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14 MELODRAMA
Under the Gaslight (New York, 1867)
Snorkey Here — quick ! (She runs and unfastens him. The locomotive lights glare on scene). Victory! Saved! Hooray! (Laura leans exhausted against switch) . And these are the women who ain't to have a vote !
(As Laura takes his head from the track, the train of cars rushes past
with roar and whistle from L. to R.)
Preparations had to be made at once for a season in London. Knowing the difficulties concerning copyright, which could be secured only by a performance in England, Daly arranged for his play to be seen at Newcastle in the April of 1868. That should have been soon enough to protect his interests ; but directly news of Under The Gaslight reached the enterprising management of the Britannia, its resident dramatist, Hazlewood, wrote a version of the railroad sensation as part of a diabolical piece of cunning to rob the American of his rewards. Instead of presenting it as his own work or as the work of any living author, he disguised it as part of a melodrama by Charles Selby who had died five years earlier. Accordingly Selby's London By Night ; or, The Dark Side Of Our Great City, was made ready for revival. Originally, as performed at the Strand in 1844, it was a mere adaptation, one among many, of Les Bohemiens De Paris. Much of the plot, with stirring preliminaries at a railway terminus — Victoria Station this time — was retained, but there was nothing half-hearted about Hazlewood's revision. It came so near to being a new play that a new licence for it had to be obtained from the Lord Chamberlain. (Even minor alterations were supposed to be submitted for censorship, but very seldom were.) In