whose sense of humor is proverbial.
"What have you to do?" asked the man.
"I've got to wash the office windows first," was the reply.
The Englishman became enraged, strode in to Frohman, and told him what
Dillingham had said. Frohman laughed so heartily that he almost rolled
out of his chair. After the Englishman left he went out and
congratulated Dillingham on his jest. From that day dated a Damon and
Pythias friendship between the two men. They were almost inseparable
companions.
The time was at hand for another big star to twinkle in the Frohman
heaven. During all these years William Gillette had developed in
prestige and authority, both as actor and as playwright. The quiet,
thoughtful, scholarly-looking young actor who had knocked at the doors
of the Madison Square Theater with the manuscript of "The Professor,"
where it was produced after "Hazel Kirke," and whose road tours had been
booked by Charles Frohman in his early days as route-maker, now came
into his own. Curiously enough, his career was to be linked closely with
that of the little man he first knew in his early New York days.
Frohman, who had booked and produced Gillette's play "Held By the
Enemy," now regarded Gillette as star material of the first rank.
Combined with admiration for Gillette as artist was a strong personal
friendship. Gillette now wrote a play, a capital farce called "Too Much
Johnson," which Frohman produced with the author as star. In connection
with this opening was a typical Frohman incident.
The play was first put on at Waltham, Massachusetts. The house was small
and the notices bad. Frohman joined the company next day at Springfield.
Gillette was much depressed, and he met Frohman in this mood.
"This is terrible, isn't it? I'm afraid the play is a failure."
"Nonsense!" said Frohman. "I have booked it for New York and for a long
tour afterward."
"Why?" asked Gillette in astonishment.
"I saw your performance," was the reply.
[Illustration: _CHARLES DILLINGHAM_]
Frohman's confidence was vindicated, for when the play was put on at the
Standard Theater in November, 1894, it went splendidly and put another
rivet in Gillette's reputation.
Frohman now had two big stars, John Drew and William Gillette. A
half-dozen others were in the making, chief among them the wistful-eyed
little Maude Adams, who was now approaching the point in her career
where she was to establish a new tradition for the American stage and
give Charles Frohman a unique distinction.
VIII
MAUDE ADAMS AS STAR
When Charles Frohman put Maude Adams opposite John Drew in "The Masked
Ball" he laid the foundation of what is, in many respects, his most
remarkable achievement. The demure little girl, who had made her way
from child actress through the perils of vivid melodrama to a Broadway
success, now set foot on the real highway to a stardom that is unique in
the annals of the theater.
Brilliant as was his experience with the various men and women whom he
raised from obscurity to fame and fortune, the case of Maude Adams
stands out with peculiar distinctness. It is the one instance where
Charles Frohman literally manufactured a star's future.
Yet no star ever served so rigorous or so distinguished an
apprenticeship. Her five years as leading woman with John Drew tried all
her resource. After her brilliant performance as _Zuzanne Blondet_ in
"The Masked Ball," she appeared in "The Butterflies," by Henry Guy
Carleton. She had a much better part in "The Bauble Shop," which
followed the next year.
John Drew's vehicle in 1895 was "That Imprudent Young Couple," by Henry
Guy Carleton. This play not only advanced Miss Adams materially, but
first served to bring forward John Drew's niece, Ethel Barrymore, a
graceful slip of a girl, who developed a great friendship with Miss
Adams. Following her appearance in the Carleton play came "Christopher
Jr.," written by Madeline Lucette Ryley, in which Miss Adams scored the
biggest hit of her career up to this time.
It remained for Louis N. Parker's charming play, "Rosemary," which was
produced at the Empire Theater in 1896, to put Miss Adams into the path
of the man who, after Charles Frohman, did more than any other person in
the world to give her the prominence that she occupies to-day.
"Rosemary" was an exquisite comedy, and packed with sentiment. Maude
Adams played the part of _Dorothy Cruikshank_, a character of quaint and
appealing sweetness. It touched the hidden springs of whimsical humor
and thrilling tenderness, qualities which soon proved to be among her
chief assets.
Just about that time a little Scot, James M. Barrie by name, already a
distinguished literary figure who had blossomed forth as a playwright
with "Walker London" and "The Professor's Love Story," came to America
for the first time. For three people destined from this time on to be
inseparably entwined in career and fortune, it was a memorable trip. For
Barrie it meant the meeting with Charles Frohman, who was to be his
greatest American friend and producer; for Miss Adams it was to open the
way to her real career, and for Frohman himself it was to witness the
beginning of an intimacy that was perhaps the closest of his life.
Barrie's book, "The Little Minister," had been a tremendous success,
and, not having acquired the formality of a copyright in America, the
play pirates were busy with it. Frohman, after having seen the
performance of "The Professor's Love Story," had cabled Barrie, asking
him to make a play out of the charming Scotch romance. Barrie at first
declined. Frohman, as usual, was insistent. Then followed the
Scotchman's trip to America.
Under Frohman's influence he had begun to consider a dramatization of
"The Little Minister," but the real stimulus was lacking because, as he
expressed it to Frohman, he did not see any one who could play the part
of _Babbie_.
Now came one of those many unexpected moments that shape lives. On a
certain day Barrie dropped into the Empire Theater to see Frohman, who
was out.
"Why don't you stop in down-stairs and see 'Rosemary'?" said Frohman's
secretary.
"All right," said Barrie.
So he went down into the Empire and took a seat in the last row. An hour
afterward he came rushing back to Frohman's office, found his friend in,
and said to him, as excitedly as his Scotch nature would permit:
"Frohman, I have found the woman to play _Babbie_ in 'The Little
Minister'! I am going to try to dramatize it myself."
"Who is it?" asked Frohman, with a twinkle in his eye, for he knew
without asking.
"It is that little Miss Adams who plays _Dorothy_."
"Fine!" said Frohman. "I hope you will go ahead now and do the play."
The moment toward which Frohman had looked for years was now at hand. He
might have launched Miss Adams at any time during the preceding four or
five seasons. But he desired her to have a better equipment, and he
wanted the American theater-going public to know the woman in whose
talents he felt such an extraordinary confidence. He announced with a
suddenness that was startling, but which in reality conveyed no surprise
to the few people who had watched Miss Adams's career up to this time,
that he was going to launch her as star.
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY CHARLES FROHMAN
_MAUDE ADAMS_]
Some of his friends, however, objected.
"Why split and separate a good acting combination?" was their comment,
meaning the combination of John Drew and Miss Adams. To this objection
Frohman made reply:
"I'll show you the wisdom of it. I'll put them both on Broadway at the
same time."
He therefore launched Miss Adams in "The Little Minister" at the Empire
and booked John Drew at Wallack's in "A Marriage of Convenience." His
decision was amply vindicated, for both scored successes.
* * *
Charles Frohman now proceeded to present Miss Adams with his usual
lavishness. First of all he surrounded her with a superb company. It was
headed by Robert Edeson, who played the title role, and included Guy
Standing, George Fawcett, William H. Thompson, R. Peyton Carter, and
Wilfred Buckland.
With "The Little Minister" Charles Frohman gave interesting evidence of
a masterful manipulation to make circumstances meet his own desires. He
realized that the masculine title of the play might possibly detract
from Miss Adams's prestige, so he immediately began to adapt several
important scenes which might have been dominated by _Gavin Dishart_, the
little minister, into strong scenes for his new luminary. These changes
were made, of course, with Barrie's consent, and added much to the
strength of the role of _Lady Babbie_.
To the mastery of the part of _Lady Babbie_ Maude Adams now consecrated
herself with a fidelity of purpose which was very characteristic of her.
Then, as always, she asked herself the question:
"What will this character mean to the people who see it?"
In other words, here, as throughout all her career, she put herself in
the position of her audience. She devoted many weeks to a study of
Scotch dialect. She fairly lived in a Scotch atmosphere. One of her
friends of that time accused her of subsisting on a diet of Scotch
broth.
As was his custom, Frohman gave the piece an out-of-town try-out. It
opened on September 13, 1897, a date memorable in the Charles Frohman
narrative, in the La Fayette Square Opera House in Washington. It was an
intolerably hot night, and, added to the discomfort of the heat, there
was considerable uncertainty about the success of the venture itself.
This was not due to a lack of confidence in Miss Adams, but to the
feeling that the play was excessively Scotch. A brilliant audience,
including many people prominent in public life, witnessed the debut and
seemed most friendly.
Miss Adams regarded the first night as a failure. Financially the play
limped along for a week, for the gross receipts were only $3,500. Yet
when the play opened in New York two weeks later it was a spectacular
success from the start.
Here is another curious example of the importance of the New York
verdict. "Hazel Kirke," which became one of the historic successes of
the American stage, tottered along haltingly for weeks in Philadelphia,
Washington, and Baltimore. In the Quaker City, "Barbara Fritchie," with
Julia Marlowe in the title role, came dangerously near closing because
of discouraging business. Yet she came to New York, and with the
exception of "When Knighthood was in Flower," registered the greatest
popular triumph she has ever known. This was now the case with "The
Little Minister."
Miss Adams was irresistible as _Lady Babbie_. As the quaint, slyly
humorous, make-believe gipsy, she found full play for all her talents,
and she captured her audience almost with her first speech.
Charles Frohman sat nervously in the wings during the performance. When
the curtain went down his new star said to him:
"How did it go?"
"Splendidly," was his laconic comment.
"The Little Minister" ran at the Empire for three hundred consecutive
performances, two hundred and eighty-nine of which were to "standing
room only." The total gross receipts for the engagement were $370,000--a
record for that time.
On the last night of the run Miss Adams received the following cablegram
from Barrie:
_Thank you, thank you all for your brilliant achievement. "What a
glory to our kirk."_
BARRIE.
Maude Adams was now launched as a profitable and successful star. Like
many other conscientious and idealistic interpreters of the drama, she
had a great reverence for Shakespeare, and she burned with a desire to
play in one of the great bard's plays. Charles Frohman knew this. Then,
as always, one of his supreme ambitions in life was to gratify her every
wish, so he announced that he would present her in a special all-star
production of "Romeo and Juliet."
Charles Frohman himself was always frank enough to say that he had no
great desire to produce Shakespeare. He lived in the dramatic activities
of his day. It was shortly before this time that his brother Daniel,
entering his office one day, found him reading.
"I am reading a new book," he said; "that is, new to me."
"What is that?" was the query?
"'Romeo and Juliet,'" he replied.
When Maude Adams dropped the role of _Babbie_ to assume that of _Juliet_
some people thought the transfer a daring one, to say the least. Even
Miss Adams was a little nervous. Not so Frohman. To him Shakespeare was
simply a playwright like Clyde Fitch or Augustus Thomas, with the
additional advantage that he was dead, and therefore, as there were no
royalties to pay, he could put the money into the production.
When Frohman went to rehearsal one day he noticed that the company
seemed a trifle nervous.
"What's up?" he asked, abruptly.
Some one told him that the players were fearful lest all the details of
the costume and play should not be carried out in strict accordance with
history.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Frohman. "Who's Shakespeare? He was just a man. He
won't hurt you. I don't see any Shakespeare. Just imagine you're looking
at a soldier, home from the Cuban war, making love to a giggling
school-girl on a balcony. That's all I see, and that's the way I want it
played. Dismiss all idea of costume. Be modern."
The production of "Romeo and Juliet" was supervised by William Seymour.
It was rehearsed in two sections. One half of the cast was in New York,
with Faversham and Hackett; the other was on tour with Miss Adams in
"The Little Minister." Seymour divided his time between the two wings,
with the omnipresent spirit of Frohman over it all.
Miss Adams had made an exhaustive study of the part. After his first
conference with her, Seymour wrote to Frohman as follows:
_I thought I knew my Shakespeare, but Miss Adams has opened up a
new and most wonderful field. An hour with her has given me more
inspiration and ideas than twenty years of personal experience with
it._
As usual, Frohman surrounded Miss Adams with a magnificent cast. William
Faversham played _Romeo_; James K. Hackett was _Mercutio_; W. H.
Thompson was _Friar Lawrence_; Orrin Johnson played _Paris_; R. Peyton
Carter was _Peter_. Others in the company were Campbell Gollan and
Eugene Jepson.
"Romeo and Juliet" was produced at the Empire Theater May 8, 1899, and
was a distinguished artistic success. Miss Adams's _Juliet_ was
appealing, romantic, lovely. It touched the chords of all her gentle
womanliness and gave the character, so far as the American stage was
concerned, a new tradition of youthful charm.
A unique feature of the first night's performance of "Romeo and Juliet"
was the presence of Mary Anderson. This distinguished actress, who had
just arrived from London for a brief visit, expressed a desire to see
the new _Juliet_, and to feel once more the thrill of a Broadway first
night. Miss Anderson herself had, of course, achieved great distinction
as _Juliet_. She was regarded, in her day, as the physical and romantic
ideal of the role.
When her desire to see the play was communicated to Charles, it was
found that every box had been sold except the one reserved for his
sisters. He therefore purchased this from them with a check for $200.
At the conclusion of the performance Miss Anderson was introduced to
Miss Adams, and congratulated her on her success.
* * *
It was in 1900 that Miss Adams first played the part of a boy, a type of
character that, before many years would pass, was to give her a great
success. Her debut as a lad, however, was under the most brilliantly
artistic circumstances, because it was in Edmond Rostand's "L'Aiglon,"
adapted in English by Louis N. Parker. As the young Eaglet, son of the
great Napoleon, she had fresh opportunity to display her versatility. It
was a character in which romance, pathos, and tragedy were curiously
entwined. Bernhardt had done it successfully in Paris, but Miss Adams
brought to it the fidelity and brilliancy of youth. In "L'Aiglon" she
was supported by Edwin Arden, Oswald Yorke, Eugene Jepson, J. H.
Gilmour, and R. Peyton Carter.
* * *
When Charles Frohman put Miss Adams into "Romeo and Juliet" she received
a whimsical letter from J. M. Barrie, saying, among other things:
_Are you going to take Willie Shakespeare by the arm and l'ave me?_
The time was now at hand when she once more took the fascinating Scot by
the arm. She now appeared in his "Quality Street," a new play with the
real Barrie charm, in which she took the part of an exquisite English
girl whose betrothed goes to the Napoleonic wars. She thinks he has
forgotten her, and allows herself to externally fade into spinsterhood.
When he comes back he does not recognize her. Then she suddenly blooms
into exquisite youth--radiant and beguiling--and he discovers that it is
his old love.
"Quality Street" was tried out in Toledo, Ohio, early in the season of
1901. On the opening night an incident occurred which showed Frohman's
attitude toward new plays. The third act dragged somewhat toward the
end, evidently on account of an anti-climax. On the following day
Frohman asked his business manager to sit with him during the third act,
saying:
"Last night Miss Adams played this act as Barrie wrote it. This
afternoon she will play it as I want it."
The act went much more effectively, and it was never changed after that
matinee performance.
"Quality Street" was another of what came to be known as a typical
"Adams success."
For her next starring vehicle, Charles presented Maude Adams in "The
Pretty Sister of Jose," a play which Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett made
of her well-known story. She was supported by Harry Ainley, at that time
England's great matinee idol. Here Miss Adams encountered for the first
time something that resembled failure, because she was not adapted to
the fiery, passionate character of the impetuous Spanish girl. The play,
however, made its usual tour after the local season, and with much
financial success.
The tour ended, Miss Adams suddenly disappeared from sight. There were
even rumors that she had left the stage. As a matter of fact, she had
retired to the seclusion of a convent at Tours, in France. There were
two definite reasons for her retirement. One was that she wanted time
for convalescence from an operation for appendicitis; the other, that
she wished to perfect her French in order to fulfil a long-cherished
desire to play _Juliet_ to Sarah Bernhardt's _Romeo_. Unfortunately,
this plan was never consummated, but it gave Miss Adams a very rare
experience, for she lived with the simple French nuns for months. Later,
when they were driven from France, she found them quarters near
Birmingham, in England, saw to their comfort, and got them buyers for
their lace.
* * *
Brilliant as had been Miss Adams's success up to this time, the moment
was now at hand when she was to appear in the role that, more than all
her other parts combined, would complete her conquest of the American
heart. Once more she became a boy, this time the irresistible _Peter
Pan_.
As _Peter Pan_ she literally flew into a new fame. This play of Barrie's
provided Frohman with one of the many sensations he loved, and perhaps
no production of the many hundreds that he made in his long career as
manager gave him quite so much pleasure as the presentation of the
fascinating little Boy Who Never Would Grow Up.
The very beginning of "Peter Pan," so far as the stage presentation was
concerned, was full of romantic interest. Barrie had agreed to write a
play for Frohman, and met him at dinner one night at the Garrick Club in
London. Barrie seemed nervous and ill at ease.