A Southern Maid

A Southern Maid is an operetta in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor Novello and George H. Clutsam, with additional lyrics by Adrian Ross and Douglas Furber. It starred José Collins and Bertram Wallis.

The show originally opened at the Prince's Theatre in Manchester on 24 December 1917. It also had three short engagements in Edinburgh between 1918 and 1920. The planned West End opening was delayed by the continuing success of The Maid of the Mountains, but A Southern Maid eventually reopened on 15 May 1920, when The Maid of the Mountains finally closed and Daly's Theatre became available. The piece was produced under the management of Robert Evett and ran for 306 performances, a good run for the period, although dwarfed by that of its predecessor.

The J. C. Williamson company toured the operetta in Australia in 1923 (starring Gladys Moncrieff) and 1936.

A 1933 film was made based on the operetta, starring Amy Veness, Lupino Lane, and Bebe Daniels.

The action is set in Santiago. Todo, the proprietor of a café, and Mr. Walter Wex, who is the manager of a plantation owned by Sir Willoughby Rawdon are conversing. The truculent Francesco del Fuego enters. He boasts of his successful robberies and talks of his plans to marry the captivating Dolores. Had it not been for the arrival of Sir Willoughby Rawdon, Franceso's amatory aspirations might have been fulfilled, but Sir Willoughby and Dolores have met, and fallen in love.

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