The Secrets of a Savoyard

JARROLDS PUBLISHERS (LONDON) LTD


TO RUPERT D'OYLY CARTE. THE UPHOLDER OF A GREAT TRADITION

(After assisting at the first night of the new Gilbert-and-Sullivan revival.)
You may boast of your Georgian birds of song And say that never was stuff so strong, That its note of genius simply mocks At yester-century's feeble crocks, And floods the Musical Comedy stage With the dazzling art of a peerless age. But for delicate grace and dainty wit, For words and melody closely knit, Your best purveyors of mirth and joy Were never in sight of the old Savoy; They never began to compete, poor dears, With Gilbert-and-Sullivan's Gondoliers . For me, as an out-of-date Victorian, Prehistoric and dinosaurian, I hardly feel that I dare reflect On the art of the day with disrespect; But if anyone asks me, Who'll survive— The living dead, or the dead alive? Which of the two will be last to go— The Gondoliers or the latest show? I wouldn't give much for the latter's chance; That is the view that I advance, Trusting the public to bear me out (The good from the bad they're quick to sever); Of this I nurse no manner of doubt, No probable, possible shadow of doubt, No possible doubt whatever. —O. S.
(Reprinted by kind permission of the proprietors of Punch, and of Sir Owen Seaman. )