Dracula has been a significant cultural fixture throughout the 20th century, and is still going strong. The novel was published on the 26th May 1897, the week before publication a "copyright play" was performed at the Lyceum to shore up the dramatic adaptation rights. Anyone wanting to put the Count on stage would have to tread very carefully indeed, eight years later a play would push those boundaries.
The Power Of The Cross was a play written by George A. De Gray, the play had it's copyright performance at the Royalty Theatre, Chester in May 1905. Towards the end of the year it was taken up by Lingford Carson's Tours of Liverpool, and received rave reviews and full houses all over the UK from December 1905 and well into 1909.
The first performance was at the Queen's Theatre, Keighley, on Saturday the 23rd of December 1905. "The Era" of 6th January 1906 said;
 |
| The Era - Saturday 25 November 1899 |
"Amongst the dramas produced by Mr Lingford Carson at this theatre, perhaps none has met with so cordial a reception as The Power Of The Cross, and it is pleasing to note a record week's business had been done. The author has composed an original play abounding in startling incidents, and interspersed with humour and abundant pathos."
"The principal character is Baron Woulfe Curzola. To all appearances, he is an ordinary human being, and his entrance in the first act creates no unusual curiosity. Later, however, he assumes satanic shape as the Vampire. He emerges through the trunk of an oak tree, heralded by thunder and lightning. His exits are of a startling nature, and an intense weirdness is added by the hoot of an owl."
 |
| Lingford Carson |
"The only antidote for Curzola's deadly work being the power of the cross. The heroine is the possessor of that cross, which is a gift from her lover, and visits the Baron's tomb in Dalmatia. Three stabs into the coffin of the last of the Curzolas ends the fearful work of the vampire."
There are several nods to the famous vampire tale by Bram Stoker, the plot is slightly changed, all the names of the characters are different and even the vampires place of origin was changed, instead of Austro-Hungarian Transylvania we are taken instead to Austro-Hungarian Dalmatia. The cross still holds power over the undead, hence the name of the play, he uses hypnotic powers, he is chased to his native land by a group of vampire hunters, and he is killed with a knife plunged through his heart, however, there is no mention of it being a bowie knife and the kukri is omitted.
In 1908 the play headed south to New Zealand and Australia, where it enjoyed a great deal of success playing in theatres all over those countries.
 |
| Curzola is not repulsive! |
The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate, Wednesday 8th January 1908 stated;
"At the Victorian Theatre. The Power Of The Cross is an intensely dramatic creation, which last night held the audience until the curtain descended. It is a mystic story of a superhuman satanic influence, into which tradition has been interwoven. Curzola, the last of his race of human vampires, which lives in a fortress in Hungary, is the centre around which a clever act of incidents has been woven, resulting in a play of unusual merit."
"Curzola conveys the impression of an evil hypnotic power, more by his remarkable gestures and make up than by the text....Curzola introduces a disease baffling to science into English homes, and which, as with the direct power the creature uses, can only be assailed by the power of the cross."
The Bulletin. Vol. 29 No. 1467, 26th March 1908.
"Burglar's Alley, Whitechapel. (Act III).
Leslie, a refugee from gaol, in the lodgings of Mr and Mrs O'Dowd, his humble though devoted friends. While there, the brilliant young fellow unearths a medical treatise 'translated from the German 100 years ago by the famous Dr Johnson,' which tells the way to out a vampire when you meet him. 'Joy, oh joy!' In the midst of congratulatory hand wringing the lights would die away, a long drawn wail sounds, and Woulfe materialises.
He throws Dr Johnson's invaluable work into the fire. Fortunately O'Dowd plunges forward and salvages the volume. Dreadful things now occur. The vampire is annoyed. He towers, with arms held high and hands drooping, and makes sharp prodding movements in Leslie's direction.
The young physician wilts. He subsides behind a screen. When he emerges his hair is white. Later, Woulfe invades Margaret's boudoir, and towers and prods at her as well; also he vamps her innocent child with fatal results.
England wearies him, he has now outstayed his welcome, and he returns to his native land. This he does and appears crouching amid the ruins of his ancestral abbey. Hardly had the vampire hunters arrived on the scene than he begins his old tricks. So Leslie's young lady holds up a gold cross, and Rita steps forward with her knife and stabs Woulfe so that he dies. And the popular verdict is that it serves him right."
The play finally ended it's prolonged Australian tour in 1912, in the advertising any pretence to this not being loosely based on Bram Stoker's Dracula went out of the window!
The Age - Saturday 3rd February 1912.
“A long felt want.
Saturday Next, 10th February.
The Mystic Sensational Play.
THE POWER OF THE CROSS.
A Dramatisation by George de Gray of Bram Stoker’s Notable Novel, Dracula, in Four Acts and Twelve Scenes.
MANAGERIAL NOTE - The Melbourne Dramatic Company have taken a long leave of Wirth’s New Hippodrome, which has been converted into a modern theatre, cool and up to date in every particular. In this commodious building - its seating capacity is 3500 - a rapid succession of stirring dramas will be presented, at frequent intervals, at prices to meet the times.
The charges of admission will be from 6d to 2s. There will be nothing cheap about the productions. All who can admire good scenic effects and sound acting will find their wishes amply provided for.
The Opening Piece,
THE POWER OF THE CROSS.
Is a play along approved modern lines. The Author tells a story which is worthwhile. There is a powerful love interest, and sensation after sensation follow one another in logical sequences. In real life tragedy is never far from comedy. Laughter and tears are our common portion, and the playwright has, in this respect, boldly held the mirror up to nature.
Full particulars will be announced from day to day in the metropolitan press.”
The New Hippodrome was part of the Wirth’s Park Circus complex in Melbourne, by 1912 Wirth’s had expanded their business to Sydney, while this was going on they hired out the New Hippodrome in Melbourne for stage performances. Wirth’s Park would become a hospital during the Great War and would finally burn down in 1953.
 |
| Wirth's Park, the Hippodrome is top right. |
Reviews.
The Herald - Monday, 12th February 1912.
“New Hippodrome
Power Of The Cross.
The Melbourne Dramatic Company’s experiment of providing dramatic entertainment at cheap rates was begun most auspiciously at the New Hippodrome Theatre, Wirth’s Park, on Saturday night.
The Power Of The Cross, a dramatisation by Mr George De Gray of Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula’, was selected as the opening piece, and it was full of sensation, interspersed with some clever comedy. The plot mostly revolves around the doings of Baron Woulfe Curzola, a ‘human vampire,’ who performs all the blood sucking feats popularly attributed to the vampire. The only way in which his evil machinations can be defeated is by exhibiting a cross to him, and from this circumstance the name of the play was derived.
The part of Baron Curzola was taken in a masterly manner by Mr W. Dalgleish, while Mr Robert Inman presented a good characterisation of the weak Gerald Fairfax. As the adventuress prepared to do anything to attain her ends, Miss Ada Guildford could not have been better placed, while Miss Maud Appleton played the sweet ill used heroine with success.
 |
| Robert E. Inman |
The company was exceedingly well balanced on the whole. In addition to those already mentioned, Misses Marle Greville and Margaret Linden, and Messers W. Vincent, G. Edwards, F. Patey and others in minor parts did all that was required of them, while the comedy element provided by Mr Frank Crossley and Miss Lillian Wiseman was keenly appreciated by the audience.
The Power Of The Cross will be shown for the next fortnight, and will then be replaced by 'The Heart Of A Hero’, for the next piece the company will be further strengthened.”
The Argus - Monday 12th February 1912.
The auditorium is semi circular in form, and covers the entire floor space. Its centre is occupied by stalls and reserved seats, the pit in tiers surrounding them on every side. The stage is a very large one, and the lighting is perfect.
The piece selected for the opening performance is an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, under its modern title the Power Of The Cross, it results in a mystic, exciting melodrama that required just the forceful presentation it received at the hands of the Melbourne Dramatic Company.
The story hinges on a cheque forged by Gerald Fairfax; the murder of a postman who is bringing it to Gerald’s employer by the arch villain of the play; and the conviction, escape from prison, and pursuit of Dr Leslie Fairfax, who wrongly suffers for the forgery and murder.
Mysticism is introduced by a figure, half man, half devil, Baron Woulfe Curzola, who haunts the characters through out and conducts himself in the manner vampires are credited with. In the end the dead past is allowed to bury its dead, all the wrongs that can be are righted, and Curzola meets his well merited doom amidst the ruins of his own abbey, situated in picturesque Dalmatia.
The cast includes many members who are favourably known to Melbourne audiences. Mr Robert Inman play the role of the weak and erring Gerald Fairfax, a man who sins impulsively and seeks oblivion in intemperance. As the adventuress out after wealth, and using any vile methods or accomplice in obtaining it, Miss Ada Guildford is well suited, and in her way discloses herself a fiend quite the equal of Curzola.
Her overreaching husband, who falls easy prey to the confidence tricks of the comic people, is keenly appreciated by Mr Walter Vincent, an actor who makes his points by a quiet, polished, incisive manner and crisp delivery that always tell.
The Power Of The Cross, which has been seen in Melbourne before, is well staged and dressed, a realistic fire scene, in the second act, and the rescue of those in peril drawing rounds of applause. The company, which will be still further augmented by the inclusion of two or three well known actors, will next produce the modern play, The Heart Of A Hero.”
From an advertisement dated 12th February “Thousands have read Bram Stoker’s famous story Dracula…..Hundreds of thousands will come and see the dramatisation entitled ‘The Power Of The Cross.”
Melbourne Punch - Thursday 15th February 1912.
“The play is cast upon sterling and frankly melodramatic lines, and if these are in the main conventional, there is a sufficiency of sensation and excitement in the drama to keep the audience attentive and excited.
Interwoven with the time honoured and ever enduring contest between Virtue and Vice (both with capitals) are some of the mysticism of ‘Faust’ and the blood curdling attributes of ‘The Face At The Window.’
The drama is founded on Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula,’ and the most important personage in the play is Baron Woulfe Curzola, a cheerful vampire king, who goes about the world literally sucking the blood of all and sundry. He sucks the blood from their veins, and is thus a trifle more gruesome in his methods than his descendants, the mining and other company promoters.
One thing, however, in common with other evil things he cannot stand, and that is the power of the cross. That sends him to grass in each round for his ten seconds, and finally knocks him out altogether.
There are a number of sensational situations in the play, and all are well managed, notably a big fire scene. The acting, as might have been anticipated, is good. It is intended as soon as possible to furnish the patrons with a new and agreeable entr’acte lounge in the shape of a garden in the park, in which, between the acts, the audience so inclined may enjoy fresh air, cool breezes and refreshments.”
Table Talk - Thursday 15th February 1912.
“A notable addition to Melbourne theatrical houses was made on Saturday evening, when Wirths’ transformed Hippodrome was opened as a theatre for melodrama. The play chosen for the opening night, ‘The Power Of The Cross’, is an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, which in the original is so sensational and creepy, characteristics which it has certainly not lost in the process of dramatisation by Mr George De Gray.
The sensations came thick and fast, among them being murders, forgery, a big realistic fire scene, and the hunting down of the mysterious ghoulish vampire king. The plot moves from England to Dalmatia, which gives scope for picturesque settings.
The character around which the action revolves is the vampire, just as it does around Mephistopheles in ‘Faust,’ indeed, he recalls Mephisto in being only susceptible to the influence of the cross, but he is far more ghoulish in his actions, attacking those he wants to overcome by attacking literally with tooth and nail.
Mr Walter Dalgleish in this role, Baron Woulfe Curzola, came out with flying colours. He acted with dash and vigour, and was such a convincing villain as to be excreted by the audience. Miss Ada Guildford, as his partner in crime and villainy backed him up in the most whole hearted way. These two were particularly dramatic and forceful in their actions.
Miss Maud Appleton, as the heroine, Margaret Seaton, won much favour from the audience, as she endured all her tribulations sweetly and uncomplainingly. Mr Robert Inman, as the weak Gerald Fairfax, whose troubles drive him to intemperance, is the hero.”
Melbourne Punch - Thursday 15th February 1912.
“The Melbourne Dramatic Company, under the joint management of Len Davis and our beaming acquaintance, Michael Joseph, has started a long season of melodrama at Wirths’ Hippodrome, and at present is filling the waste spaces in the papers with extraordinary news of its operations.
The first play submitted to notice was ‘The Power Of The Cross,’ in which, if one remembers rightly , a super demon named Woulfe Curzola has a habit of moaning thrice in a greenish limelight before thirstily sucking his victim’s blud (sic).
Woulfe is a patient, if omniscient monster, and the management is to be congratulated for unchaining him nightly for prices of a fearfully popular character. Fees ranging from 2s to 6d a head are all that are painlessly extracted for the pleasure of observing the awful Woulfe, and considering that almost any sum might be demanded under the circumstances, the moderation of the charges looks like sheer philanthropy.”
From an advertisement dated the 15th February;
“THE POWER OF THE CROSS, comedy, sensation and pathos.
Resume Of The Scenes And Incidents:-
The Lawn, Sunnyside, Kingstone-On-Thames, Curzola’s Kiss, The Downward Path, Burglar’s Alley (Whitechapel), A Terrible Discovery, The Ruins - The Abbey, The Last Of The Curzolas.
The Maitland Daily Mercury - Monday 19th February 1912.
“Sensational Stage Incident.
Actor Stabbed.
Considerable sensation was caused towards the close of the performance of ‘The Power Of The Cross’ at the New Hippodrome, Wirth’s Park, Melbourne, on Saturday evening, by an accident which might have had very serious consequences.
The play works to a climax, in which the adventuress, who is Miss Ada Guildford, in a frenzy of remorse rushes upon the villain (Mr Walter Dalgleish), and stabs him to the heart.
On Saturday evening as Miss Guildford sprang with a dagger in her upraised hand, Mr Dalgleish tripped, and the blade, instead of being cunningly buried in the clothes of the stage victim, struck him above the left eye. Mr Dalgleish, who was visibly affected, exclaimed with more than ordinary feeling, ‘Good heavens, woman, you have stabbed me,’ and the curtain was dropped as he staggered off the stage.
Dr Davis, who happened to be in the audience, was called in attendance. He found that the blade had glanced off the bone. Had it struck a little lower the point of the weapon would have pierced the eye. Mr Dalgleish is not incapacitated through his painful experience."
On the 20th April 1912 Bram Stoker died, but his Count lives on. After a short revival in the early 1920's the author of the play Mr George A. De Gray, obviously still worried about copyright issues, and following the action Bram's widow Florence took against Prana Films on their release of "Nosferatu" in 1922, who can blame him! On the 26th November 1924 he wrote a letter to "The Era";
 |
| The Era - Wednesday 26th November 1924. |
"The Power Of The Cross.
Sir, I notice the announcement of a forthcoming tour of 'Dracula.' To avoid any discussion in the future, I should like to draw attention to the fact that on Boxing Day, 1905, at the Queens Theatre, Keighley, in conjunction with the late Lingford Carson. I produced and afterward toured continuously for four years with sensational success, 'The Power Of The Cross,' the Colonial rights of which were secured by the late George Marlow, who ran it for a long period throughout Australia and New Zealand.
This play, which was the first, and so far as I am aware, up to now, the only one to introduce the Dracula type of character to the public, was suggested by an old Austrian legend, published in 'Chambers Journal' in 1874 or 76'.
As I have been approached by many resident managers with a suggestion that I should revive the piece next spring, and as I do not wish the question to arise in the future as to an infringement of any other rights. I should be greatly obliged if you would find space in your valuable paper for this letter.
Yours faithfully,
George A. De Gray."
Having searched Chambers Journal for the entire 1870s, I still cannot find any "Austrian Legends," the search continues..........
No comments :
Post a Comment