Template:POTD/2024-09-19
W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) was an English dramatist, librettist and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert's most popular collaborations with Sullivan include H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado, one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre. These and most of their other Savoy operas continue to be performed regularly today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. Lines from these works have permanently entered the English language, including "short, sharp shock", "What never? Well, hardly ever!", and "let the punishment fit the crime". Gilbert also wrote the Bab Ballads, an extensive collection of light verse accompanied by his own comical drawings. His creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics and various other comic and serious pieces. His plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. This cabinet card of Gilbert was produced by the photography studio Elliott & Fry in around 1882–83.Photograph credit: Elliott & Fry; restored by Adam Cuerden