Editing Mother Goose (section)

==Pantomime== 
[[File:Harvard Theatre Collection - Grimaldi (2) MS Thr 847.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|[[Joseph Grimaldi]] (right) in the role, an 1846 print by [[George Cruikshank]]]]
In addition to being the purported author of nursery rhymes, Mother Goose is herself the title character in one
recorded by the Opies, only the first verse of which figures in later editions of their book.<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'', pp. 373–4]</ref> Titled  "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg", this verse prefaced a 15-stanza poem that rambled through a variety of adventures involving not only the egg but also Mother Goose's son Jack. There exists an illustrated chapbook omitting their opening stanza that dates from the 1820s<ref>[https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/pdfs/37131053604708d.pdf Available as a PDF] from Toronto Public Library</ref> and another version was recorded by [[James Halliwell-Phillipps|J. O. Halliwell]] in his ''The Nursery Rhymes of England'' (1842).<ref>Google Books, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7CkEAAAAQAAJ pp.32-4]</ref> Other shorter versions were also recorded later.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Diploma thesis|url=https://is.muni.cz/th/d8wlo/Diploma_Thesis_Corpus.pdf}}</ref>

All of them, however, were dependent on a very successful [[pantomime]] first performed in London in 1806, and it is only by reference to its script that the unexplained gaps in the poem's narration are made clear.<ref name=JS/> The pantomime, staged at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] during the Christmas season, was the work of [[Thomas John Dibdin]] and its title, ''Harlequin and Mother Goose, or The Golden Egg'', signals how it combines the ''[[Commedia dell'arte]]'' tradition and other folk elements with fable – in this case "[[The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs]]".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Harlequin and Mother Goose; or, the golden egg! A comic pantomime |first=Thomas |last=Dibdin |publisher=Thomas Hailes Lacy |location=London |hdl=2027/iau.31858004934059 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The stage version became a vehicle for the clown [[Joseph Grimaldi]], who played the part of Avaro, but there was also a shorter script for shadow pantomime which allowed special effects of a different kind.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YM9ZAAAAcAAJ|title=Mother Goose; or, Harlequin and the Golden Egg: an original shadow pantomime|date=August 21, 1864|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[File:Danleno.jpg|thumb|[[Dan Leno]] as Mother Goose]]
Special effects were needed since the folk elements in the story made a [[witch]]-figure of Mother Goose. In reference to this, and especially the opening stanza, illustrations of Mother Goose began depicting her as an old lady with a strong chin who wears a tall pointed hat and flies astride a goose.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature|last1=Cullinan|first1=Bernice|last2=Person|first2=Diane|publisher=Continuum|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8264-1516-5|location=New York|page=561}}</ref> Ryoji Tsurumi has commented on the folk aspects of this figure in his monograph on the play.<ref>Ryoji Tsurumi (1990) "The Development of Mother Goose in Britain in the Nineteenth Century", ''Folklore'' 101:1, [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0015587X.1990.9715776?journalCode=rfol20 pp.28-35]</ref> In the first scene, the stage directions show her raising a storm and, for the first time onstage, flying a gander&nbsp;– and she later raises a ghost in a macabre churchyard scene.  These elements contrast with others from the [[harlequinade]] tradition in which the old miser Avaro transforms into Pantaloon, while the young lovers Colin and Colinette become Harlequin and Columbine.

A new Mother Goose pantomime was written for the comedian [[Dan Leno]] by [[J. Hickory Wood]] and [[Arthur Collins (theatre manager)|Arthur Collins]] for performances at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] in 1902.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5JWAgAAQBAJ&dq=Mother+Goose+Drury+Lane+1902%C2%A0Collins+Wood&pg=PA125|chapter=Productions 1902; Mother Goose|title=The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|first=J. P. |last=Wearing|year=2013|isbn=9780810892941|publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]]}}</ref> This had a different story line in which the poor but happy Mother Goose is tempted with wealth by the Devil.<ref>Caroline Radcliffe, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULOADAAAQBAJ&dq=Leno+%22Mother+goose%22&pg=PA127 p. 127–9 "Dan Leno, Dame of Drury Lane"] in ''Victorian Pantomime: A Collection of Critical Essays'', Palgrave Macmillan 2010</ref> This was the ancestor of all the pantomimes of that title that followed, adaptations of which continue to appear.<ref>Michael Billington's Mother Goose review, ''The Guardian'', [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/dec/12/mother-goose-review-roy-hudd-wiltons-music-hall-london 12 Dec. 2016]</ref> Playwright [[John J. McNally]] adapted the libretto by Wood and Collins for the 1903 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] musical ''[[Mother Goose (musical)|Mother Goose]]'' which starred comedian [[Joseph Cawthorn]] in the title role. It used music by composer [[Frederick Solomon]] and lyrics by [[George V. Hobart]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield Publishers]]|year=2022|isbn=9781538168943|chapter=Mother Goose}}</ref>

Because nursery rhymes are usually referred to as Mother Goose songs in the US,<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'', p. 1</ref> however, children's entertainments in which a medley of nursery characters are introduced to sing their rhymes often introduced her name into American titles. Early 20th century examples of these include ''A dream of Mother Goose and other entertainments'' by J. C. Marchant and S. J. Mayhew (Boston, 1908);<ref>{{Cite book |title=A dream of Mother Goose and other entertainments |first1=J. C.|last1=Marchant |first2=S. J. |last2=Mayhew |display-authors=etal |date=August 21, 1908|publisher=Walter H. Baker |location=Boston |hdl=2027/hvd.hxdltb |hdl-access=free}}</ref> ''Miss Muffet Lost and Found : a Mother Goose play'' by Katharine C. Baker (Chicago, 1915);<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100182555|title=Miss Muffet lost and found: a Mother Goose play|date=August 21, 1915|via=Hathi Trust}}</ref> ''The Modern Mother Goose: a play in three acts'' by Helen Hamilton (Chicago, 1916);<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/modernmothergoos00hami|title=The modern Mother Goose ..: Hamilton, Helen. [old catalog heading]: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming|website=Internet Archive|year=1916|publisher=Chicago, Rand McNally & Co.}}</ref> and the up-to-the-moment ''The Strike Mother Goose Settled'' by Evelyn Hoxie (Franklin Ohio and Denver Colorado, 1922).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/strikemothergoos00hoxi|title=The strike Mother goose settled ..: Hoxie, Evelyn. [from old catalog]: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming|website=Internet Archive|year=1922|publisher=Franklin, Ohio, Eldridge Entertainment House}}</ref>