Robert Ward first got the idea of adapting He Who Gets Slapped into an opera after reading the first two acts of psychoanalyst Gregory Zilboorg's English translation of the play in 1948.^[7] He approached his fellow Juilliard School faculty member, Bernard Stambler, to write the libretto.^[3] Upon reading the last two acts, both men were dissatisfied with the progression of the play, and the decision was made to substantially alter the focus of the plot for the second half of the work.^[3] The character of the "Gentleman" was entirely removed, and the story's focus shifted to Mancini's efforts to marry off Consuelo to the Baron.^[3] Rather than have a tragic murder-suicide by poison at the end, the writers chose instead to have Consuelo reject Pantaloon's profession of love and go off with her lover Begano instead.^[3]

At the suggestion of arts patron Elizabeth Kray Ussachevsky, the clown roles of Polly and Tilly were turned from dialogue roles to silent roles skilled in pantomime in order to avoid the difficulty of finding opera singers who were able to do acrobatics and other clown tricks as well as sing.^[7] Opera directors and conductors Frederic Cohen and Frederick Waldmann of the Juilliard Opera Theater helped in the development process of the opera, by having graduate students in the opera program at Juilliard sing through material as it was being written. Ward and Stan and Stambler modified their work upon feedback from Cohen, Waldmann, and the students involved.^[7] Other artists who gave valuable input included Emanuel Balaban, Mack Harrell, Otto Luening, and Max Rudolf.^[7]

Setting: A circus in a large city in France

In the first act of the opera, a mysterious man, later known as Pantaloon, arrives at Briquet's circus. He requests to join the troop as a clown. Briquet asks to see Pantaloon's identification in order to register his employment with the government. Pantaloon discloses his name into Briquet's ear, without revealing it to the audience. The reaction of the circus owner reveals that Pantaloon is a famous upper class intellectual who is highly respected, but the audience gains no further knowledge of the character other than he is 39 years old.^[2][3]

In the second act, Pantaloon is now an established clown in Briquet's circus and his act is highly successful, making him popular with the troop and their audiences. He has fallen in love with Consuelo from afar, who is herself in love with Begano. Consuelo's father, Baron Regnard, attempts to get Count Mancini to marry her. Pantaloon argues with Baron Regnard, claiming that the Count will never marry her. The Baron and Consuelo become engaged after she is pressured by her father. At the end of the act Zinida reveal's Pantaloon's past as a man broken by an adulterous wife who publicly humiliated him in upper class society.^[2][3]

In the third act, Pantaloon plays the part of an intoxicated court jester. He successfully sabotages Mancini's plans to marry Consuelo. He professes his love to her. She rejects him, and goes off with Begano instead.^[2][3]

In the Fall of 1955 the director of Columbia University'a Columbia Theatre Associates and Opera Workshop (CTAOW), Milton Smith and the director of Columbia's opera program, Douglas Moore, agreed to stage the opera using funds provided by the Alice M. Ditson Fund.^[7] The opera premiered on May 17, 1956 under the title Pantaloon by the CTAOW in the concert hall of the Juilliard School.^[7] Staged by Felix Brentano, the cast included Paul Ukena as Pantaloon and Regina Sarfaty as Zinida.^[4] Essentially a workshopped opera presentation by a professional cast, the original production was costumed but had minimal sets and a smaller orchestra.^[7][1]

A fully realized presentation of the opera was not given until 1959 when it was mounted under the name He Who Gets Slapped by the New York City Opera at New York City Center in April 1959.^[1] That production was staged by Michael Pollock and used sets and costumes designed by Andreas Nomikos.^[1] For this version, Stambler revised portions of the libretto, and accordingly Ward made alterations to the score.^[4] In 1978 it was staged by the Encompass New Opera Theatre as Pantaloon, He Who Gets Slapped.^[8]