Salomy Jane (play)

[2] The play was produced by Liebler & Company, with staging by Hugh Ford, sets by Gates and Morange, incidental music by Robert Hood Bowers, and electrical effects by the Kliegl Brothers.As they depart with their captives, Jack Marbury quietly slips some gold coins into Lize's apron while she sobs unaware.Returning home, Salomy Jane and her father learn Red Pete was hung, but the young stranger escaped.[4] Producer Tyler said the premiere was nearly derailed when playwright Paul Armstrong became tipsy on champagne and gave a third act curtain speech.[fn 4] Armstrong gave the audience a narcissistic version of the play's writing that had the first-nighters starting to snicker, but redeemed himself by abruptly ending the speech proclaiming he owed it all "to the great soul of Bret Harte".[12] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reviewer singled out the playwright's use of a backstory in the first act to explain Salomy Jane's reason for kissing the stranger.[13] One month after the premiere, The Brooklyn Times reported "attendance at the Liberty Theatre is nightly increasing and seats are already at a premium".[14] Beginning February 27, 1907, Wednesday matinees at the Liberty Theatre were devoted to a revival of Merely Mary Ann, with Eleanor Robson and Ada Dwyer reprising their roles in that 1903 hit, and H. B. Warner playing the male lead.[15] George C. Tyler replied that Armstrong's contract with Liebler & Company was for an indefinite period and the playwright couldn't expect Miss Robson to go on playing Salomy Jane forever and nothing else.[17] It would return September 2, 1907 as the first of several works in repretory, previous hits of Eleanor Robson such as Merely Mary Ann and Nurse Marjorie.