Babes in Toyland

By Glen MacDonough and Mint Editions

Babes in Toyland (1903) is a libretto by Glen MacDonough. Written for an operetta composed by Victor Herbert, MacDonough’s libretto is a story for children and adults alike. Taking inspiration from beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes, MacDonough crafted an American classic that has been adapted countless times for theater, film, and television.

As though losing their parents wasn’t traumatic enough, Alan and Jane are forced to live with their wicked Uncle Barnaby. When he becomes aware of the massive fortune they stand to inherit, he hatches a plan to get them out of the way. Sent to sea with sailors Gonzorgo and Roderigo, Alan and Jane are soon lost in a terrible shipwreck. Somehow, they survive and are taken to the garden of Contrary Mary—who had nearly been forced to marry Barnaby. When their Uncle discovers their location, Alan and Jane are kidnapped and taken to the Forest of No Return, where a benevolent queen offers to protect them from the treacherous Spider’s Den. Eventually, the children make their way to Toyland, where they must make a final stand against Barnaby and the Master Toymaker. Babes in Toyland is a tale of romance and adventure from Glen MacDonough, a legendary figure of early Broadway.

This edition of Glen MacDonough’s Babes in Toyland is a classic of American children’s fiction reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Mar 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781513288024

Glen MacDonough

Glen MacDonough (1870-1924) was an American journalist, lyricist, and librettist. Born in Brooklyn, MacDonough was raised in a theatrical family—his father, Thomas B. MacDonough, was a theater manager, while his mother, Laura Don, was an actress and playwright. MacDonough got his start as a features reporter in New York City before finding moderate success with his comedy The Prodigal Father (1892). He gained a reputation as a lyricist for his work on the operetta Chris and the Wonderful Lamp (1899), which included music by famed composer John Philip Sousa. After working on the first musical production of The Wizard of Oz (1902), he found his break as the librettist for Victor Herbert’s beloved operetta Babes in Toyland (1903). He continued to work as a writer throughout his life and in 1914 became a founding member of ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Book preview

ACT I

Scene I

The scene shows the garden of Contrary Mary near the Widow Piper’s home. A cask of ale and decorations and pennats and bunting suggest a fete. A party of peasants as the scene is revealed.

No. 1.—Country Dance and entrance of the Chorus.

UNCLE BARNABY enters at the end of the dance, smirking and bowing right and left. The peasants snub him.

BARNABY: Enjoy yourselves, enjoy yourselves, my dear friends. I am delighted to see you so happy. Are the Piper children here—and especially Contrary Mary?

JILL: No, Master Barnaby, Mary didn’t come to the Fete.

BARNABY: That’s strange, I’m giving it to please her—and to make you all a little fonder of me.

JILL: Why, are you our host?

BARNABY: Yes.

JILL: (To the crowd) Only yesterday he seized poor old Mother Hubbard’s house and turned her into the road, all for a debt of a few shillings!

(Crowd jeer at Barnaby)

1ST GIRL: (To the crowd) Let’s finish the afternoon by putting Barnaby under the town pump!

ALL: Hurrah!

(Start to take Barnaby away. TOM TOM ENTERS UP R.)

JILL: Hi! Tom Tom, just in time!

TOM (Coming down C.) What for?

BARNABY: (Rushing to Tom) To save me from the town pump! Stop ’em, my boy, stop ’em, don’t let ’em hurt your future brother-in-law!

TOM: (At C. laughing) What you? Which of my sisters had caught your miserly eye?

BARNABY: (Ecstatically) It’s Mary—willful, but entrancing Mary!

TOM: (Derisively) YOU want to marry Contrary Mary? You might as well try to turn off the sun and blow out the stars!

(All laugh)

But let him go, friends, as a favor to me! We may be relatives yet.

(Goes down L.)

BARNABY: (L.C.) Ah! Then there’s hope for me with Contrary Mary?

TOM: Not a gleam, but some day, you may be my uncle-in-law!

BARNABY: (With pretended grief) If you mean my niece Jane? She and Alan are at the bottom of the sea.

TOM: I don’t believe it!

BARNABY: (Mopping eyes with handkerchief) They’ll never come back to their broken-hearted Uncle Barnaby!

(TOM TOM goes up stage)

JILL: And what’s their broken-hearted Uncle Barnaby going to do with their fortune? (CROWD again gathers around Barnaby)

BARNABY: (Hypocritically) I’m keeping it for them—the law forces me to do tat.

JILL: Trust you to take good care of money. You skinflint! But you’ll be wise if you take better care to keep out of our way hereafter. Now go! (They all jeer and threaten him)

(BARNABY is chased off up R.) (He exits, followed by Jill & all)

(TOM picks up his staff and bundle from steps of house. HILDA enters from house left)

HILDA: Master Tom Tom where are you going?

TOM TOM: Hilda, I’m going to find the girl I’m in love with—Jane.

HILDA: Old Barnaby’s niece?—(Gonzorgo and Roderigo enter up right) But wasn’t she lost at sea with her brother Alan?

TOM: Old Barnaby says so, and that’s why I don’t believe it.

GONZORGO: (Dropping down to him) But me and my sad faced companion can prove it. We were the sole survivors of the wreck.

TOM: And who are you?

GONZORGO: I was in charge of the ship, my name is Gonzorgo. (Pointing to Roderigo) This is my mate and friend to boot.

RODERIGO: Yes, friend to boot!

GONZORGO: We swear by our right hands (They raise left hands) everyone was lost on the ship but us.

HILDA: I don’t think they’re telling the truth!

TOM: Nor do I! (Looking instantly at both of them) I remember seeing you two some place before, where was it?

RODERIGO: You don’t by any chance go in for the three B’s do you?

GONZORGO: Yes, the three B’s. Bridge, Bank Nite and Bingo!

TOM: (Pointing at Gonzorgo) I saw you at the Village Fair. You were running the carasel. And you offered to wager you could pick the horse that would come in first.

GONZORGO: (Drawing sword) You can’t accuse us of cheating, it must have been two other scoundrels. Defend yourself!

(Attacks TOM, who parries with his staff and knocks Gon’s sword from his hand as WIDOW PIPER ENTERS from the house L.)

HILDA: (Running to her) Oh, Mrs. Piper, you’re just in time!

WIDOW: (Coming down C.) Tom, don’t be rude to the gentleman!

GONZORGO: (Gallantly) Madam,