Copyright © 2019 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1913, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We had a road show called ‘The Bulgarian Romance.’ Rather a good opportunity for effects.”
The play was reported to be a version of the first act of “The Balkan Princess.” Both “The Balkan Princess” and “The Bulgarian Romance” starred the same leading lady, Julia Gifford, a vaudeville actress who later married Bob Fitzsimmons. The “Edmonton Journal” reported, “The one-act musical comedy was written especially for the ex-champion’s wife [Mrs. Bob Fitzsimmons], and after rehearsing in Chicago the company started for Edmonton, which is the first on the circuit” (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 19 May 1913, page 2).
Fitzsimmons was formerly known to vaudeville and musical comedy fame as Julia May Gifford. The show was described as “Light, airy and witty, with well defined plot, with characters attired in the gay gowns of the ‘Near East’ and with graceful nymphs of dancing girls and well trained mail chorus…Pleasing and wholesome with plenty of adventure and fun, and with music of exquisite sweetness throughout, this operetta easily leads anything which has appeared at this popular theatre since it opened to the Eugene [Oregon] public” (The Eugene Guard, 14 July 1913, page 6).
The show ran approximately 50 minutes in lengths and was billed with other vaudeville acts. In Salt Lake City, acts that accompanied “The Bulgarian Romance,” included the Velde Trio and their trained dogs, Leonard and Drake, Lopez and Lopez, Edith Haney and company, and Courtney and Jeanette” (The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 Sept 1913, page 46).
“The Eugene Guard” described the play on 14 July 1913:
“The plot tells of a defiant prince, who reuses to yield to the invitation of a match making king, who wants the prince to meet and love his daughter. The princess appears incog. at a music hall, which the prince frequents, and wins his heart. When he makes love to her and is really smitten, she divulges her identity, and having in the meantime fallen in love with him herself, she accepts both his apology and proposal of marriage and the result that they ‘live happily ever after’” (page 6).
The show toured with a company of “fourteen splendid singing and dancing girls” “The San Francisco Examiner, 21 July 1913, page 5). The leading man was N. E. Dano, who “first won his laurels in Vienna and they showed with even brighter luster under the critical glare of the footlights of Paris, where critics bestowed unstinted praise” (The Eugene Guard, 14 July 1913, page 6).
Of scenery produced by Sosman & Landis, newspaper articles reported, “The stage setting is elaborate, artistic and beautiful” (The Eugene Guard, 14 July 1913, page 6). When the show toured Minnesota, the Bemidji “Pioneer” reported, “There is one great scene, that of a Bulgarian café and during the action of the beautiful musical skit there are six sweet musical numbers…there is a world of beautiful lighting, especially a stone bridge, which is lighted from the rear” (1 May 1913, page 3).
The mention of lighting is a marked departure from many newspapers reviews prior to this time. Lighting for any effect was seldom described in any detail. Once the scenic artist was recognized alongside the leading performer. By 1913 stage critiques take a new direction, emphasizing other technical aspects of the show.
To be continued…
