Sweeney Todd Is A Character Who First Appeared As The Main Villain Of A Penny Dreadful Serial Entitled The String Of Pearls (1846-1847). In The Original Version Of The Tale He Is A Barber Who Murders Wealthy Customers By Pulling A Lever While They Are In His Barber's Chair Which, Unknown To Them, Is Fixed To A Revolving Trap-Door, Making Them Fall Backward Into The Basement, Generally Causing Them To Break Their Necks Or Skulls As They Hit The Ground. Just In Case They Are Alive, He Goes To The Basement And "Polishes Them Off," Meaning He Slits Their Throats With A Cut-Throat Razor. After Todd Has Robbed His Dead Victims, Mrs. Lovett, His Partner In Crime Assists Him In Disposing Of The Bodies By Having Their Flesh Baked Into Meat Pies, And Selling Them To The Customers Of Her Pie Shop. The Tale Surrounding The Character Became A Staple Of Victorian Melodrama, And Later A Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical In 1979.