The Toodles

Toodles, The (1848), a play by William E. Burton. [Burton's Chambers Street Theatre, in repertory.] Timothy Toodle (Burton) is a lovable, easy‐going man with a peculiar wife (Mrs. Vernon). She has a penchant for buying useless things at auctions in the belief that she will sometime find use for them. For example, she brings home a doorplate with the name of Thompson on it, suggesting that if they ever have a daughter and if that daughter marries a man named Thompson and he spells his name with a “p,” then the doorplate will come in handy. Determined to put an end to such wasteful expense, Toodle attends an auction and brings home a coffin, in case his wife dies before he does. Based on a sentimental old play, The Broken Heart; or, the Farmer's Daughter, it took that piece's comic relief for its main theme and made the principal story of the old play its subplot. It gave Burton one of his greatest successes, which he continued to play in until his death. Other comedians also found applause with the work, notably John Sleeper Clarke.