“During the days when Hill was manager of the New York Standard Theatre we met again, and I did some work for him. It was then that he returned me my contract. Then, a miracle of miracles happened, at the time of the razing of the Union Square Hotel. The clerk sent for Mr. Ryan (who afterwards played in ’Naughty Anthony’), and told him that in one of the back rooms he had found a bundle of papers behind some old books. My lost manuscript was at last found! Some day I may finish it for David Warfield.”
Belasco was re-employed by Maguire during the first days of February, 1879, and he at once resumed his multiform labor as stage manager, prompter, and playwright. The Baldwin Theatre was profitably occupied by the Wilson, Primrose & West Minstrel Company and his first work was done at the Grand Opera House, which Maguire had leased, and where, February 17, “the legitimate company from Baldwin’s” appeared in Belasco’s dramatization of Gaboriau’s story of “Within an Inch of His Life.” This melodrama, advertised as “the most powerful play ever acted,” was the product of “a week of strenuous days and sleepless nights,” it was produced as a stopgap, and--so Belasco writes--“the makeshift, like so many accidental productions, was an instant success.” That success was, in large part, due to a striking mechanical effect, devised and introduced by Belasco, representative of a conflagration, described in the newspapers of the day as “the terrific fire spectacle,” about which its inventor has given me this information: “The fire was in the First Act. I did away with the lycopodium boxes and made my ’flames’ by a series of red and yellow strips of silk, fanned from beneath by bellows and lit by colored lights. Some complaint was made of danger to the theatre and the authorities came upon the stage to investigate: they were a good deal nonplussed at finding the ’fire’ nothing but pieces of silk!”
“Within an Inch of His Life” was acted at the Grand Opera House until March 1, when it was withdrawn to make way for “The Passion.” This was the cast of its original production:
_Jules de Dardeville_ James O’Neill. _Dr. Seignebos_ J. W. Jennings. _Count de Clairnot_ James A. Herne. _Falpin_ A. D. Bradley. _Reibolt_ William Seymour. _Gauchey_ John N. Long. _Cocolean_ Lewis Morrison. _Countess de Clairnot_ Rose Wood. _Dionysia Chandore_ Katherine Corcoran.