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Xerox lîiniversüy Microfilms 300 North Zeob Read Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 HALL, Roger Allan, 1946- NATE SALSBURY AM) HIS TROUBADOURS: POPULAR AMERICAN FARCE AND MUSICAL COMEDY, 1875-1887.

The Oliio State University, Ph.D., 1974 Theater

Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 4aio6

© 1974

ROGER ALLAN HALL

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. NATE SALSBURY AND HIS TROUBADOURS;

POPULAR AMERICAN FARCE AND MUSICAL COMEDY, 1875-188?

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of The Ohio State University

By

Roger Allan Hall, A.B., M.A,

The Ohio State University 1974

Reading Committee; Approved By;

Donald R, Clancy

John C. Morrow

Alan Woods Adviser Department of Theatre ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several people helped, me Immensely with this study.

In particular I wish to thank for their help: Mr, Nate

Salsbury, grandson of the focus of my study; Mr, Peter

Dzwonkoski and the courteous and helpful staff of the

Beinecke Bare Book and Manuscript Collection of Yale

University; Ms, Dorothy Swerdlove of the indispensable

New York Public Library Theatre Collection at Lincoln

Center; Dr. Alan Woods, who helped me work through the

Theatre Research Institute of The Ohio State University;

and my adviser Mr, Donald Glancy,

I also wish to acknowledge the help and encourage­

ment of the Western History Department of The Denver Pub­

lic Library; Don Russell, author of The Lives and Legends

of Buffalo Bill; Martha Mahard of the Theatre Collection at Harvard University; Ms, Isabella Sayers, biographer of

Annie Oakley; Miss Jean Dyce of The Mitchell Library,

Sydney Australia; Louis A, Hachow of The Walter Hampden

Memorial Library at The Players; The British Newspaper

Library; and Dr, John C, Morrow, TO NATE SALSBURY

Oh Nate most marvellous of men Who "buffet Fortune's gales Before whose stern and piercing eye The savage Cossack quails Who in the hollow of your hand Hold such a mighty power That soldiers shrink, wild Indians slink And "chesty" cowboys cower Oh man of action who at call Dashed from the mighty West And in the heat of conflict did Your very, very best. Oh Nate who used to grace the stage As now few actors can From singing light cornediam To demon "heavy man"— Who gave to Booth and Forrest both Support superb and true— From "Shaun the Post" to Shakespeare's "Ghost" Was easy work for you Guest of our hearts how many parts Had you made wholly yours Until you branched out for yourself— And loi the "Troubadours," *Twas joy encore and cash galore— "The show that couldn't fall"— Then mightier schemed, until you camped On Bison William's trail Each needed each— and loi arose The wonder of the age Wild Western marvels headed by The Centeur of the stage Good comrades both— we greet you here And be it understood Not only have you prospered,but You've done a world of good And now, dear Nate, one last remark We'll all agree »tis true— There never was a Lamb on earth More popular than youI — Edward E, Kidder New York, 17 April 1902^

^Thls address, from Nate Salsbury*s private scrap­ book at Yale, was apparently delivered by Salsbury's friend Kidder at a banquet at the Lamb's Club in Salsbury's honor just over eight months before his death, ill VITA

23 July 1946 , , . , , Born - Cincinnati, Ohio

1968 , ...... A.B., Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

1968-1970 , ...... English teacher and director. The Cincinnati Country Day School

1970-1973...... Fellow, National Defense Education Act (Title IV), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1 9 7 2 . . . M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

197 3-1 974 ...... Graduate Administrative Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

PUBLICATIONS

"Romantic and Neo-Classic Destruction: Scene Designs of Ruins from 1700 to I850." Theatre Studies. #19, pp. 7-I5 , 1973

"Beyond Realism; A Second Level of Response in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Paper for Southeastern Theatre Conference Convention, 2 March 1974.

"Desert Men." A One-Act Play. Dramatics, pp. 5-9. November 197 3. "His Son," A One-Adt Play, Review for Religious, pp. 1075- 109 2 , September 1973.

FIELDS OP STUDY

Dramatic Literature, Theatre History, Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Playwrltlng. TABLE OP CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...... ü

VITA ...... iv

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Chapter

I. NATHAN SALSBURY 1846-1875: ACTOR, PLAYWRIGHT, MANAGER ...... 1?

II. THE TROUBADOURS: FOUNDATION AND SUR­ VIVAL, 1875-1878 46

III. THE TROUBADOURS* SUCCESS AND THE BROOK; 1878-1881 78

IV. THE TROUBADOURS AND THE PLOTTED PLAY, 1881-1883 119

V. CROSSOVER YEARS AND DEMISE OF THE TROUBADOURS: 1883-1887 l4l

CONCLUSIONS...... 155

APPENDIX

A ...... l6l

B ...... 165

C . . '...... 170 D ...... 172

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 174 INTRODUCTION

The period from the Civil War to World War I was

one of enormous change for the United States, Rail­

roads crisscrossed the country, linking virtually every

population center of consequence and creating new ones In

Its trail. Railroad mileage in the thirty years from I850

to i860, for example, expanded tenfold, from 8589 miles

In I850 and 30,593 miles In i860 to 8 7,891 miles in 1880,^

The population after the war soared also, and it was

swelled "by large numbers of generally unschooled Immi­

grants. The census recorded just over 38.5 million peo­

ple In 1870 and over 62,6 million In 1890,^

Moreover, a part of the populace turned from the serious pursuits of war and the abolition of slavery toward an appreciation of fun and entertainment for Its own sake.

^Preliminary Report on the Eighth Census, I860 (Wash­ ington; Government Printing Office, 1862), Table 38, pp. 234 -3 5 . Also, Compendium of the Tenth Census (June 1. I88O). (Washington: Government Printing Office, I8 8 3), Table LXIII, p. 1257. The Impact of railroads on travelling companies ms de­ tailed by Jack Poggl In Theatre in America: The impact of Economic Forces. 1870-1967 (Ithaca. N. Y . : Cornell Uni-" versity Press / 1968), He concluded: "The proliferation of travelling companies was the result, partly, of a rapid Increase In railroad facilities" (pp. 6-7).

^The Eleventh Census of the United States, Vol. I. pt. 1 ( Washington; Government Printing Office. 1894), p. xl. 1 2 The sport known as "The National Pastime," for example,

flourished: the first all-professional baseball team was

founded in 1869. and The National League was formed in

1875. In that same year, the Kentucky Derby horse race

was run for the first time. After the war, interest in

recreation, entertainment, and spectator and participant

sports mushroomed, and those items were of particular im­

portance, socially and financially, to metropolitan areas

such as New York.3 As Glenn Hughes has noted, the late

nineteenth century was "a great era for entertainment,"^

which featured everything from legitimate plays to circuses

to unusual peculiarities such as the "go-as-you-please,"

The public wanted to be entertained, for it was a period,

according to one theatrical reviewer, when "everything

has to be 'flash.'

The growth in population, especially in immigrant

population, opened opportunities for certain kinds of

theatre fare. Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart capitalized

on one such opportunity by cranking out farces with music

based on ethnic types and topical humor with a New York

^Poster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play: A History of Popular Recreation, 1607-1940 (New York; Peter Smith, 1952)7 pp." 1ÜÈ-201, 2il-229.

^Glenn Hughes, A History of the American Theatre. 1770-1950 (New York: Samuel French, Ï95i), p. 228.

^Galveston News. 13 October 1875, in a personal scrap­ book of Nate Salsbury at the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (MV/EZ n. c. 8752) ; hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 8752. 3 slant. The pair began with sketches in 1872, and by I876

they were operating with the sketches and variety acts in

their own New York theatre. The sketches gradually expan­

ded from about twenty minutes to an hour and longer for

the 1877-78 season, during which they did their first full-

length pieces. The plays featured boisterous, slap-stick

comedy that involved fights and chases, and they operated

with as many as thirty or more actors, many of whom dis­

played Irish, Negro, German, Jewish, or other national, re­

ligious, or racial idiosyncracies, i\lthough comic stereo­

types, the characters were based on real life and worked

well with the quasi-realistic settings employed at the

Theatre Comique, The songs in the plays frequently became

some of the best known music in the country, and the pair

retained popularity until they separated in 1885,^

Tony Pastor tried to present similar shows when he

opened his Fourteenth Street Theatre in February 1881 with

Lillian Russell in a burlesque of The Pirates of Penzance,

Unable to conquer Harrigan and Hart at their brand of en­ tertainment, Pastor on 24 October 1881 instead converted his theatre to a house for straight, clean variety playing

J. Kahn, Jr., The Merry Partners; The Age and Stage of Harriiran and Hart (New York: Random House, 1955). pp, 5-6, 2b, 189-191, Walter J, Meserve, An Outline History of American Drama (Totowa, N. J.: Littlefield, Adams & Co., I965T. PP. 134-35 commented on the realism of the Harrigan and Hart pieces, Arthur Hobson Quinn, A History of the American Drama from the Civil War to the Present Day (New York'; F. S, Crofts à Co,, Publishers, 1956), p, 85, listed Old Lavender In I877 as their first full-length play. 4 to a'double audience” (l,e., men and women). Pastor's

clean variety with family appeal was the first of its

kind in the country,"^

Other changes also surged through the American thea­

trical scene in the last third of the century. The comic

player achieved recognition and a prominent place in the

theatre. Although Edwin Booth was in his prime and Law­

rence Barrett received kind praise for his tragic presen­

tations, no valid successors to the tragic mantle of Booth

and Edwin Forrest appeared. Declared one commentator;

The second half of the nineteenth century might be called the golden age of comic acting in America, During this period there flourished a host of players who were prodigal both in number and in comic genius. Their enormous versatility, their unending variety, and their astonishing achieve­ ments are enough to dazzle an admirer who studies their careers a full hundred years after their great performances. They can honestly be called comedians without peer, conaimmate artists, and the greatest comic performers in the history of the American stage,®

^Douglas Gilbert, American Vaudeville: Its Life and Times (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Incorporated, 19407, pp. 10, 113. Julius Mattfield, Variety Music Calvalcade 1620-1961 (Englewood Cliffs, N, jT: Prentlce-Hall, Inc., 1902} said Pastor's Opera House operation in 1865 was also for a fam­ ily variety show (p. 121), and Cecil Smith, Musical Comedy in America (New York; Robert M, MacGregor, Theatre Arts Beds, 1950) said Pastor began family variety in 1864 (p. ® ) • Gilbert, however, made a strong case that Pastor's early houses were merely old-style, male-oriented variety dives,

®Garff B, Wilson, A History of American Acting (Bloom­ ington, Indiana: 'Indiana University Press, 1966), p, 155. 5 He referred not only to Henry Placide, William E. Burton,

John Gilbert, William Warren, Dion Boucicault, and other

actors of the legitimate stage, but also to the performers

of minstrel shows, vaudeville, and burlesque.such as Nat

Goodwin, Henry Dixey, Francis Wilson, George Fox, Willie

Edouin, and many m ore,9

The late nineteenth-century American theatre generated

enormous activity, and most of the plays written in the

period, especially those in the popular field, have never

been examined, Paul T. Nolan delivered a plea for research

in that area;

Between 18?0 and 1916 over 40,000 plays were registered for copyright production in the United States ; and nine out of ten of these have never been examined. The neglect of these documents , , , has been so complete that one almost suspects that our ignorance of them is intentional. If one, for example, compares the attention given to the history of any public theatre in America with that given to these plays, written in the shadows of these theatres, one is forced to conclude that cultural historians are far more concerned with the physical details of theatre construction, the finances of theatre management, and the personal lives of touring actors and actresses than they are with the nature of drama­ tic composition— the be-all and end-all for all

% a t C, Goodwin, during that heyday of comedy, ex­ pressed an opinion that coincided with Wilson's in his autobiography, Nat Goodwin's Book (Boston: The Gorham Press, 1914), p." 118': "l am convinced we have retrograded so far as the serious and tragic are concerned. Also we have materially advanced in comedy and specialty work. The legitimate comedians of to-day I consider far in ad­ vance of his elder brother. He is cleaner, more human, of lighter touch, and more subtle. We have advanced more rapidly from even my time than we did the 30's to the 70'8," theatrical activity. No body of American liter­ ature— not the dime novels of Ned Buntline, not graveyard epitaphs, not even the doleful verses of the languishing Southern belle— has been so neglected,10

Several of those popular and untouched plays constitute

some of the basic material of this study,

The very forms of dramatic presentation also underwent

alteration In the late nineteenth-century American theatre,

James T. Nardln In his study of popular American farce

pointed out the demise of the farce as an afterpiece after

the Civil War and the developing Importance of farce as

full-length pieces during the same p e r i o d , A n o t h e r form,

the minstrel show, enjoyed a large success before and after

the war, but when Bryant’s Minstrels closed their elghteen-

^Opaul T. Nolan, Provincial Drama In America. I870- 1 91 6; A Casebook of Primary Materials (Metuchen. N. J.: The Scarecrow Press, lnc"i^,' I967), p. 7.

^ Myr o n Mat low. In his "Introduction" to The Black Crook and Other Nineteenth-Century American Plays ^New~ York: E. P, Dutton & Co,, Inc., 196?), which he edited, stated: "There were other plays that qualify perhaps only marginally as drama but that found Immense favor with theatregoers In the late decades of the century" (p. 21). The notion that the "drama" Is somehow separated from theatregoers Is an Incredible one that bespeaks the liter­ ary emphasis to which nineteenth-century American drama has been subjected. That such an Idea should figure In the Introduction to a volume of nineteenth-century Ameri­ can plays headed by The Black Crook is even more incredible,

James T, Nardln, 'A Study In Popular American Farce, 1869-1914" (Unpublished Ph.D, dissertation. University of Chicago, 1949), p. 1, Also, Henry Austin Clapp, Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic (Boston; Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902), In speaking of the afterpiece farce noted "the almost com­ plete extinction of this sort of play" (p. 1 5). 7 year residence in New York in 1875, it signalled the de­

mise of that peculiarly American entertainment on the New

York stage except in nostalgic or spectacular forms,13 Al­

ways, of course, some sort of variety show existed, but

in the immediate post-war years the variety show was par­

ticularly associated with waiter girls and a rather rude,

masculine setting until Pastor devised a new atmosphere,

A form that passed out of common usage was that of

pantomime, George L, Pox, the last great practitioner of

the form, enjoyed enormous success with Humpty-Dumpty in

1868 and I869. But the traditional form died with Fox, and,

declared Cecil Smith, it bequsathed its best parts to bur­

lesque, extravaganza, and the developing farce-comedy,1^

The burlesque form itself confronted other problems,

John Brougham's Netamora (184?) and Pocahontas (I855) had

established an American burlesque of a traditional nature

that was continued by Charles M. V/alcot's Hiawatha (I856),

In the I860's, however, with the appearance of Lydia

Thompson and her British Blondes in Ixion. or The Man at the Wheel at Woods Museum in September 1868, burlesque in

America began to develop its penchant for legs and the ex­ posure of the female form. Although Edward E, Rice's Evan­ geline in 1874 successfully combined original songs and

13ciapp, Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic, p, 17, stated that minstrel shows were failing by 1870. They did, however, run successfully on the road through the turn of the century,

l^Smith, Musical Comedy in America, p, 29. comedy In a clean burlesque that appealed to families,^5

the burlesque form tended more and more toward displays of

feminine charms.

Displays of stockinged leg were also featured in The

Black Crook (1866) by Charles M, Barras. Although the work

is frequently cited as the first musical comedy for its

elaborate staging and its use of chorus girls, that assess­

ment is questioned by David Ewen and, more particularly,

by Julian Mates.l^ Certainly The Black Crook represented

a great success for the lavish and massive type of produc­

tion known as the spectacle.

Yet another frequently used descriptive term— though

not a distinct form of drama— was ”extravagan5;a, " which re­

ferred to dramatic works that were imaginative and that used

a freedom of form not readily classifiable under other

terms. The term could be applied to unique spectacles,

such as The Black Crook, or to the simple works of small groups,

l^ibid,. pp. 38-3 9 .

^^David Sifen, The Story of America's Musical Theatre (Philadelphia: Chilton Comphhy, 1961), pp. 4-5” Julian Mates, The American Musical Stage Before 1800 (New Brunswick, N. j,: Rutgers University Press, 1962)1 pp. 229 -3 0 ; and "The Black Crook Myth," Theatre Survey. Vol. 7, no, 1 (May 1966), pp. 31-^3. Matlow. The Black Crook, states that the play is gen­ erally regarded as the first musical comedy, and H, B. Leavitt in his Fifty Years in Theatrical Management. 1859- 1909 (Wew York; Broadway Publishing Co., 1912) labels the run of The Black Crook as the birth of musical comedy (p. 21). 9 In that context of great change for the nineteenth-

century American theatre, an unusual little group of comic

players was formed in 1875 by Nathan Salsbury and called

Salsbury*s Troubadours, Salsbury and two other players,

Nellie McHenry and John Webster, formed the backbone of

the troupe for the thirteen years of its existence, Sals­

bury functioned as actor, manager, and playwright, and

merely the story of his early career and development

would be worthwhile for the study of nineteenth-century

theatre history, A paper that treated another facet

of the 1875 to 1887 period, namely, information about the

Troubadours* tours and travelling In the pre-central

booking agent days,would also have Importance, Further­

more, such a study would have unique value if it did no

more than bring to light the talents and achievements of

a group of performers who were associated In their own

time with the very best in popular comedy, or to

outline what kind of people made up that troupe, where they came from and where they went. Comedy and comedians not only of the nineteenth century but throughout the his­ tory of the theatre constitute a notoriously neglected and under-researched field of study.

The Troubadours, however, gained a significance far beyond the importance of any of the individuals who com­ prised the troupe. Beginning as an acknowledged imitation of England's Vokes Family, the Troubadours combined variety 10 and specialty acts, light musical fare, and remnants of

burlesque in the form of parody and imitation to develop

a new kind of play; the musical farce-comedy.

Their first show. Patchwork, was an imitation of The

Belles of the Kitchen, popularized by the Vokes Family.

Their second work, however. The Brook, was an original

bit of nonsense that established a vogue in popular the­

atre. Cecil Smith claimed for the piece even greater sig­

nificance;

The Brook was the germinal cell out of which musical comedy ultimately grew, it was the first full-length musical piece to adopt the distin­ guishing formula of musical comedy by putting its central trust in the topical materials of the vari­ ety show and arranging those materials upon the framework of a plot

Eifen also emphasized the importance of the play;

The Brook . , . was a pioneer effort to achieve some"ïcincPof unity among plot, dialogue, and char­ acters, , , . the attempt to create a book musical for the first time— and bring to it both natura­ lism and Americanism— represented a milestone.

Ewen further cited as significant The Brook's "tentative

efforts at integration," as well as the "naturalism of

setting, characterization, and humorous episodes."19

The characteristics of The Brook duplicated those

of other early Troubadour pieces, A small cast.

17smith, Musical Comedy in America, pp. 56-57.

l^Ewen, The story of America*s Musical Theatre, p. 6,

19pavid Evxen, The Complete Book of the American Musical Theatre (New York; Henry Holt and Company, 1958), p. 350. 11 usually five, comprised all of the players, but the plots

allowed their characters to dress up and assume yet other

characters. The music In the shows was generally adapted

from other popular songs of the time. The plays consisted

of comic bits of business and specialty, varlety-llke acts

of song, dance, and recitation strung together on a slender

thread of a plot. Because of the varlety-llke nature of

parts of the play, elements of the show could be changed

from performance to performance depending on the time, the

place, the audience, and the Individual performers. The

humor was essentially clean and non-suggestlve, a point the Troubadours emphasized as they advertised to attract family audiences.

The humor. In addition to Its wholesome nature, fea­ tured a spirit of crazy, zany antics all performed with a naturalness that seemed like fresh, boisterous good fun.

That spirit of zanlness performed with an apparent natural ease was identified as an American touch during their over­ seas tours. The Troubadours* plays did not attempt the size or lavishness of spectacle. They possessed neither the satirical and cynical wit of Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, nor the sweet romance of German and Austrian operetta, nor the Continental sophistication of opera bouffe. Rather, the Troubadours Injected spirit, natural­ ness, frivolity, energy, and a basic fun Into the musleal- comedy form. 12 The Troubadours were regarded as the originators and

the best example of the American farce-comedy form, and

their success spawned a school of Imitators Including Nat

C, Goodwin*s and Eliza Weathersby's "Prollques" In Hobbles

and other shows ; William A, Mestayer*s "Tourists" In A

Pullman Palace Car; Willie Edouin*s "Sparks" with Alice

Atherton In Dreams, or. Fun In a Photograph Gallery: Min­

nie Palmer In Minnie Palmer's Boarding School; and many

others, Salsbury*s Troubadours helped develop farce

comedy concurrently with Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart,

whose approach to farce comedy Included more local, topi­

cal humor, larger casts, and wild group scenes with fights

and chases. Together the Troubadours and Harrigan and Hart

exerted the Influences that developed Into the more struc­

tured farce comedies of Charles Hoyt, and eventually Into

the American farce duo of George 8, Kaufman and Moss Hart,

The Influence of The Brook and other early Troubadour

pieces was not felt only In America, The troupe toured to

Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands In 1877-78

with great success. In 1880 they visited Great Britain,

and both Ewen and Smith credit the Troubadours with Intro­

ducing American musical production to England, where they

helped to bridge th3 gap between the music hall and the le­ gitimate stage,20 They also created the Impression of a

2ÛEwen, The Complete Book of the American Musical Theatre, p. 350, and The Story of America's Musical The­ atre. p, 6; Smith, Musical Comedy In America, p. 59. Neither Smith not Ewen considers minstrel shows to have accomplished that. 13 distinctly American brand of humor,

Salsbury’s Troubadours not only established and popu­

larized the loosely plotted farce-comedy form, but they

were also instrumental after 1880 in altering that form in

the direction of more structured plots and more complete

characterizations. For plays of that nature Salsbury

turned to other authors, such as Bronson Howard and Edward

E, Kidder, Howard*s Greenroom Fun and Kidder's Three of a

Kind and Tom. Dick and Harry moved progressively toward

more structured plots with definite conflicts, more in­

dividualized characters, more specificity in lines and

action, and less emphasis on the specialty, variety, and

musical numbers, The Humming Bird by Fred Williams and

George L. Stout, the last play performed by the troupe

before Salsbury*s retirement, also increased the size of

the company.

The craze for farce comedy as represented by Sals­ bury *s Troubadours and similar groups lasted only a short time. Its heyday was but a half-dozen years, from 1879 to

1885, and the crest of the rage occurred in 1881, The last major success of the form was Mestayer's We. Us and

Co. at Mud Springs, produced In 1884. Although the Trouba­ dours played successfully beyond 1885, Salsbury recognized the changing tastes and retired from the stage In 1887 to devote his full-time energies to his Job as vice-president and general manager of "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West, 14 which Salsbury had been running part time as a partner

since 1883, McHenry and Webster continued to run a farce-

comedy troupe with success through 1894, but the spark of

originality and the farce-comic fascination of the public

no 1 Oilier existed. The Harrigan and Hart variant of farce

comedy ended about the same time with the break up of the

pair in 1885, The field of farce comedy was abandoned to

writers of more structured farce such as Charles Hoyt, who

enjoyed his first success in 1883 and continued to write

through the 1890‘s, and John J. McNally, who wrote simi­

lar farce comedies in the 1890*s.

It ventures too far to say that Salsbury*s Troubadours

created In The Brook the germinal cell of musical comedy,

for Influences are pervasive in the development of theatre

pieces and probably no work or group should be labelled so

decisively. It would be correct, however, to state that

Salsbury*s Troubadours latched onto a piece of British

fun, copied it, and then synthesized It with their own considerable talents and turned it Into the first American farce comedy. Many of the qualities of their shows were present elsewhere, as the energetic zest and specialty sec­ tions of the American minstrel shows ; travesty and a sense of the absurd In the dying pantomime and the changing bur­ lesque; and song and music In the light opera forms. The

Troubadours combined various elements and played their unique fare to great acclaim In the United States and 15 abroad, generating popular and critical acclaim. The

Troubadours also generated a host of imitators, who tried

their hands at the loosely plotted musical-farcical-comic-

variety form. Many of them achieved success, which caused

a general craze for the light concoctions in the early

188o's, The Troubadours, however, found themselves in the

1880*s before Salsbury's retirement moving toward a more

structured farce-comedy form, which helped to lead the

way for Charles Hoyt and the twentieth century farce-comedy

writers,

Previous work in the popular American theatre of the

late nineteenth century is sparse. Study in comedy is,

of course, even more rare. Some works on genres such as

minstrel shows, burlesques, and pantomime exist, but all

of those forms belong, in the days of their greatest glory,

to earlier periods. Although mention is made of the 1875-’

1885 period in standard books on the musical theatre, little

detailed work similar to Hates* study of the musical before

1800 has been done. Unusual theatrical elements such as

tent shows, showboats, circuses, and the Wild West have

been or are currently being treated. Naturally the most

famous individuals of the legitimate stage— the Barretts,

Wallacks and Dalys— have been studied along with the best- known theatres of the time. But neither the study of the legitimate stage nor the exploration of the most unusual attractions provides much insight into the most popular 16 theatrical entertainments, Certainly some of the Indiv­

iduals associated with that popular theatre have been ex­

amined, such,as Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart, Tony Pastor,

and Charles Hoyt. Also some studies liave attempted to deal

with large segments of theatre history, such as Nardln's

study of popular American farce or the Curiosities of the

American Stage, and some were concerned with particular movements, such as vaudeville.or variety. Naturally some accounts remain of the late nineteenth-century popular theatre written by those who created It, Including Nat

Goodwin, P. T. Barnum, and M. B, Leavitt, Finally, there are extensive records of popular theatrical performances

In libraries and collections throughout the country. That last area represents a virtually untapped source of Infor­ mation on America's own popular theatre, and it Is In that direction that this study turns. CHAPTER 1

NATHAN SALSBURY 1846-1875: ACTOR, PLAYWRIGHT, MANAGER

The early life of Nathan Salsbury was significant

both in a personal and in a professional way to the de­

velopment of Salsbury*s Troubadours, On the personal

level, the insecurity, poverty, and lack of love that

he lived with as a child, coupled with an independence

apparently fostered by neglect, affected the decisions

and patterns of his later life.

The professional progress of Nate Salsbury as a

representative young performer of the late nineteenth-

century American theatre would be historically interes­

ting in and of itself. Its importance, however, ex­

tends beyond mere interest, for in the nine years of

his stage career before he formed the Troubadours, Sals­

bury learned the ropes not only as an actor, but as a writer and a manager as well. That expertise in three fields proved essential to the eventual success of his cornedic troupe, and it resulted directly from the labors of his early career.

The accounts of the early life of Salsbury read rather like the scenario for a Charles Dickens novel.

Young Nate, an orphan, confronts oppression by a wicked step-father. He runs away and joins the army as a

17 18 drummer boy and then as a soldier before turning to the

stage. The latter part of his life was more like an-.

Horatio Alger success story, Nate, the young actor, rose

steadily in his chosen profession from 1866 to 1875, Along

the way he also learned the wiles of theatrical management

and tried his hand at playwriting. From 1875 to 1887 he

managed, acted with, and authored plays for Salsbury's

Troubadours— -one of the most inventive, influential, and

imitated comic troupes of its time. From 1883 to his death

in 1902 Salsbury functioned as vice-president and manager

of Buffalo Billte Wild West, a position that brought him

great wealth in addition to stature and influence in the

entertainment field. If so much of that biography were

not verifiable, one might suspect the whole thing as the

fiction of a nineteenth-century press agent.

The basic biography of Nathan Salsbury’s first few

years, as it was distributed by newspapers and the Wild

West programs and recounted in Salsbury*s own private

reminiscences, included these items: orphaned as a boy,

Nate ran off during the Civil War and became one of the

youngest men in the Army of the Cumberland; sent home

after eight months from the Fifteenth Illinois infantry,

he reenlisted in the (Eighty-ninth Illinois infantry and

served until the close of the war. He was wounded three times and spent some months in Andersonville prison,^

scrapbook at the Theatre Collection of the New York Public 19 Most of that story Is confirmed by independent

sources. Nathan Salsbury was born 28 February 1846. the

seventh Nathhn Salsbury In a direct line. The third

Nathan had emigrated to the United States from Wales In

the early 1700*s. In 1780 the fifth Nathan was born In

Rutland, Vermont. He married Lemlra Clark, of Saratoga,

New York, and the sixth of their ten children was named

Nathan, the father of the Nathan of this study.^

The Salsbury8, according to one of the family, re-

garded themselves as a clannish people who "stood by the

honor of the blood through thick and thin. "3 one of their

dominant traits was "to be bright and cheerful no matter

how dark things looked." Nate Salsbury, said his relative.

Library at Lincoln Center (MWEZ n.c. 18,504). That scrap­ book, given the library by Rebecca Salsbury James, daughter of Nate Salsbury, also Includes a personal scrapbook of Rachel Samuels' early career, before she joined the Trouba­ dours and married Nate Salsbury. Those scrapbooks were recorded on microfilm In I967 as one volume and will be hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm). Also The Wild West program, I893, p.20, In the pri­ vate collection of Isabella Sayers, Ostrander, Ohio. Also "Nate Salsbury: Reminiscences," by Nathan Salsbury, Original manuscript In Nate Salsbury Papers, Collection of American Literature, Belnecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, Authorized typed copies also at the Denver Public Library, Western History Department. Hereafter cited as "Reminiscences."

^Information from letters from an "Aunt" Clara to Nathan Salsbury, Jr. (the son of the Nathan of this study) about 1900, and from Mlttle Salsbury Akeley to Rebecca Salsbury Strand (later James). Although Clara's letter Is signed "Aunt," Salsbury had no full brothers or sisters, and Clara and Mlttle were probably two of his nu­ merous cousins. Both letters are undated and are among the uncatalogued Nate Salsbury Papers in the Collection of American Literature, Belnecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Specific letters from that col­ lection will be cited as among Salsbury Papers, Yale. 20

exhibited that quality to a marked degree. He Is also

said to have displayed another quality attributed to the

clan: "They're all happy go lucky, but under the light

surface there Is anearnest purpose and a rugged honesty."3

Nate Salsbury's father died when Nate was still a

"very little boy," and his mother later married Jedutha

Fuller, Unfortunately Nate's mother died shortly there­

after, leaving Nate an orphan at the age of eight. Fuller

then married Martha Salsbury, a sister of Nate's father,

making Nate's aunt his foster mother. That situation did

not necessarily mean good care for Nate, who was shipped

off to his grandparents for years at a time. The tone of

letters from Salsbury's half-sister Harriet Fuller Indi­

cated that Nate's position was not an enviable one. In

one letter, while wishing good things for Nate, she refer­

red to him as "my orphan brother , , , whose boyhood and

youth have been so destitute of love, , , , and who tells

me his heart Is full of bitterness,"^ Certainly no strong

family ties bound Salsbury to Freeport, Illinois, The Idea

of running away was not foreign to Nate, especially after

he was returned to the Fuller household, for he wrote to

his Uncle Washington Salsbury, "I had entirely given up

3"Aunt" Clara to Nate Salsbury, Jr., op, clt.. Salsbury Papers, Yale,

^Harriet Fuller to Nate Salsbury, 8 January 1870, Salsbury Papers, Yale, 21

the Idea of going with the circus this spring," The

boy, who was later to become a member of the American

Dramatists Club, also told his Uncle, "It seems impossible

for me to learn to write good (sic). I mean to try though,"5

Salsbury could bear the house of his aunt and step­

father only a few more months after his letter to his

Uncle Washington, He did not, however, escape to the cir­

cus, Rather in I86l he Joined the Fifteenth Illinois

infantry as a drummer boy. Later he reenlisted in the

Eighty-ninth Illinois as a soldier. Just before the

battle for Nashville, Salsbury was wounded and nearly

lost a hand, "Aunt" Clara, who related the story of his

wound, also confirmed his confinement in Andersonville,^

Civil War documents placed Salsbury at Atlanta in July

1864 and in Texas the following year,7 During those

war years Salsbury apparently practiced his writing of

poems and songs and even performed for the troops,® He was discharged 8 December 1865 after which he returned to

Illinois and enrolled for a short time in Reifsnider*s

Business College in Dunnings Block, Illinois,

^Letter 17 March I86l from Nathan Salsbury (Freeport, Illinois) to Washington C, Salsbury, Salsbury Papers, Yale,

®"Aunt" Clara to Nate Salsbury, Jr., op. cit.. Salsbury Papers, Yale.

^Official discharge and other orders in Salsbury Papers, Yale,

^"Veteran’s Growl" and other poems and songs in Salsbury Papers, Yale, dated 9 December 1865 from San Antonio, Texas; also "An Evening with Boucicault" in "Reminiscences," 22 Salsbury*s own writings about that period conveyed

several Insights Into his personality. Outside of Atlanta

In July 1864 he wrote to Clara:

If you could have seen the heart-rending sights that I have seen you would wish that this war was over, I have seen whole families without a mouthful of bread or meat In the house and no money to buy any with. Think of It, you that have peace and plenty,°

Salsbury retained an abiding Interest In the welfare

of humanity, especially that of those associated with hlm.^®

In his "Reminiscences,” Salsbury wrote succinctly:

Was a prisoner once, and was wounded as often as my health required. On being mustered out returned to my home at Ottawa, 111, My funds being low, cast about for means to replenish, concluded the stage was a soft snap and It took twenty years of hard work to convince me that I had made a mistake In that regard,

Salsbury*s writing during the over thirty-five years of his entertainment career consistently displayed Just such a wry sense of humor, and they also demonstrated his gen­ eral reliability In recounting events.

After such an adventurous youth, Salsbury*s drama­ tic career began tamely enough. Early In 1866 Salsbury made his performing debut as Jimmy Twltcher In The Golden

^Quoted In "Aunt" Clara's letter to Nate Salsbury, Jr,, op, clt.. Salsbury Papers, Yale,

lOparts of a letter from Frank E, Butler and his wife Annie Oakley to Rebecca Salsbury Strand (later James) are representative of comments about Salsbury; [He] was one of the whitest men and also one of our best friends, , , , If we told you all the good things we know about your good father they would fill a book," The letter, from Ansonla, Ohio, Is dated 3 May 1924, Salsbury Papers, Yale,

^Reminiscences. " 23 Farmer, a play produced by the Temperance Dramatic Asso­

ciation of Ottawa, I l l i n o i s , ^2 g y Thursday, 14 June 1866,

Salsbury was' listed as the stage manager of the Aurora

Theatre in Aurora, Illinois, as well as in the cast of

the play Idiot Witness and as the lead in the farce Turn

Him Out. By that time he had adopted the stage name of

LeHoy Montague, In his position as manager of the Aurora

Theatre, LeRoy Montague defended the Aurora in print

against the attacks of a local Rev. Mr, Bray, who lodged

enraged complaints about drunks on the stage,13

Salsbury*s stay at Aurora was brief. He tried ünsuc-

oessfully to borrow money from his Uncle John Welch,1^ per­ haps to finance his new career on a larger scale. Even without the financial aid of his Uncle, however, Salsbury found employment in the fall of 1866 with the company of a theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he played in works such as Camille and His Last Legs for twelve dollars a week. In the winter of that year he was listed in re­ views at various theatres in that area doing minor roles in Othello. Richard III, and The Merchant of Venice. He

A large, personal scrapbook of Nate Salsbury at the Theatre Collection, New York Public Library ( M W E Z n.c. 10329), hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 10329, contains programs, advertisements, and other materials from his early career, often with Salsbury*s notes in the margins.

13Letter to the Editor from unidentified newspaper in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (196? microfilm).

^^etter from John Welch (Athens, Illinois) to Nate Salsbury, 1? July 1866; Salsbury Paper:;, Yale. The other 24 was also reviewed in several productions with Frank Mayo and

J.R, Healey, including The Corsican Brothers and Uncle

Tom's Cabin. The Corsican Brothers carried him to Detroit,

where he joined the company of Young Men's Hall for a short

time. He also visited Chicago briefly and was, in his own

words, "a fugitive from responsible companies for several

months in the small towns of I l l i n o i s , "^5 Despite Salsbury's

penchant for self-effacement, he managed to play in shows

with female leads such as Blanche DeBar and Jennie Hight,

both established popular actresses, who, like Prank Mayo

and J.R. Healey, starred in their own touring combinations.

He also worked with Charles Barron, later the leading man

at the Boston Museum for many years. In fact, one review

of a performance of Cardinal Richelieu with DeBar, Barron,

and Healey in the cast stated, "We should do injustice to

a rising young genius did we not take occasion to state

that Salisbury Csic3 as Francois played the character with

excellent Judgment and good effect,

By September 186? Salsbury managed to secure a good

role in John McDonough's Black Crook company and was ap-

information in the paragraph comes from unidentified re­ views in the Salsbury scrapbook, NYPL 10329* Salsbury's salary was stated in Buffalo Bill by Rupert Croft-Cooke and W. S. Meadmore (London; Sidgwick and Jackson, Limited, 1952), pp. 177-78.

^^"Reminiscences."

^^Unidentified clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm). 25

pearlng with them at the Front Street Theatre in Phila­

delphia. The company also played Baltimore's HoUlday

Street Theatre where, according to one review, "Mr. N,

Salsbury*s performance as Rudolph is particularly g o o d . "^7

Salsbury next played various theatres and plays on the East

coast, especially at Boston's Howard Athenaeum, where he

appeared regularly in the early months of 1868 as a member

of the company.

At about that time, as the reviews indicated, Sals­

bury returned to his own name. In January 1868 at the

Athenaeum he appeared as N, Salsbury, In May at the same

theatre with Prank Mayo in The Corsican Brothers he was

N, T, Salisbury[sic]. He was listed variously as Salsbury,

Saulsbury, or Salisbury, and his first name fluctuated between Nate, Nat, N. T , , or just N,, providing myriad combinations. Occasionally he even reverted to LeRoy,

Leroy, or L, Montague,

For the 1868-69 season Salsbury was enlisted in the company of John T, Ford's HoUlday Street Theatre in Balti­ more, There he worked in standards like Othello with such a stalwart as E, L, Davenport doing the lead. The position in a sound and established group was a good one for Sals­ bury, Although he recalled two seasons at the HoUiday

Street Theatre, he was actually there only for one before he was hired by R, M, Field for the Boston Museum,

^7ibid, Information on his early appearances was gleaned from the Salsbury scrapbooks NYPL 18504 and NYPL 10329, 26

On 1 June I869 Salsbury wrote to Mr, Field In re­

sponse to an offer to join the Museum company. He liked

the Idea of joining the Boston troupe, he said, but he

felt the salary was low and claimed that he had been getting

double Field’s offer at the HoUlday Street Theatre. While

Salsbury did not say what Field’s offer was, and while he

may have exaggerated about his pay from Ford, he did say

he would accept fifteen dollars a week with a chance for

more In his efforts were to "prove worthy," Salsbury

guaranteed "Sobriety— correct Dressing— and a more than

satisfactory rendition of Parts on penalty of the forfeiture

of my engagement,"^9 Field’s Immediate response has not

survived, but It said something for the nineteenth-century

postal service that four days later Salsbury wrote Field

accepting the offered position because "I am satisfied that

on acquaintance you will do me justice" and asking only

that he might "begin the Season with such Parts as will en­

able me to do myself justice,"20

Assuming that Salsbury was mlarled In the area of

the suggested fifteen dollars per week,would Indicate an

^®In the "Reminiscences" Salsbury recalled two seasons at the Holiday Street Theatre,

19Letter from Nate Salsbury to R, M. Field, 1 June 1869, Boston Museum Collection, Theatre Collection, Harvard University, Croft-Cooke and Meadmore In Buffalo Bill, op, clt.. pp, 177-78, stated that Salsbury made twenty-eight dollars per week at The Boston Museum, but they did not specify that as his starting salary,

20Letter from Nate Salsbury to H. M. Field, 5 June 1869, Boston Museum Collection, Theatre Collection, Harvard, 27

annual Income of between five hundred and six hundred dollars a year from that Job, depending on the length

of the season. That would compare favorably with the

average annual wage of less that four hundred dollars

per year for a wage earner In a major United States mill,

factory, or shop In that era.^^ While an actor Incurred

extra expenses, such as his stage clothing, he also en­

joyed opportunity for extra money during the summer and

even during the theatre season. Perhaps Salsbury's esti­

mation that acting was a "soft snap" was not so Inaccurate,

In any case. In only his third year of acting Salsbury was

holding a well-paying Job with a prestigious company,

Salsbury stayed four seasons at the Museum, which

was a well known company in one of the major cities of the

United States, Although the years there were happy ones

according to his "Reminiscences," they did not pass with­

out difficulty. Some problem arose during his first year

at the Museum, for Salsbury, in a 1 June I970 letter to

Field, said he refused reappointment because he thought

his talent suspect.He continued that whatever errors

he had committed were caused by lack of familiarity with

the rules and customs of the stage. Having apologized for

Compendium of the Ninth Census, June 1, 1870 (Washington: Government Printing Office, IB72), Table XCVI, p, 797. The figures for the actor assume that he was paid each week,

22wate Salsbury to R, M, Field, 1 June I870, Boston Museum Collection, Theatre Collection, Harvard, 28 those unstated flaws, Salsbury noted that he needed more

money to dress well on and off stage "as would become a

member of the Museum Company," Whatever difficulties ex­

isted must have been remedied, for Salsbury remained with

the Museum for the 1870-71 season as well as for the sea­

sons of 1871-72 and 1872-73.

At the Museum Salsbury worked with some of the finest

actors and actresses In America, Including Annie Clarke,

Prank Murdoch, Ada Gilman, and the comic genius William

Warren. If reviews are to be believed, Salsbury held his

own. In East Lynne with Annie Clarke during one of his

first appearances, Salsbury received this notice: "The

few words we heard him speak were given with such distinct­

ness and good enunciation as to commend him to further and

more careful attention,"23 in Arrah-Na-Pogue. with Frank

Murdoch and Annie Clarke, "Mr, Salsbury and Miss Ada Gil­

man never fail to bring down thunders of applause in the

barn door jig," In The Octoroon: 'Mr, Saulsbury C sicl

made of Wahnotee, the Indian chief, a prominent feature of

the performance by his expressive pantomimic action," His

• Indian chief received equally strong endorsements from

two other papers. With William Warren in The Prompter's

Box. "Mr, Salisbury's Csicl Mumps is a capital bit of char-

23a11 reviews in the paragraph are unidentified clippings in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm). 29 acter acting,*' He was also cited for excellent portrayals

In Wild Oats. Guy Mannering. The Veteran. The Corsican

Brothers. and The Count of Monte Cristo,

While in Boston Salsbury did not confine his activi­

ties to acting on the Museum stage. In fact, he carried

on numerous concurrent activities. He organized the

"Boston Theatrical Company" in I870, using Museum players,

and performed Rip Van Winkle and other plays in various

nearby towns such as Lynn and Stoneham, Massachusetts.24

Ada Gilman was billed as a member of the Museum Company,

but Salsbury reverted to LeRoy Montague,

In addition to the Boston Theatrical Company, Sals­

bury also engaged in individual and two-person performance

efforts. Sometimes he would perform solo at club gatherings

such as G,A,R, (Grand Army of the Republic) post meetings.

A large poster for Thursday, 2 May 18?2, announced "Mr,

Salsbury assisted by Mademoiselle Nellie Celeste, champion lady banjoist of the world" for the meeting, Salsbury was billed as "a man of many faces" who would imitate

Joseph Jefferson, J, W, Wallack, F, 8. Chanfrau, Barney

Williams, and Charles Dickens, Such imitations, in a variety of situations, remained a part of the Salsbury

2^Playbills and advertisements in NYPL scrapbook 10329. ^Unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 18304 (I967 microfilm),

^^Passim, NYPL scrapbook 10329. 30

Performing was not Salsbury*s only vocation. Even

during the years while he was contracted to various com­

panies, he frequently undertook to manage other individuals

and groups. He was listed, for example, as the business

manager for Helen Western, sister to the more famous Lucille,

That situation must have arisen while Salsbury was in Boston

early in 1868, for Helen died in December of that year.

Later, in Chicago, Salsbury also acted in Lucille Western's

plays, doing Pagin to her Nancy Sykes in Oliver Twist and

Old Pete in her production of The Octoroon.T h r e e years

later, on Saturday, 6 May 1871, L, Montague was listed in

the cast and as manager of the Stuart Robson production of

Captain Crosstree.

At one point Salsbury even appeared to have joined

two different companies. In August 18?1 Salsbury played

in Albert W, Aiken's Witches of New York, and he was noted

as a member of the Aiken company, which was to begin a

thirty-five week national tour. Whatever the reason, he

was certainly back at the Boston Museum in 1871 for his

third season there.

When he was not performing or managing his own or

someone else's appearances, Salsbury tried his hand at writing and producing. His first writing attempt, en-

27unidentified Boston and Chicago clippings in NYPL scrapbooks 10329 and 18504 (1967 microfilm),

28piaybill in NYPL scrapbook 10329. 31 titled On the Trail; or. Honey and Misery, was an obvious

imitation of the British domestic drama popular at the time.

In addition, the play bore a direct relationship to Aiken's

Witches of New York, in which Salsbury had Just performed

when he put together his own play. The first page of the

manuscript stated: "Arranged and adapted by Nathan Sals­

bury, Nov, 1871."^9 The English influence was discernible

in the manuscript, in which the action was set in English

cities and the money was labelled "pounds." All the orig­

inal place names and "pounds" were changed, however, to

provide a Boston, Massachusetts; backdrop.

The plot of the play— in five acts and at least a

dozen-and-a-half scenes— was wildly complex. An unidenti­

fied review of the performances at the Music Hall, Portland,

Maine, on Friday and Saturday, 19 and 20 January I872, pro­

vided a valid picture of the play.30

Phillip Clives inherits with his sister $100,000 from his father, who apparently died without a will. They afterwards learn that by a prior marriage he had a lost daughter in whose favor he had bequeathed $50,000 in case she should be found. It became therefore an object with Clives to obtain this will and destroy it. The young man was interested in a Howard Street gaming house, and there had plucked Harold Alli­ son, a former friend, and ruined him. This, to­ gether with the fact that Phillip's sister Kate had Jilted h i m [ Allison] upon his loss of pro-

29Nathan Salsbury, On the Trail; or Money and Misery. MS., in the Nate Salsbury Papers, Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale.

30performances in Maine cited and reviewed in uniden­ tified clippings in NYPL scrapbooks 18504 (I967 microfilm) and 10329. 32 perty, renders the young man a drunkard and a castaway. He becomes a police court shyster, and learning that Meg, an orange girl, was the lost daughter in question, and also getting pos­ session of the will, he holds both points as a rod over the head of Clives, who, under pretense of buying the will, goes to Allison*s lodging house and there drugs him and extracts the docu­ ment from the table drawer. In doing this he is discovered by another shyster named "Stewart," whom he stabs. He then descends to a cellar and sets fire to the flooring above that his victim and the stupified Harold may be destroyed, A realistic exhibition is here given of fire bursting through the floor.

Thus ended the hectic first three scenes. Such a brief

plot summary could not convey the sense of character—

the goodness of the unfortunate Harold Allison, Stewart,

and Meg, and the self-centeredness of Phillip and Kate— nor

the level of the language— Harold Allison explained to

Kate that he took to drink because, when his father died

penniless, Kate dropped him, proving that Kate "loved

the father’s gold, and not the father’s son"— that the

play achieved. It also did not even attempt to deal with

such major subplots as Kate's attempt to marry the rich

Adolphus Fitz-James, nor the intrigues of Abraham Isaacs,

a Dutch-German dialect Jewish diamond dealer whose presence

helped move the story along.

The play continued in a similar action-filled man­ ner. Although it was generally believed Harold had died

in the fire, he was actually saved by Meg, and he went to

California, where he became a wealthy detective. He re­ turned to Boston as Pete Sharpe, detective, in order to wrest Clives’ property from him and prosecute him for the 33 murder of Stewart, Meg, meanwhile, had become a popular

actress. Phillip Clives proposed marriage to her and In­

duced her to. aid him— although she did not realize what she

was doing— In drugging an old friend of his father so that

Clives could steal from him Clives* father's first marriage

certificate and his will, which had formerly eluded him.

To thwart that effort Pete Sharpe disguised himself

as a drunken Indian and engaged In a bowle knife fight

with Clives, Eventually Clives lost his money and was com­

pelled to leave the country under a threat by Sharpe of ex­

posure and punishment for his murder of Stewart, Kate, who had married the rich but soft-wltted Pltz-James, lost her Inheritance, but would not want for money, Harold, after Impersonating yet another character, an English noble­ man, revealed his true Identity and married Meg, who had thought him dead.

That summary of the main action did not delve Into the tangential subplots, one of which, for example, dealt with a budding love affair between Randall, a newspaper reporter, and Fanny, a can-can girl. The plot outline also excluded the satire that reporter Randall levelled at newspaper reviewers he knew who did not even witness what they were to review. Nor did the summary state that the English nobleman. Lord Granby, just happened to possess talents as a mimic, which allowed Salsbury to demonstrate his various : Imitations, 34

AS for the bowle knife fight, that was a direct de­

scendent of the exciting and well-received bowle knife

fight between Salsbury and Albert W, Aiken In Aiken's

The Witches of New York.^^ The fight was only one of many

similarities between the two plays. Aiken's drama, accor­

ding to the playbill, starred Aiken In four roles : Royal

Keene, a drunken lawyer; Jim Bright, a California detec­

tive; The Pawnee Killer; and a Lord Thorley.3^ Salsbury

enacted four virtually Identical parts In On the Trail.

In Aiken's play the diamond broker, rather than Abraham

Isaacs, was called Isaac Abrams. The title of Aiken's

play referred In a misanthropic way to five womens Sue,

an orange girl, the witch of the street; Coralle, the

actress, the witch of the stage; M'lle Helolse, the Dan­

seuse, the witch of the ballet troupe; Clara Van Renselaer,

the belle, the witch of Fifth Avenue; and Jennie, the red-

blooded siren, the witch of the dance house. There were

four equivalent women In Salsbury's play. Finally, Aiken's

play advertised "Sensation Scenes" In each acts Prison of

Fire, Oath of Vengeance, Struggle for the Will, Springing the Trap, and Justice at Last. The same play, the same scenes, comprised the five acts of On the Trail. Clearly

^^Unidentified review In NYPL scrapbook 18504 {196? microfilm).

32piayblll In Nate Salsbury's scrapbook In the Nate Salsbury Papers, Collection of American Literature, Belnecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Here­ after cited as Salsbury scrapbook, Yale. 35 Salsbury*s note that his play was adapted was a correct

description.

On the-Trail was certainly not deserving of literary

study. It merely took a plot, twisted it, and ran with it

farther than it deserved. The play attempted nearly every­

thing, including fights, melees, and the sensational scenes

that featured a blazing fire and a magnificent ballroom.

The play tried to present both the high life and the low

life, the serious and the comic. An example of the best

of the comic level was a joke about what poker holding

could beat four aces. The answer: an Arkansas hand—

ace high and a large bowie knife. The play also provided

spots for individual specialties, such as Salsbury's imi­

tations, The overall literary quality of the play, how­

ever, was reflected in the final two lines, Thqroccurred

after the revelation that old Clives had made his second

marriage before his first wife had died, and that, there­

fore, Phillip and Kate were illegitimate, Meg, or Cyda-

lise the lost heir, cried, "Oh, Harold, spare him. Re­

member his father was also mine," The gallant Harold

Allison replied:

It is your first request, and I will not re­ fuse it you, Phillip Clives , , , you are free. Seek in other lands to atone for the wrongs done in this, I forgive, if I cannot forget. Re­ lease him. My Cydallse, now you are mine. No more Meg the orange girl, but the wife of Harold Allison, (Music, Curtain,)

Masterpiece or not, such efforts as On the Trail, coupled with Salsbury*s outside performing and mana- 36 gerlal ventures and his steady contract company work,

kept him busy and learning during the theatrical seasons,

which generally ran from September to May or June, The

summers, however, provided still other opportunities for

industrious and ambitious young performers. A newspaper

clipping that referred to Salsbury as "highly promising , .

sure to rise" said that he was one of the few members of

the Howard Athenaeum company retained for what must have

been the summer of 1868,33 During the summer of I869, as

his letters to Field indicated, Salsbury toured with a

group of friends, and then returned to Ottawa, Illinois,

where he gave a special performance for the Temperance

Dramatic Association,3^ Salsbury was among a group of

Boston players who set a tent for the summer of 18?1 at

Cape Elizabeth, Maine,35 During the summer of I870 Sals­

bury stayed at the Boston Museum, where a troupe led by

Robert Craig played a summer season of burlesque and farce

that opened Tuesday, 5 July,^^ That season in particular

apparently influenced Salsbury, First, he enjoyed success­

ful reviews that referred to his "uncommon talent for bur­

lesque," and it was a burlesque form that the Troubadours

33unldentified clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18^04 (1967 microfilm),

3^etters from Nate Salsbury to R. M. Field 1 June I869 and 5 June 1869; Boston Museum Collection, Harvard, Temperance performance cited in Aurora, Illinois, newspaper clipping, NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm),

35unidentifled clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm),

^^All information of the Craig season from NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm). 37 later frequently employed. Second, In one of the farces,

A Dress Rehearsal. Craig was praised for his Imitations of

Joseph Jefferson, J, W, Wallack, Stuart Robson, and Charles

Dickens— Imitations from which the younger Salsbury could

not have helped but gleaned tips for Improving his own

Impersonations of those men. Third, the notion of The

Dress Rehearsal, reflected In the title, of performers

practicing, rehearsing, or performing for each other's

benefit recurred In several of the Salsbury*s Troubadours'

shows. Finally, Craig's troupe was praised for Its

cleanliness :

This burlesque, while It retains all the fea­ tures that make them take so well with the pub­ lic and make the style of entertainment so pop­ ular, Is much more worthy of patronage than most pieces of the class to which It belongs, because It Is free from the Indecencies that have for so long been gathering around It,

Craig, of course, employed burlesque as farcical travesty, not as displays of the body, Salsbury was to use simi­ lar burlesques along with the emphasis on the trait of cleanliness in his own shows.

In I872 Salsbury spent a pleasant summer as the director of theatrical entertainment at Mt, Mansfield

Hotel In Stowe, Vermont, In a well-appointed 400-seat theatre, Salsbury directed the guests In a short farce

Turn Him Qut In support of his own dramatic readings.

3?A11 Information of Salsbury's performances at Mt, Mansfield comes from Salsbury scrapbook, Yale, and NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm). 38 In Masks and Faces by Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, Sals­

bury again took part of the entertaining upon himself, imi­

tating Joseph Jefferson as Hip Van Winkle, J, W. Wallack

as Pagin, P. 8. Chanfrau as Mose the Pireboy, and also

Barney Williams, Booth, Porrest, Pechter, and Eph Horn.

Another section of the entertainment included an imita­

tion of Charles Dickens reading The Pickwick Papers, and

other readings and recitations by Salsbury. Those dramatic

readings consisted of emotional poems such a s *0Im Bludso,

Of the Prairie Belle,’* the saga of a hard-living river

pilot,who sacrificed his life to propel his ship to the

bank of the Mississippi so that the passengers could es­

cape after a fire broke out. The poem, by Colonel John

Hay, was written in a country dialect from the point of

view of a man who had known Jim Bludso,38 Whatever its

worth, the tale was popular enough to elicit a mocking

poetic response, ’’The Answer to Jim Bludso,” which

argued that poor Jim Bludso. fell victim to an author who

did not know his throttle from his safety valve.39 Another

reading, also a poem by Hay announced for the Friday,

2 August 1872 Mt. Mansfield program, was titled "Little

Breeches, A Pike County View of Special Providence.”^®

3®Poem in NYPL scrapbook 18^04 (196? microfilm) at­ tributed to The Sporting Times. January 1871. Poem is in Appendix A.

^Unidentified clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm),

^Unidentified clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 39 That story, from the point of view of a not particularly

religious man, told of a young boy, Gabe, who was carried

off when a horse team bolted on a cold winter night. After

the broken wagon was found and all hope for the little boy

had been abandoned, he was discovered in a warm sheep-fold,

presumably placed there by angels.

That Salsbury thoroughly enjoyed his hotel job was

evidenced in a letter to R. M, Field from Mt, Mansfield

in which Salsbury asked when he was due back in Boston.

He wished to stay as long as possible at "one of the most en­

joyable places I have ever visited," and he thanked Field

for suggesting his name for the job.^^

For whatever reasons, Salsbury was soon less happy

with Field and with his position at the Boston Museum.

That some problems arose during the 1872-73 season was

obvious from Salsbury's 19 March 1873 letter to Field, in

which he stated:

the events of this season have rendered my present position entirely untenable. And . . . I feel obliged to seek elsewhere the position I think it impossible for me to attain in the Museum Company.

What the events were was not related, but from the second

(1967 microfilm). Poem is in appendix A. Throughout Sals­ bury *s scrapbook were various poems, sayings, and clip­ pings unrelated directly to his shows. The inference was that he would save such poems and sayings and then, per­ haps, work them into his performances when possible.

^^Nate Salsbury (Mt. Mansfield Hotel, Stowe, Ver­ mont) to R. M. Field, 11 August 1872. Boston Museum Col­ lection, Harvard.

42Nate Salsbury to R. M. Field, I9 March I873. Boston Museum Collection, Harvard. 40 sentence It might be inferred that Salsbury wanted to per­

form roles he was not permitted to play.

The next season found Salsbury in Chicago with the

powerful Hooley*s Theatre Company, which included James

O'Neill, Henry S. Murdoch, Mrs, Fred Williams, Clara Maeder,

and, as low comedian, William H, Crane, Salsbury was listed

as "heavy and eccentric character actor,"^3 His contract

for the 1873-74 season promised him employment from Sep­

tember 1 to "about May 1" at thirty dollars for every

eight-performance w e e k , 44

Early in the season the Chicago audiences found

Salsbury could fence as well as fight with a bowie knife.

In September in Lillian's Last Love one reviewer commented

that a new hero would be needed each night, "for Mr,

Saulsbury C slcl is determined to carve his opponents into

mince-meat,"^5 salsbury received good notices for roles

in Fashion. Marv Warner, and The Streets of New York. In

The Count of Monte Cristo— which oddly enough received bad

reviews considering O'Neill was performing the role that was later to make him a matinee idol— Salsbury was praised for his Jacepo, especially for the disguise section, just as he had been in Boston, A Chicago Tribune review of Blow for Blow, in which Salsbury played with Crane, provided a

^3unidentifled dipping in NYPL scrapbook 10504 (1967 microfilm).

44,Balsbury's copy of the contract was in his scrap­ book at Yale, 45 All reviews of Hooley's productions were undated and frequently unidentified from NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm), 41 level-headed estimation of the young actor;

Salsbury has earnestness and Intelligence, and needs self-restraint and deliberate thought. He wants to tone himself down, and that accom­ plished, It will not be an easy matter to sup­ press him In that particular line for which he is so especially fitted.

Salsbury also found opportunity to exhibit his talents

for mimicry. The Chicago Times In March noted that

Writing on the Wall gave Salsbury his chance:

[Salsbury had a] good opportunity to distin­ guish himself. He has heretofore shown himself to be an actor of great versatility, and on Fri­ day he thoroughly surprised the audience by his remarkable powers of Imitation. His reproductions of Jefferson, Booth, Pechter, Chanfrau, and sev­ eral other leading lights of the stage were very amusing and generally very truthful.

Although Salsbury certainly held his own In the

Chicago company, the year was not without Its problems.

A 17 April 1874 letter from Fred Williams, business mana­ ger for Hooley's, to Salsbury provided a clear under­ standing of the difficulty. Salsbury wished to play cer­ tain parts that the management did not feel he should play.

Salsbury based his claims In part of the fact that a Mr.

Hardenbergh, an older actor at the Boston Museum, played lead villains as well as secondary villains. Mr. Williams' lengthy letter responded to Salsbury's particular demands and Incidentally detailed some common management practices of the nineteenth-century American theatre.

My dear Salsbury, Your letter surprises me a good deal. I had expected to find the greatest harmony exis­ ting In our business as It always has In our social relations. However, In business plain 42

dealing is the best; and the step you have taken will prevent any future misunderstanding, I propose handling the company, at least at my disposal, to the best advantage for the interest of the Theatre, that is to say, Hooley, and there­ fore cannot give a pledge to you of the nature you require that you must play as a matter of right all the parts Mr, Hardenbergh played in the Museum, Mr, H, was a very exceptional actor and remaining in the one theatre for a number of years, fell into a great variety of parts pecu­ liarly suited to his talent, perhaps more on account of the absence of any better represen­ tative in the company. In certain cases I am of opinion that injustice was done other members of the company by casting him for these very parts. Now to come to what I believe is the point in question— Mr, H, played Richard III, Richmond, Othello, lago, Petruchio, and many leading parts, parts I no more consider heavy parts because they are villains, than I call King Lear a first old man because he wears a white wig. These parts I cannot give you. In "Macbeth," you can­ not have "Macduff" as Hardenbergh had, "Banque" is in my opinion the heavy part. If you think better of it and decide to trust to my sense of justice and discernment of peculiar talents for peculiar parts, I believe I can make your situ­ ation as pleasant as any other in the country. On the points I have named will I thiik arise the only difference of opinion between us. All the'bo-called" Hardenbergh. parts, the "Miles Mc­ Kennas," Michael Feeneys," "Bishopriggs," every­ thing in short but the leading parts in the le- g i t l ^ t e . These I cannot cast you for with two leading men engaged. If you are satisfied with all the strong character parts unless there is a better part in the shape of a g.entlemanly vil­ lain in which case you will have your choice, we can I think agree very well. In conclusion I would say that you shall have none of the disagreeable parts which go to Mr, Hardenbergh, no bad walking gentlemen like "Sir Lionel" in "Men of the Day," By the way, I forgot, Hardenbergh played "Pagin" in "Oliver Twist," If Mr, O'NeilCsicJ desires to play"Pagin" I cannot give it you, but, as my company stands now, I should give you "Bill Sykes," In all of the new pieces I have in view, the parts I have cast you for are first class. You can tell Mr, Hooley from me that he is at liberty to tell you if he pleases the part I cast you for in "Led Astray," ^•3 Williams restated his position briefly and then closed etter.^^

Salsbury did Indeed decide to trust to Mr, Williams'

sense of justice and discernment, for he signed a contract

engaging him to Hooley's from September 1874 to about 1 June

1875.^^ More specific than the contract of the year be­

fore, the 1874 paper listed Salsbury specifically as "first

heavy and character actor," The contract contained a five

dollar per week raise to thirty-five dollars per week, and

It specified that Salsbury was to receive "one 1/3 bene­

fit during said season," presumably one benefit performance

for himself, and one In connection with two others, Sals­

bury enacted Tybalt to O'Neill's Romeo In the Shakespearean

play, and he was Antonio to O'Neill's Shy lock with William

Crane as Gobbo In The Merchant of Venice. H e received

praise for his villain In Lost In London, and the season

generally progressed well until, while Hooley's Company

was playing an engagement In Cleveland, It was announced

that part of the company would go to California, and that

that part would not Include Nathan Salsbury,

On Saturday, 27 March 1875» a benefit was played for

^^Pred Williams to Nate Salsbury, 17 April 1874, Salsbury scrapbook, Yale.

^^salsbury scrapbook, Yale, contains Salsbury's copy of the contract,

^Unidentified reviews of Hooley's Theatre produc­ tions In NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm),

^9undated Cleveland Leader article In NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm), 44 James O'Neill before his departure for California, and a

week later a benefit was held for William H, Crane before

he left for the West coast,50 Meanwhile two members of

Hooley's company who were not to make the Western trip,

in a conversation in the billiard room of a hotel, de­

vised the plan of running their own touring comedic troupe

for the summer months of 1875.^^

Salsbury's nine years of apprenticeship were conclu­

ding, As a performer he had concentrated on villains and

comics, learning his trade from the likes of William Warren,

William H. Crane, and James O'Neill, He had worked exten­

sively with Frank Mayo, Henry Murdoch, Charles Barron,

Annie Clarke, and many other legitimate stars. Jobs like

those at Mt, Mansfield and before G.A.R, meetings gave

Salsbury opportunity to perfect his solo performance speci­ alties such as the imitations and dramatic readings. Sev­ eral times he had undertaken the management of his own or other people's productions. Those enterprises had provided

50unidentifled reviews in NYPL scrapbook 10329,

51unidentified clipping from a Cleveland newspaper in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm) stated the conver­ sation took place at the Weddell House in Cleveland, An article by W, F. Storey in The Times (Chicago) September I879, said the idea arose at The Sherman House in Chicago, That article is in a personal scrapbook of Rachel Samuels for the Troubadours' 1879-80 season (MWEZ n, c, 18505) at The Theatre Collection of the New York Pub­ lic Library at Lincoln Center, That scrapbook was filmed as Vol. II of the I967 microfilm. It is hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm). 45 valuable experience and brought him into contact with

such stalwarts as the Western sisters and Stuart Robson.

In addition,. Salsbury had experimented with writing, with the resultant On the Trail a virtual adaptation of a play

in which he had just appeared. In 1875, all of those vari­ ous talents and experiences were about to fall into place. CHAPTER 2

THE TROUBADOURS: FOUNDATION AND SURVIVAL, 1875-1878

Nate Salsbury proposed his idea for the touring

group for the summer to John Webster. The Idea caught,

and It soon encompassed five actors : Katie Wilson, Ed

Marble, Webster's wife Nellie McHenry, plus Webster and

Salsbury. Frank Maeder, who handled the musical depart­

ment, gathering and directing the orchestra, was also one

of the original group. A son of the composer J. Gasper

Maeder and the actress Clara Fisher, Maeder has been sel­

dom listed as a Troubadour because he did not act, but his

was a valuable contribution. The Intent of the group, ac­

cording to newspapers of the time, was a modest summer tour,

Salsbury managed to book their act for a week at the

Adelphl Theatre In Chicago beginning 3 May 1875.^ They were paid one hundred and fifty dollars, stories of the

lUnldentifled Chicago newspaper clippings, 1875. In NYPL scrapbook 18504 (I967 microfilm).

^A copy of the contract is In Salsbury*s scrapbook, Yale. Although the contract specified 3 May as the starting date, an article by W, F. Storey In The Times (Chicago) from 1876 said they actually opened at the Adelphl on the first of the month. The article Is from a personal scrap­ book of Nate Salsbury at the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (MWEZ n. c. 8752); hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 8752, Cecil Smith In Musical Comedy In America also listed 1 May I875 as the first performance by the Troubadours (p. 57),

46 ii7 beginnings of the Troubadours as told several years later

insisted that they pocketed their first contract even be­

fore they knew what they were going to perform. 3 Contract

in hand, Salsbury and Webster sat down, put their experi­

ence to work, wove together a string of comic bits and vo­

cal pieces, tied them to a situation, and called the result

Patchwork. While the group also performed standard farces

or comedies to start an evening. Patchwork remained their

primary vehicle for well over a year.

The plot of Patchwork was hardly complicated, and

the basic idea could be easily inferred from numerous re­

views and other accounts.^ The scene was a room of a man­

sion, and the characters were five servants. While the

owner and guests were at supper, the serving men and women

dressed themselves in theatrical costumes, which were on

hand for a masquerade at the house. They proceeded to act,

sing, and dance in accordance with their inclinations.

That, in a few words, constituted the plot, and. Insofar as the situation comprised Patchwork, the play was a di­ rect imitation of a Yokes Family production;

3story by W. F. Storey in The Times (Chicago), I876, in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm). The contract offers some support for the notion that the play was writ­ ten after the contract was secured, since it specifies only that the five people would perform "their new specialty."

^The Augusta Constitutionalist. November 18?5, in NYPL scrapbook 8752; The Argus (Melbourne. Australia), 25 Sep­ tember 1877. A parcel of thesplan struck servants giving vent to their absurdities during the family's absence seems somewhat of a plagiarism from The Belles of the Kitchen.5

The review was accurate. The basic premise of Patchwork

was identical to that of The Belles of the Kitchen, which

purported to show "the doings of domestics in the absence

of their employers,"^

A mere outline of the situation of the play, however,

does not approach a description of what Patchwork really

was. For that one must first examine what kinds of acts

and specialties were performed, and, second, develop some

sense of the atmosphere of the entertainment. The first

task is the easier since reviewers frequently mentioned

particular sections or items that impressed. One of the

most widely acclaimed acts was a burlesque on a popular

1870's attraction: a contingent of bell players who billed

themselves as "The Peak Family of Swiss Bell Ringers."

The Troubadours during that part of their show labelled themselves "The Squeak Family" and played "Yankee Doodle" and "Auld Lang Syne" on eight cow bells.^ Nellie McHenry

Unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (196? microfilm).

Square Theatre, 19 April 1Ô72, in Programs of Theatrical Entertainments in New York, 1868-72 at the Theatre Col­ lection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (MWEZ 672), p, 180,

^The Wheeling (West Virginia) Evening Standard, August 1875; The Washington Chronicle, November 1&75; The Augusta Constitutionalist, November 1875; all in M:PL scrapbook 8752, 49 offered up a German song and Deutsche-dialect comedy,®

Salsbury, of course, provided his imitations. Including

Edwin Booth, Charles Fechter, Lawrence Barrett, J, W,

Wallack, Joseph Jefferson, and even Charlotte Cushman as

Meg Merriles,9 just as Salsbury burlesqued the tragedians,

Ed Marble burlesqued ballet dancers in a "Pas de Deux"

section.^® A title page submitted for copyright registra­

tion listed other comic parts as a take-off on an amateur

theatrical production and some intriguing "'business* on

couch," which, unfortunately, no review ever described,

According to a playbill other specialties included: a

"Harmonicon Solo with Variations," meaning Salsbury on the

mouth organ; "Grand Medley of Popular Airs," with all five

Troubadours singing; and popular songs from light opera

such as "Gen d 'Armes" from Genevieve de Provence and

"Hoopla Duet" from Le Periohole.^^ Another review said

songs from Trovatore. Martha. and Ernani were also used. 13

®The Republican (St, Louis), 16 May I876; The Golden Era (San Francisco), 1877, in NYPL scrapbook 8752,

^The Augusta Constitationalist. undated; The Chicago Tribune. 2 May 1876. both in NYPL scrapbook 8752.

^^The Chicago Tribune. 2 May I876, in NYPL scrapbook 8752. llprom title page of Patchwork by N. Salsbury, copy­ right 4 November 1875; McDowell Archives F, 1059, Ohio State University, Original in Library of Congress,

^^Playbill in NYPL scrapbook 10329, undated,

13sunday Democrat (Toledo), 12 November I876, in NYPL scrapbook 105o4 (19^7 microfilm), 50 The work was truly a Jumble; It teaches a moral, one re­

viewer declared, "How to use everything,

A saving grace of the motley collection of bits and

pieces was the show's adaptability and flexibility to change.

One motivation for change was to Insert local, topical

humor. The Augusta, Georgia, paper noted that references

In the play to their Mayor Estes were w e l l - r e c e i v e d , A t

one time Patchwork ended with an Incredible St, Patrick's

Day Parade, In which It seemed the characters In the play

took over the parts of Parade Marshall, the Target Bri­

gade, the Flnlan Brigade, the St, Patrick's Day Band, and

the entire United States Army,^^ That ending clearly under­

went change, for other sources specified that a burlesque

Hamlet— "the most ridiculously funny absurdity we ever wlt- 17 nessed"— concluded the play.

The most changeable elements of Patchwork, of course,

were the Individual or solo numbers, A change of cast

could require alteration In three or four vocal solos or

dance routines. Also, an Individual cast member might al­

ter one of his own numbers, Webster, for example, only

sometimes performed a comic song "Gaily the Troubadour,"

^Unidentified review In NYPL scrapbook 18504 (196? microfilm),

^^The Augusta Constitutionalist. November 1875, NYPL scrapbook 87^2,

^^Unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (196? microfilm); The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald. 24 July 51 which depended on his never getting through the second

line and being expelled from the stage,In fact, so

subject to change was the show that the fare listed in a

Patchwork program from about 1880 scarcely resembled that

from a playbill of some five years earlier except for the

title of the work.19

Capturing or describing the comic atmosphère^ of

Patchwork, the spirit of the production, is a more com­

plex task. One clue to the level of the bizarre comedy

lay in the cast listing:

Nate Salsbury . . , Joseph Jefferson Horn Wallack Spout. A terror from the Word go. No Actor, but an Artist of the Tonsorial World, A Shaver that Cuts his Trades and Beards You Even in the Lion's Den,

Edward S. Marble, , Peter Tennyson Whittier Mc- Closkey Boucioault Short, Short by Name, and ditto by Nature, An Author upon the Ragged Edge with a Love of Free Lunch and Ambition that Loves Beyond his Abilities,

John Webster, , , , Strathmore Cullinbrain, An extraordinary Gentleman's Gen­ tleman whose brain needs no culling as he possesses none, being too sweet to love, and yet he Is not happy.

^^ h e Sydney Morning Herald. 24 July 1877; Patchwork title page from 5 November 1875 copyright registration, in McDowell Archives F. 1059. ,0 rlglnal in Library of Congress,

^^Program in scrapbook of Rachel Samuels (Mrs, Nathan Salsbury) at the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (MWEZ n,c, 8753); hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 8753, Playbill in Salsbury scrapbook NYPL 10329, 52 Katie Wilson . • • • Anastasia Januschek Grubb, The name settles it. Nothing further need be said,

Nellie McHenry , , , Betty Spider, Always in the way and no use to anybody, but bound to have her say, so give the spider a chance and the fly will fara_well enough in its parlour.

While many of the allusions no longer entertain, the

thrust of the humor toward quick associations is clear.

Another way to approach the atmosphere that Patchwork created among its audience is to examine that aspect of the reviews that conveyed an impression of the spirit of the performance, A Charlestown reviewer in November I B ? 5 described the beginning of the show;

At the rise of the curtain we discover an empty stage. At one of the side entrances appears a head, which pops in followed by a body. Then the body pops out again and there is literally no one on the stage. In pops somebody else, and is off again in a moment. Then another, a third, a fourth, a fifth, each one coming in and going off like a flash. Then all come in together,

The review stressed the quickness and the suprise of the comedy and implied that that opening was unique and intri­ guing,

t Chicago reviewer, having said that the Troubadours pleased everyone in the house, summarized;

To say that [they pleased everyone] is to say almost enough. Their entertainment is unique and simple. It is not a play or a concert, but a very funny jumble of both, with only so much connection

^Unidentified program in NYPL scrapbook 10329,

^^Unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 8752, 53 as Is furnished by the least pretentious of plots,22

The whole provided a mad package of good, clean, light­

hearted fun, a commodity that became virtually a trade­

mark of Troubadour productions, A Washington review ad­

dressed itself to that aspect of the program:

No organization excepting the Yokes Family has ever given an entertainment here that has been so full of genuine fun and amusement as this party of whom we are now writing.

That Washington review is of particular interest because

of its reference to the Yokes Family, The Troubadours

openly and admittedly styled themselves after the Yokes,

whose work Salsbury had seen in Baltimore during their

American tour,^^

The Yokes Family was an enormously successful five-

member English group, which played light musical and vari­

ety shows in British music halls,25 The group consisted

of Fred Yokes, his wife, and Fred's three sisters— Jessie,

Rosina, and Yictoria, Occasionally the Yokes added to the

show two other men, who were billed as Fawdon Yokes and

Walter Yokes, even though they were not really part of the

^^The Daily inter-Ocean (Chicago), 2 May 1877, NYPL scrapbook 8752,

^^The Washington Tribune. 23 November 1875, in NYPL scrapbook 87^2,

2^Artlcle by W, F. Storey in The Times (Chicago), September 1879» in NYPL scrapbook 1Ô505 (l96? microfilm),

25prederick March Coggin, "The Pantomimes of Augustus Harris: Drury Lane, I879-I895" (Unpublished Ph.D. disser­ tation, Ohio State University, 1973)» P. 15, 5^ family. The group, which also specialized in pantomimes

for the Drury Lane Theatre, captured America by storm

during their 1872-74 tour, especially with their most

famous piece. The Belles of the Kitchen,

Not only was the basic situation of Patchwork identi­

cal to that of The Belles of the Kitchen, but the Troub-

dours in publicity and on their letterhead called them­

selves the "American Vokes,"^^ A St, Louis newspaper com­

mented on the relationship between the Troubadours and the

Yokes t

The celebrated Yokes Family very charmingly introduced a novel style of entertainment into this country a few years ago. It was burlesque, opera, and drama, and ballad, and English, Those five clever people had been a long time in per­ fecting their entertainment. They brought it over here to transplant it. It was such a fine success that nothing was more natural than that it should suggest an American Imitation, The idea of the Troubadours sprang from the Yokes, and Salsbury*s Troubadours have shown such good native materials as to entitle them to the name of "American Yokes,"27

That the imitation was successful another St. Louis paper .

attested:

Not to distract at all from the reputation of the Yokes Family, it may be said of the Troubadours that they come as near to that organization with­ out merging with it as it is possible to do,^°

^^Letterhead on letter from Salsbury to R, M. Field, 14 April 1876, Boston Museum Collection, Harvard,

^?The Republican (St, Louis), I6 May I876, in NYPL scrapbook 6752,

^^Undated St, Louis Dispatch review in NYPL scrapbook 8752, ------55 While the likenesses were significant, the Trouba­

dours were never carbon copies of the Vokes, and frequently

the differences as well as the similarities were mentioned:

The Troubadours are somewhat like the Vokes Family, and their extravaganza, which they very appropriately style Patchwork, greatly resembles The Belles of the Kitchen . . . Lbut] It contains more variety of incident and more uproarious sing­ ing than that very funny piece,

While Patchwork may have had more singing than The Belles,

the Troubadours did not undertake the extensive, excel­

lent dancing that characterized the Vokes* productions.

Still, another reviewer found the Troubadour piece su­

perior to the Vokes * play "as It Is confined more particu­

larly to the elements of a local nature which all can un­

derstand."^® That Is to say, the Troubadours had an Ameri­

can rather than an English slant, an aspect that became

Important to their later appeal abroad.

Imitations, of course, are frequently only as success­

ful as the talents of the artisans allow, in that respect

the Troubadours certainly Impressed, to the point that commentators suggested they had no reason to style them­ selves after anyonei

Most of our people had expected to see a weak Imitation of the Vokes Family, as by the bills the company had been announced as "The American Vokes," a nom de theatre we would advise them to

29The Evening Mirror (Philadelphia), July 18?6, In NYPL scrapbook b?52,

30The Dally Herald (Cleveland), undated. In NYPL scrapbook 8752, 56 eschew in future as they display such an unusual amount of theatre that there is no occasion to borrow thunder from any foreign artist, who, though they may be great in their way, can lay no greater claim to originality and style or finish and exe­ cution than our Troubadours, whose name and repu­ tation is destined to become a household word throughout the country.

An auspicious review, that, for within a year and a half

after their formation the group did, in fact, drop the

"American Vokes" billing, although Salsbury never tried

to minimize the influence of the Vokes on the creation

of the Troubadours,

It is difficult to determine whether the Troubadours

achieved any degree of immediate success in 1875» Once

the group had gained some stability, Salsbury was fond of

encouraging newspapers to relate how great a struggle was

involved In keeping the troupe's collective head above

water for the first few months Yet what began as a sum­

mer tour quickly expanded to a full-time operation, which

indicated some acceptance. Furthermore, their schedule

for 1875 showed a nearly complete run of engagements.

After the first shows at the Adelphi, they journeyed to

St. Louis, then swung east to Buffalo, Rochester, Albany,

the Union Sqaure Theatre in New York, and the Arch Street

^^Unidentified review In NYPL scrapbook 8752; also. The St. Louis Dally Journal. 13 February 1877 (NYPL scrap- book 8752) stated: "They need no longer style themselves 'The American Vokes'."

32Artlcle by W, F. Storey in The Times (Chicago), September 1879, in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm); also The New York Dramatic News. 15 January 1881. 57 Theatre In Philadelphia, Their first appearance in New

York was a disaster. After their subsequent success Sals­

bury could recall the experience with some humor:

There is on that equestrian statue of Washington in front of the CUnion Square] theatre to this day the dent made by my head when an indignant management fired me out of the place. The metro­ politan critics had attended some of our perform­ ances, and the tenderest of them, assuming a tone of patronizing regret, advised us to go back to the windy west and give the land of the bounding buffalo the benefit of our inspiration,33

It was four years before the Troubadours returned to tri­

umph in New York,

Back in the safer midwest, the Troubadours journeyed

through Wheeling, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Indian­

apolis before turning south. The southern swing, which

was quite successful judging from reviews, included Mem­

phis, Galveston, Mobile, Montgomery, Macon, Augusta, Nor­

folk, Richmond, and Charlestown— virtually every major

city of the South— before ending their first half year of

33ceorge Pomeroy Goodale, "Kalaidascope," unidenti­ fied newspaper article, c, 1903. Salsbury Papers, Yale, Salsbury*s recollection was quite accuratec The New-York Daily Tribune review of 22 July 1875 stated: "A band of clamorous, ugly, and vulgar buffoons, calling themselves *The Troubadours,' came for­ ward , , , and— in the course of an hour of song without music, foolery without fun, and antic with­ out point, freshness, or skill— these persons , , , made more hideous sounds and performed more silly and sickening actions than , , .were ever before observed in a respectable theater, . , . There are times when sane and intelligent persons are ashamed to find themselves in a theater; and last night, at the Union Square, was one of those times," The review concluded by advising: "Go West, Troubadours, and stay there I" (p, 4), 58 existence with engagements In Washington, Baltimore, and

St, Louis.

Some of their engagements were no doubt the result

of previous personal and professional ties, Nellie McHenry

had been previously employed In St, Louis and Cincinnati.

Salsbury had been popular In Baltimore, and his old em­

ployer, John T, Ford, ran the theatre In Washington, Ford,

In fact. In a 20 October 1875 notice called attention to

the great attractions that were scheduled for his theatre, and he listed three examples : Mr, Edwin Booth, Mr, John

T, Raymond, and Salsbury's Troubadours,^^ That the troupe was already so well known as to merit Its Inclusion In such Impressive company suggests that It enjoyed some de­ gree of Initial success.

The basic composition of the Troubadours In the early years and throughout their existence provided a solid con­ tinuity and cohesiveness. Although some cast changes nec­ essarily occurred, and ocasslonally more than five actors performed In the shows, Nellie McHenry, John Webster, and

Salsbury formed a nucleus from 1875 until Salsbury*s re­ tirement In 1887. Even after that, McHenry and Webster kept a comic group touring for several more years.

After Salsbury himself, Nellie McHenry ranked as the most vital element of the troupe, McHenry rated a

3%otlce In Salsbury scrapbook, Yale. 59 spot as one of the most popular comic artists of her day,^^

Born in London 29 May I856, she emigrated with her family

to St. Louis, where she began her career as a child actress

at DeBar's Opera H o u s e , E v e n t u a l l y , by way of Wood's

Theatre in Cincinnati, she moved to Hooley's company, where

she joined with Salsbury. By all accounts she was lively,

clever, boisterous, even rowdy, a gifted comedienne es­

pecially suited for soubrette parts, and attractive, though

given to heftiness. Reviews frequently placed her in the

same class, and not unfavorably, with the unique personal­

ity of Charlotte "Lotta" Crabtree,

John Webster, the husband of Nellie McHenry, was a

dependable, capable, but unspectacular performer. Webster

was born in 184^ in Montrose, Scotland, and he and his

father settled in Montreal. Webster began acting at the

Howard Athenaeum in Boston in I865, and shifted eventually

to Chicago. Webster's somewhat retiring attitude was re­

garded as a quiet sophistication, and it became his task

to lend a debonair and elegant touch to the Troubadours'

proceedings. Always overshadowed by McHenry and Salsbury—

35McHenry appeared in compendiums of stage personali­ ties such as The Marie Burroughs Art Portfolio of Staxe Celebrities (Chicago':' "A . N.' Marquis & Company, 189^). unpaged.

^^Biographical information is from Fashionable Favor­ ites: Salsbury's Troubadours (Cleveland: W, J. Morgan & Company Lithographers^l8?8) among Troubadour clippings at the Theatre Collection, uhe New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. 3?The Northern Ohio Democrat (Toledo), 3 May I876, and The Golden Era (San Francisco), undated in NYPL scrapbook 8752; also The New York Mirror. 28 February I8B0 . 60 and frequently by whoever else happened to be In the com­

pany at the time— Webster generally kept to the background.

In fact, his quiet attitude and lack of performing time

were often employed as a comic device. In Patchwork his

"Gaily the Troubadour" song depended on his being consis­

tently interrupted before he could finish two lines and

being eventually driven from the stage. In another play,

his silence itself became a piece of comic business, which

emphasized his excellence at facial expression. Reviews

similar to the following were not untypical for Webster,

regardless of which work was being played:

Mr. Webster . . . had not much to do, but his make up was exceedingly good, and what little he had to do he did well.-^°

Pew reviews went beyond mentioning his elegance, his make

up, his facial expressions, his quiet attitude, and a

song or two. Summarized The Cincinnati Enquirer aptly,

"All he has to do is look handsome,"39

Another character type always included in the early

Troubadour shows was that of a handsome young man, Edward

Marble first held that part. He gave way to Oliver Wren,

but Wren's wife's illness forced him to leave the company, and his place was taken by J, H, Rennie, By September I876

John Gourlay occupied that slot. Gourlay was born of an

^^The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 August 1877,

39The Enquirer (Cincinnati), 30 September 1879, in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm). 61

old theatrical family from England and Scotland, He had

gone on the stage as a boy and had journeyed about the

world. He stayed with the Troubadours nearly four years,

from 1876 until they went to Great Britain in I860, and

was with them again for some time after their return from

London, Overall he filled the Troubadour role of the hand­

some young performer longer than any one other actor.

The fifth part in the Troubadour contingent and the

position that changed most often was the stage type of

the Ingenue, a beautiful young girl with an excellent

voice. That part was played originally by Katie Wilson,

Ada Webster followed her, and she soon gave way to Pauline

Merritt, who spent most of the I875-76 season with the

group, Clara Fisher did the role for a short time, and

then Blanche Corelli took over. Miss Corelli was with the troupe for nearly two years, including a trip to Australia, but Helene Dingeon was listed for the 1878-79 season, Rachel

Samuels occupied that position for the I879-80 season, and, in I887, she married Nate Salsbury,

Two other men were instrumental in the early develop­ ment of the Troubadours, One was Frank Maeder, who had from the very beginning handled the music for the group. Judging from reviews, he functioned more than competently even with rapidly assembled orchestras,^0 Maeder was also listed

^OThe Sydney Morning Herald. 24 July I877, and The Argus (Melbourne), 25 September I8 77, remarked approvingly of the Australian orchestra he conducted. 62 as business manager, although Salsbury himself did much of

that work. Another important non-performer was Charles

Crouse, who by February 18?6 was listed as general agent

for the group,

Throughout the first year, the Troubadours played

Patchwork as their bread-and-butter piece. They also,

however, played standard farces before the main presenta­

tion, One of those. Little Mother, done in 1875, indicated

that at least for a time there were six performers, for

S, R, Reed, another Chicago actor, was billed with Salsbury,

Webster, McHenry, Marble, and W i l s o n ,

Other common farces played with Patchwork in the early

years included Two Can Play at that Game. The Captain*s

Uniform. Sailing Under False Colors. Checkmate, and, at

least by April 1877, A Cup of Tea, billed as a "comietta."

Another farce. The Rights of Women, starred the three stal­ warts of the Troubadours in the following roles ;

Nellie McHenry , , .Rose, a charming widow landlady John Webster , , , .Thistle, an incorrigible old bachelor baronet Nate Salsbury, , , .Shamrock, the baronet’s valet

The same play was sometimes known as Rose. Thistle, and

Shamrock. In addition to standard farces, the Troubadours occasionally performed comic opera pieces such as John

^^Unidentified clipping in NYPL scrapbook 8753,

^^The Dally Herald (Cleveland) in NYPL scrapbook 8752, The same six players were also listed in a play­ bill for Patchwork in NYPL scrapbook 10329, 63 Brougham's Pliés In the V/eb, with Nellie McHenry as Alice

Devereaux and Salsbury doing Corydon Foxylowe, Also, the

play Jenny Lind, an "operatic extravaganza," was occasion- l i ' i ally announced as the main attraction,

Through most of I876 the Troubadours toured much as

they had in I875» performing Patchwork together with one

of the farces. They concentrated on major cities— Toledo,

Chicago, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati,

Detroit— but they also visited Racine, Wisconsin, and Koko­

mo, Indiana, Their struggle for recognition continued, and

in May in St, Louis the Emperor Dorn Pedro of Brazil came

to see the Troubadours,

About that time, too, Salsbury began searching for a

new show. The piece he concocted, on an order similar to

^Performances of the plays were cited in the following sources: Flies in the Web: Galveston News. 16 October 1875, in NYPL scrapbook 8752, Sailing Under False Colors: performed 11-14 October 1875 at the Tremont Theatre, Galveston, according to Jos­ eph Gallegly, Footlights on the Border; The Galveston and Houston Stage Before 1900 (^'s-Gravènhage. 'HollahdV Mouton • ¥ Co., 196à), p, 188, Two Can Play at that Game: San Francisco Mall, April 1877, in NYPL scrapbook 8752, The Captain's Uniform: The Chicago Tribune, 2 May I876, in NYPL scrapbook '8?5’2, The Rights of Women: performed 28 September I876 at Galveston according to Gallegly, Footlights on the Border. op. cl^., p. 189; performed under Rose, Thistle, and Sham­ rock according to San Francisco Mall. April 1877. in NYPL scrapbook 8752, A Cup of Tea; San Francisco Mall. 11, 1 5, and 22 April 1877 in NYPL scrapbook 8752. Checlcmate: performed I6 October I875 at Galveston ac­ cording to Gallegly, Footlights on the Border, op. cit.. p. 188. Jenny Lind; performed 15 October 1875 in Galveston according to Gallegly, Footlights on the Border, op. cit.. 64 that of Patchwork, he called The Brook. The first recorded

performance was 29 September 1776 In the Tremont Theatre

in Galveston, Just at the right time for use in the 1876-77

s e a s o n . The Brook was an enormous success. Patchwork

for a year had supplied the Troubadours with sustenance

and kept the troupe alive. The Brook was to propel them

to the very pinnacle of the popular entertainment field.

Prom the moment the play was introduced, the question of

the success or failure of the Troubadours faded. The new

question became only. How great a success would the Trouba­

dours enjoy?

The Troubadours* touring schedule for the fall of

1676 looked similar to their previous itineraries. After

opening the Tremont Theatre in Galveston, they touched

Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Toledo be­

fore winding up in Baltimore in December. The Troubadours headed west at the beginning of the new year with San Fran­ cisco their goal. The troupe, which in February consisted of Salsbury, McHenry, and Webster, plus the additions for that year, John Gourlay and Blanche Corelli, played major cities such as Minneapolis, Omaha, St. Joseph, Kansas City, and St, Louis on their way to the coast.

On 7 April 1877 in San Francisco under the manage­ ment of Titus and Locke, Salsbury*s Troubadours opened the new Bush Street Theatre, converted from the old Alhambra

^^Gallegly, Footlights on the Border, op. cit.. p. I89, 65 theatre,One newspaper commented on the group;

Their repertory consists of several standard farces ahd a few plays of a light burlesque na­ ture adapted to the ability of each Cof the per­ formers], They can't be easily classified as ac­ tors, Miss Corelli is a vocalist with a good voice • , • , Miss McHenry acts better than she sings, though she sings fairly, quite well enough to ac­ complish all she undertakes. She has an endless amount of life and piquancy, and has her share of attention while on stage, Mr, Salisbury [sic] does the heavy burlesque and some of the lighter with much ability, Mr, Gourlay dances well, Candl sings with considerable expression , , , , Mr, Webster supplys a graceful person and a good know­ ledge of the stage besides a satisfactory skill in acting,^®

The Troubadours played five successful weeks, closing on

13 May 1877,^7

How financially successful the Troubadours were at

that point cannot be determined, but one account shed some

light on the matter. Two weeks after the San Francisco

opening. The Daily Morning Call reported:

We presume the receipts cannot be less than $3000 per week, an excellent taking for a com­ pany consisting of only five people,

How much of that figure, if it were correct, went to the

Troubadours was not stated, but the implication, certainly.

^5The San Francisco Mail. 11, 15, and 22 April 1877, in NYPL scrapbook Ü752,

^^ndated clipping from San Francisco Chronicle, c, April 1877, in NYPL scrapbook 8ÿj2,

^^The San Francisco Mail. 13 May 1877, in NYPL s crapbook, 8?5^.

^^The Daily Morning Call (San Francisco), 22 April 1877, in NYPL scrapbook Ü752. 66 was that the troupe did well at the box office. Whatever

their financial rewards, they were successful enough that

theatrical managers Titus and Locke engaged them for a tour

that was expected to include Australia, India, China, and

Japan, and to occupy two or three years,After closing

at the Bush Street, the Troubadours were to play Los An­

geles, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, and Virginia City

before departing for Australia in the summer. The Trouba­

dours did not, apparently, undertake that California Jaunt,

for Salsbury underwent a serious but unspecified surgical

operation Just before the troupe closed in San Francisco

in May,-50

The Troubadours sailed for Australia 20 June aboard the City of Sydney, arriving at Sydney 21 July,51 They opened at the Theatre Royal two days later with Patchwork and Two Can Play at that Game and received excellent press reports. About Patchwork one reviewer commented:

In such an entertainment everything depends upon the performers themselves, and they are really excellent,52

^9lbid,

^^The Daily Alta California. 13 May 1877, and The San Francisco Times, 13 May 1877. in NYPL scrapbook 8752, Mae­ der took Salsbury's place for the final few performances in May, No extent reviews link the Troubadours with any of the cities of the proposed California tour,

5lThe Sydney Mail. 28 July 1877; noted in a letter to the author from Miss Jean Dyce, Librarian, The Mitchell Library, Sydney, Australia,

52rhe Sydney Morning Herald. 24 July I877, 67 He especially liked Blanche Corelli*s renditions of "las

Petits Oiseaux» and "It Was a Dream," Nellie McHenry's

song "Pretty as a Picture," and John Gourlay*s version of

"All that Glitters," In addition to his praise of the

music in the hour-and-one-half presentation of Patchwork,

he addressed himself directly to the wholesomeness of the

work:

There is nothing to which the most fastidious taste could object; on the contrary, it is simply good-humoured hearty fun from beginning to end, and the acting throughout is of the cleverest kind.

That quality of clean humor exemplified a value that the

Troubadours maintained and cultivated.

The Troubadours were Just as successful with their

first change of fare in Australia. On 6 August 1877 they

switched to The Rights of Women and The Brook, which was

judged "one of the most pleasant entertainments yet prof­

fered for acceptance,"53 Yet another change of bill re­

vealed the Troubadours doing a play entitled Bric-a-Brac.

Brio-a-Brac was coupled with one of their standard farces

on 18 August, and it was categorized by one critic as "of a burlesque opera-bouffe nature,"5^ Another playfully hailed Bric-a-Brac as "another of those liter(ary) [sic]

^^The Svening News.(Sydney). 7 August 1877,

^^ h e Sydney Morning Herald. 20 August 1877, nothings which people go to laugh at, but which descrip­

tion can only injure.*‘55

The plot of Bric-a-Brac consisted of a princess (Blanche

Corelli) being sought after by two admirers— a young prince,

played by McHenry, and the Archduke Bobolink, portrayed by

Salsbury. The Princess loved the Prince, but she feared

that if she refused the Archduke, he would declare war

against her kingdom. In the course of the play the Prin­

cess entertained the Archduke while the young Prince played

several practical jokes on him, and, of course, in the end

everything was arranged somehow to the satisfaction of all

characters. Still, as the reviewer noted:

The attractiveness of the extravaganza does not . . . lie in any conception of the plot, but rather in the music, the songs, and the dances, and the bits of fun which occur through the piece.56

No other performances of Bric-a-Brac were recorded either

prior to or after the Australian tour. Similarly, no other

Troubadour performances were recorded of The Merchant of

Venice other than those the troupe delivered before closing

their Sydney run on Saturday, 8 September 1877.57

The Troubadours next Journeyed to Melbourne, They were operating on their own resources since they had

55The Bvenlng News (Sydney), 20 August 1877,

56-rhe Sydney Morning Herald. 20 August 1877.

57Ths Sydney Morning Herald. 8 September 1877. The Merchant of Venice performance was reported in the letter to the author from Miss Jean Dyce, Librarian, The Mitchell Library, Sydney, Australia. 69 dropped the contract with Titus and Locke after a dispute

upon their arrival in Sydney.^® Their first performance

in Melbourne arose as an accident, for they performed Two

Can Play at That Game privately before "The Dramatic and

Musical Association" of Melbourne on Saturday, 22 Septem­

ber 1877. as a replacement for the scheduled entertainment,

which had cancelled,59 The following Monday they opened

that farce along with Patchwork at The Opera House in Mel- to excellent reviews.

The details of the Troubadours' six months in Melbourne are less clear than their schedule in Sydney, although there is no reason to suspect that they did not repeat the same shows they had played successfully in Sydney. For the

Christmas season, however, they prepared a traditional

English pantomime production of Sleeping Beauty, which be­ gan 24 December 1877 at The Opera House,Furthermore, a letter from the director of The Opera House to the Trou­ badours on 4 February 1878 was impressive in its implica­ tions, Addressed to Salsbury, Maeder, and Webster, the letter stated;

58Nate Salsbury, "The Origin of the Wild West Show," ■ado Magazine, Vol, XXXII, no, 3, July 1955. P. 202, in the "Reminiscences,"

^^The Argus (Melbourne). 24 September 1877,

^^Playbill from "The Opera House" dated 24 December, in NYPL scrapbook 10329. 70 Gentlemen as tonight will terminate your engage­ ment at The Opera House, I take this method of conveying to you my recognition and appreciation of your success with the patrons of this theatre. Coming as you did total strangers to the Melbourne public, your triumph was pronounced and instan­ taneous in the peculiar and artistic entertain­ ment you first presented to their consideration. The production of the pantomime which incor­ porated the services of your company, has been in all respects the crowning event of that nature in the history of this theatre and reflects un­ bounded credit upon your intelligent and compre­ hensive efforts. To your care was entrusted the numerous and important details of the work, and that they were skillfully and ably directed has been mightily attested by the crowded audiences that have nightly thronged the theatre during the last six months. In tendering you a complimen­ tary benefit, I am actuated by a desire to ac­ knowledge honor where honor is due. If in future time you should again see fit to visit the land of the kangaroo, the doors of The Opera House are always open to receive you while under the man­ agement of Your sincere friend W. Saurin Lyster /p (Director of The Opera House)

Not only did that letter attest to a run of six months,

but it confirmed that the Troubadours had put together

some excellent sort of pantomime show, Lyster also Indi­ cated repeatedly that their success was great and their audi­ ences large, and through the whole letter there emerged an honest and open admiration of their talent and dedication.

During the early phase of the Troubadour's existence

Salsbury continued his own attempts at playwriting. Patch­ work. his imitation of The Belles of the Kitchen, was copy­ righted twice— once in iiugust 18?5 by a printer, and later

62•Letter in Salsbury scrapbook, Yale. 71

In November of the same year by Prank Maeder,^3 a title

page for a play entitled The American Baron, labelled "A

Comedy-Drama in Pour Acts/ Written and Adapted by/ N. Sals­

bury,” was copyrighted in April 1879 only after Salsbury

wrote a second time, having forgotten on the first attempt

to enclose the title page. No performances of The Amer­

ican Baron were recorded, and no manuscript or copy of

the play has appeared, Salsburyras also credited with

assembling in 1876 The Brook, the Troubadours' most famous

work. Finally, sometime in 1877 or I878 Salsbury wrote

The Sanguinary Chasm, which employed its verbose title for

humorous effect. Although the plays's first recorded per­

formance was not until September I879, it was listed in

Troubadour advertisements in I878 as one of the comedies

the company could present,^5 Although it remained in the

^^The first Patchwork was listed as "An Original, Musical Comic Absurdity in One Act," It was registered 14 August 1876. The letter of application, dated 13 Aug­ ust 1876, was from J, E, Jackson of Jackson's Printing House in Philadelphia The second Patchwork, also called a "comic absurdity," was copyrighted 6 November 1876. The letter of application from Maeder was dated 4 November 1876. McDowell Archives P. 1069. 0, S, U , ; originals at Library of Congress,

^^Salsbury's letter of application appologizing for his "stupid oversight" was dated 21 April 1879, The copy­ right was issued five days later, McDowell Archives, P, 1069, 0. S. U.; originals in Library of Congress, It is, of course, entirely possible that the play was never written,

^^Reviewed in The Inter-Ocean (Chicago), 9 September 1879. for a performance the previous day, in NYPL scrapbook 8762, Listed as available in Fashionable Favorites; Sals­ bury 's Troubadours, op, olt. 72

Troubadour repertory and was played occasionally, the play

was not copyrighted.

The Sanpruinary Chasm, a musical comedy based on the

prejudices that existed between North and South after the

Civil War, conveniently employed five characters,The

star was Sargeant Alamode, a conniving French servant in

a Louisiana household, who had gained influence because

of his supposed gallantry during the war. He was fond of

describing himself as "an old soldier who has fought for

his adopted country, bled for his adopted country, and who.

If necessary, would die for his adopted country," that is,

the South, Alamode played on the Southern feelings of

Nick and Marie Ralston, whose brother had died in the con­

flict, The Frenchman, who listed his full name as "Henri

Godefroi de Bouillon Alamode," claimed to have fought

staunchly in the regiment of the dead brother.^7 In that way Alamode obtained money from Nick to support his tobacco habit, Nick Ralston was in love with his cousin, Kate Rals­ ton, with whom he had quarrelled because of what Nick re­ garded as her Northern sympathies, Nick broke off their engagement. In the process he took his expansive farewell several times, and then tripped on his way out.

^^McDowell Archives, F. 1073, 0. S. Ü. The original manuscript with author's revisions is in the Theatre Col­ lection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (9-NCOF), Hereafter it will be cited as The Sanguinary Chasm. NYPL,

^^Alamode, with his enormous ego and swaggering boasts of past exploits, walks in the tradition of the braggart warrior, the Miles Gloriosus and the Capitano figure. 73 Unlike On the Trail. The Sanguinary Chasm was a comedy

and it contained songs,Alamode and Nick bellowed a

bold, crashing song about their martial skills, full of

onomatopoetic "crack-smack-whack" lines. Nick and Kate per­

formed a clever "Quarrel Duet" in which Kate demonstrated

her quick wit. Nick later defended his views with a patri­

otic Southern air, in which he proclaimed;

But I'll show this Yankee braggart I can fight like Beauregard.

The finale, a quintette, featured Kate and Marie asking

their beaux to "Love, Honor, and Obey," with Alamode

joining in.

After Nick had exited following his quarrel with Kate,

Kate was informed by letter of the visit to the neighbor­

hood of one Rufus Eathan Allen, a botanist and Vermont Yan­

kee, whose father saved Kate's father's life during the war.

At that point Kate's cousin Marie entered, announcing to

Kate and Alamode that she had fallen in love with an un­

known Yankee with whom she had danced the previous night.

^^Lyrics to the five extent songs are in Appendix B. The songs were not written into the manuscript. Rather they were written on other separate sheets or paper and In­ serted into the leaves of the book. Also, the songs were not indicated in the main body of the manuscript. Instead, they. TEre Indicated by marks and notes to the side that were apparently added after the dialogue and stage direc­ tions had been written. That does not imply, however, that Salsbury did not conceive of the play originally as a musical. The manuscript text contained at least three revisions; one in pencil, a second in pencil, and a third in a colored pencil, as well as the ink notations and song additions. Whether the music was original (or, for that matter, whether the songs themselves were) is unknown. It is pos­ sible Salsbury merely wrote lyrics for other popular tunes, a not uncommon practice. 74 Alamode refused to permit such fraternization. Using a

spade because no sword was handy, he induced Marie to vow

a solemn pledge to harass Yankees,

In the second act Nick stated in song that "I’ve

Packed my Trunk," for he meant to remove himself and his

sister from Cousin Kate’s influence. He tried to return

to Kate the marygifts she had given him, and he succeeded

only in leaving them strewn about the stage. Much of that business was slapstick: he kicked a locket, kicked a pic­ ture, and then accidentally kicked a rock; he dropped a cigar down his coat; he threw the cigar case through a doorway and shattered a chandelier. Rufus Eathan Allen, meanwhile, had been stranded high atop a wall surrounding the yard, A mean dog, complete with sound effects, had him at bay on the outside, and so, with great acrobatic aplomb, he dropped inside the wall to the yard. That he was, of course, the man with whom Marie had danced and fallen in love was quickly revealed when he spied Marie in the yard,

Rufus soon confronted Alamode, Marie, who feared Ala­ mode would decimate the Yankee, watched the proceeding from behind cover, Rufus, however, quickly understood Alamode’s hypocritical nature. He gave Alamode money for tobacco, and Alamode in return grew most obsequious. The Frenchman, doing all in his power to please the Northerner, did not

69a pencilled note in the margin of the manuscript identified that action as the end of Act I. 75 know that Marie could overhear him when he told Rufus things

such as, "I had the honor of being beaten by the gallant

fédérais." His true character was thus revealed to Marie,

Just as Rufus was about to exit over the wall, Kate

glimpsed him, and, in recognition of his father's goodness

to her father, she demanded, "Come down off that wall and

hug me." Rufus complied. Just in time for Nick to witness

their embrace, confirming his suspicions about Kate, Marie

tried to explain the situation to her brother, and a song

helped straighten out the couples— -Kate and Nick, and Marie

and Rufus, So, too, did Rufus' story, which he had heard

from Kate's father, that Alamode had served in Kate's

father's regiment as a cook, "At least," explained Ala­

mode in weak defense, "I was always near the fire," Fin­

ally in friendship Rufus closed the play with the observa­

tion, "The Sanguinary Chasm bridged,"

The emphasis in the play was on comedy and music. The

humorous situation, business, and lines of the play were

obvious. Musical instructions or notations were included

for fifteen songs. Lyrics for five of those songs were aug­ mented to the manuscript, while the others were merely indi­

cated, In addition, the importance of music to the concep­ tion of the work was reflected in such notes as "Loud hurry

in the orchestra till business over," instructions for strains of certain popular melodies, and other musical nota­ tions, which would have been common to many plays and pop­ 76 ular entertainments at that time.

The Sanguinary Chasm never held a particularly promi­

nent place in the repertory of the Troubadours, yet the

play is important. It represents the best available ex­

ample of Salsbury'8 style of composition for comedy and

music, and the songs and manuscript demonstrate his talents

in those areas. More importantly. The Sanguinary Chasm

stands as one of the earliest examples of the musical co­

medy, Written by a native American on an American subject,

it displays a definite plot using commonly recognizable

characters and some farce elements, and it includes songs

that help to reveal character, action, and relationships.

Although it is not exactly clear whai Salsbury wrote

The Sanguinary Chasm, he certainly would have had time

to do so on the ship to Australia or back to California,

On that return of the Troubadours to the United States,

the troupe made a brief stop in Hawaii, where they hurried

together a quick matinee performance for King Kalakau and his court, as well as for other Sandwich Islanders,7^ gy the early part of May I878 they had returned to San Francis­ co at the Baldwin Theatre,

^^Article by W, P. Storey in The Times (Chicago), Sep­ tember 1879, in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm), The Troubadours also played in New Zealand sometime before their return to the United States,

^Igttore Relia, A History of Burlesque; A Monograph History of the San Francisco Stage and Its People From 18^9 to the Present Day. San Francisco Theatre Research Series, Vol, XIV, Lawrence Estavan, ed, (San Francisco: Work Projects Administration, 1940), pp, I7I-I72 , noting The San Francisco Argonaut, 2 May I878, 77 Salsbury*s Troubadours In the middle of I878 were

seasoned, veteran performers who had learned to play

together extraordinarily w e l l , 72 Their repertory consis­

ted of tested and refined comic material suitable for

family entertainment. Most Importantly, It Included one

play. The Brook, that had proved exceedingly popular In

California and Australia and that had been performed only

a few times East of the Mississippi. The group also pos­

sessed a stock of reviews that showered them with praise

and labelled them a coast-to-coast and even an International

success. For the season of I878-79, they were prepared to

enter Into their most successful and famous period.

7^The Sydney Morning Herald, 24- July I877, praised the "evenness" of their performance "which showed that the company were well accustomed to playing together." CHAPTER 3

THE TROUBADOURS' SUCCESS AND THE BROOK; I878-I88I

Salsbury's Troubadours were primed to surge to the

front of the entertainment field in the East In the 1878-79

season, and in that season and the following one they did

just that. The players boasted experience, good reviews,

and overseas success. They carried with them tested vehi­

cles that paraded the talents of the company and that would

present new material in the East, In addition they inves­

ted in a twenty-four page advertising brochure to spread the word of their abilities,^

The Troubadours, after their return engagement in

California, progressed to the Eastern part of the country.

On 15 October I878 they opened the new Gaiety Theatre in

Boston, and at the end of that month they appeared at

Hooley's Theatre in Chicago. The first two months of 1879 found them back in New England, followed by a return to the Boston Gaiety in March,

On 12 May 1879 Salsbury's Troubadours opened at the

San Francisco Minstrel Hall in New York. In contrast with their first New York appearance at the Union Square nearly four years before, the Troubadours in I879 were excellently

^Fashionable Favorites; Salsbury*s Troubadours, op. clt.

78 79 received. That initial success played a six-week run at

the San Francisco Hall, and the New York reception further

enhanced their touring reputation when they embarked on

the road again. In Detroit in September President Ruther­

ford B. Hayes, General William Sherman, an ex-governor of

Michigan, and two congressmen attended The Brook at Whit­

ney's Opera House.^

Following their success at the San Francisco Hall,

the Troubadours returned frequently to the New York area,

and each time their stock of excellent reviews grew, in

that 1879-80 season, for example, they played at the Wil-

liamsbui^ Novelty Theatre in October, Haverly's Brooklyn

Theatre in November, the Fourteenth Street Theatre in

January to start the new year, Haverly's Brooklyn again

in April, and Daly's Theatre for the month of May. In all

cases the audiences came and the reviewers praised.

The Troubadours and The Brook established themselves

as celebrated institutions, recognized as the best in

their field. Wrote one reviewer of their Brooklyn engage­

ment :

Fortunate as Mr. Haverly has shown himself to be in the choice of attractions to his theatre, there are none that have surpassed in interest that which was presented yesterday afternoon and evening by Salsbury's Troubadours.3

^The Post and Tribune (Detroit), 19 September 18?9, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm).

3The New York Herald. 24 February I880, I^YPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm). Little wonder Mr, Haverly engaged the troupe at his

theatres so often. Of their San Francisco Hall debut an­

other paper stated that the Troubadours• show was not in­

debted to the performance of any other group*

One capital point about The Brook is that it is not an imitation of the Vokes Family pieces. Nor do the Troubadours now imitate the Vokes in their performances, perhaps the Vokeses might play The Brook, but they could not play it half so well as Mr, Salsbury and his company,^

Other reviews were similarly expansive in their praise

of The Brook;

The idea of a picnic participated in by a num­ ber of theatrical people off for a day’s lark gives unlimited scope for a genius like Mr, Sals­ bury to build and elaborate and to improve to whatever degree his inventive genius or his fancy may lead him. And he has built and elaborated and improved until the entertainment is one con­ tinuous flow of nonsense and fun and hilarity,5

Three items in particular that reviewer singled out;

The music that is introduced is bright and sparkling, the comedy is of the purest and most unadulterated kind, and the people are individu­ ally fitted to present the whole in a most agree­ able and pleasurable manner.

Such elements as the music, the cleanliness of the humor, and the individual talents of the performers, as well as the absurdity of the fun itself, frequently attained pro­ minent places in the reviews. The same review concluded:

^The Spirit of the Times (New York), 17 May 1879. NYPL scrapbook 8753,

^The New York Mirror. 28 February i860, NYPL scrap­ book I8505 (1967 microfilm). Everything is bright. Everything goes with the freshness that many representations have not succeeded in dulling. It is neither too long nor too short. In length, breadth, and thick­ ness it is discretely planned and carried out. Too much praise cannot be awarded an entertainment so thoroughly clean, healthy, and withal enjoyable.

Such accolades were not at all uncommon.

Another review. Just as glowing, spoke of the his­

torical beginnings of the movement toward such popular

light musical entertainment ;

The style of extravaganza introduced into this country by the very clever Vokes people met with such unmistakable popular favor that forthwith a whole brood of imitators sprang up. Many of these came to well-merited grief, while a few established a long-lived success. Among these latter the Salsbury Troubadours were the earliest and have become the most famous,°

The association between the Vokes and the Troubadours was

quite well understood. Several reviews, however, in

praising the Troubadours, levelled searing blasts at the

many similar kinds of entertainments *

The style of [the Troubadours'] performance was bright, fresh, and novel, and like other original things was quickly imitated. The imita­ tions are now— if so bold a metaphor may be al­ lowed— striking crosswise and otherwise over the breadth of the land. They are developing seem­ ingly into a national boor. It is hoped, there­ fore, that their lease of life will soon run out. In the meantime old faces and friends are always pleasant to look upon, and the Troubadours, who are the most interesting and least pretentious of their tribe, deserve a cordial welcome,7

^The Post and Tribune (Detroit), 1? March 1881, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm),

^The New York Times, 24 February 1880, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm). 82 Obviously the reviewer did not care for the new style

of entertainment and Its burgeoning collection of repre­

sentatives— except as performed by the Troubadours. The

originality of Salsbury's Troubadours was stated and re­

stated:

There Is always a charm In originality. Imi­ tations are like soda water after It has stood In a glass all summer and way Into the melancholy days of November. They pale the Imagination and make one feel that the most expressive word for thinness has not yet been Invented. After all that has been Inflicted upon this long-suffering community In the shape of conglomerated stupidity labelled this, that, and the other thing, the ad­ vent of the original, the all-wool and yard wide Troubadours Is as a gleam of the brightest sunshine after the blackness of a storm of the most pressing magnitude. In The Brook we are to live over again the jolly, rollicking nights of a pure real fun served up with rare condiments from Inexhaustible duets of music and poetry. There Is nothing like It on the stage of any country, and with the ex­ ception of Patchwork, no such good thing was ever cons tructedT^

The Troubadours were met with such notices throughout

the country on their numerous tours.

About I860 an overpowering emphasis on entertainment

for Its own sake reached a high plateau. Dulles has de­

scribed the explosion of spectator and participant sports

that occurred after the Civil War and the broadening of

Interest In recreation In the l88o's and 1 89 0's, particu­

larly In metropolitan a rea s .9 Theatrically that emphasis

Sunldentlfled review (probably Baltimore, early Novem­ ber 1880) In NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm).

^Poster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play. no. 182- 201, 211-229. 83 was reflected In light and comic opera and various other

entertainments aimed at providing pleasure, which began

to appear with frequency In the late 1870's,^0 H. M. S.

Pinafore began the comic opera boom in 1878-79t and Smith

confirmed that it was in full force in the i860's,H

Goerge Odell, too, frequently noted the development of

light entertainment,^^ and play titles echoed the shift

in emphasis. In the three seasons on 1879-1882, Odell

cited ten plays in New York that began with the word

"Fun,” from Fun at Coney Island and Fun at School to

Fun on the Stage and Fun in a Police Court. In the four

seasons prior to that, by comparison, there had been only

three such shows ; Fun in a Fog. Fun in a Jury Room, and

Fun in the Kitchen.^3

Many of those works were presented by comic groups

of one sort or another. However, no doubt existed among

the press that the Troubadours were the first troupe of

their kind;

These Troubadours . . . were the forerunners of the numerous bands of specialty artists that

^a/en. The Story of American Musical Theatre, p. 10,

Vols. XI, XIII (New York: Columbia'University Press ,1939 and 1942), pp. 4o, 42, 50, 169, 254 (Vol. xl) and p. 259 (Vol. XIII).

^3odell, Annals of the New York Sta,?e. Vol. XI, p. 687 and Vol, X (1938 ) p. 813 . 84 have within the last few seasons spread themselves over the American stage. The Idea, to be sure, was an old one, but It was like the royal prerog­ ative, It had been long asleep. Mr. Salsbury aroused It and put It once more In force. . , . His troupe still leads all the others.of Its class that have yet been seen In this city.

Several of the reviews Identified the Imitations :

The Brook belongs to a species of light enter­ tainment that has become very popular during the past year. It was the original that suggested The Tourists, Hobbles. and Minnie Palmer's Boarding School, a trio of successes that have attained great popularity everywhere,

While that reviewer named three, there were, as

other critics noted, many such loosely plotted, comical-

musical type groups and shows. Most, like Atkinson's

Jollities and the Jolly Mariners, provided themselves

with names that suggested fun and happiness. Some, like

The American Troubadours and The Nonpareil Coloured Trou­

badours, had a direct name association with Salsbury's

group. Yet Salsbury's Troubadours were generally acknow­

ledged as the first and finest of the class.

Many of the best and most exciting talents of the

late nineteenth-century stage, especially In the field of

comedy, either organized or played In such troupes. Willie

Edouln was most famous for his lead role In Charles Hoyt's

first play, A Bunch of Keys, but years before that with his

^^The New York Daily Tribune. 24 February 1880, NYFL scrapbook 18505 (l9à? microfilm).

^^The New York Mirror, 28 February 1880, NYFL scrap­ book I8505 (1967 microfilm). 85

wife Alice Atherton he had organized a group called

Edouin's "Sparks," They performed a piece entitled

Dreams, or, Fun in a Photograph Gallery, which first

played in New York in August 1880 at the Bijou Opera

H o u s e , 18 M o u i n continued the "Sparks" for several years.

The oft-married ladies' man Nat C, Goodwin began his

spectacular rise by joining Eliza Weathersby, his first

wife, to form the Goodwin-Weathersby "Proliques," They

performed the play Hobbies, in which Goodwin imitated

famous tragedians, and first played New York in October

I879 at Haverly's Lyceum.Goodwin had no hesitation in

naming the Troubadours as the object of his imitation,

E, E. Rice managed a group of about twenty players

called "E. S. Rice's Surprise Party," which performed a

piece entitled Horrcrs. or. The Kara j ah of Zogobad and also musical burlesques such as Hiawatha and Robinson Crusoe,

The "Surprise Party," which at one time included such developing young talents as Alice Atherton, Henry E,

Dixey, and Willie Edouin among its rather large contin­ gent, began playing in New York in 18?9 with the burlesque

^*^Odell, Annals of the New York Sta^e, XI, 266, l"^lbid., 40, .

^®Kat C, Goodwin with Richard G, Badger, Nat Good­ win 's Book (Boston; The Gorham Press, 19Ï4), p," 84'. 86 Babes In the Woods. or. Who Killed Cock Robln?^9 The

•'Surprise Party," should not be confused with Rice's

earlier burlesque hit, Bvang;eline. from 1874. Actually

Rice's group was more legitimately a descendent of the

larger cast Lydia Thompson burlesques, the older burlesque

tradition, and his own previous work than of the small

cast, musical-variety companies. The name "Surprise

Party," however, did suggest an attempt to join with the

trend for "fun" shows, as did the name of one of the

plays they later performed. Fun on the Bristol, or. A

Night on the Sound.

While the Rice troupe evolved most directly from the

satiric burlesque tradition, in the last third of the nine­

teenth century that traditional concept of burlesque was

undergoing substantive changes. Exposure of the body

rather than display of wit was becoming the dominant char­

acteristic, 20 and that provided an opportunity to someone

to use those old elements of burlesque that the new bur­

lesque had discarded, A review from the period was cogni­

zant of that complicated historical movement in the theatre:

The past two seasons have been marked by a dis­ position on the part of the comedians of the stage to separate themselves from the traditional formu­ lae of light entertainments which reached their culmination in the exquisite comedies of tThomas

19odell, Annals of the New York Stage. XI, 484-48^.

^^Rella, A History of Burlesque, op. cit.. pp. 79, 109. 87 William] Robertson and [Henry James3 Byron, and have now reached another phase.in the mordant but ludicrous satires of Mr. W. S. Gilbert, This separation has given rise to a form of enter­ tainment , which, while it preserves the compact­ ness and some attributes of the comedy, traverses the lines which confine the current of action and leaves it possible to introduce elements other­ wise not possible. The burlesque of the day that has gone by attempted something of the same kind, but after a few years it became evident that the real attraction of burlesque resided not in the wit of the travesty, but in the element of physi­ cal beauty. . . . Failure of the burlesque, therefore, to meet the taste for light entertain­ ment of a chaste character has called into being the performance which the Salsbury Troubadours have brought to a pitch of perfection . . .

The comedy of groups such as the Troubadours, as that

reviewer would have it, did not rely on plot and domes­

ticity as Robertson, nor on satire as Gilbert, but rather

on the crazy, not-always-connected humor of the burlesque.

The comic troupes of the 1880's, according to such an

interpretation, were not providing a wholly new style

of comedy, but were in part filling a gap for "light

entertainment of a chaste character" left by the altera­

tion of the traditional burlesque in the last third of the nineteenth century.

2lThe Brooklyn Daily Sagle. 11 November 1879, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm),

^%ella. History of Burlesque, op. cit., outlined the the changes that occurred in the burlesque form (pp. 132 ff.). Heserve, An Outline History of American Drama, op. cit., made clear the discernible paucity of plays of social com­ edy in America in the 1880's (pp, 151-59). Bronson Howard had turned from farce to social drama in the I880’s, and Clyde Fitch was not writing until the I8 90's. Only W. D. Howells, with his Roberts-Campbell plays and his plays of Boston society concentrated on social comedy based on Perhaps the most successful light comic troupe

other than the Troubadours was "The Tourists," managed

by William A, Mestayer. Their primary vehicle was A

Pullman Palace Car, which played successfully in New York

and throughout the country for eight years, Another

of the Kestayer pieces— W e , Us, and Co. at Hud Springs—

played five years. The Tourists claimed to be original,

an imitation of no one, but the first appearance of the

ten-man company in New York was the week of 3 November

1879» immediately following the Goodwin-Weathersby "Fro-

lique^'at Haverly’s Lyceum Theatre.23 One reviewer openly

compared the claims of originality of the Tourists and the

Troubadours :

I see it said somewhere that the Tourists are an imitation of nobody, having been the first company to adopt their style of entertainment. This is an error. The Tourists did not come into being for three years after the Salsbury Trouba- witty conversation. Such was not the model for the Trou­ badours , V. C. Clinton-Baddeley explained part of the change in British burlesque in a fashion not complimentary to the change. Ke rated James Robinson Blanche’s burlesques as the stimuli for the growth and popularity of nineteenth- century extravaganza. He insisted that the extravaganza was not real burlesque, however, but burlesque without an object weakened into farce, a travesty without critical point. He viewed extravaganzas that followed Planche’s works as descent to "mere absurdity;" in The Burlesque Tradition In the English Theatre after l66o (London: Metheun & Co,, Ltd., 1952), pp. IO0-09, II3 . He would un­ doubtedly have considered the Troubadour pieces "extrava­ ganza," but not true burlesque, and while that distinction might be correct, his disparagement of extravaganza is a more personal consideration.

^3odell, Annals of the New York Staae, XI, 40. dours. This was really the first company in America of its kind, and the Tourists and all others are but imitation. . . . I simply mention this to give credit where credit is due for in this ^^8tance the first have always remained the

Another review of The Brook spoke in a different

vein of the background of light entertainment that pre­

ceded the Troubadours and linked them in spirit with the

minstrels:

When the novelty of Negro minstrelsy wore off, there were people, editors, who said the Negro minstrel was a thing of the past. The critics of 25 years ago said it was dead, dead, dead. The truth was, it was just taking a firm root. There are wiseacres who declare the lighter class of entertainments will give place in another year to the legitimate drama. The truth is that the class of entertainments of which Nate Salsbury, Nellie McHenry, John Webster, C, A, Stedman, and Miss Ray Samuels are fair representatives (and among whom we count Nellie McHenry and Salsbury first), is destined to survive many generations. They will live because they supply the growing demand in the United States for recreation, novel­ ty, fun, and variety. The Brook as an idea, one might say, would never have occurred to anybody had not the Vokes coined money out of The Belles of the Kitchen. But The Brook is a far better idea; it is more plausible and therefore more natural. The success of The Brook suggests a score of performances all containing ideas bor­ rowed from The Brook and all infinitely inferior to Salsbury*s inspiration. The Tourists, Goodwin's Froliques, and Fun on the Bristol are prolonga­ tions of the pattern Salsbury suggested to the profession, 25

Ironically when those same Vokes returned to the United

2^lrhe New York Mirror. 15 January 1881, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (196? microfilm),

^^The Evening Chronicle (Pittsburgh), December I880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm), When the Trouba­ dours visited England, commentators there noted their minstrel heritage (below, p,106), 90 States in 1881-82— either because they were not as good

as they had been (Rosina, the funniest of the troupe, was

indeed no longer with them) or because the American audi­

ences at that time had their own brand of comic absurdity

against which to compare them— Odell suggested that some

spark had been lost and that their former prestige had dipped,26

The sense of the various reviews of the Troubadours

suggested certain definite patterns. Clearly an historic

theatrical movement toward light entertainment that had

begun in the l870»s blossomed in about 1880, especially

with regard to light entertainment that stressed clean,

absurd humor, music, small casts, and variety-like speci­ alties all strung together on a bare thread of a plot.

About that trend. Odell commented;

Such combinations of song, vaudeville, thin plot, and constant clowning grew constantly dur­ ing the '80's and developed a number of richly unctuous comedians— GoodvTin, Mestayer, Dixey, Roland Reed, Louis Harrison, and many others.2?

The reviews further declared that the movement toward such small scale farce-comedy-rausical-variety shows was introduced into the United States by the Vokes Family, and that it was adopted by Salsbury*s Troubadours. In turn, the inventive Troubadours went beyond their teachers

26'Odell,, Annals of the Hew York Stanre. XII, 48,

2?odell, Annals of the New York Sta.ore. XI, 4o, 91 and created their own original entertainment, the zaniness

and spirit of which owed something to the traditional bur­

lesque and old minstrel shows. That original entertain­

ment of the Troubadours was copied and imitated by numerous

other American groups, and, finally the multiplication of

light comic entertainments produced a wealth of superb

comedians in the late nineteenth century,28

An important link in that sequence of events was

The Brook. With such encomiums as the reviews lavished upon the work, one might expect more than a mere trifle

of a play. Yet that is exactly what The Brook was. Sals­ bury 's recollection of the beginnings of The Brook were outlined in an article by W . F, Storey,29 Salsbury re­ called that after the failure of the Troubadours in New

York in IS7 5 , they went to a summer holiday with Lillian

Cleves Clark in Jamestown, New York. While out on a pic­ nic, the lunch was spoiled, which was the germinal idea for The Brook. According to Salsbury the idea recurred six months later in Indianapolis while he was trying to

28The products of those pleasure companies were some­ times referred to as musical comedies. Francis Wilson, the star of grminie. wrote in his autobiography of one of his early engagements with Mitchell's Pleasure Party "in a musical comedy entitled Our Goblins. . . . The play was one of the first and best of the Salsbury-Nellie McHenry 'Troubadour' sketches." In Francis Wilson's Life of Him- self (Boston and New York; Noughton-Mifflin Company, 1924), p. 60.

29untitled article by W. F. Storey in The Times (Chicago), undated, in NYPL scrapbook 10504 (I907 micro- film). 92 devise a play to replace Patchwork. He claimed he wrote

the play in four hours, and that Maeder added music in

one. Thus fitted, The Brook opened in Galveston.^0

The basic situation of The Brook was quite simple.

As explained in the advertisements for the I878-79 seasons,

it was ;

A party of ladies and gentlemen, of the theatri­ cal profession, accept the hospitality of a gen­ tleman who has provided a dinner in the woods, and thither they repair to give themselves up to the enjoyment of the hour in true picnic style. The gurgling brook keeps time to the happy voices of the revelers, whose overflowing spirits find vent in admirably arranged situations permitting a vast amount of exquisite songs and melodies, blended with recitations, dancing, merrymaking, and shaded only by ridiculous mishaps, which are necessary, making the woods ring with Joyous laughter, thus assuming the appearance of a rural operatic Jubilee.31

30while the time elements of that story are open to question, the first recorded performance of The Brook did take place at the Tremont Theatre in Galveston, 29 September 1876 (Listed in Gallegly, Footlights on the Border, p. I89). Just before that the Troubadours had been in Indiana, and six weeks previous to that, in mid- August 1876, they had played Jamestown, New York, A biography in The Journalist (undated in NYPL scrapbook 18505f 19^7 microfilm), stated that Salsbury had read Patchwork and The Brook to a group of Journalists at Mt. Mansfield Hotel in Stowe, Vermont. An account in The Review (Brooklyn), 15 January 1881, also stated that The Brook and Patchwork were drafted in the Green Moun- tains (in îIYPL scrapbook 18505. 19^7 microfilm). That report, however, also said the group started in 1874 and that it played in India, Were it not for those incorrect assertions, the article's statement about The Brook, as well as its claim that Salsbury earned ÿl40,000 in five years, might be more significant. As they stand, those two accounts contradict other, more reasonable evidence, and they offer no explanation why The Brook was not played until late in I876.

31prom Fashionable Favorites: Salsbury's Trouba­ dours , op. cit. 93 As with Patchwork, some of the names of the characters

suggested the level of the humor of the entertainment, as

Festes Heavysides (John Gourlay) and Rose Dimplecheek

(Nellie McHenry),32 Webster played the host for the

picnic. Interestingly his character's name, Percy Mon­

trose, was adopted from his birthplace, Montrose, Scot­

land. The other characters were members of the "Opera

House Company," Salsbury was the tragedian, Tracey Thorn­

ton, with Gourlay the comedian, McHenry played the sou­

brette, and Helene Dingeon was the ingenue, Blanche Sylvester,

The entertainment was comprised essentially of two

sections. In the first part the people arrived and began

the picnic, Nellie McHenry introduced the comic element

when she "shoots knives, forks, and spoons Indiscriminately

out of a basket and calls the proceedings 'laying the

clothk'"33 That episode of setting the table by throwing

the utensils about established the type of humor that char­ acterized The Brook and the Troubadours ; relatively com­ mon actions given a twist and performed with a wild and

energetic abandon. As McHenry set the table, the men were otherwise engaged, one man played with a "remarkable telescope tthati obtrudes itself upon everybody's atten-

32cast list for performance at Haverly's Lyceum Theatre, 23 February 1880, from The New York Herald. 2^ February I860, NYPL scrapbook 18^0^ (Ï96/ microfilm),

33unidentified London clipping, I9 September I88O, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm). 94

the implication was that the telescope kept growing

and expanding. Another man, while innocently trying to

catch fish in the brook for their meal, caught hold of a

turtle, which managed to latch onto the back of his coat

as he jumped about the stage.35 a reference was also

made to an unspecified bit of business involving a metal

bucket.3^ Eventually they all gathered about to eat,

and then greater problems befell them. The coffee was

overturned and got mixed up with the fish bait; the jam

was impregnated with salt; wine or vinegar was spilt over

the sandwiches; the pepper wound up in the ice cream.37

At one point Webster opened a bottle of champagne that

squirted almost inexhaustibly about the stage.38 one of

the highlights occurred when McHenry strolled blithely

over the plates across the tablecloth. She was requested

34unldentified Bath review, 31 July 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm).

35unidentified Bath review, 31 July 1880, and The Daily Chronicle (London), l4 September 1880, NYPL scrap- book 185o5 (1967 microfilm).

38The Daily Courier (Liverpool), 14 July 1880, NYPL scrapbook I6505 (196? microfilm).

37compiled from I860 reviews in The Morning Post (London), 20 September; The Irish Times (Dublin). 27 July; The Courier and Argus (Dundee). 17 August; The Daily Chronicle (London). 14 September; The Evening Chronicle (Bath). 31 August; The Bath Journal. 4 Septem- ber; unidentified Bath paper, 31 August; all in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (19^7 microfilm).

38The Morning Post (London), 20 September 1800; The Bvenin,^ News (Edinburgh). 10 August i860, from NYPL scrap- book 1 S505 (1967 microfilm). 95 please not to put her heels In the butter.39 All of the

antics had as their bases such not uncommon picnic prob­

lems. During the scene Salsbury, the heavy tragedian,

interjected apt Shakespearean quotations, while Gourlay,

the comedian, told stories.40 At the end of the disastrous

meal, the attention of the diners turned to a large trunic

that, they thought, contained watermelons for desert. In­

stead, another trunk, filled with theatrical costumes,

had been brought.41

The guests, deciding to make do, ushered in the second

section of the show, during which the theatre people don­

ned the appropriate costumes and performed their various

specialties supposedly to entertain each other. That lat­

ter portion of The Brook was subject to greater change

than the first part. Salsbury at one time recited Jacques’

"Seven Ages of Man" speech from As You Like It. imitated

Fechter as Calude in The Lady of Lyon, and encored as

Jefferson doing Rip Van Winkle and J. W. Wallack as Fagin.^^

Another time he presented a "vivid, eccentric, and exag-

39rhe Dally Chronicle (London), 14 September 1880; and unidentified London review, 19 September 1880, both in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm).

40The Irish Times (Dublin), 2? July 1680, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (Ï9 6 7microfilm). ^^ibid.

42The Svenln.^ Leader. 5 December I876, MYPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm). 96 gerated description of Rubenstein*s playing by an emo­

tional countryman."^3 t w o other of his most famous reci­

tations were a dramatic poem called "The Tale of a Tramp"

by Zdward E, Kidder and a humorous piece called "I Was

With Grant" by Bret Harte,^^ One of his well-received comic

pieces was that of a reporter interviewing people regarding

their opinion of the "Chinee Question," during which he

impersonated a Frenchman, an Irishman, a Negro, and a Yan­

kee, ^-5

Naturally during the I678-79 and 1879-80 seasons the

Troubadours also continued to perform farces. The Sanoruin-

ary Chasm, and, on occasion. Patchwork. At those times

the new bits of business, such as the "Chinee Question"

piece, could be inserted into the older play.^^

The other performers also had their specialties.

Gourlay did a piece called "Brown the Tragedian;" Helene

Dingeon received praise for "The Echo Song," and McHenry

performed a "Butterfly Medley."^7 After the specialty rou-

^3The Mew York Daily Mail, 24 February 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (Ï967 microfilm). ^%'he Post and Tribune (Detroit), I9 .September 1879; The Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 September 1879; The Irish Times '(Dublin)', 27' July I'bUb, in NYPL scrapbook 18.5Ô5 ( 1^ / ' nicro- film), Apuendix C contains "The Tale of a Tramp" and "A W’ar Incident" ("I Was with Grant").

^^5London Fimaro. 25 September I8SO; The I-Vening Telearam (Dundee), 17 A u g u s t I8OO, in NYPL scrapbook 185b5 (1967 microfilm). 46The Western Times (Exeter), 7 Sentember i860, NYPL scrapboo'k 18505 (1987 microfilm). 47Unldentified November I876 review, rHrpL scrapbook 8752. 97 tines, a thundershovrer broke, which sent the players

scurrying for cover and brought the show to its close.

According to one review the complete action ran one and

one-quarter hours,^8 is instructive to note that the

first section of The Brook, the picnic difficulties, foc­

ussed primarily on farcical comic business, while the

second half featured the variety entertainment,

The majority of the music for The Brook was lifted

from current, popular operetta or opera-bouffe favorites.

Reviews for November and December 1876 included reference

to the following numbers ;

The Brook Miss Clara Fisher Oh Charming May with banjo accompaniment N, Salsbury and Chorus The Gypsy Song (from The Bohemian Girl) Grand Chorus The Drinking Song (from Girofle-Girofla) Oh, Those Aching Teeth (from Princess Trebizonde) The Quarrel Duet (from Madam Angot) Gourlay and McHenry Oh Malaise Sparkling Wine • (from Princess Trebizonde) Clara Fisher and Chorus A Letter Waltz (from The Grand Duchess) Fisher and McHenry The Step (from The Grand Duchess) Rain, Rain . (from Chilperic) Chorus

^^The Daily Chronicle (London), September I88O, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm),

^^Unidentifled review, November I876, I'lYPL scrap­ book B752; The Evening Leader. 5 December 1576, NYPL scrap­ book I8505 (1967 microfilm). Although most of the songs remained in the show for some time, it is difficult to determine exactly where each song appeared. Whether the first two items were original songs, new ly­

rics set to popular tunes, other popular songs, or not

songs at all was unclear. Perhaps "The Brook" was merely

a recitation of a part of Alfred Tennyson's poem, for the

Troubadours used the slogan "For men may come and men may

go,/ But I go one for ever" in their advertising.

Four years later The Brook still used most of the

same material, as lists of the fare, including the specialty

acts, demonstrated;

The Song of the Brook Oh dearest May The Gypsies' Chorus ■"•The Waterfall The Quarrel Duet "•The welcome Barcarole "•The Health of our Host ^^The Lads are out Today "The Brilliant Waltz Within a mile or Last Rose (Ray Samuels) The Tramp (Salsbury) The Gainsborough Hat (McHenry) The Laughing Song (McHenry) Love, heartrending Love (C, A. Stedman) "Take a Long Walk "The customary Summer Shower Rain, rain go away.50

Aside from the identified specialties, only seven items

lacked directly equivalent songs from the earlier lists.

Of those, the summer shower was surely a part of the show

in 1876, and it and the waterfall suggested special scenic

■^Ocompiled from a Gaiety Theatre (London) program, 18 September 1880, and a review in The Bradford Observer. 24 August 1880, i'lYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilin). The name of the artist performing the specialty act has been added in parentheses if identified in the review. An asterisk marks acts without a directly equivalent number in the earlier list. 99 elements,Two or three other items could have been

either merely different names for the same number or a

different number with an equivalent purpose, as "The

Brilliant Waltz" and "The Letter Waltz," The remainder

may have been additional songs, or pieces of business

that are not songs at all. Still, aside from the specialty

or solo numbers, the shov; clearly retained the same out­

line and nearly the same sequence of events over a period

of almost four years.

Such a collection of light opera songs, comic bits of

business, solo specialty numbers, and recitations comprised

The Brook,Y e t , as with Patchwork, the mere explication

of the basic situation and a description of the performers'

actions do not, by themselves, explain the immense popu­

larity of the piece. That popularity depended not only

on the situation and incidents of the play, but also on

three other items; the talent of the individuals performing

the work, the clean good humor that created an acceptable

family entertainment, and the atmosphere of absurd zaniness

performed with a zest and a naturalness that made the audi­

ence yearn to be a part of the fun.

5^See below, p, no, for comments on scenic elements,

52one reviewer labelled the entertainment "a refined vaudeville," an interesting and early use of that word in 30 September 1679. Review from The Commercial (Cincinnati), KTTFL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm), 100 Numerous reviews quoted in this study have noted the

individual excellence of the Troubadours, especially of

Salsbury and NcHenry, As a mere reminder of such expres­

sions, The New York Mirror might stand as representative.

After praising Gourlay»s singing and Salsbury*s recita­

tions, the reviewer turned his attention to McHenry and

concluded:

She is the very embodiment of effervescent, irresistible jollity, and with her neat dancing and sprightly singing, aside from the difference in avoirdupois, she reminds one of Lotta the ir- repressable, , , , Taken all together the Trouba­ dours constitute the liveliest, blithest, galest quintette of talented people that were ever gather­ ed together,-53

Such praises of their individual and collective talents

were common for Salsbury, McHenry, Webster, and the

troupe as a whole whether the fourth and fifth players

were Gourlay and Dingeon, Stedman and Samuels, or other

performers,

A second major influence on the Troubadours' success

with The Brook that cannot be gleaned from the basic situa­

tion was the zaniness of the humor. Conveying an atmosphere

of craziness was more important than the actual subject

matter, or, if one reviewer was correct, even than the ta-

53The New York Mirror. 28 February 1880, NYPL scrap­ book 18^0^' "(1967 microfilm). The New York Star. 7 March 1880, characterized the cast members as "the pretty, vi­ vacious and clever Miss McHenry, tragic Salsbury, comic Gourlay, talented Miss Dingeon, elegant Webster;" in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (198? microfilm). lents of the Individuals;

There is nothing new in The Brook and a good many things in it, as snatches of opera and re­ miniscences of the variety stage, are not done as well as we are accustomed to hear or see them done, but the ceaseless rattle of fun and the wealth of absurdity which crowds the piece form a lively setting for a number of incongrous speci­ alty incidents, 54

Not only did the absurd nature of the humor receive

praise, but also noted was the naturalness of the actors

in performing such antics, which gave an air of spontan­ eity to the entertainment»

All these various features are produced with­ out introduction, and the singers sing, the dancers dance, and the elocutionists recite apparently for no other reason than that they feel as if they could not help doing one or other of these things,55

That same air of ease and spontaneity was noted in an

Australian performance of The Brook, and the reviewer provided a hint into the technical reason for the ap­ pearance of naturalness when he stated that the atmos­ phere was a consequence of the fact that the Troubadours

"consult their audience very little,"56 The implication was that even the presentational aspects, such as songs

5^ h e Daily Nall (New York), 24 February I880, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (l96? microfilm), That review was unusual in its criticism of the talents of the performers,

55The Liverpool Nail. July I88O, DJYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm),

56The Sydney Horning Herald. 7 August I877, 102 or recitations, were performed représentâtionally, as if

the characters were reciting or performing for the other

picnickers, rather than directly toward the theatre audi­

ence.

In that same vein, an English paper summarized that

the success of The Brook rested not so much on what was

done as on the manner in which it was done. That manner

depended on "heartiness" and on the Troubadours enjoying

the antics of the picnic as much as the audience did,57

The relationship between the performers and the audience*s

enjoyment of the performers was a crucial one. Frequently

accolades were given the Troubadours because the audience

experienced vicariously the fun depicted on the stage.

Said one reviewer;

the pleasures of a picnic party are so naturally and truthfully portrayed that one can even imagine himself one of the party,58

That commentator also praised the cast for "the earnest

and heartfelt manner in which they seem to enter into

the spirit of the performance," The vicarious audience

experience, their sensing the naturalness of the crazy

humor and joining with it, occurred on both sides of the

Atlantic;

57unidentified Bath review, summer 1880, NYPL scrap­ book I6505 (1967 microfilm), 58"Pat" in Dublin Puck. 3I July IBBO, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm). 103 They amuse themselves In every conceivable way, sing, dance, recite, utter the wildest of jokes to each other; in short make the majority of peo­ ple present feel as if they wanted to be on the stage themselves and participate in what is evi­ dently the most natural of e n j o y m e n t , 59

A wild, abandoned manner based on natural incidents and

the vicarious experience of the audience combined to

provide The Brook with its second added dimension.

In addition to the talent of the individuals and

crazy, natural fun for the audience, the Troubadours also

emphasized a third ingredient that added to their popu­

larity, namely, the clean and wholesome nature of their

material. That in itself was enough to generate praise

from some quarters, A Chicago paper stated:

The beauty of the entertainment, its musical excellence, the purity and lavish abundance of its fun, and its complete cleanliness commend it most powerfully,ou

Not only in the Midwest did clean material merit such

kind words. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle characterized the

play with phrases as "purity and innocence" and of "a

chaste characters," and it concluded;

It is impossible to sit through The Brook with­ out realizing how infinitely more enjoyable is light comedy with purity in it than the grandest spectacle which may at any moment bring a blush to a lady's cheek,

59The New York Herald. 24- February i860, NYPL scrap­ book I8505 (1967 microfilm),

^^Unidentified Chicago paper, September I879, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm),

^^The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 November 18?9, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (19^7 microfilm), 104 Salsbury's Troubadours openly played upon and encouraged

those sentiments. In their advertising, for example, they

exclaimed;

The heads of families are particularly requested to examine our credentials and judge for themselves if our entertainments are not of that sort they would like their children to e n j o y , o2

The population in the United States exploded from 38.5

million in 1870 to over $0 million in I860, over a thirty

per cent increase,^3 Not only was the population greatly

increased, but more women and children went to the theatre,

Henneke pointed out that women began attending the theatre,

especially for lighter entertainment, in the 1850's, and

that families made up a large portion of the audience for

popular entertainment by the late 1870’s,^^ Certainly, too,

Tony Pastor demonstrated the success that an entertainment aimed at family trade could enjoy at that time, and the

Troubadours' plays presented the same appeal.

The Troubadours in the middle of 1880 stood at the very front of their class of entertainment, the acknow­ ledged originals of a blend of farce, music, and variety that had become enormously popular. In that position

82pashlonable Favorites: Salsbury's Troubadours. O P . c l t ,

Compendium of the Tenth Census (June 1. 1880) (Washington: Government Printing Office, I885), Table I, PP. 2,3.

8^Een Graf Henneke,"The Playgoer in America (I752- 1952),." (Unpublished Ph,D, dissertation. University of Illinois, 1 9 5 6), pp, 78, 80, 81. 105 they contracted to tour the British Islands, Rachel

Samuels, who was with the group for the I879-8O season,

agreed to the journey, but Gourlay was replaced by J. N.

Long and then by Charles A. Stedman, who made the trip

to England, The Troubadours left New York 22 June I88O

on the S. S. Wisconsin and arrived In Liverpool on 1 July,

They began playing In the provinces and made their way

through the summer toward London, The first stop was a

two-week stand at the Alexandria Theatre In Liver­

pool In mid-July, They then recorded performances at

Dublin, Glascow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Bradford, Bath, and

Exeter before arriving In London In early September,. The

Troubadours ran five weeks in London at the Alexandra Pa­

lace with matinees at the Gaiety Theatre, after which In

late October they returned on The City of Liverpool to the United States,66

The British reaction to the Troubadours was generally

favorable. Many reviewers found difficulty In classifying

the troupe’s pieces, while some focussed on the kinship to the Vokes Family. The primary criticism on The Brook, which they performed almost exclusively, was for Its want of a strong plot.

65Records and maps of the voyage from NYPL scrapbook 8753. 66jhe Sunday Evening Journal. 31 October I88O, The author of the article quoted Salsbury as stating that they also played Manchester and Leeds, but no evidence confirming that has been located. 106 The performing talents of the individual Troubadours,

save Nellie McHenry, were widely acclaimed. Also praised

was the American nature of the show, an aspect that was

seldom clearly defined. The fine depiction of the setting,

that is, the excellence of the scenery, was frequently

mentioned. Overall, the Troubadours made a strong and

good Impression In England, and they became a part of a

British trend toward such light varlety-musIcal-farce

conglomerations, which were developing In 1880,

The Troubadours confronted an Immediate problem of

categorization upon their first appearance In Great

Britain, The performance was referred to as a "miscel­

laneous entertainment," a "variety combination," and an

"entertainment , , , that cannot be called a play,"

and one reviewer thought It should have been In a music hall rather than a theatre,^? still, two points of view

predominated. The troupe was viewed historically as suc­

cessors to another American group famous In England,

Christy’s Minstrels; "[The Brook] at best Is but a higher

class Christy Mlnstrellsm , , , In the current per­

spective of the time, the entertainment was frequently

^^Sunday Times (London, 26 September 1680; Glascow News, 3 August l8üO; The Evening Telegraph (Dundee), 1? August 18B0; unidentified Liverpool paper, July 1880; all in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm), SÔThe Evening News (Edinburgh), 10 August 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm), 107 labelled an "extravaganza," which, said one paper, was

"perhaps the best name for It."^9 Another Liverpool

paper noted both the historical and current perspectives :

Their repertory consists pretty much of the same material which years ago was used to enjoy perennial popularity by Christy's Minstrels, It is true that the Troubadours do not revel in the glamour of burnt cork, but the musical extrava­ ganza out of which they make so much capital is exactly of the screaming, farce, break down char­ acter with which Negro minstrelsy has made us familiar.

Some of the papers mentioned the similarity between the

Troubadours and the Vokes in the style of entertainment,

The most complete comparison appeared in The Bath Argus :

Perchance their performance Cof The Brook] may suggest thoughts of the Vokes. There is withal a distinctiveness which will commend it­ self to the minds of many as being superior even to the funnings of that most popular of theatrical families. It is not in the best taste to make comparisons, but the similarity between much of the two entertainments almost calls for it. True the legs of the inimitable Fred have no rivals among the members of Salsbury's Troubadours, But as a set-off to this, we shall go so far as to say that Miss Victoria Vokes' singing suffers in comparison with the splendid vocalization of Miss Ray Samuels,71

^9rhe Liverpool Mail. July 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

7QThe Daily Courier (Liverpool), 14 July 1880, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (19^7 microfilm). The Brook was also styled a "musical extravaganza" by The Bradford Chronicle and Mail. 24 August I880, in NYPL scrapbook 8753, and by an unidentified Bath paper, summer I88O, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm),

7lThe Bath Argus, 31 August I88 0; a review in a dif­ ferent Bath paper, summer 1880, makes virtually the same comparison. Both in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm). 108 The British viewed the predecessors of The Brook as the

Voices and minstrelsy, and they labelled it in the per­

spective of 1880 as a musical extravaganza.

Most reviews were favorable to the American troupe.

Those critics who did not like the show generally cited

its lack of a definite plot. The strongest condemnation

of The Brook came from The Era, which declared:

The Brook may live on for a time, but it is entirely destitute of artistic merit, grace, in­ vention, or s t y l e , 72

Even that staggering blast was motivated primarily be­

cause the play did not have a plot sufficiently strong

to suit the writer: "The first drawback we find in The

Brook is the want of some definite plan, incident, or

imbroglio , , , ," Most of the review was given over to

development of that fault.

As individuals, Salsbury, Gourlay, and Samuels re­

ceived nearly unanimous praise. Although Nellie McHenry also had some partisans, she was the only member of the troupe who was frequently the target of criticism. That criticism usually focussed on her being too vivacious and overwhelming, which was viewed as lack of refinement and control, or downright vulgarity,73

72The Era (London), 19 September I860, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm),

73rhe Daily Telegraph (London), 20 September I88O; The Critic (London), 22 September I88O; The Echo (London), 21 September I88O; London Figaro. 25 September I88O; The Glascow News. 3 August 1880, all criticized McHenry for those same reasons, in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm). 109 Several reviews, without exactly defining what they

meant, referred to and praised what they called the “Ameri­

can" nature of the show. "There is a strong American

flavor about the entertainment throughout," stated one

paper. 74 "The action and tone of the production are thor­

oughly American," another assured.75 Yet a third differ­

entiated the Troubadours from the Vokes because in The

Brook "there is much about the fun that is extremely Amer­

ican. "76 Fortunately one paper defined its terms somewhat

better: "the humor which runs through the entire perfor­

mance is characterized by a certain freshness and originality

peculiar in many respects to our American cousins."77 Even

those terms, of course, were somewhat vague. More illumin­

ating, perhaps, is twentieth-century commentary in a simi­

lar vein. Eric Bentley recently described what he believed

was a particularly American approach to theatre:

My contention is that the famous tempo of Amer­ ican productions, the famous energy of American playing (especially in light comedy and musical comedy) is an integral part of American culture and an organic product of American life.7v

7^^The Bradford Observer. 24 August I88O, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm).

75rhe Era (London, Country Edition), 18 July I88O, IJYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

7^The Bath ^ enlnv Chronicle, 31 August 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

77'The Bath Ar.orus, 3 I August I880, NIPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

78Eric Bentley, ed., From the American Drama. The Modern Theatre Series, Vol. 4 (Garden City, New York: Dou- 110 Bentley's comments help to define the nineteenth-century

English references to the "American flavor" of the Trouba­

dours, which suggested a similar hearty spirit in the playing

of the crazy and zany fun. Also, some of the American flavor

must have resided in the dialect, American subject matter,

and folksy quality of some of the Troubadours' material.

For the I879-80 season the Troubadours had ordered new

scenery painted, which they carried with them. The conclu­

sion that they had new scenery stemmed from repeated refer­

ences to the excellence of the setting during the tour that

year, even though many of the reviews gave credit for the

scenery to the theatre managements :

Here the liberal managers of the new fHaverly's Brooklyn] theatre have transcribed even their best efforts in the provision of graceful scenery,79

The new scenery from Mr, Haverly is the best yet presented on the CLyceum1 s t a g e , ^0

We doubt if a prettier brook scene has ever been put on stage,81 bleday & Company, Inc,, I956), p, ix. Interestingly, in writing of plays by Thornton Wilder and William Saroyan, Bentley referred to their "zany" quality and noted that they "take off into a characteristically American realm of fan­ tasy; the word zany says about as much about the type as can be said in four letters," The Troubadours, too, fell with­ in that "characteristically American realm" of zany fantasy.

79rhe Brooklyn Dally Jiiagle, 11 November I879, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm),

80fhe New York Dramatic News. 28 February i860, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm),

Glphe Enquirer (Cincinnati), 30 September 1879, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm). Mr. Hooley had a new and very pretty scene painted for The Brook.^2

Fortunately the Chicago review also described that scene;

The stream is shown as running down a long perspective and the picnic party, when they come on, cross it upon the large and twisted branches of an old tree that eked out by a few stones forms a beautiful rustic bridge.

The Troubadours must have carried that scenery with them

to England, for reviews repeatedly praised the quality

of the scenery, and two identified Gaspard Maeder of

America as the a r t i s t . ^3 Two other scenic elements that

were apparent additions to The Brook also deserve mention.

One reviewer noted a waterfall, which conformed to one of

the new items near the top of the 1880 program and suggested

the "Waterfall" entry was a scenic effect.®^*" Finally, sev­

eral reviews spoke in glowing terms of the "genuine rain

O^The Times (Chicago), 8 September 1879. NYPL scrap­ book 16505 (1967 microfilm). Significantly, such references were confined almost exclusively to the I879-8O season. No pattern of such statements existed prior to that season.

^3rhe Liberal Review (Liverpool), July 1880, in NYPL scrapbook 6753; The Bradford Chronicle and Mail. 24 August I860 ; The Daily Chronicle (London), Ï4 September I88O; The Era (London, Country Edition), 18 July 1880; unidentified Bath paper, summer 1880, all in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm) commented on the set. The Era and The Liberal Review cited Maeder as the artist. The Bath paper listed Lionel Hawkes as the artist, mistakenly, I believe.

84]alety Theatre program, 18 September 1880, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (19^7 microfilm). The Bradford Chronicle and Mail, 24 August 1880, noted the waterfall. The Brad­ ford Observer, 24 August 1880, did not list the waterfall among its list of songs. Both reviews in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm). For listing of "The Waterfall" and "The customary Summer Shower," see p. 98, 112 storm” that fell during the summer shower that ended the

picnic, 85

The Brook was not, naturally, the only show the

Troubadours played in England, Performances of Patchwork,

and the farces My Aunt's Advice and Two Can Play at that

Game were also r e c o r d e d , 86 Furthermore The Brook itself

was subject to changes in the overall structure and in the

solo numbers, which were altered during the English trip,

A Liverpool paper noted after one of the troupe’s first

performances that no one understood. Salsbury’s "Chinee

Question” business, and it suggested that Ray Samuels sing

livelier songs than "The Echo Song,” for which her prede­

cessor Helene Dingeon had received excellent notices, and

"The Last Rose of Summer," for which Samuels had been

praised when she was with the Peyson English Opera Com­

pany ,87 Later in the tour, however, Salsbury emphasized

the characterizations rather than the subject matter, and

the "Chinee Question" business became a highlight of the

85'The Eyeninty News (Edinburgh), 10 August, I88O; The Bradford Observer. 24 August I88O, et-al,in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm),

88'The Evening News (Edinburgh), 10 August I88O; The Bedford Observer, 24 August I880, both in I\IYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm) ; and The Evenin.g Telegram (Dundee), 17 August 1880, in NYPL scrapbook 8753,

87The Liverpool Kail. July I88O, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm), ïïiss Samuels ’ reviews -passim I

s h o w , 88 Samuels, both in Edinburgh and elsewhere, added

"Within a Mile of Edinburgh Town," which was well-received,

The addition of that number explained the 18 September pro­

gram entry, "Within a Mile, or Last Rose," as being not

one song, but a choice of two. Also, when the troupe

played Dublin, Salsbury sang an Irish comic song, "The

McSoorly Twins," which was not recorded elsewhere,90

The Stage Directory noted that the Troubadours had "toned

down" the piece since its first trial in England; and the

London Figaro reviewer, who had seen them in America,

said of The Brook that "new elements have been introduced

which add immensely to the attraction of the entertainment,"91

Not only were the individual acts in The Brook subject

to change, but, more importantly, a farce called Cross Pur­

poses was adapted and used regularly, although not always,

as the first act of The Brook, altering the whole nature

of the play. The picnic scene, then, became merely Act II,

That such adaptation was effected was clear from reviews and other evidence. The Troubadours certainly performed

88The Bvenini? Telegraph (Dundee), 17 August 1880; London Finaro, 25 September 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm),

89The Scotsman (Edinburgh), 10 August 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm),

9PThe Irish Times (Dublin), 2? July 1880, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (1967 microfilm),

9lThe Stage Directory (London), 1 August I88O; London Figaro. 26 September I880. ITYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 micro- f iim), 114 Cross’ Purposes in February 1880.92 in England some of the

reviews mentioned that two acts of The Brook comprised the

night's fare, while others noted that a farce preceded

The Brook. Two reviews stated that the two-act version

lasted three hours, compared with the hour and one-quarter

running time listed for the play by The Daily Chronicle.93

Some reviews admitted that little connection existed

between the acts in the longer version. Said one;

The program . . . resolves itself into two acts, but these have no more connection one with another than arises from the appearance in both of the same personages. In the first act a game of cross purposes is carried out by two pairs of lovers in the broadest spirit of farce. The second is taken up with a picnic.94

The Liverpool Mail also noticed the gap, and said that

Salsbury played an old man in the first act and someone

else in the s e c o n d . 95 When played as a two-act piece, the

first act of The Brook involved an inheritance. By a

whimsical will, the inheritance was left to whichever of

two young men could be married within a year of the bene­

factor's death. In the event neither was married, the for­

tune would revert to an old friend. Hence each of the two

9^The New York Sunday Courier. 29 February 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm).

93rhe Evenin? Nevrs (Edinburgh), 10 August i860; uni­ dentified Dublin paper, summer 1880; The Daily Chronicle (London), 14 September 1880, all in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

94rhe Scotsman (Edinburgh), 10 August I88O, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm).

95The Liverpool Mail, July 1880, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm^ 115 young' men tried to vilify the character of his rival be­

hind his back to the lady of his choice, while the old

gentleman told outrageous stories about both of them to

serve his own p u r p o s e , 96 a review of the Liverpool per­

formance captured some of the Act One plot and character­

ized the farcical and pun-filled nature of Cross Purposes,

or the first part of The Brook;

With marvelous ingenuity, about a score of lines of original dialogue is recast and rehashed and made to do duty some dozen times. The best ef­ forts of cockney punsters are eclipsed in the pungent epigram which crystalizes a kiss as "a lip tickle," When the fire-eating old colonel supports the dumpy Miss Dimplecheek in his arms, he exclaims with thrilling effect, "If you're going to smother me, do it s'm'other w a y . "97

The reason for adapting Cross Purposes to that use was

never stated. The Troubadours in England might have

wished to suggest a more unified, one-play bill, the

standard for legitimate drama, rather than the farce-

and-play fare they offered in the United States,

No doubt existed of the success of the Troubadours

and The Brook in England, Frequent reviews testified to

large audiences as well as to the group's popularity.

That they had gained not only followers but also some

influence was equally true. The Troubadours fit within

the English tradition, which descended from The Beggar's

96undated playbill of The Brook as a two-act play, with act descriptions, as performed by a cast headed by John Gourlay at Hudson's Bijou Theatre (city not identi­ fied); Salsbury scrapbook, Yale,

9?The Daily Courier (Liverpool), 14 July 1880, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm), 116 Opera. of plays Incorporating popular music and ballads.

They introduced an American zest and heartiness in con­

trast to "our dull [English] style of theatricals,"98 The

Troubadours also helped to bridge the gap between the le­

gitimate stage and the music hall, a process that was Just

occurring in England at that time,99 They encouraged the

further development in Britain of loosely constructed en­

tertainments, which were Just beginning to be accepted as

legitimate theatrical fare.In any case, whatever

influence or popularity they held was best reflected in

the following notice:

From the rise of the curtain to the fall [The Troubadours] seem to create that peculiar delight which betokens genuine and heartfelt interest in foreign friends, for such they are, as they have proved by their splendid performance of The Brook, destined to be long remembered as one of the most exquisite and delightful novelties ever presented before a foreign audience. They came here perfect strangers. They will leave staunch friends, engrafted in the hearts of our public

98lbid,

99Raymond Mander and Joe Hitchenson, British Music Hall (London: London House and Maxwell, I965), p, 55 , pointed out, for example, that Augustus Harris only began using burlesque and music hall performers in his Christmas pantomimes in I880,

lOOjhe Sunday Times (London), 26 September I88O, MYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm), V, C. Clinton-Eaddeley in The Burlesque Tradition in the English Theatre After I66 O . op, clt,, pp.' 108-09. 113. noted that a rage for absurd extravaganza, influenced by James Robinson Planche's burlesques, occurred in the I870's and 1680 's. He differentiated the extravaganza from the burlesque as a whimsical entertainment that weakened bur­ lesque into farce and featured travesty without critical purpose. 117 as one of the first American organizations who have captured the hearts of the people ^ masse so to speak.

Such a glowing report echoed the admiration and apprecia­

tion that had been tendered the Troubadours by W. Saurin

Lyster Just before the Troubadours left Australia.

With such praise ringing in their ears, the Trouba­

dours returned to the United States in October 1880 and

immediately began another successful season touring the

country with overseas press notices pasted on their ad­

vertising. Taking advantage of their English success, thqy

made a swing through Canada in late 1880. They returned

to New York long enough to open the new year at Haverly*s

Theatre, after which they performed at the Brooklyn

Haverly's. At that time reviews commented that the first

act of The Brook was, indeed, the old Cross P u r p o s e s . 1^2

Another review noticed "a great deal of changes" in the

play, and declared: "Only enough of the old material

has been retained to justify the keeping of the original

title."103 Still, the work retained its immense popularity,

and its acclaim may be judged from Nym Crinkle's remarks :

lOliipat" in The Dublin Puck. 31 July 1880, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm).

102-The Brooklyn Union and Argus. 18 January 1881; The New York Mirror, 8 January 1881, NYPL scrapbook 18505 11967 microfilm).

103The New York Dramatic News. 8 January 1881, NYPL scrapbook iB^O^ (1967 microfilm). The return of "The Troubadours" to [Haverly's3 theatre provides one of the most graceful, inno­ cuous, and charming entertainments that innocent mirth ever conceived. The Brook is a gossamer play, but it has what few if any other plays have been able to catch— the ebullient insouciance of childhood; a merit which sparkles on its fili- ments like Spring rain-drops on a silver web. The charm of the performance lies in its uncon­ ventionality, its delightful abandonment, and the air of out-door looseness, that pervade it.

He also praised several major attractions of the show:

Its cleanliness, Salsbury, the contagious fun, the new

business and music, and the real-seeming rainstorm.

On 25 February 1881, while the Troubadours were at

the Globe Theatre in Boston, the "musical extravaganza"

The Brook was played for the fifteen-hundredth time. The

event was marked by announcements and ornate silken pro­

grams. At that time of celebration, the Troubadours were

also searching for a new vehicle to replace The Brook. Al­ most immediately after playing that milestone performance,

the Troubadours began work with a new play by one of the most prominent of American playivrights, Bronson Howard.

That play was to prove a significant diversion from previous

Troubadour plays, for it would begin a shift toward a more structured farce comedy form based on more integrated plot

Incidents and more fully rounded characterizations.

Crinkle, "Feuilleton," The New York Mirror. 8 January 1881, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm). CHAPTER 4

THE TROUBADOURS AND THE PLOTTED PLAY, 1881-1883

On 25 February 1881 the Troubadours played The Brook

for the fifteen-hundredth time. The group had used the

vehicle for five years, and their other major piece. Patch­

work. was nearly six years old. The Troubadours felt the

need of a new play, and. Just over two months after the

momentous fifteen-hundredth performance of The Brook, they

found one. Salsbury did not put together that next play.

Rather, it was the work of one of America's most famous

playwrights, Bronson Howard. The new play was "brought

out • . . for the first time" at the Milwaukee Academy of

ready when the Troubadours reassembled in September for

the 1881-82 season.

The new work went by several titles, the best known

of which was Greenroom Fun. At first, however, it was called The Amateur Benefit and The Faun of the Glen, and was subtitled The Civilized Indian.^ The basic story in-

^The Evening Wisconsin. 7 May 1881, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm).

^Unidentified clipping, NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm).

3ïhe play was copyrighted as The Faun of the Glen; 119 120 volved a group of ladies and gentlemen who banded to­

gether to produce an amateur theatrical production for

the benefit of a local church,^ Act I took place in the

drawing room of one of the company, where a rehearsal was

to occur. The principal actors were two pairs of lovers;

The Reverend Ernest Duckworth (John Gourlay) and Miss Katie

Plumpet (Nellie McHenry); and Captain Henry Opdyke (John

Webster) and Miss Camillia Westlake (Ray Samuels), The

fifth character, played by Salsbury, was Mr. Booth McC.

Forrest, »'a very heavy tragedian” Imported by the amateurs

to lend professionalism to their venture and to train the

amateurs.

Much of the emphasis in the action rested on the vari­

ous blunders and affectations of the amateurs as they pre-

or. The Civilized Indian. "A Burletta, in One-Act” by Bron­ son Howard on 31 Marc.h 1881. Two months later, 26 May 1881, it was copyrighted with the title page in virtually identi­ cal form, as The Pawn [sic] of the Glen; or The Civilized Indian. "A Burletta in One-Act," On 16 March"ÏÜÜ2'the work was copyrighted as Greenroom Fun. "A Comic Play in Three Acts." While the term "burletta" suggested music, nothing in the title page of the expanded version refer­ red to or implied music, McDowell Archives. P. 1059, 0. S. U. Originals at Library of Congress. The Wisconsin review and The Evening News (Buffalo). 25 October 1881, in NYPL scrapbook 18505(196? microfilm) identified the play as The Amateur Benefit; or. The Faun of the Glen. Arthur Hobson Quinn in A History of the American Drama from the Civil War to the Present Day (New York: P. S. Crofts & Co;, Publishers, 1936) stated that the play had not survived (p. 52).

^The situation was compiled from reviews in The Times (Chicago) and The Chicago Evening Journal, both of Septem­ ber 1881, and from an unidentified third Chicago paper of the same month. All in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 micro­ film). 121 pared their lines and costumes. During the course of the

act, Gourlay was to have produced a letter for his lady

love, McHenry, to read. Unfortunately she somehow received

another envelope. The reading of that letter sparked a

jealousy that threatened to end the romances and to cancel

the performance, but so many tickets had been sold that

the quintette resolved to proceed.

The second act transferred the scene to the barren

stage of the theatre, where a rehearsal for the performance was to take place. Unfamiliar with theatre riggings, the amateurs fumbled In unceremoniously: Captain Opdyke drop­

ped from the flies, pulling a wing down with him In his un­ premeditated flight; a befuddled Rev, Duckworth shot up through a star trap; Katie Plumpet stumbled through a can­ vas tree; and Camillia Westlake toppled a statue to the floor,5 Regaining their composure, the group determined to begin the rehearsal. To circumvent their personal problems, the two pairs of lovers exchanged parts, but a general confusion of lines resulted. After some explana­ tions, the couples were returned to their proper alignment and all other difficulties were overcome. The second act ended with the virtual resolution of the plot and prepared for the third act production of the play-wlthln-a-play,

•^Entrances were described In a review in The New York Mirror. 15 April 1882, p, 4, 122 The original third act of the play received the most

attention from the reviewers, it consisted of the "ama­

teur benefit!' performance of a play entitled "The Faun of

the Glen; or. The Civilized Indian," The stage setting

for the third act generated copious comment, for in it

Howard combined elements of farce comedy, satire, and

burlesque. The primary target of the satire was American

policy toward the Indians, and the Indians* response

to that policy. To illustrate the ludicrous situation,

Howard presented a half-civilized Indian family. The old

savage Chief Sitting Down Bulldog, played by Salsbury,

lived well off the system and sent his daughter— an Indian

princess and the "Faun of the Glen"— East for her educa­

tion, He,meanwhile, carried on his business of robbing

stage coaches and murdering passengers under the protec­

tion and patronage of the government. The fashionable

daughter, played by McHenry, had learned French and visi­

ted Paris, She "has been civilized with opera-bouffe and

whitened up with plaster of Paris,"6 The allegiances of

the Chief's half-civilized son (John Webster) were split

between the old ways and the new, and his confusion was

reflected In the set.

The drop was a view of a meandering river with moun­

tains and a waterfall,^ To one side of the sylvan scene

^The Republican (St, Louis), December 1881, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm),

^The description suggests that the drop may have been the same one used for The Brook, 123 stood a wigwam decorated with plaques and rugs. Amid the

trees of the forest rested the signs of civilization:

paintings, elaborate furniture, glided cages, a doorbell

fastened on a tree, an ornate chandelier hanging from the

branches, a piano, and all the accessories of a well-or­

dered room In a fashionable residence.

In the course of the play-wlthln-a-play the young In­

dian robbed a stage and killed a few passengers. He

spared a young lady, the Marchioness of Belgravia (Ray

Samuels), whom he loved at first sight, and her brother,

the Earl of Kensington (John Gourlay). A second object

of satire, reflected in the names of the two captives, was

the American worship of foreign titles,® and soon the In­

dians were as Intrigued by the titles as the Earl and Mar­

chioness were by the Indians, The Lord and the Indian

princess made one match, and the young Chief and the titled

lady formed another. In line with the set, the costumes

In the third act were described by one reviewer as "border

half and half," and praised by another as "superb" overall,^

The plot of Greenroom Fun was certainly more elaborate than either Patchwork or The Brook, Still, however. It retained an adaptability of structure that encouraged the

®The Buffalo Express. 25 October 1881, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm).

^The Republican (St, Louis), December 1881, provided the description; an undated review in The Times (Chicago) and a review in The Mall and Express (New York), 11 April 1882, both praised the costumes. All in NYPL scrapbook 18505 (1967 microfilm). 124 specialties of the Troubadours, especially In the re­

hearsal and amateur theatrical settings, Gourlay, for

example, performed some gymnastic feats, and Webster de­

livered a recitation supposedly spoken by a police officer.

So extensive were the specialty acts that ors Buffalo

paper referred to Bronson Howard's "new plotless piece,"

and another exclaimed:

The author can be credited with little or none of the fun unless he be considered entitled to It for graciously permitting the talented members of the company to be funny and musical without any special reference to his plot, dialogue, business or sltuatlons,^^

On the other hand, a paper In Detroit, Howard's hometown,

stated:

One unmistakable proof of Its Cthe play's] merit Is that It will stand the test of reading without any reference to Its stage dress, in other words. Its literary cleverness Is one of Its shining qualltles,^^

Whichever account was more accuate, the play clearly em­

ployed more plot than previous Troubadour vehicles, and

yet It still provided opportunity for Individual specialties.

Among the specialties were several songs. To open

the second act Salsbury sang a number about a theatre or­

chestra, accompanied by appropriate sounds and gestures

from the orchestra; Gourlay did a comic song about a

^^The Buffalo Courier. 25 October 1881, and The Evening News (Buffalo). 25 October 1881, In NYPL scrap- book 16505 (1967 microfilm),

llThe Free Press (Detroit), 4 October 1881, NYPL scrapboôïrTÏÏ5Ô5~rr9^ microfilm), 125 "Good Young Man Who Died," Samuels performed some opera­

tic selections, and In act II she and McHenry played a

clever duet In which the two women continually Interrupted

each other and yet sang together,Nevertheless, although

the play used song and music, not nearly as many songs

were mentioned In accounts, and relatively few reviews

even commented on the musical nature of the show.

Another method of Investigating the elements of

Greenroom Fun was provided by a prop list for the show.

The list was given to the stage manager of whatever house the Troubadours were to play, and It contained the printed

Instructions; "Have all the proper articles on stage by 12 o'clock noon on the day of performance, "^3 The

Items listed included:

Parlor set of furniture, center table, large mirror, nice easel, small parlor writing desk, common stool, screen six or seven feet high, clean flour barrel, two sheets of music, three or four books, pen. Ink, paper and envelopes, large sal­ ver, visiting cards, paper box about 12 by 4 Inches, kitchen table, common chairs, glass crash, wood crash, one sperm or wax candle, four large sheets blue paper for window, 10 cents worth burnt umber, paste for pasting paper window.

Most of the articles appear useful for the act I parlor room. The crashes reflect the act II entrances.

Another view of Greenroon Fun was provided by a

^^ h e Mall and Exuress (New York), 11 April 1882, In NYPL scrapbook I8505 (l9<^7 microfilm),

13salsbury scrapbook, Yale, 126 paper that diagramed scene plots for the three acts,^^

The scene plot for act I called for a parlor set with a

large arch, curtains, and a view that looked out on a

backdrop of the ocean,Stage right was an interior

with rattan furniture, while a conservatory full of flow­

ers and plants was stage left. The parlor furniture and

writing desk from the prop list would have been appropri­

ate in that set. The mixup of letters would indicate that

the paper and envelopes, as well as the pen, ink, salver, and visiting cards, also belonged most conveniently in act I,

The act II scene plot confirmed a review, which iden­

tified the middle act as one "in which all the nakedness

of the stage is shown,The rehearsal stage was clearly set for comic effect. The wings did not match, and they were not even directly opposite each other. The incongruity intended was implied in the instructions for the back wall or flats; "If flats, opposite in color, etc," In addi-

1 and^2^^^!ge^%7 in^g^lsbury scrapbook, Yale, See figures ^^Although the plan is somewhat difficult to deter­ mine, the intended set might be a balcony looking out on the ocean with the interior of the house to stage right. The confusion arises in that the phrase "Rattan Furniture for Balcony"is prominent, but the center and stage right portions of the stage are labelled "interior," If a bal­ cony were intended, that would represent an alteration in the setting from the parlor indicated in early reviews of the play,

^^The Buffalo Express. 25 October 1881, NYPL scrap­ book 18505 (Ï967 microfilm), 127

CREENROOM FUN SiUtSBDBY’S radOBAOOimS.

Thim Scene backed by Horizon, Set Watere, Forevronnd, Ship# paaaing in diatanco ; Balustrade X back of 0 Arch ; Rattan FuMmiture Ibr Balcony.

!§ii

KLATH, OFFOBITE IN COLOH. ETC. I IN WINO FOH I Tmioudii. ' I

f i g u r e 1; Scene plots for Acts I and II of G reenroom F u n . 128 tlon to the various flats, crashes were indicated for

the statue and capital, and a flat was positioned for one

of the actresses to walk through. The star trap for Rev,

Duckworth*s entrance was also illustrated. Undoubtedly

the glass crash, the wood crash, and the paper and paste

were for use in the second act.

The act III plan was complicated and interesting.

The scene clearly depicted a greenroom taking up two-thirds

of the stage. One third of the stage on the left was given

over to the interesting representation of a stage from the

actors* point of view. When the "green curtain" went up,

signalling the beginning of the amateur benefit, the audi­

ence could see through a special blue gauze the simulated

stage, footlights, and painted audience of the play-within-

a-play. The gauze, the painted audience drop, and the

green curtain were carried by the troupe, as was a catch

blanket for some business that involved a man jumping

through a ventilator. The theatres were expected to fur­ nish the other items. Such items as the center table, a

large mirror, a screen, and common chairs— all mentioned in

the prop list— were called for in the scene plot. The complicated nature of the act III set up was specified in the detailed directions.

The scene plan also contains puzzling aspects. The third-act greenroom plot has no correspondence to the de­ tailed review descriptions of the ludicrous forest set 129

r rLATB, OPP08ITB l*f OOLOH. BTC.

'*T£MUJumr“ I

TOHMIIKTOn. Q"

n. m r ilnvo odd |

GREENROOM OF THEATRE OPENING ON THE STAGE. Green­ room R oooupyingr two-thirds of the Stage. Stage L. ooonpying one-third. Against the wall on the L. hangs a Drop representing one-third of an Auditorinm filled with people ; in front of that a row of Footlights to match (praotioal). In front of Footlights a Green Curtain to match practical to pull up from L. 4 Side. In front of Curtain stretching from the Wing O. to L. 3 E. a Gauze blue) unpointed, reversed Wings B. and C. The Greenroom is Boxed, one-half Flats with door R. and L. at back in 4. Arch Wing obliqued from opposite L. 3 E. to join Flat in 4. A thiokness of eight inches wide on down Stage edge of Arch. One-half Flats R. with practical Doors 2d and 3d entrance. Imitation Door in 4th entrance. Over each Door R. is painted a Name, as if on Placard, large enough to be read by the audience. Over Door R. in back Flats is Painted the word "Ballet.” In the center of baok Flat a HOLE TW O FEET in diameter, and six feet from Stage, with the words "Patent Ventilator” Painted around it; the baoUngof the Hole should be a funnel-shaped Papier Maohe arrangement, split on horizontal sides, in the middle, to be held together by strips of paper, the lower half to fall when a man jumps through. Oatoh Blanket behind Flat. Words on W all over Hole O.

-We Carry «janre. Audience llrop and Ureen Cnrlnln; nlM Caleb Blanket.

rk, jmo. a. jarraax ah,» Prouac«ma a*nw*>« n—«. Okuaaa FIGURE 2; Scene plots for Acts II and III of Greenroom Fun 130 used ftr the third act in the early performances of the

play. The conclusion Is unavoidable that act III under­

went extensive change between winter and spring 1882, which

shifted the emphasis from the play-wlthln-a-play to the

greenroom behind the play, and which extended the plot

resolution Into the third act. Those alterations had oc­

curred by April 1882 according to a New York review.17

That review described the third act setting as the green­

room of the theatre on the night of performance, and It

stated that the actors and actresses were still angry with

each other. The denouement. It said, witnessed the two

pairs of lovers make up In the third act, and so abundant

was their Joy that they failed to go on for their final

entrances in the play-wlthln-a-play, which was then cal­

led "Eagle of the Crag," Another Indication that the scene

plot was Intended for the later and altered version of the

play Is the presence of the "ballet" door, for a mock-bal-

let was mentioned as a feature of the show from April 1882 18

^^The New York Mirror. 15 April 1882, p. 4. The New York Mirror. 14 January 1882, (p. 4 ) , mentioned the Troubadours appearance that week at the Brooklyn Park Theatre doing The Faun of the Glen, which Indicated the original third act. The "Faun o f t h e Glen" sequence was also noted In The Republican (St. Louis) review In Decem­ ber 1881, In NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm).

^^The New York Mirror. 15 April 1882, p. 4. Also a program from Library Hall (city unidentified) from 24 De­ cember 1883 listed eight cast members and, as part of the act III "Greenroom of the Theatre during Performance" en­ tertainment, a "Church-cholr Ballet ;" program In NYPL scrapbook I8505 (196? microfilm). 131 Greenroom Pun was generally well received. Re­

viewers frequently differentiated between that play per­

formed by the Troubadours and the other similar groups

that had proliferated with other loosely constructed

works. Said one:

The whole affair [Greenroom Pun] might be classed among the trashy mixtures which have been put for­ ward In such abundance during several years, but It Is so good a thing of Its kind that one does not think of It as belonging to any class of en­ tertainment, but accepts It as it is for Its own attractiveness and the Incessant fun of lt,^°

The New York Mirror thought Greenroom Fun superior to

The Brook and stated:

If It were not. It would not have the slightest chance of success, now that the tide of public desire has set against the flimsy frivolities that crowded every other form qf entertainment off the stage up to last fall.

Those two New York reviews made clear that Salsbury was

moving toward a more structured form of farcical comedy

at just the right moment, for the heyday of the more plot­

less vehicles was nearly over.

Whatever comprised the settings of the acts of Green­

room Fun, the Troubadours in the fall of 1881 visited many

of their familiar stops. Including Detroit, Cleveland,

Buffalo, Baltimore, and St, Louis, They played the fash­

ionable Brooklyn Park Theatre In January 1882, and In April

^^The Hâll and Express (New York), 11 April 1882, NYPL scrapbook (196? microfilm),

^Ophe New York Mirror. 15 April 1882, p, 4, 132 the Troubadours opened the summer session at the New York

Booth's Theatre, They continued to run Greenroom Pun for

the 1882-83 season, returning to New York to visit the

Windsor Theatre in September, Haverly's Brooklyn Theatre

in November, and the Standard Theatre for four weeks in

April and May, 1883,

The Troubadours were still playing Greenroom Fun in

September when they were engaged as one of the first

groups of the 1883-84 season at New York's Grand Opera

House, By that time William S, Daboll had replaced Gour­

lay, Daboll was later to become one of the most noted

comedians of the era for his role as Ravennes in Erminie

co-starring with Francis Wilson, About that time, too,

the Troubadours were preparing two new plays. One of them

was My Chum by W, A, Sliver, who was writing uder the name

F, Marsden, Salsbury's quoted comments on the play testi­

fied to the direction in which the troupe was moving::

The piece C My Chuml is something of a departure for us because it has more of the comedy element than the purely farcical, and is therefore in the nature of an experiment, , , , Nellie McHenry has a very good role, half jokes and half sentiment. She does not fancy playing sentiment, and thinks the public will not have her in anything but what she has been doing,

Apparently Nellie McHenry won out, and the experiment, at least on that play, was ended. Although My Chum was copy-

^^Unidentified article (probably fall 1883) in a scrapbook of Edward E. Kidder in the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (KWEZ n,c, 19275)? hereafter cited as NYPL scrapbook 19275. 133 righted in September 1883 and Salsbury was quoted as

saying it was ready to play, no record of its performance

by the Troubadours has survived.

While working on My Chum, however, the Troubadours

were also readying a play entitled Three of a Kind,by Ed­

ward E. Kidder, who was the author of "The Tale of a Tramp,"

one of Salsbury's most famous recitations.^^ Salsbury

commented on that play:

As soon as My Chum gets going we shall put it [Three of a Kindi in rehearsal and produce it. Then we shall have four plays in our repertoire, and managers will not be able to level their old reproach at us,23

As significant as the mention of Three of a Kind was Sals­ bury *s confession that managers had reproached the Trou­ badours for their lack of a more extensive repertory.

Having apparently given up on My Chum, the Trouba­ dours played the Kidder play at Kidder*s own Whitney’s

Opera House in Detroit for Christmas week, beginning 26

December 1883. Three ojTalflnd continued the movement of the troupe toward more structured farce comedy, more char­ acters, and less m u s i c . 24 The story concerned three

^^Kidder was also a playwright; the manager of Whit­ ney’s Opera House, where the Troubadours played frequently in Detroit; and, judging from letter in Salsbury’s scrap­ book at Yale, a close personal friend.

^^Unidentified article (probably fall 1883) in NYPL scrapbook 19275. The four plays Salsbury meant were My Chum. Three of a Kind. The Brook, and Greenroom Fun.

24jhe title page for the copyright, issued 28 Septem­ ber 1883, identified Three of a Kind as "An Original Comedy. 134 sfiilesmen from a dry good store who went to The Happy Home­

stead Farm in the country for a week's outing,The

three characters were named Jack Potts (Salsbury), Bob

Flush (Webster), and Phil Straight (Daboll), and were re­

ferred to In a pun as "the three graces," which reflected

the card-playing motif of the title. At the secluded

farmhouse they met Dolly Dashwood (McHenry), a vivacious

city girl, who had sojourned at the country retreat on a

lark. Bob flirted with her, and she returned encourage­

ments, Jack, meanwhile, began pursuit of Dainty (Josle

Langley), a ward of the farmer with whom the three men

were staying, Prlscella Prism (Thomas E, Jackson) was a

sour old maid who attempted to Induce each of the three

gentlemen In succession Into marrying her. Rebuffed, she

sought revenge by telling the farmer, Ezra Whittle (Fred

Bowman), of an erotic episode she claimed to have witnessed

between Jack and Dainty, Whittle, club In hand, sought

his wayward ward. By mistake he found Dolly Dashwood, and

her screams for help brought the three salesmen scurrying

to her aid In a general hubbub as the first act closed.

Rather than adding complications or further entangling

No reference was made to music, McDowell Archives, F, 1059# 0, S. U. Original In Library of Congress,

25The plot was compiled from reviews In The World (New York), January 1884, and an unidentified paper, both In NYPL scrapbook I8505 (I967 microfilm), and an account In The New York Mirror. 5 February 1884, In NYPL scrapbook 19275: 135 the action, much of the second act merely extended the

situations established in the first act, while the set­

ting was shifted from outside the farmhouse to inside.

Jack and Dainty and Bob and Dolly continued their flirta­

tions, with the spinster Priscella hovering over the action.

A picnic planned by the group allowed opportunity for

specialty numbers as the group rehearsed for each other's

benefit in the manner of The Brook. Also they engaged in

a game of blind man's buff. The employer of the three

men, Salvage Delaine {L. J, Loring) was in love with

Dolly and had decided to visit her at the farm. He ar­

rived in the midst of the game and was cudgeled by the

blind-folded Jack, who mistook him for the farmer he

wished to hit. Delaine in a fury discharged the three

employees.

The third act portrayed the trio in poverty, trying

to evade the landlady and take care of their own needs.

They resorted to cooking their eggs on the only household utensil at hand, a dustpan. In the end, Dolly Dashwood arrived with good news from Bob's rich uncle. He pro­ vided his nephew a large sum of money, and Bob Immediately decided to start a business and take his two friends into partnership. Bob and Jack ended the play by announcing their intentions to wed their chosen girls.

While the plot was certainly more Involved than those of previous Troubadour pieces, opportunity was still 136 provided for specialty acts and individual bits of busi­

ness, Salsbury received frequent praise for a song

about *'A Prodigal Son," using new words for an old tune,

singing "Johnny, Fill Up the Bowl" for "Jolly Phillip

the Bold.McHenry also sang, doing a piece called

"The Sort of Creature You Can Tease.Daboll received

elaborate praise for one of his bits of business;

W. 8. Daboll really did the cleverest thing of the evening, a conversation with an imaginary young lady, whom Straight CDabollJ has conjured up as a companion when he finds that his friends have monopolized all the available girls at the farmhouse.

The spectacle of Thomas E. Jackson doing the old maid,

Priscella Prism, was also a success, and another bit of

business that received praise Involved McHenry and Sals­

bury on a teeter-totter.During the ride Salsbury

pointed out that women were always causing life's ups

and downs. As with the old maid, Daboll talking to an

empty chair, and the teeter-totter, much more of the humor

26i’he New York Mirror. 5 February 1884, in NYPL scrap­ book 19275; unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook I8505 (1967 microfilm). The song is in Appendix Do

^^Sketches of Salsbury's Troubadours in'Three of a Kind." advertising pamphlet ( Philadelphia: Baker and Hayes, Pub., n. d. ) in Salsbury NYPL scrapbook 10329, Also noted in The New York Mirror. 5 February 1884, NYPL scrap­ book 19275.

^^The New York Mirror. 5 February 1884, I'lYPL scrap­ book 19275.

29ibid.; also noted in Sketches of Salsbury's Trouba­ dours . op. clt.. NYPL scrapbook 10329. 137 In Three of a Kind was Integrated Into the plot— that Is,

related to the story or the character— than In earlier

Troubadour plays. Still, as In the second act rehearsal

segment, the old specialty section was retained, at least

In part. Not everyone 11 lied the specialty business or the

play, TWO Cincinnati papers. The Gazette and The Journal,

castigated It,^® The Journal's withering attack said:

So far as the story goes, the,old farmer and his family are less tiresome than their visitors, who Inflict upon them a great variety of preadamlc puns and finally get up a sort of cross between a school exhibition and female minstrel first part In which every member says his piece while all the rest sit In rows around the room and give the audience the cue for applauding. The general effect Is about that of Professor Kennedy and his class in mesmerism, but lt*s definitely less entertaining, , , , I have attended funerals that were more cheerful and Inspiring than that dreary half-hour of 'specialty' business, for the specialties are not new and are badly suited to the persons giving them If they were.

Part of the thrust of that particular review was that

the Troubadours were losing some of the originality

that had made them so entertaining and exciting.

Despite the sentiment of the Cincinnati papers,

Three of a Kind achl«ived enough of a success to play

for three full years and to continue the reputation

of the Troubadours, In the early months of 1884, after

opening the year at McKee Rankin's Third Avenue Theatre

In New York, the troupe stopped at Richmond and Phlla-

30The Cincinnati Journal and The Cincinnati Gazette, undated, In NYPL scrapbook 19275» 138 delphla. February found them back In New York at the Park Theatre before moving on to Syracuse, Rochester, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Albany, For the 1884-85 season they trouped to Canada, playing both Winnipeg and Montreal, In February, March, and April of 1885 they visited The Grand Opera House in Brooklyn, the Lee Avenue Academy of Music in Williamsburgh, and the Peoples Theatre in New York, The following season they returned to the New York area again in February and March for engagements at the West Side Grand Opera House, the Brooklyn Grand Opera House, and the Lee Avenue Academy,

Three of a Kind promoted the reputations of the

Troubadours as performers, and it represented the changes

that had occurred in their vehicles. As for the individ­

uals, Odell spoke glowingly of their performances in

Three of a Kind and editorialized; "Nellie McHenry,

John Webster, Nate Salsbury, and W, S, Daboll were per­

sonalities, not merely names for the cemetery of an i n d e x , " 3 1

One review placed Salsbury in the category of a comic who underplayed his part; of his acting it stated:

The secret of Salsbury's art lies in his skill in drawing a line between the humorous and the broad. Very few men can be as funny with as little appar­ ent effort as Salsbury.-^

31odell. Annals of the New York Stap:e. XIII. 1 5 4 ,

3%nidentified review, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196? microfilm), 139 More Important, perhaps, than the Individual talents,

Salsbury and the Troubadours retained their claim to

clean humor, despite the mild flirtations of the Three

of a Kind story. The same review enthused:

There Is a striking contrast between CSalsbury'si methods and those of Edouln or Goodwin, and one has the Impulse to thank him for the amusement he can offer without being coarse or vulgar, , , . The public owe him a debt of gratitude for his Introduction Into low comedy acting of that quiet, forceful manner which In the higher walks of stage art gives such distinction to the leaders of the French and English theatre.

The Troubadours were still talented performers In the

early 1880's with Three of a Kind, and they emphasized

wholesome humor as they had previously even though they

were playing a somewhat different kind of show In the

Kidder farce. Three of a Kind continued the drift of

the troupe toward more tightly plotted plays. The

basic story line was more Involved, with a full three-

act formula. It employed more characters and fewer

songs and specialty numbers. The play possessed, said

The New York Mirror, "more backbone" than either The

Brook or Greenroom Fun,33

From 1883 on, however, the Troubadours were not the only thing on Salsbury’s mind. He had long been Interes­ ted In the West, and he owned a ranch In Montana, where he spent his summer vacations. In the fall of 1883, Just

33The New York Mirror. 5 February 1884, NYPL scrap­ book 19273; l4o "before the Troubadours began playing Three of a Kind.

Salsbury had signed a contract that made him partner, vice-president, and manager of William F. ("Buffalo Bill")

Cody's Wild West exhibition. Since that outdoor spectacle played only during the summer months in those years, Sals­ bury continued to operate the Troubadours during the regu­ lar theatrical season. The Wild West, however, was to become an immensely popular entertainment, in fact a phe­ nomenon unique in American culture. Eventually its suc­ cess would make Salsbury an enormously wealthy and influ­ ential man, but that success also insured that the days of originality for the Troubadours were ended. They would strike out in no more new directions, but rather only play out the success they had already achieved. CHAPTER 5

CROSSOVER YEARS AND DEMISE OF THE TROUBADOURS: 1883-1887

Who originated the Wild West show was a question dis­

puted virtually from the inception of the form; everyone

wanted to claim credit for the idea. Yet whatever the ori­

gin, Col. William F, (Buffalo Bill) Cody, who had been

starring in Western melodramas about himself, went into

partnership with sharpshooter Dr. W. F. Carver, and at

the Omaha Pair Grounds on 1? May 1883 launched “Hon. W. P.

Cody and Dr. W. F. Carver's Rocky Mountain and Prairie

Exhibition." Cody and Carver did not get along, and the

show, though basically sound, stumbled for want of a sure

organizational hand.

Nate Salsbury always claimed to have first conceived of a show to exhibit horsemanship while he was in Australia.^

Several years later in 1882, Cody and Salsbury met and talked in a restaurant adjoining Haverly's Theatre in

Brooklyn,^ possibly in January when the Troubadours were

^Salsbury's account of the Wild West is compiled from his "Reminiscences," part of which appeared as "The Origin of the Wild West Show," The Colorado Magazine. Vol. XXXII, no. 3 (July 1955)» pp« rand from The~~Hakino: of Buffalo Bill by Richard J. Walsh with Milton Salsbury (Indianapolis': Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1928), passim.

^Walsh and Salsbury, The Making of Buffalo Bill, p. 222.

141 142 engaged with Greenroom Fun at the Brooklyn Park. Ac­

cording to Salsbury, he proposed the Wild West idea to

Cody at that time, urging that they prepare for a Euro­

pean tour. That plan was agreed upon in principle for

the summer of 1883, and Salsbury travelled to Europe in

the summer of 1882 to make arrangements. He returned be­

lieving that more money was necessary than he had at that

time, and he sought a one-year delay.^ He believed Cody

had agreed to that, only to receive notice that Cody had

formed a partnership with Carver for 1883, Salsbury was

asked if he wished to join, but declined because, he

stated, he wanted nothing to do with Carver. At the end

of Cody and Carver's first season in Chicago in mid-Oc­

tober, Salsbury and Cody worked out the details of their

partnership, which was to last nearly twenty years.

Salsbury provided the Wild West exhibition with order,

good management, and theatrical flair and know-how. Al­

though he did not always travel with the show, he was de-

3jn another place Salsbury provided a different ac­ count, stating he made arrangements for 1883 in London, Paris, and Vienna, only to discover upon his return that he could not take part in the venture for reasons he did not explain; The Pittsburgh Leader. 24 December 1883, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (19^7 microfilm).

^Dexter Fellows praised Salsbury's precision in This Way to the Big Show; The Life of Dexter Fellows, by Fel­ lows and Andrew A. Freeman (New York: Halcyon House, 1936), p. 146. In Buffalo Bill and the Wild West by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright (New York: Oxford Press, 1955), 143 praised Salsbury's "steady hand and [his] bracing quick­

ness of decision,Sell and Weybright asserted that one

of Salsburyformulae for managerial success was to go

where the people were, and he often scheduled the Wild

West as close as possible to major expositions or other

large crowd-drawing events,^ For the winter of 1886-8?

Salsbury produced a coup of another sort. Not only did

he manage to arrange for the show to play indoors at Madi­

son Square Garden, but he hired the best backstage theatri­

cal talent of his day, Steele MacKaye designed the spec­

tacular scenery for "The Drama of Civilization," the name

given to the show that year. Matt Morgan exercised his artistry In painting the huge scenes, Nelse Waldron was responsible for stage machinery. Including a two-hundred- horsepower wind machine employed for a prairie storm.7

Salsbury also put his own theatrical knowledge to use. He began the show with little Annie Oakley shooting hand guns with small charges to accustom the audience to the noise with the most Innocent-looking performer. Only p, 166, the authors comment on Salsbury's attention to de­ tail, They assert that when the show played London, Sals­ bury arranged with railroad officials to curb the distrac­ ting hoots of trains, which passed near the grounds,

^Letter from Steele MacKaye to Salsbury, 8 November 1886 In Salsbury Papers, Yale.

% e l l and Weybright, Buffalo Bill and the Wild West, p. 177. 7walsh and Salsbury, The Making of Buffalo Bill, p. 144 after that did the display build to the more spectacular

scenes of the Pony Express Ride, the Deadwood Stage Holdup,

and an Indian attack on a settler’s cabin. Racing, riding,

and shooting exhibitions were interspersed among the major

attractions. Although a few of the particular items on

the bill changed from year to year, the fare of the Wild

West remained virtually Intact until after Salsbury’s

death. It was during the introduction of one of those

new elements. The Custer Massacre, that one account noted

his control of the production; "Salsbury insisted on long

rehearsals until everything was perfect,”® The biographer

of Annie Oakley stated flatly:

There would have been no successful tours with­ out the brains of Nate Salsbury, his shrewdness in arranging the route of towns to be visited, his ability to foresee in which places money would be plentiful , , , his showmanship which was gradually rounding the performance into more and more of the spectacle which it later became, and his managerial capacity which gave to the assem­ blage a coherence which Cody could never have accomplished.°

Salsbury exercised control of virtually every aspect of

the show until 1894, when he was severely injured in a

fall from a horse during a parade. He recuperated and

continued to oversee the operation, but he was frequently

ill during the following eight years. Two of the major

®Sell and Weybright, Buffalo Bill and the Wild West, p, 146,

^Courtney Ryley Cooper, Annie Oakley: Woman at Arms (London: Duffield & Company, n, d,), p, 117, 145 works on the Wild West dated the decline of the show

from Salsbury*8 death in December 1902,^®

During the three and one-half year period from 1883

to 1887, Salsbury performed double duty, organizing the

huge Wild West spectacle and continuing as actor and mana­

ger of the Troubadours, The comic troupe never really

lost its popularity. Certainly Kidder's Three of a Kind

played successfully for three years, even though Marsden's

My Chum apparently never made it to the boards, in 1885

while Three of a Kind was still an enormous hit, the Trou­

badours tried out a new play by Kidder entitled Tom. Dick

and Harry, which they played occasionally thereafter. Sig­

nificantly the title page identified the work as "An Orig­

inal Farcical Comedy in Three Acts,The story involved

a rich old man's passion for plays and a young girl,^^ He

set up a theatre and put the stage-struck maiden in his

theatrical venture, with the provision that she would

marry him. The first act, at the Dime Delmonlco, estab-

^^Rupert Croft-Cooke and W. S. Meadmore, Buffalo Bill (London; Sidgwiok & Jackson Limited, 1952), p. 206; Fel- lows and Freeman, This Way to the Big Show, p, l48,

^^Prom copyright application and title page, 2 Janu­ ary 1685, McDowell Archives, F, 1059, 0. S. Us original in Library of Congress, The title page ignored any musi­ cal aspects the show might have had, and the play was the first Troubadour piece listed as a farce comedy,

. ^Unidentified review from a personal scrapbook of Edward E, Kidder in the Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center (MW2Z n,c, 1 9 2 7 7 ) : here­ after cited as NYPL scrapbook 1 9 2 7 7 o 146 llshed the action* In the cast early in 1886 Thomas E,

Jackson played Gideon Shudder, the eccentric millionaire,

with Fannie Corey as his daughter D a i s y , 13 John Webster

took the part of the "Dick" of the title, Dick Tedaway,

waiter at the Dime Delmonico. Nellie McHenry was his sis­

ter Harriet, the "Harry" of the title, and her assistant,

in love with Dick Tedaway, was played by Josie Langley.

Daboll, still with the company, was a detective. The "Tom"

of the title was Thomas Jefferson Jaggs, a dizzy actor out

of work, done by Salsbury. Grace Raven played Cora Fay,

a ballet girl.

The second act involved a rehearsal of A Midsummer

Night's Dream in which McHenry played Oberon, Josie Langley

was Puck, and Salsbury took the parts of Bottom and Deme­

trius, Act II was based on the notion of a rehearsal for

a play, an idea that had previously carried Greenroom Fun

and had appeared in varied form in other Troubadour plays.

Once again, that situation allowed for the performance of

specialty bits such as a duet between McHenry and Corey,

Many of the specialty pieces, however, were not new, Sals­ bury was praised net only for a song, "Woman, Lovely Woman," but also for his representations of a Frenchman, an Irish­ man, a Negro, and a Yankee giving opinions on the Chinese question, a piece he had used in The Brook in 1880. A

^^Playblll of Tom + Dick + And + Harry. 21 March 1886, (city and theatre not listed) in NYPL scrapbook 8753, 147 burlesque ballet, also praised, had appeared in similar

form in The Brook and Greenroom Fun.^^ As for the songs,

one review said most of the vocal selections were from

Three of a Kind.and another noted that the new ones, ex­

cepting the McHenry-Corey duet, were not very good.^^

Act III featured a mock performance of Richelieu with

Salsbury as his Emptiness the Cardinal Booth de Richelieu and Nellie McHenry as Julie, That provided opportunity for the pair to demonstrate imitations of prominent actors and actresses, yet another piece of business that Salsbury had first done a dozen years before.

Although much of the material used in Tom. Dick and

Harry came from the old trunks of the Troubadours, some clever new business was also mentioned. At one point guests were served from spiggots labelled coffee and tea.

The audience, however, knew that all the liquid came from the same container. One guest asked for a piece of pie, which had to be chiseled out

Even though one reviewer believed that the play was

"quite superior to Three of a Kind or other Nate Salsbury productions," another point of view was expressed in a paper that stated;

l^Unidentifled review in NYPL scrapbook 19277,

^^Undated New York Mirror review and an unidentified review, both in NYPL scrapbook I9277,

^^Incidents were described in an unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 19277. 148 Nate Salsbury is the latest comic actor to make a bid for popularity by descending to the rubbish of the We. Us. and Co. order.17

The Troubadoprs certainly did not feature that particular

work very often, and It apparently underwent great changes

from time to time, for the cast list and names of the char­

acters In the play from other performances were quite dif­

ferent from those of March 1886,^® At one time Salsbury

played Tom Tedaway, brother to McHenry's Harriet, Daboll

switched to Vampire Trapp, the tragedian and founder of

the "I see 'em” school of acting,Webster became Dick

Diamond, a mechanic In love with Harriet, Jackson's Gideon

Shudder was changed to a mysterious villain, A different

millionaire, James Tandem, Esq,, was played by L. J,

Lorlng. An additional part, the millionaire's servant

Peter, was done by Fred Bowman. Fannie Corey and Josie

Langley portrayed the same characters, although the names were different.

The major play for the 1886-8? season, however, was neither Tom,Dick and Harry nor Three of a Kind, Bather It was a work called The Humming Bird by Fred Williams and G.

^^Both reports are from unidentified reviews In NYPL scrapbook 19277,

^®An unidentified review in NYPL scrapbook 19277 listed the cast. It Is unclear whether that cast was earlier or later than the other,

pun on the Lyceum Theatre Acting School. 149 L. Stout, which was listed for copyright as "A Musical

C o m e d y , "20 a reviewer for The New York Mirror identified

the play as a direct descendent of an old German farce,

which had already sired two other treatments; Sydney Rosen-

feld’s one-act comedietta Off the Stage in 18?5, and

another work called P e r s o n a l s . 21 The plot was based on

two personal advertisements placed in The New York Herald

that led to various confusions. The mistakes embroiled

Mr, Augustus Honeymoon (George Backus) and his wife, Fanny

Honeymoon (Leonora Bradley), along with Mrs, Matilda Fulla-

love (Marie Bockel) and Robert Rackett (John Webster),

Salsbury played Joseph Brass, a broken-down barn-storming manager who figured in the action, and McHenry was a char­ acter called Sally Styles, In addition to those six were

three other parts ; Jerry McLaughlin (Frank B. Blair), the

Tramp (Fred Bowman), and Biddy (Emma Gilbert),

It is difficult to determine how extensive was the plot of The Humming Bird, Certainly it maintained the movement of the Troubadours toward larger casts. Also, the

Mirror reviewer suggested an increased reliance on the story line, for after praising the Troubadours, he stated

2®It was copyrighted 20 January 1888 by Williams and Stout, McDowell Archives, P. 1059, 0. S. U. original in Library of Congress, It is not out of reason that Fred Williams was the same Fred Williams whom Salsbury knew as manager at Hooley's and the Boston Museum, and who oc­ casionally wrote comic pieces and performed,

^^The New York Mirror. 12 February 1887, p. 2. 150 that The Humming Bird did not "set off to advantage the

special talents of their chief performers The Implica­

tion of the reviewer was not only that the specialty num­

bers were not particularly well performed, but also that

the specialty numbers were not emphasized In the show.

The review proceeded to praise Salsbury for his song, "As

Long as the World Goes Round," and It noted Marie Bockel*s

yodellng song and her encore, but no other specialties were

mentioned.

Another criticism, which was levelled primarily at

Nellie McHenry, was also significant for the Troubadours

as a group. First, McHenry had aged and grown. The re­

viewer estimated her weight at one hundred seventy-five

pounds and claimed that she had become "kittenish as well

as elephantine," More Importantly, however, her gaiety was forced. It was that point the reviewer returned to

frequently as he criticized "the effort to be frolicsome," which always falls when the effort shows. The criticism could have applied as easily to the troupe as a whole. Al­ though they played three weeks In February I887 at the first- class Star Theatre and then moved to a March engagement at the Brooklyn Theatre, Salsbury*s Troubadours had lost the fire of creativity and originality that had boosted The

Brook. Greenroom Fun, and Three of a Kind to their enor­ mous success.

Immediately following the engagement at the Brooklyn 151 Theatre Nate Salsbury retired from the stage. He was

once quoted as saying, "If I had to choose between the

Troubadours and the Wild West, I would take the Wild West

for mine," and that was the decision he made.^^ The rea­

sons for his selection were various and Involved three

concerns. First, the Wild West was booming. Second, Sals­

bury was anxious to achieve domestic as well as financial

security. Third, he sensed that the Troubadours had pro­

gressed as far as they could In their particular genre.

Salsbury mentioned the third reason himself In an

Interview near the turn of the century. He said that when.

In the mid 1880’s, he surveyed the number and extent of

the Imitations that the Troubadours had spawned, he deter­

mined that It was time to leave that field of entertain­

ment and find something e l s e . ^3 The existence of the Wild

West show provided another opportunity.

The first Influence, that of the Wild West Itself

on Salsbury's decision, must have been strong. Cody and

Salsbury's conglomeration had become enormously popular.

The show had grown In virtually every dimension under Sals­ bury *s management, and, with a trip to Europe on the hori­ zon In 1887, It demanded Salsbury's full-time attention.

Naturally the spectacle held incredible financial pros-

22walsh and Salsbury, The Making of Buffalo Bill, p. 239.

^^The Washington Post. 23 April 1899, Salsbury scrapbook, pects, but beyond that the show was generally and genuinely

regarded as something that mattered. It was thought to

be educational and illustrative of the true— if spectacu­

lar and extraordinary— feeling of the Western frontier.

It was thought important to present that honest view of

the American West, not only to the American East, but to

Europe as well, Nym Crinkle was not unrepresentative when

he spoke of The Humming Bird as a "mere rag on [Salsbury's]

ability" in comparison with the significance of the Wild

West,^^

Finally, Salsbury*s own very personal desire for fin­

ancial and social security should not be ignored. Without

speculating on the possible childhood causes, it is possible

to discern clearly his concern over finances in a letter to his wife just after the birth of his twin daughters;

I am consumed by a desire to place you and my children beyond the reach of poverty, , , , I want to make a home for you, and I want to make a fortune for them, , , , I dread that the mis­ eries of my childhood may come to them. I will rest uneasy in my grave if poverty should come to them,'^^

That his retirement from the stage occurred virtually sim­ ultaneously with his 18 March marriage to Rachel Samuels suggested that he was concerned with domestic and personal as well as financial matters,26

^^Nym Crinkle’s "Feuilleton," The New York Mirror. 12 February 1887, Salsbury Papers, Yale,

25Letter from Nate Salsbury to Rachel Samuels Salsbury, 21 December I891, Salsbury letters, Yale,

26Nate Salsbury married Rachel Samuels on Friday, 18 153 The Wild West flourished under Salsbury*s management

and enjoyed at least a dozen years of success unique In

the annals of American show business. That record of suc­

cess faltered only slightly at the turn of the century as

Salsbury*s health condition grew more serious, and it did

not actually decline until after Salsbury’s death.

The Wild West was not the only spectacle that Salsbury

managed. In 1895 he produced Black America, billed as "A

Gigantic Exposition of Negro Life and Character.”27 With

a cast of 300 blacks, the show was intended to be for Amer­

ican Negro culture what the Wild West was for Western fron­

tier life. Although the project received critical praise

and even editorial commendation, it did not duplicate the

success of the Wild West,

After nearly a decade of sporadic health, Nathan Sals­

bury died 24 December 1902. He had been a successful actor,

playwright, and manager. He had been instrumental in the

founding of a new type of American comedy with the Trouba­

dours, and a new type of theatrical entertàlnment with the

March 1887, according to The New York Mirror. 19 March 188?, p. 6, They had four children. The eldest was Milton, who wrote The Making of Buffalo Bill with Richard Walsh, and whose one son, Nathan, lives in North Carolina. Next was IBbhan, Jr., who died without children. The twin girls were Rachel, the older, who became Rachel Salsbury Schloss, and Rebecca, who became Rebecca Salsbury Strand, then Rebecca Salsbury James. Besides Milton's son Nathan, Nate Salsbury had one other grandchild, William, son of Rachel Schloss. 27posters in McDowell Archives, P. 1436* from the Erie Litho. Co., Rosskam Collection of Theatre Posters. 154

Wild West, Through those ventures he had gained the re­

spect of his associates, who had elected him to member­

ship in the Lamb's Club and the American Dramatists

Club and named him as president of the Long Branch (New

Jersey) Property Holders» Association,

Salsbury»s Troubadours without Nate Salsbury did not

founder. Although they used the Salsbury name only for

a short time, Webster and McHenry continued the troupe,

playing such Troubadour pieces at The Humming Bird and

Three of a Kind in 1887-88 and 1888-89,28 After that

Webster and McHenry put on their own shows. Chain Light­

ning and the more successful A Night at the Circus. and

dropped the use of the "Salsbury»s Troubadours" billing.

The plays, however, continued the direction of the old

Troubadour troupe toward more definite plots of a farce-

comedy nature, more characters, and less emphasis on

specialties and songs. The McHenry troupe recorded per­

formances of A Night at the Circus in New York as late as November 1894, a full seven years after Salsbury»s retirement and over nineteen yeras after Salsbury, Webster, and McHenry had founded a new branch of American entertain­ ment.

28rhey were listed as Salsbury»s Troubadours in ad­ vertising in The New York Herald for their appearances at the Bijou Opera House in September and October 188? and at and at the Windsor Theatre in April 1888. Also, Gallegly, Footlights on the Border, listed "Salisbury's çsic] Trouba- dours" playing at the Tremont Opera House in Galveston in November 1888 with The Humming Bird and Three of a Kind, CONCLUSION

This has been the study of one man and one group In

the context of late nineteenth-century American popular

theatre. It has detailed the development and rise of an

actor, playwright, and manager in the post-Civil War years.

It has provided Insights into the formation and operation

of a popular comic troupe from 1875 to IBS?, and into the

talents and achievements of the performers who made up that

group.

More importantly, however, the study has focussed

on a troupe particularly significant to the development

of American farce and musical comedy. The study has traced

the small group of players from its foundation in imitation

of the English Yokes Family, After the Troubadours' first

play. Patchwork, in direct imitation of the Yokes' The

Belles of the Kitchen, they developed The Brook. That work incorporated various influences from American minstrel shows, European light operas, and the traditional forms of burlesque and pantomime. Those strains were synthesized by the Troubadours along with own particular talents into the first American work of the farce-comedy genre. The

Brook proved extraordinarily Influential for its attempted integration of musical, variety, and plot elements, for its sense of crazy humor played with naturalness, and for

155 156

Its Immense popularity. That popularity spurred a host

of imitations that developed into a short-lived craze,

which lasted from 1879 to approximately I885.

The early Troubadour successes. Patchwork and The

Brook, were characterized by a small cast, usually five

members, who, through costume changes built into the situ­

ations of the plays, managed to delineate several charac­

ters. The music and the songs were generally adapted from

popular hits of the day. The plays consisted of comic

business and specialty or variety-like acts of song, dance,

and recitation placed together in a mere shadow of a plot.

The very components of the works allowed for changes from

performance to performance. The humor in the plays was

chaste and clean, and that was a point emphasized by the

troupe. The plays were also imbued with a spirit of crazy

zaniness performed in an apparently natural way.

The Troubadours with The Brook introduced the American musical to the British Isles, as well as to Australia and

New Zealand. In England the form of The Brook helped bridge the gap between the music hall and the legitimate stage, and it became a part of the trend at that time toward popular light musical entertainment, a type of entertainment that has endured to the present day. The English theatre of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries enjoyed numerous similar shows and Intimate reviews, which relied on only 157 a few performers with limited settings. Chariot's Revue,

which Noel Coward helped to write and In which Beatrice

Lillie starred, and the other "Chariot" shows of the 1920's

exhibited many devices similar to those In the Troubadours'

works, although operating with less of a plot situation.

Furthermore, the Troubadours provided their overseas

audiences with material full of American dialect and a

folksy quality, and they presented them with a taste of

the hearty, zesty humor that has given American comedy

Its traditional New World flavor.

After more than fifteen-hundred performances of

The Brook, the Troubadours moved toward a more struc­

tured form of farce comedy. In Greenroom Fun by Bron­

son Howard and Three of a Kind and Tom. Dick and Harry

by Edward E. Kidder, the troupe proceeded toward plots

with more distinctly defined conflicts, more Individua­

lized characters, more specific lines and actions, and

fewer musical, specialty, and variety numbers. The

specialty numbers, which displayed the Individual talents

of the group, were retained In all of the shows, however,

to some extent. With their final play. The Humming Bird by Fred Williams and G. L. Stout, the Troubadours also

increased the size of the troupe. In conjunction with an examination of the changes In the farce comedy played by the Troubadours, this study has explored In detail the elements that comprised several of the plays. Including 158

Patchwork. The Brook. Greenroom Fun, and Three of a Kind,

as well as two early plays by Salsbury himself. On the

Trail; or. Money and Misery, and the musical comedy The

Sanguinary Chasm.

After Salsbury retired In 1687, McHenry and Webster

kept a comedlc troupe In operation for several years,

but the faddish craze for the imaginative little Trouba­

dour shows was over. Of course the basic elements of a

loosely constructed show featuring variety acts tied with

a small thread of a plot has remained. Many of the devices

appeared In such works as John Murray Anderson's Green­

wich Village Follies In the 1920's, his Almanac in 1953-

5 4 , and the Leonard Slllman "New Faces" shows, staged by

Anderson, although Anderson's shows were based more on a

format than a plot situation. More importantly, however,

the particular brand of farce comedy popularized by the

Troubadours exerted enormous influence in several directions.

In the musical field, comic opera, which developed into a craze simultaneously with farce comedy following the Pina­ fore premiere in 1878-79, carried the field in the I860's.

But it was influenced by the hearty American style of playing that Salsbury's Troubadours exhibited. The aspect of the Troubadour shows that Involved specialty acts was taken over by the variety shows, which became the healthy vaudeville circuit of the turn of the century. Many of the variety talents who had been drafted into the service

of the various and numerous musical farce troupes In the 159 1880's returned to variety shows when the rage for the

little comic shows dissipated.

Although the Troubadours and similar groups exerted

some influence on variety and musical comedy, their

greatest influence lay in the area of American farce

comedy. Said one turn-of-the-century commentator:

More to Nellie McHenry and Kate Salsbury than to their models the Yokes Family did Charles Hoyt owe his ideas for A Bunch of Keys and the best of his Cplaysl.t

Cecil Smith also viewed Hoyt and John J. McNally as

extensions of the Troubadour farce comedy format.^

Hoyt, in turn, was called the forerunner of the twenti­

eth-century farceurs, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart,3

completing a virtual straight-line connection from the

Troubadours to the most popular American farce writers

of some fifty years later.

While this study has examined one major popular

comic troupe in the context of American theatre in the

nineteenth century, it has certainly not solved the prob­

lem of the paucity of research in that area. Rather, it has demonstrated the need for even more work in farce comedy and other forms of comedy, in popular theatre, and

^Amy Leslie, "Flays and Players" clipping, 13 April 1900, NYPL scrapbook 18505 (196?).

2smith, Musical Comedy in America, pp. 65-68.

3Meserve, An Outline History of American Drama, p. I90. 160

in other phases of the late nineteenth-century American

theatre. Other farce comedy groups would provide Inter­

esting study, especially Mestayer’s "Tourists," Goodwin's

"Frollques," and Edouln's "Sparks," The connections In

the farce comedy form among the Troubadours, Karrlgan and

Hart, and other farce comedy troupes, and between them and

Hoyt and McNally and a continuing American farce tradition

should be explored. Not only In comedy, but In other

fields as well— for example, western drama--the popular

theatre possesses fertile territory and much material.

Finally, while It seems true that many American theatre­

goers after the Civil War turned to entertainment for Its

own sake, there has been little study of that sociological

phenomenon, which Is of great significance to the history of the American theatre. APPENDIX A

The poems in this section were performed by Nate

Salsbuiy as dramatic readings and recitations while he

was a yoiing actor, specifically at Mt, Mansfield Hotel,

Stowe, Vermont, Friday, 2 Aiigust 1872.^

JIM BLÜDSO. OF THE PHAIRIE BELLE

Wall, noI I can't tell whar he lives. Because he don't live, you see. Leastways, he's got out of the habit Of living like you and me, Whar have you been for the last three years That you haven't heard folks tell How Jimmy Bludso passed In his checks The night of the Prairie Belle?

He weren't no saint— them engineers Is all pretty much alike— One wife in Natchez-under-the-Hlll And another out here. In Pike, A keerless man In his talk was Jim, And an awkward man In a row— But he never flunked, and he never lied, I reckon he never knowed how.

And this was all the religion he had— To treat his engine well; Never be passed on the river; To mind the Pilot's bell; And If ever the Prairie Belle took fire— A thousand times he swore. He'd hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last soul got a shore.

^Both poems listed on the Mt, Mansfield bill In Salsbury scrapbook, Yale, Both are Included In the NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm), Salsbury's handwriting attributed "Jim Bludso" to The Sporting Times. January 1871,

161 All boats has their day on the Mississip, And her day came at last— The Movastar was a better boat. But the Belle she wouldn't be passed. And so come bearin' along that night— The oldest craft on the line. With a nigger squat on her safety valve And her furnaces crammed, rosin and pine.

The fire broke out as she d a r e d the bar. And burnt a hole in the night. And quick as a flash she turned, and made For that willer-bank on the right. There was running and cursing, but Jim yelled out. Over all the infernal roar, "I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot's ashore."

Through the hot, black breath of the burning boat Jim Bludso's voice was heard. And they all had trusted in his cussedness. And knowed he would keep his word. And, sure's you're born, they all got off Afore the smokestack fell— And Bludso's ghost went up alone In the smoke of the Prairie Belle.

He weren't no saint— but at judgment I run my chance with Jim, 'Longside of some pious gentleman That wouldn't shook hands with him. He seen his duty, a dead sure thing— A n d went for it thar and then; And Christ ain't agoin' to be too hard On a man that died for men. — Col. John Hay 163 LITTLE BREECHES

A Pike County View of Spécial Providence

I don't go much on religion, I never ain't had no show; But I've got a mlddlln' tight grip, sir. On the handful o' things I know, I don't pan out on the prophets And free-will, and that sort of thing— But I b'lleve In God and the angels. Ever sence one night last spring,

I come Into town with some turnips. And my little Gabe come along— No four-year-old In the county Could beat him for pretty and strong. Peart and chipper and sassy. Always ready to swear and fight— And I'd learnt him to chaw terbacker. Jest to keep his milk-teeth white.

The snow come down like a blanket. As I passed by Taggart's store; I went In for a jug of molasses. And left the team at the door. They scared at something and started— I heard one little squall, And hell-to-spllt over the prairie Went team, Llttle-Breeches and all,

Hell-to-spllt over the prairieI I was almost froze with skeer; But we rousted up some torches. And sarched for 'em far and near. At last we struck bosses and wagon. Snowed under a soft white mound, Upsot, dead beat— but of little Gabe No hide nor hair was found.

And here all hope soured on me. Of my fellow-crltters ' aid— I Jest flopped down on my marrow-bones. Crotch-deep In the snow, and prayed. By this, the torches was played out. And me and Isrul Parr Went off for some wood to a sheep-fold That he said was somewhere thar. 164

We found It at last, and a little shed Where they shut up the lambs at night. We looked in, and seen them huddled thar. So warm and sleepy and white. And THAR sot Little-Breeches, and chirped As peart as ever you see: "I want a chaw of terbacker. And that's what's the matter of me,”

How did he git thar? Angels, He could never have walked in that storm. They jest scooped down and toted him To whar it was safe and warm. And I think that saving a little child. And bringing him to his own. Is a derned sight better business Than loafing around The Throne, — Col, John Hay APPENDIX B

This section is comprised of the five songs that

have been inserted into the manuscript of The Sanguinary

Chasm. Although some have been inserted in the wrong

places in the manuscript, all are noted correctly in the

text. The text also signifies spots for several other

songs, which may or may not have ever been completed.

All of the songs, like the manuscript itself, are in

Salsbury•s handwrit ing.

THE SARGEANT AND NICK^

sergeant

Wretched stripling don*t you know That I whom you've insulted so Am one who conquers every foe I am a warrior bold—

Nick He is a warrior bold. A first rate thing to say—

Sargeant Tremble boy— with rage I'm going wild—

Both With rage he's going wild—

Sargeant For I fought slash-dash— I fought crash-smash I fought and I slew

^The song is inserted at page 10 of the manuscript but should be at pages 1-2, It is sung by Sargeant Alamode and Nick Ralston, All songs are from The Sanguinary Chasm MS.* by Nathan Salsbury, Theatre Collection, New York Pub­ lic Library at Lincoln Center,

165 166 Both With a crack-smack-whack He (I) laid them on their backs And they never more enjoyed Their cold hard tack.

SONG FOR NICK RALSTON^

By the blood of my ancestors Coursing madly through my veins She shall see that I'm no woodchuck Seeking shelter when It rains— Some men always find a refuge When the storms of life beat hard— But I'll show this Yankee braggart I can fight like Beauregard-

Fierce encounters are the level When great soldiers win their fame So with shot gun or with rifle I will bag this Yankee game— I will fill him full of blrdshot If I catch him In our yard And he'll think he's struck a snaglet In the home of Beauregard,

He will think he's got the Ku Kluz When his lamp of life grows dim And he finds my papa's lot'rey3 Has no prize In store for him. So all Yankees may take warning They will find their fate Ill-starred When they seek to make a winning In the land of Beauregard.

Nick You're mighty demur miss. You cannot endure miss

^ h l s song. Inserted Into the manuscript at page 16, should be at page 11.

^The last word In the line Is nearly Indecipherable.

^The 8 at page 16. 167 But of this I'm sure miss This Yankee you love— You may talk as you please miss One reads you with ease miss And everyone sees miss That this Yankee you love

Kate And what If I do sir It can't affecEt you sir You're not my master sir. I'm not your slave— This Yankee can come sir. Make my house his home sir And If you don't like It Your breath Ï. you can save

CHORUS

Nick (Aside) Oh, with rage my heart is burning I will have this Yankee's life

Kate (Aside) Oh with joy the table's turning I'm certain now to be his wife—

Repeat.

LOVE SONG5

Marie Lovely youthI If I surrender Pledge one first a solemn vow Swear your heart shall be as tender Ever fond and fixed as now—

Rufus Ever, oh ever—

Kate Lovely youthI As you're a Yankee— And in Vermont spent your teens swear that every Sunday morning You'll give Marie baked Boston beans

5song correctly Inserted into manuscript at page 85, 168 Marie and Kate Swear and make us easy pray—

Rufus I swear— In truth I swear

Marie and Kate Joy shall now possess our hearts She'll (I'll) have baked beans and Boston tarts Such patriotic food I'm sure Will soon perfect a certain cure*

FINALE®

Marie One vow I've broken— Yet I'll take Another If I may And that I'll keep for your dear sake Love, Honor, and Obey

Chorus The bells then ring, the stockings fling This hour is Hymen's sport The chasm crossed, all anger lost We've nothing to report/

Kate The vow you broke was very rash Take another one I pray That you'll be true, to him that you Love, Honor, and Obey,

Chorus

Nick Her vow to him I think she'll keep. Will you make one today Come weal or vent— that you will me Love, Honor, and Obey?

^Song is correctly inserted on the last page of the play.

^That line of the song parodies Alamode's last line of the play, which cues the song, Alamode began his usual 'harangue about "fighting for his adopted country," but was told to hold his tongue, and he stopped abruptly with "I've nothing further to report," 169 Chorus

Sargeant I made no vow, tout now I will. You'll laugh to hear me say. My country is the wife that I'll Love, Honor, and Otoey, APPENDIX C

The poems In this section were delivered by Nate

Salsbury as dramatic recitations as part of the produc­

tion of The Brook.

TEE TALE OF A TRAMP^

Lemme sit down a minute— a stone's got Into my shoe. Don't you commence your cussln'— I ain't done nothing to you! Yes, I'm a tramp. What of It? Folks says we ain't no good; But tramps has to live, I reckon, though people don't think we should. Once I was strong an' hansome, plenty of cash and clothes— That was afore I tippled and gin got Into my nose. Down In the Lehigh Valley me and my people grew; And I was a blacksmith, cap'en, yes, an' a good one, tool Me and my wife an' Nellie— Nellie was just sixteen; She was the pootlest creeter the valley ever seen. Beaux? Why she had a dozen— had 'em from near and fur; But they was mostly farmers— none of 'em suited her. There was a city stranger, handsome an' young an^ tall— Damn him! I wish I had him strangled agin this wallI He was the man for Nellie— she didn't know no 111; Mother, she tried to stop It, but you know a young gal's will. Well It's the same old story— common enough, you'll say; He was a soft-tongued devil an' he got her to run away. More than a month or after we heard from the poor young thing; He'd gone away an' left her— without any wedding ring. Back to her home we brought her; back to her mother's side; Pilled with a raging fever, she fell at my feet and died. Frantic with shame an' trouble, her mother began to sink;

^The performance of the recitations In The Brook was cited In The Post and Tribune (Detroit), 19 September 1879; The Enquirer (Cincinnati). 30 September 1879; and The Irish Times (Dublin). 27 July 1880 In NYPL scrapbook 1Ü505 (1967 microfilm),

170 171 Dead In less than a fortnight— that *s when I took to drink. Gimme one glass now. Gunnel, and then 1*11 be on my way; 1*11 tramp till I find that scoundrel if it takes till the Judgment Day, — Edward E. Kidder2

A WAR INCIDENT3

"I was with Grant**— the stranger said: Said the farmer: "Say no more. But rest thee here at my cottage porch. For thy feet are weary and sore,"

"I was with Grant"— the stranger said: Said the farmer: "Nay, no more— I prithee sit at my frugal board. And eat of my humble store,

"How fares my boy— my soldier boy. Of the old Ninth Army Corps? I warrent he bore him gallantly In the smoke and the battle*s roar,"

"I know him not," said the aged man, "And, as I remarked before, I was with Grant"— "Nay, nay, I know," Said the farmer, "Say no more:

"He fell in battle— I see, alas I Thou did*St smooth these tidings o*er— Nay; speak the truth, whatever it be. Though it rend my bosom*s core.

"How fell he; with his face to the foe. Upholding the flag he bore? 01 say not that my boy disgraced The uniform that he wore I"

"I can not tell," said the aged man, "And should have remarked before. That I was with Grant— in Illinois— Some three years before the war,"

Then the farmer spake him never a word. But beat him with his fist full sore. That aged man who had worked for Grant (Some three years) ^efg^e th^ war.

^Undated New York Clipper clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm),

3unidentlfied clipping in NYPL scrapbook 18504 (1967 microfilm). The last line is partially lost. APPENDIX D

This section contains the song "The Prodigal Son,"

which was sang by Nate Salsbury to the tune of "Jolly

Phillip the Bold" In the play Three of a Klnd,^

THE PRODIGAL SON

There was an old man the story runs, there was, there was. The father of two goodly sons, there was, there was He owned a ranch, so said the psalm. Somewhere near the elder Jerusalem The vicinity doesn't matter a damn (Crash!) (Drum and Fife, "Girl I Left Behind Me,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl.

Now one of the sons was a good young man, he was, he was. Got up on the Moody and Sankey plan, he was, he was. He attended church with a very long face He talked religion and dying grace He wanted a home In the heavenly place (First violin. "I Want to be an Angel.") Johnny Fill up the Bowl.

The other young man was a son-of-a-gun, he was, he was. He went with a gang of which he was one, he was, he was He wore a loud necktie, a high-standing collar Played Keno and Faro, got drunk and did holler In fact was a youth of a kind tral-la-la (Cornet. "Champagne Charlie.") Johnny Fill up the Bowl

Isong from Salsbury scrapbook, Yale University. Rebecca Salsbury James above the typed version of the song attributed It to her father, who, she wrote, "recited this piece when a young actor." It Is certainly the song performed In Three of a Kind. No record exists of Its being done before that. Some of the spellings from the typed copy have been altered. The notes In parentheses In each verse listing an Instrument and a song suggest that that particular Instru­ ment would play a few bars of that particular song at that point In the production number.

172 173 Now the old man's purse was long and fat, it was, it was And the Prodigal Son got his eye on that, he did, he did And the good young man with the heavenly smile Also had his lights on the old man's pile For he hoped, to come in for his share after a while (Flute. "Grandfather's Clock,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl,

On the square divide the old man did his best, he did, he did And Prod took his share and he lit out west, he did, he did Got drunk with the boys, had a high old time. Awoke next morning with nary a dime Sick and from home in a foreign clime (Picalo, "Home, Sweet Home,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl

The good young man was a quieter bent, Che was, he was] Stayed home and loaned money at ten percent, che did he did] If he did any drinking it was all on the sly And he kept himself straight in the old man's eye For he wanted salvation when he should die (Fife and Drum, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl,

The telegraph man in the office sat, he did, he did When in walked a tramp without any hat, there did, there did Said he, "Just wire along the track To the old folks at home that Prod's coming back And order a calf for one on the rack," (Trombone, "I'm Coming, I'm Coming,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl,

And so he turned up with his lawyer one day, he did, he did Sued his dad and his brother for his time while away, he did, he did Got judgment and kicked the old folks out That's the kind of a prodigal I sing about That's the kind of a prod for whom I shout (Full band, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,") Johnny Fill up the Bowl, BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Chapman, John and Sherwood, Garrison P., eds. The Best Plays of 1894-1899. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1955. Clapp, Henry Austin. Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902 .

Clinton-Baddeley, V. C. All Right on the Night. London: Putnam, 1954.

The Burlesque Tradition in the English Theatre After 1660 . London: Metheun & Co., Ltd., 1952.

Cody, Col. William F. The Adventures of Buffalo Bill. New York: Harper & 5rothers~Bublishers,' 1904.

, An Autobiography of Buffalo Bill. New York; Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1920.

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— ---. Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill. Chicago: Stanton and VanVliet Go. Publishers, 1917 .

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Dulles, Poster Rhea. America Learns to Play: A History of Popular Recreation. 1007-1940. New York: peter Smith, 1952 .

Engel, Lehman. The American Musical Theatre: A Considera­ tion. A CBS Legacy Collection Book. New York; The " Macmillan Company, 1967.

174 175 Si'îen, David. The Complete Book of the American Musical Theatre. New York: Henry Holt and Company, I958.

— — -, The Story of America*s Musical Theatre. Phila­ delphia! Chilton Company, I96I.

Fellows, Dexter W. and Freeman, Andrew A. This Way to the Bia: Show; The Life of Dexter Fellows. New York: Halcyon House, 1936 . Foote, Stella Adelyne. Letters from "Buffalo Bill." Billings, Mont.; Foote Publishing Co., 195^.

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Gilbert, Douglas. American Vaudeville: Its Life and Times. Wlttlesey House. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1940. Goodwin, Nat.C. with Badger, Richard G. Nat Goodwin's Book. Boston: The Gorham Press, 19l4,

Green, Stanley. The World of Musical Comedy. South Bruns­ wick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, I968.

Hnlllne, Allan G , , ed. The Banker's Daughter and Other Plays by Bronson Howard. America's Lost Plays, Vol. X. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1941. Hewitt, Bernard, Theatre U. 5. A. I665 -I957. New York; McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959.

Hornblow, Arthur. A History of the Theatre in America from Its Be.'yjn'nin.^s to the Present Time. Vol. ÏT Philadelphia: J. " b '. Llppih'cott Company, 1919.

Hughes, Glenn. A History of the American Theatre. 1700- 1950 , New York: Samuel French, 1951.

Hunt, Douglas L. The Life and Work of Charles Hoyt. Bul­ letin of Birmingham-Southern College, Vol. XXXIX, no. 1, January 1946.

In Kemoriam: Bronson Howard, 1842-1906. Addresses delivered "at the Memorial Meeting, Sunday October 18, I908, at the Lyceum Theatre, New York. New York, I9I0 ,

Jennings, John J. Theatrical and Circus Life. St. Louis : M. S. Barnett,' 1882. 176 Kahn, B. J., Jr. The Merry Partners; The At^e and Stage of HarrIran and Hark. New York: Random House, 1955.

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Henneke, Ben Graf, "The Playgoer In America (1752-1952)," Unpublished Ph,D, dissertation. University of Illinois, 1956.

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COLLECTION MATERIALS

Theatre Collection of the New York Public Library at Lin­ coln Center,

1, show and clippings files,

2, a personal scrapbook of Nate Salsbury detailing his early career, and Including a scrapbook of his wife, Rachel Samuels' early career, MUEZ n, c, 18504, Given the library by Salsbury's daughter, Rebecca Salsbury James, and now on microfilm (19o?) as well,

3, a personal scrapbook of Rachel Samuels with clippings from the years she spent with Salsbury's Troubadours and other groups, MUEZ n, c, I8505, Given the li­ brary by Salsbury's daughter, Rebecca Salsbury James, and now on microfilm (I967) as well,

4, a personal scrapbook of Nate Salsbury containing reviews and other Information pertaining to the Troubadours, Given to The Players Club In 1946 and now at the New York Public Library, MUEZ n. c, 8752.

5« a personal scrapbook of Rachel Samuels, containing reviews and other Information regarding her career. Given to The Players Club In 1946 and now at the New York Public Library, MUEZ n, c, 8753.

6, A manuscript of The Sanguinary Chasm, a playscrlpt written by Nate Salsbury, In his hand; 9-NCOP,

7, Two scrapbooks of Edward E, Kidder, close personal friend of Nate Salsbury and author of at least two plays performed by the Troubadours, containing reviews of those plays; MUEZ n, c, 19275 and MUEZ n. c. 19277.

8, a personal scrapbook of Nate Salsbury containing numerous playbills and programs from his early career; mJEZ n. c, 10329 American Literature Collection, Belneoke Bare Book and Manu­ script Library, Yale University,

1, personal'letters to and from Nate Salsbury, or about him, ranging from I863 Into the twentieth century; Nate Salsbury Papers,

2, a personal scrapbook of Nate Salsbury Including letters from Influential people, mementoes, contracts, and other special Items relating to Salsbury or the Trou­ badours ,

3, the manuscript of Nate Salsbury»s "Reminiscences," written by him, many of which relate to the Trouba­ dours ,

4, the manuscript of "On the Trail; or. Money and Misery," written by Salsbury In I87I and performed by him In the early 18?0's.

Theatre Collection, Harvard University,

1, letters from Nate Salsbury to R, M. Field, manager of the Boston Museum, concerning Salsbury's employ­ ment there; Boston Museum Collection,

Private Collection of Isabella Sayers, Ostrander, Ohio,

1, A Program, Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World! Chicago, 1893.