The Sunshine Girl
The Sunshine Girl is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with a book by Paul A. Rubens and Cecil Raleigh, lyrics and music by Rubens and additional lyrics by Arthur Wimperis. The story involves a working girl who falls in love with the heir to the factory. He is in disguise and wants to be loved for himself, not his position, so he gets his friend to pose as the heir, leading to complications for both men. The musical was first produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre in London, opening on February 24, 1912 , and running for 336 performances. It starred George Grossmith, Jr. as Lord Bicester, Edmund Payne as Floot and Phyllis Dare as Delia Dale. It also had a Broadway run in 1913 at the Knickerbocker Theatre starring Grossmith's in-law, Vernon Castle. Port Sunlight is the real life suburb on which the setting of the musical is based. The show introduced the tango to British audiences. Synopsis. The hero, Vernon Blundell, has inherited the great "Sunshine" Soap Factory at Port Sunshine, but in the will his uncle inserted a clause that Vernon must not be engaged or married before the  expiration of five years; otherwise the whole property will be vested in the various heads of departments on a co-operative basis. Vernon, however, had for some months been working in the factory as an ordinary "hand", and in that period of time had fallen in love with pretty Delia Dale, an assistant in the perfumery department. He wants her to love him for himself, rather than for his position, and accordingly he arranges for his stockbroker friend, Lord Bicester, commonly known as "Bingo", to personate him and pose as head of the establishment. After some demur, "Bingo" agrees to  the proposition and trusts to chance that his identity will not be discovered. Unfortunately, he quickly finds himself in a tangle of complications. He is recognised by his "fiancée", Lady Rosabelle Meridew, and also by Floot, an ex-cabman, who once drove him from a Covent Garden Fancy Dress Ball after a night of more than ordinary exhilaration. Floot arrives at Port Sunshine on his way from Land's End to John o' Groats, his purpose being to win a £50 prize for walking offered by an enterprising newspaper to whomsoever shall accomplish the journey without begging, borrowing or  stealing. Floot immediately sees that he has a good thing on, and Bingo has to purchase his silence by making him the general manager of the soap works. Floot is married to Brenda Blacker, who was Bingo's travelling companion on his journey home from the ball. She is now engaged as a cook in the household of the Lady Rosabelle and is also carrying on a flirtation with a longshoreman, known as Commodore Parker. At the end, it is declared that no law can stop a man from marrying the woman he loves, and so the terms of the  will are over-ridden, and Vernon and Delia prepare to "live happily ever after". Critical reception. "The Times" praised the piece. "We have never known a gayer evening in the gay and absurd world behind the footlights of the Gaiety. … As to the acting and the singing, every one was at their best." "The English Review" thought the performances finer than the play: "Strip "The Sunshine Girl" of the ladies, and not even the turns of the Payne-Grossmith-Barrett trio could hold it together … yet all Mr. Grossmith has to do is to appear now and then in fashionable  suitings, just to see, as it were, how things are going." "The Manchester Guardian" commented, "The whole is as good as any other Gaiety piece. The plot goes entirely to waste in the second act. … The great successes of the evening were Miss Ediss's uproariously funny songs about Brighton and the Durbar and a duet sung by Mr. Payne and Mr. Grossmith (as Lord Bicester) representing the adventures of two London policemen." "The Illustrated London News" gave a uniformly excellent notice: ""The Sunshine Girl" is an appropriate title: all is brightness and light and geniality in the new Gaiety  entertainment. ... The music of Mr. Rubens is deliciously light and tuneful, and there is more than the customary amount of clever dancing.