Mikado (comics) pattern, and the Question tracked him down. Their conversation touched Dr. Spaulding deeply, and he injected himself with a poison intended for the Question. By the time the Question had recovered from the Mikado's opiate injection, the Mikado had disappeared completely. He has not appeared since then. The Mikado's name was taken from that of the Gilbert & Sullivan opera of the same name, and his chant is a line of a song sung by The Mikado, the Emperor of Japan, in Act II. The name of his alter ego was taken from the Groucho Marx character, Captain Spaulding. Marx
The Hot Mikado (1939 production) The Hot Mikado (1939 production) The Hot Mikado was a musical theatre adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" with an African-American cast. It was first produced by Mike Todd on Broadway in 1939. It starred Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the title role, with musical arrangements by Charles L. Cooke and direction by Hassard Short. Mike Todd produced "The Hot Mikado" after the Federal Theatre Project turned down his offer to manage the WPA production of "The Swing Mikado" (another all-black adaptation of "The Mikado"). Todd's adaptation was jazzier than "The Swing Mikado" and had a "full-voiced, star-studded cast to