Fred Sullivan

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For the English film director, see Frederick Sullivan.

Frederic Sullivan (25 December 1837(1837-12-25) – 18 January 1877) was an English actor and singer. He is best remembered as the creator of the role of the Learned Judge in Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury, providing a model for the comic roles in the later Savoy Operas composed by his brother Arthur Sullivan.

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[edit] Life and career

Born in Lambeth, Sullivan was the elder brother of composer Arthur Sullivan. He trained as an architectural draftsman but soon found his career as an entertainer. Later, he quipped, "I still draw large houses." (Ayer p. 407) According to Leslie Ayre, Fred sometimes accompanied Arthur to the Chapel Royal and "amuse[d] the boys with comic songs".[1]

Sullivan played Mr. Cox in this 1874 production
Sullivan played Mr. Cox in this 1874 production

Sullivan first appeared in several amateur performances, but his professional London debut is believed to have been as Ali Brown Windsor in a burlesque by Robert Reece, Whittington Junior, and his Sensation Cat, at the New Royalty Theatre in 1870, and as Smart in the accompanying farce Rendezvous.[2] The next year he took the role of Mr. Cox in his brother Arthur's first successful comic opera, Cox and Box, with a libretto by F. C. Burnand.

Sullivan created the role of Apollo in his brother's first collaboration with W. S. Gilbert, Thespis, at the Gaiety Theatre, which ran from December 1871 until March 1872. During this run, he starred in the companion pieces Dearer than Life by H. J. Byron[3] and Ganymede and Galatea. He also appeared at the Gaiety Theatre in 1872 as Patachon in Jacques Offenbach's Les deux aveugles,[2] among other works, and continued to appear at the Gaiety, and at the Holborn Empire Theatre, until 1874. In 1873 at the Gaiety, he appeared in The Magic Fife an Offenbach operetta translation. In 1874, he appeared at the Opera Comique in Ixion Rewheel'd, an Opéra bouffe extravaganza by F. C. Burnand, with music selected by W. C. Levey (the cast included Richard Temple).[2] Sullivan also toured in two of his brother's collaborations with Burnand, Cox and Box and The Contrabandista.

Fred Sullivan as The Learned Judge in Trial by Jury
Fred Sullivan as The Learned Judge in Trial by Jury

For Richard D'Oyly Carte's company, Sullivan created the role of the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury at the Royalty Theatre on March 25, 1875. He also sang the role of Don Andres, the British Viceroy, in Offenbach's La Périchole, which appeared on the same bill. Sullivan was made up for the role of the Learned Judge to look like the Lord Chief Justice. The first-night critics reserved especial praise for his performance: "The greatest 'hit' was made by Mr. F. Sullivan, whose blending of official dignity, condescension, and, at the right moment, extravagant humour, made the character of the Judge stand out with all requisite prominence, and added much to the interest of the piece."[4] The Times concurred: "Mr. F. Sullivan's impersonation of the learned and impressionable Judge deserves a special word of praise for its quiet and natural humour."[5] He continued to appear as the Judge at the Royalty and then at the Opera Comique until 5 May, 1876, except when he played the role in a few matinee performances at the Gaiety Theatre and on tour in 1875, and on tour from May through October 1876. Sullivan's performance was the hit of the show. F. C. Burnand wrote of him: "Fred Sullivan, Arthur's brother, was one of the most naturally comic little men I ever came across. He, too, was a first-rate practical musician.... As he was the most absurd person, so was he the very kindliest. The brothers were devoted to each other...."[6]

Sullivan suffered from chronic ill health and died of liver disease and tuberculosis in Fulham, in 1877, at the age of only 39. Arthur Sullivan's popular song, "The Lost Chord", was composed at Fred's bedside just five days before Fred died, and it is dedicated to his memory.

[edit] Family and legacy

Sullivan married Charlotte Louisa Lacy (1841–1885) in 1862, and they had eight children: Amy Sophie (1863–1947), Florence Louise (1865–1891), Edith Mary (1866–1877), Herbert "Bertie" Thomas (1868–1928), Maud "Cissie" Helen (1870–1940), Frederic Richard ("Dickie") (1872–1937), George Arthur (1874–1919), and William Lacy (1877–1902). Sullivan's death left Charlotte pregnant, with seven children under the age of 14. Edith, however, died shortly after her father. After Fred Sullivan's death, Arthur visited the family often and became guardian to all of the children. In 1881, Charlotte married Captain Benjamin Hutchinson, a man 13 years her junior.[7]

In December 1883, at the urging of Charlotte's brother, William Lacy, Charlotte, her new husband, and six of her seven surviving children emigrated to Los Angeles, California, leaving the oldest son, Bertie, in Arthur Sullivan's sole care. Despite Arthur's reservations about the move to Los Angeles, he paid for the trip and continued to give very substantial financial support to the family.[8]

Charlotte died in January 1885, barely a year after the move to California. Hutchinson, unable to cope with this loss and his responsibilities soon returned to England, leaving the six children to be raised mostly by Charlotte's brother and the older girls, with the financial support of Arthur Sullivan.[9] From June through August 1885, after completing his work on The Mikado, Sullivan travelled to America to visit the family in Los Angeles and take them on a sightseeing trip of the American West, including Yosemite Valley.[10] Arthur Sullivan continued, throughout the rest of his life and in his will, to take good care of Fred's children, continuing to correspond with them and to be concerned with their education, marriages and financial affairs. Bertie stayed with his uncle Arthur for the rest of Arthur's life.[11]

Sullivan is buried at Brompton Cemetery, London, together with his parents, Thomas Sullivan and Mary Clementina Sullivan. It was originally planned that Arthur would also be buried there until Queen Victoria insisted on his interment in St Paul's Cathedral.[12]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Ayre, p. 407
  2. ^ a b c Programmes for Whittington Jr. and Rendezvous
  3. ^ Links to program materials for Thespis and companion pieces
  4. ^ Allen, p. 31, quoting the Daily Telegraph
  5. ^ Allen, p. 31, quoting The Times
  6. ^ Ayer, p. 408
  7. ^ Hayes, pp. 6-8
  8. ^ Hayes, p. 9
  9. ^ Hayes, pp. 10-12
  10. ^ Hayes, pp. 14-22
  11. ^ Hayes, pp. 23-32
  12. ^ The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal, September 1965, p. 310

[edit] References

  • Ainger, Michael (2002). Gilbert and Sullivan – A Dual Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
  • Allen, Reginald; Gale R. D'Luhy (1958). Sir Arthur Sullivan – Composer & Personage. New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library. 
  • Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd.  Introduction by Martyn Green.
  • Jacobs, Arthur (1992). Arthur Sullivan – A Victorian Musician, Second Edition, Portland, OR: Amadeus Press. 
  • Young, Percy M. (1971). Sir Arthur Sullivan. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 
  • Hayes, Scott. Uncle Arthur: The California Connection (2002) Sir Arthur Sullivan Society

[edit] External links