... The drama comes from the French of Octave Feuillet, _and it was translated by Mr. Boucicault_. Whoever wishes to see with what an assured step clever authorship can walk on ticklish ground may behold the imposing spectacle at the Union Square Theatre. Mr. Boucicault was called before the curtain on Saturday night by vociferous applause, both at the end of the Third Act and at the end of the play, and in the speech which finally he made he told his auditors to give at least two-thirds of the credit for whatever pleasure they had received to his friend Octave Feuillet. Mr. Boucicault was also understood to say something about a projected revival of Legitimate Drama. We were not aware of its demise. And, even if it were dead, we fail to perceive how Mr. Boucicault could manage to effect its resuscitation by the translating of French plays of very doubtful propriety. It is to be remembered, though, that Mr. Boucicault is an Irish gentleman and loves his joke.... In this we perceive Mr. Boucicault’s preëminent skill. Nevertheless, the appearance of Octave Feuillet’s name upon the playbill would be noted with satisfaction. Mr. Boucicault should be aware that, by lapses of this kind, he arms his detractors and is unjust to himself....
Boucicault made his first appearance in San Francisco, at the California Theatre, on January 19, 1874 (the bill was “Boucicault in California,”--a weak sketch written for the occasion,--“Kerry,” and “Jones’s Baby”), and he arrived in that city, a few days earlier, not from Virginia City, but from Canada.
Belasco, meantime, was not established in Virginia City between December, 1872, and October, 1873: on the contrary, during most, if not all, of that time he was actively engaged in San Francisco (see my Chronology of his life). He disappears, however, from all the San Francisco records which I have been able to unearth after October 18, 1873, and I am satisfied that he then went to Virginia City, and there, several months later, met both Boucicault and Katharine Rodgers, when they were journeying eastward: Miss Rodgers first acted in
From an old photograph. Belasco’s Collection.
San Francisco on February 3, 1874, at the California Theatre, in “Mimi.” It seems obvious that Boucicault could not have dictated “Led Astray” to Belasco, in Virginia City, at a time when neither of them was there, and after that play had been acted in New York. If any other theatrical antiquary, more fortunate than I, chances to possess authentic records that show Boucicault and Belasco in conjunction, in Virginia City, prior to about November 1, 1873, I should be glad to learn of them.