Happy Birthday Frederic 29 February 1856
Box
1964 (designed)
1964 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
In Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, the somewhat deaf nursemaid Ruth mistakenly apprentices her young charge Frederic to be a pirate until his 21st birthday, instead of a pilot. The opera begins with a celebration of Frederic's freedom from his apprenticeship until Frederic learns to his dismay that since he was born in a leap year, on the 29th February, his actual 21st birthday will not occur until 1940. This souvenir cake was issued by the D'Oyly Carte in conjunction with their 1964 production of The Pirates of Penzance, probably for a celebration on the 29th February for Frederic's 27th birthday, when he would have reached the age of a hundred and eight.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Title | Happy Birthday Frederic 29 February 1856 (assigned by artist) |
| Brief description | Souvenir box produced by the D'Oyly Carte Company marking Frederic's birthday and their production of The Pirates of Penzance, Savoy Theatre, 1964 |
| Credit line | Given by Dame Bridget D'Oyly Carte. The V&A wishes to acknowledge the generous support given by The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, which facilitated the cataloguing of the D’Oyly Carte Archive designs in 2015/16. |
| Object history | The boxes originally contained marzipan cake hats made from green marzipan with white piping frosting. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | In Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance, the somewhat deaf nursemaid Ruth mistakenly apprentices her young charge Frederic to be a pirate until his 21st birthday, instead of a pilot. The opera begins with a celebration of Frederic's freedom from his apprenticeship until Frederic learns to his dismay that since he was born in a leap year, on the 29th February, his actual 21st birthday will not occur until 1940. This souvenir cake was issued by the D'Oyly Carte in conjunction with their 1964 production of The Pirates of Penzance, probably for a celebration on the 29th February for Frederic's 27th birthday, when he would have reached the age of a hundred and eight. |
| Other number | THM/73/34 - Archive number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.4210:1 to 2-2015 |
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| Record created | December 9, 2015 |
| Record URL |
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