Another point of interest concerning the performance of Colonel Sellers in Hartford was the debut performance of a young resident who had aspirations for greatness. He was a fledgling actor- playwright enjoying the sponsorship of Mr. and Mrs. Clemens, who loaned him $3,000 to support his apprenticeship in the theatre. Later, he would also make his New York debut in a mounting of Colonel Sellers. His name was William Gillette, and he would rise to fame as both a playwright and one of the finest actors of his time through such plays as The Secret Service and, most notably, Sherlock Holmes.
As testimony to the grueling rigors of the theatrical tour, let us consider this partial schedule dating from the close of The Gilded Age on January 9, 1875 until mid-March of that year, a period of about nine weeks. The tour included Toronto and Hartford, a week's run, starting on January 18th, at the BROOKLYN THEATRE, followed by an engagement on January 30th at the VARIETIES THEATRE in New Orleans. Whether or not there were stops in between is not certain; but, in a letter to Charles Langdon of Elmira, New York, dated March 19, 1875, Twain states:
In Brooklyn, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago, the play paid me an average of nine hundred dollars a week. In Smaller towns the average is $400 to $500. (11)
