| Mortimer Rushton | James O’Neill. |
| Richard Trevellian | Lewis Morrison. |
| Adam Trueman | A. D. Bradley. |
| Stephen Snarley | J. W. Jennings. |
| Ulysses S. Danripple, N. Y., U. S. A. | James A. Herne. |
| Timothy Tubbs | David Belasco. |
| Ethel Trueman | Rose Wood. |
| Mabel St. Everard | Katherine Corcoran. |
| Aunt Sophie | Kate Denin. |
Belasco was at once accused of having stolen his play from “The Banker’s Daughter,” but on investigation by Palmer’s representative it promptly appeared that the charge was unwarranted. “The chief real resemblances,” said Belasco, “are the title and the Duel Scene. We did call my play ’The Millionaire’s Daughter’ because of the success of Howard’s piece: the Duel Scene, however, I took from ’The Corsican Brothers.’ Howard, probably, took his from the same source; nobody acquainted with the theatre could very well help knowing that scene!”
The situation alluded to is an old one and it has been often used. The scene is a glade in the woods. The duellists, attended by their seconds, are confronted, each intent on homicide. The time is nightfall. The ground is thinly covered with snow. Each of the combatants is attired in a white shirt, open at the neck, without collar; black trousers and shoes. A faint twilight is diffused over the picture, and the ominous, grisly effect of it is enhanced by low, minor music. Gleaming rapiers are engaged and the combat proceeds to its fatal close: few other situations have been made the occasion of as much ridicule; yet, fashioned with care and treated with sincerity, this one never fails to thrill the spectators,—and probably it never will.
Palmer’s production of “The Banker’s Daughter” was announced for presentment at the California Theatre on June 9, 1879; but the success of Belasco’s play, at the Baldwin, led to the cancellation by Palmer of his engagement in San Francisco, and Howard’s play, in its definitive form, was not acted there until long afterward: it had, however, previously been performed there under the name of “Lillian’s Lost Love.”
DETRACTION OF BELASCO.—EARLY CALIFORNIA INFLUENCES.
Those persons who intellectually and influentially rise above the level of mediocrity almost invariably find their attainments denied, their achievements belittled, their motives impugned, and their characters besmirched. Belasco has had a liberal experience of detraction. One of the most insistent disparagements that have followed him is the charge that, in the course of his long career as a manager in New York, he has never produced any of the plays of Shakespeare, for the reason that he does not possess either the knowledge, taste, training, or ability requisite for their suitable presentment. It is true that Belasco, since becoming a theatrical manager in New York, has not, as yet, produced any play of Shakespeare’s or any of the standard old legitimate dramas. That, doubtless, has been a loss to the public; but deferring, for the moment, scrutiny of reasons that have restrained him from such ventures, it will be pertinent and instructive here to consider the question of his competence to make such revivals,—because such consideration necessarily concerns itself with the theatrical environment in which he grew up and in which he received his early training. As bearing on such an examination a glance at the antecedents of the San Francisco Stage will be helpful. The Circus preceded the Theatre in California, but only by a few weeks. Two circus companies were performing in San Francisco early in 1849. The first dramatic performance given in that city occurred in the same year, in a building called Washington Hall. In the same year, also, the first regular theatre built in the State was opened, in Sacramento: it cost $80,000 and it was called the Eagle. James H. McCabe,—a good friend to Belasco in later years,—was a member of its first company. Other theatres built subsequently in Sacramento were the Tehama, the Pacific, the American, and
From an old photograph. Belasco’s Collection.