Francis Burnand
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Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (November 29, 1836 – April 21, 1917), often credited as F. C. Burnand, was an editor of Punch, taking over from Tom Taylor in 1880, until 1906, when he was succeeded by Sir Owen Seaman. He was also a prolific humorist and writer, creating almost 200 burlesques, farces, pantomimes and other works. He was knighted in 1902.
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[edit] Life and career
Burnand studied at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge (where he founded the Amateur Dramatic Club) and studied first to become a priest and then an attorney, practicing a little. But he found that his talents lay in writing farce, pantomime, burlesque and extravaganza for the London stage.
He was a contributor to the humor journals Fun, and then Punch, writing for that magazine for 45 years and serving as editor for 26 years, retiring in 1906.
In 1860, Burnand married Cecilia Victoria Ranoe, an actress. She died in 1870, and he married Rosina Payson Jones, a widow, in 1874 and sister of his first wife. Burnand lived for much of his life in Ramsgate. He died at the age of 80.
[edit] Stage works
Burnand's first production on the professional stage was a burlesque entitled, Dido, produced at the St. James's Theatre on February 11, 1860. This was followed by The Iles of St. Tropez (1860); Fair Rosamond (1862); and The Deal Boatman (1863). His most memorable early success was Ixion, or the Man at the Wheel (1863), a musical spoof that found audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Other notable early works included Windsor Castle (1865) and the very successful burlesque, Black Eyed Susan, in 1866. Burnand also translated several of Jacques Offenbach's early hits for the London stage.
In 1866, Burnand wrote the comic opera Cox and Box, collaborating with Arthur Sullivan. The opera was based on the farce Box and Cox, written by John Maddison Morton. Cox and Box became a hit and was frequently revived, later becoming a staple companion piece for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and retaining popularity today. Its initial success encouraged its authors to write the two-act opera, The Contrabandista (1867), revised and expanded as The Chieftain (1894), which did not achieve great popularity in either version. In 1869, Burnand wrote The Turn of the Tide, which was a success at Queen's Theatre. Dozens of works followed in the 1870s, including Poll and Partner Joe, (1871), Artful Cards, (1877), Proof (1878), The Forty Thieves (1878), Our Club (1878) and Betsy (1879).
One of Burnand's biggest successes was the burlesque of the aesthetic movement, The Colonel, (1881), which made so much money for actor-manager Edgar Bruce that he was able to build the Prince of Wales Theatre). The Colonel, satirising and exploiting the craze for aesthetic art, was based on The Serious Family, a play by Morris Barnett. The play beat Gilbert and Sullivan's similarly themed comic opera, Patience (opera), to the stage by several months. For the Gaiety Theatre, London, Burnand wrote a burlesque on The Tempest entitled Ariel in 1883, with music by Meyer Lutz, and starring Nellie Farren and Arthur Williams.[1] He wrote several works around 1889 and 1890 with Edward Solomon.
In 1890, Burnand wrote Captain Therèse, followed in 1891 by a successful English-language version of Edmond Audran's operetta, La cigale et la fourmi (the grasshopper and the ant) retitled La Cigale, followed in 1891 by an English-language version of Audran's Miss Helyett, retitled as Miss Decima. Burnand's The Saucy Sally, premiered in 1892, and Mrs. Ponderbury’s Past, debuted in 1895. Burnand's 1897 comic opera, His Majesty, with music by Alexander Mackenzie did not catch on despite the contributions of Adrian Ross and a cast including Ilka Palmay, George Grossmith and Walter Passmore.[2] In collaboration with J. Hickory Wood, Burnand wrote a pantomime of Cinderella produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1905, and he was partly responsible for a pantomime of Aladdin for the same theatre in 1909.
Burnand used his position as the editor of Punch to boycott the works of his rival playwright, W. S. Gilbert, refusing to give the Savoy Operas reviews in the magazine.[3]
[edit] Books
His well-known book, Happy Thoughts was originally published in Punch in 1863–64 and frequently reprinted. This was followed by My Time and What I’ve Done with It (1874); Personal Reminiscences of the A.D.C., Cambridge, (1880); The Incompleat Angler (1887); Very Much Abroad (1890); Rather at Sea (1890); Quite at Home (1890); and The Real Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1893). He also wrote Personal Reminiscences of the A.D.C., Cambridge, in 1880, and Records and Reminiscences, in 1904.
[edit] Personality
Comedian George Grossmith wrote: "I think Frank Burnand is the most amusing man to meet. He is brimful of good humour. He will fire off joke after joke, and chaff you out of your life if he gets a chance. His chaff is always good-tempered. No one minds being chaffed by Burnand. I will not sing a song when he is in the room if I can possibly help it. He will sit in front of me at the piano, and either stare with a pained and puzzled look during my comic song, or he will laugh in the wrong places, or, what is worse still, take out his pocket-handkerchief and weep.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ NY Times article that includes a brief review of Ariel
- ^ Information about His Majesty
- ^ Furniss Harry. The Two Pins Club (1925) London, excerpted in The Gilbert Society Journal, pp. 315-16, vol.1, no.10, Spring 1999.
- ^ Grossmith, George (1888). A Society Clown: Reminiscences. Bristol/London: Arrowsmith. Chapter 8 Available online here
[edit] References
- Parker, John, comp. & ed. (1914). Who’s Who in the Theatre. London: Pitman, 84.
- "F. C. Burnand". Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976. (1978). Detroit: Gale. 335.
- Who’s Who in the Theatre, comp. & ed. John Parker, 2nd. ed., London: Pitman, 1914, p. 84
- Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912–1976, Detroit: Gale, 1978, p. 335
[edit] External links
