3-082-530 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mrs. Patrick Campbell (Agnes Ebbsmith) and Mr. Hare (Duke of St. Olpherts) in "The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith," at the Garrick Theatre, 1895. London stage production. 'It has been stated, with how much truth I know not, that the husband of the real and non-notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith - as distinct from the fictitious and notorious one - wrote to Mr. Pinero or to Mr. Hare, or to both, requesting them to change the name of Mr. Pinero's heroine. Mr. Ebbsmith, it is said, feared that the excitement of hearing her name from everybody's lips would prove too much for his wife's weak intellect or excitable temperament. If such a request was made, Mr. Pinero was perfectly justified in declining to be guided in his dramatic nomenclature by the fads and whims of a lady who, however estimable in all the relations of life, did not carry sufficient mental ballast to digest the stubborn fact "qu'il y a plus d'un âne qui s'appelle Martin," as the French have it, or, to put it in plain English, "that there are more fools than one of the same name".' From "Illustrated London News", 1895.