ABSTRACT
Signor Irvingetti was Henry Irving, whose real name was John Henry Brodribb, a Cornishman by upbringing, who was then at precisely the same point in his career as J. L. Toole had been on his first visit to Edinburgh. From the early 1880s, when Irving's reputation outstripped that of his champion and of every other actor in Britain, Toole referred publicly to him as 'our Leader', whom 'every right-minded actor is proud of'. Theatre workers in the nineteenth century customarily called their boss 'Governor', and so did Irving's; but only at the Lyceum did the workers begin to call their governor 'chief'. Irving tracked his course in the newspapers to Dublin and all the way back to London for the winter season – where his idol resumed his place as the star of the Lyceum Theatre. Irving stayed on in Edinburgh until 1859, and modelled his parting speech of thanks on Toole's.
