George and Weedon Grossmith
The Diary of a Nobody
Although they are now principally
remembered for The Diary of a Nobody, one
of the classic English comic texts, George
(1847–1912) and Weedon (1854–1919)
Grossmith spent much of their working life in
the theatre.
George began in more prosaic style as a
police court reporter for The Times at Bow
Street Magistrates Court with his father (also
named George), but his natural affinity for
comedy drew him inexorably to the stage. He
developed a reputation for comic turns at
private parties where he would entertain with
sketches performed to his own piano
accompaniment, especially satirising the
business world. His great strength was his
ability to improvise at will (a talent which later,
when employed on stage, was to cause some
of his fellow actors anxious moments as he
took the scripts into uncharted territories).
His association with Richard D’Oyly
Carte’s Savoy Theatre in the 1870s changed
his life. He was noticed by W.S. Gilbert, who
offered him the role of John Wellington Wells
in The Sorcerer. He took it, though with some
misgivings, still unsure whether this kind of
formal theatre was something he could do.
He regarded himself as more an entertainer than an actor. However, he won the part by
his exuberance and natural ability to charm an
audience, and he became a star performer
within the D’Oyly Carte company (despite the
initial reluctance of D’Oyly Carte himself).
During a six-month run of The Sorcerer,
Sullivan offered him the part of the Judge in
Trial by Jury. This role confirmed George’s
position in the company and his star status as
a performer in the eyes of the public.
Gilbert and Sullivan went on to create
many of their principal buffo roles for George
Grossmith, including Sir Joseph Porter in
H.M.S. Pinafore, Major General Stanley in The
Pirates of Penzance, Reginald Bunthorne (the
Oscar Wilde character) in Patience, the Lord
Chancellor in Iolanthe, King Gama in Princess
Ida, Ko-Ko in The Mikado and Robin
Oakapple in Ruddigore. These came to be
called ‘Grossmith roles’. Thus, as Gilbert and
Sullivan would have written to his personal
strengths, we now have a living tradition of
what George Grossmith must have been like
both on stage and as a person.
Interestingly, George’s own creative
talents were not ignored by the company. His
Cups and Saucers, a collection of musical
sketches, was included in the D’Oyly Carte touring programmes; and he wrote the music
for Arthur Law’s Uncle Samuel, the one-act
curtain raiser that preceded Patience.
He was with D’Oyly Carte for two
decades. However, illness intervened a week
after the first performance of Ruddigore and
he formally retired from the company in
1891. But after 20 years in the limelight, the
lure of performance was too much. After
recovering his health, George went on the
road with his own show, which proved hugely
popular. He even performed for Queen
Victoria at Balmoral Castle. He came back to
D’Oyly Carte in 1897 for the new role of King
Ferdinand V of Vingolia in Alexander
Mackenzie’s His Majesty, but he was not
happy with the part and left after a handful of
performances.
His son, George Grossmith junior,
followed in his father’s footsteps as a popular
entertainer, making his debut in Haste to a
Wedding written by W.S. Gilbert with music
by his father—though the show itself closed
after 22 performances.
George Grossmith was a prolific
entertainer, and wrote numerous operettas,
nearly 100 musical sketches, and some 600
songs and piano pieces. He wrote two
volumes of memoirs, The Reminiscences of a
Society Clown (1888) and Piano and I (1910).
Yet he is now principally remembered as the
creator (with his brother Weedon) of one of the great characters of English comic fiction:
Charles Pooter.
While George was developing his career
with the Savoy Theatre, his younger brother
Weedon was also demonstrating his talent on
stage. He trained at the West London School
of Art but had little commercial success. Like
his brother, he had a natural ability as a
humorist and developed a stage career, even
playing with Sir Henry Irving. Also like his
brother, he wrote several plays, including The
Night of the Party and The Duffer. He
eventually became manager of Terry’s
Theatre. His irrepressible sense of careless
humour is demonstrated by an existing
photograph of himself sitting in a chair with a
rather large lion cub on his lap. It was taken
in an attempt to cheer up a friend who was ill - but it was certainly not without its dangers.
Pooter first appeared in the pages of
Punch, and his Diary was expanded into book
length for the first publication in 1892. It has
never been out of print. Its many period
references—the fashion for bicycling, the
performance style of Henry Irving—are
enlivened and coloured by the unforgettable
characters, including Carrie, Lupin, Padge, Mr
Gowing and, of course, the inimitable,
accident-prone Mr Pooter himself.
Notes by Nicolas Soames
The music on this recording is taken from the NAXOS catalogue
HOLST St Paul’s Suite
8.550823
Bournemouth Sinfonietta
Richard Studt, conductor
PARRY An English Suite
8.550331
Capella Istropolitana
Adrian Leaper, conductor
PARRY Lady Radnor’s Suite
8.550331
Capella Istropolitana
Adrian Leaper, conductor
Music programmed by Sarah Butcher
