George Grossmith

Grossmith created a series of nine characters in the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1877 to 1889, including Sir Joseph Porter, in H.M.S.

His father, also named George (1820–1880), was the chief reporter for The Times and other newspapers at the Bow Street Magistrates' Court and was also a lecturer and entertainer.

The Grossmith family had many friends engaged in the arts, including J. L. Toole, Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, H. J. Byron, Tom Hood, T. W. Robertson, and John Hollingshead (later, the manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London).

[5] Young Grossmith received some recognition for amateur songs and sketches at private parties and, beginning in 1864, at penny readings.

The younger Grossmith admired the comic pianist and entertainer John Orlando Parry, who created and performed in many of the German Reed Entertainments, and he tried to emulate Parry in developing his own sketches, consisting of humorous anecdotes, mildly satirical comment, ad lib chat, and comic songs centred on the piano.

[8] In late 1870, the younger Grossmith appeared on his own with a nightly spot at the "old Polytechnic" in Regent Street, where comic sketches alternated with scientific and serious lectures for the entertainment of the public.

[9] Also in 1871, at the Polytechnic, he performed three more sketches, The Puddleton Penny Readings, Theatricals at Thespis Lodge[7] and The Silver Wedding[10] (including what would be one of his most popular songs, "I am so Volatile", with words by his father).

In 1873, Grossmith married Emmeline Rosa Noyce (1849–1905), the daughter of a neighbourhood physician, whom he had met years earlier at a children's party.

In 1873, Grossmith and his father began joint tours of humorous recitations and comic sketches at literary institutes and public halls, to church groups and to branches of the YMCA all over England and even in Scotland and Wales.

[16] Through Arthur Cecil, Sullivan, and some of their friends, Grossmith began to be invited to entertain at private "society" parties, which he continued to do throughout his career.

Accordingly, he was pleased when, despite his relative inexperience in legitimate theatre, he received a letter from Arthur Sullivan in November 1877 inviting him to take a part in his new piece with W. S. Gilbert: The Sorcerer.

Grossmith was a hit as the tradesmanlike John Wellington Wells, the title role in The Sorcerer, and became a regular member of Richard D'Oyly Carte's company.

He created all nine of the lead comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy Operas in London from 1877 to 1889, including the pompous First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Joseph Porter, in H.M.S.

Pinafore (1878); Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, who is an expert at everything except "military knowledge" (1880); the aesthetic poet, Reginald Bunthorne in Patience (1881); the love-lonely Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe (1882); the sarcastic cripple, King Gama, in Princess Ida (1884); Ko-Ko the cheap tailor, elevated to the post of Lord High Executioner, in The Mikado (1885); the accursed Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore (1887); and the pathetic jester, Jack Point, in The Yeomen of the Guard (1888).

"[27] In 1883, The Times, reviewing a matinee performance of Iolanthe, wrote: "Mr. Grossmith's impersonation of the Lord Chancellor has ... become an exquisitely refined satire.

He also composed the music for another comic opera, The Great Tay-Kin and another piece, both with libretti by Arthur Law, which were performed at Toole's Theatre in 1885.

These works included Beauties on the Beach (1878),[10] Five Hamlets (1878),[10] a revival of his A Silver Wedding (1879), The Drama on Crutches (1883), Homburg, or Haunted by The Mikado (1887–88),[10][35] and Holiday Hall (1888).

It has been used in a number of films and has been quoted or referred to in literature and music, including in the poem/song "Polka" from Façade by Edith Sitwell and William Walton.

[33] Grossmith left the D'Oyly Carte company near the end of the original run of The Yeomen of the Guard on 17 August 1889 and resumed his career entertaining at the piano,[36] which he continued to do for more than 15 years afterwards.

The book is a sharp analysis of social insecurity, and Charles Pooter of The Laurels, Brickfield Terrace, Holloway, was immediately recognised as one of the great comic characters of English literature.

[1] He also continued to compose music, including the comic opera Castle Bang (1894) and the sketches The Ibsenite Drama (1895) and Do We Enjoy Our Holidays?

Also in 1897, he played briefly as King Ferdinand V of Vingolia in F. C. Burnand's His Majesty at the Savoy Theatre and made two more short London stage appearances thereafter, as Scoones in Young Mr Yarde (1898) and Lambert Simnel in The Gay Pretenders (1900).

[11][44] An 1896 interview of Grossmith reveals him feeling his age and considering the end of his touring career, while enjoying time spent at home with his family, dogs and antique piano collection.

[45] Grossmith suffered from depression after the death of his wife of cancer in 1905, and his health began to fail, so that he increasingly missed engagements.

[46] In his will, dated 26 October 1908, Grossmith left small bequests to a variety of charities and persons; 2,000 pounds, artworks and heirlooms to each of his children (except that Lawrence did not receive a cash bequest), his son George receiving also "two silver bowls presented to him by [Gilbert, Sullivan and] Carte [and] the ivory baton with which he conducted the orchestra on the occasion of his said son's first appearance on the stage" in Haste to the Wedding; and smaller bequests to his children's spouses and his nieces, nephews, grandchildren and some cousins, with the residuary estate shared equally by his children (although the residuary estate was not large).

[47] Grossmith wrote numerous comic pieces for the magazine Punch, including a series of ten skits in 1884 inspired by his Bow Street experiences, which he called "Very Trying".

[54] Butteriss also presents a documentary about Grossmith as a bonus disc to the 2010 Sky Arts DVD set, A Motley Pair.

[56] John Reed played Grossmith in Melvyn Morrow's one-man biographical musical A Song to Sing, O at the Savoy Theatre in 1981.

[57] The same role was later played in Australia by Anthony Warlow in 1987,[58] Dennis Olsen in 1991[59] and by Butteriss at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton in 2003.