All that Glitters is not Gold

All that Glitters is not Gold is a comic drama in two acts by Thomas Morton (1764-1838)[1] and John Maddison Morton (1811-1891)[2].

This piece also found as All that Glitters is not Gold, or The Poor Girl's Diary, All that Glitters is not Gold, or The Factory Girl, The Factory Girl, or, All that Glitters is not Gold or simply The Factory Girl. The title All is not Gold that Glitters, or The Factory Girl also occurs in South Africa.

Not to be confused with the 17th century play All is not Gold that Glisters by Henry Chettle and Samuel Rowley or the 1863 novel The Factory Girl, or All is not Gold that Glitters, "a romance of real life", by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

The original text

Said to be "adapted from the French" (though no French source has been traced so far), it was first performed at the Olympic Theatre, London, on January 13, 1851, with Mrs. Stirling as "Martha Gibb". It was first played in New York Broadway Theatre, March, 1851 and later at the Bowery Theatre, 1851. It was apparently widely performed in America and the British colonies afterwards.

The text was strangely credited to both father and son, even though the first performance only took place 13 years after the death of Thomas Morton. Which suggests that the play may either have been an early work only performed much later, or an adaptation by the son of an original version (or concept) by his father. The published texts however, say nothing on this.

Published as All that Glitters is not Gold by London : T.H. Lacy in 1851 and in New York by William Taylor, 1851 Published under this title by Samuel French as well and as Dicks' Standard Plays: no.1054. Published as All that Glitters is not Gold, or The Poor Girl's Diary by the School Publishing Company, Darrowville, Ohio and by A.D. Ames, Publisher, Clyde, Ohio in 1888. There is a strange confusion in cataloguing of this latter version of the work by American libraries, for it is often listed as The Factory Girl, or, All that Glitters is not Gold, even though the text says All that Glitters is not Gold, or The Poor Girl's Diary on the title page, and simply All that Glitters is not Gold at the head of the text itself.

Performance history in South Africa

A note on the text(s) used:

In his report on Sefton Parry's first productions of the play in South Africa (1858-1862), as well a performance at Port Elizabeth in 1865, F.C.L. Bosman (1980: p. 69) gives the title as All is not Gold that Glitters, or The Factory Girl, calling it "a beautiful pathetic play" and ascribing it wrongly to Henry Chettle and Samuel Rowley. However, the one source for information on the performances appears to be Groom (1988-1900), who has the title as All that Glitters is not Gold, which seems to suggest that the play Parry did was in fact the 1851 work by Thomas Morton and J.M. Morton, a supposition further supported by both the subtitle and the name of the one characters ( "Martha Gibbs") mentioned by Bosman. In the case of later performances (e.g. those in the 1870s) Bosman uses the correct title and ascribes it to the Mortons, with no explanation, even though he refers to the play as "an old favourite" - this all suggesting it is the same work as that done by Parry, and that Parry (or his publicist) may have been the one to make the (deliberate?) error.

The performances

1858: A play called All is not Gold that Glitters, or The Factory Girl was performed by Sefton Parry and his company, under protection of Colonel Hope and the Cape Volunteer Corps, on 27 April in the Cape Town Theatre. Also performed was an English song ("The Ratcatcher's Daughter") and the comedy Buried Alive, or The Illustrious Stranger (Milligen and Kenney). The orchestra of the Cape Royal Rifles also performed.

1861: Performed as All is not Gold that Glitters, or The Factory Girl by Sefton Parry and his company on 13 May 1861, the opening night of the newly completed Theatre Royal. (However, Groom has the title as All that Glitters is not Gold.) The rest of the programme consisted of a tambourine dance by Miss Powell,songs by Mr J.H. Leffler and the burletta The Bonnie Fishwife (Selby).

1862: Performed as All is not Gold that Glitters by Sefton Parry and his company on 11 April, with The Omnibus, or A Convenient Distance (an adaptation of Cherry Bounce by Raymond). The evening was as a benefit for Mr Bland and Mrs Bland.

1865: Performed as All is not Gold that Glitters by the company of W.H. Parkes in Port Elizabeth on 31 July, with Mrs Clara Tellett appearing as "Martha Gibbs".

1870: Performed as All that Glitters is not Gold in the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Cape Town, by the company of Benjamin Webster on 5 July, with scenes from King John (Shakespeare). The performers Benjamin Webster, T. Brazier, Mrs Brazier, Mr Devere and James Leffler all appeared in the main play. The evening was a bit of a fiasco however, since a Mr Illford, who was make his Cape Town debut by playing the lead, had not turned up and Leffler had to take on two roles.

1874: Performed as All that Glitters is not Gold in the Oddfellows Hall, Cape Town, by the company of Disney Roebuck on 13 February, with The Lottery Ticket (Beazley)

1874: Performed as All that Glitters is not Gold in the Oddfellows Hall, Cape Town, by the company of Disney Roebuck on 20 February, with an unnamed farce.

1877: Performed as All that Glitters is not Gold in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by the company of Disney Roebuck on 12 September, with The Spitalfields Weaver, or How are you, Brown? (Bayly)

1878: Performed as All that Glitters is not Gold in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by the company of Disney Roebuck on 29 May, with Trial by Jury (Gilbert and Sullivan) as a benefit performance for Wilmore, Leonard and Pine.

Sources

Facsimile version of the 1851 text of All that Glitters is not Gold by Taylor, Hathitrust Digital Library[3]

Facsimile version of All that Glitters is not Gold, or The Poor Girl's Diary, Hathitrust Digital Library[4]

Facsimile version of the 1851 text of All that Glitters is not Gold by Samuel French, Hathitrust Digital Library[5]

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 69, 73, 76, 97, 100, 112, 139, 252, 311-3, 360, 369.

William Groom. 1899-1900. Drama in Cape Town. Cape Illustrated Magazine, 10(4): 478-481, 517-520, 547-552, 580-584, 640-643, 670-672, 706-708.

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page