 American actor J.C. Williamson was a leading actor who had toured Australia and just married Maggie Moore when he read a one-act play called "The Dead, or Five Years Away" from Irish miner and amateur playwright Sam Smith.It was originally a one-man piece about John Stofel which was similar to "Rip Van Winkle".Williamson bought the play outright for $100 had it rewritten by his friend Clay M. Greene, and retitled it "Struck Oil".