AustLit

Described in advertising as having been 'faithfully translated from the original Arabic manuscript by E. L. Blanchard, Esq., with annotations local, vocal and jokal and Moke-al by Mr Frank Edwards, author of Der Schwartz Eggsbexperiences' (Argus 24 December 1877, p.8), the original pantomime (simply titled The Forty Thieves) had been staged in London the previous year. The Argus theatre critic was largely unimpressed by the Melbourne production overall, writing that there was not much to say about the acting and that the transformation scene had 'only a qualified claim to approval:'

The panorama of the Russo Turkish War [included in the first act], however, is in Mr Hennings' best manner, and is quite worthy of his reputation. It consists of 11 views... [which] are illustrative of the present war, and although they are apparently all taken from engravings with which we have been made familiar, they fully merit the distinction of originality on the score of colour effect. They are all excellent, but that which will probably impress itself most strongly upon the attention is 'The Mouth of the Blue Danube at Sunrise.' It is full of poetry.

With regard to the storyline, the same critic suggests that although 'dramatically represented in every conceivable fashion... it serves little else than to furnish an excuse for scenery and groupings. In respect of the dialogue it has not much to boast of, even in its original form, and the local matter which has been interpolated has but a small claim to be considered wit. It consists chiefly of allusions to the majority in the Legislative Assembly and the Berry Government, both of which people are by this time tolerably well tired of' (Argus 25 December 1877, p.7).

The synopsis of scenery, as published in the Argus is:

Act 1, Scene 1. Market Place in Bagdad;

Scene 2. The Date Grove;

Scene 3. Enchanted Cavern in the Depths of the Forrest;

Scene 4. The Divan of the Genii;

Act 2, Scene 1. Ali Baba's House in the City of Bagdad;

Scene 2. The Courtyard, by Moonlight with distant view of the City;

Scene 3. On the banks of the Tigris;

Scene 4. Grand Reception-room in Ali Baba's house;

Grand Transformation Scene 'The Four Seasons;'

Harlequinade and 'Gorgeous Last Scene.'

The first act also included 'Henning's Royal Map of the Turco-Russian WAR' [sic], comprising First View- The Black Sea, Dirty Weather, Turkish Fleet on the Alert; Second View - Mouth of the Blue Danube (Sunrise); Third View - First Turkish Disaster, Total Destruction of the Lufti D'Jill, Turkish Monitor; Fourth View - Famous Passage of the Danube by the Russians, 27th June 1877; Fifth View - A Russian Boat Struck by a Turkish Shell; Sixth View - Left on the Road, Food for the Vulture's Maw; Seventh View - Night Camp in the Balkans; Eight View - The Schipka Pass; Ninth View - Battle of Pievna; Tenth View - After the Battle; Last View - Bombardment of Nicopolis.

Comprising operatic airs, popular songs of the day, ballets, and sumptuous costumes, the pantomime is also said to have been an outlet for Garnet Walch to exhibit 'his wonted faculty for word twisting', an aspect of the production that the Argus reports had been 'carried to an excess.' The paper's critic also draws attention to the author's ingenuity in inserting local allusions, topical hits, and satirical references, many of which targeted high-profile Melbourne personalities and current issues, including, for example, the Melbourne Cup, free trade, protection, and the denouncing of blackbirding (27 December 1876, p.6).

The story begins in a fishing village on the coast of Nowhere. Here, Bruno ('a fast youth, who cuts his eye teeth and his family at an early age') and Blondo ('his brother, a much better boy') live with their parents Gaffer and Gammo. When Mary, the Maid of the Inn, gives Blondo a lucky sixpence and Bruno a bag of rye, the latter brother is not happy with his gift and endeavours to sell the rye. When Bruno decides to take out his anger on his pet blackbird by torturing it (the excuse being that the bird wouldn't sing for him), Blondo steps in and offers to exchange his talisman for the bird and the rye. Blondo sets the bird free but it is immediately pursued by an eagle. After managing to escape, the bird is transformed into Pluma, a beautiful genie who becomes Blondo's protector. The eagle in turn becomes Aura, the sinister genie who attaches herself to Bruno. Because of his kindness and sacrifice, Pluma informs Blondo that she will help him achieve fame, fortune, and the hand of the beautiful Princess Caressa, whom she shows him in a vision.

With his future lying in the kingdom of Hey Diddle-Diddle, she sends Bruno on his quest, but not before turning the bag of rye into travelling companions: a cat that plays a fiddle, a cow that can jump over the moon, a little dog that laughs to see such sport, and a dish and a spoon. Unbeknownst to Blondo and Pluma, Aura has shown Bruno the same vision. Determined to beat her adversary, she urges Bruno to stall his brother and win the princess himself. The following scene (titled 'Around the World in Three-and-a-half Minutes') depicts the two brothers, along with their parents and Mary, setting forth by train to the palace of King Hey Diddle-Diddle. Along the journey, they meet a mysterious stranger named Vagabond (actually a reporter in disguise), who is charmed by Blondo's appreciation of certain clever newspaper articles and subsequently declares himself to be on the lad's side.

At the court of King Hey Diddle Diddle, which is preparing for a royal fete, the audience learns that the king has been deprived of his melodious voice after swallowing his penny whistle. Worse than this, however, is the conspiracy that is beginning to unfold within his court. Count Opodeldoc, the royal physician, has already begun to hatch a plan with the court pastry cook, Von Krisiman, which will see them to serve poison lollies to the court during the fete. With the king's household and loyal supporters dispatched, the count will then take control of the kingdom and install himself as the new monarch. Their diabolical scheme is overheard by Vagabond, now in a new disguise, and he declares that he will find a way to stop them, no matter what it takes. In the scene that follows, the two brothers are presented to the court. Bruno, who has been transformed into an immensely rich prince, courtesy of Aura, is presented to the king and his queen first. They are so impressed by his wealth that they accept him as a suitor for the hand of their daughter. Blondo is then granted an audience with the royal couple. He manages to usurp his brother not by having access to immense riches but rather by dazzling the princess with his clever traveling companions. The king is also impressed by the young man's display and tells him that can choose any young lady from the court as his wife should his cow manage to the magical feat claimed for it. With his goal in sight, Blondo commands Betsy to make her giant leap but just as she is ready to do so, Bruno rubs his magic sixpence and the cow fails even to leave the ground.

Although greatly humiliated, Blondo regains his composure upon the arrival of a giant blackbird pie. Reminding himself that he is Pluma's protégé and thus the champion of those birds, he denounces the crime of blackbirding, cuts open the pie, and restores the birds to life before releasing them. Instead of flying off, however, they immediately turn on the pie's maker and devour him, thereby taking away Count Opodeldoc's only ally. Forced to act quickly, the count passes out the lollies himself and within seconds the court is in a state of horror and confusion as people fall to the ground stricken by the poison. When the count informs everyone that they have less than five minutes to live, Vagabond (now disguised as an old astrologer) emerges with an antidote and distributes it to all. The count manages to escape, but not before hearing the astrologer's prophecy that all will be well in the kingdom when a cow jumps over the moon. He sets forth to knobble Daisy, but is again foiled by Vagabond. Blondo also manages to foil his brother's plans by getting back his lucky sixpence after Bruno (who has suffered an unmerciful snubbing by the princess) loses it in an unguarded moment. Seizing his opportunity, Blondo takes the princess to a moonlight rendezvous in the Haunted Glenn, and it is here (with the aid of the talisman) that Daisy jumps over the moon, and so brings about much happiness, reconciliations, and, of course, the marriage between Blondo and Princess Caressa (Age 25 December 1876, p.3).

The story begins with a prologue, set on a beach at Sorrento, where the Stewart sisters and H. R. Harwood discuss the subject of the next pantomime. The demon Djin Al Kohol then enters and promises to aid the Frog King in his attempt to win the hand of Princess Zu Zu. In this scene "plentifully interlarded with local allusions" they contrive to carry off Princess Zu Zu if all else fails. The pantomime then moves to the palace of King Djol Sopht and Queen Schezatarta (the real power of the realm), Froggee arrives at the court and presses his suit for the hand of the princess, but his intentions are put on hold when the royal parents decree that the successful suitor must first procure a bottle of water from the fountain of dancing water, which is believed to exist somewhere but no one has yet found it. Froggee soon learns that his most ardent rival is, Prince Agib, who is being assisted by the good fairy Namoune.

After adventures in various locales, including the palace of King Loll-I-Pops, the Peri Lake, the cave of Al-Kohol (which sees him present a peep show panorama of the Prince of Wales' route to the East), and Banyon Groves. Eventually, with the help of the good fairy Prince Agib wins his quest and is granted the hand of Princess Zu Zu, who naturally has been in love with him all the time (Argus 28 December 1875, p.6). The panorama consisted of 12 views beginning with Windsor Castle and moving though Venice, the Red Sea, Madras, Calcutta and other localities.

[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]

The general dissatisfaction resulting from [the company's] efforts must be accounted for on the principle of ex nihlo nihil fit. Burlesque writing, in fact, seems a lost art, and must remain so til another Planche becomes famous... [but] the ladies of the company were well received as they appeared on the scene, and the approval of the audience was frequent during the evening as song after song was given, and tableau followed tableau" (8 June 1874, 3).

Adapted from John Strachan's Humpty Dumpty (1873, Prince of Wales Theatre, Birmingham, England), with songs to operatic and other music, the Age proposed that this localised version by Messrs Carrington and J. Eville 'received an Australian complexion that adds to its native cleverness. Thanks to the labours of these gentlemen', wrote the paper's theatre critic, 'several leading incidents of the past year have been turned to merry account, and folly and fraud are held up to ridicule and contempt' (28 December 1874, p.3).

The story concerns Flameau the Fire King, who attempts to increase his power by forcing Princess Roseleaf to marry his close ally, the evil and ugly Humpty Dumpty. With the aid of Fairy Fern, queen of the fairies, Prince Prettyboy overcomes their dire intentions and wins the hand of the princess. A review of the premiere production notes that, as the pantomime progressed, the growth of Humpty Dumpty's head was 'cultivated at the expense of the other portions of his body, and he [came] on stage looking like a goblin that [had] just stepped out of an illustrated children's fairy book' (28 December 1874, p.3).

Numerous references to the Melbourne scene, politics, theatre (including J. C. Williamson's Struck Oil and Trollope's Bogus Clarke productions) were incorporated into the storyline. One of the topical hits saw J. R. Greville dressed as an overgrown boy dressed in knickerbockers and socks singing 'the song of the lively larrikin, in which an altogether groundless aspersion [was] cast upon a recent decision given in the Melbourne General Sessions' (28 December 1874, p.3).

Described in advertising as a 'Grand comic Christmas pantomime', with songs to operatic and other music, the pantomime begins in the icy home of King Winter, where he and his paternal nephew Jack Frost attempt to outdo the other in a battle of wits, puns, and jokes. In the following scene, set in the beautiful city of stars, Diana (Queen of the Night), Twinkle Twinkle Twinkle (Evening Star), and Little Radienta 'sing and look pretty, and display their competency to take a prominent part in a little piece of mundane flirtation if necessary' (Age 25 December 1873, p.3). As the narrative unfolds, we find that Twinkle Twinkle and Tommy Tucker are in love, but that she is also desired by the Emperor of Bagatelle. With his ally King Winter, Bagatelle kidnaps Twinkle Twinkle, forcing Tommy to prove himself by rescuing her. She and Tom are eventually united through the aid of Diana and Jack Frost.

The topical hits and local allusions satirised included Melbourne politics and public identities, well-known swindlers and wowsers, food prices, the reform of the Upper House, strikes, teetotalers, and Casey's Permissive Bill (limiting access to alcohol). Allusions to Garnet Walch's burlesque Pygmalion and his Gal (A Dear) and other contemporary theatrical matters were also included.

The transformation scene, titled 'Nativity of Venus', was produced by John Hennings. It is described in advertising as a representation of

'the clouds and glowing disc of the setting sun in which is seen Apollo, the god of day and music, and whence he fills the air with the far resounding chords of his lyre. The inhabitants of Olympus take up the strain and their distant voices are heard chanting a melodious poem to mighty Jove, when he himself descends and rests mid-air on the pinions of his golden eagle. Jupiter admonishes Apollo to proceed on his accustomed course, and yield, in turn, his sway to Luna's gentle power. The god of light sinks beneath the horizon and the fiery radiance of the setting sun is succeeded by the softer light of the gentle moon. Jupiter now proclaims his purpose to create a being whose influence shall soften and elevate the rugged hearts of men. To carry out his will he descends in the ocean. The creative power of the Olympian King is at once manifested. The waves divide, revealing a charming embodiment of the beauties of nature beneath them. An anemone opens and Venus, Goddess of Love, is born. She wakes and ascends towards the surface of the waters, amidst a halo of light and a shower of glistening sea-flowers' (Argus 25 December 1873, p.8).

This adaptation of William Brough's burlesque Papillonetta; Or, The Prince, the Butterfly and the Beetle (1865), 'with mutilations, versifications, and localizations by F. E,' was subtitled 'an exceedingly eccentric Easter, and (probably) castera [sic] extravaganza.' A review of the premiere published in the Argus proposes that the Brough's original work was one of his more average pantomimes and that Edwards had 'not succeeded in imparting to it any essential element of longevity'. The critic goes on to note that although some telling points were raised, overall the adapter's 'range of subjects... is distressingly limited. There is too much harping upon one string, and the allusions to an unhappy politician whom it is high time should be forgotten are so frequent as to become extremely tiresome' (11 April 1871, p.7).

The story begins in the dominions of Coccalorum, where the King of Coseyland and his state councillors are engaged in arranging, 'on the Art Union principle', the marriage of Prince Prettypet (described in the Argus as 'a frisky young scion of royalty, for whose reformation the matrimonial scheme has been set on foot'). Meanwhile, some revolutionary machinations are being planned by the prime minister, Rebellino, and his two sons, Counts Pollydore and Jollycore. When the prince is drawn towards a huge butterfly, he follows it far into the country and disappears. The king offers rewards for all butterflies brought to the palace, which eventually leads to the capture of Gauzewing, 'the attractive insect who has enticed the prince away'. When she calls out for assistance, Prince Prettypet returns to give her aid and is subsequently presented to the Butterfly Queen. The Queen promises to give him her daughter, Papillonetta, in marriage, if he can rescue her from the Scarabacus, King of the Beetles. He eventually liberates the princess from his rival for her hand, and the pair marry. The union is initially made unhappy through the revengeful intrigues of Scarabacus, but a magic potion is found that restores the princess to her normal self and at the same time utterly discomforts the beetle king. The evil plans of Rebellino and his sons are likewise defeated by the prince, and all ends happily in the comfortable regions of Coseyland (Argus 11 April 1871, p.7).

The scenery and incidents, according to the synopsis published in the Argus, are Council Chamber of King Coccalorium (including The drawing of the Art Union Lottery with special permission of the Attorney General); The Valley of Butterflies; Ebony Cabinet of the Beetle King; Brilliant Butterfly Ball; A Cottage Near a Wood; Apartment in the Palace of the King; A View 'by the Sad Sea Waves'; and the Throne of the Butterfly Queen.

The musical aspects of the pantomime comprised a mixture of popular songs and airs from such operas as The Grand Duchess. One of the songs known to have been included was a parody of 'Say to Him', sung by Maggie Stewart.

Described as a 'fairy extravaganza' with songs to operatic and other music, the plot outline, as published in the Australasian, shows an abundance of satire aimed at topical issues and events. Notable references were the Franco-Prussian War, Melbourne politics, personalities, and issues such as debased currency and financial swindlers (17 December 1870, p.786). Margaret Williams notes, too, that although this is one of Clarke's happiest works, cynicism about the stockbroking world became a recurring theme throughout the pantomime (Australia on the Popular Stage, p.9).

The story concerns Goody Two Shoes, whose dearest wish is to become a Collins Street belle, and who has been given a lucky sixpence by the fairy Prudence. Speculation (a witch) also gives Goody Two Shoes a gift (self-conceit) in order to counteract the good gift of Fairy Prudence. Speculation then trades a pair of shoes for the sixpence after appealing to Goody's vanity and, as a consequence, the young lady finds herself being forced into marrying the witch's son, Rumbuskin. The marriage is postponed, however, by the actions of King Heydiddle-diddle-'em (Monarch of Swindles, Shares and Shams; Head of the Counterfeit Family; and a very bad Sovereign). Supported by his Army of Shams, he wars with and finally defeats King Gold, 'first cousin to the Almighty Dollar, and called familiarly the Great Spondulick' (aided by his Army of Coins). Prudence then steps in and, with the help of Little Boy Blue, attempts a rescue of King Gold (using a magic mirror). Counter-attacking, Speculation turns off light and causes the mirror to become useless.

The advertised Synopsis of Scenery and Incidents is as follows:

Scene 1. Glowworm Gully.

Scene 2. A Mysterious One.

Scene 3. Cottage of Goody Two Shoes.

Scene 4. The Valley of Fairy Ferns and Grand Ballet (introducing the pets of the ballet and a galaxy of Coryphees).

Scene 5. The Realm of Toys: Peace.

Scene 6. Pavilion of King Gold in the Kingdom of Coins.

Scene 7. The Gates of the Palace of Hey Diddle Diddle-'Em.

Scene 8. The Capital (without cash) of the Realm of Shams.

Scene 9. The Everlasting Staircase in the Empire of Gravity, seen through the pane of the bowels of the Earth.

Transformation Scene comprising A Chaotic Conglomerate of Circumfluent Clouds dissolving into the Glen of Gloom; The Appearance of Oberon the Fairy King; The Invocation; Coruscations of the Crystal Cataract; Fairy Forms of Florescent Fantasy reposing upon the Garden of Gossamer in Gayest Glittering Garb; and A Fascinating Fanciful Floral Fete, disclosing the Home of the Spirit of the Rose.

Harlequinade

(Synopsis of scenes from Argus, 26 December 1879, p.8).