for it. You know all that so thoroughly that words were not
necessary. My illness prevented me from reading the play. I shall
read it in eight or ten days. But it is all understood, and when I
get up and out I shall fix up all the business.
John Drew, who is now free of worry concerning his new production,
is to read "The Perplexed Husband" next week. I shall write you
then. But the main thing is, we have the success and can take care
of it. And I am extremely happy over it.
_To J. A. E. Malone, the London manager, regarding the American
presentation of "The Girl from Utah" and its instantaneous success:_
Believe me that the success is due entirely to the _American_
members, the _American_ work, and, of course, the _American_
stars.... The English numbers went for nothing. In short, the
American numbers caught on.
_To Haddon Chambers, in London in 1914:_
There have been a number of failures already, but they would have
failed if every day was a holiday. There has been just now a new
departure here in play-writing--a great success--"On Trial." This
is by a boy twenty-one years of age. The scenes are laid in the
court-room, and as the witness gets to the dramatic part of the
story the scene changes and the characters are shown to act out the
previous incidents of the story that is told in court, and then
they go back to the court and work that way through the play. It
has been a great sensation and is doing great business.
_Concerning one of his English productions in London, he writes Dion
Boucicault:_
I want on my side to have you understand, however, that as far as I
am concerned I am keeping the theater open for the company and the
employees, and not for myself. I should have closed positively if I
had not my people in mind. That was my only reason....
_To Dion Boucicault:_
It seems to me that there are too many English actors coming over
here, and I fear some of them will be in distress, because there
don't seem to be positions enough for all that are coming, and
people are wondering why so many are coming instead of enlisting.
It might be well for you to inform some of these actors that the
chances are not so great now, because there are so many here on the
waiting-list. I use a great _many_, but I also use a great _many_
Americans, as merit is the chief thing.
_To Otis Skinner:_
I felt all that you now feel about the vision effect when I saw the
dress rehearsal. It looked to me like a magic-lantern scene that
would be given in the cellar of a Sunday-school.
_To Dion Boucicault, October, 1914:_
I am despondent as to what to do in London. I'd rather close. I
don't want to put on things at losses, because I do not wish to
send money to cover losses to London now. The rates of exchange are
something terrific, and therefore I don't want to be burdened with
this extra expense. Twelve pounds on every hundred pounds is too
much for any business man to handle. Over here we are feeling the
effects of the war, but the big things (and I am glad to say I am
in some of them) are all right.
_To an English actor about to enlist in the army:_
I have your letter. I am awfully sorry, but I haven't anything to
offer. So therefore I congratulate the army on securing your
services.
_Declining an invitation for a public dinner:_
I thank you very much for your very nice invitation to be present
at the dinner, but I regret that, first, I do not speak at dinners,
and, next, I do not attend dinners.
_One of the lines that Frohman wrote very often, and which came to be
somewhat hackneyed, was to his general manager, Alf Hayman. It was:_
Send me a thousand pounds to London.
_To W. Lestocq, in 1914, regarding another manager:_
I notice that Mr. Z---- has a man who can sign for royalties I send
him. I wonder why he can't find some one to sign for royalties that
are due me!
_Of a production waiting to come to New York:_
Broadway may throw things when we play the piece here, still I have
failed before on Broadway.
_To James B. Fagan, in London, December, 1912, referring to his
production of "Bella Donna" in this country:_
Mr. Bryant is giving an exceptionally good performance of the part,
and is so much taken with my theater and company that I have the
newspapers' word that he married my star (Nazimova).
_To Alfred Sutro, November, 1914:_
It seems to me that a strong human play, with good characters (and
clean), is the thing over here; and now, my dear Sutro, I do
believe that throughout the United States a play really requires a
star artist, man or woman--woman for choice....
_To W. Lestocq, in November, 1914:_
I have just returned from Chicago, where Miss Adams has a very
happy and delightful program in "Leonora" and "The Ladies'
Shakespeare." "The Ladies' Shakespeare" is delightful, but very
slight. The little scenes that Barrie has written that are spoken
before the curtain are awfully well received, but the scenes from
Shakespeare's play when they are acted are very short and the whole
thing is played in less than an hour. Miss Adams, of course, is
delightful in it, and it goes with a sparkle with her; and as it is
so slight and so much Shakespeare and so little Barrie, although
the Barrie part in front of the curtain is fine, I cannot say how
it would go with your audiences [referring to the London public]. I
am happy in the thought, however, that Barrie has furnished Miss
Adams with a program that will last her all through the season and
well into the summer.
_To Haddon Chambers:_
Hubert Henry Davies's "Outcast" has made a hit, but he really has a
wonderful woman--I should say the best young emotional actress on
the stage--in Miss Ferguson. So he is in for a good thing.
_To Cyril Maude, in Boston, November, 1914:_
Yours to Chicago has just reached me here in New York. As soon as I
heard that you were going to write me to Chicago I immediately left
for New York.
I am glad you are doing so very big in Boston. They say you are
going to stay all season. Things are terrible with me in London,
and the interests I had outside of London have been shocking. I am
hoping and believing, however, that all will be well again on the
little island--the island that I am so devoted to.
In this letter, it is worth adding, Frohman made one of his very rare
confessions of bad business. He only liked to write about his affairs
when they were booming.
_To Margaret Mayo Selwyn, New York, November 30, 1914:_
I was glad to receive your letter. I have been thinking about the
revival of the play you mentioned. In fact, the thought has been a
long one--three years--but I haven't reached it yet. I have been
thinking more about the new play you are writing for me. I know you
now have a lot of theaters, a lot of managers, and a lot of
husbands and things like that, but, all the same, I _want_ that
play. My best regards.
_Frohman loved sweets. He went to considerable trouble sometimes to get
the particular candy he wanted. Here is a letter that he wrote to
William Newman, then manager of the Maude Adams Company, in care of the
Metropolitan Opera House, St. Paul:_
Will you go to George Smith's Chocolate Works, 6th and Robert
Streets, St. Paul, and get four packages of Smith's Delicious Cream
Patties and send them to me to the Knickerbocker Hotel, New York?
_Frohman had his own way of acknowledging courtesies. A London friend,
Reginald Nicholson, circulation manager of the Times, sent him some
flowers to the Savoy. He received this reply from the manager, scrawled
with blue pencil on a sheet of hotel paper:_
A lot of thanks from Savoy Court 81.
Frohman's apartment for years at the Savoy Hotel was Savoy Court 81.
_To Paul Potter, written from the Blackstone, Chicago, in February,
1915:_
Dear Paul:
I received your telegram, and was glad to get it. The sun is
shining here and all is well. I hope to see you Saturday night at
the Knickerbocker.
C. F.
This is in every way a typical Charles Frohman personal note. He usually
had one thing to say and said it in the fewest possible words.
_One day Frohman sent a certain play to his brother Daniel for
criticism. On receiving an unfavorable estimate of the work he wrote him
the following memorandum:_
Who are you and who am I that can decide the financial value of
this play? The most extraordinary plays succeed, and many that
deserve a better fate fail; so how are we to know until after we
test a play before the public?
_In reply to Charles Burnham's invitation to attend the Theatrical
Managers' dinner, he wrote:_
Thank you very much, but my condition is still such that my game
leg would require at least four seats, and as we now have at least
several managers to every theater, and several theaters in every
block, I haven't the heart to accept the needed room, and thus
deprive them of any.
_Writing to E. H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe, in April, 1915, he said:_
I wonder why you don't both sail with me May 1 (_Lusitania_). As
far as I am concerned, when you consider all the stars I have
managed, mere submarines make me smile. But most affectionate
regards to you both.
_Writing to John Drew, who was willing to prolong his touring season in
1915, he says:_
All right. Why a young man like you cares to continue on his long
tours, I don't know. I hope to get away on May 1st and to return
shortly after you reach New York. Am in quest of something for you.
Our last talk before you left gave me much happiness.
_Refusing to book his attractions in a city for a week where three
nights were sufficient, he said:_
My stars like week stands, but they don't like weak business.
_To Haddon Chambers, in London:_
I am hoping to get off on the _Lusitania_. It seems to be the best
ship to sail on. I shall be glad to see you.
_Writing to S. F. Nixon, a business colleague, regarding Miss Barrymore
in "The Shadow":_
You are quite right as to the play being terribly somber. I thought
it a good idea to show what a representative American actress of
serious parts she was; so that next season we will offer a
contrast, and make the audiences laugh so much that they will be
compelled to crowd the theater. She will play then as humorous a
part ("Our Mrs. McChesney") as she did so earnestly a serious one.
_To J. C. O'Laughlin, of the Chicago_ Herald:
We managers have certain ideas about plays. We produce a play and
find our ideas and opinions often wrong. Our opinions are only
sound, I think, as far as the question of a play being actable is
concerned. My sympathetic feeling for all writers makes it very
hard to venture an opinion detrimental to their work, especially as
we find we are frequently wrong.
_To one of his leading women, April, 1915:_
I appreciate the expression of your affection. It almost makes me
turn westward instead of eastward. However, we must do our jobs,
and so I do mine. I am sailing Saturday (per _Lusitania_). Heaven
only will know where I am in July. I cannot tell this year anything
about anything.
_To Booth Tarkington:_
I don't suppose you have any idea of coming to New York. There are
a lot of fine things here worth your while, including myself.
_Concerning Hubert Henry Davies, the author of "Outcast," Miss Elsie
Ferguson's very successful vehicle:_
He is a delightful, charming, simple, splendid fellow. You will be
delighted with him, and Miss Ferguson will be more than delighted
with him, because he will be so delighted with her. It is a fine
thing to have so nice a man as Davies arrive, and entirely
misunderstanding the person he is to rehearse because the surprise
will be all the greater. It pleases me, knowing what a fine
emotional (one of the very best in the world) young actress our
star is.
_To Harry Powers, manager of Powers Theater, Chicago, where his play
"The Beautiful Adventure," with Ann Murdock, was then running:_
Regarding "The Beautiful Adventure," if I am doing wrong in making
a clean situation out of one that is not clean, I am going to do
wrong. The theater-going public in the cities may not always get a
good play from me, but they trust me, and I shall try and retain
that trust. We may not get the same amount of money, but if we can
live through it we will get a lot more satisfaction for those we
like and for ourselves.
_Some of the last letters written by Frohman were filled with a curious
tenderness and affection. In the light of what happened after he sailed
they seem to be overcast with a strange foreboding of his doom. The most
striking example of this is furnished in a letter he wrote to Henry
Miller on April 29th, a few days before he went aboard the_ Lusitania.
_He had not written to Miller for a year, yet this is what he said:_
Dear Henry: I am going to London Saturday A.M. I want to say
good-by to you with this--and tell you how glad I am you've had a
good season.
Affectionately,
C. F.
Miller was immensely touched by this communication. He wired to his son
Gilbert to find out what steamer Frohman was taking, and send him a
wireless. This message was probably the last ever received by Frohman,
for no other similar telegram was sent him in care of the _Lusitania_.
_The last letter written by Frohman, before leaving the Hotel
Knickerbocker on the morning the_ Lusitania _sailed, was to his intimate
friend and companion Paul Potter. Potter, who had telephoned that he
expected to meet him at the steamer, was much depressed, which explains
one of the sentences in Frohman's letter:_
Saturday A.M., May 1, 1915.
Dear Paul: We had a fine time this winter. I hope all will go well
with you. And I think luck is coming to you. I hope another
"Trilby." It's fine of you to come to the steamer with all these
dark, sad conditions.
C. F.
On his way to the _Lusitania_ Frohman stopped for a moment at his office
in the Empire Theater. There he dictated a note to Porter Emerson
Browne, the playwright. It was his last dictation. The note merely said,
"Good-by. Keep me posted." He referred to a new play that Browne was
writing for him.
_Appendix B_
COMPLETE CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE FROHMAN PRODUCTIONS
Altogether Charles Frohman produced more than five hundred plays--a
greater number than any other manager of his time. The list of his
productions, therefore, is really a large part of the record of the
English-speaking stage during the last quarter of a century.
In the list which follows, the name of the star or stars appear
immediately after the title of the piece. Except when otherwise
indicated, the theater mentioned is in New York.
Here is the complete list of Frohman's productions in chronological
order:
I
PRODUCTIONS IN AMERICA
_1883_
PLAY DATE THEATER
_The Stranglers of Paris_ November 12 New Park
_1884_
_The Pulse of New York_ May 10 Star
_Caprice_ (Minnie Maddern) November 6 Indianapolis
_1885_
_Victor Durand Road tour with Wallack's Theater_ Co.
_Moths_ " " "
_Lady Clare_ " " "
_Diplomacy_ " " "
_La Belle Russe_" " "
_The World_ " " "
_1886_
_The Golden Giant_ April 11 Fifth Avenue (McKee Rankin)
_A Toy Pistol_
(Tony Hart) February 20 New York Comedy
_A Wall Street Bandit_ September 20 Standard
_A Daughter of Ireland_ October 18 Standard (Georgia Cayvan)
_The Jilt_ (Dion Boucicault) October 29 Standard
_1887_
_Baron Rudolph_ October 24 Fourteenth Street
_She_ November 29 Niblo's Garden
_1888_
_Held by the Enemy_ Road tour
_1889_
_Shenandoah_ September 9 Star
_1890_
_The Private Secretary_ August 26 Grand Opera House
_All the Comforts of Home_ September 8 Proctor's 23d Street
_Men and Women_ October 20 Lyceum
_1891_
_Mr. Wilkinson's Widows_ March 30 Proctor's 23d Street
_Diplomacy_ June 12 Los Angeles, Cal.
_Jane_ August 3 Madison Square
_The Solicitor_
(Henry E. Dixey) September 8 Hermann's
_Thermidor_ October 12 Proctor's 23d Street
_The Man with a Hundred Heads_ November 2 Hermann's (Henry E. Dixey)
_Miss Helyett_ (Mrs. Leslie Carter) November 3 Star
_The Lost Paradise_ November 16 Proctor's 23d Street
_The Junior Partner_ December 8 Hermann's
_1892_
_Glorianna_ February 15 Hermann's
_Settled Out of Court_ August 8 Hermann's
_The Masked Ball_ (John Drew) October 3 Palmer's
_1893_
_The Girl I Left Behind Me_ January 25 Empire
_Ninety Days_ February 6 Broadway
_Liberty Hall_ August 21 Empire
_Fanny_ September 4 Standard
_The Other Man_ September 4 Garden
_Lady Windermere's Fan_ October Road tour
_Charley's Aunt_ October 2 Standard
_The Younger Son_ October 20 Empire
_The Councillor's Wife_ November 6 Empire
_Aristocracy_ November 14 Palmer's
_1894_
_Sowing the Wind_ January 2 Empire
_Poor Girls_ January 22 American
_The Butterflies_ (John Drew) February 5 Palmer's
_Gudgeons_ and
_The Luck of Roaring Camp_ May 14 Empire
_The Bauble Shop_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire
_The New Boy_ September 17 Standard
_Too Much Johnson_ November 26 Standard
_The Masqueraders_ (John Drew) December 3 Empire
_The Fatal Card_ December 31 Palmer's
_1895_
_The Foundling_ February 25 Hoyt's
_John A'Dreams_ March 18 Empire
_The Importance of Being Earnest_ April 22 Empire
_The Sporting Duchess_ August 29 Academy of Music
_The City of Pleasure_ September 2 Empire
_That Imprudent Young Couple_ September 22 Empire
(John Drew)
_The Gay Parisians_ September 23 Hoyt's
_Christopher Jr._ (John Drew) October 7 Empire
_Denise_ (Olga Nethersole) December 2 Empire
_Frou Frou_ (Olga Nethersole) December 5 Empire
_Camille_ (Olga Nethersole) December 9 Empire
_Carmen_ (Olga Nethersole) December 24 Empire
_1896_
_Michael and His Lost Angel_ January 15 Empire
_The Squire of Dames_ (John Drew) January 20 Empire
_A Woman's Reason_ January 27 Empire
_A Social Highwayman_ February 3 Garrick
(E. M. and Joseph Holland)
_Marriage_ February 17 Empire
_Bohemia_ March 9 Empire
_Thoroughbred_ April 20 Garrick
_Rosemary_ (John Drew) August 31 Empire
_The Liars_ September 7 Hoyt's
_Albert Chevalier_ September 7 Garrick
_Sue_ (Annie Russell) September 15 Hoyt's
_Secret Service_ October 5 Garrick
_Honors Are Easy_ November 9 Montauk, Brooklyn
_Two Little Vagrants_ November 23 Academy of Music
_Under the Red Robe_ December 28 Empire
_1897_
_Heartsease_ (Henry Miller) January 11 Garden
_Spiritissime_ February 22 Knickerbocker
_Never Again_ March 8 Garrick
_Courted Into Court_ August 30 Newark, N. J.
_The Little Minister_ (Maude Adams) September 27 Empire
_The Proper Caper_ October 4 Hoyt's
_The First Born_ and
_A Night Session_ October 5 Manhattan
_A Marriage of Convenience_ November 8 Empire
(John Drew)
_The White Heather_ November 22 Academy of Music
_1898_
_Salt of the Earth_ January 3 Wallack's
_The Conquerors_ January 4 Empire
_The Circus Girl_ January 17 Columbia, Brooklyn
_Oh, Susannah_ February 7 Hoyt's
_One Summer's Day_ (John Drew) February 14 Wallack's
_The Master_ (Henry Miller) February 15 Garden
_Little Miss Nobody_ September 5 Philadelphia
_A Brace of Partridges_ September 7 Madison Square
_The Countess Valeska_ September 26 Troy, N. Y.
(Julia Marlowe)
_On and Off_ October 17 Madison Square
_Catherine_ (Annie Russell) October 24 Garrick
_As You Like It_ (Julia Marlowe) November 7 Omaha, Nebraska
_Phroso_ December 26 Empire
_Ingomar_ (Julia Marlowe) December 26 Indianapolis
_1899_
_Because She Loved Him So_ January 16 Madison Square
_Her Atonement_ February 13 Academy of Music
_Lord and Lady Algy_ February 14 Empire
_The Cuckoo_ April 3 Wallack's
_Colinette_ (Julia Marlowe) April 10 Knickerbocker
_Romeo and Juliet_ (Maude Adams) May 8 Empire
_His Excellency the Governor_ May 22 Empire
_Hamlet_ (Henry Miller) August 1 San Francisco
_The Girl from Maxim's_ August 29 Criterion
_Miss Hobbs_ (Annie Russell) September 7 Lyceum
_The Tyranny of Tears_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire
_The Only Way_ (Henry Miller) September 16 Herald Square
_Barbara Fritchie_ (Julia Marlowe) October 23 Criterion
_Sherlock Holmes_ November 6 Garrick
(William Gillette)
_Make Way for the Ladies_ November 13 Madison Square
_My Lady's Lord_ December 25 Empire
_1900_
_Brother Officers_ January 15 Empire
_The Surprises of Love_ January 22 Lyceum
_Coralie & Co., Dressmakers_ February 5 Madison Square
_Hearts Are Trumps_ February 21 Garden
_My Daughter-in-Law_ February 26 Lyceum
_A Man and His Wife_ and
_The Bugle Call_ April 2 Empire
_The Tree of Knowledge_ July 2 San Francisco
(Henry Miller)
_A Royal Family_ (Annie Russell) September 5 Lyceum
_The Rose of Persia_ September 6 Daly's
_The Husband of Leontine_ September 8 Madison Square
_Richard Carvel_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire
_David Harum_ (W. H. Crane) October 1 Garrick
_Self and Lady_ October 8 Madison Square
_L'Aiglon_ (Maude Adams) October 22 Knickerbocker
_1901_
_Mrs. Dane's Defense_ January 7 Empire
_The Girl from Up There_ January 8 Herald Square
(Edna May)
_My Lady Dainty_ January 8 Madison Square
(Herbert Kelcey and Effie Shannon)
_Captain Jinks_ (Ethel Barrymore) February 4 Garrick
_Under Two Flags_ February 5 Garden
_The Lash of a Whip_ February 25 Lyceum
_To Have and To Hold_ March 4 Knickerbocker
_Manon Lescaut_ March 19 Wallack's
(Kelcey and Shannon)
_Are You a Mason?_ April 1 Wallack's
_A Royal Rival_ August 26 Criterion
(William Faversham)
_The Second in Command_ September 2 Empire
(John Drew)
_A Message from Mars_ October 7 Garrick
(Charles Hawtrey)
_Eben Holden_ October 28 Savoy
_Quality Street_ (Maude Adams) November 11 Knickerbocker
_Alice of Old Vincennes_ December 2 Garden
(Virginia Harned)
_The Girl and the Judge_ December 4 Lyceum
(Annie Russell)
_The Wilderness_ December 23 Empire
_Sweet and Twenty_ December 30 Madison Square
_1902_
_Colorado_ January 12 Grand Opera House
_The Twin Sister_ March 3 Empire
_Sky Farm_ March 17 Garrick
_The New Clown_ August 25 Garrick
_The Mummy and the Humming-Bird_ September 4 Empire
(John Drew)
_There's Many a Slip_ September 15 Garrick
_Aunt Jeanne_ September 16 Garden
(Mrs. Patrick Campbell)
_Iris_ (Virginia Harned) September 22 Criterion
_Two Schools_ September 29 Madison Square
_The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_ October 6 Garden
(Mrs. Patrick Campbell)
_A Country Mouse_ and
_Carrots_ October 6 Savoy
(Ethel Barrymore)
_Everyman_ October 12 Mendelssohn Hall
(Edith Wynne Mathison and Charles Rann Kennedy)
_The Joy of Living_ October 23 Garden
(Mrs. Patrick Campbell)
_Imprudence_ (William Faversham) November 7 Lyceum
_The Girl with the Green Eyes_ December 25 Savoy
(Clara Bloodgood)
_1903_
_A Bird in the Cage_ January 12 Bijou
_The Unforeseen_ January 12 Empire
_Mice and Men_ (Annie Russell) January 19 Garrick
_Three Little Maids_ (G. P. Huntley) August 31 Daly's
_Ulysses_ September 14 Garden
_Drink_ (Charles Warner) September 14 Academy of Music
_The Man from Blankley's_ September 14 Criterion
(Charles Hawtrey)
_Captain Dieppe_ (John Drew) September 14 Herald Square
_Lady Rose's Daughter_ September 24 Garrick
(Fay Davis)
_The Spenders_ (W. H. Crane) October 5 Savoy
_The Best of Friends_ October 19 Academy of Music
_Cousin Kate_ (Ethel Barrymore) October 19 Hudson
_Charlotte Wiehe_ (French Players) October 21 Vaudeville
_The Girl from Kay's_ November 2 Herald Square
(Sam Bernard)
_The Pretty Sister of Jose_ November 9 Empire
(Maude Adams)
_The Admirable Crichton_ November 16 Lyceum
(William Gillette)
_Elizabeth's Prisoner_ November 23 Criterion
(William Faversham)
_Whitewashing Julia_ December 2 Garrick
(Fay Davis)
_The Other Girl_ December 23 Criterion
_Glad of It_ (Millie James) December 28 Savoy
_1904_
_My Lady Molly_ (Andrew Mack) January 4 Daly's
_The Light that Lies in Woman's Eyes_
(Virginia Harned) January 25 Criterion
_The Younger Mrs. Parling_ January 25 Garrick
(Annie Russell)
_Man Proposes_ (Henry Miller) March 14 Hudson
_The Dictator_ (William Collier) April 4 Criterion
_Saucy Sally_ (Charles Hawtrey) April 4 Lyceum
_Camille_ April 18 Hudson
(Margaret Anglin and Henry Miller)
_When Knighthood Was in Flower_ May 2 Empire
(Julia Marlowe)
_Yvette_ (Hattie Williams) May 12 Knickerbocker
_Ben Greet Players_ October 5
_The School Girl_ (Edna May) September 1 Daly's
_The Duke of Killiecrankie_ September 5 Empire
(John Drew)
_Letty_ (William Faversham) September 12 Hudson
_Business is Business_ September 19 Hudson
(W. H. Crane)
_The Coronet of the Duchess_ September 21 Garrick
(Clara Bloodgood)
_The Sorceress_ October 10 New Amsterdam
(Mrs. Patrick Campbell)
_Joseph Entangled_ (Henry Miller) October 10 Garrick
_Shakespearian Repertory_ October 17 Knickerbocker
(Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern)