The ten-minute long piece concerns the difficulties of a shy fellow who tries to use a talking parrot as a matrimonial agent.
The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers.
[1] W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: The creators of Pretty Polly were two artists who Carte knew could deliver a good piece.
Hood was also the librettist for the main item on the bill, The Rose of Persia, and Cellier was the long-time music director of the Savoy Theatre and had produced other works for Carte.
The Pall Mall Gazette wrote: "Pretty Polly, which preceded The Rose of Persia for the first time on Saturday night, is a little duologue by Mr.
Miss Louie Pounds is very charming in her part, and Mr. Henry Lytton acquits himself well in his; while a special word is due for the voice behind the scenes which talks for the live parrot on the stage.
Brown hopes to sneak out without letting her know that he has brought the parrot, but Polly gives him a large dose of quinine to drink (as he had tried to excuse himself on account of tropical fever) and begs him to tell of his travels.