 Although he had told the press that the original words and music would not be altered, Carte was willing to make changes in certain cases. In 1919 – 20, he authorised significant cuts and alterations in both Princess Ida and Ruddigore. In 1921 Cox and Box was produced in a drastically cut-down version, to allow it to be played as a companion piece with the shorter Savoy operas. He also authorised changes to Gilbert's text: he wrote to The Times in 1948, "We found recently in America that much objection was taken by coloured persons to a word used twice in The Mikado." The word in question was Gilbert's reference to "nigger" (blackface) minstrels, and Carte asked A. P. Herbert to suggest an acceptable revision. "He made several alternative suggestions, one of which we adopted in America, and it seems well to go on doing so in the British Empire."
