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The Strange Gentleman
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The Strange Gentleman: A Comic Burletta, in Two Acts (hosted by Connie)
Jean, I have the impression that the Strange Gentleman is a dandy just like Dickens. Dickens also wants to differentiate the young men's costumes from the waiters. The playbills attribute the play to Boz. I have found playbills online at auction houses, but I hesitate to post them since I don't know if they are in the public domain. There is a playbill from Nov 3, 1836 with the word BOZ above the GE in the word STRANGE at the Forum Auction now:
https://www.forumauctions.co.uk/41112...
Edited: I did find a version of the play published by Chapman and Hall in 1837 attributed to BOZ on Internet Archive that is not illustrated:
https://archive.org/details/strangege...
Here is an illustrated version from Sotheby's Auction House:
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/aucti...
It's an interesting question about when publishers changed the attribution from Boz to Dickens.
I am planning on posting about the illustrations tonight.
Sara, I also enjoyed his opening and felt curious about the travelers. I also wondered about the quality of the inn if they were going to boil up bones from other traveler's plates to make soup! (I've heard of families doing this during the Great Depression of the 1930s.) From what I've read about coaching inns, it does not surprise me that some inns recycled food this way.
Of course, modern day me, that made my stomach turn a bit. I would hate to think I am eating someone else's plate leftovers. But, food waste is a new concept.
I had the same thoughts, Sara. Dickens was probably going for a reaction from his audience where they would be laughing and grimacing at the same time. It would definitely get their attention!
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Connie wrote: "I also wondered about the quality of the inn if they were going to boil up bones from other traveler's plates to make soup!"
Oddly enough, in another group currently reading Down and Out in Paris and London, we are discussing a similar thing (as Connie knows)! George Orwell is working washing-up in a restaurant and watches the waiters empting the dregs of patrons' glassess into new flasks of wine 😆
Thank you for finding that out Connie! It's as I expected; modern publishers of this play have it wrong, and for consistency it should say "by Boz" as it does on our home page and the bookshelves. I have altered the edition at the top of the thread to reflect this.
Jean, I edited my comment about whether books were attributed to Boz or Dickens (message 51). I don't know when the attribution changed from Boz to Dickens.The playbills for "The Village Coquettes" and "Is She His Wife" also show attribution to Boz.
More great stuff! Thank you Connie. The thought of all those candles and other fire hazards in the theater made me cringe. As for the soup, I have ate worse.
Sam wrote: "More great stuff! Thank you Connie. The thought of all those candles and other fire hazards in the theater made me cringe. As for the soup, I have ate worse."Hopefully, the boiling would have killed all the bacteria and viruses. With all the TB or consumption back in the 19th Century, I would not want to eat anyone else's uncooked food.
Wow Connie, this is a brilliant start and so much interesting information. I can’t stop thinking about the lighting in these theaters. Obviously a fire hazard so hopefully someone or several someones kept watch to keep them lit. Also it seems strange to my modern sense to have the lights on during the performance. It would be very distracting to see everything going on around the room and more difficult to concentrate on the stage. Maybe not. I wonder when lights out other than the stage became the norm?I’m very curious about our strange gentleman. What could be in his portmanteau? When he refuses a commercial room for privacy, does that mean he’d be in a room with other people? I also noted that Mrs. Noakes seems to be using the amount of luggage to determine where to put each guest.
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Since it changed in the middle of Oliver Twist - after the "A Parish Boy's Progress" installments (details in the relevant threads) it will have been for later editions of the play.
I had just wondered if "Boz is the pseudonym of a Charles Dickens" was announced for the initial performances, but sometimes these details are not known.
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I think I have seen this at the Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty St! I'll look again when I go to the "Dickens & Collins" exhibition.
Your second link, to the one published by Chapman and Hall in 1837, is the edition on our shelves and at the top of this thread.
Lori wrote: "Wow Connie, this is a brilliant start and so much interesting information. I can’t stop thinking about the lighting in these theaters. Obviously a fire hazard so hopefully someone or several someon..."Lori, I don't know what they called the lights in area of the theatre where the audience sits in the 19th Century, but they are called the house lights now to differentiate from the stage lighting. I have the impression it was a gradual thing for the house lights to go from being bright with candle/oil lighting, to dim with gas lighting, to dark with electric lighting. People talked more during the performance, and socialized with their neighbors in a lit theatre. If they came in late with half-price tickets, people would fill them in on the plot of the ongoing play. The upper class wanted to be noticed. It was not unusual to attend the same play several times during its run. Dickens himself would attend the same performance multiple times and imitate the dialogue for his friends. When I was reading about it, it reminded me of the atmosphere in a theatre featuring a comic today.
The strange gentleman wants to be out of the public view, and does not even want to go into the dining room. I'm also wondering why he is hiding. We should be finding out more as we read.
About Mrs Noakes and the luggage:
Probably a private room would be needed to store a large quantity of luggage. It would also indicate that the guest was wealthy, and would be spending more on food and drink as well as the room. A wealthy person would also worry about their luggage being stolen in a room with many people. They would not choose to sleep in a bed with a stranger (think lice and bedbugs!!!) if they had the funds for a private room.
Bionic Jean wrote: "I had just wondered if "Boz is the pseudonym of a Charles Dickens" was announced for the initial performances, but sometimes these details are not known...."
Jean, I found some information in Victorian Writers and the Stage: The Plays of Dickens, Browning, Collins and Tennyson by Richard Pearson. "The Strange Gentleman" and "The Village Coquettes" overlapped their runs by about ten days. Pearson writes:
"The 6 December 1836 was the opening night of "The Village Coquettes" and the fiftieth performance of "The Strange Gentleman" and, as Michael Slater notes, 'Both pieces were enthusiastically received and at the end the audience screamed for Boz. There was at this time, however, no tradition of playwrights appearing to take a bow and Dicken's coming forward to do so was much ridiculed. . . Forster described how Dickens 'appeared, and bowed, and smiled, and disappeared, and left the audience in a perfect consternation that he neither resembled the portraits of Pickwick, Snodgrass, Winkle or Tupman. Some critics in the gallery were said to have expected Sam Weller.'" (characters in The Pickwick Papers)
The theatre manager, John Braham, then paraded out Dickens every evening to help guarantee a crowd since "The Village Coquettes" was not as successful as "The Strange Gentleman."
Also, "The Village Coquettes" was published by Richard Bentley in 1836 'By Charles Dickens/The Music by John Hullah.'
Summary 2-Act 1, Scene 1 continuesThe Strange Gentleman wants to be shown into a private room because he fears being murdered, and insists on carrying his own portmanteau. The three waiters usher him into a room to talk with Mrs Noakes, and he bolts the door after the waiters leave. She notes that it's his first time at the hotel, and it's not usual to give a private room to a single person.
The Strange Gentleman says he likes the look of the hotel and it won't be his last visit. He used to stay at the Royal Hotel, but it's now overly noisy and they turned their Old Assembly Room into a stable. He orders dinner and, again, refuses to let his portmanteau out of his sight.
Glossary:
gammon-false or meaningless talk intended to deceive someone
Dickens satire about the competing Royal HotelDickens is mocking the two patent theatres which are called Theatre Royal Covent Garden and Theatre Royal Drury Lane. He's drawing a parallel between them and the Royal Hotel. The Theatre Royals were known to be very noisy, and received a lot of press for their animal acts.
So the Strange Gentleman says that the Royal Hotel is "a noisy house. . . nothing but noise, glare, and nonsense," and "turned the fine Old Assembly Room into a stable, and took to keeping horses."
Dickens may be also making a soft marketing move by naming the St James's Arms after the St James's Theatre.
J P Harley (1821), painted by Samuel Drummond, engraved by James Thomson. From the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O12...
John Pritt Harley (1786-1858) was a popular comic actor and one of Dickens' favorite theatrical friends. Harley joined the company at the St James Theatre when it was opened by John Braham in 1835. He played the lead role of the Strange Gentleman. He also had roles in Dickens' operatic burletta, "The Village Coquettes," and Dickens' third play, "Is She His Wife?"
J P Harley as the Strange Gentleman from the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum:
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1...
John Leech made this lithograph of J P Harley as the Strange Gentleman in 1836, hoping to obtain a commission to illustrate Dickens' book. However, Dickens chose Hablot Browne as the illustrator for the published book. Dickens and Leech remained friendly, and Leech later illustrated some of Dickens' other works.
This illustration by Hablot Browne (Phiz) was used as the frontispiece when "The Strange Gentleman" was published in 1837 by Chapman and Hall.
https://bobdenton.com/dickens-drama-t...
(there are lots of spoilers at this site so visit it after we've read the play)
Mod
This acutally reminds me of a cinema today. Teenagers come and use it to meet their friends, chat in the aisles etc. 😥 I remember once two or three being thrown out. Also a local performance of a dramatisation of The Woman in White was ruined for me, by too much audience participation from a school party showing off. It had moved from the West End to the regionnal theatres, but I wishd I had seen it in the West End, where the audience behaves better!
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That sounds a fascinating book! I must look for it thank you*. It sounds as though the author is using Michael Slater's excellent biography of Charles Dickens. (This one!! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
Not the much shorter one by him it keeps linking to!)
* Edit - at £42.74 on kindle I will have to do without it! 😲
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I was struck by the preoccupation with luggage, and reminded very much of our collaborative read last year (led so marvellously by Plateresca) Somebody's Luggage.
"gammon" - or "gammon and spinach" was one of Charles Dickens favourite ways of describing nonsense talk - it occurs all over the place in his writing!
The third thing which struck me today, which relates to Charles Dickens's later writing, is describing the gentleman as like a steam engine. Doesn't this remind everyone of Pancks in Little Dorrit? He was always described like that!
It's so very intersting to spot features like this and observe the cogs and wheels of Charles Dickens's mind at work.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Thanks for all the further fascinating research and illustrations Connie 😊I was struck by the preoccupation with luggage, and reminded very much of our collaborative read last year (led so marvel..."
I love the phrase "like a steam engine," Jean. It brings a vivid picture to mind, and people of the 19th Century would really have steam engines on their minds.
I have never heard the expression, "gammon and spinach," but it makes me laugh!
Regarding noise in a cinema today, I've found that going to a matinee showing during school hours is a good solution. There are lots of empty seats, and the patrons are mostly seniors.
Of course, one speculates about what is in the portmanteau and the gentleman's paranoia that everyone he sees both knows what is in it and wants desperately to get their hands upon it. It is unlikely that anyone on the staff would have noticed either him or the portmanteau if he had not, himself, brought such great attention.
Sara wrote: "Of course, one speculates about what is in the portmanteau and the gentleman's paranoia that everyone he sees both knows what is in it and wants desperately to get their hands upon it. It is unlike..."That's true, Sara. He also wants to hide from the public in the inn, and he talks about being murdered. Dickens has us wanting to learn more about the Strange Gentleman.
He’s definitely a peculiar fellow. I can’t wait to unravel his story. I found the use of the “asides” to be rather fun. I can envision this on the stage with the actor talking directly to the audience here. It’s giving the audience an idea of what the characters are thinking.
Mod
I have a question regarding the money was discussed. I know what pounds are, but I have no idea how much are shillings, crowns, or half-crowns, or anything else in British literature. Can someone clarify all of this?]Thank you!
Mod
A crown was 5 shillings 5/- and a half crown was two-and-six 2/6.
There were 12 pence in a shilling. 1/-
There were coins for 6d (sixpence) 3d (thrupenny bit) 1d (penny) half penny and quarter penny (farthing)
There were also gold sovereigns £1 and guineas, £1.1s
Lori wrote: "He’s definitely a peculiar fellow. I can’t wait to unravel his story. I found the use of the “asides” to be rather fun. I can envision this on the stage with the actor talking directly to the aud..."
Lori, I'm glad you were so observant and brought up the "asides," especially since there is a soliloquy in the next section. Both seem to be used in a farce where the playwright wants the audience to know some information, but doesn't want the other characters to have the knowledge. It's a great way to set up misunderstandings, but the audience is in on the joke.
If an author writes a book, they can write it in third person, or add a diary or letter. But playwrights and screenwriters have to use asides or soliloquies. I've seen characters pouring their hearts out to their dog on TV shows that accomplishes the same goal. Can any of you remember similar situations in the plays and films that you've viewed?
Summary 3-Act 1, Scene 1 continuesToday's section is a soliloquy by the Strange Gentleman who is very upset and thinking out his strategy. Reaching into his pocket, he takes out a letter which had been thrust at him as he arrived at the inn. It contained a message from Mr Horatio Tinkles challenging him to a duel tomorrow morning. Mr Tinkles is known to be an expert marksman so the Strange Gentleman has to devise a plan to avoid him.
The Strange Gentleman is on his way to marry Miss Emily Brown. His parents have picked out his bride who is very wealthy, but he has never met her. Mr Tinkles is his rival for Emily's hand. The Strange Gentleman cannot go back home because his father would be furious, but he doesn't want to be killed in a duel.
To look brave, he decides to write one letter to Mr Tinkles accepting the challenge of the duel. Then he writes an anonymous letter to the local authorities to alert the Mayor that an illegal duel is planned for the morning. He asks them to put the youth in room 17 under immediate restraint since duels are illegal. The Strange Gentleman is hoping to miss the duel without destroying his honor. Now he needs to find someone to deliver the two letters.
DuelsDueling was outlawed and the tradition had declined by the 1770s in England. People began resolving conflicts in a court of law or through correspondence in newspapers. The last recorded duel in England took place in October 1852.
Dueling with pistols was much more likely to cause death than duels fought with swords.
Wikipedia: Duel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel
Marriages for Money and Convenience in the 19th CenturyMoney was a common motivation for marriage in the 19th Century for both men and women. When a couple married, legal control of a woman's property was turned over to her husband. So a man might look for a woman with money. However, middle-class women did not usually work outside the home. So the man was expected to support his wife and their children. Women also married for money since it gave her social and economic status.
Convenience was another important motivation, especially for men. A wife had important duties in a household so it ran smoothly. She would direct the servants, correspond with family and friends, and plan visits with them. Lower class women had a more "hands on" role in taking care of the children and household duties.
Marriages based on love were socially allowable when people were from the same social class. Otherwise, they could be considered quite scandalous!
McCabe, Cailey. "Victorian Marriage Motivations"
https://english825economicwomen.home....
Mod
I was amused at the name Mr "Horatio Tinkles", because one of Charles Dickens's most delightful "Sketches" (writing as as "Boz") was called Horatio Sparkins. This was published around the same time of course, probably only a few months before.
Then much later he created "Edmund Sparkler" in Little Dorrit. These are all rather dim-witted young city men with a personable bright manner. It seems to be a favourite moniker for Charles Dickens to use (just as he later was to choose variants on "oodle" and "boodle" for upper-middle class fools tied up with administrative red tape).
I love how Dickens creates such unusual and descriptive names for his characters, Jean! It's a good thing that they are not real people since they would have been teased unmercifully on the playground as kids.I know I'm looking at it from a 21st Century view, but my first thought when I read about the duel was wondering who Miss Emily wanted to marry. Dueling about a woman sounds romantic but it is treating her like a piece of property. Sometimes both participants in a duel would fire to miss if the duel was for honor, but other times it could be deadly. Your Hampton Court Palace guide was quite enlightening, Jean.
Mod
I laughed at the name of the field where the duel will take place - Corpse Common! Dickens is certainly being jovial! And the fact that Mr. Tinkles has paid for breakfast for one, the duel’s winner, is a rather macabre detail!
I also love the humorous touches, and you have named two of them, Lori. I think this has a flavor of Oscar Wilde. I have not read ahead, but the existence of an "anonymous" letter conjures all kinds of possibilities.
Lori and Sara, I have a picture in my mind of Dickens having so much fun writing this play! I'm enjoying his sense of humor too.Sara, it's quite a coincidence that you are mentioning Oscar Wilde because I picked up a book of his plays at the library last week. Every time I read about farce, The Importance of Being Ernest gets mentioned. I think it's calling out to me to be read.
It is my favorite of his plays, Connie. Close second is Lady Windermere's Fan. The Ballad Of Reading Gaol is one of the saddest things I have ever read. I'm a fan. When I found myself thinking about The Importance of Being Earnest, I wondered if others would have had that same thought reading this Dickens. I do not think of them as having the same style at all. Of course, Dickens pre-dates Wilde, so I should be thinking that Wilde's humor reminds me of Dickens.
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I love the word "paraprosdokian", and always associate it with him.
Great word, Jean! I'll have to look for some in Wilde's play.
Summary 4-Act 1, Scene 1 continuesTom Sparks carries in a pair of boots, and asks the Strange Gentleman if they are his. The Strange Gentleman wants to know if Tom is the Boots, and he replies that he's the head of that branch of the establishment and has a man under him. Of course, the Boots is the lowest position at the inn!
The Strange Gentleman asks Tom if he could deliver some secret letters--one to the Royal Hotel (to his rival, Mr Tinkles) and the other to the Mayor's house. Tom bargains to get paid well for the delivery.
Since the Strange Gentleman is so secretive, Tom Sparks thinks that the gentleman might be involved in the arson of the Swing Riots (see next post), and he makes comments about haystacks and matches.
The Strange Gentleman assumes he'll be in custody soon after the Mayor receives his letter, and he heads out to the bedroom.
Glossary:
the Boots--a male servant who cleans, polishes, and cares for boots and shoes, and may also do other odd jobs around an establishment
a rum 'un--a strange, odd, suspicious, or mischievous person
Lucifer box--matchbox
carbois of vitriol--container of sulfuric acid or metallic sulfate
The Swing RiotsAgricultural workers in 1830 were upset about harsh working conditions, the mechanization of agriculture, the required tithes to the Anglican Church, the abuse of the Poor Law guardians, the lowering of the farm workers' wages, and the Enclosure Acts. The rioters destroyed farm machinery, maimed cows, and burned haystacks and other farm property.
The name Captain Swing referred to the fictitious head of the Swing movement who signed threatening letters to farmers, parsons, and government officials.
Wikipedia: The Swing Riots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_R...
Poster of Captain Swing
University of Kent. "The Age of Revolution 1775-1848: The Swing Riots"
https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/ageofrevolut...#
The strange gentleman seems certain that his plan will work. I can only surmise that Dickens has other plans in store for him. I don’t know what, but nothing ever goes to such a perfect plan. I had not heard of the Swing riots and would not have made that connection without your research, Connie. I had an idea the haystacks, Lucifer boxes and pipe must have been about smoking. Thanks for clarifying those details.
I also appreciate the information regarding the Swing riots, which were completely unknown to me.
Lori and Sara, I'm glad the information about the Swing Riots helped. I learned about them by reading some Thomas Hardy short stories last summer. I love it when we make all sorts of interesting connections.
Summary 5- Act 1, Scene 1 continuesMrs Noakes has brought Mary and Fanny to the Strange Gentleman's room, saying that he should be back in a short time for his dinner.
Mary tells Fanny that her boyfriend, John Johnson, asked her to leave her guardian's home and travel with him to Gretna Green (see comment 101). But he discovered that his money was gone when they were half-way on the journey. They are staying at the inn until he can receive a remittance from London.
Fanny wrote to her boyfriend, Charles Tomkins, that she was accompanying her sister. He's going to meet her, giving a false name.
The two women wonder if the Strange Gentleman is Charles Tomkins. They say that John and Charles had a quarrel years ago, and they are still enemies. Mary has never met her sister's beau, Charles, so she has no idea of what he looks like.
They sing a duet to try to get the Strange Gentleman's attention in the next room, but leave when he does not appear.
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Strange Gentleman (other topics)Noises Off: A Play in Three Acts (other topics)
Noises Off: A Play in Three Acts (other topics)
The Strange Gentleman (other topics)
Oliver Twist (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Frayn (other topics)Michael Frayn (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
Robert C. Hanna (other topics)
Judith Flanders (other topics)
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I noticed the attention to detail in the description of the clothing, Jean, and thought that observant nature in Dickens, that so informs his novels, was present from the very beginning.
I love the opening to this play. If you were present in the audience, you would be interested immediately. There are already gentle questions arising regarding the travelers...what exactly is the relationship between the two women and the one man, and why is it "worth his life" for the gentleman to have a private sitting room.
A lot accomplished in just a few words.