Samuel Eberly Gross

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Samuel Eberly Gross

Samuel Eberly Gross (11 November 1843 – 24 October 1913)[1] was an American real-estate developer, author and captain of cavalry in the Union Army.

Career overview

He was born near Dauphin, Pennsylvania, the son of John C. Gross and Elisabeth Eberly[2], and attended Whitehall Academy, in Cumberland County. Gross was the youngest captain to serve in the American Civil War,[3] after which he moved to Chicago. He graduated from Union College of Law in 1866 and was admitted to the Illinois bar the same year. In 1874 he married Emily Maude Brown.[4] Their only child died young. Gross was nominated by the Labor Party as their candidate for mayor in 1889, but he refused to run.[5] As a real-estate developer in the 1890's and early 1900's, he sold more than 30,000 lots and built over 7,000 homes.[6] Gross billed himself as "The World's Greater Real Estate Promoter."[7] Miles Berger wrote of him: "Without question, Gross was the most prolific home builder in Chicago history."[8]

In addition to his successful business ventures, Gross was also a playwright. In 1896, he published The Merchant Prince of Cornville, a comedy of manners.[9]

In 1909, he divorced from his wife and later married Ruby Lois Houghey.

Controversy over Cyrano de Bergerac

The original cover of The Merchant Prince of Cornville

When, in January 1899, actor Richard Mansfield presented Cyrano de Bergerac in Chicago, the performance was enjoined by the U.S. District Court on the ground of plagiarism. Gross had filed a lawsuit alleging that Rostand's play was stolen from his The Merchant Prince of Cornville.[10] Gross asserted that while on a visit to Paris in the years between 1879–81, he submitted the manuscript of The Merchant Prince to several actors and theatrical managers, without success. Then in 1889 he took the manuscript to Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, the theater of Coquelin and Rostand,[11] for examination, and left it there for a few weeks.[12] He also claimed that Coquelin, the actor famous for playing the title role of Cyrano, was one of the actors who had read The Merchant Prince manuscript in 1880. The play had a limited stage run in the Novelty Theatre, London, in order to secure the English copyright. The Merchant Prince was eventually published in 1896 in a luxurious edition and circulated by Gross among his friends.

In October, 1898, Cyrano was produced in New York, with great success. Shortly afterward, Gross received a letter from Howard Kyle, a New Yorker acquaintance, pointing out alleged similarities in situations and dialogue between The Merchant Prince and Cyrano.[3] Gross investigated the matter, and agreed with Kyle's opinion fully. In 1899, when Cyrano was finally presented in Chicago, Gross witnessed the first performance and decided to bring suit against Richard Mansfield and his manager, A.M. Palmer.[13] For three years, the case progressed through the courts and quickly became a sensational story in the press. Questions were raised on whether Coquelin had shared the plot of The Merchant Prince with Rostand. Similarities in plot and character names were noted. Thirty different parallels between The Merchant Prince and Cyrano de Bergerac were enumerated, including a balcony scene where the main character stands in the shadows and whispers instructions to his friend, wooing his love interest by proxy.

The case was tried in United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Gross was represented by Frank F. Reed, professor of copyright law at the University of Chicago and the defendants, by John P. Wilson. Judge Christian C. Kohlstaad ruled in Gross' favor. Rostand's play was declared "a clear and unmistakable piracy."[14] "Richard Mansfield Enjoined", reported The New York Times.[15] "Gross Triumphs in Cyrano Suit" was the Chicago Tribune headline.[16] American theater companies were banned in perpetuity from staging Cyrano. Feeling vindicated, Gross waived his right to part of the profits from the play, and settled for a nominal damage award of one dollar. He later demanded Rostand's expulsion from the French Academy.[17]

Death and legacy

Gross died in 1913 in Battle Creek, Michigan, at the age of sixth-nine.[7] He established more than 15 towns or villages in the Chicago area (including Brookfield, which was for a time named Grossville).[18] His most famous development is Alta Vista Terrace in Wrigleyville,[19] built between 1900 and 1904. On September 15, 1971, it would become the first residential district to be designated a Chicago landmark.[20]

He was the model for Theodore Dreiser's character, Samuel E. Ross, in Jennie Gerhardt.[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1913, p. 5.
  2. ↑ "Samuel Eberly Gross," The Spirit of '76, Vol. V, June 1899, p. 201.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Ann D. Gordon (2013). The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, p. 340.
  5. ↑ Miller, Donald (1996). City of the Century. The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America. New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 279–80.
  6. ↑ Mark, Norman (1979). Mayors, Madams and Madmen. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, p. 101.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Berger, Miles L. (1992). They Built Chicago: Entrepreneurs Who Shaped a Great City's Architecture. Chicago: Bonus Books, p. 113.
  9. ↑ Christiansen, Richard (2004). A Theater of Our Own: A History and a Memoir of 1,001 Nights in Chicago. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, pp. 30–1.
  10. ↑ Hart, Jerome A. (1919). "Rostand's Chicago Rival," The Bellman, Vol. XXVI, p. 379.
  11. ↑ Rede, Wyllys (1911). "Is Rostand a Plagiarist?," The World To-day, Vol. XX, p. 628.
  12. ↑ The Bookman, Vol. XXXII, No. 3, 1910, p. 217.
  13. ↑ Winter, William (1910). Life and Art of Richard Mansfield, Vol. 1. New York: Moffat, Yard and Company, p. 254.
  14. ↑ Lewis, Lloyd (1929). Chicago: The History of Its Reputation. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, p. 276.
  15. ↑ "Richard Mansfield Enjoined," The New York Times, May 22, 1902.
  16. ↑ "Gross Triumphs in Cyrano Suit," The Chicago Tribune, May 22, 1902, p. 2.
  17. ↑ "Edmond Rostand, Dramatist, Dies," The New York Times, December 3, 1918.
  18. ↑ Kogan, Rick (2003). "A Life in Three Acts," The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  19. ↑ Pridmore, Jay (1992). "Recalling 'Merchant Prince' of the 1880's," The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  20. ↑ Wichmann, Christina Balsano (2006). "The Street of Forty Doors," Historic Illinois, Vol. XXIX, No. 1, p. 15.
  21. ↑ Clark, Emily (1995). "Samuel E. [G]Ross: Dreiser’s Real Estate Magnate." In: Dreiser's "Jennie Gerhardt": New Essays on the Restored Text, edited by James L.W. West. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 183–93.

Further reading

  • Garb, Margaret (2005). City of American Dreams: A History of Home Ownership and Housing Reform in Chicago, 1871-1919. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Lewinnek, Elaine (2014). The Working Man's Reward: Chicago's Early Suburbs and the Roots of American Sprawl. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Salisbury, William (1908). The Career of a Journalist. New York: B.W. Dodge & Company.
  • Ward, Stephen (2005). Selling Places: The Marketing and Promotion of Towns and Cities 1850-2000. New York: Routledge.

External links

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