Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Jane Annie or, The Good Conduct Prize Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Musical historians have designated "Jane Annie, or The Good Conduct Prize" as "the most perplexing phenomenon ever presented by D'Oyly Carte's management." After the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan disbanded, Savoy Theatre's producer Richard D'Oyle Carte turned to the young playwright J. M. Barrie, who had never written a libretto before, to supple his theatre with a new comic opera. Barrie chose the up-to-date topic of the new sport golfing as part of his premise for the plot. After completing an early draft, Barrie was unable to finish his libretto and turned to his friend Arthur Conan Doyle to complete it. When it opened on May 13, 1893, many in London at the time were unfamiliar with the new sport, and thus it left audiences baffled and uninterested in "caddies" and "niblicks," "drivers" and "putters." The musical closed at the Savoy Theatre after only 50 performances, but a tour of the provinces turned out to be more popular possibly because they were more familiar with the new sport. While not successful in its first outing, "Jane Annie" has gone on to be favorable viewed as an interesting look at an early work by these two classic authors.