The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900, 1897-04-25

GUS as the sun, and he was a magnifi-
cent host. For long time he main
tanned establishments at New York
London, Brighton and Brussels and at
whichever of these places he happened
to be there was certain to be a house
full of guests 1t may not be generally
known, but it is nevertheless a fact that
Boucicault enjoyed the warm friendship
of men prominent i'll almost every
walk of life, both i'll this country and
England.
tits strange that so little is known of
Dion's early life. If he had been an ig-
norant fellow with special aptitude
for the stage this would not have been
surprising any more than it would have
been had he suddenly sprung into fame.
But, as a matter of fact, he was finely
educated and well read man, and he
rose to reputation and wealth in the
most systematic, and might almost say
commonplace, manner. He was only 10
years of age when he wrote London
Assurance, the work on which is said
to have occupied but two weeks of his
time. This piece was produced at the
Covent Garden theater in 1871, and
Boucicault was sneeringly hailed as the
founder of the upholstery school of
comedy" Notwithstanding this, the
play was a very great success, and from
that time the young dramatist's rise to
fame and fortune was easy and rapid.
AT this time Boucicault was known as
Lee Morton, and he always refused to
tell whether that name or the one by
which he is best known was the right
one He was educated at Trinity col
lege, Dublin, and that city is said to
have been his birthplace.
1t used to be said generally that John
Brougham wrote the part of Dazzle in
London Assurance. But Boucicault
always denied the allegation, and his
subsequent career amply demonstrated
that, whether or not he had permitted
the actor to interject role into his first
piece, he, Boucicault, was well able to
have written a much better one.
Some of the more notable of Dion S
plays which followed London Assur-
ance" We're "Old Heads and Young
Hearts, " 1.-THE Willow Copse, The
Young Actress, " "The Corsican Broth
ers," "Bob Nettles, - candy Blake, ;"
1.-THE Shaughraun, "Asmodeus, :"
"Pauvrette, " used Up, p" 1.-The Irish
Heiress, +" 1.-The Phantom, Love In a
Maze, 4" 1.-The Colleen Bawn," 1.-The
Long Strike, " Jessie Browne, " CAR
rah-na- Pogue," "Jeannie Deans" a
version of rip Van Wrinkle" for Joseph
jefferson, "The Long Strike, and prob
ably nearly 100 other plays of minor
Importance. -
Enormous Royalties.
During Boucicault's long career as a
playwright he was frequently charged
with plagiarism, and there is consider
able ground for the belief that the allie
cations were not always without foun-
dation. He somehow lacked originality,
and many of his most successful works
were dramatizations of popular books
which he managed to disguise so effect
ually that they were not usually recog-
nized except by those who had an init
mate acquaintance with the stage. His
royalties We're enormous, and it was
we'll that they were SO, for he spent
money like water, and if his income
had been only moderately large he
would have been constantly in pecunia-
ny hot water AT one time in his career
it is said that his total revenue from
royalties, share of receipts, acting, etc.,
did not fall far short of $3.50, 900 year.