with a note to bearer
31 July 1877 • New York, N.Y. (MS, in pencil: CLSU-Fe, UCCL 03779)
Will the night editor of the World be so kind as g to give the bearer (for Boston Post) a slip of my speech, or the opportunity to copy it, if it will not inconvenience you too much.1explanatory note
on outside of letter as folded:
Give this to the World’s
night editor.
Clemens delivered his humorous speech, alluding to the deficiencies of Ah Sin, on the play’s opening night in New York. It was, according to some critics, superior to the play itself (Daly 1917, 234). As Mark Twain anticipated, the speech was published the following day in the New York World. It concluded with these remarks:
When this play was originally completed it was so long and so wide, and so deep (in places) and so comprehensive that it would have taken two weeks to play it. And I thought this was a good feature. I supposed we could have a sign on the curtain, “To be continued,” and it would be all right; but the manager said no, that wouldn’t do; to play a play two weeks long would be sure to get us into trouble with the Government because the Constitution of the United States says you sha’n’t inflict cruel and unusual punishments. So he set to work to cut it down and cart the refuse to the paper-mill. Now that was a good thing. I never saw a play improve as this one did. The more he cut out of it the better it got right along. He cut out, and cut out, and cut out; and I do believe this would be one of the best plays in the world to-day if his strength had held out, and he could have gone on and cut out the rest of it. With this brief but necessary explanation of the plot and purpose and moral of this excellent work, I make my bow, repeat my thanks, and remark that the scissors have been repaired and the work of improvement will still go on. (“ ‘Ah Sin’ Last Night—Mark Twain Improves the Occasion,” New York World, 1 Aug 1877, 5)
The speech also appeared in the New York Herald and Sun, and possibly other New York newspapers. The Boston Globe printed it on 2 August; no printing in the Boston Press and Post has been found (“The Heathen Chinee,” New York Herald, 1 Aug 1877, 5; “Fifth Avenue Theatre—‘Ah Sin,’ ” New York Sun, 1 Aug 1877, 3; “Before the Footlights,” Boston Globe, 2 Aug 1877, 4). A composite version of the text can be found in Mark Twain Speaking (Fatout 1976, 103–5).
MS, in pencil, CLSU-Fe.
MicroPUL, reel 1.
Gift of Moses King, Jr.
More information on provenance may be found in Description of Provenanceclick to open link.