Merely Mary Ann (play)

Last updated
Merely Mary Ann
Eleanor Robson in 'Merely Mary Ann' 1903.jpg
Eleanor Robson as Mary Ann
Written by Israel Zangwill
Based onMerely Mary Ann (1893) by Israel Zangwill
Directed by Charles Cartwright
Music by Malcolm Williams
Lyrics byMalcolm Williams and Israel Zangwill
Date premieredDecember 28, 1903 (1903-12-28)
Place premiered Garden Theatre
Original languageEnglish
SubjectRomance across social classes
GenreComedy
SettingLodging house in South London; Garden room of estate near Brighton

Merely Mary Ann is an 1903 play by British author Israel Zangwill. It is based on his own work of the same name, written in 1893 [1] and later included in The Grey Wig (1903). [2] It has four acts and three settings. The story explores the changing relationship between the younger son of a baronet, who has forsaken inheritance for composing, and an orphaned country girl, now working in a cheap London lodging house.

Contents

The play was produced by Liebler & Company, with staging by Charles Cartwright. [3] It starred Eleanor Robson, with Edwin Arden, Ada Dwyer and Laura Hope Crews. After a two-month opening tour, it premiered on Broadway during late December 1903 and ran continuously until May 1904. It was a popular success, and helped Liebler & Company recover the money they had lost on Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto . [4]

Liebler & Company's Merely Mary Ann opened in London during September 1904, with Eleanor Robson and Ada Dwyer but otherwise a local supporting cast. [5] It ran for over one hundred performances, ceasing on December 15, 1904, because Eleanor Robson had to sail the next day to keep touring commitments in America. [6] It was during this run that George Bernard Shaw first saw and met Eleanor Robson and determined to write Major Barbara with her in mind. [7]

Eleanor Robson and Ada Dwyer reprised their roles for a brief Broadway revival starting February 1907, playing Wednesday matinees in repretory with another Liebler & Company production, Salomy Jane, in which they both starred. [8] [9] There were three film adaptations with the same title, but which according to stage producer George C. Tyler had little in common with the play. [10]

Characters

Lead

Supporting

Featured

The following featured characters were in Act IV of the original play. Zangwill eliminated them in his simplified 1921 revision.

Off-stage

Synopsis

The play's original Act IV was revised in 1921 by Zangwill. The waltz Kiss Me Good-Night Dear Love by Malcolm Williams and Zangwill, is a recurring leitmotif throughout the play, being sung or played by everyone. [11] Lancelot despises it as treacle and excoriates the songwriter Keeley Lesterre. Lancelot and Peter were old school chums who studied music at Leipzig against their fathers' wishes. When Peter's father cut off his money, Lancelot paid his school fees. Though both are English, they affect German expressions when conversing, a shared bond of their conservatory days.

A scene from "Merely Mary Ann" (SAYRE 12856).jpg

Act I (Entrance Hall of Mrs. Leadbatter's lodging house in South London, Saturday night) O'Gorman and Mrs. Leadbatter sing in unconscious harmony as the former returns from the newspaper. Mrs. Leadbatter has Rosie add an extra charge for gas to Lancelot's account; he owes so much six shillings more won't matter. Lancelot returns in Peter's carriage from the opera. They find Mary Ann holding the roomers' boots she must polish in her apron. Peter asks her name; she replies "Mary Ann", to which he asks "Merely Mary Ann?" She nods. As Peter and Lancelot go to his room, the Tippit Sisters enter from the street. They flirt a moment with Peter and laugh at Lancelot. As they go upstairs, Lancelot tears up a check Peter owes him from conservatory days. When Peter leaves, Lancelot encounters Mary Ann again. At his prompting, she talks about her childhood in the country, and how Rev. Smedge sent her to live with Mrs. Ledbetter when she was orphaned at age 13. She shyly admits she admires his music. Upset at her work-roughened hands, Lancelot says he'll buy gloves for her. She objects, fearing Mrs Leadbatter's disapproval, but he tells her wear them only in my room. She asks a favor; will he keep her canary in his room, which has more light and air? (Curtain)

Edwin Arden and Eleanor Robson in Merely Mary Ann.jpg

Act II (Lancelot's sitting-room, late afternoon a week later) The canary accompanies Lancelot as he plays the piano. A street musician plays Kiss Me Good-Night Dear Love outside Lancelot's window until he desperately tosses out a coin to stop it. Rosie presents a lodging bill to Lancelot which he offers to settle with a sonata in D minor. Mary Ann brings a telegram from Peter, asking if he can bring Brahmson to tea. Lancelot can't find his quill pen to reply. Mary Ann tells him she often finds it flung all over the room. Lancelot apologizes for the splashed ink and kisses her cheek, not for the first time. Mary Ann's dreamy reminiscence of the countryside has reawakened some creative urge in him. Mrs. Leadbatter suggests Lancelot settle his bill by giving Rosie piano lessons. Desperate, he agrees, but Rosie's ineptitude and coy manner irritate him. Peter's arrival saves Lancelot. Peter brings the score for Kiss Me Good-Night, Dear Love for Lancelot to study, which drives him wild. When Brahmson arrives, he brings all of Lancelot's rejected compositions. Brahmson reveals Peter is Keely Lesterre and was paid £4000 for his popular song; he advances Lancelot £40 to provide the music for lyrics to another called Adieu and Farewell. After argument, Lancelot accepts, pays Mrs. Leadbatter the lodging bill and gives notice. When alone with Mary Ann, he urges her to come with him to the country and be his housekeeper... and more. She readily accepts, nestling close to him, though he warns her they cannot marry. When Lancelot teases she doesn't know where she came from, she replies "God made me". (Curtain)

A scene from "Merely Mary Ann" (SAYRE 12334).jpg

Act III (Same as Act II, evening, a week later) Mary Ann is packing Lancelot's things; he will leave for the country in the morning, and she will follow him secretly a few days later. Rosie interrupts to summon Mary Ann away. A sudden commotion from the hallway is heard as Mrs. Leadbatter and Rosie tell Mary Ann she can no longer do any work in the lodging house. Lancelot is terror-stricken when Mrs. Leadbatter sends up a clergyman to explain "what's what" to him. He fears their plan is discovered, but the Rev. Smedge enlightens him: Mary Ann's long-lost brother has died and left her £500,000. [fn 5] Mary Ann does comic battle with Rosie and Mrs. Leadbatter, trying to perform her duties which they insist are now beneath her. As he departs, Lancelot explains to Mary Ann why she must go with the Vicar to accept her legacy. She wants to give it up, or give it to Lancelot, which he refuses. Finally, she returns his polished boots with the gloves he gave her tucked inside them. As Lancelot goes out, he asks Peter for the £200 he owes from conservatory days. This will enable Lancelot to pay back Brahmson for refusing the commission. Mary Ann, left alone with the canary, sadly labels his cage with Lancelot's forwarding address and bids it to "sing pretty for him, don't let him be sad". (Curtain)

Act IV: 1921 version (A garden room on an estate near Brighton, a late afternoon in August, six years later) Rosie and Mrs. Leadbatter, dressed in fine frocks with silk parasols, stroll up to the garden room. They meet Rev. Smedge, who salutes Rosie as "Mrs. O'Gorman". Rosie's husband, now a music critic, is at the festival where Lancelot's new composition is to be played. Smedge sends them off to a copse where Mary Ann may be found. He has seen Lady Chelmer approaching and wishes to be alone with her. Lady Chelmer has been guiding Mary Ann, now styled Miss Marian, in learning the speech and manners of the gentility. Both she and Smedge have done well financially from their association with Miss Marian. Now Lady Chelmer suggests her son, Lord Valentine, as a husband for Miss Marian. Smedge acquieces after some mutual recriminations over each other's venality. Miss Marian enters the now deserted garden room; she sits at the piano. Lord Valentine comes by, having been persuaded to romance Miss Marian. She drives him away by relating her background as a menial. Peter and Lanceleot wander into the garden room, having walked the nine miles from Brighton to escape the festival there. Peter doesn't recognize Miss Marian; he has come to see Lady Chelmer. Miss Marian sends him to the manor house, but Lancelot lingers. He suspects its Mary Ann, but she says that person is gone. Lancelot tries to rekindle their affection, but Miss Marian bids him good-bye and leaves. He plays Kiss Me Good-Night, Dear Love on the piano, and suddenly Miss Marian reappears, wearing her old apron and cap: Mary Ann has returned. (Curtain)

Original production

Background

Merely Mary Ann was first published in London during March 1893 by Raphael Tuck & Sons. The little volume (118 pages) sold for a shilling, and was illustrated by the author's brother, Mark Zangwill. [1] The book was available in the US from May 1893. [12]

Liebler & Company was a partnership between investor Theodore A. Liebler and producer-manager George C. Tyler. Tyler had spotted Eleanor Robson at Hamlin's Grand Opera House in Chicago, playing a small part in Arizona , and became determined to sign her to a personal management contract. [13] Robson had read The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes by Israel Zangwill, [14] which contained the novelette Merely Mary Ann, and suggested to him it would make a good play. [15] Though Liebler & Company had lost money producing Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto , [4] they were willing to take a chance on Merely Mary Ann.

To preserve the English copyright, a single performance of the work was given at Wallingford, Oxfordshire, on October 22, 1903. [16] The actors, mostly literary friends of Zangwill, merely read their parts. [17] Elsa Steele played Mary Ann, Zangwill himself portrayed Herr Brahmson, while Jerome K. Jerome took the part of Peter. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was slated to do Rev. Smedge, but had to bow out. [16] The performance of Anthony Hope, who read the part of Lancelot, was said to be "simply unmentionable". [17]

Cast

Principal cast for the opening tour and during the original Broadway run.
RoleActorDatesNotes and sources
Mary Ann Eleanor Robson Oct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Lancelot Edwin Arden Oct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Mrs. Leadbatter Ada Dwyer Oct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Rosie Laura Hope Crews Oct 29, 1903 - Feb 17, 1904Crews left to join the cast of Ranson's Folly [18]
Frances StevensFeb 18, 1904 - May 7, 1904 [18]
Mr. PeterFrank DoaneOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Herr BrahmsonGuy NicholsOct 29, 1903 - Dec 26, 1903
Herbert CarrDec 28, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Rev. Samuel SmedgeW. A. HackettOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
O'GormanHenry RobinsonOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Jim BlaydesThomas GrahamOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904Besides his small role, Graham functioned as stage manager for the production. [19]
Polly TippitEsther BeemanOct 29, 1903 - Nov 22, 1903
Ethel StricklandDec 15, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Kitty TippitHelen ArntonOct 29, 1903 - Nov 22, 1903
Mabel StricklandDec 15, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Lord ValentineArthur StoryOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Lady Chelmer Ida Lewis Oct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Countess FoxwellGrace Thorn CoulterOct 29, 1903 - Dec 26, 1903
Kate Pattison SeldenDec 28, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Gladys FoxwellEthel StricklandOct 29, 1903 - Dec 26, 1903
Julia Dean Dec 28, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Mrs. FitzGeorgeMarguerite St. JohnOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Rowena FitzGeorgeMabel StricklandOct 29, 1903 - Dec 26, 1903
Ethel StricklandDec 28, 1903 - May 7, 1904
Lady GlynnMargaret FullerOct 29, 1903 - May 7, 1904

Opening tour

Kiss Me Good Night Dear Love 1904.jpg

Merely Mary Ann was first performed at the Lyceum Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 1903. [20] The local critic was not impressed with the play, saying it lacked drama and contrast, and called the settings "nothing". They recognized Eleanor Robson's potential, but thought the staging gave her little chance to shine. Edwin Arden, Ada Dwyer, and Laura Hope Crews were deemed good, but the rest of the cast only "fair". [21] It then went to the Garrick Theater in Chicago on November 2, 1903, for two weeks. [22] Here W. L. Hubbard of the Chicago Tribune called it "a play as sweet and clean and as truly human as the Chicago stage has offered in many a day", [22] phrasing that Liebler & Company used thereafter in advance advertising.

The production travelled east, doing one night performances in Indianapolis, [23] Dayton, Ohio, [24] Chillicothe, Ohio, [fn 6] and Rochester, New York. [25] The Indianapolis Journal reviewer expressed a common opinion about the fourth act, that it was "unnatural" and "hardly worthy of a detailed description". [23] The Dayton Herald critic thought the play "a sweet, simple story told by two principals" with the other players barely necessary, but chided Liebler & Company anyway for a supporting cast that was "incompetant" and "weak". [24] Within a month, cast lists showed four performers had been dropped and three new ones added, and two actresses reassigned to other roles. [26] [27]

Premiere and reception

Merely Mary Ann Garden Theatre, New York, every evening & Saturday matinee. LCCN2014635446.jpg

The play had its Broadway premiere at the Garden Theatre on December 28, 1903. [28] The reviewer for the New-York Tribune said Eleanor Robson understood the character but failed to move her audience, through inexperience and obvious imitation of Maude Adams. [27] This was an outlier opinion; the Brooklyn Times critic spoke for the mainstream when they said "Eleanor Robson as Mary Ann scored a conspicuous success". [28] The Brooklyn Citizen concurred, reporting that Robson was well received by the large audience and expressed the character with the "most delicious naivete imaginable" without strain. [29] The Evening World went even further, saying she "had all the women in the theatre in tears at the end of the third act". [30]

The critic for The Sun focused on the incongruity of following three acts of sentiment, humor, and charm, with Act IV: "It is almost superfluous, and the introduction of a lot of stupid people is a wicked mistake". [11] The reviewer also found the German "trying", [fn 7] but thought both the play and its star "made a highly favorable impression". [11] The New York Times reviewer pointed up the contrast in the characters of Mary Ann and Lancelot; how she was natural and without pretense, while he affects a moral position that won't let him accept interest on Peter's debt but allows him to take advantage of a poor innocent. [31] This reviewer thought Eleanor Robson's playing "most satisfying" while Edwin Arden, though good, was too precise and reserved. They also praised both Ada Dwyer's landlady and W. A. Hackett's vicar. [31]

Changes of venue

After fifty performances the production closed at the Garden Theatre on February 13, 1904, and re-opened at the Criterion Theatre on February 15, 1904. [32] The MacMillan Company issued a new edition of the novelette Merely Mary Ann, illustrated with photos from the stage play, on February 20, 1904. [33] The New York Times reported that even a week after moving Merely Mary Ann was still "drawing big crowds at the Criterion". [34] On March 28, 1904, the production celebrated one hundred performances on Broadway by distributing souvenir copies of Zangwill's original story to the audience. [35]

Merely Mary Ann finished at the Criterion on April 2, 1904, [36] reopening at the Garrick Theatre on April 4, 1904. [37]

Closing

The Broadway run of Merely Mary Ann closed at the Garrick Theatre on May 7, 1904, after 148 performances. The final night's performance was marked by long applause after every act and floral bouquets filling the lobby, "the greenroom and the star's dressing room". [38]

Adaptations

Film

In his 1934 memoir producer George C. Tyler said only Eleanor Robson could play the role of Mary Ann: "When she left the stage we should have collected all the copies of Merely Mary Ann and burned them... How I suffered when I saw what the movies did to Merely Mary Ann a long while afterward". [10]

Notes

  1. Both Zangwill and contemporaneous reviewers used the term "slavey" to describe Mary Ann's position.
  2. The play's dialogue makes it clear this is an alias.
  3. Zangwill used an old spelling, "Leipsic", for Leipzig.
  4. In the play's original version, he is the son of Caroline, Countess of Foxwell, but the 1921 revision makes him the son of Lady Chelmer.
  5. Equal to US $2.5 million at the time using the long-standing exchange rate of just less than US $5 = £1, equivalent to US $91 million in 2023. From contemporaneous reviews it appears that US $5,000,000 may have been substituted at performances for £500,000.
  6. This small city was favored with a visit as it was producer George C. Tyler's hometown.
  7. Presumably the badinage between Lancelot and Peter.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel Zangwill</span> British author (1864–1926)

Israel Zangwill was a British author at the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, and was a close associate of Theodor Herzl. He later rejected the search for a Jewish homeland in Palestine and became the prime thinker behind the territorial movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Stapleton</span> American actress (1923–2013)

Jean Stapleton was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton portrayed Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Archie Bunker, on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family, a role that earned her three Emmys and two Golden Globes for Best Actress in a comedy series. She also made occasional appearances on the All in the Family follow-up series Archie Bunker's Place, but asked to be written out of the show during the first season due to becoming tired of the role.

<i>Sag Harbor</i> (play) 1899 play by James Herne

Sag Harbor, sub-titled An Old Story, is an 1899 comedy, the last play written by American author James Herne. It has four acts and three settings, all within Sag Harbor, New York, while the action covers a two-year time span. The play is a rural comedy, with two brothers competing for the same girl, and an older widower wooing a shy spinster. The play avoids melodrama, emphasising the realistic nature of its characters, though as one critic pointed out they occasionally do unreal things.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Tedrow</span> American character actress (1907-1995)

Irene Tedrow was an American character actress in stage, film, television and radio.

<i>Merely Mary Ann</i> 1931 film

Merely Mary Ann a 1931 American pre-Code romantic comedy drama film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Lucky Star (1929); Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for the first two and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. The film, involving an orphan (Gaynor) and a flat-broke composer (Farrell), was written by Jules Furthman based upon Israel Zangwill's play of the same name and directed by Henry King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Robson Belmont</span> English actress

Eleanor Elise Robson Belmont was an English actress and prominent public figure in the United States. George Bernard Shaw wrote Major Barbara for her, but contractual problems prevented her from playing the role. Mrs. Belmont was involved in the Metropolitan Opera Association as the first woman on the board of directors, and she founded the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beryl Mercer</span> Spanish-American actress (1882–1939)

Beryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States.

First Lady is a 1935 play written by Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman. It is a three-act comedy, with three settings and a large cast. There are four scenes, which occur at monthly intervals starting with the December prior to a presidential election year. The story concerns a Washington, D.C. socialite who almost lets her rivalry with another social maven impede her husband's political future. The title is a play on the usual term accorded to a President's wife, suggesting it really belongs to the leading society hostess in the capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Crawford Flexner</span> American playwright

Anne Crawford Flexner born Anne Laziere Crawford, was an American playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Souray</span> English actress

Eleanor "Nellie" Souray, later styled as Eleanor Byng, Viscountess Torrington, was an English actress known for her roles in Edwardian musical comedies, pantomime and light opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Ayrton</span> British author and activist

Edith Chaplin Ayrton Zangwill was a British author and activist. She helped form the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Waldron</span>

May Waldron , and later known as May Waldron Robson, was a Canadian-born American actress.

<i>Lovey Mary</i> (book) 1903 novel by Alice Hegan Rice

Lovey Mary is a 1903 novel by the American writer Alice Hegan Rice. The novel was first serialized in the monthly Century Magazine beginning in December 1902, then was published in book form by The Century Company on February 28, 1903. It was a sequel to the author's 1901 novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. The book contains eighteen illustrations by Florence Scovel Shinn, one of which is reproduced on the cover. The story spans three years in the life of Lovey Mary, an orphan who finds acceptance among the poor folks of the Cabbage Patch, an area which was inspired by Rice's personal experiences growing up in Kentucky.

<i>Merely Mary Ann</i> (1920 film) 1920 film

Merely Mary Ann is a lost 1920 silent film comedy-drama directed by Edward J. Le Saint and starring Shirley Mason. It was produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Wood Swift</span>

Mary Wood Swift was an American suffragist and clubwoman, president of the National Council of Women of the United States from 1903 to 1909.

<i>The Garden of Allah</i> (play) Play by Robert Hichens

The Garden of Allah is a play written by Robert Hichens and Mary Anderson. It was based on Hichens 1904 novel of the same name. It consists of four acts and an epilogue, with a medium-sized speaking cast and slow pacing. The play is concerned with the romance between a wealthy young Englishwoman and a half-Russian, half-English man of mysterious background. The settings are various locales in French Algeria and French Tunis around 1900, particularly the oasis town of Beni-Mora, a fictional name for Biskra. The title stems from an Arabic saying that the desert is the Garden of Allah.

Children of the Ghetto is an 1899 play written by British author Israel Zangwill. It is loosely based on Zangwill's 1892 novel of the same name. It is a drama in four acts, each with a subtitle and its own setting. The play is set around 1874, within the Jewish Quarter of London. The main plot centers on the love-affair of a young couple, thwarted from marrying by an obscure religious law and an unfortunate joke. The action of the play spans a hundred days time starting at Hanukkah.

<i>The Christian</i> (1898 play) 1898 play by Hall Caine

The Christian is an 1898 play written by British author Hall Caine. It is a drama, with a prologue and four acts. Caine insisted the play was not an adaptation of his 1896 novel of the same name, but rather a new story using the same principal characters. It was more a romance than the theological drama of the novel, as an Anglican vicar of a slum parish in 1890's London tries to persuade a music hall performer to give up her career.

<i>Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch</i> (play) 1903 play by Anne Crawford Flexner

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, is an 1903 comedy by American author Anne Crawford Flexner. It was based on two books by Alice Hegan Rice, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1901) and Lovey Mary (1903). It has three acts and two settings, all within the "Cabbage Patch", an impoverished neighborhood on the fringes of Louisville, Kentucky. The character-driven play covers three weeks time and has multiple storylines, including an ill-starred mail-order marriage, two refugees from an orphanage, the return of a long-lost husband, and a handful of young romances.

<i>Salomy Jane</i> (play) 1907 play by Paul Armstrong

Salomy Jane, is a 1907 play by Paul Armstrong. It was loosely based on the short story Salomy Jane's Kiss by Bret Harte, but also pulled in characters from other Harte works. It has four acts and five scenes, taking place over sixteen hours in Calaveras County, California around 1855.

References

Synopsis source

Citations

  1. 1 2 "Literature". The Aberdeen Journal. Aberdeen, Scotland. March 31, 1893. p. 2 via Newspapers.com.
  2. "The Publishers". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 13, 1904. p. 29 via NYTimes.com.
  3. "The Drama". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. October 18, 1903. pp. 16, 17 via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 Tyler and Furnas, pp.167,168
  5. "Duke of York's Theatre". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. September 9, 1904. p. 8 via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Duke of York's Theatre". The Daily Telegraph. London, England. December 7, 1904. p. 10 via Newspapers.com.
  7. Tyler and Furnas, pp.172-174
  8. ""Merely Mary Ann" Again". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 19, 1907. p. 9 via NYTimes.com.
  9. "Mary Ann And Her Canary". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 28, 1907. p. 9 via NYTimes.com.
  10. 1 2 Tyler and Furnas, p.170
  11. 1 2 3 "Dainty New Zangwill Play". The Sun. New York, New York. December 29, 1903. p. 7 via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Books of the Week". The Philadelphia Times. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. May 6, 1893. p. 9 via Newspapers.com.
  13. Tyler and Furnas, p.149
  14. "How "Merely Mary Ann" Came About". The Times Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. October 27, 1903. p. 3 via Newspapers.com.
  15. Tyler and Furnas, p.168
  16. 1 2 "Mr. Zangwill's Play". The Evening Post. Nottingham, England. October 23, 1903. p. 3 via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 "Green-Room Gossip". Paxton Daily-Record. Paxton, Illinois. December 2, 1903. p. 3 via Newspapers.com.
  18. 1 2 "Notes of the Theatres". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 19, 1904. p. 9 via NYTimes.com.
  19. "At The Theaters". Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio. November 17, 1903. p. 11 via Newspapers.com.
  20. ""Merely Mary Ann"". The New York Times. New York, New York. October 30, 1903. p. 7 via NYTimes.com.
  21. "Amusements". The Scranton Republican. Scranton, Pennsylvania. October 30, 1903. p. 9 via Newspapers.com.
  22. 1 2 Hubbard, W. L. (November 3, 1903). "Merely Mary Ann". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 6 via Newspapers.com.
  23. 1 2 "The Theaters". Indianapolis Journal. Indianapolis, Indiana. November 17, 1903. p. 3 via Newspapers.com.
  24. 1 2 "The Theaters". The Dayton Herald. Dayton, Ohio. November 21, 1903. p. 10 via Newspapers.com.
  25. "Amusements". The Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. November 24, 1903. p. 16 via Newspapers.com.
  26. "The Drama". The Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. November 22, 1903. p. 16 via Newspapers.com.
  27. 1 2 "The Drama". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. December 29, 1903. p. 8 via Newspapers.com.
  28. 1 2 "Zangwill Play Scores". The Brooklyn Times. Brooklyn, New York. December 29, 1903. p. 4 via Newspapers.com.
  29. "Plays at the Local Theaters". Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. December 29, 1903. p. 8 via Newspapers.com.
  30. "Women Weep With "Merely Mary Ann"". The Evening World. New York, New York. December 29, 1903 via Newspapers.com.
  31. 1 2 ""Merely Mary Ann"". The New York Times. New York, New York. December 29, 1903. p. 5 via NYTimes.com.
  32. "Notes of the Stage". The Brooklyn Citizen. Brooklyn, New York. February 14, 1904. p. 15 via Newspapers.com.
  33. "Books Received". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 20, 1904. p. 23 via NYTimes.com.
  34. "Plays That Hold". The New York Times. New York, New York. February 21, 1904. p. 8 via NYTimes.com.
  35. "Souvenirs From "Merely Mary Ann"". The New York Times. New York, New York. March 29, 1904. p. 6 via NYTimes.com.
  36. "Criterion (ad)". New-York Tribune. New York, New York. April 2, 1904. p. 16 via Newspapers.com.
  37. "Garrick (ad)". The Sun. New York, New York. April 3, 1904. p. 29 via Newspapers.com.
  38. "Merely Mary Ann Closes". The New York Times. New York, New York. May 8, 1904. p. 3 via NYTimes.com.

Bibliography