"The Gentleman in Black"

To the Editor of The Era

Sir, – Your dramatic critic, in his very kind notice of The Gentleman in Black at the Charing-cross Theatre, is mistaken in supposing that it is founded on the story of the same name that appeared in Blackwood many years ago.  The piece is described in the housebill as "original," a description that I should certainly not have appended to it if I had been indebted to Blackwood for the notion upon which it is founded.

I have never read the story called "The Gentleman in Black," but I am informed by those who have that it does not bear the remotest resemblance to the story of the musical legend at the Charing-cross Theatre.

As I have never lost an opportunity of advancing my opinion, that a dramatic author is bound to admit his acknowledgment to any "outside" source from which he may have drawn material for his piece, I shall feel much obliged by your inserting this letter.

Page modified 15 August 2011