Apparently unrecorded manuscript play by a woman playwright which features a group of women friends - the ‘female adventurers’ of the title - who disguise themselves as a ‘famous Minstrel Band’ in order to keep track of the protagonist’s fiance during a bachelor trip to the big city. As the play opens Frank Egerton plans his trip to the city of ‘Phila’ [delphia?] to celebrate his 23rd birthday for ‘a glorious frolic’ out of sight of his fiance Fanny who, distressed by his departure, hatches her rival plan ‘to guard him safe through the snares of City life and return him safely to her’. As Fanny puts it to her collaborator Kitty: ‘Should I not succeed I will say there is no longer wit in woman...’ The impersonation of a minstrel group allows Germon to incorporate mini playlets and performances within the larger play and whatever its other considerable qualities, The Female Adventurers is essentially and successfully theatrical. We can find no record of its publication or performance.
The author, Nellie Germon, formed part of the vibrant musical and theatrical scene in New York and Boston in the late 19th century. Germon performed in New York at Tony Pastor’s Opera House, the Bowery Theatre and The Grand Opera House between 1868 and 1875 in productions such as Mill Girls, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Heart of the Great City. Her name appears in The History of the Boston Theatre 1854-91 in connection with a production called the Heart of the Great City performed in 1869. She is described as a ‘Recitationalist and Serio Comie Queen’ in the San Jose Herald, 10th Jan 1881 while appearing in a production of the French Spy. The title page of this manuscript, written in an elaborate, contemporary hand reads, ‘The Female Adventurers. Protean Comedy. Exclusive Property of, In one or two Acts, Nellie Germon’. Germon’s name appears again written alongside the female characters in the Dramatis Personae suggesting perhaps that she played one or other of those roles.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Folio-size, half marbled boards in good condition with black sheepskin to spine and corners. Corners bumped, edges a little frayed, some staining to front and rear. Gilt rule to spine still visible which is knocked to top and tail, worn and cracking to middle. End papers clean and unmarked. Text block in very good condition throughout. Ruled pages for record keeping; c240pp handwritten play in a mixture of pen and pencil on rectos with the manuscript turned over and written back from the end. The dramatis personae precede the single act play which is divided into seventeen scenes.
