Brandon Thomas

Walter Brandon Thomas (24 December 1850 – 19 June 1914) was an English actor, playwright and song writer. He is best known for writing the comic play "Charley's Aunt" (1892), which broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances. [ [http://www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/th-longr.htmlml Article about longest theatre runs, 1875-1920] ]

Biography

Thomas was born in Liverpool, England. He worked for a time as a clerk but preferred the stage and began performing in music halls and drawing room entertainments, playing the piano, singing his own songs. [ [http://www.archive.org/stream/myselfothers00milluoft/myselfothers00milluoft_djvu.txt Millward, Jessie. "Myself and Others" (1923, Hutchinson & Co., London), p. 210] ] In 1879, he joined the company of Mr. and Mrs. Kendal and continued acting for many years. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A0CE3DA133EE733A25753C2A9609C946596D6CF&oref=slogin Information from "New York Times" obituary, June 20, 1914, p. 9] ] In 1885, Thomas toured the United States as the leading man with the company of Rosina Vokes, together with Weedon Grossmith. His first big London success was in "Sweet Lavender" by Arthur Wing Pinero. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/content/articles/2007/09/20/charleys_aunt_huddersfield_feature.shtml Profile of Thomas] ]

"Charley's Aunt" premiered at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds on 29 February 1892. Thomas himself played Sir Francis Chesney in the play. [cite book|title=A Dictionary of the Drama|author=William Davenport Adams|year=1904|publisher=Burt Franklin|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=tjwOAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA275&lpg=RA2-PA275&dq=%22charley's+aunt%22+%22globe+theatre%22+1892&source=web&ots=JeqK-DzSrc&sig=vZjpWR9efWOJ0xsWcVbfp3yld0s] The piece then opened in London at the Royalty Theatre on 21 December 1892 and quickly transferred to the larger Globe Theatre on 30 January 1893 to complete its record-breaking run. It also had a major success on Broadway (1893) [ [http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=2504 IBDB listing of Broadway productions of "Charley's Aunt"] ] and had wide international success, with productions in many countries and languages. Also in 1892, Thomas played in W. S. Gilbert's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern", a parody of "Hamlet", at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1895, Thomas starred in the 1895 revival of "The Rivals". Other plays by Thomas include "Comrades", "The Color Sergeant", "The Lodgers", "A Highland Legacy", "The Gold Craze", "Marriage", "The Swordman's Daughter" (adapted from the French by Thomas and Clement Scott, and "A Judge's Memory", among others. He also wrote a number of popular songs.

Thomas died in London and is buried there, in Brompton Cemetery.

Notes

References

*Brandon-Thomas, Jevan, "Charley's aunt's father: A life of Brandon Thomas" D. Saunders (1955)
*cite news|author=|title=Brandon Thomas Dies; Author of "Charley's Aunt" and Other Plays Was Once an Actor.|date=20 June 1914|work=New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A0CE3DA133EE733A25753C2A9609C946596D6CF|accessdate=2008-08-08 obituary, p. 9

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12446 Find-A-Grave biography]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=4507 Brandon Thomas] at the IBDB database