This curious production was written at the time of the Jenny Lind excitement, and that great singer is mentioned in a number of places throughout the play. Her manager, P. T. Barnum, is there also, while some of the localities noted are Coney Island, Niblo’s, The Bowery, and Castle Garden. The first act takes place, first in a saloon on Broadway, and afterwards in the office of a first class hotel, also on that well-known thoroughfare. The second act is staged in Mrs. Partington’s parlor in the same hotel.
Some of the popular books of the period are mentioned, among them New York in Slices, while among the names of well-known New Yorkers are Horace Greeley and James Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald. Milwaukee is hinted at, and Mr. Sturges is made to say by the playwright as he addresses his clerks, “Fourteen hundred dollars from Wisconsin. Extremely good. Wisconsin crops are nearly all destroyed, still the money is sure to come from that state. More goods are ordered, they shall have them.”
The play is interspersed with songs that are saturated with the alleged humor of the period, and sad to relate, one of these songs has been torn from the copy before me, probably because of its facetious nature.
It is doubtful if the writer ever intended to have his production staged, although the copy now described has several corrections such as are found in prompt copies.
I am inclined to believe that the statement on the title that its editor was Mrs. Partington (Benj. P. Shillaber) was simply put on to add to the humor of the occasion, as I doubt if Shillaber had a hand in its composition.
On page 73 is the statement that copyright has been secured.
From a perusal of the piece it seems evident that its author knew the metropolis very well, but the misspelling of proper names and other evidence makes it seem almost certain that it was the work of some one, who, while well acquainted with New York, was not a permanent resident of that city. Was he a writer from Wisconsin? If so, who was he, and why was he writing a play of this character, a piece whose plot was taken from a place so far from home?
Oscar Wegelin.
[123] Lieutenant Cram’s maps are reproduced in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXXVIII, 386-87. His reports are found in Senate Documents, 151, Twenty-sixth Congress, 2nd sess., Vol. IV; ibid, 170, Twenty-seventh Congress, 2nd sess., Vol. III.
[124] Burt’s report, with accompanying map, may be found in Senate Executive Documents, 2, Thirtieth Congress, 1st sess.