engagement with John Piper and joined the theatrical company maintained
by that manager at Piper’s Opera House, Virginia City, Nevada, at that
time one of the most disorderly, dissolute, and disreputable towns in
the United States. This “Opera House” was built by Maguire, in 1863, and
did not become known as “Piper’s” till several years later. It was
utilized for all kinds of public meetings, social and political, as well
as for theatrical performances, and, judging from the history of Nevada,
was, in early days, most noted as the scene of prize pugilistic combats.
Piper, who was not only a speculative manager, but also a hotel-keeper,
seems likewise to have been a shrewd, hard, unscrupulous person, not,
however, devoid of rough kindness. By way of keeping his theatrical
company well in hand he pursued the ingenious method of permitting its
members to run into debt to him, to the amount of $1,500, and then
withholding their salaries, thus, practically, making them prisoners
till they had worked off the debt. Charges for everything were
extortionate in Virginia City in that period, and Piper readily
succeeded in entangling his actors, and he made it exceedingly difficult
for them to extricate themselves. “I tried to run away from him,” said
Belasco, telling me this story, “but got no further than Reno, where the
sheriff, a ’pal’ of his, took me in charge and ’returned’ me for the
debt!” In Virginia City he saw much more of that lawlessness,
recklessness, and savagery which had already colored his thoughts and
served to direct his mind into the lurid realm of sensation melodrama.
There, also, he renewed acquaintance with various actors of prominence
whom he had previously met in the course of his wanderings, and there he
became associated with other performers, then or afterward
distinguished. He acted many parts under Piper’s management, among them
_Buddicombe_, in “Our American Cousin,” when Edward A. Sothern, as _Lord
Dundreary_, was the star, and _Don Cæsar_, in John Westland Marston’s
“Donna Diana” (published 1863), a drama based on a Spanish original by
Augustin Moreto (1618-1661), which was presented by the once famous
Mrs. David P---- Bowers (1830-1895), an actress of great ability and
charm, whom persons who saw her in her best days do not forget. Belasco
remembers having acted with her, either at Virginia City or elsewhere in
the West, as _Maffeo Orsini_, in “Lucretia Borgia”; _Charles Oakley_, in
“The Jealous Wife”; _Richard Hare_, in “East Lynne,” and a _Page_, in
“Mary Stuart,” and I have heard him speak of her with an ardor of
admiration which I can well understand, and with deep gratitude for
kindness shown him in the time of his necessitous youth.
DION BOUCICAULT AND KATHARINE RODGERS.
Another eminent actor whom he met for the first time at Piper’s Opera
House,--according to his recollection, in the Winter of 1873,--was Dion
Boucicault (1822?-1890), who appears to have noticed him as a youth of
talent and promise and to have treated him with favor. Boucicault could
ingratiate himself with almost any person, when he chose to do so,
and,--whenever they may have met,--he readily won the admiration of
young Belasco, who closely studied his acting and the mechanism of his
plays, and whose work, as a dramatist and a manager, has been, in a
great degree, moulded by his abiding influence. Boucicault,
[Illustration:
Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.
MRS. D. P. BOWERS]
while in Virginia City, employed Belasco as an amanuensis, and
(according to Belasco’s recollection) incidentally dictated to him a
part of the drama of “Led Astray,” a fabric which he was then
“conveying” from a French original, “La Tentation,” by Octave Feuillet
(1821-1890). That play was first presented in New York, at the Union
Square Theatre, December 6, 1873, with Rose Eytinge and Charles Robert
Thorne, Jr., in the leading parts. Another important player with whom
Belasco became professionally associated in Virginia City was Katharine
Rodgers, a remarkably clever actress and fascinating as a woman, who had
gained reputation on the English Stage and who came to America with
Boucicault and for some time acted under his direction, in “Mimi,”--a
play that he made for her use, out of “La Vie de Bohème,”--and in other
plays, winning much popularity. This performer had been the wife of
James Rodgers (1826-1890), a genial, respected English actor, long
associated with the theatres of Manchester and Birmingham.
CONFLICTIVE TESTIMONY.
I have made scrupulous inquiry relative to Belasco’s first meeting with
Boucicault (an event the exact date of which, since it profoundly
influenced his career, ought to be established), and, although the
former is positive that his memory of the occurrence is correct, I have
become convinced that he has much confused the time and circumstances.
The process of such misremembrances as this of Belasco’s is neither
unusual nor difficult to understand. From 1873 to 1883 his life was
feverish with activity. During that period he certainly met Boucicault,
in Virginia City, and was there associated with him, as amanuensis. When
“La Tentation” and Boucicault’s version of that play, called “Led
Astray,” were acted in San Francisco (April, 1874), Belasco saw them,
and, like many other persons associated with the Theatre, he heard much
of the disputation which eddied round them. Years later, remembering his
association with Boucicault, in Virginia City, the mistaken impression
found lodgment in his mind that it was “Led Astray” on which the elder
playwright was at work when they became acquainted, and, by repetition
and elaboration, that erroneous belief has become fixed. To my objection
that it is _absolutely impossible_ that Boucicault could have dictated
to him “Led Astray” Belasco’s reply, several times iterated, is, in
effect, that Boucicault was working on the play “long before” it was
produced in New York and that, whether possible or not, he is “very
positive” Boucicault _did_ dictate it to him, in Virginia City, during a
blizzard. It would not be just to Belasco, he being sure that his
recollection of this affair is absolutely accurate, to assert that it is
wholly incorrect without giving his explicit statement of the incidents.
Therefore, I quote it here, from his “Story”:
“When Boucicault reached Virginia City, he was under contract to
deliver a play to A. M. Palmer, of New York. ’Led Astray’ was its
title. But his writing hand was so knotted with gout that he could
scarcely hold a pen. Boucicault was noted for being a very
secretive man. He would never have a secretary because he feared
such a man might learn too much of his methods of work. He was in
the habit of saying: ’I can’t write a line when I dictate. I think
better when I have a pen in my hand.’
“But now he had to have assistance to finish ’Led Astray.’ At this
time I had some slight reputation as a stage manager and author. In
those days everything was cut and dried, and the actor’s positions
were as determined as those of the pawns on a chess-board. But
whenever an opportunity offered itself, I would introduce something
less rigorous in the way of action, much to the disgust of the
older players. Boucicault must have heard of my revolutionary
methods, for he sent me a message to come and see him and have a
chat with him. With much perturbation, I went to his hotel and
knocked on his door.
“‘They tell me you write plays,’ he began. Then followed question
after question. He tested my handwriting, he commented on certain
stage business he had heard me suggest the day before; then he said
abruptly:
“‘I want you to take dictation for me,--I’m writing a play for the
Union Square Theatre,--you have probably heard of the manager, A.
M. Palmer,--at one time a librarian, but now giving Lester Wallack
and Augustin Daly a race for their lives. I hope, young man, you
can keep a secret; you strike me as being “still water.” Whatever
you see, I want you to forget.’
“So I sat at a table, took my coat off and began Act One of ’Led
Astray.’ Boucicault lay propped up with pillows, before a blazing
fire, a glass of hot whisky beside him. It was not long before I
found out that he was the terror of the whole house. If there was
the slightest noise below stairs or in the street, he would raise
such a hubbub until it stopped that I had never heard the like of
before.
“Whenever he came to a part of the dialogue requiring Irish, I
noticed how easily his dictation flowed. When he reached a dramatic
situation, he acted it out as well as his crippled condition would
allow. One thing I noticed particularly: he always held a newspaper
in his hand and gave furtive glances at something behind it I was
not supposed to see. I was determined, however, to know just what
he was concealing from me.
“The opportunity came one morning when he was called out of the
room. Before he went, I noted how careful he was to place a
newspaper so that it completely hid the thing under it. I went
quickly to the table, and, turning over the pages, I found a French
book, ’La Tentation,’ from which the entire plot of ’Led Astray’
was taken. In those days, authors did not credit the original
source from which they adapted. But Boucicault was more than an
adapter--he was a brilliant and indefatigable slave, resting
neither night
[Illustration:
Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.
DION BOUCICAULT
“THE MASTER OF THE REVELS”]
nor day. There is no doubt that even though he adapted,--in
accordance with the custom of the time,--he added to the original
source, making everything he touched distinctly his own. He left
everything better than he found it; his pen was often inspired, and
in spite of his many traducers, he was the greatest genius of our
Theatre at that time. Boucicault was a master craftsman....”
I am inclined to the opinion that the play of which Boucicault actually
_did_ dictate a part to Belasco, during the early days of their
acquaintance, in Virginia City, is, perhaps, “Forbidden Fruit,”--which
was derived from a French original, and which was first produced at
Wallack’s Theatre, October 3, 1876: it is, however, to be remembered
that there _is_ an Irish character,--a kind of _Sir Lucius
O’Trigger_-turned-blackguard, who is designated _Major O’Hara_,--in “Led
Astray.” Nevertheless, as to Belasco’s reminiscence of the writing of
that play, I am convinced that, though interesting, it is wholly
apocryphal; the following is a summary of my reasons for so believing:
Belasco did not make his first appearance with Minnie Wells, at the
Metropolitan Theatre, San Francisco, until December 16, 1872, and, of
course, his meeting with Boucicault could not have preceded that date.
Boucicault, moreover, and his wife, the beautiful Agnes Robertson, were
absent from this country, according to my records, for about twelve
years preceding 1872. In the Fall of that year they returned to America,
and, on September 23, they reappeared together, at Booth’s Theatre, New
York, in “Arrah-na-Pogue.” They acted there until November 16, and then
made a tour through various cities of the country, but, as far as I have
been able to ascertain, they did not go west of St. Louis, Missouri.
Boucicault reappeared in New York, at Booth’s Theatre, March 17, 1873,
acting, for the first time anywhere, _Daddy O’Dowd_, of which part he
gave truly a great impersonation and on which he had been at work during
all his tour. His engagement at Booth’s lasted until May 10. From that
date to the latter part of August Boucicault was in New York,--except
when he visited the ingratiating but false-hearted William Stuart
(Edmund C. O’Flaherty, 1821-1886), at New London, Connecticut. During
that period he was actively engaged on many projects,--the completion,
rehearsal, and presentment of “Mora,” which was brought out at Wallack’s
Theatre, June 3, and of “Mimi,” produced there on July 1; the writing of
other plays, and business negotiations relative to the building and
opening of Stuart’s Park Theatre, which, originally, was intended for
his use. (Stuart, after many postponements, opened it, April 15, 1874,
presenting Charles Fechter in “Love’s Penance.”) On August 28, 1873,
Boucicault began an engagement at Wallack’s Theatre, acting in “Kerry”
and “Used Up.” A few days later he broke down and went to New London to
rest. On September 16, that year, in company with me, among others, he
attended the first performance in America given by Tommaso Salvini: I
talked with him there--at the Academy of Music. On December 6, 1873, his
“Led Astray” was produced, for the first time anywhere, at the Union
Square Theatre, New York. I was present, and I saw and heard Boucicault,
when he was called before the curtain, and, writing in “The New York
Tribune,” in the course of a review of the performance, I recorded the
following comment:
... The drama comes from the French of Octave Feuillet, _and it was
translated by Mr. Boucicault_. Whoever wishes to see with what an
assured step clever authorship can walk on ticklish ground may
behold the imposing spectacle at the Union Square Theatre. Mr.
Boucicault was called before the curtain on Saturday night by
vociferous applause, both at the end of the Third Act and at the
end of the play, and in the speech which finally he made he told
his auditors to give at least two-thirds of the credit for whatever
pleasure they had received to his friend Octave Feuillet. Mr.
Boucicault was also understood to say something about a projected
revival of Legitimate Drama. We were not aware of its demise. And,
even if it were dead, we fail to perceive how Mr. Boucicault could
manage to effect its resuscitation by the translating of French
plays of very doubtful propriety. It is to be remembered, though,
that Mr. Boucicault is an Irish gentleman and loves his joke.... In
this we perceive Mr. Boucicault’s preëminent skill. Nevertheless,
the appearance of Octave Feuillet’s name upon the playbill would be
noted with satisfaction. Mr. Boucicault should be aware that, by
lapses of this kind, he arms his detractors and is unjust to
himself....
Boucicault made his first appearance in San Francisco, at the California
Theatre, on January 19, 1874 (the bill was “Boucicault in
California,”--a weak sketch written for the occasion,--“Kerry,” and
“Jones’s Baby”), and he arrived in that city, a few days earlier, not
from Virginia City, but from Canada.
Belasco, meantime, was not established in Virginia City between
December, 1872, and October, 1873: on the contrary, during most, if not
all, of that time he was actively engaged in San Francisco (see my
Chronology of his life). He disappears, however, from all the San
Francisco records which I have been able to unearth after October 18,
1873, and I am satisfied that he then went to Virginia City, and there,
several months later, met both Boucicault and Katharine Rodgers, when
they were journeying eastward: Miss Rodgers first acted in
[Illustration:
From an old photograph. Belasco’s Collection.
KATHARINE RODGERS]
San Francisco on February 3, 1874, at the California Theatre, in “Mimi.”
It seems obvious that Boucicault could not have dictated “Led Astray” to
Belasco, in Virginia City, at a time when neither of them was there, and
after that play had been acted in New York. If any other theatrical
antiquary, more fortunate than I, chances to possess authentic records
that show Boucicault and Belasco in conjunction, in Virginia City, prior
to about November 1, 1873, I should be glad to learn of them.
VARIEGATED EXPERIENCES.
It has not been possible to elicit an entirely satisfactory account of
Belasco’s career in the period extending from October 18, 1873, to about
the end of February, 1876. In particular, it has been impossible,
notwithstanding most earnest efforts, to establish the sequence of
incidents of his experience in Virginia City. Nevertheless, much that
occurred during the period indicated, nearly two and one-half years, has
been ascertained beyond question, and such gaps as occur in the records
have been supplied by reasonable surmise. He fulfilled, in all, five
engagements in Virginia City, and three, if not four, of them were
antecedent to “the fire” which, in 1875, devastated that mountain resort
of licence and crime. Among the actors with whom he was most closely
associated in Piper’s stock company were A. D. Billings, George Giddens,
Sydney Cowell (Mrs. Giddens), George Hinckley (uncle of Blanche Bates),
and Annie Adams (Mrs. Kiskaden, 1849-1916), mother of Miss Maude Adams.
The period of his first employment there was a trying one and during it
he broke down, became seriously ill, and was lodged for a time in the
home of Piper, where his illness was augmented by a distressing
experience with an unfortunate demented woman, the wife of Piper.
Recalling that ordeal, he has said: “Her husband, naturally, felt loath
to send his wife to the Insane Asylum in Stockton, so he had some rooms
padded and arranged as comfortably as possible for her in his own house.
I was ill there for three weeks, and my room, unhappily, was within
calling distance of Mrs. Piper’s. During the long nights I could hear
her groaning and crying out,--not a very encouraging atmosphere for one
who was himself suffering, and more from ’nerves’ than anything else.
Then one gray dawn I awoke to find Mrs. Piper standing at the foot of my
bed. Apparently she was as sane as any one, and she expressed great
solicitude as to my condition. It seemed to me an eternity as she stood
there, though in reality it was only about five minutes. Suddenly her
mood changed. ’I’m going to kill some one,’ she screamed, and made a
lunge for me. But, luckily, her keeper, who had heard her, came in and
restrained her, and we calmed her down and got her back to her own
rooms.”
Belasco’s financial debt to Piper must have been paid or compounded on
or about March 1, 1874, and his engagement in Virginia City terminated.
On March 10, that year, he certainly was employed as a super, at the
California Theatre, on the occasion of Adelaide Neilson’s first
appearance in San Francisco. The play was “Romeo and Juliet”: Lewis
Morrison acted _Romeo_ and Barton Hill _Mercutio_. Miss Neilson’s
engagement (during which she played _Rosalind_, _Lady Teazle_, _Julia_,
in “The Hunchback,” and _Pauline_, in “The Lady of Lyons,” as well as
_Juliet_) ended on March 30: Belasco, whose admiration for that great
actress was extreme, contrived to be employed at the California Theatre
during the whole of it. On April 4, following, “the Entire Lingard
Combination” appeared at the Opera House (so designated) in an English
version of Feuillet’s “La Tentation,” and on April 6 John T. Raymond
acted at the California Theatre as _Hector Placide_, in Boucicault’s
version of the same play, called “Led Astray.” Both those
representations were seen by Belasco.
On April 23 Raymond, at the California, produced, for the first time, a
stage synopsis made by Gilbert S. Densmore, of “The Gilded Age,” by
Samuel L. Clemens and Charles Dudley Warner. Writing of it, Belasco
says: “While that play was building Densmore talked it all over with me.
As it was originally written it was in five long acts and had in it a
curious medley of melodrama.... When the script was eventually read to
him [Raymond], all the comment he made, with a few of those choice
expletives which he knew so well how to choose, was that he hated all
courtroom scenes, except those in ’The Merchant of Venice’ and in
Boucicault’s ’The Heart of Midlothian.’... It was in this frame of mind
that he was finally persuaded to try ’The Gilded Age.’ Of course, the
play needed a lot of re-writing, and I don’t believe any one really
thought it would be successful. It was put on as a try-out because the
man was in such sore need of a vehicle, and, like so many other plays
which are produced as makeshifts, it soared its way into instant
popularity. It was not by any means a wonderful play in itself, it was
merely another instance of the personality of the player being fitted to
the part, and in the _rôle_ [_sic_] of _Colonel Mulberry Sellers_ John
T. Raymond found himself and, incidentally, fame and fortune.”
That is not altogether an accurate account of the dramatic genesis of
“The Gilded Age.” Densmore’s adaptation of the book was piratical, and
Clemens, hearing of it, protested vigorously, by telegraph, against
continuance of its presentment. It was acted _only once_ in San
Francisco, in 1874. Densmore finally arranged to sell his stage version
to Clemens, and that author himself made a dramatization of the novel.
Writing about it, to William Dean Howells, he says:
“I worked a month on my play, and launched it in New York last
Wednesday. I believe it will go. The newspapers have been
complimentary. It is simply a _setting_ for one character, _Colonel
Sellers_. As a play I guess it will not bear critical assault in
force.” In another letter Clemens says: “I entirely rewrote the
play _three separate and distinct times_. I had expected to use
little of his [Densmore’s] language and but little of his plot. I
do not think there are now twenty sentences of Mr. Densmore’s in
the play, but I used so much of his plot that I wrote and told him
I should pay him about as much more as I had already paid him in
case the play proved a success....”--Albert Bigelow Paine’s “Mark
Twain, a Biography.” Volume I., pp. 517-18.
On November 3, 1874, Raymond published the following letter:
(_From John T. Raymond to_ “_The New York Sun_.”)
“The Park Theatre, [New York].
“November 2, 1874.
“_To The Editor of ’The Sun’_:
“_Sir_:--
“An article headed ’The Story of “The Gilded Age”’ in ’The Sun’ of
this morning calls for a statement from me. The facts in the case
are simply these: In April last I commenced an engagement in San
Francisco. A few days after my arrival the manager of the theatre
mentioned that Mr. Densmore, the dramatic critic of ’The Golden
Era,’ had dramatized Mark Twain’s and Charles Warner’s novel of
’The Gilded Age,’ and would like to submit it to me. I read the
play, and the character of _Colonel Sellers_ impressed me so
favorably that I consented to produce the piece the last week of my
engagement. I did so, the play making a most pronounced hit. I then
arranged with Mr. Densmore for the right to perform the play
throughout the country. Upon my arrival in New York I heard that
Mr. Clemens had telegraphed to San Francisco protesting against the
play being performed, as he had reserved all rights in his
copyright of ’The Gilded Age.’ I at once recognized Mr. Clemens’
claim, and wrote to Mr. Densmore to that effect. I then
communicated with Clemens, with a view of having him write a play
with _Colonel Sellers_ as the chief character. While the
negotiation was pending I received a letter from Mr. Densmore,
requesting me to send the manuscript of his dramatization to
Clemens, as he had purchased it, and that he (Clemens) had acted in
a most liberal manner toward
[Illustration:
From a photograph by Mora. Belasco’s Collection.
JOHN T. RAYMOND
(1836-1887)]
him. I sent the manuscript to Mr. Clemens, but not until after he
had finished his play and read it to me, not one line of Mr.
Densmore’s dramatization being used in the present play, except
that which was taken bodily from the novel of ’The Gilded Age.’
These are the facts in the premises. Mr. Densmore’s play was a most
excellent one; the impression it made in San Francisco was of a
most pronounced character, but in no way [?] does it resemble the
present production, which is entirely the work of Mr. Samuel L.
Clemens (Mark Twain).
“Yours, &c.,
“John T. Raymond.”