Too Much Johnson

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Too Much Johnson (1894), a comedy by William Gillette. [Standard Theatre, 216 perf.] Whenever the philandering Augustus Billings (Gillette) entertains his French mistress in New York, he tells his wife ( Maud Haslam) and his suspicious mother‐in‐law, Mrs. S. Upton Batterson ( Kate Meek), that he is going to inspect his plantation in Cuba. Of course, he has no plantation, but the ladies insist on joining him on one of his trips. They also find an incriminating letter in his coat pocket. Luckily, it's addressed to one Mr. Johnson, who, Billings quickly remarks, is his overseer. In Cuba, Billings manages to “borrow” a friend's hacienda, and the party even meets a cantankerous man named Johnson ( Ralph Delmore). By the final curtain Billings has squirmed his way out of a series of uncomfortable situations. Based on a French play, La Plantation Thomasin, the Charles Frohman production was one of Gillette's biggest hits and one of his few attempts at comedy.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Too Much Johnson." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Too Much Johnson." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-TooMuchJohnson.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Too Much Johnson." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-TooMuchJohnson.html

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