Daly,
Augustin (1838-1899)
American playwright, critic,
theatre manager and director,
was born on July 20th in
Plymouth, NC. His father was a
sea captain, who died when Daly
was still a child, and his
mother a soldier’s daughter.
His education was received in
Norfolk, VA where his mother
moved the family after his
father’s death, and in the New
York City Public School system.
His first exposure to the
theatre was in Norfolk, when
after seeing in James
E. Murdoch in Rookwood,
he began to organize amateur
theatricals. In 1859 at age 21,
he started his career as drama
critic for the Sunday Courier
a position he later held at four
other New York City newspapers.
In 1862 he turned to playwriting
by adapting S.H.
von Mosenthal’s Deborah
into Leah, the Forshaken.
After its first production at The
Boston Museum, it moved to
New York where it was an
immediate success. After several
less successful efforts, he
landed a hit with his largely
original melodrama Under
the Gaslight
(possibly inspired by
Wallack’s Rosedale) in
1867. It was the first American
play to employ the sensational
device of having a man
tied to the railroad tracks
in the path of an oncoming
train.
In 1869 he leased the
Fifth Avenue on Twenty-fourth
Street with the intention of
forming an ensemble company that
would perform the best new
American plays as well as the
classics. He broke with the
accepted practice of having each
actor play only those roles in
his or her "line. He
expected his actors to switch
from comic parts to serious one
from heroes to villains and from
major to minor roles. Against
resistance from some of his
players the effort paid off and his
company became the only
serious rival to Wallack’s.
His actors included Mrs.
G.H. Gilbert, James
Lewis, William
Davidge, Charles
Fisher, John
Drew and several young
ladies whose careers he
promoted: Agnes
Ethel, Fanny
Morant, Fanny
Davenport and Clara
Morris. The list of major
hit the company offered
includes: Needles and Pins,
Boys and Girls,7-20-8,The
Country Girl, Red Letter
Nights, She Would and She Would
Not, A
Night Off, The Magistrate,
The Taming of The Shrew, Dandy
Dick, The
Railroad of Love, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, The
Lottery of Love, The Last Word and
Tennyson’s The Foresters.
In 1873 the Fifth Avenue Theatre
was destroyed by fire and
Daly’s company disbanded. He
then took over the Globe Theatre
and renamed it the Fifth
Avenue Theatre. At this same
time he managed several other
New York Theatres, including the
Grand Opera House where he
presented opera bouffe and
musical spectacles, but they
proved too costly and unpopular
and were soon dropped.
In 1879
he restored yet another old
playhouse (old Wood’s Museum)
near Thirtieth Street and named
it after himself – Daly’s
on Broadway. There he
reestablished his company with
many of his former actors, some
new Bristish players and Ada
Rehan, who was to become his
most beloved performer. He took
his entire company on tours
across the country as well as
England, France and Germany.
In
1888 he began construction of
Daly’s Theatre in London. He
opened its doors two years later
with his famous production of The
Taming of the Shrew, which
also played Stradford–upon-Avon,
and was the first performance of
the play given there.
As a
playwright Daly’s claimed
authorship of over 90 plays,
most of which were either
adapted from foreign sources, or
rewrites of Shakespeare and 18th
Century English drama. Of this
large number few are significant
literary accomplishments,
thought many show Daly to have
been an exceptional contriver of
effects and theatrical moments
and superior to many of his
contemporaries. Among his finest
works are Horizon (1871),
Divorce (1875) and Pique
(1875). From the inception of
his writing career he was
assisted at every turn by his
brother Joseph, though this
collaboration was kept a secret.
He had a keen eye for spotting
talent and was responsible for
developing the careers of over
75 actors.
He died in New York
in 1899 having been one of the
most successful theatrical
managers on Broadway.