Article anticipating opening night of Winter Garden Performance,1859

Article anticipating opening night of Winter Garden Performance,1859

The day before performances of The Octoroon even commenced, a New York Herald editorial entitled “Abolition On and Off the Stage” described the play as a “work of disunion and treason.” The editorial claimed Boucicault’s play would be contributing to an "abolition aroma" that included the "sermons of Beecher and Cheever and the novels of Mrs. Stowe." Even before the play had been staged, the Herald demanded “in the name of the good citizens of the metropolis, that neither that nor any other play of the same character should be performed.”