Little Lord Fauntleroy

Little Lord Fauntleroy
First edition cover
Author Frances Hodgson Burnett
Illustrator Reginald B. Birch[1]
Country United States
Language English
Genre Children's novel
Publisher Scribner's
Publication date
 November 1885 – October 1886 (magazine)
1886 (novel)
Pages xi + 209 + [17][1]
LC Class PZ7.B934 L[1]

Little Lord Fauntleroy is a novel by the English-American writer Frances Hodgson Burnett, her first children's novel. It was published as a serial in St. Nicholas Magazine from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's (the publisher of St. Nicholas) in 1886.[2] The illustrations by Reginald B. Birch set fashion trends and the novel set a precedent in copyright law when Burnett won a lawsuit in 1888 against E. V. Seebohm over the rights to theatrical adaptations of the work.[3]

Plot

In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother (known only as Mrs. Errol or "Dearest") in genteel poverty after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer named Havisham with a message from young Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, an unruly millionaire who despises the United States and was very disappointed when his youngest son married an American woman. With the deaths of his father's elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. Cedric's grandfather wants him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat. He offers his son's widow a house and guaranteed income, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, even after she declines his money.

However, the Earl is impressed by the appearance and intelligence of his American grandson and is charmed by his innocent nature. Cedric believes his grandfather to be an honorable man and benefactor, and the Earl cannot disappoint him. The Earl therefore becomes a benefactor to his tenants, to their delight, though he takes care to let them know that their benefactor is the child, Lord Fauntleroy.

Meanwhile, back in New York, a homeless bootblack named Dick Tipton tells Cedric's old friend Mr. Hobbs, a New York City grocer, that a few years prior, after the death of his parents, Dick's older brother Benjamin married an awful woman who got rid of their only child together after he was born and then left. Benjamin moved to California to open a cattle ranch while Dick ended up in the streets. At the same time, a neglected pretender to Cedric's inheritance appears in England, the pretender's mother claiming that he is the offspring of the Earl's eldest son, Cedric, Sr.. The claim is investigated by Dick and Benjamin, who come to England and recognize the woman as Benjamin's former wife. She flees, and the Tipton brothers and the pretender, Benjamin's son, do not see her again. Afterwards, Benjamin goes back to his cattle ranch in California where he happily raises his son by himself. The Earl is reconciled to his American daughter-in-law, realizing that she is far superior to the impostor.

The Earl planned to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat. Instead, Cedric teaches his grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion towards those dependent on him. The Earl becomes the man Cedric always innocently believed him to be. Cedric is happily reunited with his mother, and Mr. Hobbs, who decides to stay to help look after Cedric.

Impact on fashion

The Fauntleroy suit[4] (also known as the Buster Brown suit), so well described by Burnett and realised in Reginald Birch's detailed pen-and-ink drawings, created a fad for formal dress for American middle-class children:

What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving about the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship.

— Little Lord Fauntleroy

The Fauntleroy suit appeared in Europe as well, but nowhere was it as popular as in America. The classic Fauntleroy suit was a velvet cut-away jacket and matching knee pants worn with a fancy blouse with a large lace or ruffled collar. These suits appear right after the publication of Burnett's story (1885) and were a major fashion until after the turn of the 20th century. Many boys who did not wear an actual Fauntleroy suit wore suits with Fauntleroy elements such as a fancy blouse or floppy bow. Only a minority of boys wore ringlet curls with these suits, but the photographic record confirms that many boys did. It was most popular for boys about 3–8 years of age, but some older boys wore them as well. It has been speculated that the popularity of the style encouraged many mothers to breech their boys earlier than before and was a factor in the decline of the fashion of dressing small boys in dresses and other skirted garments.[5] Clothing Burnett popularised was modelled on the costumes she tailored herself for her two sons, Vivian and Lionel.[3]

A lobby card from the 1921 film adaptation starring Mary Pickford

Reception

Polly Hovarth writes that Little Lord Fauntleroy "was the Harry Potter of his time and Frances Hodgson Burnett was as celebrated for creating him as J.K. Rowling is for Potter." During the serialisation in St. Nicholas magazine, readers looked forward to new instalments. The fashions in the book became popular with velvet Lord Fauntleroy suits being sold, as well as other Fauntleroy merchandise such as velvet collars, playing cards, and chocolates. During a period when sentimental fiction was the norm, and in the United States the "rags to riches" story popular, Little Lord Fauntleroy was a hit.[6]

Edith Nesbit included in her own children's book The Enchanted Castle (1907) a rather unflattering reference:

Gerald could always make himself look interesting at a moment's notice (...) by opening his grey eyes rather wide, allowing the corners of his mouth to droop, and assuming a gentle, pleading expression, resembling that of the late little Lord Fauntleroy who must, by the way, be quite old now, and an awful prig.

Adaptations

Stage

Elsie Leslie in the Broadway production of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1888)
Broadway cast listed in The Theatre

In 1888, after discovering her novel had been plagiarized for the stage, Burnett successfully sued and then wrote her own theatrical adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy. It opened May 14, 1888, at Terry's Theatre in London, and was presented in the English provinces, France, Boston and New York City.[7]

The Broadway production of Burnett's play opened December 10, 1888, at the Broadway Theatre, New York City.[8][9] The original cast follows:

  • Earl of Dorincourt – J. H. Gilmour
  • Cedric Errol (Lord Fauntleroy) – Elsie Leslie and Tommy Russell
  • Mr. Havisham, a Solicitor – F. F. Mackay
  • Mr. Hobbs, a Grocer – George A. Parkhurst
  • Dick, a Bootblack – Frank E. Lamb
  • Higgins, a Farmer – John Swinburne
  • Wilkins, a Groom – Alfred Klein
  • Thomas, a Footman – John Sutherland
  • James, a Servant – T. J. Plunkett
  • Mrs. Errol ("Dearest") – Kathryn Kidder
  • Minna – Alice Fischer
  • Mary – Effie Germon

In 1994, an Australian open-air/site specific theatre production of Little Lord Fauntleroy, adapted by Julia Britton and directed by Robert Chuter, was presented in the historical gardens of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) property Rippon Lea.

Film and television

Dolores Costello and Freddie Bartholomew in Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Little Lord Fauntleroy". LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  2. ↑ Joanne Shattock, ed. The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 4 1800–1900. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, 1475.
  3. 1 2 Rutherford
  4. ↑ "Children wearing velvet suits inspired by Little Lord Fauntleroy style (c. 1909–1932) National Photo Company Collection; Library of Congress".
  5. ↑ "Historical boys Clothing site section on Fauntleroy suits". Histclo.com. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  6. ↑ Hovarth,(2004)|, xi–xiv
  7. ↑ McCarthy, Tom (November 1970). "The Real Little Lord Fauntleroy". American Heritage. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  8. ↑ Burnett, Frances Hodgson ''Little Lord Fauntleroy: A Drama in Three Acts'', 1889/1913. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  9. ↑ Little Lord Fauntleroy – Internet Broadway Database accessed 6.7.13
  10. ↑ "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1914) in Internet Movie Database
  11. ↑ "A kis lord" (1918) in Internet Movie Database.
  12. ↑ "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1921) in Internet Movie Database.
  13. ↑ L'ultimo lord (1932) in Internet Movie Database.
  14. ↑ "Little Lord Fauntleroy" in Internet Movie Database.
  15. ↑ "Il ventesimo duca in Internet Movie Database.
  16. ↑ "Richard O'Sullivan" in Internet Movie Database.
  17. ↑ "Il piccolo lord (1960)" in Internet Movie Database.
  18. ↑ "Manfred Kunst" in Internet Movie Database.
  19. ↑ "Gøsta Hagenlund" in Internet Movie Database.
  20. ↑ "Little Lord Fauntleroy (1976)" in Internet Movie Database.
  21. ↑ "The Hour - Google News Archive Search". google.com. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  22. ↑ "Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)" in Internet Movie Database.
  23. ↑ "Umfrage: Die beliebtesten Weihnachtsfilme". Moviepilot.de. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  24. ↑ "Zweitausendeins. Filmlexikon FILME von A-Z - Der kleine Lord (1994 D/I)". Zweitausendeins.de. 1996-12-18. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  25. ↑ "Die kleine Lady". prisma.de. Retrieved 2014-02-15.

Sources

  • Horvath, Polly (2004), "Foreword", Little Lord Fauntleroy, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-689-86994-5
  • Rutherford, L.M. (1994), "British Children's Writers 1880–1914", in Laura M. Zaldman, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 141, Detroit: Gale Research Literature Resource Center
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