Chapter 28

I received your telegram, and was glad to get it. The sun is shining here and all is well. I hope to see you Saturday night at the Knickerbocker.

C. F.

This is in every way a typical Charles Frohman personal note. He usually had one thing to say and said it in the fewest possible words.

_One day Frohman sent a certain play to his brother Daniel for criticism. On receiving an unfavorable estimate of the work he wrote him the following memorandum:_

Who are you and who am I that can decide the financial value of this play? The most extraordinary plays succeed, and many that deserve a better fate fail; so how are we to know until after we test a play before the public?

_In reply to Charles Burnham's invitation to attend the Theatrical Managers' dinner, he wrote:_

Thank you very much, but my condition is still such that my game leg would require at least four seats, and as we now have at least several managers to every theater, and several theaters in every block, I haven't the heart to accept the needed room, and thus deprive them of any.

_Writing to E. H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe, in April, 1915, he said:_

I wonder why you don't both sail with me May 1 (_Lusitania_). As far as I am concerned, when you consider all the stars I have managed, mere submarines make me smile. But most affectionate regards to you both.

_Writing to John Drew, who was willing to prolong his touring season in 1915, he says:_

All right. Why a young man like you cares to continue on his long tours, I don't know. I hope to get away on May 1st and to return shortly after you reach New York. Am in quest of something for you. Our last talk before you left gave me much happiness.

_Refusing to book his attractions in a city for a week where three nights were sufficient, he said:_

My stars like week stands, but they don't like weak business.

_To Haddon Chambers, in London:_

I am hoping to get off on the _Lusitania_. It seems to be the best ship to sail on. I shall be glad to see you.

_Writing to S. F. Nixon, a business colleague, regarding Miss Barrymore in "The Shadow":_

You are quite right as to the play being terribly somber. I thought it a good idea to show what a representative American actress of serious parts she was; so that next season we will offer a contrast, and make the audiences laugh so much that they will be compelled to crowd the theater. She will play then as humorous a part ("Our Mrs. McChesney") as she did so earnestly a serious one.

_To J. C. O'Laughlin, of the Chicago_ Herald:

We managers have certain ideas about plays. We produce a play and find our ideas and opinions often wrong. Our opinions are only sound, I think, as far as the question of a play being actable is concerned. My sympathetic feeling for all writers makes it very hard to venture an opinion detrimental to their work, especially as we find we are frequently wrong.

_To one of his leading women, April, 1915:_

I appreciate the expression of your affection. It almost makes me turn westward instead of eastward. However, we must do our jobs, and so I do mine. I am sailing Saturday (per _Lusitania_). Heaven only will know where I am in July. I cannot tell this year anything about anything.

_To Booth Tarkington:_

I don't suppose you have any idea of coming to New York. There are a lot of fine things here worth your while, including myself.

_Concerning Hubert Henry Davies, the author of "Outcast," Miss Elsie Ferguson's very successful vehicle:_

He is a delightful, charming, simple, splendid fellow. You will be delighted with him, and Miss Ferguson will be more than delighted with him, because he will be so delighted with her. It is a fine thing to have so nice a man as Davies arrive, and entirely misunderstanding the person he is to rehearse because the surprise will be all the greater. It pleases me, knowing what a fine emotional (one of the very best in the world) young actress our star is.

_To Harry Powers, manager of Powers Theater, Chicago, where his play "The Beautiful Adventure," with Ann Murdock, was then running:_

Regarding "The Beautiful Adventure," if I am doing wrong in making a clean situation out of one that is not clean, I am going to do wrong. The theater-going public in the cities may not always get a good play from me, but they trust me, and I shall try and retain that trust. We may not get the same amount of money, but if we can live through it we will get a lot more satisfaction for those we like and for ourselves.

_Some of the last letters written by Frohman were filled with a curious tenderness and affection. In the light of what happened after he sailed they seem to be overcast with a strange foreboding of his doom. The most striking example of this is furnished in a letter he wrote to Henry Miller on April 29th, a few days before he went aboard the_ Lusitania. _He had not written to Miller for a year, yet this is what he said:_

Dear Henry: I am going to London Saturday A.M. I want to say good-by to you with this--and tell you how glad I am you've had a good season.

Affectionately, C. F.

Miller was immensely touched by this communication. He wired to his son Gilbert to find out what steamer Frohman was taking, and send him a wireless. This message was probably the last ever received by Frohman, for no other similar telegram was sent him in care of the _Lusitania_.

_The last letter written by Frohman, before leaving the Hotel Knickerbocker on the morning the_ Lusitania _sailed, was to his intimate friend and companion Paul Potter. Potter, who had telephoned that he expected to meet him at the steamer, was much depressed, which explains one of the sentences in Frohman's letter:_

Saturday A.M., May 1, 1915.

Dear Paul: We had a fine time this winter. I hope all will go well with you. And I think luck is coming to you. I hope another "Trilby." It's fine of you to come to the steamer with all these dark, sad conditions.

C. F.

On his way to the _Lusitania_ Frohman stopped for a moment at his office in the Empire Theater. There he dictated a note to Porter Emerson Browne, the playwright. It was his last dictation. The note merely said, "Good-by. Keep me posted." He referred to a new play that Browne was writing for him.

_Appendix B_

COMPLETE CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE FROHMAN PRODUCTIONS

Altogether Charles Frohman produced more than five hundred plays--a greater number than any other manager of his time. The list of his productions, therefore, is really a large part of the record of the English-speaking stage during the last quarter of a century.

In the list which follows, the name of the star or stars appear immediately after the title of the piece. Except when otherwise indicated, the theater mentioned is in New York.

Here is the complete list of Frohman's productions in chronological order:

I

PRODUCTIONS IN AMERICA

_1883_

PLAY DATE THEATER

_The Stranglers of Paris_ November 12 New Park

_1884_

_The Pulse of New York_ May 10 Star

_Caprice_ (Minnie Maddern) November 6 Indianapolis

_1885_

_Victor Durand Road tour with Wallack's Theater_ Co.

_Moths_ " " "

_Lady Clare_ " " "

_Diplomacy_ " " "

_La Belle Russe_" " "

_The World_ " " "

_1886_

_The Golden Giant_ April 11 Fifth Avenue (McKee Rankin)

_A Toy Pistol_ (Tony Hart) February 20 New York Comedy

_A Wall Street Bandit_ September 20 Standard

_A Daughter of Ireland_ October 18 Standard (Georgia Cayvan)

_The Jilt_ (Dion Boucicault) October 29 Standard

_1887_

_Baron Rudolph_ October 24 Fourteenth Street

_She_ November 29 Niblo's Garden

_1888_

_Held by the Enemy_ Road tour

_1889_

_Shenandoah_ September 9 Star

_1890_

_The Private Secretary_ August 26 Grand Opera House

_All the Comforts of Home_ September 8 Proctor's 23d Street

_Men and Women_ October 20 Lyceum

_1891_

_Mr. Wilkinson's Widows_ March 30 Proctor's 23d Street

_Diplomacy_ June 12 Los Angeles, Cal.

_Jane_ August 3 Madison Square

_The Solicitor_ (Henry E. Dixey) September 8 Hermann's

_Thermidor_ October 12 Proctor's 23d Street

_The Man with a Hundred Heads_ November 2 Hermann's (Henry E. Dixey)

_Miss Helyett_ (Mrs. Leslie Carter) November 3 Star

_The Lost Paradise_ November 16 Proctor's 23d Street

_The Junior Partner_ December 8 Hermann's

_1892_

_Glorianna_ February 15 Hermann's

_Settled Out of Court_ August 8 Hermann's

_The Masked Ball_ (John Drew) October 3 Palmer's

_1893_

_The Girl I Left Behind Me_ January 25 Empire

_Ninety Days_ February 6 Broadway

_Liberty Hall_ August 21 Empire

_Fanny_ September 4 Standard

_The Other Man_ September 4 Garden

_Lady Windermere's Fan_ October Road tour

_Charley's Aunt_ October 2 Standard

_The Younger Son_ October 20 Empire

_The Councillor's Wife_ November 6 Empire

_Aristocracy_ November 14 Palmer's

_1894_

_Sowing the Wind_ January 2 Empire

_Poor Girls_ January 22 American

_The Butterflies_ (John Drew) February 5 Palmer's

_Gudgeons_ and

_The Luck of Roaring Camp_ May 14 Empire

_The Bauble Shop_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire

_The New Boy_ September 17 Standard

_Too Much Johnson_ November 26 Standard

_The Masqueraders_ (John Drew) December 3 Empire

_The Fatal Card_ December 31 Palmer's

_1895_

_The Foundling_ February 25 Hoyt's

_John A'Dreams_ March 18 Empire

_The Importance of Being Earnest_ April 22 Empire

_The Sporting Duchess_ August 29 Academy of Music

_The City of Pleasure_ September 2 Empire

_That Imprudent Young Couple_ September 22 Empire (John Drew)

_The Gay Parisians_ September 23 Hoyt's

_Christopher Jr._ (John Drew) October 7 Empire

_Denise_ (Olga Nethersole) December 2 Empire

_Frou Frou_ (Olga Nethersole) December 5 Empire

_Camille_ (Olga Nethersole) December 9 Empire

_Carmen_ (Olga Nethersole) December 24 Empire

_1896_

_Michael and His Lost Angel_ January 15 Empire

_The Squire of Dames_ (John Drew) January 20 Empire

_A Woman's Reason_ January 27 Empire

_A Social Highwayman_ February 3 Garrick (E. M. and Joseph Holland)

_Marriage_ February 17 Empire

_Bohemia_ March 9 Empire

_Thoroughbred_ April 20 Garrick

_Rosemary_ (John Drew) August 31 Empire

_The Liars_ September 7 Hoyt's

_Albert Chevalier_ September 7 Garrick

_Sue_ (Annie Russell) September 15 Hoyt's

_Secret Service_ October 5 Garrick

_Honors Are Easy_ November 9 Montauk, Brooklyn

_Two Little Vagrants_ November 23 Academy of Music

_Under the Red Robe_ December 28 Empire

_1897_

_Heartsease_ (Henry Miller) January 11 Garden

_Spiritissime_ February 22 Knickerbocker

_Never Again_ March 8 Garrick

_Courted Into Court_ August 30 Newark, N. J.

_The Little Minister_ (Maude Adams) September 27 Empire

_The Proper Caper_ October 4 Hoyt's

_The First Born_ and _A Night Session_ October 5 Manhattan

_A Marriage of Convenience_ November 8 Empire (John Drew)

_The White Heather_ November 22 Academy of Music

_1898_

_Salt of the Earth_ January 3 Wallack's

_The Conquerors_ January 4 Empire

_The Circus Girl_ January 17 Columbia, Brooklyn

_Oh, Susannah_ February 7 Hoyt's

_One Summer's Day_ (John Drew) February 14 Wallack's

_The Master_ (Henry Miller) February 15 Garden

_Little Miss Nobody_ September 5 Philadelphia

_A Brace of Partridges_ September 7 Madison Square

_The Countess Valeska_ September 26 Troy, N. Y. (Julia Marlowe)

_On and Off_ October 17 Madison Square

_Catherine_ (Annie Russell) October 24 Garrick

_As You Like It_ (Julia Marlowe) November 7 Omaha, Nebraska

_Phroso_ December 26 Empire

_Ingomar_ (Julia Marlowe) December 26 Indianapolis

_1899_

_Because She Loved Him So_ January 16 Madison Square

_Her Atonement_ February 13 Academy of Music

_Lord and Lady Algy_ February 14 Empire

_The Cuckoo_ April 3 Wallack's

_Colinette_ (Julia Marlowe) April 10 Knickerbocker

_Romeo and Juliet_ (Maude Adams) May 8 Empire

_His Excellency the Governor_ May 22 Empire

_Hamlet_ (Henry Miller) August 1 San Francisco

_The Girl from Maxim's_ August 29 Criterion

_Miss Hobbs_ (Annie Russell) September 7 Lyceum

_The Tyranny of Tears_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire

_The Only Way_ (Henry Miller) September 16 Herald Square

_Barbara Fritchie_ (Julia Marlowe) October 23 Criterion

_Sherlock Holmes_ November 6 Garrick (William Gillette)

_Make Way for the Ladies_ November 13 Madison Square

_My Lady's Lord_ December 25 Empire

_1900_

_Brother Officers_ January 15 Empire

_The Surprises of Love_ January 22 Lyceum

_Coralie & Co., Dressmakers_ February 5 Madison Square

_Hearts Are Trumps_ February 21 Garden

_My Daughter-in-Law_ February 26 Lyceum

_A Man and His Wife_ and

_The Bugle Call_ April 2 Empire

_The Tree of Knowledge_ July 2 San Francisco (Henry Miller)

_A Royal Family_ (Annie Russell) September 5 Lyceum

_The Rose of Persia_ September 6 Daly's

_The Husband of Leontine_ September 8 Madison Square

_Richard Carvel_ (John Drew) September 11 Empire

_David Harum_ (W. H. Crane) October 1 Garrick

_Self and Lady_ October 8 Madison Square

_L'Aiglon_ (Maude Adams) October 22 Knickerbocker

_1901_

_Mrs. Dane's Defense_ January 7 Empire

_The Girl from Up There_ January 8 Herald Square (Edna May)

_My Lady Dainty_ January 8 Madison Square (Herbert Kelcey and Effie Shannon)

_Captain Jinks_ (Ethel Barrymore) February 4 Garrick

_Under Two Flags_ February 5 Garden

_The Lash of a Whip_ February 25 Lyceum

_To Have and To Hold_ March 4 Knickerbocker

_Manon Lescaut_ March 19 Wallack's (Kelcey and Shannon)

_Are You a Mason?_ April 1 Wallack's

_A Royal Rival_ August 26 Criterion (William Faversham)

_The Second in Command_ September 2 Empire (John Drew)

_A Message from Mars_ October 7 Garrick (Charles Hawtrey)

_Eben Holden_ October 28 Savoy

_Quality Street_ (Maude Adams) November 11 Knickerbocker

_Alice of Old Vincennes_ December 2 Garden (Virginia Harned)

_The Girl and the Judge_ December 4 Lyceum (Annie Russell)

_The Wilderness_ December 23 Empire

_Sweet and Twenty_ December 30 Madison Square

_1902_

_Colorado_ January 12 Grand Opera House

_The Twin Sister_ March 3 Empire

_Sky Farm_ March 17 Garrick

_The New Clown_ August 25 Garrick

_The Mummy and the Humming-Bird_ September 4 Empire (John Drew)

_There's Many a Slip_ September 15 Garrick

_Aunt Jeanne_ September 16 Garden (Mrs. Patrick Campbell)

_Iris_ (Virginia Harned) September 22 Criterion

_Two Schools_ September 29 Madison Square

_The Second Mrs. Tanqueray_ October 6 Garden (Mrs. Patrick Campbell)

_A Country Mouse_ and _Carrots_ October 6 Savoy (Ethel Barrymore)

_Everyman_ October 12 Mendelssohn Hall (Edith Wynne Mathison and Charles Rann Kennedy)

_The Joy of Living_ October 23 Garden (Mrs. Patrick Campbell)

_Imprudence_ (William Faversham) November 7 Lyceum

_The Girl with the Green Eyes_ December 25 Savoy (Clara Bloodgood)

_1903_

_A Bird in the Cage_ January 12 Bijou

_The Unforeseen_ January 12 Empire

_Mice and Men_ (Annie Russell) January 19 Garrick

_Three Little Maids_ (G. P. Huntley) August 31 Daly's

_Ulysses_ September 14 Garden

_Drink_ (Charles Warner) September 14 Academy of Music

_The Man from Blankley's_ September 14 Criterion (Charles Hawtrey)

_Captain Dieppe_ (John Drew) September 14 Herald Square

_Lady Rose's Daughter_ September 24 Garrick (Fay Davis)

_The Spenders_ (W. H. Crane) October 5 Savoy

_The Best of Friends_ October 19 Academy of Music

_Cousin Kate_ (Ethel Barrymore) October 19 Hudson

_Charlotte Wiehe_ (French Players) October 21 Vaudeville

_The Girl from Kay's_ November 2 Herald Square (Sam Bernard)

_The Pretty Sister of Jose_ November 9 Empire (Maude Adams)

_The Admirable Crichton_ November 16 Lyceum (William Gillette)

_Elizabeth's Prisoner_ November 23 Criterion (William Faversham)

_Whitewashing Julia_ December 2 Garrick (Fay Davis)

_The Other Girl_ December 23 Criterion

_Glad of It_ (Millie James) December 28 Savoy

_1904_

_My Lady Molly_ (Andrew Mack) January 4 Daly's

_The Light that Lies in Woman's Eyes_ (Virginia Harned) January 25 Criterion

_The Younger Mrs. Parling_ January 25 Garrick (Annie Russell)

_Man Proposes_ (Henry Miller) March 14 Hudson

_The Dictator_ (William Collier) April 4 Criterion

_Saucy Sally_ (Charles Hawtrey) April 4 Lyceum

_Camille_ April 18 Hudson (Margaret Anglin and Henry Miller)

_When Knighthood Was in Flower_ May 2 Empire (Julia Marlowe)

_Yvette_ (Hattie Williams) May 12 Knickerbocker

_Ben Greet Players_ October 5

_The School Girl_ (Edna May) September 1 Daly's

_The Duke of Killiecrankie_ September 5 Empire (John Drew)

_Letty_ (William Faversham) September 12 Hudson

_Business is Business_ September 19 Hudson (W. H. Crane)

_The Coronet of the Duchess_ September 21 Garrick (Clara Bloodgood)

_The Sorceress_ October 10 New Amsterdam (Mrs. Patrick Campbell)

_Joseph Entangled_ (Henry Miller) October 10 Garrick

_Shakespearian Repertory_ October 17 Knickerbocker (Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern)

_Granny_ (Mrs. G. H. Gilbert) October 24 Lyceum

_David Garrick_ November 14 Lyceum (Charles Wyndham)

_The Rich Mrs. Repton_ November 14 Criterion (Fay Davis)

_Sunday_ (Ethel Barrymore) November 14 Hudson

_Brother Jacques_ (Annie Russell) December 5 Garrick

_Mrs. Goringe's Necklace_ December 12 Lyceum (Charles Wyndham)

_A Wife Without a Smile_ December 19 Criterion (Margaret Illington)

_1905_

_Cousin Billy_ (Francis Wilson) January 2 Criterion

_The Case of Rebellious Susan_ January 9 Lyceum (Charles Wyndham)

_Mrs. Leffingwell's Boots_ January 11 Savoy

_Friquet_ (Marie Doro) January 30 Savoy

_'Op o' My Thumb_ February 6 Empire (Maude Adams)

_Jinny the Carrier_ (Annie Russell) April 10 Criterion

_The Freedom of Suzanne_ April 17 Empire (Marie Tempest)

_The Rollicking Girl_ May 1 Herald Square (Sam Bernard)

_A Doll's House_ May 2 Lyceum (Ethel Barrymore)

_The Catch of the Season_ August 28 Daly's (Edna May)

_De Lancey_ (John Drew) September 4 Empire

_The Beauty and the Barge_ September 6 Lyceum (Nat C. Goodwin)

_Just Out of College_ September 27 Lyceum (Joseph Wheelock)

_Shakespearian Repertory_ October 16 Knickerbocker (Julia Marlowe and E. H. Sothern)

_Wolfville_ (Nat C. Goodwin) October 20 Philadelphia

_Peter Pan_ (Maude Adams) November 6 Empire

_On the Quiet_ (William Collier) November 27 Criterion

_La Belle Marseillaise_ November 27 Knickerbocker (Virginia Harned)

_Alice Sit By the Fire_ and _Pantaloon_ December 25 Criterion (Ethel Barrymore)

_1906_

_Mispah_ January 22 Baltimore

_The Duel_ (Otis Skinner) February 12 Criterion

_The Mountain Climber_ March 5 Criterion (Francis Wilson)

_The American Lord_ (W. H. Crane) April 16 Hudson

_The Little Father of the Wilderness_ April 16 Criterion (Francis Wilson)

_The Little Cherub_ August 6 Criterion (Hattie Williams)

_The Price of Money_ August 29 Garrick (W. H. Crane)

_The Hypocrites_ August 30 Hudson (Doris Keane and Richard Bennett)

_The Judge and Jury_ September 1 Wallack's

_His House in Order_ (John Drew) September 3 Empire

_Clarice_ (William Gillette) October 15 Garrick

_The House of Mirth_ (Fay Davis) October 22 Savoy (William Collier)

_The Rich Mr. Hoggenheimer_ October 22 Wallack's (Sam Bernard)

_Caught in the Rain_ December 31 Garrick

_1907_

_The Truth_ (Clara Bloodgood) January 7 Criterion

_Captain Brassbound's Conversion_ January 28 Empire (Ellen Terry)

_Good Hope and Nance Oldfield_ February 11 Empire (Ellen Terry)

_The Silver Box_ (Ethel Barrymore) March 18 Empire

_When Knights Were Bold_ August 20 Garrick (Francis Wilson)

_The Dairymaids_ August 26 Criterion (Julia Sanderson and G. P. Huntley)

_My Wife_ (John Drew) August 31 Empire

_The Thief_ September 9 Lyceum (Margaret Illington and Kyrle Bellew)