The Ticket-of-Leave Man (play)
The Ticket-of-Leave Man is an 1863 stage melodrama by the British writer Tom Taylor. It takes its name from the Ticket of Leave issued to convicts when they were released from jail. A recently returned convict is blackmailed by another man into committing a robbery, but is rescued thanks to the intervention of a detective. It has been described as probably being the first play about a detective.[1]
The play introduced the character of Hawkshaw the Detective, with "Hawkshaw" becoming a synonym for a detective. It was not well received by critics, but proved very popular with audiences and was constantly revived becoming one of the standard works of Victorian melodrama.[2]
Film adaptations
It has been turned into a number of film adaptations, mostly in the silent era. This included The Ticket of Leave Man (1912), The Ticket-of-Leave Man (1918) and the 1937 Tod Slaughter melodrama The Ticket of Leave Man.
The 1914 film The Ticket-of-Leave Man is not an adaptation of the play, but is based on the 1869 novel Foul Play written by Taylor's frequent collaborator Charles Reade.
References
Bibliography
- Lachman, Marvin. The Villainous Stage: Crime Plays on Broadway and in the West End. McFarland, 2014.