12 May 1875 • Hartford, Conn. (MS, author’s paraphrase: CtHMTH, UCCL 01233)
On proposition for me to give Raymond the rest of the season. Answered—“Can lend you what you need—the other is not business”1explanatory note
In a letter now lost, Raymond apparently had asked Clemens to allow him the entire proceeds from the Gilded Age play, rather than merely half, for the rest of the season, which would be over in a few weeks. He followed up with a telegram from Utica, New York, on 12 May: “What answer to my letter am anxious to know so as to make my arrangements have you heard from Gillette” (CtHMTH). Clemens recorded his reply—also sent as a telegram—on the back of Raymond’s message. The inquiry about William Gillette may have been in regard to his continuing availability for the road company of the play. Gillette had played the counsel for the defense in April and early May. He may have rejoined the cast when Raymond performed in Elmira on Saturday, 15 May. He definitely was with Raymond when the play returned to New York for a run from 16 August to 2 October at the Union Square Theatre, appearing, at least initially, as the railroad contractor Duff Brown (Odell, 10:20–21; SLC 1873–74, 122).
References
- Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Conn.
- Machlis, Paul, ed. Union Catalog of Clemens Letters. Edited by Paul Machlis. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. [In some cases, UCCL catalog numbers cited in this volume supersede those assigned in 1986 and reflect corrections or additions to the catalog since publication. An updated version of the catalog can be consulted via the Letters Search page at MTPO.] 1986
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). “San Francisco Letter.” Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, 13–16 January, not extant. Reprinted as “Mark Twain’s Reminiscence” in both the Austin (Nev.) Reese River Reveille, 18 January, 3, and the Shasta (Calif.) Courier 15 (17 February): 1, and as “Captain Montgomery” in the Golden Era 14 (28 January): 6. Modern reprintings may be found in Walker 1938[bib00199], 104–5; Henry Nash Smith[bib00084], 8–9; Taper[bib00457], 197–99. 1866
- SLC (Samuel Langhorne Clemens). Mark Twain’s Letters, Volume 6: 1874–1875. Edited by Michael B. Frank and Harriet Elinor Smith. The Mark Twain Papers. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Also online at MTPO[bib32371]. 2002
- Odell, George C. D. Annals of the New York Stage. 15 vols. New York: Columbia University Press. 1927–49
MS, author’s paraphrase, on back of Raymond to SLC, 12 May 75 (UCLC 32163), Mark Twain House, Hartford (CtHMTH).
L6 , 479.