{
  "title": "SWEENEY TODD",
  "category": "[FOLK-LEGEND; STAGE-PLAY]",
  "article": "JULY 13, 1925:\n[Kingston Daily Freeman—“Only Legends Tell About Sweeney Todd”]\n“A report to the effect that the house on Fleet street, London, formerly occupied by Sweeney Todd\nhas been discovered gives rise to the question: ‘Who is Sweeney Todd?’ He was rather a mythical\nperson and his existence is accounted for largely by unproved legends. The story goes that\nSweeney Todd was a barber of Fleet street, who had an unpleasant way with his customers. For,\naccording to tradition, if anyone came for a shave who looked worth robbing, he would seat the\nman in a chair which would presently capsize and throw the occupant into a well or vault below.\nThere, it was said, he would rob the unfortunate fellow and afterward dispose of the body to a\nconfederate who kept a pie shop in the adjoining house, whose bakehouse communicated with the\nvaults of St. Dunstan’s church. While the legend says that Todd was hanged at Tyburn, the annals\nof Newgate have nothing about him. But Sweeney Todd was sufficiently famous to figure in many\nold ballads and melodramas.”\nDECEMBER 12, 1940:\n[Salt Lake Tribune—“Screen’s Top Villainess, But Hates It” by Alexander Kahn]\n“If you hate Rafaela Ottiano, one of the screen's better villainesses, you are not alone in your\nattitude—for Miss Ottiano hates herself. So thoroughly does she dislike herself as she appears on\nthe screen that she doesn't even see the daily \"rushes\" and even waits a long time, sometimes six\nmonths or a year, before she sees a picture in which she has appeared.\n\"‘I can't look myself in the face,’ laments Miss Ottiano, who currently is playing the part of a\nsinister housekeeper in the Hal Roach mystery-comedy, ‘Topper Returns.’ ‘If they ever give me a\nchance to play a nicer character, I might get over the idea that I'm such a detestable person. But I\ndon't suppose I'll ever have the chance. And I feel that if I'm destined to be a menace, I might as\nwell do a workmanlike job of it.’\n“And she does. For when Miss Ottiano steps into a scene, the audience immediately knows she\nis bad. That reaction brands Miss Ottiano as a dyed-in-the-wool, full-time menace.\n“In fact , she can put more menace in a simple act, like winding a clock, than most other actors\ncould while strangling a child.\n“Miss Ottiano says that frequently persons meeting her for the first time face to face are uneasy.\n\"‘They act as if I were carrying a concealed weapon,’ she says. ‘That's all right with me. It is\nsomething of a testimonial to my work as a screen villainess.’\"\n(WOR, NEW YORK)\n[Monday—3:30-3:50 PM] ???\nJuly 21, 1924\n“Sweeney Todd or The String of Pearls”\n[BRIDGEPORT TELEGRAM: “…Scenes from the English melodrama\n‘Sweeney Todd or The String of Pearls,’ now playing at the Frazee\nTheater, New York City…”]\nThis document was created with the Win2PDF “Print to PDF” printer available at\nhttps://www.win2pdf.com\nThis version of Win2PDF 10 is for evaluation and non-commercial use only.\nVisit https://www.win2pdf.com/trial/ for a 30 day trial license.\nThis page will not be added after purchasing Win2PDF.\nhttps://www.win2pdf.com/purchase/",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}