The Two Orphans

Two Orphans, The (1874). Called by George Odell “one of the greatest theatrical successes of all time in America,” Hart Jackson's translation of Cormonand D'Ennery's Les Deux Orphelines was first performed at the Union Square Theatre in 1874. The work centered on two sisters, one of them blind, who come to Paris where they are accidentally separated. The blind girl falls into the clutches of a vicious harridan, while her sister is carted off by a lecherous nobleman. They suffer a variety of harrowing experiences before they are happily reunited. Kate Claxton and Kitty Blanchard played the title roles. The work held the boards almost continually for the rest of the century and was given a major revival as late as 1926, when Fay Bainter and Mary Nash assumed the leading roles.