The Legend of Leonora
The first time the play was given in America was on December 29, 1913 in Springfield, Massachusetts. It also opened at the Empire Theater on January 5, 1914.
One newspaper discussed the plot:
"Leonora, the heroine of this fantastic and satirical comedy, was traveling in a railway carriage with her little girl-one child of seven. The little girl had a cold. A gentlemen who rode in the same compartment insisted upon having the window open. Leonora thereupon opened the door of the carriage and pushed him out. The man was killed, but-Leonora's little girl 'had a cold.'"
"Leonora is quite unconcerned about it. It does not appear to her that under the circumstances she could have done anything else."
The play was performed in London under a different name, The Adored One and was apparently booed by the audience. Frohman reworked it for an American audience. It ran 136 performances.
=====Matine Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Our Theater by Ward Morehouse=====
"Maude Adams turned again to Barrie for The Legend of Leonora, in which the heroine pushed a cranky man off a moving train because he insisted upon keeping a window open, thoughtless indeed of him inasmuch as Leonora's daughter was suffering from a sniffy little cold."
=====Barrie: The Story of J.M.B. by Denis Mackail 1941=====
"1914, Charles Frohman presented Miss Maude Adams in The Legend of Leonora-to which name The Adored One had now reverted-at the Empire Theatre in New York on Monday, January 5th; and for Miss Adams at any rate, it was another triumph....It ran for the best part of four months-which broke no records, but was anything but a failure on Broadway-and later Miss Adams added it to her extensive Barrie repertoire. But, of course, it still remained a very queer sort of play."
=====J.M. J.M.Barrie and the Theatre by H.M. Walbrook 1922=====
The Adored One was subsequently further revised by the author, and produced in New York under the title of The Legend of Leonora, with Miss Maude Adams in the character of Leonora.
=====James Matthew Barrie: An Appreciation by Professor James A. Roy=====
The Adored One which was first played on September 4th, 1913, had a curious history. It was badly received and Barrie re-wrote it after a fortnight, the new version being staged three weeks later. The leading character, Leonora, was introduced into a later play, entitled Seven Women, which was produced at the New Theater in 1917. The playlet met with a better reception in New York, where it was produced under the title The Legend of Leonora, Maude Adams taking the lead.
=====Barrie: The Story of a Genius by J.A. Hammerton 1929=====
The Adored One does not appear in his (Barrie's) collected edition, only the memory of a Barrie failure endures among English playgoers. But in America, where it was produced as The Legend of Leonora, on January 5th, 1914, with Maude Adams in the name part, it had an entirely different reception from critics and playgoers alike. The former overwhelmed the play with such epithets as delightfully extravagant,' deliciously whimsical,' charmingly humorous,' and accused the London public of a lack of humour in having given it so unsympathetic a reception. They were reasoning from false premises, for The Legend of Leonora was a vastly different play from The Adored One,, and if the rewritten version had been the first to be seen on the London stage it might have received a different verdict. It is notorious that no re-writing of an initial failure, however skillfully done, can recover the ground lost on the first night. The real explanation of the American success and the English failure is possibly revealed in the message of the New York correspondent of The Times, who wrote as below:
"Miss Maude Adams, who appears in the title role ,forms a complete contrast in figure, voice, manner and personality with Mrs. Patrick Campbell, who undertook the part in London. She is exquisitely tender, appealing, rougish, and laughter-provoking throughout, a very woman.' In fact, as one critic observes, Sir James Barrie has again fulfilled his mission as a playwright, so far as American is concerned, by fitting Miss Adams, its most popular actress, perfectly. Without Miss Adams, the critics confides, the play would have been unintelligible to a New York audience."
In connection with the production of The Legend of Leonora an interesting fact has to be recorded. It was in this character that Barrie for the first time saw the actress, whose name will always be pre-eminently associated with his plays and the Frohman management, interpret one of those characters he had created for her more than for any other of the many gifted ladies whose names are identified with his long roll of heroines. Maude Adams since 1987 has been playing Babbie, Phoebe Throsel, Maggie Wylie, Peter Pan, and in not one of those had the dramatist seen her act. But at the close of 1913 he took another trip to America and saw her get the elusive character of Leonora across the footlights in the first week of 1914. He would naturally have her in mind for the American production and it must have been peculiarly gratifying personally to witness the American success of his work after its rejection at home. It is said that the only instructions he attached to the manuscript of the play concerning Miss Adam's part was: Leonora is an unspeakable darling, and this is all the guidance that can be given to the lady playing her.'
=====Charles Frohman:" Manager and Man by Issac F. Marcosson and Daniel Frohman, with an Appreciation by James M. Barrie. 1916=====
The last original production that Charles Frohman made with Maude Adams was "The Legend of Leonora," in which she returned once more to Barrie's exquisite and fanciful satire, devoted this time to the woman question. In England it had been produced under the title of "The Adored One."
It was in the part of Leonora that James M. Barrie saw Maude Adams act for the first time in one of his plays. He had come to America for a brief visits to Frohman, and during this period Miss Adams was having her annual engagement at the Empire Theater.
Of course, Barrie had Miss Adams in mind for the American production, and it is a very interesting commentary on his admiration for the American stat that about the only instructions he attached to the manuscript of the play was this:
"Leonora is an unspeakable darling, and this is all the guidance that can be given to the lady playing her."
=====Hear the Distant Applause! Six Great Ladies of the American Theatre by Marguerite Vance, 1963=====
In 1913, Barrie wrote the satirical The Legend of Leonora and sent it to Maude Adams to read. The play had not been popular in London; indeed, so absurd was the satire that it was roundly booed. However played by Maude Adams it won nothing but high praise in eastern cities where she toured in it. Here again was an acid test of acting, charm, and personality; a test glowingly passed. As one critic put it: "There is much in the play for which to raise our voice in thanks. And not the least for the exquisitely appealing acting of Miss Adams, who never played with finer touches of delicate and ingratiating humor, or richer glimpses of real womanliness and tenderness, so that the general adoration seems the most natural thing imaginable."
On Christmas Day, 1916, Maude Adams opened at the Empire Theatre in New York in the last play Barrie was destined to write for her, A Kiss for Cinderella. It was an instant hit. Alexander Woolcott said of it: "Maude Adams is utterly winsome, so dauntless and gently pathetic that she breaks your heart." Years later she gave to the Museum of the City of New York the "emerald and diamond" tiara she wore in the play.
=====English Literature in the Twentieth Century by J. W. Cunliffe; The Macmillan Company, 1933=====
When the relation to fact becomes too tenuous, as in 'The Legend of Leonora,' the common sense of the public revolts, though it has shown itself perfectly willing and able to follow Barrie's lead into flights of pure fancy such as 'Peter Pan' and 'A Kiss for Cinderella.' 'Dear Brutus' and 'Mary Rose' occupy again the more difficult intermediate ground between fact and fancy where Barrie's playful tenderness is cunningly combined with a view of life which is stern without being harsh.
=====Essays on Modern Dramatists by William Lyon Phelps; Books for Libraries Press, 1921=====
In 1913 appeared The Legend of Leonora , not the greatest but in some ways the most original of all its author's productions. This is one of my favourite plays, although it was coldly received by both English and American critics. To omit this comedy from Mr. Barrie's works would be a visible subtraction; it is unlike any of the others both in the humour of character and in the humour of situation. It seemed to me that the critics rather misunderstood its significance--they thought it either a meaningless and therefore irritating whimsical absurdity, or else they regarded it as an overdone burlesque. Now it is not a satire, it is not a burlesque, and it is not meaningless. It is only apparently fantastic; fundamentally it is not fantastic at all. Instead of dramatizing action and conversation, he has dramatized motives and impulses --which in organized society cannot possibly come to fruition.
A common speculation is the horror of embarrassment that would fall on a social gathering should every one present suddenly speak out exactly what was in his mind, and act out every wayward impulse. Think of the vagaries, the insults, the flatteries, the blows and the kisses that would fill the air I I suppose everyone who has sat in church, or at a solemn assembly, and has had the diabolical urge to shout something unspeakable, has experienced a reaction of shame somewhat akin to what one would feel had the awful thing really happened.
Now in The Legend of Leonora , we have two ideas presented; one, that no individual can be described by a formula; on different days in the life of the same person, that person may behave as irregularly and inconsistently as the weather. On Tuesday she may want you to pick up her handkerchief; but who can predict that she will have the same desire on Thursday? We are constantly demanding of dramatists and novelists that they make their characters consistent, when in real life there are no such animals. Much of the enormous labour spent on the talk and deeds of Hamlet might be saved if this primary fact were borne in mind.
The second idea, on which the comedy is really founded, is the dramatization of impulse instead of the representation of action. Leonora's little girl had a cold, just a snuffly cold; and when the lady requested the gentleman to close the train-window, and he rudely refused, she killed him. So far from attempting to excuse herself, or to pretend that it was an accident, she insists that she meant to kill him, and is glad she did. "Can't yon understand? My little girl had a cold and the man wouldn't shut the window." It is not she who is crazy, but everyone else. Now of course a woman traveling with a sick child would not kill a man who refused to shut a window; but she would want to. The same dramatization of motive and impulse appears in the trial scene. One critic showed a misconception of this, saying that he thought it a poor burlesque. Of course the point is that it is not a burlesque at all. The prisoner is beautiful, centripetally attractive; the judge, the prosecuting attorney, the jury show her every attention, vying with one another in claiming her notice; when the jury retire, they soon send in a message, requesting the prisoner's company during their deliberations. Now none of these things could (I admit) happen in a court of law; the judge and prosecuting attorney would not flatter the prisoner, nor would the jury request her presence; but if the prisoner were radiantly beautiful, this is exactly what every man of them would want to do. She gladly accedes to the wish of the jury and enters their room carrying an enormous bouquet; when she returns, she has almost nothing of it left; but when the jury appear, every one of them has a flower in his buttonhole.
Human nature may be faithfully and truthfully represented in unnatural speech and in unnatural conduct, and this is what Barrie has done. Such at all events is my understanding of the play, as I give it remembering the happy day I saw it on the stage. I. eagerly await its appearance in print, whether or not my impression will be confirmed.
=====Matinee Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Our Theater by Word Morehouse; Whittlesey House, 1949=====
Maude Adams turned again to Barrie for The Legend of Leonora, in which the heroine pushed a cranky man off a moving train because he insisted upon keeping a window open, thoughtless indeed of him inasmuch as Leonora's daughter was suffering from a shifty little cold.
=====Our American Theatre by Oliver M. Sayler; Brentano's, 1923=====
The Legend of Leonora, by James M. Barrie, produced at the Empire Theatre, New York, January 5, 1914, by Charles Frohman, with Maude Adams.
=====American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1869-1914 by Gerald Bordman; Oxford University Press, 1994=====
On the other hand, a beloved English playwright and America's favorite actress--for whom he often had written--scored a much bigger success, although critical opinion held the play "so thin in idea and texture as to be practically no play at all." The nonplay was Barrie's The Legend of Leonora ( 1-514, Empire) and the star, of course, Maude Adams. Barrie's story told of a woman on trial for murder-for pushing a man from a speeding train after he refused to close a window and thus stop the draft that would give her baby a cold. Barristers, judge, jury, and gleefully perjuring witnesses turn the law topsy-turvy to acquit her. One equally prejudiced reviewer wrote that the star "never played with finer touches of delicate and ingratiating humor, or richer glimpses of real womanliness and tenderness, so that the general adoration seems the most natural thing imaginable."
Reviews
The critics did like Maude Adams performance, though.
"It is one of her best parts. In the scenes in the courtroom there are moments of an intense naturalness that give point to Barrie's burlesque. The actress's personal appeal is the more winning because she is so often content to let the part play itself."
"Never has she so conspicuously demonstrated her unique ability as in this case, and Leonora will have to be credited as her greatest achievement. And never, it might be added, has Barrie been so indebted to Miss Adams for her share in making his work count."
"There is much in the play for which to raise our vice in thanks. And not the lest for this exquisitely appealing acting of Miss Adams, who has never played with finer touches of delicate and ingratiating humor, or richer glimpses of real womanliness and tenderness, so that the general adoration seems the most natural thing imaginable."
“The opportunity to show every quality of her art at its best...What there was of seriousness lay easily within her gamut, as tender indignation was the most she had to express. Here was exquisite fun interpreted with exquisite art.” Sun, Jan. 6, 1914
“It is a long time since Miss Adams won so decisive and artistic a success as she did last evening.” Evening Post, Jan. 6, 1914
“Miss Adams changes so rapidly and completely from one emotion to another that she is a constant puzzle and an endless source of wonder, just as Leonora is supposed to be. Now light and gay, now serious and sober, now full of laughter and love, now melted into snow and tears, first one kind of woman and then another, she captivates the audience as Leonora captivated all she met. Comedy and pathos, tenderness and blind cruelty alternate in swift succession and every emotion is pictured in her face and portrayed in her movements.” New York Dramatic News, Jan. 10, 1914
“The leading role, slight as it is, is admirably suited to that dainty, sympathetic personality which has endeared Maude Adams to our public. The tender, appealing quality in her acting, has seldom been seen to better advantage. Maude Adams is always Maude Adams—that is to say, a sweet, lovable little woman with an indefinable charm, winning ways that disarm criticism and prostrate the theatergoer at her feet.” The Theatre, Feb. 1914
 The Syracuse Herald Oct. 4, 1914 |
 The Fort Wayne News, Nov. 6, 1914` |
 The Lima Daily News, Jan. 9, 1914 |
 The Lincoln Daily Star, Jan. 11, 1914 |
 Indianapolis Star, Jan. 18, 1914 |
 The Syracuse Herald, Oct. 4, 1914 |
 The Syracuse Herald, Oct. 8, 1914 |
 The Syracuse Herald, Oct. 13, 1914 |
 The Fort Wayne News, Nov. 2, 1914 |
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