Arthur Hobson Quinn

“ It is the first attempt to include in one collection a series of plays which illustrate the development of our native drama from its beginning to the present day. No other branch of our native literature has been so inaccessible. The work of the elder playwrights is preserved largely in rare editions or in manuscript and that of the newer generation has frequently remained unpublished through considerations of a nature which fortunately obtain less and less, as the real significance of our drama is becoming better appreciated. ”

“ This play, the first written by an American to be produced by a professional company, is a romantic tragedy, laid in Parthia about 200 B.C., and is written in blank verse of a flexible and dignified character. It is no unworthy beginning for American dramatic poetry, but it led at the time to no school of writing. It is interesting, however, to note that at a later period the most significant literary drama in this country was produced in the field of tragedy to which The Prince of Parthia belongs. ”

“ Here, too, we turn back to our first comedy, The Contrast, for the beginning of the type, but while we note in 1841 the production of a “cutting satire upon fashionable life” [28] in the comedy of Saratoga Springs, which was very successful, it was not until the production of Fashion by Anna Ogden Mowatt on 24 Mawatt on 24 March, 1845, at the Park Theatre in New York that we can chronicle a social satire of any distinction. ”

“ With the coming of peace, the feeling against plays began to lessen. Lewis Hallam, the younger, returned to Philadelphia in 1784, and when he was coldly received there took to New York the reorganized American Company that was to be so closely associated with the history of the drama in that city. From the point of view of the production of dramatic writing, however, nothing is worthy of record until 1787. ”

“ In the cases of the modern plays the information has been checked in nearly every ease by the playwrights themselves. In each of the introductions a selected bibliography has been given. It has seemed unnecessary to cumber these with long lists of magazine articles of a fugitive character but it is hoped that the references given will be found helpful. A general bibliography of books relating to the American Drama has been placed at the end of the volume. ”

“ On 9 September, William Dunlap’s Yankee Chronology was played in New York, while on 28 September, the opening night, a play was on the stage in both Boston and Philadelphia. Clapp tells us [22] that “in the early days of the theatre, every public event of sufficient importance was immediately dramatized, and during the progress of the war, the spirit was kept up by the frequent production of pieces in honour of our naval victories.” ”

“ Types of Drama. It is not to be supposed that dramatic talent was limited to Philadelphia. Epes Sargent and Julia Ward Howe in Boston, Nathaniel Parker Willis of Boston and New York, Charlotte Barnes Conner and Anna Ogden Mowatt of New York, and George H. Miles of Baltimore, to mention only a few, wrote plays that were definite contributions to literature as well as practically adapted for the stage. ”

“ The very prominence of New York and its proximity to Europe, however much they added to its theatrical prestige, hindered the development of the drama. The succession of English actors who were brought over as “stars” resulted in little encouragement to native writers, while in Philadelphia, under the encouragement of Edwin Forrest and others, a group of dramatists arose whose work became widely known both at home and abroad. For the year 1829–30 Durang lists nine plays by American writers, among them Pocahontas by George Washington Custis and John Kerr’s first draft of Rip Van Winkle. ”

“ In each introduction is given also the source of the text. Where it was possible to obtain acting versions of the older texts, the differences between these and the reading versions have been indicated. In general where emendations have been made, they have been included in square brackets. ”

“ Romantic Comedy. In romantic comedy, there was very little that could compare with the achievement in romantic tragedy. The Deformed, played in 1830, by Richard Penn Smith, has some real merit, though it owes much to Dekker. Tortesa, The Usurer, by N. P. Willis, was played by J. W. Wallack in 1839 in New York and later in England, where Lester Wallack played Angelo to his father’s Tortesa. It is an excelent play, and the last act, in which the usurer rises to the dignity of self-sacrifice, is especially appealing. ”

“ Mrs. Conner alone tasks Pocahontas to England, where she dies. Of the colonial dramas, Barker’s Superstition (1824) and R. P. Smith’s William Penn (1829) seem the most significant.
As was natural, the Revolution was the most appealing theme. Practically every great event from the Boston Tea Party to the Battle of Yorktown was dramatized. The treason of Arnold and Andrès capture was a favourite theme and it is to our credit that Andrè usually is a heroic figure. [20] Marion and Franklin were also favourites, but everyone else runs a bad second to Washington so far as the stage is concerned. ”

“ Winter William, Brief Chronicles. Parts 1, 2, 3. Dunlap Society Publications, Series 1, Vols. 7, 8, 10. New York, 1889.
Wood, W. B., Personal Recollections of the Stage. . . . During a Period of Forty Years, Philadelphia, 1855.
Note to Revised Edition.
Since the publication of the first edition, the most important works treating the American Drama and Stage have been as follows:
Baker, Louis C., The German Drama in English on the New York Stage to 1830, Philadelphia, 1917. (University of Pennsylvania Thesis.) ”

“ In 1829 Forrest produced the Indian play of Metamora by John Augustus Stone, an actor who lived during his creative period in Philadelphia. The play was a bit bombastic and the speeches of Metamora show a curious mixture of Indian and Ossian, but they are at times very effective and some of the phrases of this play became bywords in the mouths of the people.
§ 11. The Philadelphia Group: R. M. Bird, R. P. Smith, Conrad, Boker. Forrest also inspired Robert Montgomery Bird of Philadelphia to write The Gladiator in 1831. ”

“ Plays. In our first comedy, The Contrast, Tyler developed the stage Yankee in Jonathan, and though J. Robinson’s Yorker’s Stratagem (1792) and Barker’s Tears and Smiles (1807) contain Yankee characters, it was not till The Forest Rose, by Samuel Woodworth, was placed on the stage in 1825 that a Yankee character was developed which permanently held the boards. The part of Jonathan Plowboy was played afterward by Henry Placide, G.H. Hill, Joshua Silsbee, and others. In the preface [24] to the play it is stated that Silsbee played Jonathan for over one hundred consecutive nights in London. ”

“ Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States. 1870-1915. [Issued by the Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. This is most helpful and will be continued.]
Faxson, Frederick W., Editor, The Bulletin of Bibliography and Dramatic Index. Published quarterly. Boston. ”

“ J. H. Payne. Payne, unlike Barker, represents foreign influence. From 1806 when his Julia, or The Wanderer, was acted in New York, his dramatic work consisted largely of adaptation from English, French, and German sources. His complete bibliography [11] record sixty-four plays, of which nineteen were published. His most significant work was done in the field of tragedy, such as his Brutus, first played in London in 1818, or in comedy like Charles II, first performed in London in 1824, while the bulk of his work is composed of melodrama or farce. ”

“ Clark, Barrett H., The British and American Drama of To-day. New. York, 1915.
Cooke, John Esten, The Virginia Comedians or Old Days in the Old Dominion, New York, 1854. [A novel, in which an interesting description of Hallam's Company is given.]
Crawford, M. C., The Romance of the American Theatre. Boston, 1913.
Daly, C. P., First Theater in America. Dunlap Society Publications, Ser. 2, Vol. 1. New York, 1896.
Dickinson, Thomas H., The Case of American Drama. Boston, 1915.
Dunlap, William, History of the American Theatre. New York, 1832. 2 Vols. London, 1833. ”

“ George H. Mile’s prize play of Mohammed, performed in 1851, and Leonor de Guzman and Francesca da Rimini of Boker belong also to this group. Even in the historical tragedies, however, it is the unhappy lot of the main character and the interest of the unfamiliar that hold the attention rather than the background, and there is no clear line to be drawn between those which are historical and those which are not. To the latter class belong Bird’s Broker of Bogota, and a tragedy of peculiar interest, Octavia Brigaldi, by Mrs. Conner, in which she acted in the title role in 1837. ”

“ Dickinson, Thomas H., Chief Contemporary Dramatists. Boston, 1915. [Contains four American plays.]
Pierce, John Alexander, The Masterpieces of Modern Drama. Abridged in Narrative with Dialogue of the Great Scenes. Prefaced with a critical essay by Brander Matthews. [Vol. 2 contains selections from twelve American plays.] New York, 1915.
BIOGRAPHIES OF ACTORS AND MANAGERS, AND SIMILAR WORKS GIVING INFORMATION CONCERNING THE DRAMA
Alger, William R., Life of Edwin Forrest. ”

“ Chanfrau had made a number of imitations of firemen before on the stage, and the play was, therefore, a growth. It is melodramatic, but there is a reality about the scenes in the dives and streets that points forward rather than backward. Baker continued in New York as It Is (1848) to exploit Mose, and the interest in that form of play was capitalized immediately by other writers and actors. Philadelphia as It Is appeared in 1849, and in Boston George Campbell produced in I848 a local drama in which a scene in a police court was introduced. ”

“ The Realistic New York Drama. Another interesting development is represented in the local drama representing actual conditions, frequently of lower life, in the larger cities. The date of the first production of such a play would be hard to determine. Dunlap [25] speaks of Life in New York, or The Fireman on Duty, before 1832. As early as 1829 Hackett appeared in a play called The Times or Life in New York, in which he acted a Yankee character. ”

“ Warren at times writes a blank verse of considerable distinction, but their chief interest lies in their close relation to the great conflict they represent. [8]
The authority of Congress, except when ratified by action of the several states, did not extend beyond a recommendation to discontinue plays, but with the exception of a brief season in 1778 at the Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia, the activities of the Baltimore Company which began in 1781, and the later ventures of Ryan’s Company in New York, the wishes of Congress were generally respected. ”

“ Among plays of which record of performance has been kept, about four hundred in number, the largest group would be that of comedy, and it was from this group that the most significant plays form the point of view of stage development evolved. ”

“ The character of Febro in The Broker of Bogota, energetic, with a middle-class mind but courageous and with a passion for his children, is admirably conceived. Bird was also known as a novelist, and one of his romances, Nick of the Woods, dramatized by Louisa Medina in 1838, proved to be one of the most successful melodramas of the time. ”

“ Dunlap’s importation of the domestic drama of Kotzebue had also its effect. Some of the dramas of this class, notably Noah’s Wandering Boys, played first in Charleston in 1812 under the title of Paul and Alexis, were vastly popular. Most important in this class was the genesis of Rip Van Winkle. As early as 26 May, 1828, Thomas Flynn seems to have played a version of Rip Van Winkle in Albany. ”

“ Such titles as The Dry Goods Clerk of New York (1851) , The Seamstress of New York (1851) , New York by Gaslight (1856) , The Poor of New York (1857) , Life in Brooklyn, its Lights and Shades, its Virtues and Vices (1858) illustrate the nature of the species perhaps sufficiently, while Mose in California (1849) and Mose in China (1850) show how cosmopolitan that gentleman became.
§ 18. Social Satire. Much more important from the artistic standpoint were the comedies proceeding by means of social satire. ”

“ This version was very popular and was afterward played in New York. A Later play by Charles Burke is an adaptation of this one, with certain changes, notably the preservation of Dame Van Winkle, and the final version of Boucicault and Joseph Jefferson the younger is a development in its turn from Burke’s play.
§ 21. Domestic Drama; Farce. The farce as a species of comedy in the broader sense has already been spoken of in connection with the treatment of certain comic themes. ”

“ A Play [melodrama] in Three Acts. Boston, n. d.; New York, n. d. (French, No. 242.) (Laura Keene's Theatre, New York, 2 Feb., 1857.)
——De Soto, the Hero of the Missippi. Tragedy. MS. lacking part of De Soto. (Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 19 Apr., 1852.)
——Senor Valiente. A Comedy. In Five Acts. Boston, n. d. [1859] ; New York, n. d. (Niblo's Garden, New York, 18 April, 1859; Holiday Street Theatre, Baltimore, 1859; Arch Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 1859.)
Mowatt (Ritchie) , Anna Cora Ogden. Plays. Rev. ed. Boston, 1855. ”