Banker's Daughter, The

Banker's Daughter, The (1878), a play by Bronson Howard. [Union Square Theatre, 137 perf.] Lilian Westbrook ( Sara Jewett) scoffs at her friend Florence St. Vincent ( Maud Harrison), who has announced she will marry a man old enough to be her father. Lilian loves young Harold Routledge ( Walden Ramsay), although she is annoyed at his jealousy of her flirtation with Count de Carojac ( M. V. Lingham). However, when her own father is threatened with bankruptcy she throws over Routledge to marry Mr. Strebelow ( C. P. Thorne Jr.), a much older, richer man. Seven years later, Lilian's life now revolves around her young daughter, but she still secretly loves Routledge, and is still seen regularly by both Routledge and the Count. The Count has never forgiven Routledge for being the love of Lilian's life. When the men have an open falling‐out, a duel is held in which the Count mortally wounds Routledge. Overcome emotionally, Lilian blurts out to Strebelow that she had never loved him but has been nevertheless a dutiful wife. Blaming himself for not understanding his wife, Strebelow leaves her. More years pass and Lilian comes to realize that she loves Strebelow. Their little daughter's letters, sometimes dictated by Lilian, bring about a reconciliation. The play initially had been done as Lilian's Last Love at Hooley's Theatre in Chicago in 1873. A. R. Cazauran, producer A. M. Palmer's “reconstructor,” helped rewrite the piece for its New York presentation, discarding its original unhappy conclusion. It was later performed in London as The Old Love and the New. Despite its contrived ending, the drama was immensely popular with both critics and playgoers. It was frequently revived, and remained a favorite of stock companies until World War I.