at first, and later also a harmonium and sometimes a harp. At first, the entertainments utilized a cast of three; but by the mid-1860s, they had expanded to pieces with a cast of four. Often the pieces' plots involved mistaken identities and disguises. From 1860 to 1868, the German Reeds were assisted by John Orlando Parry, a pianist, mimic, parodist and humorous singer (one of George Grossmith's inspirations). He created a new type of musical and dramatic monologue that became popular. The earliest entertainments included Holly Lodge and The Enraged Musicians (1855); William Brough's A Month from Home and My Unfinished Opera (1857); The Pyramid by Shirley Brooks (1864); The Peculiar Family by Brough (1865); The Yachting Cruise by F. C. Burnand (1866); Our Quiet Chateau by Robert Reece (1867); and Inquire Within by Burnand (1868). As time went on, the Reeds added a dramatic pieces and brief comic operas designed for a small number of characters. Reed experimented with what he called opera di camera - small chamber operas by young composers. The German Reeds were able to attract fine young composers such as Molloy, Frederic Clay, Arthur Sullivan, Charles King Hall. and Alfred Cellier, the best scenic designers for their tiny stage, and the best young writers from Punch and Fun magazines. Later years The dramatist W. S. Gilbert wrote the librettos for six entertainments presented by the German Reeds from 1869 to 1875, some of them with music by Reed himself, including No Cards, Ages Ago, Our Island Home, A Sensation Novel, Happy Arcadia, and Eyes and No Eyes. Several of these pieces had ideas in embryonic form that would later re-appear in the Savoy Operas. Ages Ago, for instance, had a gallery of portraits that come to life, an idea re-used in Ruddigore. Mrs. German Reed's performances inspired Gilbert to create some of his famous contralto roles. German Reed also mounted the first professional production of Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand's Cox and Box and commissioned a second opera from the pair, The Contrabandista. Given the German Reeds' role in both Gilbert's and Sullivan's first operatic successes, one wag commented that the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were "cradled among the Reeds." Arthur Cecil joined the German Reeds in No Cards in 1869, remaining for five years. Fanny Holland first performed at the Gallery in 1869 in Ages Ago and appeared in scores of the entertainments