Courted Into Court Explained

Courted Into Court
Genre:	Play
Premiere:	December 29, 1896
Place:	Bijou Theatre
Orig Lang:	English

Courted Into Court is a 1896 play by John J. McNally. It was produced by Charles T. Rich and William Harris for a 140 performance run at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway starting on December 29, 1896. ^{[1] [2]}

Prior to its Broadway debut, it played first on any stage in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 4, 1896,^{[3] [4] [5]} and then moved to Kansas City.^[6] and Chicago.^[7]

Star May Irwin sang and helped popularize (the now notorious example) coon song "All Coons Look Alike to Me" by Ernest Hogan in the play, which had an all-white cast.^[8] She also sang the coon song, "Mr. Johnson, Turn Me Loose" in the play, a song later remembered in all of Irwin's major obituaries.^[9]

Cast

• May Irwin at Dottie Dimple
• John C. Rice as Worthington Best, Sr.
• Raymond Hitchcock as Worthington Best, Jr.
• Clara Palmer as Mrs. Worthington Best, Sr.
• Hattie Williams as Helen Best
• Ada Lewis as Mademoiselle Nocodi
• George W. Barnum as Gen. Baron Vladimir Vladistoff
• Joseph M. Sparks as Judge Jeremiah Geoghan
• Jacques Kruger as Pop Dooley
• Sally Cohen as Sylvia Rosebud
• Roland Carter as Mortimer Morton and Sharp Lawyer
• Eva Gilroy as Gertie^[10]

Notes and References

1. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020477181&view=1up&seq=201&skin=2021 The Best Plays of 1894-99
2. (30 December 1896). Mary Irwin in a New Farcical Vaudeville Play, The Sun
3. (30 November 1896). Amusements, Omaha Daily Bee
4. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1896-12-05/ed-1/seq-2/ Amusements
5. (6 December 1896). Amusements, Omaha Daily Bee (review of play)
6. (12 December 1896). Music and the Drama, Kansas City Daily Journal
7. (30 December 1896). Notes of the Stage, Indianapolis Journal
8. Lee, Mauren D. Sissieretta Jones: "The Greatest Singer of Her Race," 1868-1933, p. 158 (2012)
9. Ammen, Sharon. May Irwin: Singing, Shouting, and the Shadow of Minstrelsy, p. 100 (2017)
10. (6 February 1897). "Courted Into Court", The Illustrated American, p. 204