Trollope, Reade, and "Shilly-Shally". Part One

Abstract

APRIL I, 1872, John Hollingshead, manager of Gaiety Theatre in London, presented a three-act comedy called ShillyShally, a dramatization by Charles Reade of Anthony Trollope's recent novel Ralph Heir.This production had two well-publicized results: first, it provoked an acrimonious debate in press between two writers and a four-year breach in their friendship; and second, it led to a successful libel suit by Reade against newspaper critics who dubbed play indecent:' Though incident and its consequences have been noted by all biographers, Malcolm Elwin, who gives fullest account, says that the evidence has never been fully sifted' Many new documents are now available, and it seems pertinent to reopen case. In present article I shall attempt a factual account of rather complicated history of Shilly-Shally as a literary property; in a later article I shall speak of play itself, unpublished manuscript of which has recently been made available for study. Ralph Heir was published April 6, I872, and Trollope sailed for Australia about six weeks later. It is not likely, then, that Reade had seriously considered a dramatization of novel before Trollope's departure. When and under what circumstances he began Shilly-Shadly is not known. Elwin believes play was commissioned by Gaiety, but Hollingshead's specific statement to contrary, together with a complete lack of circumstantial evidence, makes it difficult to accept this view.2 It is clear, however, that Shilly-