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Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill

18 Jun 04 - 03:37 PM (#1210056)
Subject: Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill
From: GUEST,A. Nony Mouse

For a production of J. M. Barrie's THE OLD LADY SHOWS HER MEDALS, currently in rehearsal, I have been asked to find the melody for the following ditty, as sung by the leading characters:

Mrs. Gill is very ill
Nothing can improve her
But to see the Tuileries
And waddle through the Louvre.

So far, all I have discovered is that the song predates the play by several decades, having been quoted previously in in THE CONFESSIONS OF HARRY LORREQUER, a novel by Charles James Lever (1806-1872), publ. Dublin, 1839. Nice to know; but alas! - it doesn't get me nearer the tune.

The song was apparently still known as late as 1917, when Barrie's play was first produced. I've tried the database and come up empty - I'm a complete newbie here, so apologies if I've missed something.

Thank you very much for any help you can provide.


18 Jun 04 - 03:53 PM (#1210074)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill
From: GUEST

It's also qouted in Echoes of the War by Barrie


18 Jun 04 - 03:55 PM (#1210076)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill
From: GUEST,MMario

I'd use "Yankee Doodle" - it seems to fit.


18 Jun 04 - 05:14 PM (#1210125)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill
From: GUEST,A. Nony Mouse

Sorry if I wasn't clear in my first post: THE OLD LADY SHOWS HER MEDALS is one of the plays in Barrie's ECHOES OF THE WAR. It is for a production of same that I have been asked to find the authentic melody.

Thanks, again, for any light that anyone can shed on this query.


20 Jun 04 - 10:20 AM (#1210886)
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mrs Gill is Very Ill
From: JJ

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