S/A Cole was exploring the many works available through interlibrary
loan, and managed to find a copy of a book that would be of interest to
the many G&S enthusiasts who are fond of H.M.S. Pinafore.  She had such
a good time with it that she couldn't keep it to herself, and sent in
the following "book report."

                  W.S. Gilbert and H.M.S. Pinafore

     A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to read what was
probably the funniest G&S-related children's book I had ever seen.  Like
most genuinely funny children's books, it's even funnier to adults than
it is to children.  The book was The Pinafore Picture book; The Story of
H.M.S. Pinafore told by Sir W.S. Gilbert (Alice B. Woodward, illustra-
tor.  New York: Macmillan, 1908).  The Gilbert scholars in our midst no
doubt know more about the circumstances of its publication (I don't),
but nonetheless, it's an especially interesting book, not only for the
writing style, but for the way the plot of Pinafore is explained.  These
days, it's fashionable to do unique versions of Pinafore (a la World War
II, American, stylized, what-have-you), but as far as I know, nobody has
rendered the opera the way Gilbert describes it in the book.  What with
the G&S Opera Company giving Pinafore this year, it seemed appropriate
to talk about Gilbert's book.  It might give them a couple of ideas.

     This article will no doubt be dragged over a couple of Nonsense
issues.  During the course of it, we expect to get an idea of what
Gilbert had in mind for the opera's presentation by 1908.  For starters,
though, let's look at why Gilbert says he wrote the book and what he
thought about that much-maligned character Dick Deadeye.

     Now, we should bear in mind, that the book was published in 1908,
so what Gilbert says about the plot and characters now may not necessar-
ily be what he was thinking thirty years earlier when the opera was
first produced.  The fact that the plot was also altered a bit for
younger readers should also be considered (for instance, the Big Big "D"
is toned down to "Hang It").  I would be presumptuous to say that the
book describes Gilbert's intentions for the opera's performance.  I
don't know enough about Gilbert and the way he worked to be sure.  The
book does give a good idea of Gilbert's intentions for the opera's
performance in 1908, though, and would therefore be a valid, traditional
interpretation of the work. 

     Has anyone ever read Ian Fleming's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? 
The plot, a spy story for children, is much funnier than the movie, and
draws a lot of its charm from the style in which it is told.  The reader
gets the feeling that his or her uncle is telling a story that their
mother wouldn't want them to hear, if she knew they were being told. 
Gilbert's Pinafore Picture Book has that same arch, conspiratorial
style.  The reader is let in on grown-up secrets and the aside comments
that make the action of the story look gloriously ridiculous.  It's
didactic without being preachy (for instance, many comments are made
about Josephine's breaking her promise to her papa to not tell Ralph she
loves him, and about her eloping without her father's permission.  The
way the comments are worded, though, indicate the author believed the
reader already knew breaking promises and running away from one's
parents were naughty things to do, so he didn't have to harp on the
point).  The pictures are lovely, too.

     According to the introduction, the book was written because, first
of all, "many very young ladies and gentlemen are never taken to the
Theatre at all", and that those who are taken will have trouble seeing
the stage, and that they "find it rather difficult to follow the story
of a play, much of which is told in songs set to beautiful music, and
all of which is written in language which is better suited to their
papas and Mamas than to themselves."  Another reason Gilbert gives is
that the work isn't performed often enough, so he's giving them the
story of the work now so they won't have to wait until they're "very
middle-aged ladies and gentlemen" to find out what it's all about.  He
certainly does give these very young ladies and gentlemen the story, in
detail never seen on stage.

     The plot is essentially the same as the Pinafore we all know, aside
from the "Hang it" and the dropping of the character "Hebe".  Gilbert
also connects it more closely to the Bab Ballad "The Bumboat Woman's
Story" by tying Little Buttercup to Poll Pineapple.  The amplification
of the main characters in this Pinafore, however, makes the story fresh
and a bit unfamiliar.  They don't bear all that much resemblance to the
understanding many directors have of them.  Probably the most noticeable
differences in understanding have to do with Little Buttercup and Dick
Deadeye.  Normally, Dick Deadeye is a terrible villain and Little
Buttercup is a beloved older woman.  Well, this is what Gilbert says
about Buttercup:

     As the sailors sat and talked they were joined by a rather stout
but very interesting elderly woman of striking personal appearance. .
.Her real name was Poll Pineapple, but the crew nick-named her "Little
Buttercup," partly because it is a pretty name, but principally because
she was not at all like a buttercup, or indeed anything else than a
stout, quick-tempered and rather mysterious lady, with a red face and
black eyebrows like leeches, and who seemed to know something unpleasant
about everybody on board.  She had a habit of making quite nice people
uncomfortable by hinting things in a vague way, and at the same time
with so much meaning (by skillful use of her heavy black eyebrows), that
they began to wonder whether they hadn't done something dreadful, at
some time or another, and forgotten all about it.  So Little Buttercup
was not really popular with the crew, but they were much too
kind-hearted to let her know it. (page 10)

     He goes on to say how glad the sailors were when Buttercup finished
her song, because she sang it every time she came on board, and after a
few months it got tiresome.  She certainly doesn't sound like the sweet
character we all know and love.

     As the story progresses, she is asked to tell the sailors a story
(they're on "dog watch" amusing themselves), and she tells them she
knows who is doing shameful things (like taking sugar- plums to bed with
him, sucking his thumb in his hammock, or putting raspberry jam in his
messmates' boots).  The response is:  "'Let's change the subject,' said
Bill Bobstay (he was the one who ate sugar-plums in bed), "we all have
our faults.  But, after all, we're not so bad as poor Dick
Deadeye--that's one comfort!" (page 14.)

     A couple of years ago, a defense of Dick Deadeye made the G&S
newsletter circuit.  Dick Deadeye was also the admirable hero of the
Ronald Searle full-length animated feature Dick Deadeye (in which he is
entrusted with the job of retrieving the Ultimate Secret from the Pirate
King who stole it).  Well, these two estimations of his character seem
closer to Gilbert's estimation (of 1908, at least) than that of most G&S
directors.  The narration after Bill Bobstay's remark says,

          Now this was very unjust on the part of Mr. Bobstay.  Dick
     Deadeye, who sat apart from the others, busy manicuring his nails,
     was one of the ugliest persons who ever entered the Navy.  His face
     had been so knocked about and burnt and scarred in various battles
     and from falling down from aloft, that not one feature was in its
     proper place. . . [He] looked just as if he had been crumpled up in
     the hand of some enormous giant.  He ought properly to have been
     made a Greenwich Pensioner long ago, but Captain Corcoran was too
     kind-hearted to hint that Dick Deadeye was deformed, and so he was
     allowed to continue to serve his country as a man-o'-war's man as
     best he could.  Now Dick Deadeye was generally disliked because he
     was so unpleasant to look at, but he was really one of the best and
     kindest and most sensible men on board the Pinafore, and this shows
     how wrong and unjust it is to judge unfavourably of a man because
     he is ugly and deformed. . .But so strong was the prejudice against
     Poor Dick Deadeye, that nothing he could say or do appeared to be
     right.  The worst construction was placed upon his most innocent
     remarks, and his noblest sentiments were always attributed to some
     unworthy motive.  They had no idea what the motive was, but they
     felt sure there was a motive, and that he ought to be ashamed of
     it. (page 14-17)

When was the last time you saw a sympathetic Dick Deadeye?  The descrip-
tions of other characters are equally revealing, and we'll probably go
into them later.  In the meantime, if you can find a copy of The Pin-
afore Picture Book, do read it:  it's not only enlightening, but ex-
tremely diverting!

[This article appeared in Issue 28 (December 1990) of Precious Nonsense,
the newsletter of the Midwestern Gilbert & Sullivan Society.  Posted by
permission of Sarah Cole, Society Secretary/Archivist.  For information
on Society membership write to:  The Midwestern Gilbert & Sullivan
Society, c/o Miss Sarah Cole, 613 W. State St., North Aurora, IL
60542-1538.]