January 13 Friday – In Florence Sam wrote to William Webster Ellsworth (1855-1936), at this time secretary of the Century Co., (later president from 1913-1916) complimenting him on the layout and advertising for “The £1,000,000 Bank-Note,” which ran in the January issue of Century Magazine. Ellsworth was from an old Connecticut political family; his father, by the same name, was once governor. He was a great-grandson of Noah Webster, and a member of the Players Club and the Century Club. In 1878 Ellsworth married Helen Smith, the young woman who played opposite Sam’s Peter Spuyk back in 1876 in “Loan of a Lover.” Sam also listed Ellsworth as a possible investor in the Kaolatype engraving process in July 1880 [MTNJ 2:358n5].

My Dear Ellsworth:

It is the most variegated & extraordinary explosion of advertising I have encountered in my lifetime…. Please give my love to all the Century & St. Nicholas friends [MTP].