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Photograph by Taber, San Francisco. Courtesy Mrs. Morrison. |
Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection. | |
| LEWIS MORRISON | JAMES O’NEILL |
About 1880
known to Mr. and Mrs. Herne, with whom he was closely associated, he acceded to a proposal which they made to form a partnership with them for its production. Herne, who had first appeared in California in 1868, was then well established in popular favor; moreover,—notwithstanding that most of the actual labor of stage management devolved on Belasco,—authoritative control of the Baldwin stage and, to a great extent, selection of the plays to be represented at that theatre were vested in Herne. His coöperation, therefore, was desirable, if, indeed, it was not essential; he became a co-worker with Belasco, and between them the play was finished. During the engagement of Lotta Herne arranged for a tour of Pacific Slope towns by O’Neill and Morrison, leading the Baldwin Dramatic Company, beginning at Sacramento, Sunday, September 7, in a repertory which comprised “Diplomacy,” “A Woman of the People,” “Pink Dominos,” “Won at Last,” “L’Assommoir,” and “Within an Inch of His Life,” thus leaving the way clear for rehearsal and production of “Chums.” Belasco and the Hernes were expectant of great success for this play. Handsome scenery had been painted for it, and ample provision had been made for the display of those accessories which please the public taste for what is known as “realism.” The prospect seemed bright. The first performance occurred on September 9, 1879, at the Baldwin Theatre, Katharine Corcoran (Mrs. Herne) taking a benefit. The result was a bitter disappointment. The receipts were extremely small (“I remember,” writes Belasco, “that, one night, they were only $17.50!”), and after a disheartening run of two weeks “Chums” was withdrawn,—being succeeded by O’Neill and Morrison, in a revival of “Won at Last.” This was the San Francisco cast of “Chums”:
| Terry Dennison | —The Chums— | James A. Herne. |
| Ruby Darrell | W. H. Haverstraw. | |
| Uncle Davy | J. W. Jennings. | |
| Owen Garroway | Charles B. Bishop. | |
| Mr. Ellingham | A. D. Bradley. | |
| Foreman of the Mill | H. Thompson. | |
| Clerk of the Mill | Mr. Pierce. | |
| Mr. Parker | E. Ambrose. | |
| Tom | J. W. Thompson. | |
| Sleuth | L. Paul. | |
| Chrystal | Katherine Corcoran. | |
| Aunt Betsy | Annie A. Adams. | |
| Little Chrystal | Maude Adams. | |
| The Baby | Herself. |
By this decisive failure Herne was much discouraged. Not so either Belasco or Mrs. Herne, and on a suggestion made by the latter it was determined to take the play on a tour into the East. “I took a benefit at the Baldwin,” Belasco told me, “and it was a benefit! Everybody volunteered; Maguire [the manager of the Baldwin] gave us the use of the theatre; the actors gave their services; the orchestra gave theirs; the newspapers gave the ’ads.’ All that came in was clear gain, and I got a little more than $3,000. That was our working capital.”
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO CHICAGO.
With money thus raised on Belasco’s behalf, and with a play projected by him, the business alliance was arranged,—the Hernes to have one-half interest and Belasco the other. A company was engaged and the expedition was undertaken,—the design being to act “Chums” in various cities on the way to the Atlantic Seaboard, with hope of securing an opening in New York and making a fortune. Ill luck, however, attended it. “Chums” was played in Salt Lake City and other places, but everywhere in vain. At last, the scenery having been seized for debt, the company was disbanded and the partners, almost penniless, made their way to Chicago. The chief managers in that city then were James Horace McVicker (1822-1896) and Richard Martin Hooley (1822-1893). Both were besought to produce “Chums” and both declined. “We were in a dreadful way,” said Belasco, in telling me this story; “we had gone to the old Sherman House and taken the smallest, cheapest rooms we could get, and Alvin Hurlbert, the proprietor, had let our bills run. But at last they had run so long we had to make an explanation,—and I did the explaining. It wasn’t an easy thing to do,—though I’d done it before, in the early, wild days in the West. But Hurlbert was very kind: ’I believe in you, my boy,’ he said, ’and it’s all right,’—so we had a little more time to hustle in. And we hustled! By chance Herne and I went into a kind of beer-garden, called the Coliseum, kept by John Hamlin. There was a stage, and “Fred” Wren, in “On Time,” was giving impersonations of German character,—sort of imitation of J. K. Emmet in ’Fritz.’ The ’business’ was bad; there weren’t thirty people in the house when Herne and I chanced in. I immediately proposed to Hamlin that we bring out ’Chums,’ which we had renamed ’Hearts of Oak.’ He agreed to let us have the theatre, but Hamlin had no money to invest, so we had to get a production and assemble a company, all without a cent of capital! However, we got credit in one place or another, and did it,—a production costing thousands, on credit, and without a dollar of our own in it! We had a big success, although Hamlin’s Coliseum wasn’t much of a place.”