Early life George Grossmith was born in
Islington, London, and grew up in St. Pancras and
Hampstead, London. 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. His mother was Louisa Emmeline Grossmith née Weedon (d. 1882). Over the years, Grossmith's father spent less of his time at Bow Street and more of it touring as a performer. As a young man, Grossmith was usually credited as "Jnr" to distinguish him from his father, especially when they performed together, but for most of his career, he was credited simply as "George Grossmith". Later, his actor-playwright-theatre manager son was credited as
George Grossmith "Jr" rather than "III"; some sources confuse the two men. Grossmith had a younger sister, Emily, and younger brother,
Weedon. In 1855, he went to boarding school at Massingham House on Haverstock Hill in the district of
Hampstead. There he studied the piano and began to amuse his friends and teachers with shadow pantomimes, and later by playing the piano by ear. His family moved to Haverstock Hill when young Grossmith was 10, and he became a day student. At the age of 12, he transferred to the
North London Collegiate School in
Camden Town. He was back in St. Pancras by age 13. He was an avid amateur photographer and painter as a teenager, but it was his brother Weedon who went to art school. 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). He also joined his father in his entertainments, lectures, and imitations, and began to add music to the entertainments, which his father had not done.
Early performing career Young Grossmith received some recognition for amateur songs and sketches at private parties and, beginning in 1864, at
penny readings. He also participated in a small number of theatricals as an amateur, including playing John Chodd Jr. in Robertson's play,
Society, at the
Gallery of Illustration, in 1868. The after-piece was a
burlesque, written by Grossmith's father, on the
Dickens play
No Thoroughfare. He then played the title role in
Paul Pry, a comedy by Poole, also at the Gallery of Illustration, in 1870. But he and his father felt that his talents lay in "sketch" comedy rather than theatre. 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. Grossmith took to the professional stage in 1870 with a sketch called
Human Oddities, written by his father, and a song called "The Gay Photographer" (that is, the "carefree" photographer). 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. Also in 1871, at the Polytechnic, he performed three more sketches,
The Puddleton Penny Readings,
Theatricals at Thespis Lodge On 14 February 1872, Grossmith gave a sketch parody of a penny reading at the
Gaiety Theatre, London, since on
Ash Wednesday, theatres refrained from presenting costumed performances out of respect for the holiday. At the time, coincidentally, the Gaiety was presenting
Thespis,
Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration. Throughout these years, Grossmith continued working at Bow Street during the day. 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. and Cordelia Rosa (1879–1943). The family lived initially in
Marylebone before moving, about 1885, to Dorset Square nearby. 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. Young Grossmith's sketches at this time included
The Puddleton Penny Readings,
Our Choral Society and
In the Stalls. They toured almost constantly for the following three years, but they returned to see their families in London on weekends. Around this time, he met and became firm friends with
Fred Sullivan, and afterwards, he met Sullivan's brother
Arthur. 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. Later, these parties would often occur late in the evening after Grossmith performed at the
Savoy Theatre. In 1876, he collaborated with
Florence Marryat, the author and reciter, on
Entre Nous. This piece consisted of a series of piano sketches, alternating with scenes and costumed recitations, including a two-person "satirical musical sketch", really a short
comic opera, called
Cups and Saucers, which they then toured. '', 1877 After entertaining professionally in sketch comedy for seven years, however, Grossmith discovered that his income decreased each year as his family and household expenses increased. He also disliked travelling. 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. (indeed, Gilbert had directed one such performance, in which Grossmith played the judge), and Gilbert had earlier commented favourably on his performance in
Tom Robertson's
Society at the
Gallery of Illustration. Sullivan mentioned to
Arthur Cecil, the leading tenor from the Gallery of Illustration, that he was looking for someone to play the comic title role in his new comic opera,
The Sorcerer. Cecil reminded Sullivan about Grossmith, and Sullivan seized on the idea. Although Grossmith had reservations about cancelling his touring engagements and going into the "wicked" professional theatre (a move that might lose him church and other engagements in the future), and
Richard D'Oyly Carte's backers objected to casting a sketch comedian in the central role of a comic opera, Grossmith was hired. '', 1881 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). However, by 13 February, his physicians pronounced him convalescent, and he resumed the role of Robin by 18 February. During Grossmith's absence, his understudy
Henry Lytton, who would later become the principal comedian of the company, had the opportunity to perform the role in Grossmith's place. '', 1888 Years later, Grossmith's obituary in
The Times noted the comedian's "nimbleness, his diverting tricks, his still more diverting dignity—the dignity of a man of few inches high or round—and his incomparable power of rapid speech and singing." 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." On the other hand, his sketch comedy background had trained Grossmith to improvise comic business. Gilbert and the actor had an exchange during rehearsals for
The Mikado about an improvised moment in which
Jessie Bond pushed Grossmith, as they kneeled before the Mikado, and he rolled completely over. Gilbert requested that they cut out the gag, and Grossmith replied: "but I get an enormous laugh by it". Gilbert replied "So you would if you sat on a pork-pie." The actor, jittery on opening nights, is depicted both on and off stage in the
biographical film,
Topsy Turvy.
Hesketh Pearson wrote in 1935 that Grossmith injected himself with drugs to calm his nerves, and in the film he is shown injecting himself on the opening night of
The Mikado. In his diary, Arthur Sullivan wrote afterwards, "All went very well except Grossmith, whose nervousness nearly upset the piece". Grossmith spoke self-deprecatingly about his own vocal prowess (Sullivan and others disagreed): :Of course, I haven't any voice to speak of, but I have a great register, and Sullivan used to amuse himself by making me sing bass in one number of an opera and tenor in another. In
Ruddygore, Sir Arthur had engaged a man to play the servant, my menial, so to speak, who had an enormous bass voice, and who had to go down to the lower E flat. Singularly enough, he could go down to G, and then he dropped out entirely, and I did the [low E-flat] below. Generally the audience roared with laughter, and it absolutely brought down the house. During his time with the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Grossmith's father and mother died (in 1880 and 1882, respectively). Throughout this period, Grossmith continued to perform his sketches, often late at night after performing at the Savoy, and continued to write new sketches, such as
Amateur Theatricals (1878),
A Juvenile Party (1879),
A Musical Nightmare (1880), and
A Little Yachting (1886). He also wrote the music for
Arthur Law's short comic opera,
Uncle Samuel (1881), the one-act curtain raiser that preceded
Patience on the
Opera Comique programme. His
Cups and Saucers was revived and played with
Pinafore and also played by the company on tour. Other comic operas by Grossmith during these years included ''Mr Guffin's Elopement
(1882) and A Peculiar Case
(1884, both with libretti by Arthur Law) and The Real Case of Hide and Seekyll'' (1886). Grossmith also wrote, composed, and performed in several one-man drawing room sketches, short comic operas or monologues that were given at the Opera Comique or the
Savoy Theatre in place of the companion pieces when shorter matinee programmes were playing. These works included
Beauties on the Beach (1878),
Five Hamlets (1878), and
Holiday Hall (1888). which he continued to do for more than 15 years afterwards. Despite his dislike of travelling, he toured in Britain, Ireland, and, on five occasions, North America. His drawing-room sketches included his own popular songs, such as "See Me Dance the Polka", "The Happy Fatherland", "The Polka and the Choir-boy", "Thou of My Thou", "The French Verbs", "Go on Talking – Don't Mind Me", "I Don't Mind Flies". His new sketches during this period included
Modern Music and Morals (1889),
On Tour; or, Piano and I (1891),
A Seaside Holiday (1892),
Fashionable Music (1892) and
Is Music a Failure? (1892). In 1892–93 he toured North America (his second tour there), writing successful new sketches, "How I Discovered America" and "Baby on the Shore" (1893). , from Chapter VI of
The Diary of a Nobody In 1892, Grossmith collaborated with his brother
Weedon Grossmith to expand a series of amusing columns they had written in 1888–89 for
Punch.
The Diary of a Nobody was published as a novel and has never been out of print since. 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. 1979 and 2007. " Grossmith had become the most popular solo entertainer of his day, and his tours earned him far more than he had earned while performing with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. 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. 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. He was nevertheless persuaded to continue giving his entertainments, which he did on a less frequent basis, until November 1908. 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). ==Writings and compositions; legacy; recordings==