Read Ebook: Harper's Young People February 21 1882 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 164 lines and 21485 words, and 4 pages

PAGE

"Trilby: a Novel" 1

Mr. du Maurier as a Draughtsman 4

"Trilby" on the Stage 8

Personalia 11

Mr. du Maurier and Mr. Whistler 15

"Trilby" Entertainments 19

Miscellanea 22

Songs 30

A Search for Sources 35

Nodier's "Trilby," le Lutin d'Argail 37

Mr. du Maurier's Monogram Title-page

Portrait of Mr. du Maurier from a Photograph Face 16

Portrait of Mr. du Maurier by Himself 11

Portrait of Mr. Whistler 15

"Platt, the New Svengali" 25

Mr. du Maurier's House on Hampton Heath Face 27

"Trilby: a Novel"

In its present form the story contains certain passages not printed in the magazine--notably, a brief disquisition on sitting for the nude. On the other hand, certain passages have been altered in deference to the wishes of Mr. Whistler, who saw in Joe Sibley, as described and pictured by Mr. du Maurier, an unpleasant resemblance to himself. Not only has the text been altered, but our friend Sibley is now called Antony, and his hitherto unbearded face is adorned with a non-Whistlerian beard. One picture has been omitted altogether. It needed not the accidental advertising of Mr. Whistler's threatened libel suit to draw attention to the book. It is its own best advertisement, and has fairly earned the success implied in advance orders so numerous as to cause the postponement until to-day of the original date of publication.

Mr. du Maurier as a Draughtsman

A painting of "Trilby," by Mr. Constant Mayer, was shown at Knoedler's gallery, in December, along with half a dozen other and more satisfactory paintings by the same artist. The hypnotic condition of the subject was declared by Dr. Allan McLane Hamilton to be admirably suggested in this fancy portrait.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRITIC:--

CANDACE WHEELER.

In "Trilby" every stroke of pen or pencil seems to be significant. Is there special meaning in the fact that, in the dainty tail-piece, one glass in the spectacles appears to be heavily shaded, while the other is clear? Is Mr. du Maurier, like so many literary people, afflicted with partial loss of sight or other visual difficulty?

AMHERST COLLEGE LIBRARY.

"Trilby" on the Stage

Mr. Paul M. Potter's dramatization of "Trilby" was produced by Mr. A. M. Palmer's company at the Boston Museum on Monday, 4 March, 1895, and achieved so great a success that several companies were immediately put upon the road to play it throughout the country. Its first production in New York, with the original cast, occurred at the Garden Theatre, on April 15. Hundreds of people were turned away from the door for want of room to accommodate them; and an offer was received from Mr. Beerbohm Tree, the eminent English actor, for the privilege of producing the play in England, where he himself wished to impersonate Svengali. It would be a pity if the Lyceum company did not secure the English rights; for Mr. Irving would make an inimitable Svengali, and Ellen Terry would be Trilby without trying.

As nobody has ever succeeded, or is likely to succeed, in really dramatizing a novel, it is not surprising that the stage version of "Trilby" should prove in some respects unsatisfactory. It might be thought that the book would lend itself readily to dramatic treatment; but a little consideration will show that it offers peculiar difficulties to the playwright, inasmuch as its chief charm is one of manner, which cannot be transferred to the stage, while its story, although it contains some striking situations, such as Trilby's collapse upon the death of Svengali, consists chiefly of a series of episodes, largely independent of each other and strung together very loosely. All things considered, Mr. Potter ought not, perhaps, to be held to too strict an account for the liberties he has taken with the text and some of the personages, but he has certainly lowered the tone of the work, and been guilty of various crudities of construction. There is some excuse for his employment of Svengali as the evil influence which wrecks the happiness of Little Billee and Trilby, but he leaves nothing of the author's original intention, and infinitely belittles the character of the girl, when he attributes her flight from her lover to mesmeric suggestion, instead of her own noble and unselfish devotion. In many other similar ways the spiritual side of the book suffers at his hands. His persistent references to Trilby's posing for the figure, his selection of that particular incident for her first introduction, and the joking references to it which he puts into the mouths of other personages, are in bad taste, while his travesty of the character of Dr. Bagot is entirely without justification. Mrs. Bagot he treats with more consideration, but he reduces her to the level of the dullest stage conventionality. Trilby herself preserves a good many of her characteristics, but is degraded even more than in the book by her subserviency to Svengali.

The play is in four acts, and the whole story up to the flight of Trilby is compressed into the first two. This feat is accomplished with no small ingenuity, but at great cost of probability. In this brief space Trilby is wooed and won, Svengali asserts his mesmeric power, the marriage of Little Billee is arranged and interrupted by the arrival of his mother, and an elopement is planned and frustrated. In the third act Trilby is to sing in the Cirque des Bashibazouck, and all the characters reassemble as if by magic in the foyer of that temple of art, which is abandoned of all other persons for their sole benefit. The proceedings which are supposed to occur in this retired spot are intrinsically absurd, but they are effective enough from a scenic and theatrical point of view, and were accepted by the audience, on the first night, as eminently natural and satisfactory. They culminate in the ghastly death of Svengali and the restoration of Trilby in a dazed and exhausted condition to the three faithful friends. In the fourth act there is another reunion of characters, and Trilby, who has agreed once more to marry Little Billee, and is supposed to be on the road to recovery, dies suddenly, upon the unexpected apparition of Svengali's photograph.

As it stands, the play is not much superior, if at all, to ordinary melodrama, being almost wholly void of the literary, humorous and personal charm of the book, but it is very well played, has a number of effective scenes, and is unquestionably popular. Miss Harned's Trilby, though rather a faint reflection of the original, has the merit of being attractive and womanly, as well as free and frank, and exhibits true pathos in the mesmeric scenes. On the whole, it is a very creditable impersonation. Mr. Lackaye's Svengali is overwrought but indisputably strong; and Burr McIntosh, John Glendenning and Alfred Hickman represent the three friends cleverly, and furnish excellent living pictures of du Maurier's sketches. Mr. Dietrichstein makes an admirable Zouzou, and all the minor parts are performed competently. A feature of the representation which is received with special favor is the Christmas merrymaking in the Latin Quarter, which is as vivacious and realistic as could be wished.

The morning papers of April 30 contained this despatch:--"DENVER, COL., April 29. Did du Maurier write 'Trilby'? This novel question was propounded to-day in the United States Court in good faith, when the suit of Harper & Bros. and A. M. Palmer for an injunction against the Lyceum Stock Company to restrain them from producing 'Trilby' at their theatre was called. The defendants allege that the book entitled 'Trilby' was not originated, invented or written by du Maurier. They assert that the original title and book of 'Trilby' were first published in France in 1820, and afterwards translated and published in English in 1847, and that the title and book have been common property for seventy-five years. The attorneys for the plaintiffs asked for time to communicate with their clients in New York as to the course they should pursue, and the Court postponed the hearing until Wednesday morning. Should the allegations of the Lyceum Company be true, a sensation will be caused all over the two continents. This is the first public intimation of an attack on the authenticity of the work, and if it is successful every company in the world will have as much right to play 'Trilby' as the Boston Organization."

The Lounger reprinted the telegram with this comment:--"Charles Nodier's 'Trilby, le Lutin d'Argail,' was published in Paris in 1822. It has just one thing in common with du Maurier's book--the first word in its title." The Sunday papers of May 12 printed this paragraph:--"DENVER, May 11. Judge Hallet, in the United States District Court to-day, granted an injunction restraining the Lyceum Theatre from producing 'Trilby' hereafter, deciding that it infringed on the rights of Harper & Bros., and others. To-day's performance was stopped."

Personalia

"It was one day while we were walking together on Hampstead Heath. We were talking about storywriting, and I said to him:--'If I were a writer, it seems to me that I should have no difficulty about plots. I have in my head now plots for fifty stories. I'm always working them out for my own amusement.' 'Well,' he said, 'it seems to me that you are a very fortunate person; I wish you'd tell me one of those plots.' Then I told him the story of 'Trilby.'" "Yes, he praised it very generously. 'Well,' I said, 'you may have the idea and work it out to your own satisfaction.' But he refused to accept it. 'You must write it yourself,' he said: 'I'm sure you can do it, if you'll only try.' But I insisted that I couldn't, and so we left the matter. But that night after going home it occurred to me that it would be worth while trying to write, after all. So on the impulse I sat down and began to work. It was not on 'Trilby,' however, but on 'Peter Ibbetson.' I kept at it for a time, but after doing several chapters I became utterly discouraged, and said to myself one evening:--'Oh, I can't do anything with this. It's a mad story. It's utter rubbish.' Then I took up the sheets and was just about to throw them into the fire when I thought I'd keep them for another day and think the thing over. That night in bed, while I was worrying about the impossibility of going on with the tale, the solution of my difficulty suddenly occurred to me. 'I'll make the hero mad,' I cried to myself, 'that will put everything right.' So the next day I wrote the introduction, explaining Peter's madness, and after that I went on with the work to the end without any more trouble."

'Yours ever, G. DU MAURIER.

'15 BAYSWATER TERRACE, LONDON, April 18, 1890.'"

Mr. du Maurier and Mr. Whistler

"PARIS.

J. M'NEILL WHISTLER.

August 31, 1894.

"'Yours respectfully,

HARPER & BROTHERS.

"'J. MCNEILL WHISTLER, ESQ.'"

"Trilby" Entertainments

OF ENTERTAINMENTS founded upon Mr. du Maurier's book, the name is legion. The most pretentious, and at the same time the most successful, was the series of "Scenes and Songs from 'Trilby,'" given at Sherry's in the afternoon and again in the evening of Saturday, February 9, for the benefit of that admirable institution, the New York Kindergarten Association. The affair, which had the advantage of distinguished patronage, was given under the special management of Mrs. Charles H. Ditson; Mr. E. Hamilton Bell arranged the details of scenery and costume; and among those who personated the various characters were several well-known artists.

The audience was a large one, which was excellent for the little ones who were to be benefited; and it was enthusiastic, which was only a just and fit tribute to managers, performers and singers. Every detail of the tableaux had been thought out with infinite care, and posing, grouping and make-up were as near perfection as du Maurier himself could have wished. The program included the singing of "Ben Bolt," "Bonjour, Suzon," "Au Clair de la Lune" and several other songs, and the following tableaux:--"The Three Musketeers of the Brush"; "Wistful and Sweet"; "Svengali"; "I will Not!"; "All As it Used to Be"; "Answer Me, Trilby!"; "The Soft Eyes"; "The Sweet Melodic Phrase"; "Dors, Ma Mignonne"; "The Nightingale's First Song"; "Malbrouck" and "It was Trilby." The entertainment opened most effectively with a quartet by Messrs. Devoll, Moore, Bracewell and Devoll. The first tableau, "Three Musketeers of the Brush," received the admiration it deserved, as did, also, the singing of Miss Akers and Mr. Mackenzie Gordon interspersed with the different tableaux. The first appearance of Trilby was awaited with impatient expectancy, and when she came, she proved to be "wistful and sweet," indeed, in the person of Mrs. Eric Pape, the wife of the well-known young artist. The last tableau of the second part, "It was Trilby," was most effectively arranged by Mr. Pape. The full cast of characters was as follows:--Trilby, Mrs. Eric Pape; Taffy, W. Harris Roome; The Laird, Evert Jansen Wendell; Little Billee, J. Gerald Benkard; Svengali, Robert Reid; Gecko, Eric Pape; Dodor, William Abbott; Zouzou, Franklin C. Butler; Mrs. Bagot, Mrs. J. Wells Champney; Miss Bagot, Miss Lilian Wing; Mme. Malbrouck, Mme. Bettini; Durien, Leslie G. Cauldwell; Blanchisseuse, Miss Lou-lou Noel; Fencer, Lieut. Gianni Bettini.

During the intermission between the first and second parts of the program, Mrs. Kate Douglas Wiggin sold a copy of "Trilby" presented by the Messrs. Harper. To this Mr. du Maurier and Mr. Henry James had contributed their autographs, and Dr. English a manuscript copy of his song "Ben Bolt." The volume fetched 0, making the net addition to the Kindergarten Association's treasury about 00.

AT MR. MANSFIELD'S Garrick Theatre, "Trilby" has been burlesqued. It had already been parodied in book-form, produced as a melodrama, read aloud in drawing-rooms, with music, and put on the platform in "scenes and songs," so that nothing was left to do with it but to make an "operatic burlesque" of it; and this was duly accomplished by Messrs. Joseph W. Herbert and Charles Puerner, the latter being responsible for the music and the former for the words. The piece is called "Thrilby." As in the serious play founded upon the novel, the villain is the principal figure; and mesmerism is carried to a ridiculous excess, even inanimate objects succumbing to its influence. There is a farce within this farce; for "Mme. Sans-G?ne" is parodied in a sub-play introduced under the name of "Mme. Sans Ra-G?ne." The burlesque is by no means free from horse-play, but it unquestionably accomplishes its purpose, which is merely to amuse.

At the Casino, as well as at the Garrick, "Trilby" and "Mme. Sans G?ne" have both been travestied.

'A little warmth, a little light Of love's bestowing--and so, good-night.'

"It is a pretty far cry from Paris to Omaha, but Trilby's voice seems to have carried that distance without the least trouble. It is worth remarking that these Omaha gentlemen made seven 'papers' about her without finding it necessary to discuss her morals."

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet