Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Boucicault, Dion
BOUCICAULT, Dion, born in Dublin, Dec. 26, 1822. He was educated under his guardian, Dr. Lardner, at the London University, and commenced his career as dramatic author and actor with the production, in March, 1841, of "London Assurance," at Covent Garden Theatre. He went to the United States in 1853, and did not return to London till 1860, when he produced the "Colleen Bawn" at the Adelphi Theatre. This was followed by the "Octoroon" in 1861. Having been associated with Mr. Webster in the management of the Adelphi Theatre, Mr. Boucicault became lessee of Astley's Theatre, the name of which he altered to that of the Westminster; but the speculation proved a failure. He is the author of more than fifty original pieces, besides adaptations from the French; the best known, in addition to the above-mentioned, being "Old Heads and Young Hearts," "Love in a Maze," "Used Up," "The Willow Copse," "Janet Pride," "Louis XI.," "The Corsican Brothers," "Faust and Marguerite," "The Long Strike," and "Flying Scud," produced at the Holborn Theatre in 1866. Among his more recent pieces are "How She Loves Him" (1867); "After Dark" (1868); "Paul Lafarge" (1870); "A Dark Night's Work" (1870); "The Rapparee; or, the Treaty of Limerick" (1870); and "The Dead Secret" (1878). With occasional visits to England, he has, since 1876, resided in New York, where he has brought out a number of new pieces, in which he plays the leading parts.