"[3] Produced by Charles Frohman, it ran for 212 performances in New York at the Academy of Music, debuting on August 29, 1895, and was the second longest Broadway production of the year, after The Heart of Maryland.

Alan Dale of The New York World reviewed the play for the melodramatic spectacle it was, writing: " 'The Sporting Duchess' absolutely defies criticism, for its materials have been written about for decades.

Everything is there--mortgages, encumbered estates, the wronged lady who can no longer conceal her condition, the sorrowing popper, who clinches his fist and sets his lip as he talks of poor Mary; the devilish adventuress with the devilish cigarette; the impecunious earl, the trained race horses (oh!

hang the cable and trolley that have let them loose; if we must have them let it be in sausages), and last, but not least, the villain who goes about ruining pretty ladies just because tradition says that he has got to do so."

The reason for this long popularity lies about equally in the excellent acting and the realistic scenes, both being far better than the matter of the drama proper.