was over Miss Coghlan realized that, if I did look like a boy, I was not quite the tyro she had supposed me to be; we were soon good friends, and have always remained so.”
ROSE COGHLAN AND “THE MOONLIGHT MARRIAGE.”
Rose Coghlan began her season at the Baldwin as Lady Gay Spanker, in “London Assurance,” with Nina Varian,—who, also, then made her first appearance in San Francisco,—as Grace Harkaway, O’Neill as Dazzle, and Morrison as Charles Courtly. During the four weeks that followed Miss Coghlan was also seen in “The School for Scandal,” “A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing” and “A Scrap of Paper” (a double bill), a revival of “The Danicheffs,” and “Seraphine; or, The Mother’s Secret.” On June 30 occurred the “first production of the powerful romantic play in five tableaux, by D. Belasco and James A. Herne,” entitled “The Marriage by Moonlight”: the performance on the opening night was given for the benefit of Company B, First Infantry, N. G. C. This play was specially prepared for Miss Coghlan: it was based on Watts Phillips’ “Camilla’s Husband,”—which was originally acted at the Royal Olympic Theatre, London, November 10, 1862. The Belasco and Herne alteration of it was thus cast at the Baldwin:
| Lorraine | James O’Neill. |
| Felix | Forrest M. Robinson. |
| Harold | Lewis Morrison. |
| Lord Pippin | John N. Long. |
| Peeping Tom | James A. Herne. |
| Clarisse | Rose Coghlan. |
| Hazel | Katherine Corcoran. |
| Lady Challoner | Kate Denin. |
| Lady Aurelia | Blanche Thorne. |
| Elise | Mollie Revel. |
On June 16 Lester Wallack, acting Hugh Chalcotte, in “Ours,” began, at the California Theatre, his only engagement in San Francisco. Miss Coghlan (who was to appear as a member of his theatrical company during the season of 1879-1880) apprised him of the merits of “The Marriage by Moonlight” (or “The Moonlight Marriage,” as, finally, it was denominated), and, after witnessing a performance of that play, Wallack expressed a desire to purchase it for representation at his New York theatre, with Miss Coghlan in the central character. Herne, however, had conceived a tentative plan of making this play the vehicle for a co-starring venture, in the East, by his wife and himself, and Wallack’s proposal was declined. Herne entertained an overweening, if natural, estimate of his wife’s histrionic abilities. Belasco, in his “Story,” referring to Augustin Daly’s well-known play of “Divorce,” gives this sketch of their early acquaintance:
“The manuscript arrived, but we had no one to play the woman’s part, when a young girl came into the theatre and asked to see Mr. Herne. Her name was Katherine Corcoran. When she was ushered in we saw at a glance that we had found the heroine of ’Divorce.’ It required a petite woman, full of fascination, charm, intensity, and with the power to weep. Of course, we did not know her capacities, but she seemed full of promise. She was engaged at once. When the time came for rehearsals she went quietly through them,—an alien not particularly welcome to the company. ’Who is she?’ they all asked, and the leading man came to Herne and myself, and laid before us the numerous complaints he was receiving. As it was very obvious that Herne was in love with her, and so likely to be prejudiced, Maguire turned to me. ’She is going to make a sensation,’ I said; ’I’ll stake my life on it.’ And she did, becoming one of the big elements in our support and quite winning the players. It was not long before she and Herne were married.... No one ever owed more to a woman than he to little ’K. C.’”
This recollection must refer not to the first San Francisco production of “Divorce” (as Belasco says it does) but to a revival of that play. Miss Corcoran was a pupil of Miss Julia Melville as late as 1877; she gained her first experience as an actress in a stock company at Portland, Oregon, and she joined the company at the Baldwin Theatre, about September-October, 1877. She was married to Herne in April, 1878. The first presentment of “Divorce” in San Francisco occurred at Maguire’s New Theatre, August 31, 1874. The purpose of attempting to make Miss Corcoran a star in Miss Coghlan’s part in “The Moonlight Marriage” and the consequent rejection of Wallack’s offer were injudicious in themselves and certainly disadvantageous to Belasco: had that offer been accepted, he might have been established in New York much sooner than he was.—The manuscript of “The Moonlight Marriage” was ultimately consumed in a fire which destroyed the Herne home, called Herne Oaks, at Southampton, Long Island, New York, December 11, 1909.
After four performances of “The Moonlight Marriage” had been given at the Baldwin it was suspended, in order to permit J. C. Williamson and his wife, “Maggie” Moore, to fulfil an engagement there,—which they did, presenting “Struck Oil” and “The Chinese Question” July 4 and (afternoon as well as night) 5. The Belasco and Herne drama was restored to the stage July 6 and ran till the 12th. On Sunday night, the 13th, a performance was given at the Baldwin, “for the benefit of Belasco and Herne,”—both “The Moonlight Marriage” and “Rip Van Winkle” being compressed into the entertainment.
“L’ASSOMMOIR” AND A DOUBLE-BARRELLED BENEFIT.
The state of theatrical affairs in San Francisco had been for a considerable time prior to midsummer, 1879, steadily declining, and conditions at the Baldwin had become equivocal and perplexing. E. J. Baldwin was actively at variance with Maguire, whose formal lease of the theatre had expired on the preceding July 1, and the house was being conducted, in “a hand to mouth” way, under some dubious arrangement of expediency between Maguire and Charles L. Gardner. Heavy debts had been contracted and credit had been exhausted. “That ’benefit,’” Belasco has declared to me, “was urgently needed! Maguire was, among other things, an inveterate gambler and would often stake every dollar the treasury contained. Then, if luck went against him, he’d come and tell us salaries could not be paid, because he had lost! The salaries were paid,—out of ’Lucky’ Baldwin’s pocket. But he had grown tired of backing a losing game and, besides, he and Maguire had had some special row,—I don’t now remember what it was about,—and Baldwin had withdrawn his support. Expenses were very high: Miss Coghlan’s engagement had ’run on’ and her $500 a week was a heavy drag: Herne and I had an interest, and we simply had to have some ready money to keep us going,—so I suggested a double-barrelled ’benefit’ as a way of getting it.”