Lord Dundreary

Edward Sothern as Lord Dundreary, sporting "Dundrearies"

Lord Dundreary is a character of the 1858 British play Our American Cousin by Tom Taylor. He is the personification of a good-natured, brainless aristocrat. The role was created on stage by Edward Askew Sothern. The most famous scene involved Dundreary reading a letter from his even sillier brother. Sothern expanded the scene considerably in performance. A number of spin-off works were also created, including a play about the brother.

His name gave rise to two eponyms rarely heard today: Dundrearies were a particular style of facial hair taking the form of exaggeratedly bushy sideburns. "Dundrearyisms" were expanded malapropisms in the form of twisted and nonsensical aphorisms in the style of Lord Dundreary (e.g. "birds of a feather gather no moss"). These enjoyed a brief vogue.

Charles Kingsley wrote an essay entitled "Speech of Lord Dundreary in Section D, on Friday Last, On the Great Hippocampus Question", a parody of debates about evolutionary theory in the form of a nonsensical speech supposed to have been written by Dundreary.^[1]

References

1. ^ [1]

• Michael Diamond, Victorian Sensation, London: Anthem, 2003, ISBN 1-84331-150-X, pp. 266–268

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

This article about a fictional character is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Characters in plays Fictional character stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат? Lorenz Diefenbach Balsall Preceptory Look at other dictionaries: Dundreary — /dun drēˈri/ adjective Like Lord Dundreary, in Tom Taylor s Our American Cousin (presented as a lisping and brainless dandy, wearing long sidewhiskers) …   Useful english dictionary dundreary — /dʌnˈdrɪəri/ (say dun drearree) noun (plural dundrearies) (usually plural) long side whiskers worn without a beard. {from Lord Dundreary, a character in the play Our American Cousin (1858) by Tom Taylor, 1817–80, English dramatist} …   DUNDREARY, LORD —    a character of the play Our American Cousin ; the personification of a good natured, brainless swell; represented uniquely on the stage by Mr. Sothern …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Our American Cousin — Not to be confused with Our American Cousin (opera) or My American Cousin. Our American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish …   Wikipedia Edward Askew Sothern — Sothern sporting the Dundreary whiskers that he wore in his most famous role Edward Askew Sothern (1 April 1826 – 21 January 1881) was an English actor known for his comic roles in Britain and America, particularly Lord Dundreary in Our American… …   Wikipedia Our American Cousin (opera) — Our American Cousin is an opera in three acts by the American composer Eric Sawyer with libretto by John Shoptaw. The main plot depicts the assassination of Abraham Lincoln from the standpoint of the actors presenting the play of the same name at …   Wikipedia Our American Cousin — Edward Sothern dans le rôle de Lord Dundreary Our American Cousin (titre français : « Lord Dundreary. Notre cousin d Amérique. ») est une pièce en trois actes publiée en 1852 par Tom Taylor. L intrique de cette comédie burlesque… …   Wikipédia en Français Edward Askew Sothern — Edward Sothern dans le rôle de Lord Dundreary Edward Askew Sothern (1er avril 1826 21 janvier 1881) fut un acteur anglais connu pour ses rôles comiques en Grande Bretagne et aux États Unis, en particulier le rôle de Lord… …   Wikipédia en Français Edward Sothern — Edward Askew Sothern Edward Sothern dans le rôle de Lord Dundreary Edward Askew Sothern (1er avril 1826 21 janvier 1881) fut un acteur anglais connu pour ses rôles comiques en Grande Bretagne et aux États Unis, en particulier… …   Wikipédia en Français Hippocampus-Debatte — Vergleich der Hemisphären des Endhirns von Mensch und Schimpanse: a) Hinterer Lappen b) Seitenventrikel c) Hinteres Horn x) Hippocampus minor. Die Hippocampus Debatte war eine Kontroverse zwischen den britischen Biologen Richard Owen und Thomas… …   Deutsch Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”