Fine Feathers is a 1912 American drama in four acts by Eugene Walter. It concerns an engineer who accepts a bribe to approve inferior cement for a dam, with disastrous consequences. The play premiered at the Cort Theatre in Chicago on August 12, 1912, in a production by H. H. Frazee, and opened on Broadway at the Astor Theatre on January 7, 1913. The Broadway production, directed by Walter, starred Robert Edeson, Wilton Lackaye and Lolita Robertson.
The work developed through several earlier versions and titles, beginning with material by playwright Walter Hackett. Hackett's contribution and the contractual rights to the play became the subjects of several lawsuits. Fine Feathers was later novelized and adapted as a 1915 film and as a second film in 1921.
Development The play originated in a scenario by Walter Hackett titled C.O.D. Hackett assigned an interest in the work to Frank M. Case, then manager of the Algonquin Hotel, in settlement of an unpaid hotel bill. Eugene Walter subsequently reworked the material for the stage.
An early version, titled Fads and Frills, was produced by Charles Dillingham in 1910 but closed after a short run. The Shubert brothers then produced a revised version as Homeward Bound, which was presented at Daly's Theatre in New York and subsequently toured. Another revision, starring Margaret Illington, was announced under the title Who's to Blame? before being staged as Mrs. Maxwell's Mistake. After a performance at the Park Theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on April 20, 1911, Mrs. Maxwell's Mistake opened at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York on April 24.
Walter later rewrote the comedy as a drama and retitled it Fine Feathers. Producer H. H. Frazee agreed to stage the new version. On June 4, 1912, Case transferred his interest in the work to Walter for $200.
Plot Bob and Jane Reynolds live modestly in a bungalow on Staten Island, where Bob earns $25 a week. Jane has grown dissatisfied with their limited means and wants the clothes and comforts that they cannot afford. John Brand, a wealthy and unscrupulous former college classmate of Bob's, offers Bob $40,000 to approve the use of inferior cement in the construction of a dam. Bob initially refuses, but Brand persuades Jane to influence her husband, and Bob eventually accepts the bribe.
Five years later, Bob and Jane live in an expensive house on Long Island. Bob has lost money through speculation and has written a $10,000 check against an overdrawn account. Drunk and desperate, he blames Brand for his ruin and threatens to expose the bribery unless Brand helps him. Brand warns that exposing the scheme will also implicate Jane, but he ultimately covers Bob's check.
Bob and Jane decide to abandon their affluent life and begin again. Before they can do so, however, they learn that the dam constructed with the defective cement has collapsed, destroying a community and killing many people. Overcome by guilt, Bob telephones the police and asks that an officer be sent to the house. The lights go out, a gunshot is heard, and Jane realizes that Bob has killed himself.
Productions Original production Frazee's production opened at the Cort Theatre in Chicago on August 12, 1912. Walter directed the production. Its principal cast included Robert Edeson as Bob Reynolds, Wilton Lackaye as John Brand and Lolita Robertson as Jane Reynolds. Rose Coghlan, Max Figman, Helen Hilton and Amelia Sumers also appeared in the company.
Broadway and tour The production opened at the Astor Theatre on January 7, 1913, and ran for 79 performances, closing in March. It subsequently toured the United States. In August 1913, it inaugurated the newly completed Bronx Opera House, where the company played a nine-day engagement.
Authorship and legal disputes The success of Fine Feathers led to several disputes over its authorship and ownership. Hackett maintained that the finished play remained a joint work based on his original material, while Walter argued that he had substantially rewritten it. Hackett sought an injunction preventing Walter from presenting the play without crediting him as a co-author.
Frank M. Case sued Walter in March 1913 for what he claimed was his unpaid share of the royalties. Days later, Lee Shubert filed a separate suit alleging that Walter had violated the Shuberts' contractual right to produce the work previously known as Homeward Bound. Hackett also brought an action asserting joint authorship, and Hackett and Walter later jointly sought to compel Case to transfer any remaining interest in the play.
Other versions Burlesque and proposed opera Nine Feathers, a one-act burlesque by Fred Donaghey, was created as a curtain raiser for The Girl at the Gate and was tried out in Detroit in 1912.
In February 1913, Frazee announced that negotiations had been completed for Ruggero Leoncavallo to compose an operatic version of the play. The proposed adaptation was not produced.
Novelizations Marie Louise Gannon adapted the play as a story for the January 1913 issue of The Green Book Magazine. A second novelization, by Webster Denison, was published in book form by A. C. McClurg & Co. in 1914 and was later serialized in American newspapers.
Films The first screen adaptation, released in 1915, was directed by Joseph A. Golden for the Cosmos Feature Film Corporation. It starred Janet Beecher as Jane Reynolds, David Powell as Bob Reynolds and Lyster Chambers as John Brand. World Film Corporation distributed the five-reel silent film.
A second silent adaptation was released by Metro Pictures in 1921. Directed by Fred Sittenham from a scenario by Lois Zellner, it starred Eugene Pallette as Bob, Claire Whitney as Jane and Warburton Gamble as Brand.
References
External links
Fine Feathers novelization at Open Library