January 20 Monday – The Clemens family went to New York for the opening of the P&P play at the Broadway Theatre. This was Abby Sage Richardson’s version, produced by Daniel Frohman and staged by David Belasco. Sam stood hand in hand with the star of the show, little Elsie Leslie, and gave a curtain speech following the third act. Livy wrote to her mother about the evening on Feb. 2:

We went down to the opening of “The Prince & Pauper”. We took Jean with us to see it, it was her first theater experience and she enjoyed it very much. Mr George Warner who sat across the house from us said it was one of the funny things to see Jean. We sat in a box and she clapped every time any one did, even her father when he made his speech [MTP]. Note: Jean was nine.

The play did well for several weeks in New York and later on the road [Fatout, MT Speaking 256-7]. The family likely stayed in the city at least one day after. No outgoing letter with a definite date appears before Friday, Jan. 24.

In his 1911 Memoirs, Memory of a Manager, Daniel Frohman wrote of the evening and of subsequent events:

Mr. Clemens made a humorous speech on the first night, highly commending the work; but later he sent me a new manuscript of the play, rewritten in his own way, though following Mrs. Richardson’s construction. Though Mr. Clemens’s work was admirable, it was not so suited to acting requirements as the adaptation I was using; so I returned it to the author with my very adequate but, to him, unconvincing reasons for its rejection. After that I became embroiled in a lawsuit, because it transpired in court that Mr. Clemens had yielded the rights of adaptation some time before to Edward H. House, the predecessor of William Winter as dramatic critic of the Tribune. Though we wrangled in court on the subject and upon the issue that I should be compelled to pay double royalties — to both Mr. Clemens and Mr. House — Mr. Clemens and I played our nightly games of pool at The Players with unruffled amity. I lost the case, though Judge Joseph Daly, brother of Augustin, tendered me the doubtful consolation that I was morally right, though enmeshed legally. The suit was continued; but, on the breaking up of Mr. Clemens’s publishing firm [in 1894], I withdrew it [51-2]. Note: See also Sam to Frohman Feb. 2.

Olaf Halvorsen age 17, wrote from Norway to Sam, his favorite author, begging for his “monogram” [MTP].

Howell W. St. John wrote to Sam, conveying a letter of thanks from David A. Wells to St. John, Jan. 18 encl. [MTP].

Webster & Co. wrote to Sam enclosing reports for the past week (not extant), and also reporting three good orders for CY totaling 1,200 books; many agents reported having “La Grippe” (influenza); nothing more had been heard from Fred Hall [MTP].

Daniel Whitford wrote a letter to Sam about negotiating with Frohman and contracts to be drawn. [MTP]. Note: two identical handwritten letters are in the file; one he sent to the Murray Hill Hotel.

January 20 Monday ca (on or after) – Sam responded to William Algie’s Jan. 18 question about the Sabine-Holland opinion, written some 19 years before for the Galaxy’s “Memoranda.” Sam had Whitmore write Algie that he had forgotten the article in question [MTP].