Waterbury Democrat., 1901-11-26
UNCLE TOMS CABIN" 1"

IT Manager William A. Brady has
 done nothing else to endear him to the elder generation of playgoers by reyiv-
 ing ssUncde Toms Cabin,' he has, at least. stirred the ashes of memory and
 caused many an old-timer to grow reminiscent as he views this magnifi-
 cent production of the famous old slave play. Gray haired men and Wo-
 men who saw Uncle Tom, simon Le-
 gree, Marks the lawyer, Topsy, Cas-
 sic, Eliza and little Eva 25 or 90 years
 ago, are now getting out past casts Of the play by way of comparison. 1t would no doubt be very apropos
 just now if one could give an account of the premier performance of Uncle Toms Cabin i'll this country, but al-
 though the writer has made diligant
 research, the result furnishes only
 disconnected details of the origin of the play.
 In 1852 .sTncle Toms Cabin,' the
 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, W;ls first brought ont in book form in Boston. It had previously been pab- lished in Washington in I magazine
 called the National Era. An item in 8
 Boston newspaper declared that dur i ing the first three years and Il half
 after tue publication of the book. 313,-
 900 copies were sold ill the United
 States. and translations of it were
 made i'll the French, Italian and Ger
 man languages for distribution ill Europe.
 The labor of adaptation was done by
 George c. Howard. who had T stock icompany i'll Troy, \. Y., and who is credited by local print, dated May Is, l 1852. with presenting q version of the book. Tin the making of which he had the valuable assistance of the princi-
 pal ladies and gentlemen of his or ganization. The claim has been made that the drama was acted five years earlier at FOrd's theater ill Washing ton. but the program of this theater, several almost complete sets of which are ill existence, affords no verification of the claim
 William Winter in q criticism print ed when Mr Brady presented Uncle IomSs Cabin' at the Academy of Mu- sic, New York, last year. made refer ence to fits initial performance forty nine years ago.. His statement may De taken as a qualified indorsement of
 the idea that the play really had it's flrst American presentation in Troy.
 Granting this premise it seems scarcely credible that "Uncle Toms $ Cabin the play, made only q slight impression during the next few years while tfle stor created by Mrs Stoves novel was tremendous. It does not l appear that any newspaper comment
 Of consequence in this country was
 made of the play until 1869, when Uncle Toms Cabin was acted by q
 cast composed of we'll known and thoroughly accomplished players at 1 the Boston museum. The popularity ] of the play undoubtedly dates from then, the piece being seen frequently i in first-class. places of amusement as
 late as 1890, after which it fell into 1 the hands of stock companies and me- diocre travelling organizations.
 1 Considering the fact that it was not until 1869. many years after the pub l lication of the novel ill Boston, that l it's dramatization in the United States J attended any marked degree of atten-
 tion. it is interesting to note that the l, play was well known and was recog- nized as q familiar favorite ill Eng land. Indeed, the question rises 1 whether, after all. the credit of the first adaptation of ssUncle Toms Cab
 in does not really belong there rath-
 CT than i'll this country
 It is fact that the famous old
 slave play was presented in England
 as far back as 1853. This is proven 1 by an old playbil1 of the theater Roy al. Birmingham. under date of June 70.
 1853. This playbill announces '.A
 drama of powerful interest. thrilling
 situations. peculiar and novel charac- I ters and extraordinary scenic effects, entitled Uncle Tom's Cabin.'''
 It appears from I recent number of the French Theater, an illustrated magazine devoted to theatricals, that
 Uncle Toms Cabin was first pro ! duced i'll Paris at about the same l time as at Birmingham The year l Is given as 1853. but the precise date
 is not stated. The same version was ] revised by NJ. Coquelin in Paris early this year.-BOston Globe