Gentleman Joe

{{For|the 1910 film starring Harry Carey|Gentleman Joe (film)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}

{{Infobox Musical

|name = Gentleman Joe

|subtitle = The Hansom Cabbie

|image = Arthur Roberts (1852–1933) as Gentleman Joe.png

|caption = Arthur Roberts as Joe

|music = Walter Slaughter

|lyrics = Basil Hood

|book = Basil Hood

|basis =

|productions = 1895 West End

|awards =

}}

Gentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie is a farcical musical comedy with music by Walter Slaughter and a libretto by Basil Hood.

The original production of the musical opened at the Prince of Wales's Theatre on 2 March 1895 and ran for a very successful 391 performances despite a poor notice in The Saturday Review by Bernard Shaw that dismissed the score: "The music, by Mr. Walter Slaughter, does not contain a single novel, or even passably fresh point, either in melody, harmony or orchestration."The Saturday Review, 9 March 1895, p. 315 The show was written as a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts. A short burlesque entitled A Trilby Triflet was introduced as part of Gentleman Joe a week after Looking for Trilby opened at the Haymarket Theatre. The Times newspaper praised Roberts for his imitation of Herbert Beerbohm Tree.{{Cite web |url=http://the-music-hall.haisoft.net/history/trilby.htm |title=Information from The Music Hall website |access-date=20 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929200315/http://the-music-hall.haisoft.net/history/trilby.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |url-status=dead }} The cast of Gentleman Joe also included Kitty Loftus as Emma and W. H. Denny as Pilkington Jones. A second company also presented the show in the British provinces beginning in 1895.The Manchester Guardian, 25 August 1895, p. 5

There was soon a Newark, New Jersey production in late 1895 at Miner's Theatre and then the production transferred to the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City in January 1896.Adams, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tjwOAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA8-PA571 Gentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie, p. 571] An American production of Gentleman Joe also played at the Bijou Theatre in early 1896 featuring Louis De Lange, James T. Powers, Clara Wieland, and Flora Irwin.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-the-theatres/131055381/ |title=The Theatres |newspaper=The New York Times |page=10 |date=2 February 1896 |access-date=2023-09-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}Brown, p. 298 Songs interpolated include "He Wanted Something to Play With" (sung by Powers) and "Honey does you love yer man?" sung by Flora Irwin in blackface. A few notices of the show indicate that new songs were interpolated with frequency.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-bijou-theatre/131055485/ |title=Bijou Theatre |newspaper=The New York Times |page=10 |date=23 February 1896 |access-date=2023-09-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Gentleman Joe was Hood's first full-scale musical comedy, and its success prompted him to leave the military to concentrate on his writing. Hood and Slaughter went on to write several more comedies together, including The French Maid in 1896 and another successful vehicle for Roberts, Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman in 1897.Adams, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tjwOAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA8-PA374 Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman, p. 374] Hood wrote several successful shows with other librettists, and his English versions of Viennese operettas, such as The Merry Widow, were very popular until World War I.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-death-of-captain-basil-hood/131055634/ |title=Death of Captain Basil Hood |newspaper=The Times |page=9 |date=8 August 1917 |access-date=2023-09-01 |via=Newspapers.com}}