ABSTRACT
My Poll and My Partner Joe (Surrey, 1835) proved one of the most famous and successful nautical melodramas of all time, initially earning the theatre and T. P. Cooke, who originally starred as Harry Hallyard, about 4,000 pounds, though the author John Thomas Haines gained little from the play. Its favor with audiences comes from its sentimentality, but beyond the romantic triangle, the melodrama weaves together contemporary social issues like poverty, impressment, and slavery.
