The Tale of Sweeney Todd character of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, originated in an 1846–47 penny dreadful entitled "The String of Pearls". In 1847, George Dibdin Pitt adapted the story for a stage melodrama. A directed by George King was the first screen version. Christopher Bond's 1973 stage adaptation was musicalized by Stephen Sondheim in 1979. Schlesinger's film is a dramatic departure from the previous narratives. It dispenses with all the characters except Todd and Lovett, adds the plotline involving the missing diamonds, and offers a completely different reason for Todd's murder spree. The Victorian era locales were filmed in Dublin,
Thomas Sweeney (glassmaker) port of Wheeling in what was Ohio County, Virginia. Thomas Sweeney married his first wife, Rosanna Mathews (1809-1844) in Pittsburgh, and she bore four children before her death in 1844. They were Andrew J. Sweeney (1827-1893), Rebecca Sweeney, Thomas Sweeney Jr. (1842-1874) and Robert H. Sweeney. The widower remarried the following year, to Baltimore-born Jane Bell McFerran (1819-1872), who bore sons Michael T. Sweeney (b. 1849), John M.F. Sweeney (b. 1852) and daughter Ann (b. 1858). After her death, Sweeney remarried again, to Anna (1846-) who bore him a daughter Latitia in 1876. The Sweeney mansion was at 847 Main