Basil Hood

Basil Willett Charles Hood (5 April 1864 – 7 August 1917) was a British dramatist, lyricist, and librettist whose Broadway credits include Ib and Little Christina, The Emerald Isle, A Princess of Kensington, The Count of Luxembourg, and The Girls of Gottenberg. He is particularly remembered for contributing libretti to half a dozen Savoy Operas and for producing English-language adaptations of continental operettas, among them The Merry Widow.

Hood was born in Croydon, Surrey, the youngest of nine children of the psychiatrist Sir William Charles Hood (1824–1870), superintendent, physician, and treasurer to Bethlem Royal Hospital and later a Commissioner in Lunacy. His mother, Jane née Willett (1826–1866), died in his early childhood, as did his father, and Hood was subsequently raised by his older siblings. He was educated at Wellington and Sandhurst, and in 1883 received a commission as lieutenant in the Green Howards. In 1887 he married Frances Ada née English (1866–1922), though two months after the wedding she was institutionalised at Bethlem Royal Hospital, where she remained until her death. Hood was promoted to captain in 1893 and retired in 1895, rejoining the 3rd (Militia) Battalion later that year before finally resigning his commission in 1898.

Hood began writing for the theatre in his mid-twenties. His first one-act piece, The Gypsies, with music by Wilfred Bendall, was mounted as a curtain-raiser at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1890, and The Times noted in it a Gilbertian quality. He subsequently contributed lyrics to a Lionel Monckton song interpolated into the Gaiety Theatre burlesque Cinder Ellen up too Late in 1892. Two short operettas followed in collaboration with composer Walter Slaughter, Donna Luiza and The Crossing Sweeper, the latter presented at the Gaiety Theatre with Kate Cutler and Florence Lloyd. Hood and Slaughter achieved their first major success with the full-length musical comedy Gentleman Joe, the Hansom Cabbie in 1895, a vehicle for comedian Arthur Roberts that ran for 391 performances in London while a second company toured the provinces. That success prompted Hood to step away from his military career to concentrate on writing. The collaborators followed Gentleman Joe with several further productions, including Belinda, written with Slaughter and B. C. Stephenson and produced in Manchester, and The Duchess of Dijon, presented in Portsmouth in 1897. Their next significant hit, The French Maid, opened at Terry's Theatre in April 1897 to strong reviews, transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre with revised music and lyrics, and accumulated 480 performances in total. During its run Hood added a short curtain-raiser, Apron Strings, to the bill. Additional collaborations with Slaughter included Her Royal Highness, Orlando Dando, the Volunteer, and Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman, as well as a series of short fairy-tale musicals for children, among them Little Hans Andersen, which earned warm notices.

Hood's introduction to Arthur Sullivan came through Bendall, by then Sullivan's secretary, and the partnership produced The Rose of Persia at the Savoy Theatre in 1899, which ran for 213 performances. Hood also wrote two short companion pieces for the Savoy during this period: Pretty Polly, which shared bills with The Rose of Persia and later with Patience, and Ib and Little Christina (1900), which played at several theatres including the Savoy. Sullivan died while the two were at work on their second opera together, The Emerald Isle, and the task of completing the score fell to Edward German; the production achieved 205 performances. Hood noted that at the time of Sullivan's death, the two had also begun work on a serious opera. Hood and German continued their partnership with Merrie England (1902), which played 120 performances at the Savoy, toured the provinces for fourteen weeks, and then returned for a further London run. The Observer remarked that Hood was the only writer of words for music whose lyrics could compare with those of W. S. Gilbert for finish, rhythmic piquancy, and verbal quaintness. The two collaborators followed Merrie England immediately with A Princess of Kensington (1903), which ran for 115 performances before going on tour. Their producer, William Greet, subsequently turned away from light opera, effectively ending the Hood-German partnership.

As comic opera fell out of fashion, Hood moved toward Edwardian musical comedy and operetta adaptation. He contributed lyrics to The Belle of Mayfair (1906), though he withdrew his name from the book after producer Charles Frohman altered the material to suit casting considerations. He also wrote lyrics for The Girls of Gottenberg (1907). Hood then found considerable success adapting continental operettas for impresario George Edwardes, producing English versions of works including The Dollar Princess (1908), A Waltz Dream (1908), and The Count of Luxembourg (1911), sometimes substantially rewriting both book and lyrics. His adaptation work also encompassed The Merry Widow. At the outbreak of World War I, Hood took up a demanding post at the British War Office, a commitment believed to have contributed to his death on 7 August 1917 at the age of fifty-three.