——:o:——
In his Introduction to Burlesque Plays and Poems (G. Routledge & Sons, 1885), Mr. Henry Morley observes:—
“The word Burlesque came to us through the French from the Italian ‘burlesco’; ‘burla’ being mockery or raillery, and implying always an object. Burlesque must, burlarsi di uno, mock at somebody or something, and when intended to give pleasure it is nothing if not good-natured. One etymologist associates the word with the old English ‘bourd,’ a jest; the Gaelic ‘burd,’ he says, means mockery, and ‘buirleadh,’ is language of ridicule. Yes, and ‘burrail’ is the loud romping of children, and ‘burrall’ is weeping and wailing in a deep-toned howl. Another etymologist takes the Italian ‘burla,’ waggery or banter, as diminutive from the Latin ‘burra,’ which means a rough hair, but is used by Ausonius in the sense of a jest. That etymology no doubt fits burlesque to a hair, but, like Launce’s sweetheart, it may have more hair than wit.”
There are few more amusing pieces of light English literature than some of our early theatrical burlesques, such as Beaumont and Fletcher’s “Knight of the Burning Pestle,” the Duke of Buckingham’s “Rehearsal,” Henry Fielding’s “Tom Thumb,” Sheridan’s “The Critic,” and Poole’s “Hamlet,” with its absurd notes in imitation of several learned Shakespearian commentators.
During the last thirty or forty years this particular form of Dramatic Entertainment has been specially cultivated, and at the Strand, Royalty, and Gaiety Theatres, in London, the “Sacred Lamp of Burlesque” has been kept alight by the productions of such prolific and humorous writers as Gilbert A. à Beckett, Francis Talfourd, Leicester Buckingham, Albert Smith, William Brough, Robert Reece, Stirling Coyne, H. B. Farnie, Henry J. Byron, and F. C. Burnand. Much has been written for and against dramatic burlesque, and it may be said, without fear of contradiction, that recently far less attention has been devoted to the literary merits of the productions than to the scenery and dresses. The humour of the actors being considered as of less importance than a dazzling mise-en-scene with a host of pretty half-dressed ballet girls.
The following articles are of interest in connection with modern dramatic burlesque.
Is Burlesque Art? A paper by Blanche Reives, read before the Church and Stage Guild, October 7, 1880. The authoress quotes thus from a letter written by Mr. W. S. Gilbert:—“Burlesque in its higher development calls for high intellectual power on the part of its professors. Aristophanes, Rabelais, George Cruikshank, the authors of the Rejected Addresses, John Leech, and J. R. Planché were all in their respective lines professors of true burlesque. The form of burlesque with which modern theatre goers are familiar, scarcely calls for criticism, it is infantile in its folly.”
The “A. D. C.”, by F. C. Burnand, B.A., being Personal Reminiscences of the University Amateur Dramatic Club, Cambridge. London, Chapman & Hall, 1880.
Old Comedy on a New Stage, by R. C. Jebb. The Fortnightly Review. January 1884.
Burlesques, Old and New, a short paper by Leopold Wagner. Time, November, 1886.