The Ticket-of-Leave Man (play)

Last updated

A poster for a production of the play in 1868 Ticket of leave man - Weir Collection.jpg
A poster for a production of the play in 1868

The Ticket-of-Leave Man is an 1863 stage melodrama in four acts by the British writer Tom Taylor, based on a French drama, Le Retour de Melun. It takes its name from the Ticket of Leave issued to convicts when they were released from jail on parole. A recently returned convict is blackmailed by another man into committing a robbery, but is rescued thanks to the intervention of a detective. It has been described as apparently being the first play to give a truly significant role to a detective. [1]

Contents

The play introduced the character of Hawkshaw the Detective, with "Hawkshaw" becoming a synonym for a detective. It was not well received by critics, but proved very popular with audiences and was constantly revived, becoming one of the standard works of Victorian melodrama. [2]

First production

The play was first produced in March 1863 at the Olympic Theatre in London. The cast included Henry Gartside Neville as Robert Brierly, Horace Wigan as Hawkshaw, Robert Soutar as Green Jones and Kate Saville as May Edwards. [3] A reviewer in The Spectator wrote, " Mr. Tom Taylor, one of our ablest dramatic writers, has treated a great social question with a definite purpose, a degree of artistic skill, and a depth of earnestness... which render The Ticket-of-Leave Man to be viewed in no ordinary light." [4]

Plot

Robert Brierly, a young man from Lancashire, is enjoying his first visit to London. Two criminals, Melter Moss and James Dalton, pretend to lend him money, giving him a forged note. Brierly is arrested when he tries to exchange the note for currency and is sentenced to four years in prison. He had been kind to May, a young woman, who waits for his release from prison, even though Brierly's forged note caused the ruin of May's landlady Mrs Willoughby. Brierly secretly repays the money to Mrs Willoughby. May and Brierly are planning to marry, but on the day of his wedding, his employer finds out that he is an ex-convict, and he is fired. Brierly cannot find work, and Moss and Dalton try to force him to help them rob the brokerage firm where he had worked. Brierly plays along but reports them to the police; a detective uses a disguise to help him. Brierly is wounded in a fight in a churchyard, but the criminals are arrested, and Brierly's honour is restored.

Film adaptations

It has been turned into a number of film adaptations, mostly in the silent era. This included The Ticket of Leave Man (1912), The Ticket-of-Leave Man (1918) and the 1937 Tod Slaughter melodrama The Ticket of Leave Man .

The 1914 film The Ticket-of-Leave Man is not an adaptation of the play, but is based on the 1869 novel Foul Play written by Taylor's frequent collaborator Charles Reade.

Related Research Articles

<i>Native Son</i> 1940 novel by Richard Wright

Native Son (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Taylor</span> English playwright

Tom Taylor was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literature and language at University College, London in the 1840s, after which he practised law and became a civil servant. At the same time he became a journalist, most prominently as a contributor to, and eventually editor of Punch.

<i>Farewell, My Lovely</i> 1940 novel by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and radio.

<i>Glengarry Glen Ross</i> Play by David Mamet

Glengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The play shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical, illegal acts—from lies and flattery to bribery, threats, intimidation and burglary—to sell real estate to unwitting prospective buyers. It is based on Mamet's experience having previously worked in a similar office.

<i>Manhattan Melodrama</i> 1934 film by W. S. Van Dyke and George Cukor

Manhattan Melodrama is a 1934 American pre-Code crime film, produced by MGM, directed by W. S. Van Dyke, and starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy. The movie also provided one of Mickey Rooney's earliest film roles. The film is based on a story by Arthur Caesar, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Story. It was also the first of Myrna Loy and William Powell's fourteen screen pairings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Lonsdale</span> British playwright (1881-1954)

Frederick Lonsdale was a British playwright known for his librettos to several successful musicals early in the 20th century, including King of Cadonia (1908), The Balkan Princess (1910), Betty (1915), The Maid of the Mountains (1917), Monsieur Beaucaire (1919) and Madame Pompadour (1923). He also wrote comedy plays, including The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1925) and On Approval (1927) and the murder melodrama But for the Grace of God (1946). Some of his plays and musicals were made into films, and he also wrote a few screenplays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Robert Sims</span> English journalist, poet, dramatist & novelist (1847-1922)

George Robert Sims was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and bon vivant.

<i>Where the Sidewalk Ends</i> (film) 1950 film by Otto Preminger

Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1950 American film noir directed and produced by Otto Preminger. The screenplay for the film was written by Ben Hecht, and adapted by Robert E. Kent, Frank P. Rosenberg, and Victor Trivas. The screenplay and adaptations were based on the novel Night Cry by William L. Stuart. The film stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney.

<i>Hawkshaw the Detective</i> Comic strip character

Hawkshaw the Detective was a comic strip character featured in an eponymous cartoon serial by Gus Mager from February 23, 1913, to November 12, 1922, and again from December 13, 1931, to 1952. The name of Mager's character was derived from the common American slang of the time, in which a hawkshaw meant a detective—that slang itself derived from playwright Tom Taylor's use of the name for the detective in his 1863 stage play The Ticket of Leave Man.

<i>Lying Lips</i> 1939 American film

Lying Lips is a 1939 American melodrama race film written and directed by Oscar Micheaux who co-produced the film with aviator Hubert Fauntlenroy Julian, starring Edna Mae Harris, and Robert Earl Jones. Lying Lips was the thirty-seventh film of Micheaux. The film was shot at the Biograph Studios in New York City.

Robert Thomas Palin was a convict transported to Western Australia. His execution in 1861 was the only time in the convict era of Western Australia that Ordinance 17 Victoria Number 7 was used to secure the capital punishment of a convict for a crime not normally punishable by death.

Guy Boyd is an American character actor. Boyd has starred in more than fifty films from the late 1970s to the present. He is probably best known for his role as Detective Jim McLean in Body Double (1984) and for the pivotal role of Frank Hackman on two episodes of Miami Vice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Gartside Neville</span> English actor, dramatist, teacher and theatre manager

Thomas Henry Gartside Neville was an English actor, dramatist, teacher and theatre manager. He began his career playing dashing juvenile leads, later specialising in Shakespearean roles, modern comedy and melodrama. His most famous role was as Bob Brierley in Tom Taylor's The Ticket-of-Leave Man. As the manager of the Olympic Theatre from 1873 to 1879, he presented numerous successful productions. In later years, he became a respected character actor.

<i>Pot Luck</i> (1936 film) 1936 British film

Pot Luck is a 1936 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. The screenplay is by Ben Travers based loosely on his 1930 stage play A Night Like This. It also featured Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Diana Churchill and Martita Hunt. The cast included members of the regular Aldwych Farce company.

The Ticket of Leave Man is a 1937 British thriller film directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter, John Warwick and Marjorie Taylor. It was based on The Ticket-of-Leave Man, an 1863 melodrama by Tom Taylor which introduced the character Hawkshaw the Detective. It takes its name from the Ticket of leave which was issued to convicts when they were released.

The Frighteners (<i>The Avengers</i>) 15th episode of the 1st season of The Avengers

"The Frighteners" is the fifteenth episode of the first series of the 1960s cult British spy-fi television series The Avengers, starring Ian Hendry and Patrick Macnee. It was directed by Peter Hammond, designed by Robert Fuest, written by Berkely Mather and first broadcast by ABC on 27 May 1961.

<i>The Small Voice</i> 1948 film

The Small Voice is a 1948 British thriller film directed by Fergus McDonell and starring Valerie Hobson, James Donald and Howard Keel. The film is part of a group of British film noir produced around this time. It was based on the 1940 novel of the same name by Robert Westerby.

<i>The Bat</i> (play) 1920 mystery play

The Bat is a three-act play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood that was first produced by Lincoln Wagenhals and Collin Kemper in 1920. The story combines elements of mystery and comedy as Cornelia Van Gorder and guests spend a stormy night at her rented summer home, searching for stolen money they believe is hidden in the house, while they are stalked by a masked criminal known as "the Bat". The Bat's identity is revealed at the end of the final act.

The Ticket-of-Leave Man is a 1918 British silent crime film directed by Bert Haldane and starring Daphne Glenne, George Foley and Aubrey Fitzmaurice. It is an adaptation of the 1863 melodrama The Ticket-of-Leave Man by Tom Taylor.

Horace Wigan was an actor, dramatist and theatre manager. He was the original Hawkshaw, the detective in the play The Ticket-of-Leave Man by Tom Taylor.

References

  1. Steinbrunner, Chris, ed. (1976). Encyclopedia of mystery and detection. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 53. ISBN   978-0-07-061121-4.
  2. Lachman, p. 4
  3. Tom Taylor, The Ticket-of-Leave Man, accessed 1 November 2015.
  4. 30 May 1863, page 15 The Spectator archive, accessed 15 February 2016.

Bibliography