"RUDDIGORE" OFFENDS

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 32, 15 February 1935, Page 19

"RUDDIGORE" OFFENDS

"QGAVOYARD" writes: About the title of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, "Ruddigore," is clustered a group of anecdotes finding a common centre in a Gilbertian retort which has become a classic in club and other circles, . When it ~ was’ brought to Gilbert’s attention that the ruddy of his title was but a thin disguise for an adjective not heard in the best of society, he turned upon a certain

bishop who was among those who protested. ‘"‘My lord,’*he is said to have Teplied, "you are quite wrong. Ruddy does not mean bloody, For example, when I say ‘I like your ruddy cheek,’ ‘{ do not refer to your bloody cheek!’ "The Graphic,’ reporting. the opera "premiere, complained of the "not very happily selected.title, ,. . The sterner and less mealy-mouthed sex," it ‘philosophised, "safe in the club: smoking room, might pass*such a name with a smile. But it is different in the case of ladies, to. whom Savoy operas large-

"ly. appeal." This.annoyed Gilbert,.-so a week after the’ opening he proposed as another title, "Kensington Gore; or, Not So Good as. The Mikado;" and later "IXensington Gore; or, Robin and Richard Were Two Pretty Men.’ There is little doubt that Gilbert felt bitterly the widespread aversion to the title and the insinuations of vulgarity. All this is now a matter of history, and though the ways of 1887 are not the ways of 1935, the opera wears well and gaye a great thrill to | radio listeners,