January 5, 1904: "The Virginian" Premieres Onstage

Owen Wister

January 5, 1904: The Virginian premieres at the Manhattan Theatre, at 102 West 33rd Street. The play was written by Owen Wister, who had written the 1902 novel on which it was based, and established Broadway writer Kirke LaShelle. Dustin Farnum played the title role.

Note: I'm citing the date of the play's premiere, because I can't find an exact date of publication for the book.

At the time, 34th Street was the center of New York's Theater District. It had a habit of moving 10 blocks Uptown every few years. Over the next few years, it moved up to 42nd Street, and by the 1920s, it pretty much filled up the space between 42nd and 57th Streets, and 6th and 8th Avenues, where it remains.

The Virginian is set in Wyoming, at some undetermined time, but between the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and Wyoming's Statehood in 1890, in what was already being called "The Wild West." The name of the title character, a ranch foreman, is never officially given, although the novel's narrator calls him "Jeff." Otherwise, he is only referred to as "The Virginian."

The novel, the play based on it, and eventually the films based on it helped to popularize many of the tropes we now associated with the Wild West, many of which either never happened or were greatly exaggerated.

The Virginian himself arrives in town as a "tall dark stranger," and is "the strong, silent type." At one point, he is called "you son of a bitch," and he responds with, "When you say that, smile!" (Which, thanks to the Gary Cooper film version, tends to get remembered as, "Smile when you say that, stranger!") He is a man of honor, refusing to shoot the novel's antagonist in the back. (This becomes, in the public mind, part of "The Code of the West.") But he does face the antagonist in a gun duel in the middle of a street, and this is often credited as the first such duel in literature. And he romances the virtuous local schoolteacher, or "schoolmarm," instead of any of the "fallen women" who make up the "saloon girls."

Farnum starred in the 1st film version, a silent one produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1914. This was followed by a 1923 silent film starring Kenneth Harlan, the 1st "talkie" version in 1929 with Gary Cooper, and a 1946 version with Joel McCrea.

The best-known version remains NBC's 1962-71 drama, the only prime-time show in American history to have 90-minute episodes. James Drury starred. Through 9 seasons and 249 episodes, the Virginian's real name was never revealed. It has been suggested, but not proven, that The Virginian was the 1st TV show to be promoted by its network with the words, "Whatever you do, don't miss the last five minutes."

One major difference between the character and most Western heroes: He wore a black hat, usually a sign of a bad guy, although Richard Boone also wore one in Have Gun -- Will Travel, and Pernell Roberts tended to wear one on Bonanza.

James Drury

The TV version of The Virginian proved so definitive, only one version has been tried since, a 2014 film starring country singer Trace Adkins.

LaShelle died in 1905, a pair of household accidents having combined with diabetes to damage his health. He was only 42 years old. Farnum died in 1929, Wister in 1938, Cooper in 1961, and Drury in 2020 (not from COVID).

The Manhattan Theatre was torn down in 1909, to make way for a new home for Gimbels department store. That building is still on the site, occupied by the Manhattan Mall.

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January 5, 1904 was a Tuesday. Astrologer Jeane Dixon was born on this day. But there were no scores: Baseball and football were out of season, and basketball and hockey were strictly minor-league at this point.