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 is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

produced in partnership with

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

, including '' Tonight's the Night'' (1914), '' Theodore & Co'' (1916) and ''

Yes, Uncle! ''Yes, Uncle!'' is a musical theatre, musical comedy with a book by Austen Hurgon and George Arthurs, music by Nat D. Ayer and lyrics by Clifford Grey. The story is based on the farce ''Le truc du Brésilien'' by Nicolas Nancey and Paul Armont, an ...

'' (1917).

Life and career

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, he was educated at

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. 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 of 168 ...

and in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. 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, producing ''King Kodak'', and his first big success was '' The Gay Parisienne'' 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 ...

, 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 ...

in London, closed in 1903 after the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company discontinued producing its Savoy operas there, was reopened under the management of Laurillard in February 1904 with ''The Love Birds'', by

Raymond Rôze Raymond Rôze (14 July 1873 – 30 March 1920) was an English composer and conductor. Biography He was born in London and the son of the French soprano Marie Roze, Marie Rôze, and the natural son of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princ ...

and Percy Greenbank, 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 Actor-manager, theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End theatre, West End, winning ...

'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 known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

'', 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 for the production of ''Peg O' My Heart'' by John Hartley Manners. Grossmith and Laurillard opened '' Tonight's the Night'', 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 '' Theodore & Co'' (1916). At that theatre, he later produced two shows in 1921: ''Faust on Toast'', a burlesque starring Jack Buchanan, and

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

's play ''The Betrothal'', featuring Bobbie Andrews and Gladys Cooper, with incidental music by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs 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 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 (United States), Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

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, they produced Oscar Asche 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 th ...

!'' 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, New York, U.S. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current des ...

in 1919, where they produced '' Kissing Time'' (1919, with a book by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

and Guy Bolton and music by Ivan Caryll) and '' A Night Out'' (1920). Grossmith and Laurillard also became managers of the Apollo Theatre 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 UK, BritainBernhard Roetzel, Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. B ...

'' (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 (magazine), Punch'' and a Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Trilby (novel), Trilby'', featuring the char ...

novel of the same name, as well as ''Such a Nice Young Man'' by H.F. Maltby, 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'', with a book by John Hastings Turner, lyrics by

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

, and music by Charles Cuvillier at the Adelphi Theatre (1920), ''Don 'Q, with words by Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard 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 theatre, Broadway hit during the 1925–26 season at the Longacre Theatre. Adapted to film six times, it is still perf ...

'' 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 was built by Bertie Crewe 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's ''My Sister and I'' ('' Meine Schwester und ich'' 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