JAMES A. HERNE’S BARGARET @EMING
AND THE EMERGENCE 0F- DRAMATIC
REALISM [N THE AMERICAN THEATRE

Thesis ‘or flu Degree of M. A.
MiCHlGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
David Lloyd Griffiths

1975

ABSTRACT
JAMES A. HERNE'S MARGARET FLEMING
AND THE EMERGENCE OF DRAMATIC
REALISM IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE

David LloygyGriffiths

The American stage of the late nineteenth century was
dominated by sentimental melodramas written, and often pro-
duced, by expert craftsmen such as Bronson Howard, William
Gillette, Augustin Daly, Steele MacKaye and David Belasco.
These men relied on topicality, romance, intrigue, sus-
pense and scenic spectacle to provide a medium of escape
for their commercial audience. At the same time, European
pLaywrights Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Gerhardt
Hauptmann and others were attempting to create a drama
based on serious studies of the problems of modern indiv-
iduals. Often denied access to larger commercial theatres
in both Europe and America, plays by the emerging realists
were produced through the efforts of independent theatre
managers in small, poorly equipped theatres or rented halls
and for subscription audiences.

In writing and producing Margaret Fleming (1890),
American playwright James A. Herne (1839-1901) raised the
question of treating modern individual crises in a form
capable of reflecting the nature and substance of life in
American society. The play is a study of a woman's character,
sexual fidelity in marriage, and double-standard morality.

Although his efforts were initially rejected, Herne's

David Lloyd Griffiths
Margaret Fleming can now be seen as one of the first steps
in the development of modernism in the American theatre and,
ultimately, helped to usher in such playwrights as Eugene
O'Neill, Elmer Rice, Sidney Howard and Maxwell Anderson in
the 1920's.

The purpose of the essay is to examine the significance
of James A. Herne's Margaret Fleming in terms of (l) the
playwright's relation to and divergence from the prevail-
ing dramatic and theatrical tendencies of the late nine-
teenth-century American stage; (2) the influential factors
in American and European dramatic and literary arts which
encouraged the writing and producing of the play; and
(3) the production history of Margaret Fleming as it rep-
resents Herne's attempt to establish a new dramatic and
theatrical mode in the American theatre. It is this final
point which forms the basis of the investigation, for a
complete description of Herne's attempt to establish ”inde-
pendent" theatre practice similar to that seen at the
Theatre Libre in Paris or the Freie Bfihne in Berlin within
the framework of the late nineteenth-century American com-
mercial theatre has never been fully explored.

In assessing the significance of James A. Herne's
Margaret Fleming the study also includes biographical notes
on James A. Horne, analytical descriptions of both the no

longer existant original version and the revised, published

version of Margaret Fleming, an examination of contemporary

David Lloyd Griffiths
newspaper and magazine articles on Herne and contemporary
reviews of Herne's independent productions of Margaret
Fleming.

James A. Herne spent all of his adult life working in
the American theatre. His experiences span one of the most
active periods in American theatrical history, the late
nineteenth century, Working as a young actor with such
prominent "stars” as Edwin Booth, Edwin Forrest and E.L.
Davenport, Herne matured to develop his own quiet, natural
style of acting based on observation of the life around
him and his own personal experiences. The forces which
influenced his acting are also apparent in his work as a
playwright. His early plays conform to the melodramatic
format of the late nineteenth-century American stage, but
reveal as well an interest in theme and character unavail-
able in the works of his contemporaries.

Within the context of the late nineteenth-century
American theatre Margaret Fleming presents, without doubt,
an example of advancement and growth. The play and its
production reveal the beginning of a major shift in em-
phasis and the desire to address theatre as a serious
modern art in terms of theme, character, dialogue and set-
ting. Margaret Fleming is a play which confronts topical
problems rather than using them as theatrical background.
The historical importance of Margaret Fleming as a forward-

looking play is undeniable. Unfortunately, it would take

David Lloyd Griffiths
a quarter of a century and the emergence of Eugene O'Neill's
short realistic dramas produced by the Provincetown Players

to surpass Herne's work in Margaret Fleming.

JAMES A. HERNE'S MARGARET FLEMING
AND THE EMERGENCE OF DRAMATIC
REALISM IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE

BY

David Lloyd Griffiths

A THESIS

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Theatre

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of my thesis
committeexDr. Lowell Fiet, Mr. Frank Rutledge and Dr. Robert
Klassen. I would like especially to thank: my thesis direc-
tor, Dr. Fiet, for his words of assistance, encouragement
and humor; my wife Marion for many hours of typing and
great patience; and Ms. Judy Kelley for technical knowledge

and assistance.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

One Introduction: James A. Herne and the
Nineteenth-Century American Theatre .... 1

Two American Dramatic Realism and
Art for Truth's Sake .... 20

Three Margaret Fleming As Dramatic Realism .... 39
Four Margaret Fleming: A Production History.... 59
Conclusion .... 75

Bibliography .... 80

iii

CHAPTER I

Introduction: James A. Horne and the

Nineteenth-Century American Theatre

In the second half of the nineteenth century the Amer-
ican theatre saw a general increase in artistic productiv-
ity. Responsibility for this acceleration and growth in
theatrical activity falls to the emerging American play-
wright who for the first time was able to assert himself
as an artist of equal status to the actor. Prior to 1850
dramatists such as Royal Tyler (1757-1826), William Dunlap
(1766-1839). James Nelson Barker (l78u-1858), John Howard
Payne (1791-1852) and Robert Montgomery Bird (1806-185A)
had achieved temporary recognition as playwrights. Yet,
in spite of their accomplishments, they often wrote for
specific "star“ actors and mainly from European models.

In contrast, the second half of the century viewed the
emergence of major figures such as Dion Boucicault (c. 1820-
1890),1 James A. Home (1839-1901), Steele MacKaye (18!:2-
189k), Bronson Howard (lBAZ-l908), David Belasco (1854-1931)
and William Gillette (1855-1937) all of whose works would
shape the course of the American commercial theatre for

more than a quarter of a century. Their plays are the most

2
representative examples of sentimental melodrama. In fact,
many of the techniques which they first introduced continue
to dominate popular theatre and mass entertainment forms
today .

Of this group of prominent late nineteenth century play-
wrights one stands out. James A. Horne broke away from the
dominant mode of sentimental melodrama practiced so expertly
by his American contemporaries in order to provide the.Amer-
ican stage with an example of dramatic art comparable in
content and form to the works of his European contemporaries
Henrik Ibsen, Henri Becque, August Strindberg and Gerhardt
Hauptmann. In writing and producing Marggget Fleming (1890),
Herne raised the question of treating modern individual
crises in a form capable of reflecting the nature and sub-
stance of life in American society. ‘Although his efforts
were initially rejected, Herne's Marggget Flemggg can now
be seen as one of the first steps in the development of
modernism in the American theatre and, ultimately, helped
to usher in such playwrights as Eugene O'Neill, Elmer Rice,
Sidney Howard and Maxwell Anderson in the 1920's.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the significance
of James A. Herne's Mgggaret Fleming in terms of (1) the
playwright's relation to and divergence from the prevail-
ing dramatic and theatrical tendencies of the late nine-
teenth-century.American stage: (2) the influential factors
in American and European dramatic and literary arts which
encouraged the writing and producing of the play: and

3
(3) the production history of Mg;gggg§,Fleming as it rep-
resents Herne's attempt to establish a new dramatic and
theatrical mode in the American theatre. It is this final
point which forms the basis of the investigation, for a
complete description of Herne's attempt to establish "in-
dependent” theatre practice similar to that seen at the
Théatre Libre in Paris or the Freie Bfihne in Berlin within
the framework of the late nineteenth-century American com-
mercial theatre has never been fully explored.

The predominant dramatic form of the late nineteenth
century was the sentimental, topical melodrama: that is,
plays using contemporary situations or events easily rec-
ognizable to an audience as a framework for action funda-
mentally unrelated to the issues characterizing the actual
social or political situation. Thus, topicality became a
mere device for masking actual conflict within American
society. Slavery, the Civil war and alcoholism created
the context for the action in numerous late nineteenth-cen-
tury plays, but remained only marginal concerns of the res-
olution of the action itself. Rather:

a virtuous hero or heroine is relentlessly per-
secuted by a villain and is rescued from his
machinations only after a series of thrilling
escapades: an episodic story unfolds rapidly
after a short expository scene: each act ends
with a strong climax: all important events
occur on stage and often involve elaborate
spectacle, . . . the typical plot devices
include disguise, abduction, concealed iden-
tity, and strange coincidence: strict poetic
justice is meted out, for, although he may

triumph until the final goons, the villain
is always defeated.. . .

a
Most of these characteristics can be easily identified in
such plays as George L. Aiken's adaptation of Harriet Beecher
Stowe's 11112.3 19.23.33 M (1852), Dion Boucicault's 21:3
Octoroon (1859). August Daly's yn_d_e_z; £113 Egg LIE!!! (1867),
Bronson Howard's Shenandoah (1889), David Belasco's Th;
Q13; _1_ pg; §_e_h_ig_:<_i_ g; (1893) and William Gillette's m
Service (1896), as well as in nearly every other successful
but less well-known melodrama of the era.

A major factor influential in the rising popularity of
topical melodrama was the physical growth of the United
States in the late nineteenth century. The boundless energy
and sensationalism of melodrama seemed liberating and geared
to the expansion of the country. According to critic Rich-
ard Moody, "The new land, the freedom from social or polit-
ical restraint, the adventurous dream of unexplored fron-
tiers were conducive to the rapid growth of a romantic
spirit."3 New frontiers, either the physical rural country-
side or the excitement of the growing urban centers, were
a fact of life to all Americans.

Theatre also grew with the expanding country. In the
East, New‘York was growing as a population center“ and
theatre buildings were enlarged to hold the larger audiences.
New York's Park Theatre already held twenty-five hundred
spectators when opened in 1821. The Bowery Theatre sat
three thousand when it first opened and was rebuilt in
18#5 to accommodate four thousand peeple. This period of
growth continued throughout the century, while theatre

5

machinery became more sophisticated. Quiet dialogue

plays were hardly suited to this cavernous space.5 Melo-
dramas requiring elaborate staging techniques, easily rec-
ognisable character types, clear-cut moral issues supporting
the status quo and action-filled plots were suited to both
the growing theatres and their mass audiences.

The use of elaborate scenic effects perhaps best char-
acterizes the late nineteenth-century melodrama. The plays
of Dion Boucicault exemplify the increased use of spectacle
in the theatre. In pp; :93; 9; £23.! 22;; (1857) Boucicault
created a house burning down on stage while an actor es-
caped with an important document. Two years later he used
a similar technique in.incorperating a burning steamboat
into the plot of Egg Octoroon.6 In 1880 Steele MacKaye
opened his Madison Square Theatre in New York with a double
, elevator stage allowing quick and quiet scene changes to
heighten scenic illusion.7 At the end of the century, £32.11
Hg; was produced in six acts and fourteen.scenes which in-
cluded a chariot race with real horses on a revolving tread-
.111.8

Such elaborate scenic effects seemed to obviate the need
for intimate psychological character portrayal or the ex-
ploration of issues except for their excitement and suspense
value in the melodramatic situation. Heroes and heroines
tended to be flat, either entirely good or entirely evil,
and supported the status quo moral standards. This is cer-

tainly true, for example, of Zoe in Boucicault's In;

6

Octoroon, as well as of soldiers Kerchival West and Frank
Bedloe in Bronson Howard's Shenandoah.

Even issues and events of the magnitude of slavery and
the Civil War brought no self-examination in the American
theatre. And although slavery and, later, the Civil War
found their way into the plots of such popular melodramas
as 111.212 195;; 93113 (1852), 1133 Octoroon (1859). Shenandoah
(1889) and William Gillette's §gg§gt Service (1896), these
subjects provided only a topical background. According to
Richard Moody they functioned much like scenic spectacle:

The average spectator was attracted to the
theatre not to appraise the degree of realism
in the presentation of a locomotive on the
stage but to delight in the striking and
thrilling melodramatic action in which the
locomotive played its part.9

In 2h; Octoroon, for example, slavery and miscegenation
are of minor interest in comparison to the murder of young
Paul, the theft of an important letter, the sale and suicide
of Zoo, the burning steamboat and the wild Indian chasing
the villain M'Closkey. Similarly, Howard's Shenandoah uses
the Civil War as a backdrop for chivalrous modern knights
and.compelling romance: the reasons for the war are not
made evident and slavery is nowhere mentioned or evident
in the play.

The tradition of the melodrama in the late nineteenth-
century American theatre served as the training ground for
actor, director and playwright James A. Horne. In his early
work Horne was an ardent contributor to the success of melo-

dramatic theatre. As an actor, his first major role was

7
young George Shelby in a production of 1199;; 2.92.1.2 911111.10
He played many similar roles and his daughter Julie wrote:
"Two of Rome‘s greatest successes as a young man were
Claude Melnotte, in 'The Lady of Lyons, ' and Armand Duval
in 'Camille'."n
at the Grand Opera House in New York in 1869, the Theatre

As a director, Horne found employment

Royal in Montreal in 1870 and at Tom Maguire's New Theatre
in San Francisco in 187A. At these theatres, his early
directing experience was focused on sentimental, melodra-
matic offerings such as Egg; gm, £1.13; M and The
Q_!_:_i_l_c_l_ Stealer.12 Finally, his own plays such as M,
written in 1879, with David Belasco, Th3 M333; M333 9;
1221:4225 (1886), Drifting AM (1888) and £193; M
(1892) are some of the finest examples of late nineteenth-
century American melodrama.

In spite of his close connection with the traditions of
the late nineteenth century, Home was also responsible for
bringing to the American theatre its first true example of
Realism. Herne's interest in this new dramatic and theat-
rical form had developed throughout his career in the theatre.
In fact, the roots of his interest in developing an American
Realism can be traced back to his earliest experiences.

James A. Horne was born on February 1, 1839. in Cohoes,
New York, the second son of Patrick and Ann Temple Ahern.
Horne dropped the A from his last name when he began acting.
All six Ahern children were given a grammar school education

and received strict religious training from their mother.

8

Living near the Hudson River and the Erie Canal, young

Jim had a boyhood desire of going to sea. His father, how-
ever, put a stop to his one attempt to run away and become

a sailor. Herne's love of the sea is evident in several

of his plays. 329.13.! 9; 955 (1879). Drifting AM (1888),
s35 H_a_r_b_9_r_ (1899) and ppm 4333; (1892) are all set on the
coast.

At the age of thirteen Horne was removed from school and
put to work in a factory. His father's employer offered to
assume the cost if the young Horne would remain in school,
but his father could not see the need for his son's further
education and refused the offer. In spite of his lack of
extensive formal education, Herne read extensively through-
out his life. He continued to expand his horizons, not
only in literature, but in social issues of his day as well.
Social concerns ranging from Women's Rights to Henry George's
Single Tax became additional interests which would ultimately
surface in Herne's plays.

Herne's first taste of the theatre came in his early
teens when his older brother, Charles, took him to see the
great.American tragedian Edwin Forrest star in a performance
of Robert Montgomery Bird's‘ghg Gladigtor at the Museum
Theatre in Albany. Horne was spellbound by Forrest's per-
formance and decided then that he would be an actor.
Patrick.Ahern knew nothing of his son's ambition and the
young Herne continued to work at the factory until he was

twenty years old. During those intervening years he

9
visited the theatre as often as he could, even taking
supernumerary roles. Later he was able to take small
Juvonile roles with James Connor's stock company.

Herne quit the factory at the age of twenty and planned
to use his savings to purchase a theatrical wardrobe. Uh-
fcrtunately, he was persuaded instead to finance a small
touring company which quickly vanished along with his money.
Nevertheless, he joined Connor's company and made his first
regular appearance as George Shelby in a production of Eagle
goal; C bin. Because Connor thought it would make for a
more appealing billing, Horne dropped the.A from his last
name.

Herne's theatrical apprenticeship began with Connor's
company and he spent approximately two years with theatres
in.Albany. During this time, he took lessons in voice,
movement and fencing and began to refine himself in his art.
Herne was an agile and adaptive young actor. While with
Connor he had the opportunity to perform with numerous vis-
iting stars, which further helped him develop his acting
techniques. Julie Herne relates one of his peculiar abil-
ities as an actor:

. . . Horne was frequently cast for leads be-
cause of his quick study, and he never refused
a new part on the score that he did not know
it. If necessary. he would "wing it," that
is, would memorize it scene by scene, while
standing in the wings during the performance.13
The ability to learn quickly helped Horne acquire important

roles and his experience with various acting styles and a

large repertoire of plays also proved helpful in his

10

development as a playwright. In effect, he learned not only
what to include in his plays, but what to avoid as well.
In referring to the treatment of the subject of the Civil
War Julie Horne records Herne's feelings:
Horne contended that the field had been worked
out, and that the next play on the subject must
of necessity deal, not with heroes and battles,
defeats and victories, but with the effect of

the war upon the lives of a single family or
group of people.1

Herne's apprenticeship as an actor spanned the Civil war.
During the war he was engaged by John.Ford in his theatres
in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. While with.Ford he
gained popularity and began playing with the Booths, Edwin
Forrest and E.L. Davenport. He also began to develop his
own style of acting. While playing opposite Edwin Booth the
star expressed interest in Herne's line interpretation and
asked Horne where he had heard it:

Horne admitted that he had never heard the
line read in that way before. that it was
his own reading, one which seemed to him
to be the only right way to speak it.
"Unusual--but very fine," Booth said.15
The more intuitive and natural style which characterized
Herne's mature acting style began to develop at this time.

In 186C Horne left washington and began to travel.

After playing briefly in Philadelphia, he went to Montreal
where he married a young actress named Helen Western. Horne
had previously worked with both Helen and her sister, Lucille.
He had, in fact, been very much in love with Lucille. How-
ever, Lucille was already married and Herne's attempt to

transfer his love to Helen resulted in a troubled marriage

11

which lasted only three years. After he divorced Helen in
1868, Horne began a tour of California as a leading man
with Lucille Western.

After one year in California Herne was offered the posi-
tion of manager at the Grand Opera House in New'York. In
1870 he and Lucille travelled back to the Theatre Royal in
Montreal where Horne had been hired as manager. After six
years of travelling and working as a manager Herne left
Lucille Western and returned to California to manage
Maguire's New Theatre in San Francisco.

The years in California brought Herne's first attempts
at playwriting. While he was managing the New Theatre in
San Francisco David Belasco was the stage manager. The
two collaborated to produce three plays in 1879, but only
one of them was successful, Hgggtg'g§_ggk, originally enti-
tled 9332;.

While working on the West Coast Horne remarried.
Katharine Corcoran was a young and talented actress who
would prove to be a great influence on Herne's work. The
Hernes would be collaboration artists: "His estimate of her
powers as an actress is shown by the fact that he wrote all
of the leading feminine parts in his plays for her, and she
created all but one of them."16 Katharine Herne's contribu-
tion to her husband's work became particularly apparent in
1909 when a fire destroyed the only known copy of Margaget

Fleming. Her collaboration with Horne in writing the play
and her experience playing the title character allowed her
to reconstruct the play from memory.17

12

figggtg g; Q k'was financially successful on the road and
the Hernes toured the play for several seasons. In the off-
seasons they settled in Boston, where Herne worked on his
plays and scheduled their upcoming season. His first in,
dependent playwriting venture, 1h; Ell-2.93.9. Leg 9; lzzlt-IZfi,
an historical drama of the American Revolutionary War, was
written at this time. The play opened in Philadelphia on
April 6, 1886. Arthur Hobson Quinn.writes that although
”it is uneven in merit and at times is reminiscent of a
much older manner," it also demonstrates "how his skill

was developing.'18

His second original play was Drifting
52353, first entitled Mggz‘thg_Fisherman's Child. The
play was produced at the People's Theatre, New‘York City,
on.May 7, 1888.. The play was a strong step toward Realism
in its treatment of the problem of drunkenness. Neither of
these plays was a financial success, but they did receive
some favorable notices from critics.19

One such critic was Hamlin Garland, the radical young
naturalistic author of _A_ §_9_1_1_ 2; 3333 M M; (1917),
M Trgvelled 3935!; (1891) and Crumbling .1121; (1898). He
saw Drifting £221 in Boston, .in 1889, and was so impressed
by the work that he wrote to Horne and asked if they could
meet. It was through Garland that Horne met the prominent
critic and novelist William.Dean Howells, America's chief
spokesman for Realism and Naturalism. Garland spent many

evenings with the Hernes and later wrote: ”They met me on

every plane of my intellectual interests, and our discussions

13

of Herbert Spencer, Henry George, and William Dean Howells
often lasted deep into the night."20
These discussions had a lasting impact on James A. Herne
as well and he began developing his theory of realistic
art and the role of the artist. In the 1897 essay 'Art for
Truth's Sake in the Drama,” he wrote of the nequmerican
artist: “In other words: if he has a truth to manifest
and he can present it without giving offense and still re-
tain its power, he should so present it, but if he must
choose between giving offense and receding from his posi-
tion he should stand by his principle and state his truth

21 Herne's ideas came to fruition in his third

fearlessly.“
play, Marggget Fleming. The play is a study of a woman's
character, sexual fidelity in marriage and double-standard
morality. Quinn calls the play "daring in its fidelity

to truth,” unlikely ”to appeal to the public."22 Margaret
Fleming was not well received and Herne's attempts at pro-
ducing the play independently were costly, even though it
established a landmark in American theatre history.

The financial failure of W W plunged Horne
into a whirlwind of actbng, directing and playwriting to
recover his losses and, hopefully, to find a producer for
larggget Fleming. He worked for a time as an actor and a
director for Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger in New'York.
This left Herne with little time for writing and his next
major work, _S_hg_r_e_ 523%: did not appear until 1892. Ten-

tatively titled Th5 Hawthorneg, the play was extremely

11+

popular and became the most successful play of Herne's
career.23 Opening in Chicago at McVicker's Theatre, Shag;
A2535 was produced with Margaret Fleming and both were
financial failures. When.§hggg,§ggg§ Opened in Boston
early in 1893 it was an immediate success and Horne played
“Uncle Nat" for the next five years from.New York to San
Francisco.

Between 1892 and 1897 Home completed work on Griffith
Davenport, a stage adaptation of Helen Gardener's Ap;gggge
figig; Patriot, and began his last major work, §gg7§g§22g.
A revision of his earlier work Hgggtg,gf,gg§, the situation
involved two men in love with the same girl. Unlike the
earlier work, this play ended with a happy reconciliation
reminiscent of the closing of §_l_1_9_1:_e_ 59:35.

After the economic failure of Griffith.ngenport Horne
began to prepare §ggH§ggbgg and direct Israel Zangwill's
Children‘g£.3hg,§hgttg. The combined effort was a strain
oh his health. He had an attack of rheumatism in the winter
of 1899, and before he recovered he began touring in.§gg
flagggg. He finally dropped out of the tour and spent
nearly two months recuperating. The following season he
again attempted to tour in the play. This time the illness
was too much and he died on June 2, 1901.

As a playwright Horne produced sixteen plays: of these,
seven were original works. The first of his plays to
achieve any popularity was Haaziaflfli.flak. The play presents

a contrast between the sentiments of paternal love and duty

15

and those of romantic love. When the old husband realizes
the sacrifice made by his young wife and her true love, he
departs, leaving the young couple together. The plot was
taken by Herne's collaborator, David Belasco, from an old
melodrama, Thg_Mariner's Compgss, but the most melodramatic
scenes were removed. Arthur Hobson Quinn compared the
Herne-Belasco version with the original and showed the
more natural overtones of the latter play:

But the difference can be appreciated only

in a careful reading of both plays, for it

lies partly in the closer fidelity to the

natural language of human beings and partly

to a deft change which deepens the tenderness

of the affection existing among Terry,

Chrystal and Ruby, while it lessens the

theatrical intensity of its expression.2“
The love that the three main characters share moves the plot
along logical lines. There is no villain to manipulate
events. The dialogue comes naturally, revealing and devel-
opbng the characters as the scenes progress. Terry, Ned
and Chrystal no longer retain dramatic credibility, but the
play does mark Herne's visionary concern for naturalism in
stage characters.

Herne's second play, Th9 M29932. £2.13. 9; 1228-1225 (1886),

is a seeming "relapse into the old romantic melodrama'25
in its treatment of the American Revolution. The twisting,
action-oriented plot complete with long lost children, young
lovers and gallant soldiers marks the play as melodramatic.
However, Herne's ability to create believable three-dimen-

sional characters raises the play above the average American

16

war play. Herne is able to capture natural characteristics,
especially in his female characters: “the indomitable spirit
that animated the women of that time is expressed not only

in Dorothy but also inAnnCampbell.”26

The play shows
that Horne is still influenced enough by his past exper-
ience to retain a melodramatic plot but his increasingly
naturalistic characters reveal his movement toward Realism.
Herne's second major work, Driftigg 52553 (1888), further
demonstrates this movement toward increased realism in theme
and character. In the play a happy family is seemingly
brought to ruin by the husband's drinking. After two acts
portraying the hardships, degredation and, ultimately,
death that resulted from his drinking, the husband awakes
to discover that the actions were all a dream. He vows
never to drink again and the play concludes on a positive
note. The sentimental ending prevents m AMI from
being considered a realistic play. Yet, the plot is simple
enough, the events follow logically, and the only surprise
rests on the discovery that the play was a dream. The
characters are simple and natural: again, they are the
rugged, stoic people of a small New England fishing village
that Horne used in.§ggg3§_2£ 955. Thus, the play represents
a further step in Herne's departure from melodrama. The
tone of Driftingigpggt is lower key and the sentimental
resolution does not obscure the seriousness of the theme.
Drifting Apart represents a logical step in Herne's develop-
ment as a playwright which led to the emergence of realistic

form in Margaret Fleming.

17

James A. Herne spent all of his adult life working in
the American theatre. His experiences span one of the most
active periods in American theatrical history, the late
nineteenth century. Working as a young actor with such
prominent ”stars" as Edwin Booth, Edwin.Forrest and E.L.
Davenport, Herne matured to develop his own quiet, natural
style of acting based on observation of the life around
him and his own personal experiences. The forces which in-
fluenced his acting are also apparent in his work as a
playwright. His early plays conform to the melodramatic
format of the late nineteenth century American stage, but
reveal as well an interest in theme and character unavail-
able in the works of his contemporaries. His life style
also distinguished him. Herne was an individual of strong
social as well as artistic conviction and his theatrical
experience with consciousness of and strong feeling for a
truthful art reflecting human problems combined in the
writing and producing of Margret Flemig.

Footnotes

1 Dion Boucicault was born and his initial theatre
activity was in Ireland, but he is remembered for his major
accomplishments on the American stage.

2 Oscar G. Brockett, Histor of the Theatre (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, Inc.. 196 , p. 366.

3 Richard Moody, America Takes the Stage (Bloomington,
Indiana: Indiana University Press. 19337. p. .

u Garff B. Wilson, Three Hundred Years of American Drama
and Theatre: From 23 Bare and 23,6u5b‘fg 3515 (EfigIewoo ,
New Jersey: Prentice-HaIl, Inc.. 1975), p. 35.

5 Ibid.. p. 107.

6 Dion Boucicault, The Octoroon in Re resentative Amer-
ican Plays, ed. Arthur Hobson Quinn (New or : pp e on-
Century-Crofts, 1957), p. 398.

7 Barnard Hewitt, Theatre U,S,A,: 166 32 1 (New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. 19 , p. .

8 Barnard Hewitt, Theatre U,s,A,. p. 274.

9 Richard Moody, America Tgkes the Stgge, p. 207.

1° Herbert J. Edwards and Julie A. Herne, James 52 Horne:
The Rise of Realism in American Drama (Orono, Ma e: Univer-
sity of Maine Press,-I9655, p. h.

11 Julie A. Horne, "Biographical Note" in Shore Acres
and Other P s, ed. Mrs. James A. Horne (New York: Samuel
French, Inc.. 928). p. xiii.

12 Herbert Edwards and Julie Horne, gggg§_gghflgggg. p. 17.
13 Julie A. Horne, ”Biographical Note", pp. xii and xiii.
1" Ibid., p. xxvi.

15 gen-eel. 32322. p. 8.

16 Julie A. Horne, p. xv.

17

Re resentative American Fla 9, ed. Arthur Hobson
Quinn (New York: IppIetonZUentury35rofts, Inc.. 1957), p. 516.

18

19

18 Arthur Hobson Quinn, ,5 History 21: the American Drama:
From the Civil War 1:53 the Present Dgy (New York: fiper
and Brothers Publishers, 1927), . 136.

19 Ibid.. p. 138.

20

 

James L Horne, p. 49.
21 Quinn, A
22 Ibid.. p. 140.

History _o_f_ the American Drama. p. 139.

23 Julie A. Herne, p. xxv.

2" Quinn, A,Historylgg‘thg.American Drama, p. 135.

25 James .A_,_ H9523. p. 1:0.
26

 

Quinn, 5 History 9; _fllg American Drama. p. 137.

CHAPTER II

American Dramatic Realism and

Art for Truth's Sake

The work of James A. Horne in the theatre was based on
his powers of observation and assimilation. In an 1891
article entitled "Mr. and Mrs. James A. Horne," Hamlin
Garland refers to James and Katharine Horne as two of the
most intellectual artists in the dramatic profession:
“Books are all around him.” The Horne household seemed to
be alive with the advanced topics of the day. Garland
notes Katharine's interest in discussing Spencer's law of
progress, and Henry George's theory of land-holding, and
refers to the Hernes as "individualists in the sense of
being for the highest and purest type of man, and the slim-
1 Garland's words and their
publication in the intellectual journal Tha,Aggng,proves

ination of governmental control."

that Horne was highly regarded by his contemporaries. He
was highly receptive to new social and literary ideas
and was, therefore, enthusiastic about the movement toward
Realism in the theatre.

Dramatic Realism was new to the American theatrical

world, but it was already a subject of heated debate in the

20

21

literary world. The sentimental romantic novel was yield-
ing to the realistic novel. In an 1889 article called
”The Claim of 'Realism',' Albion W. Tourgee described
Realism saying:

The ”realist" keeps to what he deems a middle

course . . . Truth, he says, does not lie mid-

way between extremes, but embraces the anti-

podes. The absence of vice or virtue is not

life, but the union and contrast of them.2
The late nineteenth-century.American novelist Frank Norris
believed Realism was “the commonplace tale of commonplace
people."3 In this definition he found value in the artistic
description of the problems of every day people and life.
American critic and theorist William Dean Howells speaks of
a ”'new realism: which presents a psychological study of

character in its environment.'u

For Howells, Realism em-
braced the truth of contemporary life and expressed this
truth through character examination. This philosophy was
slow to emerge in the theatre and it would require the ef-
forts of playwright James A. Horne to open the door for
Realism on the American stage.

The emergence of Realism as a literary and dramatic
movement began in Europe in the late nineteenth century
finding its first clear manifestations in the writings of
Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893), and the essays, novels, and
plays of Emile Zola (1880-1902). The movement grew through
the prose plays of Henrik Ibsen, August Strindberg, Gerhart
Hauptmann, Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, and through the

development in the 1880's and 1890's of the Independent

22

Theatres. These factors combined to produce a new form of
dramatic art better able to interpret the problems of an
increasingly industrialized society.

In his Historz‘gg English Literature (1868), Hippolyte
Taine adapted scientific terms and methods to literary in-
terpretations of human actions. His hypothesis was that
three factors control man: race, milieu, and moment.5 Race
was the hereditary factors expressed in man's temperament
and physical body: milieu, his total environment: and moment,
his historical age. These ideas would be adapted by the
more influential Emile Zola. The ”Preface“ to his play,
Thirase Rgggig (1873), became the manifesto for Naturalism
on the French stage. Zola demanded scientific objectivity
and saw the author as an experimental scientist.

The movement was started by the new methods
of science: thence, Naturalism revolution-
ized criticism and history, in submitting
man and his works to a system of precise
analysis, taking into account all circum-
stances, environment, and “organic cases."6

In his "Preface,” Zola points out that the play is a
"purely human study," the action being the inner struggle
of the characters. The setting and action attempt to ad-
here to the social position of the main characters, “lower
middle class shop-keepers.” The use of petty bourgeois
characters indicates the direction that Naturalism would
take. In the later essay “Naturalism in the Theatre"
(1881), Zola elaborated on his theory saying:

. . . to increase the reality of the corpus
of drama, to progress towards truth, to sift

23

out more and more of the natural man and
impose him on the public.7

As the major ideologue of Naturalism, Zola exerted a great
influence on the deve10pment of new dramatic forms: as a
playwright, his works fell short of his own theories.

The movement toward an.increased realism in the European
theatre is best characterized by Ibsen and Strindberg.
Although they could not be called disciples of Zola, they
began to develop similar forms of drama which recorded the
influences of contemporary science, economics and social
problems. Ibsen paralleled Zola's ideas. First, Ibsen
focused on a character's psychological and biological
roots, as in m (1881), or H939; 93.11;; (1890). Second,
he portrayed characters in line with their environment-1;
leggg House (1879) is an example. In fact, Ibsen examined
the ethical problems of the modern individual in conflict
with the social environment. In.2hg_§gthgg (1887) and
Miggflig2ig (1888), August Strindberg explored similar themes,

 

revealing modern psychological characters caught in intense-
ly personal conflicts and involving advanced views of sex-
ual and environmental conditioning. The realistic plays
of Strindberg and Ibsen were a primary force guiding the
maturation and development of American dramatists such as
James A. Horne.

Other Western European playwrights whose works contained
more strident social commentary such as Henri Becque or

Gerhardt Hauptmann were not as influential. More closely

28

related to the American development were the works of Rus-
sian realists. such as Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev; Lars
Ahnebrink asserts that “the Russian realists viewed their

8 Characters were

characters with compassion and pity."
drawn from life, expressing characteristics of their envir-
onment, but not completely controlled by heredity and soci-
ety. .American critic William.Dean Howells reviewed Ivan
Turgenev°s Dimitri Roudine in 1873, saying that Roudine's
character emerges slowly in the novel allowing the reader's
feelings to ”pass from admiration to despite before we come
finally to half-respectful compassion.'9 This process is
similar to the gradual unfolding of the title character of
'James A. Herne's Griffith.Davenport (1898). Herne's work
reflected the Russian's ability to adapt new techniques
to a native milieu.

In dealing with new social ideas. European realists
such as Zola, Strindberg, Ibsen and Hauptmann encountered
great difficulty in finding theatres willing to produce
their works. To secure a forum for new playwrights, Inde-
pendent Theatres began to appear on the continent. The move-
ment began with the Theatre Libre in Paris in 1887. Inde-
pendent Theatres not only provided a stage for Realistic and
Naturalistic playwrights, but also helped establish a new
scenic art. In the "Forward“ to Mggg’ggggg,.August Strind-
berg deals with staging innovations which reflect the stag-
ing techniques of the Independent theatre. The smaller

stage and auditorium necessarily reduced the separation of

25
audience and actor. Furthermore, he called for a completely
darkened auditorium, the abolition of footlights, the use
of subtler side-lighting, an increased naturalism in make-
up, a technique in acting which would allow a more natural
portrayal of character and a single setting capable of es-
tablishing a realistic environment.10

In America the path to Realism was somewhat different
from that established by the European model. In Qg;figjgzg
Q;ggg§,.Alfred Kazin emphasizes not only contemporary skep-
ticism and the influence of Charles Darwin and other scien-
tific theorists, but also an increasing interest in.specific
American problems as well. According to Kazin major sources
of conflict were

agrarian bitterness, the class hatred of the

eighties and nineties, the blackness of small

town life, the mockery of the nouveaux riches,

and the bitterness in the great new proletarian

cities.11
Thus, American Realism, like European Realism, was providing
a social consciousness for the arts. The theme for the
Realists was the search for a new "truth” in literature and
art. This truth would have to be socially. scientifically
and psychologically verifiable.

The major proponent of this search in America was critic.
novelist and playwright William Dean Howells (1837-1920).
Though affected by the Europeans, Howells sought to assert
the unique democratic nature of American experience: '. . .
let it speak the dialect the language, that most Americans

know-~the language of unaffected people everywhere."12

26

This was the "truth" and it was Howells' belief that "Real-
ism is nothing more and nothing less than the truthful
treatment of material.” The essay expressed his view of
fiction as an appeal to the intellect and.not the emotions.
saying: "If a novel flatters the passions, and exalts
them above the principles, it is poisonous.'13 Man was a
microcosm of the werld around him. In this sense. fiction
demanded a depth of exploration into the character rather
than a mere survey of surface actions.
It was Howells' contention that American realistic

fiction represent the variety of American life.

American life especially is getting represented

with unexampled fulness. It is true that no

one writer, no one book, represents it. for

that is not possible our social and political

decentralization forbids this. and may for-

ever forbid it. But a great number of very

good writers are instinctively striving to

make each part of the country and each

phase of our givilization known to all the

other parts.1
The essay also reflects Howells' own optimistic Puritanical
values. For example, he asked realistic authors to present
all passions, but in doing so to remember that such passions
as ”guilty love“ should rank below loyalty, friendship,
grief and others. He also suggested that characters should
speak with regional accents or dialects for one to be able
to trace a character to his area of the country and his
social position. He was demanding a socially verifiable
truth. In so doing. Howells was adapting European precedent

to a specifically.American context.

27

America also attempted to adapt the European idea of
the Independent Theatre. In the spring of 1891, plans were
made in the city of Boston to open the first American In-
dependent Theatre. The plans were precipitated by James A.
Herne's difficulty in finding a producer for his realistic
play Margaget Fleming. The manifesto for this group car-
ried the title "Truth.Por Art's Sake” and was signed by
James A. Horne, Hamlin Garland, Arena magazine editor B. 0,
Flower and numerous other interested men and women.frcm
Boston's literary world. The objectives of the organiza-
tion stressed a new credo for American theatre arts:

. . . first and in general to encourage truth

and progress in American Dramatic Art. Second,

and specifically, to secure and maintain.a

stage whereon the best and most unconventional

studies of modern life and distinctively American

life, may get a proper hearing. We believe the

present poverty of Dramatic Art in America is

due to unfavorable conditions, rather than

to a lack of playwriting talent, and it is

the purpose of the Association to remove as

far as possible, the commercial consideration

and give the Dramatist the artistic atmos-

phere for his work and bring to his pro-

duction the most intelligent and sympath-

etic acting in America.1
The idea of a forum for new talent was similar to that of
the Theatre Libre or the Freie Biihne in Europe, although the
focus was on.native characters, problems and situations.
The document further proposes the ”scope" which a new kind
of theatre should embrace:

I. Studies of American Society.

Ea Social Dramas.
b Comedies of Life.

II. Studies in American History.

28

(a) Dramas of Colonial Times.
(b) Dramas of the Revolution.
(c) Dramas of Border History.
(d) Dramas of the Civil War.

III. Famous Modern Plays by the Best
Dramatists of Europe. 5

One factor distinguishing the First Independent Theatre
Association from its European counterpart was the opposition
it encountered. At the Theatre Libre, Andre Antoine was
fighting the rules of the conventional French theatre. For-
tunately, Antoine had the support of sympathetic critics
familiar with new trends in art and literature.- He also
had the support of Parisian intellectuals, for his produc-
tions included works by established authors such as Zola,
Ibsen and Strindberg.

In the United States these conditions were not evident.
One problem encountered by the First Independent Theatre
Association was the lack of formal restrictions to revolt
against. The M ml; M of May 31, 1891, points this
out by saying that plays rejected in the American theatre
were poor plays. The article agreed that managers produce
only those plays which they know will please the audience
and provide financial success, but that there was nothing
wrong with that system.17 Thus, commercialism was the
order of the day and stood as the criteria by which all art
was to be judged. Facing the stringent financial demands,
the First Independent Theatre Association never produced
any works: in fact, the publication of the manifesto was
the organization's only significant accomplishment.

29

Within the context of the late nineteenth-century
American society, the theatre was viewed as a medium of
escape and excitement. Rather than examine the effects of
rapid territorial and industrial expansion on individuals
within the social fabric, theatrical producers were content
to provide mystery, romance and magic in an environment of
illusionistic splendor. Producers such as Augustin Daly
and David Belasco spent most of their vast talents and
energy on spectacular illusions. In.2hg_Theatre Through
Itg_§tgggfl§ggg (1919), Belasco recalls spending thousands
of dollars on achieving just the right lighting effect
for a California sunset and then not using it. Other pro-
ducers such as Steele MacKaye and Augustin Daly also re-
flected the popular tendency toward spectacular, life-like
illusion based on suspense and intrigue.

The situation.was further complicated by the plays being
produced. Most commercial successes were heartwarming
stories of noble sentiments. Steele MacKaye's 3522;,gigkg
(1880) had a run.of four hundred eighty-six performances in
its initial New York production, at the same time it was
also played by numerous road companies. Bronson Howard's
Civil war play Shenandoah (1888), achieved similar popular
recognition and he received over $100,000 in royalties the
first year.18 William Gillette's m Service (1895)
ran a full season in New York, four months in London and
toured for many years.19 These popular successes were

well adapted to the picturesque scenic practices of the era.

30

Conditioned by such pepular success American theatre
audiences were unwilling to accept the new form of unsen-
timental realism. The M 19;; Dramatic W, writing in
1890, called the realists of the Independent Theatre radicals
whose reforms would strip the theatre of its charm, mystery
and "sacred ornaments.” John Corbin, writing in reaction
to James Herne's play Griffith ngenport (1899). carried
the idea further:

When one chooses to go to the theatre in-
stead of, let us say, to a political
meeting or a police court, one accepts

a world of rags and paint for the real
world, a world of footlights for a world
of daylight--a thing no reasonable man
would do, even the strongest partisan of
realism, if he did not expect to find
something beyond what he would have had
in the actual world. The value of the
world of paint and footlights lies in the
fact that it is not real, and that the
people who move in it cannot by any pos-
sibility be regarded as real. Paint and
rags are the means by which we render
unreal all but the most significant as-
pects of life, and by doing so are en-
abled to work out in the space of an even-
ing a story or the development of a human
soul that in real life would take years of
intimate knowledge to understand.20

The few realistic dramas that were produced in the
1880's and 1890's were unsuccessful. Helena Modjeska's

performance as Nora in.ALDoll's House, produced in 1883,

 

drew negative criticism and little audience. American
actress Minnie Maddern.Fiske (1865-1932) starred in a number
of Ibsen's plays during the 1890's, including A,Qg;;;§_
M, M m, Rosmersholm, Pillars of Society and
Mg. When M was produced in 1891+, m m Tribune

31

critic William Winter criticized the play as being ob-
noxious in theme, dull and dirty in content, and generally
"Nauseous offal.” Winter, the most influential critic of
his day, characterized the American reaction to European
Realism. In his Egg 9; 9331-2 Belasco (1918), he expressed
a view of the theatre as "The home of that magic art which
cheers loneliness of life and opens the portal into an

ideal world."21

The influence of Winter and other tradi-
tional critics such as John Corbin of Harpers‘flggglygflgga-
Ling, and Alan Dale of the M M Evening Jgurnal contin-
ued well into the twentieth century, inhibiting the accep-
tance of an Ibsen-like Realism.

There were, however, several important men of letters
interested in promoting Realism in America. Along with
William Dean Howells, one of the most active Realists was
Hamlin Garland. Garland was born and raised in the diffi-
cult atmosphere of small midwestern farms. He knew first-
hand the hard, bleak life of the farmer and the drudgery
and subjugation of the farm wife. In ggin Travelled figggg,
he wrote of the problems of the small farmer. In stories
such as "A Branch Road," "Up the Coolly" and ”Among the
Corn-Rows,” he presented farm wives who leave their homes
and husbands in order to load more fulfilling lives.
Garland was an active social reformer as well as writer,

espousing with his fullest energy such causes as the Single

Tax Issue, the Populist Party and Women's Rights.

32

Garland became an active supporter of Ibsen's dramas.

He recalled his first witnessing of A_Doll's House in 1889:

I left the theatre that afternoon converted

to the new drama, and like all recent con-

verts, I began to talk and write on Ibsenism

as I had been talking and writing on Im-

pressionism and Veritism. It became another

”cause" for me.
Garland admired Ibsen as a social reformer, later saying in
his crusading novel Crumbling Idols (1891) that Ibsen
pointed the way for American playwrights. However, Garland,
like William Dean Howells, made a point of expressing his
belief that American drama must also reflect the optimistic
and democratic spirit of the country.

The higher class of American dramas therefore

must not be shambling, disconnected character

studies, neither must they be sensational mel-

odramas with thin "Realistic" tanks and horses,

and lastly they must not imitate Ibsen or any

other dramatist, but they must be studies of

life, of social life, and must have breadth

and sincerity of purpose.
He also said American drama "must be more human, more whole-
some, and more humorous."23 These statements provide an
accurate description.of the transformation occurring in
early Realism on the American stage. Garland's interest
in Ibsen and a "new".American theatre was accentuated
through his correspondence with James A. Horne.

James A. Herne ably suited Garland's idea of a modern
playwright. When they not after Garland viewed Drifting
Apggt in 1889, he said, ”In.all matters concerning the
American Drama we were in accord.“ Herne's interest in

developing an American style of realism along the lines of

33
Ibsen's prose plays was encouraged by Garland, who gave
credence to his already established beliefs. By this time,
Horne had read numerous Ibsen plays and, according to his
biographer Herbert Edwards, particularly admired the Nor-
wegian's use of terse, matter of fact, prose dialogue.
Other qualities attracted Horne to Ibsen's plays. The lines
were short, phrased more like natural speech. Exposition
came gradually in the course of the dialogue. This in-
creased the importance of the lines for their intellectual
content. At the same time, this gradual, subtle mixture of
present and past drew the play into an organic whole. In
short, Ibsen provided a dramatic model on which Horne could
base his American themes.

James A. Herne's sympathy for a more realistic theatre
which could explore individual crises in a modern society,
combined with the impact of writers such as Ibsen, Howells
and Garland. The theory of drama Horne evolved at this
time was recorded in his essay ”Art for Truth's Sake in the
Drama.” The essay is probably the most important document
of nineteenth-century American dramatic theory and is one
of the first indications of a movement toward new American
forms of theatre and drama which would take another two
decades to emerge fully.

In the essay, he begins by making a very clear dis-
tinction between art for art's sake and art for truth's «
sake:

"Art for art's sake” seems to me to concern
itself principally with delicacy of touch, with

34

skill. It is aesthetic. It emphasizes beauty.
It aims to be attractive. It must always be
beautiful. It must contain no distasteful
quality. It never offends. It is highbred,

so to speak. It holds that truth is ugly, or
at least is not always beautiful. The compen-
sation of the artist is the joy of having
produced it.

"Art for truth's sake,” on the other hand,
emphasizes humanity. It is not sufficient
that the subject be attractive or beautiful,
or that it does not offend. It must first
of all express some 155g; truth. That is to
say, it must always be representative. Truth
is not always beautiful, but in art for truth's
sake it is indispensable.

Art for art's sake may be likened to the
exquisite decoration of some noble building:
while art for truth's sake might be the
building itself. 24

His preference is Obviously for the latter viewpoint:

I stand for art for truth's sake because
it perpetuates the everyday life of its time,
because it develops the latent beauty of the
so-called commonplaces of life, because it
dignifies labor and reveals the divinity of
the common man.2

The essay continues through Herne's acknowledgement of
his debt to Hamlin Garland for introducing him to Howells
and others interested in truth in art:

As I said, "it was a potentiality,“ an un-
conscious pctentiality which attracted to
us a sympathetic man, now an esteemed
friend, who in turn brought others, and

our lives were broadened and bettered,

for through these friends we learned that
we had been unconsciously working along the
lines of thought held bg some of the great
modern masters of art.2

He also credits early domestic dramas such as Temptation,

 

Black Eyed Susan and Rent Day, all of which he had acted
in, with helping to form his style: "the simpler the play
the better for me. The more direct the talk, the more

35

earnest I become.'27 Among his favorite characters were
those of Charles Dickens, calling them "representative"
and "full of humanity.”

Perhaps, the most important aspect of the essay is the
stress Horne gives to a drama of theme and character as
the playwright's "personal expression of life. The finer

the form and color and the larger the truth, the higher the

28

art." For Horne, artistic truth must be concerned with

contemporary social life:

In all art, ancient and modern, that which
is in touch with contemporaneous life adheres
closest to truth, because it is groduced through
some peculiar social condition.2

In the final paragraph Herne summarized the power and
purpose of his theory of ”art for truth's sake,” distinguish-
ing it from prevalent dramatic modes:

It is generally held that the province of
the drama is to amuse. It claims that it has
a higher purpose-~that its mission is to
interest and to instruct. It should not

reach objectively, but it should teach sub-
jectively: and so I stand for truth in the
drama, because it is elemental, it gets to
the bottom of a question. It strikes at
unequal standards and unjust systems. It

is as unyielding as it is honest. It is

as tender as it is inflexible. It has
supreme faith in man. It believes that

that which was good in the beginning can-
not be bad at the end. It sets forth clearly
that the concern of one is the concern of
all. It stands for the higher development
and thus the individual liberty of the

human race.3o

James A. Horne had been developing a realistic approach
to theatre throughout his career as an actor, director and,

finally, a playwright. The theoretical stance developed in

36

"Art for Truth's Sake in Drama” is another extension of the
strong attraction new artistic ideas held for Horne. Arthur
Hobson Quinn exemplifies this by noting that Horne was
”subconsciously in.sympathy" with Realistic ideas long be-
fore he even knew there was such a movement.31 Thus, the
European movement of Realism.in theatre and drama, best
characterized in the plays of Henrik Ibsen, and the estab-
lishment of the Independent Theatres began.to influence
Herne's artistic development. More important was the par-
allel American development surfacing in the novels, plays
and essays of William Dean Howells. Herne combined these
influences in his attempt to create a more profound dra-
matic form capable of embodying distinctly.American contents.
In.Margaret Fleming he created America's first example of

dramatic realism.

Footndtes

Hamlin Garland, "Mr. and Mrs. James A. Horne,” The
Arena (1891), pp. 5n3-560,

2 Albion W. Tourgee, "The Claim of Realism! quoted

by Lars Ahnebrink, The Be inni swgpraturalism in.American
Fiction (New York: Russell and Russell, Inc.. 1931), p. T57.

3 Lars Ahnebrink, The Beginnings g; Naturalism'ig.Amer-
ican Fiction, p. 157.

# William Dean Howells, ”Benito Perez Caldos' in Crit-
icism and Fiction‘ggg Other Essays, ed. Clara Marburg Kirk
and Rudolf Kirk (New'York: New York University Press, 1965),
P. 132.

 

5 Hippolyte Taine, ”Introduction” to Histor 2; English
Literature, in What 1.; Natur lism? Materigls £93 an
A swer. ed. Edward Stone New York: App eton-Century-Crofts,
Inc.. 1959), pp. 48-e9.

6
Emile Zola ”Preface" to Therese Ra uin in Eurogean

Theories g£_the Drama, Barrett H. Clark (New York: Crown
Publishers, Inc.. i955). P. 377.

7 Emile Zola, "Naturalism in the Theatre" in The Theory
2; the Modern Sta e, ed. Eric Bentley (Baltimore: Penguin
Books, Inc.. 19 , p. 368.

8 Ahnebrink, p. 31.

9 William Dean Howells, ”A Turgenev Novel,“ in Crit-
icism and Fiction and Other Essays, p. 115.

10 August Strindberg, "Author's Forward to Miss Julie,”
in Europegg Theories 2f the Drama, pp. 327-328.

115 Agfred Kasin, QnJNgtive Ground, quoted by Ahnebrink,
pp. 1 -1 .

12 William Dean.Howe11s, "Criticism and Fiction,” in
Criticism gng_Fiction gag Other Essa s, p. 51.

13 Ibid., p. 47.
1“ Ibid., p. 68.
15 Ahnebrink, p. #51.
16 Ibid., p. #52.

37

38

17 New York Times, May 31, 1891, p. 13.

18 Barnard Hewitt, Theatre y.s.i.: 166 32 1 (New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. 1959 , p. 2 .

19 Arthur Hobson Quinn, Re esentative American Plays:
From 1262 32 the Present Day (New York: Appleton-Century-
5 .

Crofts, Inc.. 1957), p.

2° John Corbin, Review of Griffith Daven ort in
Harpers Weekly Magazine, March 5, 1899, p. 513.

21 William Winter, Life a; David Belasco, quoted in
Herbert J. Edwards and Julie A. Herne, James A; Horne: The
Rise of Realism _i_._r_i_ American Drama (Orono, Maine: University
of Maine Press, 1965), p. 35.

22 Ahnebrink, p, 36h.

23 Ibid., p. 366.

24 James A. Horne, "Art for Truth's Sake in the Drama,”
The Arena (Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1897). P. 362.

25 Ibid., p. 369.
26

 

Ibid., p. 367.
27 Ibid., p. 367.
28 Ibid., p. 368.
29 Ibid., p. 363.
3° Ibid., p. 370.
31 Arthur Hobson Quinn, A History of iaa.American Egaaa:

From the Civil War 39 the Present Da I—TNew York: Harper
and Brothers publishers, 1927), p. T69.

CHAPTER III

Margaret Fleming As

Dramatic Realism

When James A. Horne finished Margaget Fleming in 1890,

a glance at the contemporary commercial theatre could have
told him that the play set him apart from his American con-
temporaries. Sentimental melodramas characterized by ste-
reotyped characters, contrived plots and scenic spectacle
continued to dominate the pepular taste. Horne, however,
was not a conventional playwright and his Margaret Fleming
pointed toward a new direction in the American theatre. For
the first time fully dimensional human characters confronted
major social and moral issues in a modern form which can be
appropriately labelled Dramatic Realism.

In Margaret Flemiag characters are established naturally
and their actions develop from individual needs. In other
words, Horne reproduces the mannerisms of complex psycholog-
ical people to enhance his scenes. The dialogue is natural:
sentences are short, concise, and phrased according to
character action, the emotional moment and social credibil-
ity. Finally, the success of the play depends on its theme,
for Margaret Fleming is a profound treatment of domestic

39

HO

crisis reflecting actual conflicts apparent in late nine-
teenth-century.American society.

The original version of Maggaret Fleming was produced
in.Boston and New'York in 1890 and 1891. The play was sub-
sequently revised by Horne for production in Chicago in
1892. It is this latter version of the play that has been
published: the former survives only in contemporary deom
scriptions. The revision represented Herne's final feel-
ings on the form of the play and indicates an overall
superiority in playwriting technique.

The first scene opens with Bobby, an office boy, ar-
ranging the chairs in the office of Philip Fleming, owner
of a Large industrial mill. Philip enters, makes small talk
with Bobby, reads some letters and then engages one of his
managers in a business conversation. After the revelation
that Philip is having financial difficulties, Joe Fletcher,
an ex-foreman at Philip's mill, enters. Joe had taken to
drink, lost his job and is now an itinerant peddler. Their
conversation reveals that although Philip has done more
than his share of high living, he has settled down, married
and has a daughter. Doctor Larkin, Philip's physician,
arrives and Joe leaves with Philip's reminder to stop at
his house to see if his wife, Margaret, needs anything.
Larkin has just left the bedside of a dying, unwed mother
who had just given birth to Philip's illegitimate child.
The doctor finds Philip's adultery and mention of abortion
irresponsible and disgusting and extracts a promise from

#1

Philip that he will go see the woman.

The second scene takes place in the Fleming home on the
evening of the same day. Margaret has just finished feeding
her daughter and is upset because Philip is two hours late.
Maria, the nursemaid of little Lucy Fleming, is also upset.
Her sister, Lena Schmidt, is dying due to complications
resulting from the birth of her illegitimate child. Un-
known to Maria, the father is Philip Fleming. .A touch of
comic relief lightens the action when it is discovered that
Joe Fletcher is Maria's estranged husband and was uncerem-
oniously evicted by Maria when he attempted to sell some
of his wares to Margaret. When Philip arrives home Margaret
is at first angry with Philip for being late, but her anger
is quickly replaced by concern when she discovers that he
is disturbed. With his business in financial difficulty,
Philip attempts to put the deed to the house and some bonds
in Margaret's name. Margaret, however, will not allow
such actions: she would rather help him to settle his
financial affairs honestly.

Act II brings Dr. Larkin's diagnosis of Margaret's eye
disease--glaucoma. He tells Philip that any sudden shock
could cause blindness. Joe arrives to see Philip, but Maria
discovers him and physically throws him out. Maria then
asks Margaret to visit her dying sister, which Margaret
agrees to do, without telling Philip. The act ends with
Margaret happily flirting and playing with Philip before
she leaves to visit Lena.

42

The third act opens with Dr. Larkin entering the cot-
tage where Lena Schmidt had been staying only to find she
had died that morning. As he is leaving, Margaret arrives
and both express surprise at finding the other at the cot-
tage. The doctor attempts to hurry Margaret out of the
house, but she feels compassion for the infant and would
rather stay to help. She finally agrees to leave but she
stops when Maria comes from Lena's room with a letter ex-
posing Philip as the father of the child. Maria, in a
rage, draws a pistol and threatens to kill Philip. She re-4
linquishes the gun to Margaret, but still believes that
Margaret will take his side because she is his wife and can
return to her comfortable home. Margaret explains she
intends to confront Philip there in the cottage. The act
ends as Margaret is going blind from shock. She is alone
in the room, lost in‘thought attempting to quiet the mother-
less child. Philip enters in time to see Margaret, now to-
tally blind, unbuttoning her dress in order to give the in-
fant the mother's milk it needs.

The last act opens seven days after the close of act
.three. Philip's whereabouts are unknown and when he returns
he discovers that Margaret has taken his illegitimate child
into their home to raise as a brother to Lucy. Margaret
confronts Philip on his return, tells him that her blindness
can be cured by an operation, that she wants to forget what
has happened and that she believes Philip should resume his

responsibilities in his house. Crucially, she also explains

43

that their relationship will never be the same. Margaret
says she can no longer love him as a wife loves a hus-
band: she cannot accept a double standard because she too
cries ”pollution." Their life together will be only for
the sake of the children.

It is in this final act where major changes were made
by Horne in the second version. His original writing of
the fourth act was very pessimistic. Seven years pass be-
tween the third and fourth acts. During this time Margaret
and Philip have been separated, with Philip leading a life
of destitution. Margaret has also run away and even spends
some time in an asylum. The bastard child dies and little
Lucy Fleming is kept by Maria and Joe Fletcher who have been
reconciled. Joe meets Philip in the park and takes him
home to see his child. When they arrive, Maria still has
not forgiven Philip and starts a row that ends at the po-
lice station. Here Philip and the still-blind Margaret are
given the chance to talk. Margaret's convictions concerning
the double standard are the same as in the published version.
In the original, the differences between Margaret and Philip
are irreconcilable and they go their separate ways.

The second version is an advancement over the original
basically because it is simpler. By removing the scenes
showing the park, the Fletcher home and the police station,
exposition is cut and Herne proceeds directly to the reso-
lution scene between Margaret and Philip. The tone of the

dialogue is the same in both versions, expressing Margaret's

an

firm determination in her course of action. That course

is the basis of the difference between the two versions.

In keeping her family together Margaret is acting more con-
sistently with her "womanly instincts" expressed throughout
the first three acts. The second version also replaces
Herne's pessimistic view of the conclusion with a more hope-
ful one. Margaret will stay with Philip for the children's
sake and Philip believes he can win back her love. The
second version keeps the Ibsen-like logical conclusion and
instilled in it a note of American optimism.

Margaret F1emiag displays a degree of advancement over
previous American plays due to the techniques Herne used
throughout both versions of the play. The difference be-
tween this technique and that evident in typical melodramas
such as Tag Octoroon is the manner in which all this infor-
mation is established. In the opening scene of gag Octoroon
practically all the main characters are given lines explain-
ing who they are and how they came to the place and point
in time that opens the play, while in Margaget Fleming the
scene flows in an orderly, life-like manner. ”The characters
are revealed through actions and not merely by narrative
description. Philip's opening conversation with Bobby and
the other employees shows a normal day with the friendly,
yet businesslike, relationship of Philip to his workers.
There is a natural division of importance in what they say.
Information concerning a character's background or estab-

lishing the situation is given in casual, almost off-hand

“5

conversation similar to Ibsen's use of eXposition. This
‘produces a low-key atmosphere that will set off the emo-
tional and psychological conflict that follows.

This first scene also shows a number of instances of the
foreshadowing that Herne uses to connect one scene to an-1
other or even one act to another. What is involved is off-
hand information that prepares and then justifies later
actions. For example, in Philip's conversation with Mr.
Foster, the plant manager, Philip's financial difficulties
are mentioned. These money problems surface in the second
scene when Philip attempts to give Margaret the deed to
the house. In his conversation with Joe Fletcher Philip
glibly comments that if his wife left him, he would kill
himself: Philip does attempt suicide in the last act. In
these details, Horne creates a greater continuity between
the events and the actions of the characters than was ev-
ident in earlier American plays.

In the opening of the second scene additional exposition
and foreshadowing further establishes the credibility of
the action. Margaret tells the baby that Philip is ”naughty"
for being late and that one day they will leave him to see
if he enjoys being alone. In the original version, Margaret
does leave Philip after learning of his affair. A more im-
portant incident in foreshadowing occurs in Act II when
Dr. Larkin explains Margaret's eye condition. Thus, Horne
bases one of the major thematic devices of the play on sci-

entific information. Larkin carefully describes Margaret's

46

glaucoma, noting the possibility of blindness if she were
confronted by a sudden shock:

Doctor: She is showing slight symptoms now
that if aggravated would cause very
serious consequences.

Philip: (Puzzled.) I do not understand.

Doctor: The eye--like other organs, has its
own special secretion, which keeps
it nourished and in a healthy
state. The inflow and outflow
of this secretion is equal. The
physician sometimes comes across
a patient of apparently sound
physique, in whom he will find an
abnormal condition of the eye where
this natural function is through
some inherent weakness, easily
disturbed. When the patient is sub-
ject to illness, great physical or
mental suffering-~the too great
emotion of a sudden joy or sorrow,
--the stimulus of any one of these
causes may produce in the eyes a
super-abundant influx of this per-
fectly healthy fluid and the fine
outflowing ducts cannot carry it off.

Philip: Yes. What then?

Doctor: The impact continues--until the
result--is--

Philip: Yes? What is the result?

Doctor: Blindness.1

This scientific explanation realistically foreshadows
Margaret's blindness at the end of the third act. Herne's
use of glaucoma in Margaget Fleming is similar to Ibsen's
use of syphilis in Ghosts, in that the disease and its symp-
toms are accurately described. The logical movement from
symptom to disease again separates the play from earlier
melodramas such as Steele MacKaye's Haaa;,§;§§a in which the
father goes blind from grief. This technique of foreshadow-
ing allows characters and their previous actions to be de-

ciphered naturally over the course of the first two acts.

#7

Another advancement demonstrated by Herne in Margaget
Fleming is the attention paid to life-like detail. In the
first scene in Philip's office he describes the desk as
full of papers and complete with small pictures of Margaret
and Lucy. The office appears as a working area and not as
just any room. The office is a functional environment and
helps, as do the play's other settings, to establish the
multidimensional relationships of the characters. For ex-

ample, the Flemings' living-room is described in the stage

directions:

The scene is the living-room in Margaret's home.
At the back large glass doors open on to a
spacious porch with a garden beyond. There is
a fire-place with logs burning, in the corner
on the left, and beside it a French window
opening on the garden. Below it is a door lead;
ing to another room. There is another door on
the right going to the main part of the house.
There is a table in the center, a baby grand
piano on the lower right, and a baby carriage
close by the doors at the back. The room is
furnished in exquisite taste showing in its
distinct character the grace and individuality
of a well-bred woman. (M,£, I.ii.526)

This is contrasted two acts later with Mrs. Burton's cottage
where Lena had her child:

The scene is a neat, plainly furnished sitting-
room in Mrs. Burton's cottage. The walls are
covered with old-fashioned wall paper of a faded
green color. Sunlight streams in through two
windows at the back. In one there is a small
table holding a few pots of geraniums, and in
the second, a hanging basket of ivy. A few
straggling vines creep about the windowframe.
There are doors at the left center, down left
and on the right. In the center of the room
stands a table with a chair to the right of it,
and a few haircloth chairs are here and there.
A sofa stands against the left wall below the
door, and there is a low rocking-chair on the
left. (M,E, III.536)

#8

Going beyond mere scenic detail, Herne's greatest use of

realistic detail is involved with the depiction of character

through dialogue. His use of dialogue in the play separ-

ates Margaret Fleming from the plays of his contemporaries.

In previous plays the dialogue is used to impart exposition

and verbalize emotion. For example, in the first scene of

The Octoroon, George Payton and Mrs. Payton are discussing

what has happened to precipitate the action of the play:

Mrs. Payton: George, you are incorrigible. Ah:

George:

you remind me so much of your uncle,
the judgee '
Bless his dear old handwriting,

it's all I ever saw of him. For ten
years his letters came every quar-
ter-day, with a remittance and a
word of advice in his formal cav-
alier style: and then a joke in

the postcript, [sic] that upset the
dignity of the foregoing. Aunt,
when he died, two years ago, I

read over those letters of his,

and if I didn't cry like a baby--2

Dialogue also marked itself as theatrical speech, if not in

verse form, then with such oddities as the riddles and puns

of a comic character such as Pittacus Green in Hazel Kirke:

Green:

That is my distinguished name: Pit-
ta-cus Green or, as I am called for
short, Pitty Green, which is maddening:
If it was Pitty Brown, BLack, or Blue,
but Pitty Green--it's so hanged ap-
propriate. Of course everybody does
pity Green. You may not believe it,
but they say I'm Cracked.3

In typical nineteenth-century melodramas, dialogue leads

characters to a point of conflict that can be resolved

only with violent actions. This is true in The Octoroon

in the trial of M'Closky which ends in the fight between

49

M'Closky and Wahnotee, the Indian.” It is also the case in
Bronson Howard's Shenandoaa when Colonel Kerchival West,
wounded and under military arrest, breaks away from his
lover to lead a countercharge against the confederate army.5
Horne rejects this subjugation of intellect to the violent
physical expression of emotions. The crisis precipitated
by Margaret's discovery of Philip's affair and her confron-
tation with him is resolved first through Margaret's conver-
sation with Maria and Dr. Larkin and then through a discus-
sion with Philip. Margaret does not declaim her fate when
Maria discloses the affair, rather she quietly tells Maria
that she is the one who has suffered.
Margaret: (Calmly, pityingly, holding out her
hand as though to quiet her.) Maria:
Stop: How dare you talk like that to
me? Give me that pistol. (Maria,awed
by Margaret's spirit, meekly hands her
the weapon.) You think--I--am happy--
because I am his wife? Why, you poor
fool, that irl (She points to the door
on the left? never in all her life suf-
fered one thousandth part what I have
suffered in these past five minutes.
Do you dare compare her to me? I
have not uttered one word of reproach,
even against her, and yet she has done
me a wrong, that not all the death-
bed letters that were ever written
can undo. I wonder what I have ever
done to deserve this: (M;§,III.538)
This speech of Margaret's is a good example of Herne's fidel-
ity to environment. Margaret has had a secure and happy life
to this point and she is unprepared for the sordid affair of
the man she thought equally as pure.
The dialogue of Margaret Fleming is crisp, concise and

natural. The believable pattern of conversation is

50

established early in the play as Philip and Joe chat:

Philip: I've sowed my wild oats.

Joe: You must have got a pretty slick crop
out o'yourn.

Philip: Every man gets a pretty full crap of
those, Joe, before he gets through.

Joe: Ye've turned over a new leaf, eh?
Philip: Yes-~married.

Joe: Married?

Philip: Yes, and got a baby.

Joe: That so: Did ye marry out'n the

mill? (M.F. 1.1.523
Furthermore, phrasing is important in the establishment of
consistant emotional characters. Even in secondary char-
acters such as Dr. Larkin, the rhythm of the language aids
in the expression of personal feelings. In Act Three,
Larkin effectively pleads, "deeply moved,” with Margaret:
Larkin: If you continue in this way, dear lady,
you are exposing yourself to a ter-
rible affliction--this--trouble--with
your eyes. You are threatened with--
if you keep up this strain--a sudden
blindness may fall upon you. (M,E,III.539)
Horne also uses language to define charactera,their
social status and their personality. Secondary characters
such as Maria are written with convincing dialects, (as

Howells had requested in ”Criticism and Fiction”).6

Her
obviously German accent emphasizes both the confusion of
her situation and the tragicomic diversity of the play.
Similarly, Joe Fletcher slurs words together indicating a
character lacking in, as Dr. Larkin says, "moral nature.”
Even Hannah, the cook, who has only four lines in the play,
is given a speech pattern. She parrots everything Margaret

says in a dead-pan manner. Social position is also indi-

cated by the colorful dialogue. There is a difference in

51
the speaking manners of Margaret, Philip, or Dr. Larkin,
and Maria and Joe. The former are obviously well-to-do
people and the latter, working class characters. This
variation in dialogue provides the characters with a more

natural demeanor, reflecting the speech patterns of every-

day life.

Herne's use of detailed dialogue and character busi-
ness indicates his dedication to the depiction of real life.
He did.not wish to leave the character portrayal to an actor
or actress schooled in sentimental melodrama. In the second
scene of the first act, Herne very carefully details Mar-
garet's actions while she waits for Philip to come home:

Margaret turns away with a sigh of disappointment,
goes to the French window and peers out at the
rain. The Maid enters with several letters,
leaves them on the table and goes out. Margaret
turns from the window, brushes the tears away
impatiently, and drifts purposelessly across
the room toward the right, her hands clasped
behind her back. Finding herself at the piano
she listlessly sits before it and plays a
plaintive air, softly. Then she suddenly
dashes into a prelude to a gay love song. As
she sings half through a stanza, the song
gradually loses spirit. Her hands grow heavy
over the keys, her voice breaks, and the words
come slow and faltering. She ends by breaking
into tears, with her head lowered and her fin-
gers resting idly upon the keys. The child
attracts her and she goes quickly to her. She
laughs through her tears into the wide-open
eyes and begins scolding her for not going to
sleep. Soft endearing notes come and go in
her voice. A tender joy takes possession of
her spirit. She takes the child in her arms.
(M,E,I.iii.528)

Margaret is the center attraction of the play. She is

a believable realistic character because her character has

52
been slowly established and she acts out of that character.
Actions such as her breast-feeding of Lena's child are the
actions of a woman acting out of strong maternal and loving
instincts established earlier in the play.

Her relationship with Philip exemplifies the many
facets of a woman's love. Philip and her child, Lucy,
occupy the center of her affection. When Philip arrives
she scolds him for causing her such worry. However, Mar-
garet cannot remain angry, especially when she sees that he
is wet and cold. Immediately her maternal feelings for
Philip emerge. She warms his slippers, gives him a robe,
has his dinner brought to him and attempts to give him
some medication. Margaret also plays the role of the part-
ner in marriage in this scene. Philip wants her to control
the deed to the house in case anything should happen to him.
Margaret says she would rather be able to sell the house.
She wants to be able to assist Philip through difficult
times. Horne also brings out the flirtation and playful
sharing of private jokes and games that are a minor, yet
natural, part of a happy marriage.

Margaret: (Laughing.) Sorry. Did you see my

gloves?
Margaret: Where?
Philip: On your hands, of course.

Margaret: Now, don't be silly:

Philip: (Playing with the baby.) Margaret,
you know, baby's eyes are changing.

Margaret: No.

Philip: Yes. They're growingur like yours.

Mar aret: Nonsense. She hasy my

Phi ip: (Eyem g the baby critical y.) No,
they're exactly like yours. She'

got my nose though.

53

Margaret: (Giving a little cry of protest.)
Oh, Philip--don't say that.

Philip: Why?

Margaret: It would be terrible if she had your
nose. Just imagine my dainty Lucy with
a great big nose like yours.

Philip: (Feeling his nose.) Why, I think I
have a very nice nose.

Margaret: (Coming in, laughing.) Oh, yes,
it's a good enough nose-as noses
g0"bUt-- (Megs «II-e535)

All these aspects of a male/female relationship are pre-
sented in the first two acts. Horne has established a lov-
ing, happily married couple.

Margaret's personal nobility shines through her attitude
toward her husband's illegitimate child. Margaret attaches
no guilt to the child. Her attitude toward Philip after
his return is also very magnanimous. It is her nobility
that will accept Philip as a friend, but no longer as a
husband. She said she had worshipped him, but that he had
betrayed her trust. She had too much respect for what their
relationship was to allow it to continue after this ”pollu-
tion.” Margaret is a loving wife and mother, but she is not
without her own sense of right and wrong. She believes that
a husband must be as pure as a wife. It is also Margaret's
belief that there can be no sexual inequality for women:

Margaret: Can't you understand? It is not a
question of forgetting, or of for-
giving--(For an instant she is at
a loss how to convince him.) Can't
you understand? Philip: (Then sud-
denly.) Suppose-~I--had been un-
faithful to you?

Philip: (With a cry of repugnance.) Oh,
Margaret:

Margaret: (Brokenly) There: You see: you are
a man, and you have your ideals of--

54

the--sanctity--of--the thing
you love. Well, I am a woman--
and perhaps--I,too, have the
same ideals. I don't know. But
I, too cry "pollution." (She is
deeply moved.) (g,§, IV.543)

As a character Margaret Fleming is replete with all the
complex emotions and ideas of any real contemporary woman.
Unlike typical melodramatic heroines, Margaret does not rely
on sentiment to exPress her love or disgust for her husband.
Rather, Horne has carefully established her so that her fi-
nal actions are logical, natural extensions of both intel-
lect and emotion.

Philip Fleming demonstrates a similar character depth.
He is well established as a modern businessman: decisive,
logical and generally competent at the office. In the open-
ing scene he takes control of all business situations.
Philip's problems emerge in his private life. When Dr.
Larkin condemns his behavior he is taken aback. Philip at-
tempts to justify his behavior toward Lena, but Dr. Larkin
cuts him off. He responds to Dr. Larkin's veiled threat
and goes to see Lena.

This scene informs the audience that Philip did not love
the girl and that his attachment was a passing one. His
love was still concentrated on Margaret. This is proven in
the last act. First, his attempted suicide is based on his
idea that he would never see Margaret again. When Philip
does return he is very repentant and is interested in doing

only what Margaret tells him.

55

Philip is not intended to be a man without any moral

fiber because he is never presented as a Scoundrel in any

aspect other than his affair. His youthful excesses were
common to many men of his social position. Many modern men
would be able to empathize with Philip. Horne is providing
a picture of the average contemporary man. The implication
is that men believe they can cheat on their wives as long
as they do not get caught. Philip learns that society
should not be subject to this double standard of sexual
morality.

Dr. Larkin expresses the unhypocritical morality of the
society. He condemns Philip's behavior, not only in his
involvement with Lena, but also in his attitude that she
should have had an abortion. The doctor, however, is not
a completely one-sided character. He is very fond of Mar-
garet, their relationship is close in a special way.
Margaret says to him "(then with a sweet intimacy, she goes
to him.) A woman has a strange feeling for the physician
who brings her child into the world--I love you. . . .”
(M-E- III-539)

The other two secondary characters, Joe Fletcher and
Maria Bindley, are interesting in that they are foils for
Philip and Margaret. In the original version they began
the play apart and end together, just the opposite of the
Flemings. In the published second version there is no such
reconciliation-~Maria and Joe serve as a reflection of pos-

sible marital discord as well as for purposes of comic

56
relief. Maria is the physically large, domineering wife,
while Joe is the braggart who bends in the end to his wife.
They also serve to foreshadow what is going to happen to
the Flemings.

There are other characters in the play, most with only
a short time on stage, but each embodies natural character-
istics. Charlie, for example, is the young boy who an-
nounces Margaret at the Burton cottage and later takes the
note to Philip. Charlie is only ten and he enters the house
where Lena just died, on the run with his baseball cap on,
no false decorum, just a boisterous boy. Bobby, the office
boy, is another case. He too is only on stage for a short
time. He projects a real young man with just enough friend-
liness toward his boss, but a great deal of business decorum
when work begins. Horne, as an actor turned playwright,
tried to make every part true to life.

Margaret Fleming is fully in line with the desired hum-
anism of American Realism. It is simple, compact and be-
lievable. The plot shows none of the violent physical action
that characterized plays such as The Octoroon or even Haaal
Eigag. Herne basically unravels. a situation rather than
tells an elaborate story, The play is concerned with char-
acters and a theme, not an exciting plot. It is the study
of a woman's reaction to the double standard of marital
fidelity, an evil condemned in theory but condoned in prac-
tice. Herne is espousing a social problem with significance

to the thinking audience: the changing roles of men and

57

women in a modern society. The characters Herne uses to
present his theme are natural, consistent and logically
drawn. Maria's volatile temper and Margaret's compassion
are examples of character traits established carefully

and expanded as the play progresses. Unfortunately, his
work went largely unappreciated. Mounting a production

of Margaret Fleming was probably as difficult as the writing

of the play.

Footnotes

1 James A. Herne, Margaret Flemin in Arthur Hobson
Quinn, Re resentative AE§?Ecan Fla 3 7%h Rev. ed. (New York:
gppifiton- gntury-Crgftg, I957L,F{I pp. 532-;33. tfill k

ur er re erences 0 ar are eming are rom is wor
and will appear parentheticaIIy.

Dion Boucicault, The_0ctoroon in A.H. Quinn, Repre-
sentative American Plays, p. 376.

 

 

3 Steele MacKaye, Hazel Kirke in Quinn, p. #43.

4 Dion Boucicault, The Octoroon in Quinn, p. 396.
5 Bronson Howard, Shenandoah in Quinn, p. 504.

6

William Dean Howells, "Criticism and Fiction" in
Howells Critigism gag Fiction and Other Essays, ed. Clara
Marburg Kirk and Rudolf Kirk (New York: New York University
Press, 1965), p. 51.

58

CHAPTER IV

Margaret Fleming:
A Production History

The great successes of the 1880's were plays like Steele
MacKaye's Hazel Kirke, which ran for #80 performances in one
year in New York. The play had as many as fourteen road

companies playing in various parts of the country.1

Eagle
‘22! g Qgpgg, although written in 1852, was still enjoying
popular acclaim on the road, not reaching its pinnacle until
the turn of the century when five hundred road companies
were presenting the play and a New York production employed
two hundred singers and dancers and eighteen huge sets.2
William Gillette's successful 1886 production of figlg By
ghg,§nggy, ran for nearly eight months and represented the
popularity of the adventure aelodrama. In 1891 and 1892
now forgotten melodramas such as 2gg_Merchant at Palmer's
Madison Square Theatre, David Belasco's gig; Helyelt at the
Star Theatre, Lincoln J. Carter's Thg_§g§3,ugil,and Daniel
Frohaan's production of Lady Bountiful at the Lyceum Theatre
all enjoyed popular success.

Thus, the.American commercial theatre had never appeared

healthier and nowhere in the American audience was there

59

6O

heard a resounding call for greater social, moral, or polit-
ical authenticity. However, the American society itself

was not so totally optimistic, nor was it able to ignore

its problems. The Civil War had created more problems than
it solved leaving great bitterness on both sides. Frustra-
tion and confusion gripped the cities as thousands of Euro-
pean immigrants entered the country daily. American society
was undergoing the change from an agricultural to an indus-
trial economy. These growing pangs of the country came to

a head in the depression of the 1890's which left the United
States with a bitterly stratified economic society. None

of these problems were acknowledged in the commercial theatre
of romance, sentiment and escapism. In writing and producing
Marggget Fleming James A. Herne attempted to create a the-
atrical experience which would begin to address the signif-
icant moral and social issues of the day.

When the play'was completed Horne took it to all the im-
portant Boston theatre managers in the attempt to have the
play produced. A brief note in the May 2, 1891, Dramatic
Migggg states, "Mr. Herne then applied to the leading the-
atres of the city, but was unable to obtain desirable time."3
There is no mention of the names of those theatres but they
probably included the Boston Museum and the Boston Theatre,

u of searching

the two top Boston theatres. After two months
in vain and with the belief that he could acquire financial
backing if producers could see the play in performance, Herne

paid for a production in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Hernes

61

gave three performances in this little town north of Boston,
beginning on July h, 1890.

These were difficult times for the Hernes. Drifting
Aggy; had been a financial failure, they sold their few
stocks and Katharine's jewelery, and even had to mortgage
their home in the attempt to keep the play running.5 The
Hernes finished touring with Drifting Aggy; in early 1890
and with the time spent in the attempt to find a manager to
finance Margaret Fleming it seemed likely that they had no
employment between the productions of those two plays.

This raises the question of exactly how the first indepen-
dent production (July h, 1890) was financed. Herne's finan-
cial resources being what they were it is unlikely that he
could produce the play on his own. There is no mention of

a personal loan or gift from one of Herne's supporters and
it can be assumed that a manager was finally found who
would assume the cost of a tryout. If this is the case,

the names of both that manager and his theatre are no

longer available.

Morale as well as finances were low during this period.
Herbert Edwards in.his biography of James Herne recounts:

One day little Julie, who was sitting on the
floor by the bookcase reading, was startled to
hear her father utter what seemed like an in-
voluntary cry, wrung out of his worry and des-
pair, ”Julie," he said suddenly, "I wish I had
a hundred dollars." She never forget the deep
misery in her father's voice.

However, Herne did not waiver in his ideals and there is no

record of Katharine attempting to dissuade him from his

62

course of action.

The Hernes were able to attract the intellectuals and
literary community of Boston, whose support was probably
based on the similarity between Herne's play and those of
the Scandinavian playwright Henrik Ibsen. This similarity
is likely to be the reason, along with Herne's reputation
as an actor and playwright, that brought the critic from
the up! 3951; Dramatic Mirror, who wrote:

James A. Herne's new play, Margaret F1emi , was
brought out of Lynn last week for a 8 age test,
and proved an immediate and immense success. It
is constructed on simple lines, and unlike most
plays, has a distinct and immediate purpose.

It is a story of New England home life. The
dialogue is strong, and some of the situations
are full of pathos. Mrs. Horne made a remark-
ably fine Margaret Fleming and was adequately
supported by her husband.

Herne also received favorable comment from Boston intellec-
tual Thomas Sargent Perry, who wrote to Horne:

I was pleased with your play, very much in-

deed. In general I hate the ordinary play

of the period, but yours does not belong

to that sort. Your third act was admirable,

with its abandonment of the conventional

methods, its truthfulness, and its pathos.

Everyone was moved by it. It is a magnif-

icent task you have set yourself, to paint

life and not to copy sun-dried models.3
Unfortunately, neither the general public nor the profes-
sional managers shared the Dramatic M rror's enthusiasm,
and there was no financial backing forthcoming.

Following the unsuccessful production of Margaret F1em-

ing, which expended much time and energy, Herne's personal

resources were very low by the end of the summer. Not only

63

had Margaret Fleming failed to produce an income, but also
both James and Katharine were ”at liberty“ all summer. In
order to support the family Herne organized a nationwide
tour of his melodramatic play Hearts 2;,ng to replenish his
bank account. The Hernes performed in that play all fall
and returned home in time for Herne to assume a role in
Wilson Barrett's A_§gggfigggg g Fortune, which opened on
February 23, 1891. Following the short run of Barrett's
play Herne was hired to direct Harry Mowson's g gggg,ggpg;.9
These constant diversions of his professional attention did
support his family, but they must have interrupted his
thoughts on.Marggret Fleming and any ideas he may have had
on revising the play. He would have to wait for the popular
success of his more sentimental §hg£glggggg for financial
security.

In the spring of 1891 Herne again went to New‘York to
propose Margaret Flemipg to independent producers Marc Klaw
and Abraham Erlanger. The two men had no desire to stage
the play, but they did offer Herne a job as director for
all their plays. The job began in the fall of 1891. The
security of a full year of employment gave Herne most of
the spring and all of the summer to work on.Margaret Fleming.
The Hernes and Hamlin Garland set off once more on the quest
for a theatre manager who would produce the play. When no
manager could be found, it was William Dean Howells who
suggested they hire a hall and produce the play in the same

manner of the Independent Theatres in. Europe. Money again

64

was a problem. Herne was forced to agree to write an Irish
comedy, to be titled My Colleen, for an actor named Tony
Farrell and the two thousand dollars he received financed
their production of Margaret Fleming.10

The Herne's found a small auditorium, Chickering Hall
on Tremont Street in Boston. The building was not designed
as a theatre. Rather, it was a large room over the Chicker-
ing Piano Store, which was used, in all probability, for
musical recitals and storage. Its basic conditions were
seating for five hundred spectators, no theatrical lighting
or equipment necessary for even a simple production such as
this, no stage which could provide adequate acting space or
visibility, and no proscenium arch necessary for the box
set for which the play was written. Herne had to assume
the cost of raising a stage and installing theatrical light-
ing before they could build a set. Katharine found material
and had it made into curtains and draperies to form a pros-
cenium arch.

Working with these limitations, Herne undertook a pro-
duction which would nearly duplicate the early productions
of European Independent Theatres. Andre Antoine had es-
tablished his Theatre Libre in Paris only four years pre-
vious in 1887, with a rented hall and borrowed furnishings.
This second production of Margaret Fleming was prepared in
the same manner.

A brief in the Egg York Dramatic Mirror notes that:

Jordon, Marsh & Co. have offered the use of
magnificent furnishings for the interior scene

65

of the home of Philip Fleming and a number of
paintings by one of the best known artists in
the city, a personal friend of Mrs. Herne, will
be hung on the walls to add to the effect of
that scene.11

Herne was a total man of the theatre. In this Boston
production of Margaret Flemigg he functioned as a playwright,
director, designer, technician and actor. His wife Katharine
doubled as actress and costumer. Despite their frugality
in these areas, the Hernes' money was soon depleted and
William Dean Howells and B. 0. Flower, editor of The Arena
magazine, are supposed to have provided the remaining cap-
ital.12 The actors, competent yet unknown performers who
understood the problem, agreed to work for salaries far
below normal.

Advertising for the play was in the form of simple
posters which Chrystal and.Julie Herne, the playwright's
young daughters, placed in shop windows in Boston. There
were also a number of Open letters and circulars sent
through the mails. These letters were signed by such
Boston notables as William Dean Howells, Hamlin Garland,
William Lloyd Garrison, B. 0. Flowers and others. One such
statement signed by Flower and Garland.was titled "In the
Interests of American Drama” and said in part:

As a first modest trial of the independent
art theatre we take genuine pleasure in calling
attention to Mr. and Mrs. Herne's coming pro-
duction of their latest play, ”Mar et Fleming,”
at Chickering Hall, beginning May th. We do
this the more readily because these thorough
artists have been working alone and (in a

literary way) unrecognized inthe attempt to
bring the accent of life upon the stage.

66

"Margaret Fleming” is not a perfect play:
it could not reasonably be expected to be,
but it has qualities which fit it to stand
for the new idea, as Ibsen' 8 ”Young Men' 8
Union" stood for the innovation in Norway in
1869. It is absorbingly interesting, legit-
mately dramatic, has comedy as well as pathos,
and mounts in the last act into an intellec-
tual atmosphere unreached, so far as we know,
in any other American play, and Mrs. Horne
plays it with that marvelous art which con-
ceals art, leaving the embodied character
standing in place of the actress.13

The play opened on May 4, 1891. It was scheduled to
run from May 4, to May 9, but it was extended for one extra
week in the hopes that the play would draw a larger audience.
The public was uninterested and the play closed after just
two weeks. The N91 1931; 22139.9. in the May 24, 1891 issue
gives a brief note to Herne's production:

James A. Horne has become a dramatic reformer
since Mr. Howells wrote about him in the
Editor's Study of Her er's Ma azine. He re-
cently produced at Chickering Hall, in Boston,
a play called ”Margaret Fleming," which is
very modern, very gloomy, and, Ike old-
fashioned folks say, very dull.

The ew York Dramatic Mirror only remarked:

Margaret Flemin has drawn appreciative aud-
iences at Chickering Hall since the first
night, and there has been a steady increase
in attendance each evening. Concerning the
strength of the piece critics differ, al-
though all admit that it has great strength.
The majority are confident that it is one

of the strongest pieces of the day.15

The Mirror was still supporting the play but did not embrace
it with the same fervor that the French avant-garde press

16

greeted Antoine's first evening of plays. Most theatre

managers pointed to the financial failure of the play as

67

proof that the play was not suited for the stage. However,
one man. Abraham Erlanger, Herne's new employer, agreed to
finance another production of the play.

The revival was scheduled for October of 1891, again
in Boston. Klaw, Erlanger and Horne planned performances
in Boston, a tour of New England and finally, presentation
in New York. However, the play met the same fate in Octo-
ber that it had in May-~no audience. The play opened
October 5, again at Chickering Hall, ran for two weeks
with the backing of Klaw and Erlanger, who withdrew, and
the show played a third week with B. 0. Flower paying the
bills before closing. The play had drawn those persons
interested in the Realistic movement who praised the attempt
to improve the American stage. Perhaps the largest number
of supporters that Herne acquired were other actors. There
was a special matinee for actors and actresses in the Boston
area on October 21, 1891, which was received enthusiasti-
cally.17

After the play closed in Boston the Hernes moved to New
York City where Herne began directing for Klaw and Erlanger.
Katharine was still trying to find a New York manager to .
produce Margaret Fleming. She finally persuaded producer
A. M. Palmer to allow a matinee performance, on the after-
noon of December 9, 1891. The results were nearly disas-

trous. Herne had been working in Chicago and was unable to

conduct the rehearsals, but it was the play and not the

actors that received the criticism.

68

The New York Times did not review the New York pro-
duction as much as it did the drama itself and Realism in
general.

"Margaret Fleming" is, indeed, the quintes-
sence of the commonplace. Its language is the
colloquial English of the shops and the streets
and the kitchen fireplace. Its personages are
the every-day nonentities that some folks like
to forget when they go to the theatre. It is
constructed in defiance of the laws of Aris-
totle and Horatius Flaccus and Corneille and
Hazlitt. . . . The life it portrays is sordid
and mean, and its effect upon a sensitive
mind is depressing.

The drama properly is poetry: the actor's
highest task is to interpret poets. The love
of the sexes is ever the dramatic poet's most
fruitful theme. The theme is often debased
on the stage. No one needs to be told that
modern drama is generally prose, not only in
form but in spirit as well, and very poor prose
at that. But the stage would be a stupid and
useless thing if such plays as "Margaret Fleming”
were to prevail.18

While attempting to ridicule Herne, the play and Realism the
reviewer was, in truth, establishing James A. Herne as a
landmark realistic playwright in the American theatre.

The play is consistent. It is realistic in
everything. We see human beings as they are.
There are no soliloquies. The meditations of
the character are not spoken aloud. The
author has steered clear of all the old con-
ventions of the drama. The personages come
and go naturally. It is easy to be natural
in making a play without stirring climaxes
and forcible dramatic situation.

The text is simple and direct and contains
many unpleasant expressions not often heard on
the stage.19

The second major critique of the production came from
the Dramatic Mirror. It is interesting to note the abrupt

change in attitude of the Dramatic Mirror:

69

If it be the purpose of a play to give pleas-
ure, "Margaret Fleming" cannot be called a play.
If it be the purpose of a play to reproduce with
photographic details of unpleasant and unhealthy
forms of everyday life, "Margaret Fleming: can
be called a play. But whatever it is called, or
however it may be classified, the fact remains
that it is tedious in performance and that it
possesses no other interest to the playgoer
than the interest that belongs to a product
which is unfamiliar and curious. It defies
nearly every dramatic law, and therefore
cannot be judged by established dramatic
standards.

Whether viewed in the light of a drama
designed to give enjoyment either through the
medium of the intelligence or by appealing
to the sensual nature, or viewed as a social
lesson, "Margaret Fleming,” in our humble
opinion, is a failure.20

The Dramatic Mirror, in July of 1890, called the play
”simple" with "a distinct and immediate purpose.” In De-
cember of 1891, the review was exactly opposite:
the story meanders along irregularly, halting
and wandering from the path of directness with
a unique disregard for the patience of the
spectator. Indeed, it is as apparently free
from point and purpose, and decidedly as dull

as similar commonplaces observable on every
hand in real 1ife.21

The Critig magazine agreed with the negative responses
of the New York Times and the Dramatic Mirror. They referred
to the play as ”a conventional domestic drama, crowded with
exasperating trivialities" with ". . . no distinctive lit-

”22

erary quality. . . . The New York Daily Tribune agreed

saying that it was more of a Sunday school sermon than a
play.23
Herne was bitterly disappointed in the reaction to the

play. However, the criticism was merely a reflection of the

70

continued interest in the escapist quality of melodrama.
New York's most influential popular critic, William Winter,
espoused the view that theatre is "the home of that magic
art which cheers the loneliness of life and opens the por-
tal into an ideal world," whereas Margaret Fleming does not
cheer the loneliness of life, rather, it enforces it.24
Nor is the world of the play an ideal one: it reflects the
common world of modern individuals.

Even with the numerous adverse criticisms, Herne was
offered another opportunity to produce the play and he
quickly accepted. James McVicker was planning a summer
season for his theatre in Chicago and he wanted Herne to
perform Shore Acres, My Colleen and Margaret Fleming. It
was McVicker who suggested changing the play, providing a
flash of hope for the characters at the end. Herne made
such a change and also removed all the excess material
between Margaret's blindness and the end of the play. The
play opened July 7, 1892, and ran for its scheduled twelve
performances, closing July the 16th. The Chicago Qgigy
Tribune referred to the play as a "simple pathetic story"
but not the epoch-making drama that Mr. Howells had de-
scribed. They did say that it was ”on the whole, a brave,
strong play--one to make people think."25 This was the
kindest reception the play had received from a general

subscription newspaper.

Herne's last opportunity to produce Margaret Fleming
came in April of 1894. Carl and Theodore Rosenfeld, two

71

producers who already owned the American rights to
Hauptmann's Hannelle (1893), presented the play at Miner's
Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York. The play ran for its
scheduled two weeks, opening on April 9, 1894. The re-
action of the press was true to form--negative:

its small share of dramatic art is not at all

new. The stage has had more than enough of

sordid realism in all ages, and 'ust so far

as "Margaret Fleming" is realistic, it is

sordid and cheap.26
The reviewer does give Herne credit for some talent as a
playwright, saying, "Mr. Herne, is, however a master of
mere stagecraft and he can write simple, direct, telling
dialogue."27

Four years had not changed the attitude of most critics
toward Realism. Herne, in Margaret Fleming, combined the
characteristic humanity of American Realism with the unflinch-
ing social scrutiny"of Continental Realism. His four years
of struggling to gain a popular audience for this type of
drama convinced him that Americans would not accept this type
of drama. Herne's future plays would make use of realistic
characters, character development, natural dialogue, and yet
retain theuelement of a more sentimentalized subject matter.
Shore Acres, Sag Harbor and Griffith Davenport to an extent
all follow those lines.
Herne never lived to see his play accepted by critics

and audience. Five and one-half years after his death in

1901, his daughter Chrystal revived the play in Chicago.
It was called Herne's greatest play and one of the best

72

efforts by an American playwright. The house was filled
for each performance in the two week run. After sixteen
years the public was finally ready to look at its own

shortcomings.

Footnotes

1 Barnard Hewitt, Theatre U.S.A.: 166 33 1 (New
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.. 19 , p. 37.

2 Garff Wilson, Three Hundred Years 2: American Drama
and Theatre: From X2 Bars and 13 CuEE i9 Hair (Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.. 197 5. p. 202.

3 "Boston," announcement of Mar aret Fleming, New
York Dramatic Mirror, May 2, 1891, p. .

4 Herbert J. Edwards and Julie A. Herne, James g;
Herne: The Rise 9; Realism in American Drama (Orono, Maine:
University of Maine Press, 1964), p. 51.

 

 

5 Herbert Edwards and Julie Herne, James g; Herne, p. 42.
6 James A; Herne, p. 43.
7

"Boston," Review of Mar et Fleming, New York Dram-
atic Mirror, July 19, 1890, p. .
8 James A; Herne, p. 61.

9 Ibid., p. 61.

1° Ibid., p. 64.

11 "Boston," announcement of Margaret Fleming, New York
Dramatic Mirror, May 2, 1891, p. 9.

12 James A; Horne, p. 65.

13 Lars Ahnebrink, The Beginnings 9f Naturalism ig
American Fiction (New York: Russell and Russell, Inc.. 1961),

pp. 555-453.

14 Anon. review of Marggret Fleming, New York Times,
May 24, 1891, p. 13.

15 "Boston," comment on Mar aret Fleming, New York
Dramatic Mirror, May 16, 1891, p. IO.

16 Tom F. Driver, Romantic nest and Mgdegn.gpa;;y: .A

History 2; the Modern Theatre New York: Dell Publishing
00.. Inc.. I971). p. 71.

17 . .
Anon. review of Marggret Fleming New York Times
October 21, 1891, p. 2. ’ --'--'---”

73

74

18 Anon. review of Margaret Fleming,
December 10, 1891, p. 5.

19 Ibid., p. 5.
20 Anon. review of Mar aret Fleming,

Mjrror, December 19, 189 , p. 2.

21 Ibid., p. 2.

22 Anon. review of Margaret Flemipg,
December 19, 1891, p. 333.

23 Anon. review of Mar et Fleming,
Tribune, December 10, l 9 , p. 7.

24 James A; Herne, p. 35.

25 Anon. review of Mar et Fleming,
Tribune, July 8, 1892, p. .

26 Anon. review of Margaret Fleming,
April 11, 1894, p. 4.

27 Ibid., p. 4.

New York Times,

New York Dramatic

The Critic, NS 16,

New York Daily

Chicago Daily

New York Times,

CONCLUSION

The American stage of the late nineteenth century was
dominated by sentimental melodramas written, and often
produced, by expert craftsmen such as Bronson Howard,
William Gillette, Augustin Daly, Steele MacKaye and David
Belasco. These men relied on topicality, romance, in-l
trique, suspense and scenic spectacle to provide a medium
of escape for their commercial audiences. Plays such as
Howard's Shenandoah (1889), Gillette's Secret Service (1896),
and Belasco's Th3 gig; ; gag; Behind M3 (1893) conform to
a pattern in which character and theme are subordinated
to facile statements, picturesque settings and often stilted
and improbable action. That same pattern dominates much of
the commercial theatre and mass entertainment forms of today.

At the same time, European playwrights Henrik Ibsen,
August Strindberg, Gerhardt Hauptmann and others were at-
tempting to create a drama based on serious studies of the
problems of modern individuals. Although,g Doll's Hpggg
(1879), Mi§§_gggig (1888) and Egg Weavers (1892) did not
initially enjoy the same popular success as did the American
melodramas, their authors changed the course of modern
theatre history, making theatre a serious art rather than

a commercial entertainment. Often denied access to larger

75

76

commercial theatres in both Europe and American, plays

by the emerging realists were produced through the efforts
of independent theatre managers in small, poorly equipped
theatres or rented halls and for subscription audiences.
In the writing and staging of Margaret Fleming (1890),
James A. Herne created an exception to the melodramatic
spectacles characterizing the late nineteenth-century
American theatre. Margaret Fleming parallels in content,
form and production technique the work of the great Euro-
pean Realists.

Although similar to the works of Herne's European con-
temporaries, Marggget Fleming remains American in tone and
theme. Like Ibsen, Herne focused on the ethical problems
of modern individuals in conflict with thier social envir-
onment. Like Strindberg, he concentrated on psychological
and sexual crises in the lives of contemporary men.ond women.
Like Hauptmann, he was a harsh critic of status quo social
manners and mores. In short, like the European Realists.
Herne wrote about the middle-class in the natural dialogue
of the character's social milieu. However, Margaret
Fleming retains an American bias through its underlying
humor, Optimism and democratic spirit. In this manner
Herne's dramaturgy is reflective of the works of William
Dean Howells and Hamlin Garland and such then current
American issues as Women's Rights, financial panic, and

growing industrialization.

77

The initial staging of Margaret Fleming was an American
approximation of the work of and difficulties encountered
by European directors Andre Antoine and Otto Brahm. Unlike
these men, Herne wanted his independently produced play to
have an extended run culminating in a nation-wide tour. In
producing Margaret Fleming independently Herne, again,
adapted the European model to a distinctly American situ-
ation.

Within the context of the late nineteenth-century Amer-
ican theatre Margaret Fleming presents, without doubt, an
example of advancement and growth. The play and its pro-
duction reveal the beginning of a major shift in emphasis
and the desire to address theatre as a serious modern art
in terms of theme, character, dialogue and setting. Mg;-
garet Fleming is a play which confronts topical problems
rather than using them as theatrical background. Arthur
Hobson Quinn found the play to be far ahead of its time.1
Hamlin Garland concurs with this view: ”Measured by any
play on the American stage it stands above them in purpose,
in execution, in power and is worthy to stand for the new
drama."2 The historical importance of Margaret Fleming
as a forward-looking play is undeniable. Unfortunately,
it would take a quarter of a century and the emergence of
Eugene O'Neill's short realistic dramas produced by the

Provincetown Players to surpass Herne's work in Margaret

Fleming.

78

Although Herne had no immediate followers, his work
was not without influence. The developments of the decades
following the first production of Margaret Fleming would
demonstrate a change for which Herne can be seen as at
least partially responsible. Herne's best audiences and
most ardent supporters were his fellow actors. His the-
atrical contemporaries appreciated his artistry and slowly
incorporated the natural, subtle characteristics of Herne's
work into their own commerical dramas. The commercial
theatre also began to produce local color plays such as
Augustus Thomas' In Mizzoura (1893). Arizona (1899) and
Colorado (1901) and eventually dramas with realistic themes

such as William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide (1906) and

 

Th2.ng§Q Healer (1909). The interest of intellectuals in
Realism and new theatre forms spread to American univer-
sities. The work of George Pierce Baker at Harvard and
Frederick Koch at The University of North Carolina, at
Chapel Hill, display the universities' desire for a serious
modern American drama. Hene's efforts in producing
Margaret Fleming independently were later reflected in the
"little theatre" movement and such groups as the Washington
Square Players and the Provincetown Players. Thus James

A. Herne's Margaret Fleming pointed the way for the full

 

development of a more serious art in the twentieth century

American Theatre.

Footnotes

'1 Arthur Hobson Quinn, A History_ of the American Drama:
From the Civil War to the Present Da , Vol I (New York:
Harper and Brothers Publishers, 192 27), p. 159.

2 Hamlin Garland, "Mr. and Mrs. James A. Herne,” The
Arena, IV, October 1891, p. 560.

 

79

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ahnebrink, Lars. Beginnings of Naturalism in American
Fiction. New York: RusselI—and Russe11,—I96l.

Anon. Review of Mar aret Fleming. Chicago Daily Tribune,
8 July 1892' p. O

Anon. Review of Mar aret Fleming. New York Dgily Tribune
. 10 December 189i. P. 7.

2
(D
i

Anon. Review of Margaret Fleming.

York Dramatic 11r-
ror, 19 July I890, p. 9.

Anon. Review of Margaret Fleming. New York Dramatic Mir-
ror, 2 May 1891, p. 9.

Anon. Review of Mar aret Fleming. New York Dramatic Mir-
ror, 16 May 1891, p. 10.

Anon. Review of Mar aret Flemin . New York Dramatic Mir-
ror, 19 December 1 91, p. .

Anon. Review of Margaret Fleming. New York Times, 24 May
1891. p. 13.

Anoné Reviewfiof Margaret Fleming. New York Times, 31 May
1 91' p. Q

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