An Inventory of the Collection in the Performing Arts Collection at the
Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Harry Ransom Center
Title:
The Two
Orphans Collection
Dates:
1874-1926
Extent:
1 document box, 1 oversize box (0.57 linear feet)
Abstract:
The Two
Orphans Collection is comprised of programs, clippings, scrapbooks, and
photographs from various productions of The Two
Orphans, one of the greatest theatrical successes of the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries in the United States.
RLIN Record #:
TXRC04-A1
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research
Administrative Information
Acquisition:
Compiled by Theatre Arts staff from the William H. Crain and Albert Davis Collections
The Two Orphans was one of the greatest theatrical
successes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States.
Les deux orphelines was written by the French
dramatists Adolphe d’Ennery and Eugène Cormon, and its first presentation was
at the
Théâtre Porte St. Martin, Paris, in January 1874. Due to a previous
misunderstanding, D’Ennery felt indebted to A. M. Palmer and Jackson N. Hart of
the
Union Square Theatre and by way of compensation granted them the U. S. production
rights of the play. Translated into English and adapted by Jackson N. Hart, it
was
produced for the first time in that New York theatre, on December 21, 1874, where
it
enjoyed a tremendously successful run of 180 performances. In 1881 at the Booth’s
Theatre in New York, the net profits of the play for just one week were $11,400.
In
the early twentieth century the popularity of the play declined.
The Two Orphans Collection is chiefly comprised of
programs and photographs. The collection is organized in three series: I.
Photographs, 1874, II. Programs and Clippings, 1874-1926, nd, and III. Scrapbook,
1904. The twelve photographs, in carte-de-visite format, are of the original cast
of
the first United States production of the play at the Union Square Theatre in
1874.
Among them are photos of McKee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard, and Kate Claxton, famous
actors of that epoch. There are sixty programs from different productions in several
United States theatres. Notable among the programs are those for the first
production at the Union Square Theatre, in 1874, and the tragic production of
the
play at the Brooklyn Theatre, in 1876, where nearly 300 people lost their lives
in a
fire, including two of the actors. Kate Claxton miraculously survived although
most
of her clothing was burned off. The scrapbook contains twelve large photographs
of
different scenes of the production of the play at the New Amsterdam Theatre, New
York, in 1904.
Related Material
Elsewhere in the Performing Arts Collection, researchers can find additional
materials related to The Two Orphans in the
Production Photographs Collection, the Prints Collection, and the Souvenir Programs
Collection.
