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Courted Into Court is a 1896 play by John J. McNally. It was produced by Charles T. Rich and William Harris for a 140 performance run at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway starting on December 29, 1896. [1][2]
Prior to its Broadway debut, it played first on any stage in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 4, 1896,[3][4][5] and then moved to Kansas City.[6] and Chicago.[7]
Star May Irwin sang and helped popularize (the now notorious example) coon song "All Coons Look Alike to Me" by Ernest Hogan in the play, which had an all-white cast.[8] She also sang the coon song, "Mr. Johnson, Turn Me Loose" in the play, a song later remembered in all of Irwin's major obituaries.[9]
Cast
- May Irwin at Dottie Dimple
- John C. Rice as Worthington Best, Sr.
- Raymond Hitchcock as Worthington Best, Jr.
- Clara Palmer as Mrs. Worthington Best, Sr.
- Hattie Williams as Helen Best
- Ada Lewis as Mademoiselle Nocodi
- George W. Barnum as Gen. Baron Vladimir Vladistoff
- Joseph M. Sparks as Judge Jeremiah Geoghan
- Jacques Kruger as Pop Dooley
- Sally Cohen as Sylvia Rosebud
- Roland Carter as Mortimer Morton and Sharp Lawyer
- Eva Gilroy as Gertie[10]
References
- ^ The Best Plays of 1894-99, p. 189 (1955)
- ^ (30 December 1896). Mary Irwin in a New Farcical Vaudeville Play, The Sun
- ^ (30 November 1896). Amusements, Omaha Daily Bee
- ^ Amusements, Omaha Daily Bee
- ^ (6 December 1896). Amusements, Omaha Daily Bee (review of play)
- ^ (12 December 1896). Music and the Drama, Kansas City Daily Journal
- ^ (30 December 1896). Notes of the Stage, Indianapolis Journal
- ^ Lee, Mauren D. Sissieretta Jones: "The Greatest Singer of Her Race," 1868-1933, p. 158 (2012)
- ^ Ammen, Sharon. May Irwin: Singing, Shouting, and the Shadow of Minstrelsy, p. 100 (2017)
- ^ (6 February 1897). "Courted Into Court", The Illustrated American, p. 204
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