More trouble descended upon the production when the New York Sun questioned the authorship of the script, dredging up the Densmore affair:
The Sun
November 2, 1874THE STORY OF THE GILDED AGE
A Drama Written by a Starving Author
in San FranciscoThe question has been asked, "Is it possible that Mark Twain could have strung together a play so dull in its features as the 'Gilded Age' with only the one redeeming character of Col. Sellers to recommend it to popular favor?" There is at least a doubt in Mr. Clemens' favor suggested by the secret history of the play.
In April or May last a poor Bohemian attached to the Golden Era of San Francisco entered into an arrangement with John T. Raymond, who was then playing in the California Theatre, for the dramatization of Mark Twain's "Gilded Age." The book was then the sensation of the Pacific coast, and as Mr. Raymond's engagement had not proved pecuniarily successful he jumped at the chance to do something. The poor author soon turned out a machine drama with the magnificent character of Col. Sellers made especially for John T. Raymond. The piece was produced in the California Theatre. It achieved a moderate success, but was soon withdrawn.
Dennis McCarthy, managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, was formerly one of the editors and proprietors of the Territorial Enterprise, in Virginia City, and in that capacity he gave Mr. Clemens the first newspaper work he ever did. The two have since been like brothers, and thinking to please Clemens, Mr. McCarthy sent him a copy of the Chronicle containing a complimentary notice of the play. Two weeks afterward Mr. McCarthy received from Mr. Clemens' home in Hartford one of Mark's sixteen-page letters, saying that he had copyrighted every incident in "The Gilded Age" for a drama of his own. He threatened to 'prosecute "this Mr. Raymond,' if he produced the play again, and ended by offering the author $100 for his manuscript and his copyright, as it might aid him in the preparation of his own play. Enclosed was a check for $100.
Mr. McCarthy went with the check in one hand and the sixteen-page letter in the other to the author. The poor fellow's hands fairly ached to clutch the check, but Mr. Raymond, he said, had gone to Australia with the manuscript. He offered to prepare another for the check, but this offer was declined by Mr. McCarthy, who wanted the only manuscript extant for his friend Clemens. The check was accordingly returned to Clemens with a report of all these proceedings. Four months later "this" John T. Raymond is playing Col. Sellers in New York under the patronage of Mark Twain. The question now is, "Who dramatized the 'Gilded Age?'"
