One or two of the especially well-informed dramatic critics who, of
course, had seen the original piece _Miss Helyett_ in Paris, asked
why the English adapter had taken the trouble to invent nine sisters
for the heroine; the nine sisters never being seen and having nothing
whatever to do with the plot. Here the well-informed ones were
to a certain extent wrong. In the original French piece, _Miss
Helyett_,--whose name, as is suggested by _Woman_, is evidently a
French rendering for "Miss ELLIOT," which M. BOUCHERON "concluded was
her Christian name"--speaking of herself, says to her father, "_Vous
savez bien, mon père, que vous n'avez pas de plus grande admiratrice
que votre onzième enfant._" And the Reverend SMITHSON tells her, a
little later, "_J'ai casé toutes tes soeurs très jeunes_--" and "_Je
ne devrais pourtant pas avoir de peine à trouver un onzième gendre._"
[Illustration: "Oh, shocking!!"]
That is why he is travelling to get an "_onzième gendre_" for his
"_onzième enfant_." The English adapter relieved Mr. SMITHSON of one
of his family, and so _Miss Helyett Smithson_ became _Miss Decima
Jackson_, i.e., the tenth, instead of the eleventh, of the worthy
pastor's family. The fact that all her sisters are married, makes
single unblessedness a reproach to her. No sort of purpose would
have been served by such a wholesale massacre of innocents as the
extinction of all _Pastor Smithson's_, alias _Jackson's_, ten "pretty
chicks at one fell swoop."
Miss NESVILLE, the foreign representative of _Miss Decima_ at the
Criterion, is uncommonly childlike and bland; moreover, she sings
charmingly; while of Mr. DAVID JAMES as the pastor _Jackson_ it may be
said, "Sure such a _père_ was never seen!" The Irishman, Mr. CHAUNCEY
OLCOTT, has a mighty purty voice, and gains a hearty _encore_ for
a ditty of which the music is not particularly striking. Mr. PERCY
REEVE has written words which go glibly to AUDRAN's music, and fit
the situations. The piece is capitally played and sung all round; and
marvellous is Miss VICTOR as the Spanish mother. The _mise-en-scène_
is far better here than it is in Paris, where this "musical-comedy" is
still an attraction.
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