Acknowledgements......i 1 – 1880: Had You Seen The Cabbage Before?......1 2 – 1881: He Offered To Fight The Whole Audience ......15 3 – 1882: “Your Herd Of Elephants Calld At My Shop”......30 4 – 1883: Unboiled Rice And Silver Spangles......39 5 – 1884: Dear Sir, I Love You Tonight......47 6 – 1885: Sweet Sounds From Gas......56 7 – 1886: He Is Eating My Brain......69 8 – 1887: We Calls ʼem Pikelets in Preston......83 9 – 1888: A Slight Castigation With His Toe......108 10 – 1889: “I Am 302 Years Of Age”......122 11 – 1900: The Dead Woman Jumped To Her Feet......141 Index.....145 About The Author.....149
Amusing and bizarre snippets of British theatrical history between the years 1880 and 1890. Actors have their feet poisoned by coloured tights and are fined for vandalizing Warwick Castle; actresses have violent rows in an oyster shop and accidentally glue their lips together; Wiliam McGonagall is the victim of a cruel practical joke...and much, much more.
