WEBVTT

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OK, so let's unpack this. Usually when we talk

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about Victorian entertainment, we kind of, we

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go straight for the big polished stuff, you know.

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The high production value things. Exactly. You

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think of the Savoy operas, the Doily Cart Company.

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I mean, the whole massive cultural footprint

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of Gilbert and Sullivan. Which totally makes

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sense. They're the titans of the genre, the Mikado,

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HMS Pinafore. The Pirates of Penzance. Yeah,

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these are just plays. They really did define

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an entire era of British culture. Right. But

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here's where it gets, for me, really interesting.

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For this deep dive, I want to kind of ignore

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the music. I want to ignore Sullivan entirely,

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actually. Okay, bold move. We're going to strip

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all that away and go back to, like... The laboratory.

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We're looking at the raw, maybe even chaotic

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source code that W .S. Gilbert wrote years before

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he was a household name. That is a great way

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to frame it. You're talking about the Babb ballads.

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The Babb ballads. Looking at the research, it

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honestly feels like finding the sketchbook of

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a master architect before they built the skyscraper.

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But it's weirder than a sketchbook. It's more

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like a collection of these dark... twisted nursery

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rhymes that somehow explain everything about

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Victorian satire. It's effectively the primordial

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soup of his career. If you want to understand

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that topsy -turvy logic of the famous operas,

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you absolutely have to understand these poems

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first. They're the foundation. To just call them

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light verse, I think that's selling them a bit

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short. Okay, so let's set the scene then. We

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are not in the Subway Theater yet. It's 1861.

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Gilbert is young. He's a barrister, which sounds

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fancy, but he's not really getting much legal

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work. No, not at all. And he's desperately trying

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to break into writing. So he's writing for a

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magazine. Right. It's called Fun. And the context

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here is pretty important. Fun was the scrappy

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underdog, the rival to the really famous Punch

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magazine. Okay, so Punch is the establishment.

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Totally. And Fun is trying to be a bit looser,

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a bit more experimental. So Gilbert submits this

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small contribution, a short article, and a little

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half -page drawing on wood. Just standard gig

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work. He probably thought, okay, that's that.

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Maybe I'll get paid enough for dinner. Exactly.

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But then, a day or two later, the printer of

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the paper actually knocks on his door. Oh, wait.

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He brings compliments from the editor and then

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just drops this bombshell. He asks Gilbert to

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contribute a column of copy and a half page drawing

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every single week. Okay, that's a lot. And here's

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the kicker. For the term of his natural life.

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For the term of his natural life? Yeah. That

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sounds less like a job offer and more like a

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prison sentence. Gilbert pretty much felt that

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way. He told the story later saying, I hardly

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knew how to treat the offer. I had poured all

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I knew into that short article. I was empty.

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I was empty. Wow. I feel that in my soul. I think

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anyone who creates anything can relate to that

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panic. You do one good thing, you empty the tank,

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and then they say, great, do it again next week.

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Forever. Precisely. He felt he had totally exhausted

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himself. He literally thought he didn't know

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anything else. But, you know, the printer encouraged

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him and Gilbert said he would try. And what's

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so fascinating here is that despite feeling empty,

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he found that there was, and this is his quote,

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a little left. And that little left turns out

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to be enough for hundreds of columns over 10

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years. That is, that's just wild stamina. It

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is. And that pressure cooker environment is exactly

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where the Babb ballads were born. He needed content

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fast and he needed it constantly. He didn't have

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time to be precious about it. Right. No waiting

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for the muse. None. He just had to be prolific.

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So before we get into the weirdness of the poems

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themselves, we have to talk about the branding.

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Babb. Where on earth does that come from? Because

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for a satirist writing this biting content, Bab

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sounds incredibly soft. It's surprisingly personal,

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actually. Bab was Gilbert's childhood nickname.

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It was short for baby. Oh. Seriously? So he's

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signing these cynical poems with his baby name?

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Well, there is a theory that it might also be

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a bit of a nod to Charles Dickens, who used the

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pen name Boz. Ah, Boz and Babb. Okay, that makes

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sense. But yeah, there's a definite contrast

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there. He started signing his drawings Babb around

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1866, but he didn't actually use the title The

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Babb Ballads until the first collected edition

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in 1869. Okay, so let's get into the content.

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You said earlier this is where he developed his

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style. We keep using this phrase topsy -turvy.

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It becomes the trademark of Gilbert and Sullivan

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later, but it starts here. What does that actually

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mean in these poems? This is the absolute core

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of Gilbert's genius. The humor isn't just random.

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Randomness doesn't have rules. Gilbert's topsy

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-curvy style is about the rigorous application

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of rules to a completely insane premise. Okay,

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walk me through that. Gilbert will set up a ridiculous

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premise, something completely absurd. But then

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he works out the consequences with this strict,

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cold logic. The characters in the poems, they

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don't know they're in a comedy. They behave with

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mathematical precision. They just started from

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the wrong variable. So the situation itself is

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the joke, not necessarily a punchline at the

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end. Exactly. If you just accept that impossible

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first step, everything else that follows makes

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perfect logical sense. It creates this dissonance

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that's incredibly funny, but also... Well, if

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you look closely, it's quite cynical. Cynical.

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Very. Gilbert had a pretty cynical and satirical

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view of the world. He wasn't writing these heartwarming

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tales. He was poking fun at authority, at social

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norms, at human nature itself. We should probably

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look at an example. The sources mention The Yarn

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of the Nancy Bell. That's probably the most famous

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one, right? It is, yeah. And it's the perfect

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example of that cynicism. It's a story about

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cannibalism, essentially. Right. But it's told

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in this really jaunty, upbeat, nautical rhythm.

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Yes, I was reading this one. It's the one where

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the narrator meets this old sailor who claims

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to be the cook, the captain, the mate, and the

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entire crew. Because he ate all of them. That's

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the one. Oh, I am the cook and the captain bold

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and the mate of the Nancy Brig. It's horrific

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if you actually think about what's happening.

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Yeah, it's survival cannibalism. But Gilbert

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frames it with this bouncy rhythm and this strict

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internal logic about the hierarchy of who got

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eaten and when. It's just bizarre. It's like

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a horror movie directed by a nursery rhyme author.

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That's a great description. And what's interesting

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is that Punch Magazine actually rejected this

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poem. Oh, they did? Yeah. They thought it was

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too cannibalistic for their readers. But Fun

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Magazine took it and it became a huge hit. Which

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brings up the visual side of this. Yeah. We can't

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really talk about the bad bellows without the

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drawings. Gilbert illustrated these himself.

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And they weren't exactly like fine art masterpieces,

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were they? No, not at all. And that was the whole

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point. They were comic drawings. They were integral

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to the identity of the work. They often had characters

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with these huge heads and spindly little limbs,

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very expressive, very grotesque. Looking at them,

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they remind me almost of like Tim Burton sketches.

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But from the 19th century, they're scratchy and

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manic. That's a fair. comparison. They matched

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the topsy -turvy nature of the text perfectly.

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And people loved them. They were a sensation.

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And we have to remember, these weren't just being

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read quietly in a library. The sources say they

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were read aloud at private dinner parties, public

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banquets, even in the House of Lords. Can you

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imagine that? Some stuffy lord standing up and

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reading The Bishop of Rumtifu. It just speaks

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to how deeply Gilbert tapped into the Victorian

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psyche. He was mocking their stuffiness, but

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with such wit that they just claimed him as their

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own. You mentioned Gentle Alice Brown. That's

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another great title. The titles alone just give

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you a flavor of the whimsy. Oh, for sure. The

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Bishop of Rumtifu is about a colonial bishop

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who learns to dance to please his flock. Again,

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it's that collision of a secret authority figure

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and completely absurd behavior. Which brings

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us to the big connection. If you're a fan of

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the Mikado or Pirates of Penzance, you're basically

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listening to bad ballads remixes, aren't you?

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In so many ways, yes. The ballads served as a

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massive recycling bin for the operas. A recycling

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bin, that's a polite way to put it. Well, creative

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reuse. He recycled pla - plot elements, characters,

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even entire songs. The ballads were his testing

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ground. So if a character worked in a poem? Yep.

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If a character type worked, say, a timid curate

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or a boastful soldier, he would just lift that

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archetype and drop it right into an opera five

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years later. So the ballads are like the proto

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-universe for the operas. Precisely. And Gilbert

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knew it. He wasn't shy about this self -plagiarism

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at all. In 1890, when the operas were huge, he

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published a book called Songs of a Savoyard.

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What was that exactly? He took 69 lyrics from

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the famous Savoy operas, gave them new titles

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and published them as poems. But here's the kicker.

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He added Bab illustrations to them. No way. So

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he retroactively turned the operas back into

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ballads. He almost called the volume the Savoy

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Ballads. He was basically merging the two worlds,

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acknowledging that the DNA was identical. Wow.

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He even included some deleted lyrics from Iolanthe.

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It created this impression of one giant integrated

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body of work. That is fascinating. It's like

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he was saying, the music is great, sure, but

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the words. The words are pure bab. That's exactly

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it. He was visually branding the high art operas

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with the same chaotic energy as his low art magazine

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poems. But this all leads us to what I think

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is the most dramatic part of the story. We could

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call it the war of the illustrations. It plays

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out like this psychological drama about an artist

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versus his own work. It is dramatic, and it happens

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much later, in 1898. Gilbert is older now. He's

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wealthy. He's a pillar of the establishment.

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And he decides to release a definitive volume

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combining the bad ballads and songs of a Savoyard.

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A greatest hits collection. The complete works.

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Right. But he made an incredibly controversial

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decision. He decided to redraw over 200 of the

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illustrations. Wait, why? The original drawings

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were iconic. That's like... coloring in a classic

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black and white movie. Or George Lucas adding

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CGI to the original Star Wars. That is exactly

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what it was like. But Gilbert didn't see it that

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way. He looked back at his early work, those

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wild, grotesque drawings from his fun magazine

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days, and he felt they were too extravagant.

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He said they aired gravely. Aired gravely. Was

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he embarrassed by them? He called them a defect

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that he wanted to correct. He wanted to provide

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something more polished, more refined. He thought

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he was fixing his youthful mistakes, making the

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art match his new status as a serious gentleman

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of the theater. Let me guess. The public did

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not agree. Not even a little bit. The readers

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hated the new drawings. They missed that raw,

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crude energy of the originals. The new ones were

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technically better art, maybe? More anatomically

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correct or something. Right, smoother. But they

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lacked the Bab spirit. They were just too safe.

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That is such a classic artist tragedy. You get

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so good at your craft that you lose the thing

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that made you special in the first place. You

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refine the soul right out of the work. And it

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took a long, long time to rectify. For decades,

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the refined 1898 versions were the standard because

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that was Gilbert's final wish, so to speak. It

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wasn't until 1970, over 70 years later, that

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an editor named James Ellis finally restored

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the original drawings alongside the text. Justice

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for the original Bab. Indeed. Ellis just discarded

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the refined versions and gave us back the chaotic

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originals. He realized you just can't have the

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poem without the extravagant drawing. They are

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one and the same. Now, speaking of James Ellis

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and scholars. Yeah. Just unpacking what even

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counts as a bad ballad. Seems like a total nightmare.

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Yeah. It's not like Gilbert kept a neat diary

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of everything he wrote. Oh, it's a mess. He didn't

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keep a perfect list. Remember, he was just churning

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these out weekly for a magazine. Right. He was

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thinking about the deadline, not posterity. Exactly.

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And many of the early pieces in Fun were completely

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unsigned. So how do we even know what he wrote?

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It's pure detective work. Scholars have to look

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at stylistic grounds. Does it sound like Gilbert?

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Does it have that topsy -turvy logic? Or they

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look for the Babs signature on the drawing itself.

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But even the numbering is weird, right? I read

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that he started numbering them at 60. Yes. When

00:12:05.690 --> 00:12:07.669
he finally started numbering the poems in fun,

00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:10.610
the very first one he numbered was Mr. William,

00:12:10.889 --> 00:12:14.720
and he labeled it 60. So where are numbers 1

00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.320
through 59? That is the million -dollar question.

00:12:17.480 --> 00:12:20.019
It left scholars to just guess which previous

00:12:20.019 --> 00:12:23.620
poems constituted the first 59. Or maybe he was

00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:26.080
just guessing himself. It's a puzzle that may

00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:28.659
never be perfectly solved. It adds to the mystique,

00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:30.360
though. It's like there are lost ballads out

00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:32.779
there somewhere. There likely are, and some are

00:12:32.779 --> 00:12:35.399
still disputed. But what we do know is that by

00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:40.600
1870, the output slowed down. A lot. Because

00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:42.299
he was getting famous for the plays and operas.

00:12:42.299 --> 00:12:44.940
Exactly. His dramatic career just took off. The

00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.580
last poem he personally considered a Babb ballad

00:12:47.580 --> 00:12:51.720
was Old Paul and Old Tim in 1871. After that,

00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:53.559
he was just too busy being Gilbert and Sullivan

00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.320
to be Babb. It's so interesting to trace that

00:12:56.320 --> 00:12:59.600
trajectory. He starts as this guy begging for

00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.419
work, feeling empty, forcing himself to write

00:13:02.419 --> 00:13:05.519
comedy every week. He builds this massive reservoir

00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.860
of characters and plots. Then he mines that reservoir

00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:11.289
to become rich and famous. And then finally,

00:13:11.370 --> 00:13:13.470
he tries to whitewash the original reservoir

00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:16.350
because it's not dignified enough anymore. That's

00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:18.629
the arc. And I think the BAB ballads really offer

00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:21.149
two distinct lessons for anyone interested in

00:13:21.149 --> 00:13:23.230
the creative process. The first is about that

00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:25.570
stamina. Gilbert thought he was done after one

00:13:25.570 --> 00:13:28.210
article. He wasn't. He dug deep and found a way

00:13:28.210 --> 00:13:30.850
to turn his anxiety and his cynicism into a style,

00:13:30.889 --> 00:13:33.610
that logical absurdity that went on to define

00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:36.110
Victorian humor. And he did it by leaning into

00:13:36.110 --> 00:13:39.830
the weirdness, by being topsy -turvy. Yes. But

00:13:39.830 --> 00:13:42.110
if we connect this to the bigger picture, the

00:13:42.110 --> 00:13:44.789
story of the illustrations is the second and

00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:48.129
maybe more important lesson. The redraws. Yeah.

00:13:48.450 --> 00:13:51.789
Gilbert tried to fix his youthful work. He wanted

00:13:51.789 --> 00:13:54.649
to make it respectable. But the audience knew

00:13:54.649 --> 00:13:57.690
better. They knew that the magic was in the unnecessary

00:13:57.690 --> 00:14:01.470
extravagance. That's a great phrase. Unnecessary

00:14:01.470 --> 00:14:03.970
extravagance. He used that as a criticism of

00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:06.899
himself, didn't he? He did. But for us, for the

00:14:06.899 --> 00:14:09.240
reader, that extravagance is the whole point.

00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:11.740
And this raises a really important question for

00:14:11.740 --> 00:14:13.820
all of us, I think. Is there a danger in becoming

00:14:13.820 --> 00:14:17.000
too polished? Ooh, that is interesting. You know,

00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.659
we often strive for perfection, for refinement,

00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.600
but sometimes the raw, unpolished energy, the

00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.519
thing we're maybe slightly embarrassed by from

00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.100
our youth, is exactly what makes the work magic.

00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:30.580
Gilbert spent his later years trying to erase

00:14:30.580 --> 00:14:33.700
the Babb style, but Babb... is what the world

00:14:33.700 --> 00:14:35.720
wanted i think you're absolutely right he crossed

00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.559
that line in 1898 he forgot that the bab sketches

00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:40.740
with all their ugliness and weird proportions

00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:43.779
they were honest the polished versions were just

00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:46.259
polite and nobody remembers gilbert for being

00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:49.820
polite that is a fantastic takeaway sometimes

00:14:49.820 --> 00:14:52.480
you just have to embrace the crew drawing and

00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:54.899
the crazy rhyme scheme because that's where the

00:14:54.899 --> 00:14:57.539
soul of the thing is precisely so here's the

00:14:57.539 --> 00:15:00.139
takeaway for you listening if you want to understand

00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:03.350
the dna of musical theater, or just Victorian

00:15:03.350 --> 00:15:06.529
humor, don't just listen to the overtures. Go

00:15:06.529 --> 00:15:08.870
find a collection of the bad ballads. And specifically,

00:15:09.049 --> 00:15:12.090
check the publication date or the editor. Make

00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:14.169
sure you're getting the James Ellis edition or

00:15:14.169 --> 00:15:16.409
one that guarantees the original drawings. Accept

00:15:16.409 --> 00:15:19.929
no substitutes. Don't let 1898 Gilbert bore you.

00:15:20.090 --> 00:15:24.250
Go for the 1860s chaos. Absolutely. Dive into

00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:26.450
the topsy -turvy world. You might find it makes

00:15:26.450 --> 00:15:28.509
a lot more sense than the real world sometimes.

00:15:29.629 --> 00:15:31.450
thanks for joining us on this deep dive it's

00:15:31.450 --> 00:15:31.889
been a pleasure