View source for Betsy Baker!, or Too Attentive by Half

''[[Betsy Baker!, or Too Attentive by Half]]'' is a farce in one act by John Maddison Morton (1812-1854)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maddison_Morton]. 

Also found as ''[[Betsy Baker, or Too Attentive by Half]]'' or simply as ''[[Betsy Baker]]''

==The original text==

First performed at the Royal Princess's Theatre, London in 1850 and published by Duncombe and Company, London and Samuel French. 

==Translations and adaptations==

== Performance history in South Africa ==

1859: Performed on 1 February [[Cape Town Dramatic Club]], in the [[Cape Town Theatre]] in Harrington street, featuring miss [[Annie Rowlands]] as "Betsy", with ''[[Not a Bad Judge, or Lavater, the Physiognomist]]'' (Planché) 

1860: Performed on 12 November by the [[Cape Town Dramatic Club]], in the [[Cape Town Theatre]] in Harrington street, with the professionals Sefton Parry and Fraser and featuring miss [[Annie Rowlands]] as "Betsy" in her "farewell to the stage". Also performed was ''[[Charles II, or The Wags of Wapping]]'' (Ryan?). 

1861: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker, or Too Attentive by Half]]'' by the company of [[Sefton Parry]] in the [[Theatre Royal]], Cape Town, on 5 September, with ''[[The Stranger]]'' (Kotzebue/Thompson/Sheridan).

1865: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker]]'' by the [[Valorous Amateurs]] (amateur players from H.M.S. ''Valorous'') in the [[Garrison Theatre]], Cape Town, on 17 November, with ''[[Michael Erle, the Maniac Lover]]'' (Wilks) and ''[[Ben Bolt]]'' (Johnstone).

1867: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker]]'' by "[[Le Roy's Original Company]]"  in the [[Theatre Royal]] in Harrington Street, Cape Town, with ''[[The French Spy]]'' (Haines).

1868: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker]]'' by the [[Lanarkshire Dramatic Club]] (amateur players from the [[99th Regiment]]) in the [[Garrison Theatre]], Cape Town, on  23 and on 25 April, with ''[[Bombastes Furioso]]'' (Rhodes), as "an Officers Performance in aid of the Club".

1871: A performance of an unidentified piece called ''[[Betsy Jane]]'' was presented by the visiting [[D'Arcy Read Theatrical Company]] in the [[Cape Town Gardens]], on 27 November, as part of a "[[Grand Fête Champêtre]]" they did there, the other acts also including ''[[Ghost Illusions]]'' by [[D'Arcy Read]]. It could possibly have been an adapted version of ''[[Betsy Baker!, or Too Attentive by Half]]'',(otherwise of ''[[My Precious Betsy]]'', also by Morton in the same year). 

1875: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker]]'' by the [[Disney Roebuck]] Company  in the [[Bijou Theatre]], Cape Town, on 13 July, with a play listed as ''[[Ruin]]'' (most probably ''[[The Road to Ruin]]'' by Holcroft) and ''[[Royalists and Republicans]]'' (given as "Anon?", but actually by Dance and Planché). 

1876: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker]]'' by the [[Disney Roebuck]] Company  in the [[Athenaeum Hall]], Cape Town, on 9 Septemberwith ''[[Under the Gaslight]]'' (Daly) and ''[[Little Don Giovanni]]'' (Byron).

1877: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker, or Too Attentive by Half]]'' by the [[Disney Roebuck]] Company  in the [[Theatre Royal]], Cape Town, on 13 November, with ''[[Arrah-na-Pogue]]'' (Boucicault).

1877: Performed as ''[[Betsy Baker, or Too Attentive by Half]]'' by the [[Disney Roebuck]] Company  in the [[Theatre Royal]], Cape Town, on 15 November, with ''[[The Hunchback]]'' (Knowles).

== Sources ==

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maddison_Morton

Facsimile version of the 1850 Duncombe publication, Hathi Trust Digital Library[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100229511]

[[F.C.L. Bosman]]. 1980. ''Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912''. Pretoria: [[J.L. van Schaik]]: pp. 99, 168, 170, 221, 251, 262, 267, 270,325, 342, 362

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