his most successful collaboration was with henry pettitt, with whom he created a substantial body of hits, including "in the ranks" (1883, 457 performances at the adelphi theatre) and "the harbour lights" (1885, 513 performances at the adelphi). their gaiety theatre musical burlesques included "faust up to date" (1888), which remained a hit for several years and coined a new meaning for the phrase "up-to-date", meaning "abreast" of the latest styles and facts. their next hit was "carmen up to data" (1890). both of these were composed by the gaiety's music director, meyer lutz. with cecil raleigh, he wrote the hit burlesque opera, "little christopher columbus" (1893), and among his other musical plays were "blue-eyed susan" at the prince of wales theatre (1892, starring arthur roberts) and "the dandy fifth" (birmingham, 1898) and "dandy dick whittington" (1895), at the avenue theatre, with a score by ivan caryll. robert buchanan and sims co-authored five melodramas at the adelphi, including "the trumpet call" (1891), starring mrs patrick campbell early in her career. on stage, one night, mrs. campbell's costume collapsed which, her biographer suggests, extended the run of that play. sims and mrs campbell had an affair, but she tired of it before he did. in 1896, sims wrote the melodrama "two little vagabonds" with arthur shirley (an adaptation of "les deux gosses") which was a hit at princess's theatre and enjoyed many revivals. he also co-wrote some pantomimes, including "puss in boots" produced at the drury lane theatre.