The Prince of Pilsen
by Frank PixleyGenre: Operetta
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Plot summary
Recommended Adaptation Length: 60 Minutes
Candidate for Adaptation? Not Likely
EXCERPT:
The first act opens during the annual flower festival at Nice. The proprietor of the Hotel Internationale learns that the Prince of Pilsen will reach there on the morrow incognito, and determines he shall be received with all the attentions due to his rank. He employs a band of musicians to escort him from the station to the hotel, and hires flower-girls to strew his way with roses. Hans Wagner, a German-American brewer from Cincinnati, and his daughter, who go to Nice to meet the brewer’s son, an American naval officer, arrive on the same day. The brewer is mistaken for the Prince, and he and his party meet with a brilliant but somewhat surprising reception. He can account for it in no other way than that his greeting as the Prince of Pilsen is a tribute to the excellence of his Pilsener beer, and accepts it complaisantly. When the real prince arrives, however, with a company of Heidelberg students, he is ignored, and even has some difficulty in securing accommodations. The Prince, however, does not declare his identity at once, but waits for an opportunity to expose the impostor who is trading on his name. He accidentally meets the daughter, and after some conversation with her is sure that her father has not intended to deceive and is not responsible for the mistake. He decides therefore to continue the role of private citizen, and is the more confirmed in his decision when he finds himself falling in love with the brewer’s daughter. This enrages the brother, who challenges the Prince, which leads to the arrest of both of them. In the second act all the complications get straightened out. The real Prince marries the brewer’s daughter, and the brewer himself takes home the American widow, Mrs. Madison Crocker, as his wife.
COMMENTS:
A prince is mistaken for the heir to the Pilsen Beer Brewery and…sadly, that’s about all there is to this lightweight plot. Not enough here for consideration. (A shame — Pilsen Beer…really?)
A word of caution: This plot summary was written by 19th-century literary critic George Upton, who often mixes personal opinion with summation. You would be advised to consult the original source material, if the general plot appeals to you.
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