Little Jack Horner can refer to the famour English nursery rhyme, or to a number of stories, plays and other adaptations inspired by it.

The original nursery rhyme

Little Jack Horner[1], is the name of a famous English nursery rhyme, with strong moralising and political undertones, which has been the reworked and used in many ways since the 18th century. It has no doubt also been the direct or indirect source for a number of pantomimes and plays.

Below those performed in South Africa.

Little Jack Horner, or Harlequin ABC by Mollan (1865)

This is an English pantomime, also found as Little Jack Horner, or Harlequin A.B.C. or simply Harlequin ABC.

The original text

A pantomime, inspired by the famous English nursery rhyme, Little Jack Horner[2], was performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London in the 1857–8 season.

William Groom (cited by F.C.L. Bosman, 1980: pp. 192-3) however, claims that the piece done in South Africa was an original work penned by a Mr B. Mollan of Cape Town. The reviewer in the Cape Argus of 28 December, 1865, also suggests that most of the work was original, though the opening scene of "The Depths of Darkness, and Mystic Still and Laboratory of the Demon Alcohol", was in fact plagiarized from an "Original Extravaganza" by Francis Cowley Burnand (1836-1917)[3] called Ixion, or The Man at the Wheel. However, the claim in the flier for the presentation that a "new" overture and music was composed by Mr W.G. Browne does suggest that the pantomime was in fact a local version of the British play, and that it is only the presentation of it that was in fact "original".

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1865: A pantomime by this name (and ascribed to B. Mollan) was performed in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by Messrs Alfred Ray and R.S. Cooper on 26-27 December. According to the flier for the presentation a "new" overture and music was composed by Mr W.G. Browne, choreography of dances was by Mrs R.I. Cooper, scenery by Mr R.S. Cooper, properties and masks by Mr Der. F. la Yar, mechanical contribution by Mr W.G. Browne, Harlequinade and Pantomimic business by Mr Alfred Ray, and Herr Luin, comic scenes painted by Mr C.J.M. Smith.

1866: Performed for two more nights (4 and 6 January) in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by Messrs Alfred Ray and R.S. Cooper .