Harry Arthur Saintsbury
Encyclopedia
Harry Arthur Saintsbury, usually called H. A. Saintsbury (18 December 1869 – 19 June 1939) was an English
actor
and playwright
. A leading man, he became well known for his stage interpretation of Sherlock Holmes
, was an early mentor
of Charlie Chaplin
and is considered an authority on the work of Sir Henry Irving
.
Called Arthur by his friends, professionally he used his initials. Most of his plays appeared under the nom-de-plume
of Jay Nibb.
, of the Bank of England
, Saintsbury was born in Chelsea, London
, on 18 December 1869, into a middle-class family. His father had married Sarah Charlotte, second daughter of Robert Lemon, FSA
, of Her Majesty's State Paper Office, at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, on 13 October 1854.
He was educated at St John's College, Hurstpierpoint
, and began his working life as a clerk in the Bank of England.
as a super in Kate Vaughan's revival of Reade
and Taylor
's Masks and Faces. His first leading part was as Captain Temple, touring in Pettitt
and Harris
's melodrama
Human Nature.
As 'Jay Nibb', Saintsbury wrote several plays for the stage. Those produced include Betrayed by a Kiss (1891), The Friend of the People (1893), The Doctor's Shadow (1896), His Relations (1896), The Eleventh Hour (1896, in collaboration with Ronald MacDonald), The Three Musketeers (1898), Chicot the Jester (1898), The First Night (1899), Don Caesar de Bazan (1899), and Jim: a Romance of Cockayne (1903).
Saintsbury made his name as a romantic actor of the "cloak and swords school", and by the end of the 19th century was a considerable force in the Victorian stage. Shortly after the Lyceum Theatre, Birmingham
, opened in May 1901, and before it was renamed the Alexandra Theatre
, its promoters engaged Saintsbury, "the first star from the great outside to walk the theatre's boards". From the middle of June 1901 he was at the new theatre as leading man for ten weeks, playing flamboyantly in costume drama
s such as Jane Shore, David Garrick
, and his own Don Cesar de Bazan.
In 1903, Saintsbury took the thirteen-year-old Charlie Chaplin
under his wing when Chaplin was hired for a small stage part after being sent to meet Saintsbury at the Green Room Club
in Leicester Square
for his approval. He was given the role of 'Sam, a news boy' in Saintsbury's play Jim: a Romance of Cockayne, in which Saintsbury was the leading man. The play ran for two weeks, when Chaplin was given the part of Billy, the page boy of Sherlock Holmes
in William Gillette
's play Sherlock Holmes, in which the title role was again played by Saintsbury. Chaplin was paid two pound
s, ten shilling
s, a week, a good income for a boy.
By 1903, Saintsbury was living at the Green Room Club, which was to remain his home for the rest of his life.
In 1910, Saintsbury played Sherlock Holmes for five months in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
's own stage play of The Speckled Band
. Charles Millward took over the role when the production moved to New York
, but Saintsbury returned as Holmes in a West End
revival of the play in 1921. Saintsbury played the role of Holmes again in a 1916 film, The Valley of Fear, which is believed lost, opposite Booth Conway as Professor Moriarty
. By the time the film was made, Saintsbury had played Holmes more than a thousand times on stage, and by 1921 he had taken this total to 1,400 performances. His interpretation of Holmes was notably restrained and made a powerful impression on the young Charlie Chaplin, who wrote of Saintsbury in 1964:
A former colleague of Sir Henry Irving
, near the end of his own life Saintsbury edited and collated We Saw Him Act: a symposium on the art of Sir Henry Irving, consisting of essays, articles, and anecdotes written by Irving's contemporaries. First published in 1939, the work of editing the book was completed by Cecil Palmer and the result was reprinted in 1969. Palmer noted in his introduction
Saintsbury is now considered an authority on the work of Irving.
He died in London on 19 June 1939.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
. A leading man, he became well known for his stage interpretation of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, was an early mentor
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
of Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
and is considered an authority on the work of Sir Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
.
Called Arthur by his friends, professionally he used his initials. Most of his plays appeared under the nom-de-plume
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
of Jay Nibb.
Early life
The son of Frederic Saintsbury, Esq.Esquire
Esquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
, of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, Saintsbury was born in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
, on 18 December 1869, into a middle-class family. His father had married Sarah Charlotte, second daughter of Robert Lemon, FSA
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, of Her Majesty's State Paper Office, at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, on 13 October 1854.
He was educated at St John's College, Hurstpierpoint
Hurstpierpoint College
Hurstpierpoint College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4–18, located just to the north of the village of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex in the lee of the South Downs...
, and began his working life as a clerk in the Bank of England.
Career
In March, 1887, Saintsbury made his first appearance on stage at the Opera Comique TheatreOpera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
as a super in Kate Vaughan's revival of Reade
Charles Reade
Charles Reade was an English novelist and dramatist, best known for The Cloister and the Hearth.-Life:Charles Reade was born at Ipsden, Oxfordshire to John Reade and Anne Marie Scott-Waring; William Winwood Reade the influential historian , was his nephew. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford,...
and Taylor
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine...
's Masks and Faces. His first leading part was as Captain Temple, touring in Pettitt
Henry Pettitt
Henry Alfred Pettitt , was a British actor and dramatist.With Augustus Harris, he wrote the play Burmah, produced on Broadway in 1896. With G. R...
and Harris
Augustus Harris
Sir Augustus Henry Glossop Harris , was a British actor, impresario, and dramatist.-Early life:Harris was born in Paris, France, the son of Augustus Glossop Harris , who was also a dramatist, and his wife, née Maria Ann Bone, a theatrical costumier...
's melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
Human Nature.
As 'Jay Nibb', Saintsbury wrote several plays for the stage. Those produced include Betrayed by a Kiss (1891), The Friend of the People (1893), The Doctor's Shadow (1896), His Relations (1896), The Eleventh Hour (1896, in collaboration with Ronald MacDonald), The Three Musketeers (1898), Chicot the Jester (1898), The First Night (1899), Don Caesar de Bazan (1899), and Jim: a Romance of Cockayne (1903).
Saintsbury made his name as a romantic actor of the "cloak and swords school", and by the end of the 19th century was a considerable force in the Victorian stage. Shortly after the Lyceum Theatre, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, opened in May 1901, and before it was renamed the Alexandra Theatre
Alexandra Theatre
The New Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as The Alex, is a theatre on Station Street in Birmingham, England.Construction of the theatre commenced in 1900 and was completed in 1901. The architects were Owen & Ward. The theatre was opened on 27 May 1901 as the Lyceum Theatre on John Bright Street;...
, its promoters engaged Saintsbury, "the first star from the great outside to walk the theatre's boards". From the middle of June 1901 he was at the new theatre as leading man for ten weeks, playing flamboyantly in costume drama
Costume drama
A costume drama or period drama is a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era.The term is usually used in the context of film and television...
s such as Jane Shore, David Garrick
David Garrick (play)
David Garrick is a comic play written in 1864 by Thomas William Robertson about the famous 18th century actor and theatre manager, David Garrick....
, and his own Don Cesar de Bazan.
In 1903, Saintsbury took the thirteen-year-old Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
under his wing when Chaplin was hired for a small stage part after being sent to meet Saintsbury at the Green Room Club
Green Room Club
The Green Room Club was a London gentlemen's club, primarily for actors, but also for lovers of the theatre & the arts. It was established in 1877 and was dissolved in 2000.-History:...
in Leicester Square
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
for his approval. He was given the role of 'Sam, a news boy' in Saintsbury's play Jim: a Romance of Cockayne, in which Saintsbury was the leading man. The play ran for two weeks, when Chaplin was given the part of Billy, the page boy of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
in William Gillette
William Gillette
William Hooker Gillette was an American actor, playwright and stage-manager in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who is best remembered today for portraying Sherlock Holmes....
's play Sherlock Holmes, in which the title role was again played by Saintsbury. Chaplin was paid two pound
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
s, ten shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s, a week, a good income for a boy.
By 1903, Saintsbury was living at the Green Room Club, which was to remain his home for the rest of his life.
In 1910, Saintsbury played Sherlock Holmes for five months in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's own stage play of The Speckled Band
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It is one of four Sherlock Holmes stories that can be classified as a locked...
. Charles Millward took over the role when the production moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, but Saintsbury returned as Holmes in a West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
revival of the play in 1921. Saintsbury played the role of Holmes again in a 1916 film, The Valley of Fear, which is believed lost, opposite Booth Conway as Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
. By the time the film was made, Saintsbury had played Holmes more than a thousand times on stage, and by 1921 he had taken this total to 1,400 performances. His interpretation of Holmes was notably restrained and made a powerful impression on the young Charlie Chaplin, who wrote of Saintsbury in 1964:
A former colleague of Sir Henry Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
, near the end of his own life Saintsbury edited and collated We Saw Him Act: a symposium on the art of Sir Henry Irving, consisting of essays, articles, and anecdotes written by Irving's contemporaries. First published in 1939, the work of editing the book was completed by Cecil Palmer and the result was reprinted in 1969. Palmer noted in his introduction
Saintsbury is now considered an authority on the work of Irving.
He died in London on 19 June 1939.
Publications
- Betrayed by a Kiss (play, 1891, as Jay Nibb)
- The Friend of the People (play, 1893, as Jay Nibb)
- The Doctor's Shadow (play, 1896, as Jay Nibb)
- His Relations (play, 1896, as Jay Nibb)
- The Eleventh Hour (play, 1896, as Jay Nibb, in collaboration with Ronald MacDonald)
- The Three Musketeers (play, 1898, as Jay Nibb)
- Chicot the Jester (play, 1898, as Jay Nibb)
- The First Night (play, 1899, as Jay Nibb)
- Don Caesar de Bazan (play, 1899, as Jay Nibb)
- Jim: a Romance of Cockayne (play, 1903, as H. A. Saintsbury)
- The "Speckled band" on its errand of death: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's new play at the Adelphi (Illustrated London News & Sketch, 1910, with Cyrus Cunfo)
- The Cardinals' Collation (freely adapted from the Portuguese of Julio Dantas) (Cecil Palmer, 1926)
- We Saw Him Act: a symposium on the art of Sir Henry Irving (ed. by Saintsbury, 1939)