The temple to Shiva at Shivapore has been barricaded by the corrupt tippler temple-keeper Chunder, to hide the fact that he has pawned the little golden idol. His only hope of escaping retribution is to persuade his lovely but reluctant daughter, Aimee, to marry the Rajah after somehow disposing of his Ranee. Another rogue, the necromancer Bunder, has his own cunning plan, which involves exchanging the idol with a cheap replica. Aimee's vagabond lover Jengis thwarts both plans by impersonating the god, and so wins the girl. The Rajah, who has not only been cheated of his prize but also defrauded, orders decapitations all round, but then a supposed Hindustani beggar reveals himself as the Emperor, and everyone gets their just dues.
Despite wartime constraints, the opera was received enthusiastically by the first-night audience which, in that tiny auditorium, consisted largely of knowledgeable theatregoers and music lovers.
Two sensations marked this production: Frank Grahame (real name Ernest William Gollmick), who was to play the Rajah, was charged with deserting his children, but was given bail so he could perform at the opening night, and Robert Colville (real name Bert Coghlan) collapsed and died at an after-show party on 24 February.[8]
Hill stated in 1959, aged 89, that he was revising the work.[9]
^This list has been compiled from newspaper reports and is not definitive.
^Sydney James (c. 1879 – 16 July 1919), English actor and ventriloquist (with dummy "Billy"), toured Australia 1914–1918 with his "Royal Strollers"; after some changes renamed "Pierrot Pie" for its Asian tour, died of peritonitis in Karachi.[1]
^"Film Fancies". The Call and WA Sportsman. No. 278. Western Australia. 12 September 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 20 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.