Talk:An Old Score

A fact from An Old Score appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 7 November 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that W. S. Gilbert's first full-length comedy, An Old Score, was unsuccessful partly because Victorian audiences would not accept a scene in which a son argues with his father?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2009/November.

Wikipedia

Gilbert and Sullivan Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Gilbert and Sullivan, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Gilbert and Sullivan on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Gilbert and SullivanWikipedia:WikiProject Gilbert and SullivanTemplate:WikiProject Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Theatre Low‑importance

	Theatre portal This article is part of WikiProject Theatre, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of theatre on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.TheatreWikipedia:WikiProject TheatreTemplate:WikiProject TheatreTheatre articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Reference[edit]

I'm puzzled by the reference (no. 11 at present) to 'Oxenford, John. "Review of An Old Score", The Times review, 28 July 1869'. The review, which I have before me, is not signed (nor would one expect it to be, as Times reviews were anonymous until the 1960s) and moreover John Oxenford was a playwright, and not - as far as I know - a critic. The text of the review is correctly quoted in the article (in both extracts) but the citation seems wrong. I'd suggest: "Gaiety Theatre", The Times, 28 July 1869, p. 10. - Tim riley (talk) 09:33, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Later - I see Oxenford was, in fact, also a critic, and for The Times, at that. But is there any external evidence that he was the critic who wrote that review? Tim riley (talk) 09:38, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, later references that quote this review state that it was written by Oxenford. See for instance Trutt at page 71: http://haddon-hall.com/GilbertBooks/AnOldScore.pdf Do you have a page number for the review? -- Ssilvers (talk) 15:02, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

p. 10. I'd still prefer to see some evidence that Oxenford wrote the review. Trutt gives no citation for stating that he did. It is very possibly a reasonable assumption that Oxenford wrote it, but some actual evidence would be welcome. - Tim riley (talk) 15:24, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See also Good Old Gaiety. Hollingshead would know. -- Ssilvers (talk) 15:35, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, he would. I am convinced. Tim riley (talk) 17:46, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]