By then, Grossmith had become friendly with many in the music and theatre establishments, including Arthur Sullivan and impresario Richard D ' Oyly Carte ; and Grossmith had the opportunity to perform in Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury and other Sullivan works at charity benefits.

Grossmith was educated at Massingham House on Haverstock Hill in Hampstead, and then at the North London Collegiate in Camden Town and Simpson's School, a local private establishment.

He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg.

He had his first stage success with Theodore & Co in 1916, a production by George Grossmith, Jr. and Edward Laurillard with a score composed by Novello and the young Jerome Kern.

Grossmith took to the professional stage in 1870 with a sketch called Human Oddities, written by his father, and a song called " The Gay Photographer " ( that is, the " carefree " photographer ).

The song, with words by Grossmith's father and music by young Grossmith, concerns a photographer who broke the heart of a young lady named Miss Jenkins ; so she drank his chemicals and died.

In late 1870, the younger Grossmith appeared on his own with a nightly spot at the " old Polytechnic " in Regent Street, where comic sketches alternated with scientific and serious lectures for the entertainment of the public.

Grossmith toured in the summer of 1871 with Mr and Mrs Howard Paul and occasionally afterwards.

After singing for Sullivan, upon meeting Gilbert, Grossmith wondered aloud if the role shouldn't be played by " a fine man with a fine voice ".

Other comic operas by Grossmith during these years included Mr Guffin ’ s Elopement ( 1882 ) and A Peculiar Case ( 1884, both with libretti by Arthur Law ) and The Real Case of Hide and Seekyll ( 1886 ).

Later, however, Grossmith said that the experience of writing with Gilbert was one of the happiest of his life.

In 1892, Grossmith collaborated with his brother Weedon Grossmith to expand a series of amusing columns they had written in 1888 – 89 for Punch.

Grossmith had become the most popular solo entertainer of his day, and his tours earned him far more than he had earned while performing with the D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company.

In 1894 – 95, however, Gilbert enticed Grossmith to take the role of George Griffenfeld in His Excellency, with music by Frank Osmond Carr.

An 1896 interview of Grossmith reveals him feeling his age and considering the end of his touring career, while enjoying time spent at home with his family, dogs and antique piano collection.

In his will, dated 26 October 1908, Grossmith left small bequests to a variety of charities and persons ; 2, 000 pounds, artworks and heirlooms to each of his children ( except that Lawrence did not receive a specific cash bequest ), his son George receiving also " two silver bowls presented to him by Sullivan and Carte the ivory baton with which he conducted the orchestra on the occasion of his said son's first appearance on the stage " in Haste to the Wedding ; and smaller bequests to his children's spouses and his nieces, nephews, grandchildren and some cousins, with the residuary estate shared equally by his children ( although the residuary estate was not large ).

Walter Weedon Grossmith ( 9 June 1854 – 14 June 1919 ), better known as Weedon Grossmith, was an English writer, painter, actor and playwright, best known as co-author of The Diary of a Nobody ( 1892 ) with his famous brother, music hall comedian and Gilbert and Sullivan star, George Grossmith.

As an actor he specialised in comedy roles, and his typical characters, harassed and scheming, became so identified with him that the " Weedon Grossmith part " became a regular feature of the theatre of his day.

In 1891, in partnership with Brandon Thomas, Grossmith presented and appeared in a triple bill, which included A Pantomime Rehearsal.

* 1847 – George Grossmith, English actor and writer ( d. 1912 )

These included George Grossmith, the principal comic ; Rutland Barrington, the lyric baritone ; Richard Temple, the bass-baritone ; and Jessie Bond, the mezzo-soprano soubrette.

George Grossmith | Grossmith as Bunthorne in Patience ( opera ) | Patience

* March 1 – George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer ( b. 1847 )

* December 7 – George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer ( d. 1912 )

* June 6 – George Grossmith, Jr., British actor ( b. 1874 )

His two hundred clients eventually included Charles Gounod, Jacques Offenbach, Adelina Patti, Mario, Clara Schumann, Antoinette Sterling, Edward Lloyd, Mr. and Mrs. German Reed, George Grossmith, Matthew Arnold, James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.

George Grossmith as Robin Oakapple

Mr. ( George ) Grossmith was in the same plight ".

" George Grossmith, playing Sir Joseph, went before the curtain to calm the panicked audience.

The Wodehouse scholar Norman Murphy believes George Grossmith, Jr. to have been the inspiration for Bertie Wooster.

* George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith, actors and writers, lived at 5 Canonbury Place

George and Weedon Grossmith locate their aspirational Mr Pooter in Tufnell Park ( Upper Holloway ) in Diary of a Nobody.

* The Diary of a Nobody, an English comic novel written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon Grossmith.

* " Moon Love " w. George Grossmith, Jr. & P. G. Wodehouse m. Jerome Kern

* The Beauty Prize ( Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics and Book: P. G. Wodehouse and George Grossmith ).

* The Cabaret Girl ( Music: Jerome Kern, Book and Lyrics: P. G. Wodehouse and George Grossmith, Jr .) London production opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 19 and ran for 361 performances

Starring May de Sousa, George Grossmith Jr., Gertie Millar, Robert Nainby and Edmund Payne.

On 11 March 1925, the musical comedy No, No, Nanette opened at the Palace Theatre starring Binnie Hale and George Grossmith, Jr.

Instead all forms of entertainment were performed: male and female impersonators, Lions Comiques, mime artists and impressionists, trampoline acts and comic pianists, such as John Orlando Parry and George Grossmith, were just a few of the many types of entertainments the audiences could expect to find over the next forty years.

Human Oddities and another sketch, The Yellow Dwarf, were successful for Grossmith, and he took the former work on tour for six months.

Several of the later productions lost money, and Grossmith and Malone ended the partnership.