Hal Caine’s (1853-1931)
plot for his play titled The Prime
Minister was originally inspired in 1910 or 1911, while he was on a writing
retreat in Switzerland near St. Moritz. Once he conceived of the plot, he
quickly wrote the play within a week. Then he packed it away with other papers
and did not think about it for another three years. After World War One commenced,
Caine was further inspired during a breakfast with the Prime Minister of Great
Britain, Lloyd George (1863-1945), who told a story that Caine envisioned as the
Prologue to his play.
He rewrote the manuscript
several times and eventually the play was optioned by Charles Frohman
Production Company in New York City.
When the forthcoming production was announced in the New York Times on September 18, 1915 it
was titled The Prime Minister. However, when it opened for its out-of-town
tryouts and later at the Amsterdam Theatre in New York City on January 31, 1916,
it was titled Margaret Schiller.
Caine was a renowned
British playwright/novelist who was well known in North America. His previous
plays and novels had been highly successful in cities across the United States
and Canada. Caine claims the reason the play did not premier originally in
Great Britain was “the difficulty of finding, among our many accomplished
actresses, a woman who at once by her personality and training seemed to the
author to meet precisely the needs . . .” The American actress Elsie Ferguson
(1883-1961) seemed to be suited perfectly for the title role.
Margaret
Schiller is a play in four acts with a Prologue. The Prologue
is set in the residence of the Prime Minister.
The room is at the back of the house and it faces the garden. It is a
night in late summer. The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Temple, and four gentlemen
are awaiting word from Germany regarding whether the Ultimatum the British
Government sent earlier that day had been accepted or rejected. The deadline is midnight. What these gentlemen
had forgotten was that Germany is on mid-European time and Great Britain is an
hour earlier on Greenwich-time. The result was that Great Britain had been at
war an hour before the government was aware of it.
Caine also published a
book in 1915 titled The Drama of 365 Days.
In the chapter titled “The Night of Our Ultimatum” Caine described the same
scene that the Prime Minister recounted.
Act One occurs one month
later. The setting is Dr. Gottfried Schiller’s apartment in Soho Square. It is a late afternoon in August. Schiller, a Professor at the College of
Music, and his wife have been living in London for thirty years. Margaret
Schiller, the niece of the doctor, receives a telegram from her Swiss friend,
Freda Michel. Freda is coming to London to take a post as a governess. It is
Freda’s arrival at the Schiller’s apartment that sets up the opportunity for
the creation of the dramatic action since Margaret impersonates Freda to become
the governess to the Prime Minister’s daughter.
Act Two is the Prime
Minister’s residence the same afternoon. The Prime Minister is informed at the
beginning of the act that there are many enemy aliens living in Great Britain.
Margaret and her brother Otto, both born in Great Britain, are named as
dangerous. The reality of the situation is Margaret wants to avenge her
father’s death which she believes was requested by the Prime Minister. Margaret
arrives as Freda at the Prime Minister’s residence. During her interview with the
Prime Minister, he realizes who Margaret is. After an understanding develops
between them, Margaret is hired as his daughter’s governess.
Act Three is set at the
Schiller’s apartment. Two month have nearly passed since Margaret joined the
Prime Minister’s household. Her uncle and his group are expecting her to arrive
at any moment. They are planning to kill
the Prime Minister at his home and they need her assistance.
Act Four is at the Prime
Minister’s home immediately following the previous act. This is a melodramatic
act. I do not wish to reveal its many twists and turns thereby spoiling the
play’s conclusion.
The Vancouver Daily News in an article dated November 2, 1915 states:
“Hall Caine is an acknowledged master in the art of stimulating the public’s
emotions.” His play Margaret Schiller
underlines this statement. Caine incorporates several opposing perspectives
related to the given situation. It is what makes this play interesting.
As I stated above, Margaret Schiller premiered in the United States. Julia Chandler’s article in
the Washington Herald dated January
16, 1916 mentions that the play opened in Atlantic City and ran for three days
before touring to Washington, D.C. where it opened on January 17th.
Chandler explains that Caine has “long since taught us that he is a master in
the analysis of emotions.” Chandler expected Margaret Schiller to be “an
intensely emotional character” and she was correct.
However, Margaret Schiller, the play, received mixed reviews following its opening in
New York City at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The production moved to the Empire
Theatre on March 13, 1916. It totaled a
run of seventy-two New York City performances.
The February 1, 1916 edition of the New York Sun newspaper ran a story about the play with the heading “Elise
Ferguson Delights Many at New Amsterdam.” New
York Times on the same day called the play “A Wildly Improbable
Melodrama”. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s title for the review proclaimed “ELSIE
FERGUSON IN TRIFLING WAR PLAY”. While the reviewers were not taken with the
play, obviously the audiences were since the production had a respectable run.
The title of the play
reverted to its original one, The Prime
Minister, when it opened in London three years after playing in the United
States. The London production played at the Royalty Theatre and it opened on
March 31, 1918. The role of Margaret Schiller was played by Ethel Irving
(1869-1963) who received praise for her performance. The Times (London) review on April 1, 1918 focused on the characters
and performances rather than the play. An article in the Indianapolis Star titled “The Wartime Stage in London” on May 12,
1918, announced Caine’s play opened in London and that it was “rewritten since
its presentation here.”
The
Prime Minister was published in London by William
Heinemann in 1918. This script is available on-line. I read a hard copy available through Forgotten Books.
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