(b London, 11 May 1874; d London, 6 June 1935). English performer, lyricist, librettist and producer, son of george Grossmith (i). He is sometimes called George Grossmith III to distinguish him from his father and grandfather, both also called George Grossmith. He made his début in Haste to the Wedding (1892), written by his father and W.S. Gilbert. Small parts followed until Morocco Bound (1893) which typecast him for life as an aristocratic ‘silly ass’. Starting with The Shop Girl (L. Monckton; 1894) he appeared regularly at the Gaiety Theatre, Daly’s and the Prince of Wales in nearly 20 musical comedies in as many years. As leading comedian, he often interpolated songs into shows, sometimes supplying his own lyrics, as with the American hit ‘Yip-I-Addy-I-Ay’ in Our Miss Gibbs (I. Caryll and Monckton; 1909). During World War I Tonight’s the Night opened in the USA and he made famous the Kern standard ‘They didn’t believe me’.
Grossmith formed management companies, from 1914 to 1921 with Edward Laurillard with whom he opened the Winter Garden Theatre in 1919, and with J.A.E. Malone from 1921 to 1926, with whom he produced such shows as The Cabaret Girl (J. Kern; 1922) and Primrose (G. Gershwin; 1924). Failing to secure the rights to No, No, Nanette Grossmith nevertheless appeared in it at the Palace Theatre (V. Youmans; 1925).
For decades he gauged popular taste, importing the latest shows, hit songs, fashions and dances from America and Europe. He set up the first cabaret-diner in London and co-created the first English revues, including the successful Bing Boy series during World War I. As a talent spotter he gave early opportunities to Ivor Novello and Noël Coward as both actors and writers, and encouraged Kern, with whom he formed a fruitful writing partnership along with P.G. Wodehouse. His collaborative musicals, however, were more successful than his solo works, and his strength lay as a catalyst, stylist and joke writer. He was appointed Programme Adviser at the the BBC on the recommendation of Marconi.
In 1930 Grossmith embarked on a film career in England, France and America, founding London Films with Alexander Korda. In 1932, as manager of Drury Lane, he introduced Richard Tauber to the London stage in Lehár’s Das Land des Lächelns and presented the première of Coward’s Cavalcade. His death from cancer prevented a promised knighthood.
His wife Adelaide Astor (1873–1951) played small parts in musical shows with her future husband, and their daughter Ena Grossmith (1896–1944) also appeared occasionally in musicals. George’s younger brother Lawrence (Randall) Grossmith (1877–1944) followed him in similar and sometimes the same stage roles before finding fame as a screen actor.
GänzlBMT
G. Grossmith: G.G. (London, 1933) [autobiography]
S. Naylor: Gaiety and George Grossmith (London, 1913)
D. Forbes-Winslow: Daly’s (London, 1944)
W. Macqueen-Pope: Gaiety (London, 1949)
LEON BERGER