In May, Joseph Goodman, owner of the Virginia City Enterprise, and long-time friend of Twain, wrote to tell him of the stage version of The Gilded Age. Twain also received word from his coauthor, Warner, who had seen notices of the play in the San Francisco papers.
Twain, upon publication of the book, had taken advantage of a new copyright law and had also secured the dramatic copyright to the work; so he immediately cabled San Francisco and legally stopped the performance of Densmore's play.
According to Albert Bigelow Paine, Twain's biographer, Densmore and Clemens knew each other from Twain's earlier days in the west, where they were both part of the social circle of Joseph Lawrence, the editor of the Golden Era. (1) Densmore and Raymond complied with the order, and ceased performances of the play. Mr. Densmore stated that he was unaware that he was infringing on any copyrights.
In all fairness to Densmore, one must realize that the free and uncompensated dramatization of literary works was a fairly common practice at the time. In fact, unauthorized publications of entire literary works regularly appeared. But then again, in 1873, Densmore had taken a popular Bret Harte story, "M'liss," and published a longer retelling of the tale in the Golden Era, without acknowledging that his work was not Harte's story. Bret Harte called Densmore's piece "a swindle on the public." (2) Twain, himself, was in the forefront of those fighting literary piracy.
Densmore and Clemens negotiated an amicable settlement, wherein Densmore, Raymond, and company apparently kept the income from the San Francisco production, and Clemens bought Densmore's script for $200. This was quite generous on the part of Clemens, since Densmore's script was illegal.
Twain quickly rewrote the play in July, 1874. He talked over the part of Colonel Sellers with the great American actor, Edwin Booth; but, in the end, the play was leased back to the actor who played the role in San Francisco, Mr. John T. Raymond.
John T. Raymond was the stage name of John O'Brien, who was born in Buffalo, New York, on April 5, 1836. He was educated in public schools and was expected to have a career in business. However, at the age of seventeen, he made his stage debut in Rochester, New York, and, within a year, he was at the NATIONAL THEATRE in Boston. The rise of the Know-Nothing Party and its anti-Irish sentiments induced the young O'Brien to take the stage name of Raymond to ensure himself of continued work upon the stage. It was a name which he would legally adopt later in life. He was married twice (both times to actresses in his company). He was basically a comic actor who played roles ranging from British Restoration comedies and Shakespeare, to contemporary American plays and opera. He was widely respected, especially after his appearance as Colonel Sellers, but a recurring criticism was that, although he was a "laugh-maker," he lacked the pathos needed to present a whole, believable character. (3)
Raymond and company went into rehearsals for the fall opening of The Gilded Age in New York. It was a project which greatly excited Twain, for he even attended rehearsals, did rewrites, and made "suggestions" to the actors only a few days before the show's opening. (4)
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