The Correct Identity of J. Halford, Dramatist and Actor

In the summer of 1854, when at the Princess’s Theatre Charles Kean was achieving triumph as Mephistopheles in Faust and Marguerite; a burlesque play with the same title was produced at the Strand Theatre. The burlesque, “A Grand Operatic Extravaganza”, was a great success, it was published in Lacy’s Acting Edition of Victorian plays (volume 73) and its authors, James H. Tully and John Halford, acquired a small place in the variegated history of Nineteenth century drama. However, the real name of Halford was not John, but Joseph, as will be demonstrated below. A sad irony, for a burlesque playwright, to have gone down in history with an erroneous name.