Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
The Story Behind
The Play.
BY J. J. GELLER.

WHEN Joaquin Miller arrived in Lon
don during the Spring of 1871,
arrayed in high boots cowboy shirt and
a big sonbrero perched on his head, he
was somewhat of an intellectual curl
osity to the English literary dilettantes.
He could not, however, be dismissed as
a freak, for had not the most rever-
entail British critics called emphatic
attention to his virile poetry and prose
which depicted the rough and ready
Western frontier life in America. In
particular. his Songs of the Sierras"
had been singled out for most favor
able comment. They consisted of a
series of vignettes written against a
similar background.
| Miller was literally extolled for his
contribution to the noble art of letters.
Among his admirers was an actor who
expressed q great appreciation for the
| Songs of the SierraS." He eagerly re-
uuested permission to collaborate with
the poet in combining into play the
first two sketches in that volume, The
First Woman in the Forks" and THE
Last Man Of the Mexican Camp" The
mctivating plot concerned itself with a
reputed band of the Tribe Of Dan"
who were said to be organized in the
early history of the Mormons for the
purpose of secret aSsaSsinatiOnS.
The astounding tales of these relig-
ious fanatics could not but help come
to Miller's ears and out of these almost
unbelievable stories the poet conceived
his sketches. With Miller's generous
assistance the play was completed under
the title of First Families in the Sier-
ras" Later the poet changed the title
to THE DaniteS in the Sierras," since
the drama treated of that dreaded
order. The completion of a play does
not necessarily imply its immediate &C
ceptance for production and Miller'S
collaboration fruitlesSly hawked the play
to almost every producer. The mach
nations of a few fanatics in. the far
off wild and woolly West were of no
especial concern TO the London stage
impresarioS and consequently the man
uscript was invariably returned and the
efforts of both writer's went for nought
in England.
Back in America Miller was wrapped
up in poetry and the play passed from
his mind until he received an inquiry
from Kitty Blanchard, a popular actress
in her day. 1t tranSpired that she had
also read Miller's Songs of the Sierras,"
and Immediately recognized its high
dramatic value, without the slightest
knowledge of its London experience.
After securing permission from Miller,
she turned over the printed version of
the collected sketches and the first
stage draft to Alexander Fitzgerald,
Philadelphia actor, who had demon
strated a natural facility for adapting
stories into dialogue form for the stage.
Two months of FitZgerald's efforts re-
suited in a vastly improved manuscript
in the form of a powerful melodrama.
In conjunction with her husband,
Mckee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard pro-
duced the play with themselves in the
cast on August %, 1877. at the Broad
way Theater in New York City. One
of the supporting players was the stage
adapter. Alexander Fitzgerald. The fol-
lowing morning the professional critics
hailed it as remarkable performance
of a still more remarkable drama. For
the greater part of the season the
metropolitan public attended the
Broadway Theater to witness THE
Danites," as it ultimately came to be
known. The next year the Rankins
journeyed to the authors country in
California, where the subject matter
of the drama was better known, and
repeated their performance.
In 1882 the Rankins invaded Great
Britain, where they opened at Sadler's
Wells Theater in London, and toured
the provinces successfully, to the envy
of the English producers who rejected
1.-THE Danites" They were the first
actor-managers to take an entire Amer
lean company to England.