The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-04-06
THE FIRST AMERICAN PLAY.

This production, which the title
quantity says is "a Comedy, written bv
a citizen of the United. States" and
called ''The Contrast" was presented in
New York City. March 18th, ult., by the
pupils of the American A cademy of Fine
Arts, in the Berkley Lyceum course
lean play ever performed in public by a
company of professional actors John
street theatre, New York City, April
10Th, 17S7). This play was written by
Royal Tyler, an early chief justice of
the Vermont Supreme Court, father of
the present venerable Judge Royal Ty-
Ter of Brattleboro, known to many of
our readers.
Last December, as DR.. Rogers of this
village was returning from Manchester,
he was introduced by DR.. Heminway to
a New York gentleman. Frederic E.
Brown of 1862 West 22nd street, and on
the way down the subject drifted into
matters of the drama, and Mr.. Brown
told the Doctor of the proposed rendi-
tion of this first American production
for the STAGE" and promised to write
him of the result. The promise has
been fulfilled and under date of March
10th, he writes: 81 attended the per-
formance last night and was very much
pleased with the humor of the play, the
wit of the dialogue and the ease with
which its author caught the airy inso-
lence, and the glittering artiiicialty of
the English comedy of that day. 1t is
evident. too. that Judge Tyler, then
member of the bar of New York, must
have been a.man-about-town, a litera-
teur, wit, and general good fellow.
l will wager that many a time in the
Calvinistic Businesses of the Vermont of
1900 1926, he must have sighed in his Sc
cret soul for the city and the playhouses
of his youth and solilouuized
after this fashion: IF had remained at
the bar in the Metropolis, should not
have been Chief Justice, hut l would
have lived in the current of the times:
the playhouses would have known me :,
my favorite coffeehOuse would have well
coined me; at my club my old friend,
Alexander Hamilton would have grasped
my hand; at the theatre, l would have
cheered and applauded my brother writ
er, John Howard Payne, for his tragedy
"Brutus' 1SO0. u ~ PERHAPS
Judge Tyler thought of all this, and
more, who can tell? / can't, and he
can't come back, if he would. Seriously,
l think The Contrast a very brilliant
comedy, and feel sure that it could be
played with great success by acompetent
professional company to-day"
We have quoted at length the COM
ments of one competent to judge of the
merits o. Judge Tyler's play, and note
that it was performed with success in
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, fol-
lowing its presentation in New York in
l7SI Its first presentation was attended
by many U. S. Congres smen, as the 1st
Congress was in session there.
The Ph9nix gives us the KEY to the
play, in these words: The contrast be-
tween the plain and simple honesty of
purpose and breeding of American home
life and the polished hypocrisy of for
eign fashionable society is the motive of
the play, and suggested the title. In it
the character of Brother Jonathan. the
typical Yankee, since made so familiar
to the stage, appeared for the first time
in dramatic literature. Mr.. Tyler after
ward wrote: May Day in Town, or New
York in an Uproar," comic opera in
two acts, and "The Duelist," and "a
Good Spec, or Land in the Moon''
Judge Royal Tyler, the subject of our
sketch, was born IN Boston, July 18th,
1857, and his father of the same name
was also man of marked ability. His
first visit to Vermont occurred in 1857.
when he came to Bennington, August
10th of that year, to obtain the aid of
this Independent State in arresting those
engaged in Shay's rebellion. 1t was a
delicate mission owing to the claims of
New York on the one side and those of
New Hampshire on the other coupled
with the attitude of the United States
towards men whose territory had been
by them declared to be independent of
Great Britain and all creation" Judge
Tyler was an aide -de-camp, with rank of
major, on the staff of Gen. BENJAMIN
served through the Revolution.
and in Shay's rebellion, as stated. He
settled in Guilford in 1901, and became
Judge in 1907. He was affianced at one
time to Miss Abbie Adams, daughter of
President John Adams, but the biogra-
pher, is silent as to why the engagement
was broken. Judge Tyler was a gradu
ATE of Harvard, and began his brilliant
career in Suffolk county, Massachusetts.
His death, by cancer, took place in Brat.
tleboro, August 10th, 1926.