Volume 1 — “THE UGLY DUCKLING.”—MRS. CARTER’S DÉBUT.

The play of “The Ugly Duckling” is founded, in part, on the idea of Andersen’s fairy tale, from which its name is taken,—the idea, namely, that the supposedly least promising and least esteemed member of a brood may prove to be the finest and most worthy of admiration. The story relates to domestic tribulations in a prominent New York family, named Graydon. The youngest member of that family, Kate Graydon, returning home from England, finds her more valued sister, Hester, engaged to be married to an Englishman, Viscount Huntington, by whom she has herself been courted, in London. She keeps her secret for her sister’s sake, and Hester becomes Huntington’s wife. A vindictive Corsican, Count Malatesta, believing that in Huntington he has found the betrayer of his wife, the Countess Malatesta, entices Hester to his apartments, and then causes Huntington to be apprised of her presence there. Kate, having followed her sister, liberates her from this scandalous situation, at the cost of compromising herself.

The play will not bear consideration. That Mrs. Carter should not have been irrevocably damned as an actress by making her first appearance in such a puerile composition speaks much for her natural talent and for Belasco’s skilful tuition and management. That he should have risked her advent in such a fabric of trash is astounding. Since, ultimately, he established her as a highly successful star, I suppose he would maintain that his judgment has been vindicated. I cannot but feel, however,

Photograph by Sarony. Belasco’s Collection.

MRS. LESLIE CARTER

About the time of “The Ugly Duckling”

that, had he embarked her with a good play, he would have brought her to public acceptance much earlier than he did. In Mrs. Carter’s performance of Kate Graydon there were moments in which she escaped the thraldom of solicitude and self-consciousness and clearly indicated possession of the faculty of vigorous dramatic expression. This was the original cast of “The Ugly Duckling”:

Douglas OakleyArthur Dacre.

Count MalatestaEdward J. Henley.

Professor GraydonWilliam H. Thompson.

Viscount Huntington Ian [Forbes-] Robertson.

Mr. Ernest GranlyR. F. Cotton.

Jack FarragutRaymond Holmes.

Chevalier RaffMervin Dallas.

RandolphThomas Oberle.

Mrs. GraydonIda Vernon.

Hester GraydonHelen Bancroft.

Kate GraydonMrs. Leslie Carter.

Mrs. GranlyHelen Russell.

HelenIda Macdonald.

AgnesFannie Batchelder.

“If it had not been for the interest of Isaac Rich, of Boston,” Belasco told me, “whose friendship and good will I had gained through my work on Gillette’s dramatization of ’She,’ and who was kind enough to help me when it seemed as though most of the rest of the world was against me, I don’t believe we could have got a tour booked anywhere. However, we did manage to get a route—and lost a fair-sized fortune playing it! Mrs. Carter was made a target all along the line.”