2-799-020 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene from "The Cricket on the Hearth", at the Lyceum Theatre, 1845. London stage production of '... Mr. [Charles] Dickens's new Christmas book, "The Cricket on the Hearth," dramatised by Mr. Albert Smith...it is long since we have witnessed such enthusiasm as that evinced by the audience upon the fall of the curtain...The cast was as follows: John Peerybingle, Mr. Emery; Tacklelon (the toy merchant), Mr. Meadows: Caleb Plummer, Mr. Keeley; The Stranger, Mr. F. Vining ; Dot, Mrs. Keeley; Bertha, Miss Mary Keeley (her first appearance on any stage); Tilly Slowboy, Miss Turner; Mrs. Fielding, Mrs. Wooledge; May, Miss Howard; and the Fairy Cricket, Miss Dawson...the audience set up a cry for Mr. Dickens and Mr. Albert Smith. The former gentleman was stated not to be in the house, but the latter bowed his acknowledgments from a private box...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.