July 27, 1902 Sunday

July 27 Sunday – In York Harbor, Maine Sam wrote to Paul Kester in Accotiuk, Va..

I will refer you to Mr. Erlanger and Miss Marbury. I have told Mr. [Abraham] Erlanger that I would not sanction a Tom Sawyer play until after the staging of Huck Finn (Nov. 2/02) & not then without talking with him about it first. I mention Miss Marbury because she is my agent, & such matters properly pass through her hands [MTP].

Sam also wrote to Klaw & Erlanger, dramatic agents.

I want to thank you for the way in which you have made it possible for “Huck Finn” to appear on the stage. I have just heard of the adoption made by Lee Arthur under your direction & I want to say that it satisfy [sic ] me completely, I will not dispose of any nights for Tom Sawyer until after your production & to then until I shall have consulted you first.

You can announce the play as Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn adapted for the stage by Mark Twain & Lee Arthur [MTP]. Note: see July 18 for more on the two.

Sam’s notebook: “Gave Erlanger a note thro Dillingham approving Lee Arthur’s ‘Huck Finn,’ & promising no ‘Tom Sawyer’ shall be dramatized before Finn is staged (Nov. 2 ‘02 & not then until talking with Erlanger first. / Kester’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ privilege has lapsed by time-limit” [NB 45 TS 22]. Note: Lee Arthur’s play of HF was a musical comedy. See July 13 to Dillingham.

Day By Day Acknowledgment

Mark Twain Day By Day was originally a print reference, meticulously created by David Fears, who has generously made this work available, via the Center for Mark Twain Studies, as a digital edition.   

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