May 7 Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Otis Skinner (1858-1942), actor and a star since the mid 1890s. Clemens came to the defense of Mary Lawton:  

Dear little Otis:

So you have discharged her! Your reasons have greatly interested me. To-wit: She is too tall. But she is no taller than she was when you engaged her.

 She is too large. But she is no larger now than she was then.

 Her voice isn’t right. But it is the same voice that was satisfactory before.

 She has freckles. But they are the same old ones.

 She has red hair. She had it before.

She “doesn’t spell correct.” How do you know?

Those are all the reasons you have mentioned for discharging her—but were they all you had? Isn’t it possible that you have withheld one or two? This, for instance, from a Richmond paper:

“Mr. Skinner’s leading woman this year is Miss Mary Lawton, who, though a young woman, shows rare talent, & promise of a brilliant future. As the Duchess of Chailles she rendered the star able support, & her splendid work in a most trying role evoked frequent outbursts of applause.”

It is just possible that the outbursts of applause were a little too frequent to please you? You are aware that that has sometimes been a more serious defect than red hair. Could still another overlooked reason for discharging her have been this paragraph from another Richmond paper?

“Too much praise could not be lavished on Mary Lawton, who appeared as the Duchess de Chailles. Here we have a young actress with every requisite for success—beauty, magnetism, grace, individuality, & strength. She makes her role wonderful, & in successfully living her part proves herself a student not only of stagecraft but of the profoundest psychology. One would hardly wish to see another attempt the work she does in “The Duel.” The part seems essentially hers, & should remain her exclusive province.”

With such unanswerable reasons as these for discharging her, why do  you suppress them & waste your strength upon such little matters as her red hair & the fact that she “can’t spell correct?”

I do not charge you with violating the letter of your contract, I only charge you with being meanly treacherous to the spirit of it. I also charge, that—(in the peculiar circumstances of the case)—its terms would not have been exacted by a man, but only by a homunculus. Miss Lawton was to play a week for you on trial, & provide stage-clothes at her own expense. She saved you fifty dollars a day; her work was entirely satisfactory to your audiences; it won the praises of your troupe; it won the praises of your manager; it won your own praises, freely & frankly expressed. The trial-week completed, you hadn’t the courage to dismiss her yourself, but put that humiliating office upon your manager, & furnish him the fictitious pretexts above quoted. You did not even offer to pay for the stage-clothes you had obliged her to buy. You know, from the beginning—confess it!—that you intended to use her to save expenses, & then dismiss her. In other words, that you meant to rob her. Would you mind telling me what it feels like to be an Otis Skinner?

You are a good actor—pretty loud, pretty ranty, & all that—but good & popular; the best in your line, as any just critic will grant. It is argument that you have some intelligence; the presence in you of intelligence is argument that by study & practice you could become a man, in time. It could be worth your while. There you would deal honorably by a poor & friendless girl like Mary Lawton, & not take advantage of her poverty & friendlessness to swindle her out of her clothes—as you have done—& discharge her upon the basis of a lie—as you have done. / Mark Twain [MTP].

Note: The Duel by Henri Lavedan (1859-1940), a three act play starring Otis Skinner, was performed at the National Theatre, Washington, D.C. April 23 through April 28, 1906 after an earlier run in NYC. The play contained only two female roles [Gribben 398]. Lyon wrote in her journal for Wed. Mar. 21, 1906 that she and Clara went to see the play; see entry.

Isabel Lyon’s journal:

Somewhere along here, C.C., R.G., [Rodman Gilder] & I went to see “Peter Pan”. That wonderful Maude Adams! I do not care if people do say that she has had children by Charles Frohman, I should like to know her & should like to see the child. I should like to know more of her than the bit I saw of her in the hotel that afternoon. She thrilled me through & through with that exquisite play of Barrie’s—of her exquisite acting of it. You never think of her as a woman in her boy part. I was weak with the ever present sobs in me—& R.G.’s eyes were flooded with beautiful tears too [MTP TS 69-70]. Note: Lyon strikes out the gossip about Adams; it’s as if she is self-censoring with an eye to others reading the material or to publication.

J.Q. Adams wrote to Sam. “Here is the cartoon I spoke of from the Chicago Tribune. It’s jaundiced look comes from hanging on the wall of my study since your last birthday” [MTP]. JQA shown on letterhead as asst. secy of Art Commission of the City of New York.

May 7 ? Monday – At 21 Fifth Ave, N.Y. Sam wrote to Charlotte Teller Johnson. “I am getting into pretty bad shape, therefore, it will be best for you to come pretty soon—however, after lunch will do, I suppose. Pulse normal—temperature variable; temper ditto” [MTP].