THEATRE REVIEWS

17. Alone in London (1885)

Alone in London; or, A woman against the world
by Robert Buchanan and Harriett Jay.
First Performance: Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia. 30 March, 1885.
New York: Park Theatre, Brooklyn. 18 May, 1885.
London: Olympic Theatre. 2 November, 1885 to 20 February, 1886 (107th performance).
Other Notable Performances:
Liverpool: Alexandra Theatre. 22 February, 1886. First date of provincial tour with the Olympic Theatre company, including Harriett Jay.
London: The Pavilion. 14 March, 1887.
Australia, Melbourne: Theatre Royal, 14 May, 1887.
London: Grand Theatre, Islington, 22 April, 1889.
London: Princess’s Theatre. 21 December, 1891 to 16 January, 1892.
Hanley: Theatre Royal. 20 June, 1898. (First date of the twelfth year of J. F. Elliston’s touring production.)
London: Princess’s Theatre. 30 September, 1899.

Novelisation: Alone in London / founded, by special permission, on the above popular drama by Harriet Jay and R. Buchanan. (London: 1892. Aldine Publishing Company. 62p; 22 cm. Series: Home library of powerful dramatic tales: 26.)
Film: Alone in London, directed by Larry Trimble, starring Florence Turner, 1915.
(Harriett Jay played the roles of both Tom Chickweed and Annie Meadows.)

Alone in London - the Programme
(The Olympic Programme and Looker-On - 7th November, 1885.)

From Harriett Jay’s biography of Robert Buchanan:

Chapter XXIV: Play-Writing:
“But the play which made the most money was “Alone in London,” the very one for which he cared the least; indeed, he could never bring himself to speak of it with anything but contempt. However, it has never failed to make money for everybody connected with it, but the money so earned brought him no satisfaction, for he was always ashamed of the source from which it sprang, and so, taking my consent for granted, he sold the piece for an absurdly small sum to Messrs. Miller and Elliston, and so parted with the goose which laid the golden eggs.”

Chapter XXVI: ‘On The Turf.’ Written by Mr. Henry Murray:
“If he took a theatre he invariably lost by hundreds and sometimes by thousands, and that too on the very plays which founded the fortunes of others, as, for instance, when he sold “Alone in London” for a mere song, to see it patrol the provinces year in year out, reaping a golden harvest for its lucky purchasers, who confessed that within ten years they had amassed £14,000 clear profit by the transaction.”

My original introduction to this section was to a large extent inspired by that line in Harriett Jay’s biography: “taking my consent for granted, he sold the piece for an absurdly small sum to Messrs. Miller and Elliston, and so parted with the goose which laid the golden eggs.” Now, having read the chapter on Buchanan in G. R. Sims’ autobiography, My Life: Sixty Years’ Recollections of Bohemian London, it seems that Buchanan’s regular practice was to sell the rights to his successful plays as soon as it was convenient. He did it with The English Rose and The Trumpet Call, the most profitable of his Adelphi collaborations with Sims, and he also sold the rights to his other great success, Sophia. So, although it was obviously galling to Harriett Jay that the play she had co-written, Alone in London, continued to rake in the cash from its provincial tours (especially considering the bankruptcy of 1894 and those final months of Buchanan’s illness), his action cannot really be put down to his hatred of this specific play. Rather, it was due to his general inability to manage his money. And if it appears strange that I should devote so much space to the play “for which he cared the least”, it is due to the fact that it was so popular and for so long (the last review I came across was from 1909, twenty-four years after its first performance), that there is more material available. Even though Robert Buchanan didn’t like it, it would seem that a lot of other people did.

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1. Alone in London in America

     i. Buchanan’s account of the American origins of the play from the Olympic programme.

    ii. Extracts from reviews of the American productions from the Olympic programme.

   iii. Articles and reviews from American papers about Alone in London.

   iv. A little more about Cora Tanner.

2. Alone in London in London

     i. Programme for the performance of Alone in London on Saturday, 7th November, 1885.

    ii. Extracts of reviews from the Programme.

   iii. Reviews of the Alone in London at the Olympic Theatre.

3. Alone in London - Letters to the Press

     First night problems, the Roselle v. Conover court case, and Arthur Lotto.

4. Alone in London - Court Case

     Accounts of the Roselle v. Conover wrongful dismissal suit.

5. Alone in London after the Olympic

     i. Additional reviews of provincial tours and revivals.

    ii. Alone in London - the film.

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Next: Sophia (1886)

Back to Bibliography, Plays, Harriett Jay Theatre Reviews or Buchanan’s Theatrical Ventures in America.