John Hollingshead

John Hollingshead (9 September 1827 – 9 October 1904) was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century.

Among other theatrical works that he produced, he mounted a long series of popular Victorian burlesques at the Gaiety, engaging Meyer Lutz to compose original scores for them.

[1] He first worked as a bookkeeper for a soft goods company in London in the early 1850s while publishing political essays on finance and social reform.

During this time, Hollingshead and his friend Moy Thomas began publishing a penny paper called The Mail that proved unsuccessful.

[6] Beginning in 1864, and for several years thereafter, he contributed to Punch magazine, mostly writing on political topics related to social reform.

Other publications included a collection of humorous stories entitled Rough Diamonds and two volumes of miscellaneous essays called Today.

In 1892, he also published The Story of Leicester Square, tracing the history, geography and architecture of the London neighbourhood from earliest times through the date of publication.

He helped establish the Alhambra Theatre and was the stage manager there from 1865 to 1868, in addition to producing musical pieces and ballets there.

He produced a revival of Gilbert's Princess Toto there in 1881, paired with Rutland Barrington's short play, Quid Pro Quo.

Other pieces at Hollingshead's Gaiety in 1870 included Dot (Dion Boucicault's version of The Cricket on the Hearth); and The Princess of Trebizonde, based on the Jacques Offenbach operetta (1870).

Thespis, the first collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan, played at the theatre in 1871, with Farren as Mercury and J. L. Toole in the title role.

Two other Dion Boucicault plays produced by Hollingshead's company in the early 1870s were Night and Morning and Led Astray.

Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses.