Alfred-Jules Jolly was a French singer and actor. In the first part of his career he featured in operettas in Brussels and later in Paris, creating roles in works by Lecocq, Hervé and Offenbach, among others. From 1884 he switched to the non-musical theatre, based at the Théâtre du Vaudeville, starring in comedies and farces.

Les cent vierges is an opérette in three acts, with music by Charles Lecocq and a libretto by Clairville, Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. It was first produced at the Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes, Brussels, on 16 March 1872. The plot concerns the British government's efforts to ship brides out to a distant colony for the all-male colonists. Two French women are accidentally on board the ship taking the brides out, and are pursued to the island by their husbands. The four French intruders are threatened by the colonial governor, but after plotting and farcical goings-on, all ends satisfactorily.