The first version, in Hungarian, with a libretto by Károly von Bakonyi, premiered at the Vígszínház, Budapest, on 16 March 1910.
The second, German version, Der gute Kamerad (The good comrade), with a libretto revised by Viktor Léon, premiered at the Bürgertheater, Vienna, on 10 October 1911.
This was adapted, with additional music by Sigmund Romberg and words by Rida Johnson Young, as Her Soldier Boy which was produced on Broadway, at the Astor Theatre, from 6 December 1916 to 26 May 1917, and as Soldier Boy at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, Westminster, in 1918.
Karoline and her daughter Marlene do not know that their long-absent son and brother Franz has been killed in the war.
But things grow difficult when Alwin finds himself falling in love with his “sister”.