New York in the summer of 1879 and made arrangements with theatre manager John T. Ford to present, at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, the first authorised American production of Pinafore. In November, Carte returned to America with Gilbert, Sullivan and a company of strong singers, including J. H. Ryley as Sir Joseph, Blanche Roosevelt as Josephine, Alice Barnett as Little Buttercup, Furneaux Cook as Dick Deadeye, Hugh Talbot as Ralph Rackstraw and Jessie Bond as Cousin Hebe. To these, he added some American singers, including Signor Brocolini as Captain Corcoran. Alfred Cellier came to assist Sullivan, while his brother François remained in London to conduct Pinafore there. Pinafore opened in New York on 1 December 1879 (with Gilbert onstage in the chorus) and ran for the rest of December. After a reasonably strong first week, audiences quickly fell off, since most New Yorkers had already seen local productions of Pinafore. In the meantime, Gilbert and Sullivan raced to complete and rehearse their new opera, The Pirates of Penzance, which premiered with much success on 31 December. Shortly thereafter, Carte sent three touring companies around the United States East Coast and Midwest, playing Pinafore alongside Pirates. Children's production The unauthorised juvenile productions of Pinafore were so popular that Carte mounted his own children's version, played at matinees at the Opera Comique beginning on 16 December 1879. François Cellier, who had taken over from his brother as Carte's music director in London, adapted the score for children's voices. Between its two Christmas seasons in London, the children's production went on a provincial tour from 2 August 1880 to 11 December 1880. Carte's children's production earned enthusiastic reviews from the critic Clement Scott and the other London critics, as well as the audiences, including children. However, Captain Corcoran's curse "Damme!" was uncensored, shocking such prominent audience members as Lewis Carroll, who later wrote: "a bevy of sweet innocent-looking girls sing, with bright and happy looks, the chorus 'He said, Damn me! He said, Damn me!' I cannot find words to convey to the reader the pain I felt in seeing those dear children taught to utter such words to amuse ears grown callous to their ghastly meaning ... How Mr. Gilbert could have stooped to write, or Sir Arthur Sullivan could have prostituted his noble art to set to music, such vile trash, it passes my skill to understand". Subsequent productions After the