The Duke's Motto
I first came across the play The Duke's Motto while writing a letter to my friend Tea. Tea works in a history museum in Ohio. She has the job of recreating a character in 1863, and I know from experience that long summer days talking about the battles of the Civil War can get boring and depressing. So I offered to send her letters as a "friend" in "New York City" in 1863 to add a little excitement to her day. Nerdery.
I scanned a July, 1863 edition of the New York Times to see what was going on the in the city. This was at the height of the Civil War--Gettysburg and Vicksburg both take place in early July. I found mention what seemed to be a wildly popular play called The Duke's Motto:
"The new play of the Duke's Motto continues to attract tremendous audiences at Niblo's."
"The Duke's Motto attracts good audiences, as it deserves to do, being by all odds the best constructed and best acted play now before the public."
The play was revived again in 1864, and in 1870 to large audiences and glowing reviews. An article from 1870, however, mentions that the play is "...complicated, obscure and improbable," but is saved by the talents of the lead actor, a Mr. Fletcher.
The play also included an acrobatic feet, in which the lead actor climbs a rope carrying a baby, and two songs that the article calls "stupid."
Then the play is revived again, 20 years later in 1883:
"Mr. Stetson has been digging rather deep of late into the graveyard of melodrama. After having unearthed those lively masterpieces of ghastly mimicry, "The Corsican Brothers" and "Monte Cristo," he has new brought to light 'The Duke's Motto.' It is, perhaps, needless to remark that all these plays are very bad plays.
"They were popular once upon a time, and they are still useful, apparently, for certain purposes. Yet it seems to us that Mr. Stetson might do better than revive this farrago of cheap nonsense called 'The Duke's Motto.' No one takes such a piece seriously to-day."
Ouch.
I noticed advertisements for The Duke's Motto plastered on a way in a period Civil War photo in the previously mentioned New York documentary. I've only found a copy ofthe novel The Duke's Motto, translated from the original French. But as soon as I find a script, anticipate a revival performance in my living room.
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