Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.
EDWARD H. SOTHERN
About 1888
society, impulsive in temperament and prone to entangle himself in foolish embarrassments, but capable of calm, decisive action in situations of danger. An old friend of his, resident in the country, has become involved in financial difficulties and a valuable estate is to be sold to relieve him. The young auctioneer is employed to conduct the sale, and he finds that his old friend has a charming young daughter, supposed to be an heiress, who is being courted by a specious baronet who is a dishonest gambler and a forger. In trying to unmask this rascal the amiable auctioneer involves himself in a distressing tangle of misapprehension, but eventually he discomfits the wily schemer (who incidentally makes an abortive attempt to murder him), frees himself from suspicion, and proves at once the rectitude of his intentions and the ardor of his devotion to the lady whom he loves and whom he wishes to rescue from the toils of a villain. At the climax of the auction scene he “knocks down” his friend’s estate to himself, in the capacity of “the highest bidder,” and then lays it, with his heart, at the feet of the object of his adoration,—who, after an excess of hesitancy, accepts him and his property.
“The Highest Bidder” was set in handsome scenery and the parts in it were judiciously cast:
| Lawrence Thornhill | J. W. Piggott. |
| Bonham Cheviot | William J. LeMoyne. |
| Jack Hammerton | Edward H. Sothern. |
| Muffin Struggles | Rowland Buckstone. |
| Evelyn Graine | Herbert Archer. |
| Joseph | Walter Clark Bellows. |
| Parkyn | William A. Faversham. |
| Rose Thornhill | Belle Archer. |
| Mrs. Honiton Lacy | Alice Crowther. |
| Louise Lacy | Vida Croly. |
LeMoyne and Miss Archer, on this occasion, made their first appearance at the Lyceum. The play was well acted, Sothern animating the serio-comic part of Hammerton with earnest feeling and sustained and winning vivacity. The success had not been expected. Dismal forebodements had preceded its production. “We had a small private audience at a dress rehearsal,” said Belasco, “and it was ghastly; everybody was unresponsive and chilly, they pretty well took the starch out of all the actors, and made us all nervous, despondent, and miserable. We had another ’go’ at the piece, with nobody in front, and it seemed a little better; but we were all stale on it; we couldn’t tell what would happen. What a difference when we had a friendly audience, fresh to the piece and willing to be pleased!” “The Highest Bidder” held the stage from May 3 to July 16, when the Lyceum was closed for the season, but it was revived on August 29, and it ran till September 17. Then, on September 20, under Belasco’s stage direction, Cecil Raleigh’s neat farce of “The Great Pink Pearl” was brought out, together with the drama in one act called “Editha’s Burglar.” The latter is an adaptation of a story by Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, and its production is specially notable as being that of the first play by the brilliant and representative American dramatist Augustus Thomas, and because of the instant success achieved in its central character by Elsie Leslie,—certainly the most remarkable child actor of the last sixty years and one of the loveliest and most enchanting children ever seen anywhere. To her captivating personality, and to her instinctive histrionic talent, judiciously fostered and elicited by Belasco, was due the success of the “double bill”: it held the Lyceum stage until October 30, and thereafter was acted in many other cities. In New York the principal adult part, that of the Burglar, was assumed by E. H. Sothern: “on the road” it was played by William Gillette.
“PAWN TICKET 210.”
Another venture, made in 1887, that was important to Belasco, was the production, by his friend of early days, the fay-like little Lotta, of a play which he wrote for her in collaboration with Clay M. Greene, entitled “Pawn Ticket 210.” In the summer of that year, after those authors had submitted their play to her, Lotta expressed herself as favorably impressed by it but as being doubtful as to whether the public would care for her in its central character, which contains some touches of serious feeling. “I play and dance and sing,” she said, “and that seems to be about all my audience expects of me.” Her interest in the piece, however, finally overcame her hesitation; she agreed to buy it outright, for $5,000, and produce it, provided that Belasco would direct the rehearsals. To that stipulation he readily consented; a first payment of $2,500 was made, and the play was prepared for public representation on the stage of the Lyceum, immediately prior to the rehearsals there of “The Great Pink Pearl” and “Editha’s Burglar”: it was first acted at McVicker’s Theatre, Chicago, September 12, 1887.