“So I sat at a table, took my coat off and began Act One of ’Led Astray.’ Boucicault lay propped up with pillows, before a blazing fire, a glass of hot whisky beside him. It was not long before I found out that he was the terror of the whole house. If there was the slightest noise below stairs or in the street, he would raise such a hubbub until it stopped that I had never heard the like of before.
“Whenever he came to a part of the dialogue requiring Irish, I noticed how easily his dictation flowed. When he reached a dramatic situation, he acted it out as well as his crippled condition would allow. One thing I noticed particularly: he always held a newspaper in his hand and gave furtive glances at something behind it I was not supposed to see. I was determined, however, to know just what he was concealing from me.
“The opportunity came one morning when he was called out of the room. Before he went, I noted how careful he was to place a newspaper so that it completely hid the thing under it. I went quickly to the table, and, turning over the pages, I found a French book, ’La Tentation,’ from which the entire plot of ’Led Astray’ was taken. In those days, authors did not credit the original source from which they adapted. But Boucicault was more than an adapter—he was a brilliant and indefatigable slave, resting neither night
Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.
DION BOUCICAULT
nor day. There is no doubt that even though he adapted,—in accordance with the custom of the time,—he added to the original source, making everything he touched distinctly his own. He left everything better than he found it; his pen was often inspired, and in spite of his many traducers, he was the greatest genius of our Theatre at that time. Boucicault was a master craftsman....”
I am inclined to the opinion that the play of which Boucicault actually did dictate a part to Belasco, during the early days of their acquaintance, in Virginia City, is, perhaps, “Forbidden Fruit,”—which was derived from a French original, and which was first produced at Wallack’s Theatre, October 3, 1876: it is, however, to be remembered that there is an Irish character,—a kind of Sir Lucius O’Trigger-turned-blackguard, who is designated Major O’Hara,—in “Led Astray.” Nevertheless, as to Belasco’s reminiscence of the writing of that play, I am convinced that, though interesting, it is wholly apocryphal; the following is a summary of my reasons for so believing: