THEATRE REVIEWS

10. Storm-Beaten (1883) - continued

New-York Daily Tribune (8 July, 1883)

     MISS DOLARO’S NEW PLAY.—Selina Dolaro has sold her comedy to Shook & Collier of the Union Square, and they are quite enthusiastic about it. Miss Dolar is more modest, however, and does not want anything said about it yet awhile, “as it is not to be done until after the run of ‘Storm Beaten.’” That will in all probability be a very short one, for “Storm Beaten” appears to be a stupid sort of heavy drama which Collier bought at the round price of $10,000 much as he might have bought “a pig in a poke” or accepted a gift horse, without looking at it. It is to be hoped that Mr Collier has not made as big a mistake in this selection of “Storm Beaten” as in his judgment of “Coney Island,” for laughing at which farce he still blames his friends. Miss Dolaro is to perform in her comedy, but what sort of a part, the fair opera bouffe artist refuses to tell—“just yet.”

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Davenport Weekly Gazette (Iowa) (22 August, 1883 - p.12)

     Robert Buchanan intends to come to America next Winter to supervise the performance of a play made out of his “God and Man.”

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The New York Times (18 November, 1883)

     The closing up of the Union-Square Theatre during the coming week is purely to prepare for the production of “Storm Beaten,” which is a play that will, in some respects, test the capacity of this stage as it has never been tested before. Mr. Jefferson could easily have done another week of very large business, and would have liked to do so, instead of jumping his costly company from here to Chicago, as he will now be obliged to by the limited express train this morning. The Jefferson company rented the Union-Square Theatre outright, instead of sharing with Messrs. Shook and Collier. The members of the regular Union-Square organization will have a tumultuous week from now on. They will play every night in Brooklyn, and rehearse every day in New-York. They are already under good discipline as to the plain sailing business of their parts, but they have now to work with the scenery and properties to be used in the play. These will be more extensive and elaborate than any that have ever been employed in any production upon this particular stage. As the managers are limited for space, the most careful preparation of the smallest details is demanded. One of the sets will be particularly hard to handle. It represents a ship caught in a vast ice-floe, which breaks up at the end of the act, allowing the vessel to sink into the water and float off. It was difficult to make this effect realistic, even upon the large stage of the Adelphia in London, where “Storm-beaten” was originally brought out and within the confined space of the Union-Square, the task is made doubly hard. But Mr. Marston, Mr. Cazauran, and the carpenters have exercised their ingenuity to its utmost, and Mr. Collier has expressed himself as satisfied with the result. The device of pasting mica upon the canvas to give the polished, brilliant surface of real ice, has been tried and is said to work well. Much is expected of this effect. The other strong scenes of the play, from the painter’s stand-point, represent the deck of an ocean vessel and the interior of a church. The latter scene will embrace the close of the play, which has in this respect undergone considerable alteration from the original, at the hands of Mr. Cazauran. The story formerly ended in a graveyard, and was not, in this respect, conducive of cheerful thoughts to go to bed on. Mr. Cazauran has arranged to finish the play with a double wedding. Mr. Rankin, who is to play the hero, has been subjecting himself to the process usually followed by Prof. Sullivan when preparing himself for the knocking out of ambitious citizens, and there has been a consequent falling away in Mr. Rankin’s abdominal regions. His mustache, which was the joy of his soul, has likewise gone the way of things that must be sacrificed to the cause of rejuvenation, and Mr. Rankin now seems a rather jolly, round-faced youngster, whose conversation suggests experience beyond his years.

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The New York Times (27 November, 1883)

AMUSEMENTS.

“STORM BEATEN.”

     It is not exaggeration to say that a second part in the career of a famous and brilliant playhouse was opened last night when the thirteenth regular season at the Union-Square Theatre was begun with a performance of Mr. Robert Buchanan’s drama, “Storm Beaten.” For a long while this theatre was managed with remarkable tact, enterprise, and sagacity. It acquired a reputation which was undoubtedly well measured and deserved. Unfortunately, the seasons at this house were cut shorter and shorter, until the Union-Square Theatre lost much of its local renown. Its accomplished director made, we believe, a serious blunder in turning his fine company loose upon this broad country, and especially upon all the small towns that lie between here and San Francisco. A great New-York company has its life and opportunity in New-York. However, the new management of the theatre appreciates a truth which should not have been lost sight of. The company of the Union-Square Theatre will hereafter belong to our City, not to the Western prairies. If, then, it is wisely directed, a certain and splendid popularity will be accorded to it. There is no reason, one is led to think, why such an intelligent organization should not be wisely directed. Its quality is high and fine; this means that plays of fine quality should be produced at the Union-Square Theatre, not plays which degrade public taste and discourage that large class of observers who find so little of worth, interest, and beauty upon the contemporary stage. It is surely as unsafe to take too low a view of popular taste as to take a too lofty and abstract view of it. A theatre can, with proper spirit and foresight, create and maintain its own standard of taste, its own public, its own traditions. This was shown practically in the record of the Union-Square Theatre until a few years ago; it has been shown as cogently in the establishment of two other local theatres.
     At any rate, a pleasant beginning was effected last night, when the house held a large and sympathetic assemblage, and when a respectable play was acted with force and dignity. It is proper to suggest, nevertheless, that plays like “Storm Beaten” are not the best plays for a small theatre and a shallow stage, and that, more especially, the future of the Union-Square Theatre ought not to depend upon scenic melodrama. “Storm Beaten” is hardly more than a scenic melodrama. Yet it is a play which will interest many persons, chiefly, perhaps, because it is so well exhibited and acted. Mr. Buchanan, the author of “Storm Beaten,” is a Scotch poet and novelist. He is a much better poet than novelist—an unequal and isolated poet, too. He is often classed with a small group of distinguished British writers—Morris, Rossetti, and Swinburne. But he hardly belongs to this group. The strongest praise that can be given to him is that, while he has written an abundance of florid and orphic rhetoric, he also wrote “Idyls and Legends of Inverburn” and “London Poems.” Readers of these poems will not fail to acknowledge that Mr. Buchanan has dramatic feeling and instinct. His “Liz” and “Nell” and “Meg Blane,” for example, are both dramatic conceptions and poetic studies. It was not singular, therefore, that Mr. Buchanan should try to make his place in the theatre. But his dramas have not been successful. They have been considerably less successful than his novels. “Storm Beaten” is a dramatization, or, to be more exact, a theatrical arrangement of his romance called “God and Man.” The version of it given last night is a free recasting of his scheme and story. In this version the whole drift of the story at the end is new, and goes wide of Mr. Buchanan’s novel and play. However, it is not likely that the Scotchman’s drama has been injured or weakened by the American adapter. The play is essentially second rate, and its effect is meant to be theatrical, not dramatic. But we have, on the whole, described “Storm Beaten” judiciously as a respectable play. It will serve the purpose of entertainment and do little for the reputation of Mr. Buchanan. There is, one may admit, some agreeable, fresh, and tender interest in this play; its plot is built upon a dramatic idea, but the idea is carried out conventionally and in the spirit of scenic melodrama. The play opens in the home of the Christiansons—Dame Christianson, her daughter Kate, and her son Christian. It is learned in a prologue and in the first act that Kate has been betrayed by Richard Orchardson, a son of the rich Squire Orchardson. Christian discovers that fact. Meanwhile, both Christian and Orchardson are eager to win the love of Priscilla Sefton, the daughter of a blind Wesleyan preacher. The situation in which these characters are placed is, it will be perceived, coherent and dramatic; but Mr. Buchanan falls at once into sensationalism when his third act begins. The scenes of this third act represent the deck of a steamer, a ship bound fast in icebergs, and an open sea. In these scenes it is shown that Orchardson tried to set fire to the ship in which Christian and Priscilla are lodged; the ship collides with an iceberg; the travelers find themselves housed unexpectedly amid masses of ice; there is a physical struggle between Christian and Orchardson while the ice is breaking; the various persons then float away on blocks of ice, and Orchardson falls into the water; this entertaining villain is then saved by what may be conveniently described as the hand of Providence. It is, of course, difficult to understand why Providence should save a scamp. There is afterward a meeting between Christian and Orchardson on a doleful shore of snow and ice; white mountains rise from a plain, the two men face one another amid a bleak and frigid loneliness, and an aurora glows in the sky-distance. Then there is a second breaking of ice, and the men are once more separated. In the last act Orchardson turns up a virtuous and repentant person. It appears than an excess of polar experience has transformed his unpleasant nature. Finally, Christian comes again upon the scene, and a double wedding brings the play to an end. Christian marries Priscilla; Orchardson marries Kate. To quote the programme: “Man proposes and God disposes.” That, at least, is a sapient remark.
     The play has its merits and its faults. But the acting of it was of that balanced, intelligent, spirited kind which it is a pleasure to observe and to praise. The play went smoothly in its mechanism. This mechanism was arranged effectively, the icebergs accomplished their work promptly, and the panoramic part of the play was striking and beautiful. The ice scenes, however, lacked perspective and illusion on the small stage of this theatre, though Mr. Marston, the painter of the scenery, was perfectly successful with his woodlands, interiors, and house-structures. The slight characters in the play were in capable hands. Indeed, the entire action upon the stage was significant. The performance by important persons in the cast had that grace, vitality, and harmony which are, it is said, found only in English and French companies. If there is an English company equal to the company which gave “Storm Beaten” last night we shall take pains to discover it. Miss Ellsler’s charm of manner and frank method were clearly visible in her performance of Priscilla; Miss Maud Harrison, who is a bright actress in comedy, put genuine pathos into her acting of Kate Christianson; Mr. McKee Rankin gave ruggedness and fervor to his Christian Christianson, though Mr. Rankin has a bad vocal method; Mr. Whiting acted Orchardson in a right spirit; Mr. Stoddart, Mr. Parselle, Mr. Charles Collins, Mr. Charles Stanley, Mr. William H. Seymour, and the others—all excellent and trained players—added strength to this performance. There was much applause during the evening.

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New-York Daily Tribune (27 November, 1883 - p.4)

MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.
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STORM-BEATEN.

     The presentation of character, wrought upon by experience and displayed in its development, under dramatic circumstances, would seem to be the proper object of theatrical literature and histrionic art. The best plays, certainly, are those which accomplish that result. Another kind of play—by no means the best, but sometimes effective and popular—is that which aims, simply and solely, to tell a story by means of stage pictures. Mr. Buchanan’s “Storm-Beaten” is a play of this kind. He made it out of one of his novels,—thus telling over again, through theatrical expedients, a tale that he had already told in narrative. It is a tale kindred with that of “The Frozen Deep,” and it makes much the same sort of a play. The chief person in it is a brave, chivalrous, resolute, intrepid young fellow, whose sister has been seduced and abandoned by a scoundrel, and who determines to pursue, and does pursue, her seducer, through many perilous scenes,—being resolved to kill him, but, at last, rejecting the opportunity of revenge, and giving a strong practical illustration of magnanimous charity.
     This is not a very brilliant scheme. Nevertheless Mr. Buchanan has so treated it as to present, in its evolution, several scenes of a highly pictorial and striking character, several surprising and effective incidents, and, taken altogether, a drama that feeds the eyes, excites interest, holds the spectator’s mind in pleasurable suspense, and leaves a comfortable impression of virtue triumphant over vice,—through the miraculous interposition of fortunate chance. “Storm-Beaten” was brought out here last night, in the Union Square Theatre, where its performance, which lasted till a late hour, was eagerly viewed and cordially liked and applauded by a large audience, such as not even the chillest and dreariest of November storms could discourage in its kindly sympathy and enthusiasm.
     There is not much room for comment on the play. Its story, for the most part, is fanciful and wild. The main occurrences—put forward, of course, as credible facts—are such as do not and could not occur anywhere upon this earth. Their realm is fiction, and only in that realm are they appropriate or admissible. To read about them would be pleasant enough. To see them is to be half amused at their absurdity and half astonished at their boldness—till at length thought reposes in the tolerant admission that, if such things could really be, they certainly would be most harrowing and pathetic. The incidents are chiefly preposterous, besides being mostly hackneyed ingredients of old melo-drama; but Mr. Buchanan has suffused them with the fancy and the feeling of a poet, and it becomes easily possibly to view his work as an ideal picture, as a romance, and not as the pretended transcript of actual life. Indeed the people in it are essentially ideal—for anybody quite so virtuous as Mr. Christian Christianson (a double-barrelled saint, as his name seems to imply) it would be difficult to find, this side of Heaven; and a meaner, more ruthless, detestable, and altogether nefarious rascal than Mr. Richard Orchardson has seldom been extant, this side of the region directly opposite. These are the contrasted parties, and the rest are, in like manner, with little exception, either cardinal virtues or cardinal vices personified in the human form. The scene is partly a rural place in England, and partly the North Atlantic. The first half of the piece is much better than the last, for the reason that the author’s invention seems, at about the middle of the work, to have made a spasmodic vault into heedless extravagance. After that the hero is put in irons, in a ship’s hold, and the villain sets fire to the ship—himself and the woman he loves being on board, and on the ocean—and then the ship strikes an iceberg. Frightful sufferings are endured and terrible things happen to Orchardson and Christianson, till suddenly a rescue is effected; when the hero is plighted in matrimony to the lady whom the villain has been pursuing, and the villain goes home and marries the girl whom he had formerly cast aside.
     There is, in this work, the moral intention to teach the futility and wickedness of the feeling of revenge. But the romantic tone of the play and the fine scenery in which it is framed will do more to carry it than its trite and obvious morality. Spectators who like sensational stage effects may here find them, abundantly provided and finely made. The Ice Field is a pageant. With the English landscape the painter has been less successful. Mr. Marston, the scenic artist, was called out three times. Mr. McKee Rankin and Miss Effie Ellsler made their first appearance as leaders of the Union Square Theatre Company, last night.
     Mr. Parselle and Mr. Stoddart were hailed with fervent enthusiasm. Earnest applause rewarded the strong sketch of the righteously resentful old Dame Christianson, by Mrs. E. J. Phillips. Among the minor hits of the night was the hearty sailor-lad, done with a capital song by Charles Stanley. Mr. W. N. Leyman gave pleasant prominence to the rustic bumpkin, Jabez Greene, and Miss Eloise Willis presented, in a piquant and charmingly free way, a little dairy-maid, Sally Marvel. Mr. Stoddard has a prosy old blind parson to represent, but he does this with sweet and gentle dignity. Miss Ellsler was the chief figure of the group—womanly, winning, true at every point, and marked by lovely repose and bold and precise execution. Miss Maud Harrison carried a serious character—to which her nature seems less exactly fitted than it is for mirth and innocent mischief—with true feeling, and in one difficult scene (that of the betrayed girl’s confession to the priest) she carried the unanimous plaudits of the house. There is somewhat too much of preparation in the first half of the play—honest though the mechanism be and fine as the feeling unquestionably is—for the sensation effects that are to follow. The union of these contrasted elements, however, proved successful, and the drama has doubtless entered on a prosperous run.
     Mr. McKee Rankin bore a manly performance, gentle, but suitably rough, and he was welcomed with special good-will. Mr. J. E. Whiting gave a most ungrateful character in an easy manner, but made it at least pleasant as art if, not as morals or humanity.
     “Storm-Beaten” was first produced, on March 14, 1883, at the Adelphi Theatre, London. Mr. Charles Warner played Christianson, and Mr. Barnes played Orchardson. Here, as produced last night, the cast stands as follows:

Squire Orchardson of the Willows   .....     John Parselle
Richard Orchardson, his son           .....     Joseph E. Whiting
Dame Christianson, of the Fen Farm          Mrs. E. J. Phillips
Christian Christianson, her son         .....     McKee Rankin
Katie Christianson, her daughter      .....     Maud Harrison
Mr. Sefton, a Wesleyan preacher    .....     J. H. Stoddart
Priscilla Sefton, his daughter            .....     Effie Ellsler
Jacob Marvel, a cobbler                 .....     Charles Collins
Sally Marvel, his daughter               .....     Eloise Willis
Jabez Greene, a shepherd               .....     William H. Seymour
Johnnie Downs, a sailor                  .....     Charles Stanley
Captain E. S. Higginbotham            .....     E. L. Tilton
Mate                                              .....     J. H. Quigley
Carpenter                                       .....     William Morse
Sexton                                            .....     Lysander Thompson
Jacob Foraker                                .....     J. H. Wilson
Cabin Boy                                      .....     Master Billings
Madge Somers                              .....     Annie Cameron
Lucy Roberts                                 .....     Marie Greenwald
May Budd                                     .....     Fannie Gillette
Ruth                                              .....     Lillian Greer
Jennie Jansen                                 .....     Evelyn Champneys
Annie Forester                               .....     Louise Hamblin    
Mother Fenella                              .....     Miss Wetherell

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The New York Times (30 November, 1883)

     Mr. Steele Mackaye’s new folding theatre chair, which had its first trial on Monday night at the Union-Square, has thus far caused a good deal of amusement, not unmingled with indignation. The amusement rests with the people who are already seated, and is indulged wholly at the expense of those who are about taking their seats. Between the acts at the Union-Square this week there has been quite as much amusement as during the progress of the play. On Wednesday evening a TIMES writer, who went early and staid late, had ample opportunity to observe the interest created by Mr. Mackaye’s chairs. A gentleman came in with a lady, and when they had been shown to their chairs by the usher the gentleman politely drew down the seat and stepped back to let the lady pass. As soon as he removed his hand from the seat it quietly folded up. He seemed slightly surprised, and pushed it back again into the proper position for use. Again moving to one side to let his companion by he took the pressure off for an instant and up came the seat again. An unpleasant flush crossed his face. The narrow aisle was choked up with people, and the gentleman seemed to feel embarrassed at the thought that they were waiting for him. The lady nudged him in the back with her fan and asked him to hurry. He seemed rather warm and dropped his overcoat on the floor. Then pushing the seat into place again, he huddled himself to one side, stood on the garment, held the seat down, and the lady managed to squeeze past him. As soon as she was in position and just ready to sit down her escort withdrew his hand, no doubt for reasons of self-preservation. The seat immediately began its upward journey, while an expression of mingled amazement and horror crossed the lady’s face. Barely in time to avert results of a spectacular character, she thrust her hand behind her and hurriedly sat down. Her face was a brilliant carmine for some time, and throughout the evening she sat preternaturally still and obviously afraid to move. The gentleman sat down with a sigh of measureless relief and passed the most of the evening in uncomplimentary analyses of Mr. Mackaye’s invention.
     Such events as these were of constant occurrence before the curtain went up on the first act. During the intermissions the occupants of the orchestra chairs read aloud for the delectation of their immediate neighbors minute descriptions of the new chairs and carefully noted the various matters which were in the programme, but not in the chair. It was found that there were no foot-rests available, and that the umbrella stands were not obvious. Had the foot-rests been in place, the rows of seats were so closely laid out that by no possibility could the possessor of normal legs have arranged his feet underneath the chair in front, because he must sit with those useful factors curled up beneath his own seat by reason of the firm planting of his knees against the chair ahead. The new aisles were at once seen to be by all odds too narrow. When the house is empty, and the aisle seats are all whirled back upon their axles, there is plenty of room in these passageways. But when the people begin to get seated, and the marginal chairs are in place, it is literally an impossibility to get through the aisles without jostling the people on both sides. More than that, the angle at which the seat is fastened to the floor gives the whole audience a forward pitch that is not pleasant either to behold or endure. The spectacle presented by a crowd of people all leaning out of plumb and firmly braced against the seats in front of them; is interesting but not comfortable.
     Between the acts Mr. Mackaye was found in a neighboring café applying himself to assiduous telephonic communication between his lips and a tumbler of lemonade, a straw serving to transmit the refreshing message. Mr. Mackaye was visibly clad in a voluminous ulster, and a tall silk hat which came down to the base of his skull, the bridge of his nose, and the jointure of his ears. In his mien there was some degree of excitement, commingled with a large amount of enthusiasm. “The chair is all right,” said he, suspending operations upon the empty tumbler. “It has not had a fair trial as yet. The whole lot of those seats in there have got to come out on Saturday. They are too closely set. Four inches more room will be allowed between the rows when we come to dispose the seats over again. The trouble is this: There is a steel guide which should be on the back of every chair. It is the brains of the whole invention. It serves to give the chair a grater sustaining power and holds the back in place. But when we had the house seated we found that it projected some three inches beyond the backs of the chairs, and that the people could not possibly be comfortable unless we took off the guides. It was then too late to remodel the house, and the guides had to go. We shall put in Saturday night and Sunday on widening the rows, putting on the new fixture, and perfecting the place generally.”
     “It needs it,” broke in the urbane Treasurer of the theatre, Mr. Leigh Lynch. “On the first night some of the chairs must have been simply nailed down, instead of being held in place by screws. This was probably done through the haste of the last moment. But the seats pulled up all the same, and that was unpleasant. Everybody seems to be interested in the invention, however, and as soon as the chair is in good working order I think it will be the best thing of its kind ever known in theatrical life. As to ‘Storm Beaten,’ it was difficult to tell by what the newspapers said about the play. From a box-office standpoint it seems to be all right. On the second and third nights we had more money in the house than we did on similar occasions at the beginning of ‘Lights o’ London’—and that was not a failure. The speculators, too, are buying tickets as far ahead as we will let them, and that has always been a favorable indication with us. When these men buy only a day or two in advance we know that means failure. When they get tickets as far off as we will sell, we have been taught by experience to regard that as an indication of success. Speculators are very materialistic personages, and their judgment upon the monetary quality of a play is pretty good as a general thing. I guess ‘Storm Beaten’ is all right.”

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The New York Times (9 December, 1883)

     There is no likelihood of an immediate change of programme at the Union-Square Theatre. Mr. Cazauran said yesterday that he thought “Storm Beaten” would run through the bulk of the season. When informed of rumors that the piece was soon to be taken off, he replied that the same sort of thing was invariably said of every new play produced at the Union-Square Theatre. “Why,” he declared, “when ‘Rose Michel’ was brought out Mr. Palmer came within an ace of taking it off after the first week. He was younger then at the business than he became before he finally left it, and he was consequently easily frightened by the general talk of failure. Well, ‘Rose Michel’ ran for three months to an average business of $900 a night. The Union-Square is a peculiar theatre. We have never been able to gauge the amount of success a production will receive until after the first two weeks. We can only guess at it by comparing the ledgers of the theatre, which, in the case of ‘Storm Beaten,’ show us that the receipts have up to date been considerably larger than those of any other play ever brought out here, for the corresponding period of time. Make your mind easy about ‘Storm Beaten.’ It will have a good run. If it should not finish the season it is probable—not positive, mind you, but only probable—that ‘La Justice,’ a French play imported by Brooks & Dickson, may follow it. There is nothing absolutely settled about that, and we do not even know how long ‘Storm Beaten’ may go.”
     From several authentic sources it was yesterday gathered that Mme. Dolaro’s play, called “Fashion,” would most positively not be produced at the Union-Square at any time, although a few weeks ago it was quite as definitely settled that it should be done to follow “Storm Beaten.” Mme. Dolaro was flitting about the theatre yesterday quite as airily as could be expected of any one weighted down with gum shoes and an umbrella. She talked vaguely of law, and then plunged wildly into the presence of Mr. Sheridan Shook and his perennial cigar. The story of the management is that Mme. Dolaro’s play was accepted conditionally upon her supplying the story with a much more important comedy interest, in which it was painfully deficient. The manuscript was duly returned and received another reading yesterday, when it is said to have been discovered that the injected comedy was wholly trivial and foreign to the play, as though it had been written in by another person than the author of the rest of the piece. For this reason it has been definitely determined to abandon the play altogether, and Mme. Dolaro will be likely, in view of this decision, to seek the redress which a lawsuit is said by those who have never tried it to grant.

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The Era (15 December, 1883 - Issue 2360)

HANLEY.

     THEATRE ROYAL. — Lessee, Mr James H. Elphinstone; Acting-Manager, Mr Charles G. Elphinstone. — Storm-Beaten, by Robert Buchanan, was presented here for the first time on Monday night to a crowded audience, and was received with every mark of approval, the principals being called before the curtain at the end of each act. Christian Christianson found an excellent exponent in Mr Edmund Tearle, and Miss Maud Clenham represented Priscilla Sefton in a most artistic manner. Miss Kate Clinton was also very good as Kate Christianson, and Mr Samuel Fisher as Richardson Orchardson, the bad young man of the piece, was all that could be desired.

[The Union Square Theatre’s 75th performance of Storm Beaten - from the E. J. Phillips website.]

New-York Daily Tribune (27 January, 1884 - p.7)

THE LOCAL STAGE THIS WEEK.

     The bad play of “Storm Beaten” has at last expired at the Union Square Theatre. No flowers. A new piece by Mr. Bartley Campbell, will be produced to succeed it tomorrow night.

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The Boston Daily Globe (7 May, 1884 - p.5)

“STORM BEATEN” AT THE GLOBE.
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A Noteworthy Production of a New York Success.

     “Storm Beaten” is the work of a poet-author, whose reputation is deservedly great. Yet Robert Buchanan’s play is in a good many respects an unsatisfactory dramatic production. The fact seems to be that “God and the Man,” like many another excellent novel, suffers loss of continuous interest and something of 'power in the process of stage adaptation. At the same time “Storm Beaten” has some decidedly effective scenes. It gives opportunity for some fine and quite elaborate stage effects; and in its conscientious attention to detail, as well as the earnest endeavor of all concerned in the cast to secure a worthy performance, the play’s presentation by the Union Square company is certainly worthy of note. It is a story of bitter family feud, of grievous wrongs done, of relentless pursuit, of revenge until the very moment that gives opportunity to compass the death of one who richly merited the high penalty, which, in its most interesting scenes, “Storm Beaten” seeks to tell. From the moment that the brother of the deeply injured Kate Christianson pauses in his work of vengeance, the drama loses in intensity. Ethically, the relenting of Christian towards the man who had proved so cruel an enemy, may be accepted with something like readiness—indeed, the gradual transformation of Christian’s character, as told in the pages of Mr. Buchanan’s novel, is one of the very strongest characteristics of the book. But in the stage version the interest begins to flag as soon as it is seen that the false Orchardson is to be saved. As for the Squire, the obdurate old father of the betrayer of Kate, he is made over into a “perfect angel” of a man in the last act; and '”Storm Beaten,” remarkable for the changes of heart and purpose which are brought about in various characters, comes to an end without a villain to be universally execrated after the good old fashion. Of course young Orchardson comes back repentant, wrings the hand of young Christianson as his preserver from perils like those which “The Frozen Deep” presents to view, and everybody is happy at the curtain’s fall. There is much good writing in “Storm Beaten.” But Mr. Buchanan’s lines almost invariably are better read than spoken. Now and then, in fact, the dialogue, poet-written though it be, verges on the ludicrous when Mr. Buchanan had in mind only serious purpose—such is the curious effect oftentimes of hearing “fine talk” from the mouths even of such skilful players as the Union Square company. So far as construction is concerned, “Storm Beaten” is put together without much apparent regard to the proper relation of scenes. The movement of the play at times is jerky, and the action of the play seems to lag. But to compensate for the manifold faults of “Storm Beaten” as a drama there are excellences not a few. The pictures of village life in England, the realization upon the stage of merry-making in the olden time, were very pleasant to look upon; and there is genuine power as well as (for the time) sustained interest in the scenes on the ship, as well as those which take place on the island in Northern seas, when the current of two lives is so strangely changed. Very winsome and lovable is the character of the Puritan-minded maiden, Priscilla Sefton, as drawn by Mr. Buchanan; and the personages which he introduces in the May festival scene seem to be real villagers, no absurdly impossible stage folk. One can hardly say as much of the author’s chief people. The Orchardsons and the Christiansons are old acquaintances under a new name; and Mr. Buchanan’s sailors, with their “Avast now,” and predilection towards song at all sorts of times, are closely related to the traditional British tar, supposed to have flourished A. D. 1700. Captain Higginbotham is as worthy of his curious crew as Captain Corcoran was of commanding the men of the “Pinafore.”
     “Storm Beaten” is played in a prologue and five acts. With the elaborate scenery and mechanical effects introduced in the ship and “aurora” scene, a good deal of time was necessarily passed in waits, and the curtain did not fall until 11.10 o’clock. The audience was very large and predisposed to enthusiasm. Mr. Edmund Collier acted the role of Christian with spirit and occasional overdemonstrativeness. Mr. B. T. Ringgold’s personation Richard Orchardson was not particularly good. There was much to interest in Miss Maud Harrison’s personation of the injured maiden, Kate. She was seen to command pathos no less than the lighter comedy skill which has made her a special favorite hitherto. As for Miss Effie Ellsler’s portraiture of Priscilla, who is the guiding angel of Christian’s life, it was thoroughly charming. The lady never appeared to better advantage. Mr. Stoddart, as the blind preacher, Dr. Sefton, was not at all in his element, yet his performance was conscientious and careful. With a word of praise to Mr. W. H. Seymour for his amusing acting as a good-hearted country yokel, the general performance may be considered as sufficiently reviewed. “Storm Beaten” is very handsomely staged, all the original scenery effects being brought from New York to make the production noteworthy. It will be given at the Globe till further notice.

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The New York Times (16 May, 1884)

     The Messrs. Shook & Collier, in common with a good many other managers, regard as rather odd the reception of their two principal pieces of this season by that portion of the general public which has its residence in the vague quarter known as “the road.” A few weeks ago “Separation,” with the original cast and scenery from the Union-Square Theatre, played in Boston to pretty bad business. Last week “Storm Beaten,” minus several important members of the original cast, played in the same city to houses that were literally enormous. This is regarded as an instance that the theory of the value of metropolitan opinion is not at all infallible. “Storm Beaten” was not generally regarded in New-York as a good play—as one likely to make any great amount of money. “Separation” was, on the other hand, spoken of as one of the best pieces of theatrical property seen here in a long time. But “Storm Beaten,” under the least favorable circumstances, is invariably drawing immense houses, while “Separation” is not anywhere near it in point of receipts. The Union-Square will not be opened again until next August. Its season was exceedingly profitable. The regular company will not return until October, the theatre being until that time in the hands of combinations, who pay the management a large weekly sum by way of rental.

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The New York Times (26 August, 1884)

GRAND OPERA HOUSE.

Jay Gould’s box in the Grand Opera House was fringed with red, white, and blue a yard wide last night. Within this gorgeous setting were Commander Schley and his family and a party of friends. Chief Engineers Melville, Nauman, and Lowe, Lieuts. Semly and Sebur, and Dr. Greene were in the box above, while directly opposite were Commander Coffin and his family. Robert Buchanan, the novelist and author of the play of the evening, “Storm Beaten,” fresh from London, looked down upon his work from another box, with friends on every side, while sitting in a row, bolt upright, in the best seats in the house were 20 or more of the sailors of the Greely relief expedition. If an appreciative audience gives pleasure to a writer Mr. Buchanan must have been in ecstasies last night. Ninety-five out of every hundred of the seats in the house were filled with auditors who applauded the hero and execrated the villain in the most approved manner. The play was given by Shook & Collier’s combination, and the cast, taken as a whole, was a good one. The principal male part fell to Mr. Edmund Collier, whose vigorous acting won him much applause. Miss Belle Jackson, formerly of the Madison-Square Theatre, was cast as Priscilla Sefton, and she played the part naturally and with good taste. Mr. Augustus J. Bruno, who became a favorite in New York in plays of “The Brook” type, succeeded in creating much laughter as the shepherd. The scenery was excellent, and the effects were very realistic.

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The New York Mirror (30 August, 1884 - p.2)

     The Grand Opera House was comfortably filled Monday night when Shook and Collier’s combination appeared in Storm-Beaten. The author, Robert Buchanan, saw his piece on this occasion for the first time in America. Members of the Greely relief party occupied a private box, which was liberally draped in bunting. The performance was well received and the observers became quite enthusiastic over the genuine Arctic survivors who figured in the ice scene. Edmund Collier gave his vigorous, manly personation of the inflexible Christian, and John T. Burke fully developed the forbidding characteristics of Richard Orchardson. A. J. Bruno as Jabez and L. F. Rand as Parson Sefton were acceptable. Belle Jackson acted Priscilla sweetly, and Lizzie C. Hudson created a favorable impression as Kate. The minor parts were generally well played. The staging was even better than that of the original production at the Union Square Theatre. The attraction at this house next week will be Mr. Campbell’s Separation.

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The New York Times (25 September, 1884)

A CRY OF FIRE IN A CROWDED THEATRE.

     The curtain rose to a crowded house at the performance of “Storm Beaten,” in the Mount Morris Theatre, in Harlem, on Tuesday night. The fire scene was being enacted when the cry of “Fire!” three times repeated, rang through the building. Many blanched faces were visible among the audience, but the continuance of the play reassured them, and the panic which was imminent was averted. One excited individual in the gallery, from whence the cry emanated, was about to rush down the stairway when he was stopped by Roundsman McKenna, who allayed his fears and then started in search of the person who has raised the cry. A youth named Francis McCarron, residing at No. 2,446 Fourth-avenue, was pointed out by Louis Eisler as having caused the alarm, and the Roundsman and Policeman Edmiston took him into custody. The accused said in the Harlem court that he was not in the theatre at all, but Eisler was positive that he was the guilty person, and Justice Welde sent him to the Island for one month.

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The Daily Bee (Omaha, Nebraska) (9 February, 1885 - p.8)

“Storm Beaten.”

     An Omaha audience had its first opportunity last week to witness Robert Buchanan’s play of “Storm Beaten,” arranged from his own romance entitled “God and the Man.” It follows the story about as closely as most dramatizations do, except in the ending, which is much better in the play than in the novel. It is a strong spectacular drama, finely set, well played, and scored a distinct success. The plot, in brief, is a family feud between the Orchardsons and Christiansons, in which the daughter of the latter is betrayed by the son of the former. Young Christianson, Mr. Edmund Collier, swears vengeance on his sister’s seducer, who is also his own rival, and follows him to the Arctic regions for revenge. The vessel in which both men, and the lady whose love they both sick, are, is wrecked on the ice. The rivals remain in the floe when the rest escape, but Christianson forbears vengeance and offers his enemy half his food to sustain life. Relief finally arrives and all ends happily. There are enough characters in the play to populate a small village and most of them  are well interpreted. The Squire Orchardson of Mr. Winter, the Richard of Mr. John T. Burke and the Dame Christianson of Mrs. Isabella Preston afforded no great opportunities, but are given with all the success they deserve. Mr. Collier’s Christianson is a very good personation, and shows him to be possessed of much force and feeling. Miss Lizze C. Hudson as Kate, gave a very effective piece of work, and received much applause. Priscilla Sefton, the daughter of the blind preacher, is a pretty character and prettily played by Miss Charlotte Wayland. The comedy element in the play is well introduced by Mr. Augustus J. Bruno, who as Jabez Greene, a shepherd lout, is very amusing. The Sally Marvel of Miss May Steele also deserves favorable mention.

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The Stage (18 June, 1886 - p.14)

GRAND.

     Mr. Robert Buchanan’s drama, Stormbeaten, has proved a capital selection for the holiday programme at this house, and has been received with great appreciation and applause. Since the first production at the Adelphi on March 14, 1883, the play has undergone some modifications, and these are, in part, improvements, although something of the rugged intensity of the original may have been lost. The scene on the ice-floe has been considerably altered, and in consequence the play ends differently. For instance, Richard Orchardson now meets his death on the Island of Desolation, as in the novel. And this, as we pointed out at the time, is more dramatic than allowing him to return to health and happiness, as was the case in the original adaptation. Mr. Charles Warner’s Christian Christianson is a well-matured performance, which has not by any means deteriorated by frequent repetition. He is pleasant and genial in a natural and unaffected style, whilst his emotions in the more impassioned parts of the play are expressed with quiet and unforced, but none the less effective, power. Mr. W. L. Abingdon, who looks well in an old fashioned dress, plays Richard Orchardson with much skill and judgment, and his efforts deserve unqualified commendation. Mr. Eardley Turner gives a clever character sketch of Jabez Greene, and Mr. A. Wheatman is bluff and humorous as Johnnie Downs, singing the introduced song with good effect. Mr. C. W. Spencer does good work as Squire Orchardson, and Mr. E. R. Fitzdavis is hearty and genial and acceptable as the captain of the Miles Standish, whilst Mr. Wells and Mr. Markwell do good service as Mr. Sefton and Jacob Marvel respectively. Miss Rachel de Solla displays considerable emotional skill as Kate Christianson, and Miss Ellen O’Reilly makes a graceful and arch Priscilla. Miss Blanche Garnier makes the most of the small part of Dame Christianson, and Miss Jennie Wilton does her best to amuse in the character of Sally Marvel. The farce Taming a Tiger precedes, and is rattled through in good style.

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The Era (19 June, 1886 - Issue 2491)

THE GRAND.

     The holiday attraction here has been Mr Robert Buchanan’s stirring and interesting Adelphi drama Storm Beaten, which on Monday night was witnessed by a crowded audience not slow to manifest appreciation and to give cheer after cheer to the principal performers, among whom was included Mr Charles Warner in his original impersonation of Christian Christianson, in which he scored such a signal success when the play was first brought out in the Strand in the spring of 1883. His acting in the part has lost nothing in the process of time, and on Monday he had no difficulty in arresting and sustaining the keenest interest of his audience. The rôle of Christian’s enemy Richard Orchardson has been well enacted by Mr W. L. Abingdon, and great has been the excitement attendant upon the scene upon the ice floe between these two. Mr Eardley Turner on Monday did justice to the character of Jabez Greene, and, since then, has also done duty for Mr Fitzdavis—absent through illness—in the character of Capt. Higginbotham. Miss Rachel de Solla has shown pathetic power as Kate Christianson. Miss Helen O’Reilly has played well as Priscilla, and others doing useful service have been Mr A. Wheatman as Johnnie Downs, Mr Spencer as Squire Orchardson, Miss Blanche Garnier as Dame Christianson, and Miss Jennie Wilton, a bright and diverting Sally Marvel.

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The Weekly Dispatch (20 June, 1886 - p.7)

GRAND.

     It does not seem to have been generally noticed that the version of Mr. Buchanan’s “Storm Beaten” now being played at the Islington theatre differs as much from the Adelphi play produced in 1883 as that did from the novel, “God and the Man.” The fifth act, in which the two deadly enemies, Christian Christianson and Richard Orchardson, return to their native village, the latter deeply penitent and anxious to make atonement for his heinous crimes, is wholly excised, and the play now ends with the scene on the ice-bound rock where Richard attempts the life of Christian, and is shot by a rescuing party. The end is extremely abrupt, and the spectator is left to imagine a good deal. If we mistake not, the dialogue has also been considerably modified, and some of the too frequent appeals to the Deity removed. As it stands “Storm Beaten” is a brisk and impressive melodrama; and, though the present performance will not compare with that at the Adelphi either in the matter of acting or in the scenery and stage business, it is sufficiently good to satisfy the requirements of ordinary playgoers. The chief attraction is Mr. Charles Warner, who resumes his original part of Christian, and impersonates it in the forcible, energetic manner that an audience at a melodrama appreciates so well. His hated rival, Orchardson, who seems to take a pleasure in piling up acts of villainy, has a capable exponent in Mr. W. L. Abingdon, who on Monday was hissed and hooted most strenuously throughout the evening. Miss Ellen O’Reilly is winsome and charming as the pretty Puritan, Priscilla Sefton, a part originally taken by Miss Eweretta Lawrence, and Miss Rachel de Solla replaces Miss Amy Roselle as Orchardson’s unfortunate victim, Kate Christianson. Other characters are efficiently portrayed by Miss Jennie Wilton, Miss Blanche Garnier, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Marklew. We must not forget to mention Mr. Warner’s magnificent dog, who comported himself in the prologue with becoming dignity his face expressing the utmost scorn when someone in the gallery made an inquiry concerning his muzzle.

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The New York Times (11 September, 1886) 

CHARGES OF MALPRACTICE.

     CHICAGO, Sept. 10.—Alonzo Blondin, leading juvenile of Robert Buchanan’s “Storm Beaten” company was arrested to-night as accessory to criminal malpractice. Dr. Albert E. Palmer was arrested as the principal. Miss Kitty Reber, Buchanan’s leading lady, is at the Harrison Court Hotel, in a critical condition, the result, it is alleged, of their crime. Blondin and Palmer deny the charges. Miss Kitty Reber is a sister of Sallie Reber, whose death about a year ago in New-York, under peculiar circumstances, created a sensation.

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The New York Times (12 September, 1886) 

NOT A RELATIVE OF MISS REBER.

     CHICAGO, Sept. 11.—It is now said that Miss Kitty Rober, the actress who is lying ill here, under peculiar circumstances, is no relation to Miss Sallie Reber, the actress whose secret marriage to Mr. Fish, in New-York a year ago, caused much comment.

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The Boston Sunday Globe (31 October, 1886 - p.10)

“Storm Beaten” at the Howard.

     With all its original scenic marvels, including as a matter of course the great aurora borealis effect in the Arctic waste, “Storm Beaten” is to be the dramatic offering this week at the Howard Athenæum. It is under the management of Douglass White and Lee Townsend that this successful play by Robert Buchanan, the poet-dramatist, is now to be seen. Josie Batchelder, well known in this city, will assume the role of Kate Christianson, while Jennie Bright is to appear as the noble-minded Priscilla, with James J. Tlghe as Christian, George F. James as Richard, W. S. Teople as the squire, P. A. Nannary as the blind preacher, J. K. O’Neil as the yokel Jabez Green, and Annie Williams as the dairy maid, Sally Marvel.

[Advert for Storm-Beaten from The Boston Sunday Globe (4 November, 1888)]

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