Little Jack Horner, or Harlequin ABC

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Little Jack Horner, or Harlequin ABC is an English pantomime.

(Also found as Little Jack Horner, or Harlequin A.B.C. or simply Harlequin ABC)

The original text

A pantomime by this name 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)[] called Ixion, or The Man at the Wheel.

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, and claimed by William Groom (cited by F.C.L. Bosman, 1980: pp. 192-3) to have been an original work penned by a Mr B. Mollan of Cape Town. 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 in the Theatre Royal, Cape Town, by Messrs Alfred Ray and R.S. Cooper on 4 and 6 January.

Sources

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 192-3

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