I knew there was a real Sweeney Todd (it is estimated he may have killed over 150 – including women and children); I didn’t know his name was really Sweeney Todd.
I found this excellent article on the CourtTV Crime Library:
Long before there was Freddy Krueger, or even Jack the Ripper, there was the legend of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and most readers assumed it was just that — legend. Bond’s statement that Sweeney Todd is pure fiction is correct in one respect: the Sondheim musical, which has played to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, is a fictional account of the life of Sweeney Todd.
Unlike the legend, Todd murdered his hapless customers, and anyone who came to close to discovering him, purely for monetary gain. When his pursuit of riches became a problem in “disposal” it was his lover, the real Mrs. Lovett who came up with the idea to use some of the bodies as filler in her pies.
It was a foul smell from the church that finally brought about their discovery and eventual arrest:
St. Dunstan’s was old and musty, but the smell, which permeated the church and sacristy, was putrid beyond comprehension. They had been burying people in the catacombs there for hundreds of years, and never before had the smell of decay and death been so prevalent. It got so bad that ladies attending the services would require a handkerchief scented with vinegar or perfume in order to sit through the services, and the parson himself was reported to “sneeze in the midst of discourse and to hold to his pious mouth a handkerchief, in which was some strong and pungent essence, for the purpose of trying to overcome the effluvia.”
Mrs. Lovett was arrested in her pie shop and barely escaped being lynched by the outraged and horrified patrons that were dining there that day. Todd’s arrest was much quieter and away from any vengeful crowds. After a long trial that had its own twists, Todd met his end in the hangman’s noose.
I wonder what Sweeney Todd would think of his “musical immortality”.
