John Brougham
Encyclopedia
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 dramatist.
Biography
He was born at Dublin. His father was an amateur painter, and died young. His mother was the daughter of a HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
, whom political adversity had forced into exile. John was the eldest of three children. The other two died in youth, and, the father being dead and the widowed mother left penniless, the surviving boy was reared in the family and home of an uncle. He was prepared for college at an academy at Trim, County Meath
Trim, County Meath
Trim is the traditional county town of County Meath in Ireland, although the county town is now Navan. The town was recorded in the 2006 census to have a population of 6,870....
, twenty miles from Dublin, and subsequently was sent to Dublin University. There he acquired classical learning
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
, and formed interesting and useful associations and acquaintances; and there also he became interested in private theatricals. He was a frequent attendant, moreover, at the Theatre Royal in Hawkins Street. The impetus toward his theatrical career was, doubtless, received by him at this time and in this way.
He was educated with the intention of his becoming a surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, and walked the Peth Street Hospital for eight months, but misfortune came upon his uncle, and so the youth was obliged to provide for himself. Before leaving the university he, by chance, had become acquainted with the actress Madame Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris was an English actress and a contralto opera singer, appearing in Mozart and Rossini works. While popular in her time, she was more notable as a theatre producer and manager...
. He went to London in 1830, and, after a brief experience of poverty, suddenly determined to become an actor. He was destitute of everything except fine apparel, and he had actually taken the extreme step of offering himself as a cadet in the service of the East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
; but, being dissuaded by the enrolling officer, who lent him a guinea and advised him to seek for other employment, and happening to meet with a festive acquaintance, he sought recreation at the Tottenham Theatre (afterward the Prince of Wales's) where Madame Vestris was acting.
His acquaintance with Madame Vestris led to him being engaged at the theatre, and he thus made his first appearance on the London stage in July in Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
, in which he played six characters. In 1831 he was a member of Madame Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris
Lucia Elizabeth Vestris was an English actress and a contralto opera singer, appearing in Mozart and Rossini works. While popular in her time, she was more notable as a theatre producer and manager...
's company, and wrote his first play, a burlesque. He remained with Madame Vestris as long as she and Charles Mathews
Charles Mathews
Charles Mathews was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well-known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment...
retained Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, and he collaborated with Dion Boucicault
Dion Boucicault
Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot , commonly known as Dion Boucicault, was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the...
in writing London Assurance
London Assurance
London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...
, the role of Dazzle being one of those with which he became associated. His success at small or "low" comic roles such as Dazzle earned him the nickname "Little Johnny Brougham," a moniker which he embraced and which boosted his popularity with working-class audiences.
In 1840 he managed the Lyceum theatre, for which he wrote several light burlesques, but in 1842 he moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he became a member of WE Burton
William Evans Burton
William Evans Burton , who often went by the nickname Billy, was an English actor, playwright, theater manager and publisher who relocated to the United States.-Early life:...
's company, for which he wrote several comedies. Later he was the manager of Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden
Niblo's Garden was a New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1823 as "Columbia Garden" which in 1828 gained the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and caterer William Niblo. The large theatre that evolved in several...
, and in 1850 opened Brougham's Lyceum, which, like his next speculation, the lease of the Bowery Theatre
Bowery Theatre
The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse in the Bowery neighborhood of New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populist, pro-American management of Thomas Hamblin in the 1830s and 1840s...
, was not a financial success. He was later connected with Wallack
James William Wallack
James William Wallack was an Anglo-American actor and manager, born in London, and brother of Henry John Wallack.Wallack's parents were comedians, who performed at the London minor playhouses and in the British provinces. His first appearance on the stage was as a child at the Surrey Theatre in...
's and Daly
Augustin Daly
John Augustin Daly was an American theatrical manager and playwright active in both the US and UK.-Biography:Daly was born in Plymouth, North Carolina and educated at Norfolk, Va...
's theatres, and wrote plays for both.
In 1860 he returned to London, where he adapted or wrote several plays, including The Duke's Motto for Fechter. After the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
he returned to New York City
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...
. Brougham's theatre was opened in 1869 with his comedy Better Late than Never
Better Late Than Never
Better Late Than Never is the debut full-length album by the ska/reggae band The Slackers, originally released in 1996 on Moon Ska Records...
, but this managerial experience was also a failure, and he took to playing the stock market. His last appearance was in 1879 as O'Reilly, the detective, in Boucicault's Rescued, and he died in New York City
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...
.
Brougham wrote nearly 100 plays, most of them now forgotten. He was the founder of the Lotus Club in New York, and for a time its president. He also edited there in 1852 a comic paper called The Lantern
The Lantern
The Lantern is the name of the official, daily student-published university newspaper at The Ohio State University. It is one of the largest campus newspapers in the United States, reaching a circulation of 15,000....
, and published two collections of miscellaneous writings, A Basket of Chips and The Bunsby Papers. Brougham is said to have been the original of Harry Lorrequer in Charles Lever
Charles Lever
Charles James Lever was an Irish novelist.-Biography:Lever was born in Dublin, the second son of James Lever, an architect and builder, and was educated in private schools. His escapades at Trinity College, Dublin , where he took the degree in medicine in 1831, are drawn on for the plots of some...
's novel. He was twice married, in 1838 to Emma Williams (d. 1865), and in 1844 to Mrs Annette Hawley (d. 1870), both actresses.