# How common was the "country girl seduced by rich man" melodrama plot?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-the-country-girl-seduced-by-rich-man-melodrama-plot/681595>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 18, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-the-country-girl-seduced-by-rich-man-melodrama-plot/681595 "2014-02-18T03:45:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-the-country-girl-seduced-by-rich-man-melodrama-plot/681595/21 "2014-02-25T00:14:59Z")

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See also Hogarth’s picture series [“A Harlot’s Progress.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Harlot%27s_Progress) Innocent country girl arrives in 18th-Century London seeking work as a seamstress . . . and finds it, at least in the Ankh-Morporkian sense of the word.

There’s also this verse from _Oliver:_

She was from the country  
But now she’s up a gum tree  
She let a fellow feed her  
Then lead her along  
What’s the good of cryin’?  
She’s made her bed to lie in  
She’s glad to bring a coin in  
And join in this song  
Oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, that’s how it goes!  
Oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, everyone knows!  
She is no longer the same blushing rose  
Ever since oom-pa-pa!

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-the-country-girl-seduced-by-rich-man-melodrama-plot/681595/22 "2014-02-25T00:37:20Z")

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And, still a salable plot in a setting as late as the Depression – see [_Pennies from Heaven._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennies_from_Heaven_(1981_film))

And, in _It’s a Wonderful Life,_ George Bailey Runs into alternate-Violet on the streets of Pottersville, and she’s apparently working them – at any rate, she’s a screaming drunken wreck. (No particular seducer is implied, however; it makes sense only because we always knew she was a whore on the inside, like all flirts are, and bound to go to the bad without George around to steer her straight/bail her out.)

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**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-was-the-country-girl-seduced-by-rich-man-melodrama-plot/681595/23 "2014-02-25T00:51:59Z")

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> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> See also Hogarth’s picture series [“A Harlot’s Progress.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Harlot%27s_Progress) Innocent country girl arrives in 18th-Century London seeking work as a seamstress . . . and finds it, at least in the Ankh-Morporkian sense of the word.
> 
> There’s also this verse from _Oliver:_
> 
> She was from the country  
> But now she’s up a gum tree  
> She let a fellow feed her  
> Then lead her along  
> What’s the good of cryin’?  
> She’s made her bed to lie in  
> She’s glad to bring a coin in  
> And join in this song  
> Oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, that’s how it goes!  
> Oom-pa-pa, oom-pa-pa, everyone knows!  
> She is no longer the same blushing rose  
> Ever since oom-pa-pa!

I love “Oom-Pah-Pah!”

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