Cirrus@Austlit

Young clergyman Cyril Maitland, engaged to a respectable young woman, falls in love with and impregnates Alma Lee. When her father finds out about the pregnancy, he attacks Maitland and is killed in a fall down the stairs, for which accident Maitland allows his best friend, Dr Henry Everard, to take the blame. Twenty years later, when Everard is released from prison, he seeks revenge on the unfaithful clergyman, now Dean Cyril Maitland.

According to the Daily News (Perth), 'This is a big Australian production, four acts, and a sermon, and when shown in Sydney at the Criterion Theatre a few months ago created universal interest' (Sat. 24 Oct. 1914, p.6). The following month, the same newspaper notes, 'The photographic and histrionic qualities of this production are excellent, the producer having not only kept closely to the text of the novel, but carefully selected his artists with a view to preserving the facial characteristics of the dramatis personae' (Mon. 2 Nov. 1914, p.4).

An adaptation of the 1886 novel The Silence of Dean Maitland by English novelist Mary Gleed Tuttiett (11 Dec 1846 - 21 Sep 1923), who wrote under the pen-name Maxwell Gray. The novel, a popular best-seller, had been made into a successful stage play in the late nineteenth century as The Silence of Dean Maitland and would be subsequently filmed in 1915 in the United States by John Ince (as Sealed Lips) and in 1934 in Australia by Ken G. Hall (as The Silence of Dean Maitland).

Longford's film is one of Australia's lost films.

A stage play based on the 1886 novel by British author 'Maxwell Gray' (Mary Gleed Tuttiett). The novel was also adapted to the screen by a number of filmmakers, including Raymond Longford's 1914 film The Silence of Dean Maitland; a 1915 version, with 'picture play' (screenplay) written by British author Herbert H. Hainton; a 1915 American film produced under the title Sealed Lips; and Ken G. Hall's 1934 film The Silence of Dean Maitland, with the screenplay written by Gayne Dexter and Edmund Barclay.

Possibly adapted and localised from H. J. Byron's burlesque William Tell with a Vengeance, or, the Pet, the Patriot and the Pippin (1867), this version of the famous William Tell story contains allegories about the displacement of ignorance, prejudice, and superstition through the influence of education; the press; intelligence; and discovery. Aside from William Tell, the principal characters include Gessler (the tyrannical Governor of Altorf), Sarnem (a bilious gaoler with a secret), Emma (an elderly lady with a slight encumbrance), Albert (the slight encumbrance), Rosetta (daughter of Sarnem who thinks a good deal of herself but more of Albert), and Furst, Melchthal, and Verner (patriots pure and more than usually simple).

The pantomime scenes were played out in two acts:

Act 1: Scene 1. Caverns of Ignorance;

Scene 2. Fairy Castles in the Air;

Scene 3. In the Clouds;

Scene 4. Alpine Glen;

Scene 5. Sarnem's Hut;

Scene 6. On the Road;

Scene 7. Forest Glen and Cascade;

Act 2 : Scene 1. Alphabet Castle;

Scene 2. Sarnem's House;

Scene 3. Market Place; and

Scene 4. On the Road and Father Christmas Tableau.

Grand Transformation Scene: 1. An English Homestead in Winter (dissolving scene); 2. Palace of Enchantment in the Regions of Fairyland; 3. Submarine Grotto; 4. The Golden Gate of the Nymph's Bower; 5. The Valley of Golden Ferns; and 6. The Abode of Aurora.

Harlequinade: 1. Up and Down Street, 2. A Rural House near Pleasantville, and 3.The Village and Post Office.

The musical score, arranged by Walter Rice, was made up of popular songs of the time and airs from a variety of operas, notably Le Voyage la Luna, Madame L'Archiduc, La Jolie Parfumeuse, Maritana, and William Tell.

The storyline sees Twinkle Twinkle, the beloved of Tommy but also the object of the Emperor of Bagatelle's affection, being kidnapped by the latter with the aid of King Winter. Tommy and Twinkle are reunited, however, through the aid of the Stars and Icicles led by Diana, Queen of the Night and Jack Frost.

The 'Sights and Doings,' as advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald were:

Sight 1. The Ice-bound Home of King Winter (incl. a scene of Australian Christmas);

Sight 2. The Beautiful City of Stars;

Sight 3. Cloudland;

Sight 4. Interior of Dame Tucker's Cottage;

Sight 5. A Forest Glade in Bagatelle Empire;

Sight 6. Throne Room in the Palace of King Winter and Grand Panorama;

Sight 7. A Tangled Wood;

Sight 8. Diana's Sylvian Retreat and Grand Ballet of Stars;

Sight 9. Exterior of Dame Tucker's Cottage;

Sight 10 .Bagatelle Castle (incl. The Emperor's Silver Guards, Dian's Gold Guards, King Winter's Crystal Guards and Grand Amazonian March);

Sight 11. Debatable Ground;

Sight 12. A Gloomy Pass;

Grand Transformation Scene (by W. J. Wilson). 1. Spring; 2. Summer; 3. Autumn; 4. Winter; 5. Golden Corridor and Caves of Dazzling Splendour; and

Harlequinade. 1. Two well-known Sydney shops, 2. Interior of a local Boarding House; and 3. Oloothter's Shop (23 December 1876, p.2).

Described as a terpsichoric, romantic, operatic fairy extravaganza and adapted from F. C. Burnand's original extravaganza, John Bennett's production of Snow White at Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre, is said to have been 'localised by a gentleman whose name does not appear in the bills and who has studded it with local puns and jokes from one end to the other.' The Sydney Morning Herald critic writes further:

The plot is of that mysterious indefinite nature peculiar to burlesque and extravaganza. There is of course, a king and a queen. Equally of course the king is a tyrant abroad and henpecked at home, and the queen is a vixen of the first water. Kings and queens are always thus - in extravaganza. Then there are two princes - one is good - the other is not. This is equally a matter of course. Then there is a damsel, who having been brought up by wood nymphs, grows up to the age of twenty without ever having been aware of the existence of the sterner sex, and so ignorant of her charms that she has never beheld her 'counterfeit presentment' in a mirror. There are also the usual courtiers, conspirators, a 'man of mystery,' Ozoherit - a scandalous fellow - and fairies in abundance (28 December 1875, p.5).

The production's advertised scenes (painted by William Burbury) were: 1. The Illuminated Garden of King Kokahoop's Palace; 2. The Fairy Glen; 3. The Floral Retreat of the Wood Nymphs and Home of Snow-white; 4. Exterior of King Kokahoop's Palace; 5. The Hall of Mirrors; and 6. Interior of King Kokahoop's Castle.

These were followed by a Grand Transformation Scene made up of a series of tableaus pained by J. R. Setright: 1. Ugolini's Cavern; 2. Galatea's Abode; 3. Australian Flora; 4. Fairy Pagoda; 5. Silver Conservatory; and 6. the Glittering Gorgeous Galaxy of Oriental Splendour (Sydney Morning Herald 27 December 1875, p.8).

Snow White's musical elements, arranged by Walter Rice, comprised selections from various operas and operettas, along with some re-worded versions of well-known ballads (including "The Skidamore Guards). The works named in advertising are: Les Brigands (1870), Chilperic (1868), Princess of Trebizonde (1890), Girofle, Girofla (1832), Grand Duchess (1867), Satanella (1758), Maritana (1845), Les Pres St Gervais (1862) and La Perichole (1829).

[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]

In reviewing the premiere, the Empire's theatre critic accorded the overall production much praise, noting, in particular, Scott's intelligible plot, parodies, puns, and local hits, and the exceptionally good scenery produced by W. J. Wilson, 'a gentleman well-known to the Sydney public as a first-class scenic artist' (Empire 28 December 1874, p.3).

The story begins with Robinson Crusoe being torn from the arms of his betrothed, Polly, and press-ganged on the orders of Captain Will Atkins (who is also in love with Polly). With Crusoe aboard Atkin's ship, the demons Tyrant and Oppression, surrounded by their demonical slaves, hatch a plan to persecute him. Fortunately for Crusoe, Fairy Liberty manages to overhear the conspirators and 'in a pretty panorama shows how she will bring him safely through his troubles and dangers' (Empire 28 December 1874, p.3). When Crusoe is shipwrecked, he begins to lament his fate, but then meets up with four animals who not only keep him company but also help him survive. He later discovers footprints on the sand but, at almost the same time, he is discovered by a party of 'war-whooping' Sugeeans. His meeting with King Thackem-Whackem-boo and his sons Ratty Tim and Lanky Joe does not go well, and it is only through the intervention of Friday that Crusoe is saved from the Sugeeans' knives. Friday subsequently becomes Crusoe's head cook and handy man. In the meantime, Captain Atkins has also been wrecked upon the island and is in dispute with the islanders over his beautiful captive, Polly. When he finds out that Polly is on the island, Crusoe orchestrates a rescue and manages to defeat his foe in a terrific fight, thereby saving his beloved from both Atkins and the Sugeeans. The Fairy Liberty then manages to foil the evil plans of the demons Tyrant and Oppression by removing all the good people from danger and taking them to her own island home.

The incidents of the pantomime were played out in seven settings, a transformation and harlequinade:

Scene 1 The Old Jetty at Hull,

Scene 2 The Tyrant's Home (and Grand Panorama),

Scene 3 Bowers of Brilliant Beauty (and Grand Ballet),

Scene 4 The Island,

Scene 5 Crusoe's Hut,

Scene 6 The Lee Shore and Atkins' Wreck (and Grand Coconut Ballet),

Scene 7 The Island Home, and the Grand Transformation Scene.

Harlequinade - This was set in three scenes: Scene 1 A Well-known Street in the City, Scene 2 Somewhere in George Street, and Scene 3 The Grotto of Gloom.