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The Two Orphans Collection, 1874-1926

1 box and 1 oversize box (.57 linear feet)

Acquisition: Compiled by Theatre Arts staff from the William H. Crain and the Albert Davis Collections
Access: Open for research
Processed by: Antonio Alfau, 2004
RLIN Record ID: TXRC04-A1

Table of Contents

Scope and Contents
Folder List

Scope and Contents

The Two Orphans was one of the greatest theatrical successes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States. Les Deux Orphelines was written by the French dramatists Adolphe D'Ennery and Eugene Cormon, and its first presentation was at the Theatre Porte St. Martin, Paris, in January 1874. Due to a former misunderstanding, D'Ennery felt indebted to A.M. Palmer and Jackson N. Hart of the Union Square Theatre and by way of compensation granted them the U.S. production rights of the play. Translated into English and adapted by Jackson N. Hart, it was produced for the first time in that New York City theatre, on December 21, 1874, where it enjoyed a tremendously successful run of 180 performances. In 1881 at the Booth's Theatre in New York City, the net profits of the play for just one week were $11,400. In the early 20th century the popularity of the play declined.

The Two Orphans Collection is chiefly comprised of programs and photographs. The collection is organized in three series: I. Photographs, 1874, II. Programs and Clippings, 1874-1926, nd, and III. Scrapbook, 1904. The twelve photographs, in carte-de-visite format, are of the original cast of the first United States production of the play at the Union Square Theatre in 1874. Among them are photos of McKee Rankin, Kitty Blanchard, and Kate Claxton, famous actors of that epoch. There are fifty-nine programs from different productions in several United States theatres. Notable among the programs are those for the first production at the Union Square Theatre, in 1874, and the tragic production of the play at the Brooklyn Theatre, in 1876, where nearly 300 people lost their lives in a fire, including two of the actors. Kate Claxton miraculously survived although most of her clothing was burned off. The scrapbook contains twelve large photographs of different scenes of the production of the play at the New Amsterdam Theatre, New York City, in 1904.

Elsewhere in the Performing Arts Collection, researchers can find additional materials related to The Two Orphans in the Production Photographs Collection, the Print Collection, and the Souvenir Programs Collection.

Folder List

Folder		Description

Series I. Photographs, 1874

1.1		Blanchard, Kitty, as Henriette
1.1		Claxton, Kate, as Louise
1.1		Cogswell, W.J., as Marquis de Presles
1.1		Granger, Maude, as Marianne
1.1		Mackay, F. F., as Pierre
1.1		Morant, Fanny, as Countess Diane de Linieres
1.1		Parselle, John, as Count de Linieres
1.1		Rankin, McKee, as Jacques
1.1		Robson, Stuart, as Picard, Valet of the Chevalier
1.1		Thorne, Jr., Charles R., as Chevalier Maurice de Vaudrey
1.1		Vernon, Ida, as Sister Genevieve
1.1		Wilkins, Marie, as La Frochard

Series II. Programs and Clippings, 1874-1926, nd

1.2*		Programs, 1874-1898, 48 items (*23 oversize items moved to box 2, folder 2.2)
1.3		Programs, 1904-1926, nd, 12 items; clippings, 1912-1926, nd, 4 items

Series III. Scrapbook, 1904

2.1		Scrapbook of the production of THE TWO ORPHANS at The New Amsterdam Theatre,
				New York City, 1904

The Two Orphans Collection Finding Aid
(Last modified: 25 August 2004 )

Reference queries to: performingarts@hrc.utexas.edu

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