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.

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Reference

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]