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 edition in 1600 states that it had been performed "divers times" by that date. Salerino's reference to his ship the "Andrew" (I,i,27) is thought to be an allusion to the Spanish ship "St. Andrew," captured by the English at Cádiz in 1596. A date of 1596–97 is considered consistent with the play's style. The play was entered in the Register of the Stationers Company, the method at that time of obtaining copyright for a new play, by James Roberts on 22 July 1598 under the title "The Merchant of Venice", otherwise called "The Jew of Venice". On 28 October 1600