Eleanor Phelps George Arliss who had starred as Shylock in Ames's Broadway production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" during the Broadway season just ended. In any event, Ames offered Phelps the role of Jessica in the post-Broadway national tour of "Merchant of Venice." At the end of the University Players 1928 summer season, Phelps left Cape Cod to join Arliss and company and never returned to Falmouth. She loved "more than anything being in a play by Mister Shakespeare." Phelps appeared in motion pictures in the early 1930s with roles in "The Run Around" (1932), "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934),
The Merchant of Venice "Il Pecorone" by Giovanni Fiorentino, which was published in Milan in 1558. Elements of the trial scene are also found in "The Orator" by Alexandre Sylvane, published in translation in 1596. The story of the three caskets can be found in "Gesta Romanorum", a collection of tales probably compiled at the end of the 13th century. The date of composition for "The Merchant of Venice" is believed to be between 1596 and 1598. The play was mentioned by Francis Meres in 1598, so it must have been familiar on the stage by that date. The title page of the first