Edward Laurillard (20 April 1870 – 7 May 1936) was a cinema and theatre producer in London and New York City during the first third of the 20th century. He is best remembered for promoting the cinema early in the 20th century and for

Edwardian musical comedies Edwardian musical comedy was a form of British musical theatre that extended beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions, beginning in the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the A ...

produced in partnership with

George Grossmith, Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also an important inn ...

, including ''

Tonight's the Night Tonight's the Night may refer to: Films * ''Tonight's the Night'' (1932 film), a 1932 British film starring Leslie Fuller * ''Tonight's the Night'', American title of the 1954 film '' Happy Ever After'', a British comedy starring David Niven * '' ...

'' (1914), ''

Theodore & Co ''Theodore & Co'' is an English musical theatre, musical comedy in two acts with a book by H. M. Harwood and George Grossmith Jr. based on the French comedy ''Théodore et Cie'' by Paul Armont and Nicolas Nancey, with music by Ivor Novello and J ...

'' (1916) and ''

Yes, Uncle! ''Yes, Uncle!'' is a musical comedy by Austen Hurgon and George Arthurs, with music by Nat D. Ayer and lyrics by Clifford Grey (who also wrote ''The Bing Boys are Here'' and the following series of highly successful reviews). The story is based o ...

'' (1917).

Life and career

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, he was educated at

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

and in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Laurillard moved to London, England as a young man.Obituary from ''The Times'', Friday, 8 May 1936; p. 18 He was married and divorced twice.

Early career

In 1894, Laurillard became manager of

Terry's Theatre Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre in the Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923. History The theatre was built in 1887, near Fountain's Court, on the site of a ...

, producing ''King Kodak'', and his first big success was ''

The Gay Parisienne ''The Gay Parisienne'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with a libretto by George Dance (dramatist), George Dance. It premiered at the Opera House in Northampton, England, in October 1894, with music by Ernest Rousden.Adams, William Dav ...

'' at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

, which introduced the hit song "Sister Mary Jane's Top Note." Other early productions included ''My Old Dutch'' and ''Oh! Susannah'', after which he toured the United States. The

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Pala ...

in London, closed in 1903 after the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

discontinued producing its

Savoy opera Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impr ...

s there, was reopened under the management of Laurillard in February 1904 with ''The Love Birds'', by Raymond Rôze and

Percy Greenbank Percy Greenbank (24 January 1878 – 9 December 1968) was an English lyricist and librettist, best known for his contribution of lyrics to a number of successful Edwardian musical comedies in the early years of the 20th century. His older brothe ...

, starring

, who would later become Laurillard's producing partner.Biography of George Grossmith, Jr. containing information about the Winter Garden Theatre's productions from 1919 to 1926
/ref> During the First World War he became manager of the New Gallery Cinema in Regent Street and built a group of 25 cinemas. He screened

Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progra ...

's film of ''

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

'', one of the first films of a big stage production. With Grossmith, he brought the ethnic comedy hit, ''Potash and Perlmutter'' by Montague Glass, to London in 1914 for a long run at the Queen's Theatre. He was then the manager of the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

for the production of ''Peg O' My Heart'' by

John Hartley Manners John Hartley Manners (10 August 1870 – 19 December 1928) was a London-born playwright of Irish extraction who wrote ''Peg o' My Heart'', which starred his wife, Laurette Taylor, on Broadway in one of her greatest stage triumphs. Biography ...

. Grossmith and Laurillard opened ''

'', based on the farce ''Pink Dominoes'', at the Shubert Theatre in New York in 1914, the first Gaiety show to be produced in New York before opening in London. He then moved to the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1915. At the

Prince of Wales Theatre The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...

, Grossmith and Laurillard had successes with ''Mr Manhattan'' (1916) and ''

'' (1917). At the Gaiety Theatre, Laurillard's biggest hit was ''

'' (1916). At that theatre, he later produced two shows in 1921: ''Faust on Toast'', a burlesque starring

Jack Buchanan Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George G ...

, and

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

's play ''The Betrothal'', featuring Bobbie Andrews and

Gladys Cooper Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television. Beginning as a teenager in Edwardian musi ...

, with incidental music by

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (10 August 1889 – 12 May 1960) was a prolific and versatile English composer. Though best known for his choral music and, in particular, songs, Gibbs also devoted much of his career to the amateur choral and festival mov ...

and costumes by

Charles Ricketts Charles de Sousy Ricketts (2 October 1866 – 7 October 1931) was a British artist, illustrator, author and printer, known for his work as a book designer and typographer and for his costume and scenery designs for plays and operas. Ricketts ...

Later years

Grossmith and Laurillard leased the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

to produce several shows from 1917 to 1921. These included '' Arlette'' (1917), ''Baby Bunting'' by

Fred Thompson Freddie Dalton Thompson (August 19, 1942 – November 1, 2015) was an American politician, attorney, lobbyist, columnist, actor, and radio personality. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Tennessee f ...

and Worton David (1919), ''The Great Lover'', by Leo Ditrichstein, Frederic Hatton, and Fanny Hatton (1920), and ''Out to Win'', by Roland Pertwee and Dion Clayton Calthrop (1921). At the

Alhambra Theatre The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as the Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two yea ...

, they produced

Oscar Asche John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical ''Chu Chin C ...

and

Dornford Yates Cecil William Mercer (7 August 1885 – 5 March 1960), known by his pen name Dornford Yates, was an English writer and novelist whose novels and short stories, some humorous (the ''Berry'' books), some Thriller (genre), thrillers (the ''Chandos ...

's conception of ''

Eastward Ho ''Eastward Hoe'' or ''Eastward Ho!'' is an early Jacobean-era stage play written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston. The play was first performed at the Blackfriars Theatre by a company of boy actors known as the Children of the ...

!'' in 1919. The partners also purchased the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

in 1919, where they produced ''

Kissing Time ''Kissing Time'', and an earlier version titled ''The Girl Behind the Gun'', are musical comedies with music by Ivan Caryll, book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, and additional lyrics by Clifford Grey. The story is based on the 191 ...

'' (1919, with a book by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeev ...

and

Guy Bolton Guy Reginald Bolton (23 November 1884 – 4 September 1979) was an Anglo-American playwright and writer of musical comedies. Born in England and educated in France and the US, he trained as an architect but turned to writing. Bolton preferred w ...

and music by

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later N ...

) and '' A Night Out'' (1920). Grossmith and Laurillard also became managers of the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in 1920 (they had produced ''The Only Girl'' there in 1916 and ''Tilly of Bloomsbury'' there in 1919), producing ''

Trilby A trilby is a narrow-brimmed type of hat. The trilby was once viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is sometimes called the "brown trilby" in Britain Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble. and ...

'' (1922), which was based on the 1894

George du Maurier George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald d ...

novel of the same name, as well as ''Such a Nice Young Man'' by

H.F. Maltby Henry Francis Maltby (25 November 1880 – 25 October 1963) was a prolific writer for the London stage and British cinema from after the First World War, until the 1950s. He also appeared in many films. Life and career Born in Ceres, Cape Col ...

, among others over the next three years. After this, Grossmith and Laurillard terminated their partnership. Other shows that Laurillard produced in the 1920s included ''

The Naughty Princess ''The Naughty Princess'' is an opéra bouffe with music by Charles Cuvillier, book by J. Hastings Turner, and lyrics by Adrian Ross. The work, adapted from ''La reine joyeuse'' by Cuvillier and Andre Barde, depicts a princess with very modern i ...

'', with a book by

John Hastings Turner John Hastings Turner (16 December 1892 - 29 February 1956), frequently referred to as Hastings Turner or J. Hastings Turner, was an English novelist, dramatist and theatre director. His works were filmed and performed on stage and in film in Br ...

, lyrics by

Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes (23 December 1859 – 11 September 1933), better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...

, and music by

Charles Cuvillier Charles Cuvillier (24 April 1877 – 14 February 1955) was a French composer of operetta. He won his greatest successes with the operettas ''La reine s'amuse'' (1912, played as ''The Naughty Princess'' in London) and with ''The Lilac Domino'', wh ...

at the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

(1920), ''Don 'Q, with words by

Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard Major Hesketh Vernon Prichard, later Hesketh-Prichard (17 November 1876 – 14 June 1922) was an explorer, adventurer, writer, big-game hunter, marksman and cricketer who made a significant contribution to sniping practice within the British Ar ...

with and music by Charles Essen (1921), ''The Smith Family'' at the Empire Theatre in 1922 and ''

The Butter and Egg Man ''The Butter and Egg Man'' is a 1925 play by George S. Kaufman, the only play he wrote without collaborating. It was a Broadway hit during the 1925–26 season at the Longacre Theatre. Adapted to film six times, it is still performed on stages tod ...

'' at the

Garrick Theatre The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick. It opened in 1889 with ''The Profligate'', a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play ...

in 1927. The

Piccadilly Theatre The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, London, England. Early years Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone ...

was built by

Bertie Crewe William Robert 'Bertie' Crewe (1860 – 10 January 1937) was one of the leading English theatre architects in the boom of 1885 to 1915. Biography Born in Essex and partly trained by Frank Matcham, Crewe and his contemporaries W.G.R. Sprague an ...

and Edward A. Stone, for Laurillard's production company in 1928, opening with ''Blue Eyes'', a romantic musical with music by Kern and book and lyrics by Bolton and Graham John.Information from ''Great Windmill Street Area', Survey of London'' volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963), pp. 41–56. Date accessed: 20 October 2007.
/ref> Laurillard also brought to London

Ralph Benatzky Ralph Benatzky (5 June 1884 – 16 October 1957), born in Mährisch Budwitz (Moravské Budějovice) as Rudolph Franz rantišekJosef Benatzky, was an Austrian composer of Moravian origin. He composed operas and operettas, such as ''Casanova'' ( ...

's ''My Sister and I'' (''

Meine Schwester und ich ''Meine Schwester und ich'' (''My Sister and I'') is a musical comedy in two acts with prelude and postlude. Ralph Benatzky composed the music and also wrote the libretto together with Robert Blum. Benatzky based the work on a contemporary comedy ...

'' aka ''Meet My Sister'') in 1931. In his last years, he moved to New York and also spent some time in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Notes

References

External links

Information about several Laurillard plays and musicals from 1910 to 1919
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurillard, Edward English theatre managers and producers American theatre managers and producers 1870 births 1936 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century theatre managers