Belasco, David, 1853-1931; Theater -- United States
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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