Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Encyclopedia
Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario
, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
and Savoy Hotel
from 1913 to 1948.
Son of the impresario and hotelier Richard D'Oyly Carte
, Rupert inherited the family businesses from his stepmother Helen. After serving in World War I
, he took steps to revitalise the opera company, which had not appeared in Central London since 1909, hiring new designers and conductors to present fresh productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas in seasons in the West End
. The new productions generally retained the original text and music of the operas. Carte launched international and provincial tours, as well as the London seasons, and he released the first complete recordings of the operas. He also rebuilt the half-century-old Savoy Theatre
in 1929, opening the house with a season of Gilbert and Sullivan.
As an hotelier, Carte built on his father's legacy, expanding the Savoy Hotel
, refreshing the other hotels and restaurants in the Savoy group, including Claridge's and the Berkeley Hotel
, and introducing cabaret and dance bands that became internationally famous. He also increased marketing activities, including foreign marketing, of the hotels.
P. G. Wodehouse
based a character in his novels, Psmith
, on a Wykehamist
schoolboy whom he identified as Rupert D'Oyly Carte. At his death, Carte passed the opera company and hotels to his only surviving child, Bridget D'Oyly Carte
. The Gilbert and Sullivan operas, nurtured by Carte and his family for over a century, continue to be produced frequently today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond.
, London, the younger son of the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte
and his first wife Blanche (née Prowse), who died in 1885. Like his brother, Lucas (1872–1907), he was given his father's middle name. He was educated at Winchester College
, noted as among the most intellectually rigorous of English public schools. He then worked for a firm of accountants before joining his father as an assistant in 1894.
In a newspaper interview given in the year of his death, Rupert recalled that as a young man he was entrusted, during his father's illness, with helping W. S. Gilbert
with the first revival of The Yeomen of the Guard
at the Savoy Theatre
. He was elected a director of the Savoy Hotel
Limited in 1898, joining his father and Sir Arthur Sullivan
, who had served on the board since the Savoy Hotel was built. By 1899 he was assistant managing director. Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901, and Rupert's stepmother, the former Helen Lenoir, who had married Richard in 1888, assumed full control of most of the family businesses, which she had increasingly controlled during her husband's decline. Rupert's elder brother, Lucas, a barrister, was not involved in the family businesses and died of tuberculosis, aged 34.
, Simpson's-in-the-Strand
and the Grand Hotel in Rome. At this time, the whole group was officially valued at £2,221,708. He immediately issued £300,000 of debenture
s to raise capital for a large extension to the Savoy (the "East Block"). Like his father, Carte was willing to go to great lengths to secure the best employees for his hotels. When Claridge's needed a new chef in 1904, he secured the services of François Bonnaure, formerly chef at the Élysée Palace
in Paris. The press speculated on how much Carte must have paid to persuade Bonnaure to join him, and compared the younger Carte's audacity with his father's coup in securing Paris's most famous maître d'hôtel, M. Joseph, a few years earlier.
Between 1906 and 1909, Helen Carte, Rupert's stepmother, staged two repertory seasons at the Savoy Theatre
. Directed by Gilbert and received with much success, they revitalised the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
, which had been in decline after Richard D'Oyly Carte's death. In 1912, when theatre censorship was under discussion in Britain, Carte was strongly in favour of retaining censorship, because it gave managements complete certainty about what they could or could not stage without fear of interference by the police or others. He joined with other London theatre managers, including Herbert Beerbohm Tree
, George Edwardes
and Arthur Bourchier
in signing a petition for the retention of censorship. In the same year, together with Herbert Sullivan
and theatre managers including Beerbohm Tree and Squire Bancroft
, Carte was an instigator of a memorial to W. S. Gilbert
at Charing Cross. In 1913, Rupert's stepmother Helen Carte died. She left all her holdings in the Savoy Hotel group, the Savoy Theatre and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company to her stepson.
again until 1919, although it continued to tour in Great Britain. According to theatre writer H. M. Walbrook, "Through the years of the Great War they continued to be on tour through the country, drawing large and grateful audiences everywhere. They helped to sustain the spirits of the people during that stern period, and by so doing they helped to win the victory." Nevertheless, Carte later recalled, "I went and watched the Company playing at a rather dreary theatre down in the suburbs of London. I thought the dresses looked dowdy.... I formed the view that new productions should be prepared, with scenery and dresses to the design of first class artists who understood the operas but who would produce a décor attractive to the new generation." In a 1922 memoir, Henry Lytton
, having admired Richard D'Oyly Carte's keen eye for stagecraft, added, "That 'eye' for stagecraft ... has been inherited in a quite remarkable degree by his son, Mr. Rupert D'Oyly Carte. He, too, has the gift of taking in the details of a scene at a glance, and knowing instinctively just what must be corrected". In 1911, the company hired J. M. Gordon
as stage manager, and Carte later promoted him to director. Gordon, under Carte's supervision, preserved the company's traditions in exacting detail for 28 years.
During World War I
Carte served in the Royal Navy
, and no renovation work could be undertaken. On his return, he put his aims into effect. In an interview in The Observer
in August 1919 he set out his policy for staging the operas: "They will be played precisely in their original form, without any alteration to the words, or any attempt to bring them up to date." This uncompromising declaration was modified in a later interview in which he said, "the plays are all being restaged ... Gilbert's words will be unaltered, though there will be some freshness in the method of rendering them. Artists must have scope for their individuality, and new singers cannot be tied down to imitate slavishly those who made successes in the old days."
Carte's first London season, at the Prince's Theatre
, 1919–20, featured ten of the thirteen extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas. These included Princess Ida
, which had its first London performances since the original production. The new productions retained the text and music of the original 1870s and 1880s productions, and director J. M. Gordon preserved much of Gilbert's original direction. As his parents had done, Carte licensed the operas to the J. C. Williamson
company and to amateur companies, but he required all licensees to present them in approved productions that closely followed the libretto, score and D'Oyly Carte production stagings. In an interview with The Times
in 1922, Carte said that the Savoy "tradition" was an expression that was frequently misunderstood: "It did not by any means imply any hidebound stage 'business' or an attempt to standardize the performances of artists so as to check their individual method of expression. All that it implied, in his view, was the highest possible standard of production – with especial attention to clear enunciation.... Many people seemed to think that Gilbert believed in absolutely set methods but this was not by any means the case. He did not hesitate to alter productions when they were revived."
Although he had told the press that the original words and music would not be altered, Carte was willing to make changes in certain cases. In 1919–20, he authorised significant cuts and alterations in both Princess Ida and Ruddigore. In 1921 Cox and Box
was produced in a drastically cut-down version, to allow it to be played as a companion piece with the shorter Savoy operas. He also authorised changes to Gilbert's text: he wrote to The Times in 1948, "We found recently in America that much objection was taken by coloured persons to a word used twice in The Mikado." The word in question was Gilbert's reference to "nigger" (blackface) minstrels, and Carte asked A. P. Herbert
to suggest an acceptable revision. "He made several alternative suggestions, one of which we adopted in America, and it seems well to go on doing so in the British Empire."
Carte commissioned new costumes and scenery throughout his tenure with the company. For his restagings, Carte hired Charles Ricketts
to redesign The Gondoliers
and The Mikado
, the costumes for the latter, created in 1926, being retained by all of the company's subsequent designers. Other redesigns were by Percy Anderson
, George Sheringham
, Hugo Rumbold
and Peter Goffin
, a protégé of Carte's daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte
.
For London seasons, Carte often engaged guest conductors, first Geoffrey Toye
, then Malcolm Sargent
, who examined Sullivan's manuscript scores and purged the orchestral parts of accretions. So striking was the orchestral sound produced by Sargent that the press thought he had retouched the scores, and Carte had the pleasant duty of correcting their error. In a letter to The Times, he noted that "the details of the orchestration sounded so fresh that some of the critics thought them actually new ... the opera was played last night exactly as written by Sullivan." Carte also hired Harry Norris
, who started with the touring company, then was Toye's assistant before becoming musical director. Isidore Godfrey
joined the company as assistant musical director in 1925 and became musical director in 1929, remaining in that post until 1968.
The possibilities of the gramophone appealed to Carte. After World War I, he supervised a series of complete recordings of the scores of the operas on the HMV
label, beginning with The Mikado in 1918. The first nine sets, made between 1918 and 1925, were recorded by the early acoustic process. At first, guest singers were chosen who were known for their ability to record well on this technology. Later in this series, more of the regular members of the company were featured. With the introduction of electrical recording and its greatly improved recording process and sound, a new round of recordings began in 1927. For the electrical series, Carte's own singers were mostly used. Carte also recognised the potential of radio and worked with the BBC
to relay live broadcasts of D'Oyly Carte productions. A 1926 relay of part of a Savoy Theatre performance of The Mikado was heard by up to eight million people. The London Evening Standard noted that this was "probably the largest audience that has ever heard anything at one time in the history of the world." Under Carte, the company continued to make broadcasts during the interwar years. In 1932, The Yeomen of the Guard
became the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be broadcast in its entirety.
. The old house had three tiers; the new one had two. The seating capacity (which had decreased to 986 from its original 1,292) was restored nearly completely, to 1,200. The theatre reopened 135 days later on 21 October 1929, with The Gondoliers
, designed by Ricketts and conducted by Sargent. The critic Ernest Newman
wrote, "I can imagine no gayer or more exhilarating frame for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas than the Savoy as it is now."
Despite its historical connection with Gilbert and Sullivan, most of Carte's London seasons were staged not at the Savoy but at two larger houses: the Prince's (now the Shaftesbury
) Theatre (1919–20, 1921–22, 1924, 1926, 1942 and Sadler's Wells (1935, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1947 and 1948). His three Savoy Theatre seasons were in 1929–30, 1932–33, and 1941. In addition to year-round UK tours, Carte mounted tours of North America in 1927, 1928–29, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1939 and 1947–48). During the 1936 tour an American critic wrote, "If there were only some way of keeping them on this side permanently. I humbly suggest to the New Deal
that it cancel England's war debt in exchange for the D'Oyly Cartians. We should be much the gainer."
Carte was deeply affected by the death of his son Michael in 1932, discussed below. The actor Martyn Green
said, "The heart dropped right out of him. His interest in both the operas and the hotel seemed to fade away." Nevertheless, in 1934 the company made a highly successful eight-month North American tour with Green as its new principal comedian, replacing Henry Lytton
. Carte gave approval for, and was closely consulted about, a 1938 film version of The Mikado produced and conducted by Geoffrey Toye, starring Green and released by Universal Pictures, but his only new stage production after 1932 was of The Yeomen of the Guard
designed in 1939 by Peter Goffin
. The re-staging was regarded as radical, but when Goffin took fright at the storm of controversy, Carte told him, "I don't care what they say about the production. I should care if they said nothing."
On 3 September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II
, the British government ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of all theatres. Carte cancelled the autumn tour and disbanded the company. Theatres were permitted to reopen from 9 September, but it took some weeks to re-form the company. The company resumed touring in Edinburgh
on Christmas Day 1939. It continued to perform throughout the war, but German bombing destroyed the sets and costumes for five of its productions: Cox and Box, The Sorcerer
, H.M.S. Pinafore
, Princess Ida
and Ruddigore. The old productions of Pinafore and Cox and Box were recreated shortly after the war, but the other two operas took longer to rejoin the company's repertory. On the other hand, for the first wartime season, Peter Goffin designed and directed a new production of The Yeomen of the Guard first seen in January 1940, and his new Ruddigore debuted in 1948, shortly after Carte's death. A return of the Company to the U.S. in 1947 was very successful.
and the Savoy Havana Band
were described by The Times as "probably the best-known bands in Europe". In 1927 Carte appointed his opera company's general manager, Richard Collet, to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which began in April 1929.
Until the 1930s, the Savoy group had not thought it necessary to advertise, but Carte and his manager George Reeves-Smith
changed their approach. Reeves-Smith told The Times, "We are endeavouring by intensive propaganda work to get more customers; this work is going on in the U.S.A., in Canada, in the Argentine and in Europe." Towards the end of World War II
, Carte added to the Savoy group the bombed-out site near Leicester Square
of Stone's Chop House, the freehold of which he purchased with a view to reopening the restaurant there on the lines of the group's Simpson's-in-the-Strand. The revived Stone's reopened after Carte's death.
between Paignton
and Kingswear
, named Coleton Fishacre
. The house is still known for its design features and garden with exotic tropical plants. After her parents' divorce, Bridget D'Oyly Carte took over the house, which her father, who lived in London, would visit for long weekends. She sold the house after his death, and it is now owned by the National Trust
.
Carte's private pastimes included gardening, notably at Coleton Fishacre, driving and yachting. He was an early devotee of the motor car and incurred the displeasure of the courts more than once. He was fined £3 for driving at 19 miles an hour in 1902, and the following year he was subject to criminal prosecution for knocking down and injuring a child when driving at the speed of 24 miles an hour. He made "every provision for the comfort of the child", who recovered from the accident. In the years after World War I, he was a frequent competitor in yachting races. From 1919 he raced his yacht "Kali" in the Hamble River class. Later, he owned and raced a 19 ton cutter, "Content".
In 1941, Carte divorced his wife for adultery. The suit was undefended. Lady Dorothy moved to the Bahamas and married St Yves de Verteuil, who had been the co-respondent in the divorce case. De Verteuil died in 1963, and Lady Dorothy de Verteuil died in February 1977.
P. G. Wodehouse
based the character Psmith
, seen in several of his comic novels, on either Rupert D'Oyly Carte or his brother Lucas. In the introduction to his novel Something Fresh, Wodehouse says that Psmith (originally named Rupert, then Ronald) was "based more or less faithfully on Rupert D'Oyly Carte, son of the Savoy theatre man. He was at school with a cousin of mine, and my cousin happened to tell me about his monocle, his immaculate clothes and his habit, when asked by a master how he was, of replying, 'Sir, I grow thinnah and thinnah'." Bridget D'Oyly Carte, however, believed that the Wykehamist
schoolboy described to Wodehouse was not her father but his elder brother Lucas, who was also at Winchester College. Rupert D'Oyly Carte was "shy, reserved and at times distinctly taciturn." Psmith, by contrast, is outgoing and garrulous.
on 23 September 1948. His ashes were scattered on the headland at Coleton Fishacre
. He left an estate valued at £228,436. At his death, the family businesses passed to his daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte. The Savoy hotel group remained under the control of the Carte family and its associates until 1994. Carte's hotels have remained among the most prestigious in London, with the London Evening Standard
calling the Savoy "London's most famous hotel" in 2009. The year after Carte's death, the opera company, which had been the personal possession of Richard and Rupert D'Oyly Carte, became a private company, of which Bridget retained a controlling interest and was chairman and managing director. She inherited a company in strong condition, but the rising costs of mounting professional light opera without any government support eventually became unsustainable, and the company closed in 1982.
The Gilbert and Sullivan operas, nurtured by Carte and his family for over a century, continue to be produced frequently today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. By keeping the Savoy operas popular throughout the mid-20th century, Carte continued to influence the course of the development of modern musical theatre.
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
and Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
from 1913 to 1948.
Son of the impresario and hotelier Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
, Rupert inherited the family businesses from his stepmother Helen. After serving in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he took steps to revitalise the opera company, which had not appeared in Central London since 1909, hiring new designers and conductors to present fresh productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas in seasons in the 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...
. The new productions generally retained the original text and music of the operas. Carte launched international and provincial tours, as well as the London seasons, and he released the first complete recordings of the operas. He also rebuilt the half-century-old Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
in 1929, opening the house with a season of Gilbert and Sullivan.
As an hotelier, Carte built on his father's legacy, expanding the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
, refreshing the other hotels and restaurants in the Savoy group, including Claridge's and the Berkeley Hotel
The Berkeley
The Berkeley is a five star deluxe hotel, located in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London. It is managed by Maybourne Hotel Group, who also manage Claridge's and The Connaught in Mayfair, London.-Description:...
, and introducing cabaret and dance bands that became internationally famous. He also increased marketing activities, including foreign marketing, of the hotels.
P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
based a character in his novels, Psmith
Psmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
, on a Wykehamist
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
schoolboy whom he identified as Rupert D'Oyly Carte. At his death, Carte passed the opera company and hotels to his only surviving child, Bridget D'Oyly Carte
Bridget D'Oyly Carte
Dame Bridget Cicely D'Oyly Carte, DBE , was the granddaughter of impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte...
. The Gilbert and Sullivan operas, nurtured by Carte and his family for over a century, continue to be produced frequently today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond.
Life and career
Early life
Rupert D'Oyly Carte was born in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London, the younger son of the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
and his first wife Blanche (née Prowse), who died in 1885. Like his brother, Lucas (1872–1907), he was given his father's middle name. He was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, noted as among the most intellectually rigorous of English public schools. He then worked for a firm of accountants before joining his father as an assistant in 1894.
In a newspaper interview given in the year of his death, Rupert recalled that as a young man he was entrusted, during his father's illness, with helping W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
with the first revival of The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. He was elected a director of the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
Limited in 1898, joining his father and Sir Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, who had served on the board since the Savoy Hotel was built. By 1899 he was assistant managing director. Richard D'Oyly Carte died in 1901, and Rupert's stepmother, the former Helen Lenoir, who had married Richard in 1888, assumed full control of most of the family businesses, which she had increasingly controlled during her husband's decline. Rupert's elder brother, Lucas, a barrister, was not involved in the family businesses and died of tuberculosis, aged 34.
Taking over the family businesses
In 1903, at the age of 27, Rupert took over his late father's role as chairman of the Savoy group, which included the Savoy Hotel, Claridge's, The Berkeley HotelThe Berkeley
The Berkeley is a five star deluxe hotel, located in Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London. It is managed by Maybourne Hotel Group, who also manage Claridge's and The Connaught in Mayfair, London.-Description:...
, Simpson's-in-the-Strand
Simpson's-in-the-Strand
Simpson's-in-the-Strand is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants. Situated in the Strand, it is part of the Savoy Buildings, which also contain one of the world's most famous hotels, the Savoy....
and the Grand Hotel in Rome. At this time, the whole group was officially valued at £2,221,708. He immediately issued £300,000 of debenture
Debenture
A debenture is a document that either creates a debt or acknowledges it. In corporate finance, the term is used for a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money. In some countries the term is used interchangeably with bond, loan stock or note...
s to raise capital for a large extension to the Savoy (the "East Block"). Like his father, Carte was willing to go to great lengths to secure the best employees for his hotels. When Claridge's needed a new chef in 1904, he secured the services of François Bonnaure, formerly chef at the Élysée Palace
Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, containing his office, and is where the Council of Ministers meets. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris....
in Paris. The press speculated on how much Carte must have paid to persuade Bonnaure to join him, and compared the younger Carte's audacity with his father's coup in securing Paris's most famous maître d'hôtel, M. Joseph, a few years earlier.
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. Directed by Gilbert and received with much success, they revitalised the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
, which had been in decline after Richard D'Oyly Carte's death. In 1912, when theatre censorship was under discussion in Britain, Carte was strongly in favour of retaining censorship, because it gave managements complete certainty about what they could or could not stage without fear of interference by the police or others. He joined with other London theatre managers, including Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
, George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
and Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier
Arthur Bourchier was an English actor and theatre manager. He married and later divorced the actress Violet Vanbrugh....
in signing a petition for the retention of censorship. In the same year, together with Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Sullivan
Herbert Thomas Sullivan was the nephew, heir and biographer of the British composer Arthur Sullivan. After his uncle's death, Sullivan became active in charitable work...
and theatre managers including Beerbohm Tree and Squire Bancroft
Squire Bancroft
Sir Squire Bancroft , born Squire White Butterfield, was an English actor-manager. He and his wife Effie Bancroft are considered to have instigated a new form of drama known as 'drawing-room comedy' or 'cup and saucer drama', owing to the realism of their stage sets.-Early life and career:Bancroft...
, Carte was an instigator of a memorial to W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
at Charing Cross. In 1913, Rupert's stepmother Helen Carte died. She left all her holdings in the Savoy Hotel group, the Savoy Theatre and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company to her stepson.
Revitalising the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
After London seasons in 1906–07 and 1908–09, the opera company did not perform in the West EndWest 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...
again until 1919, although it continued to tour in Great Britain. According to theatre writer H. M. Walbrook, "Through the years of the Great War they continued to be on tour through the country, drawing large and grateful audiences everywhere. They helped to sustain the spirits of the people during that stern period, and by so doing they helped to win the victory." Nevertheless, Carte later recalled, "I went and watched the Company playing at a rather dreary theatre down in the suburbs of London. I thought the dresses looked dowdy.... I formed the view that new productions should be prepared, with scenery and dresses to the design of first class artists who understood the operas but who would produce a décor attractive to the new generation." In a 1922 memoir, Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
, having admired Richard D'Oyly Carte's keen eye for stagecraft, added, "That 'eye' for stagecraft ... has been inherited in a quite remarkable degree by his son, Mr. Rupert D'Oyly Carte. He, too, has the gift of taking in the details of a scene at a glance, and knowing instinctively just what must be corrected". In 1911, the company hired J. M. Gordon
J. M. Gordon
J. M. Gordon, was an English singer, actor, stage manager and director, best known as the influential long-time director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company following the death of W. S. Gilbert.-Life and career:...
as stage manager, and Carte later promoted him to director. Gordon, under Carte's supervision, preserved the company's traditions in exacting detail for 28 years.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Carte served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and no renovation work could be undertaken. On his return, he put his aims into effect. In an interview in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
in August 1919 he set out his policy for staging the operas: "They will be played precisely in their original form, without any alteration to the words, or any attempt to bring them up to date." This uncompromising declaration was modified in a later interview in which he said, "the plays are all being restaged ... Gilbert's words will be unaltered, though there will be some freshness in the method of rendering them. Artists must have scope for their individuality, and new singers cannot be tied down to imitate slavishly those who made successes in the old days."
Carte's first London season, at the Prince's Theatre
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
, 1919–20, featured ten of the thirteen extant Gilbert and Sullivan operas. These included Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
, which had its first London performances since the original production. The new productions retained the text and music of the original 1870s and 1880s productions, and director J. M. Gordon preserved much of Gilbert's original direction. As his parents had done, Carte licensed the operas to the J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
company and to amateur companies, but he required all licensees to present them in approved productions that closely followed the libretto, score and D'Oyly Carte production stagings. In an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1922, Carte said that the Savoy "tradition" was an expression that was frequently misunderstood: "It did not by any means imply any hidebound stage 'business' or an attempt to standardize the performances of artists so as to check their individual method of expression. All that it implied, in his view, was the highest possible standard of production – with especial attention to clear enunciation.... Many people seemed to think that Gilbert believed in absolutely set methods but this was not by any means the case. He did not hesitate to alter productions when they were revived."
Although he had told the press that the original words and music would not be altered, Carte was willing to make changes in certain cases. In 1919–20, he authorised significant cuts and alterations in both Princess Ida and Ruddigore. In 1921 Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
was produced in a drastically cut-down version, to allow it to be played as a companion piece with the shorter Savoy operas. He also authorised changes to Gilbert's text: he wrote to The Times in 1948, "We found recently in America that much objection was taken by coloured persons to a word used twice in The Mikado." The word in question was Gilbert's reference to "nigger" (blackface) minstrels, and Carte asked A. P. Herbert
A. P. Herbert
Sir Alan Patrick Herbert, CH was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist...
to suggest an acceptable revision. "He made several alternative suggestions, one of which we adopted in America, and it seems well to go on doing so in the British Empire."
Carte commissioned new costumes and scenery throughout his tenure with the company. For his restagings, Carte hired Charles Ricketts
Charles Ricketts
Charles de Sousy Ricketts was a versatile English artist, illustrator, author and printer, and is best known for his work as book designer and typographer from 1896 to 1904 with the Vale Press, and his work in the theatre as a set and costume designer.-Life and career:Ricketts was born in Geneva...
to redesign The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
and The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, the costumes for the latter, created in 1926, being retained by all of the company's subsequent designers. Other redesigns were by Percy Anderson
Percy Anderson
Percy Anderson was an English stage designer and painter, best known for his work for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company at His Majesty’s Theatre and Edwardian musical comedies.-Life and career:...
, George Sheringham
George Sheringham
George Sheringham , was a British painter and theatre designer. One of the first recipients of the Royal Designers for Industry distinction in 1937, he is remembered for his work for the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Hugo Rumbold
Hugo Rumbold
Hugo Cecil Levinge Rumbold was a British theatrical scenery and costume designer.-Life and career:Rumbold was the son of Sir Horace Rumbold, eighth baronet of Woodhall , and his second wife, Louisa Anne , daughter of Thomas Russell Crampton...
and Peter Goffin
Peter Goffin
Peter Goffin F.R.S.A. , was an English set and costume designer and stage manager, known for his work with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Biography:...
, a protégé of Carte's daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte
Bridget D'Oyly Carte
Dame Bridget Cicely D'Oyly Carte, DBE , was the granddaughter of impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte and the only daughter of Rupert D'Oyly Carte...
.
For London seasons, Carte often engaged guest conductors, first Geoffrey Toye
Geoffrey Toye
Edward Geoffrey Toye , better known as Geoffrey Toye, was an English conductor, composer and opera producer....
, then Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
, who examined Sullivan's manuscript scores and purged the orchestral parts of accretions. So striking was the orchestral sound produced by Sargent that the press thought he had retouched the scores, and Carte had the pleasant duty of correcting their error. In a letter to The Times, he noted that "the details of the orchestration sounded so fresh that some of the critics thought them actually new ... the opera was played last night exactly as written by Sullivan." Carte also hired Harry Norris
Harry Norris (conductor)
Harry Norris was a New Zealand-born conductor best remembered as musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1919 and 1929. After leaving that company, Norris emigrated to Canada to teach but returned to retire in England in the 1960s.-Life and career:Norris was born in...
, who started with the touring company, then was Toye's assistant before becoming musical director. Isidore Godfrey
Isidore Godfrey
Isidore Godfrey was musical director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for 39 years, from 1929 to 1968...
joined the company as assistant musical director in 1925 and became musical director in 1929, remaining in that post until 1968.
The possibilities of the gramophone appealed to Carte. After World War I, he supervised a series of complete recordings of the scores of the operas on the HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
label, beginning with The Mikado in 1918. The first nine sets, made between 1918 and 1925, were recorded by the early acoustic process. At first, guest singers were chosen who were known for their ability to record well on this technology. Later in this series, more of the regular members of the company were featured. With the introduction of electrical recording and its greatly improved recording process and sound, a new round of recordings began in 1927. For the electrical series, Carte's own singers were mostly used. Carte also recognised the potential of radio and worked with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to relay live broadcasts of D'Oyly Carte productions. A 1926 relay of part of a Savoy Theatre performance of The Mikado was heard by up to eight million people. The London Evening Standard noted that this was "probably the largest audience that has ever heard anything at one time in the history of the world." Under Carte, the company continued to make broadcasts during the interwar years. In 1932, The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
became the first Gilbert and Sullivan opera to be broadcast in its entirety.
Rebuilding the Savoy Theatre and later years
In 1929 Carte had the 48-year-old Savoy Theatre rebuilt and modernised. It closed on 3 June 1929 and was gutted and completely rebuilt to designs by Frank A. Tugwell with décor by Basil IonidesBasil Ionides
Basil Ionides was a British architect who published two best-selling books, Colour and Interior Decoration and Colour in Everyday Rooms...
. The old house had three tiers; the new one had two. The seating capacity (which had decreased to 986 from its original 1,292) was restored nearly completely, to 1,200. The theatre reopened 135 days later on 21 October 1929, with The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
, designed by Ricketts and conducted by Sargent. The critic Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman was an English music critic and musicologist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His style of criticism, aiming at intellectual objectivity in contrast to the more subjective...
wrote, "I can imagine no gayer or more exhilarating frame for the Gilbert and Sullivan operas than the Savoy as it is now."
Despite its historical connection with Gilbert and Sullivan, most of Carte's London seasons were staged not at the Savoy but at two larger houses: the Prince's (now the Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury Theatre
The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
) Theatre (1919–20, 1921–22, 1924, 1926, 1942 and Sadler's Wells (1935, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1947 and 1948). His three Savoy Theatre seasons were in 1929–30, 1932–33, and 1941. In addition to year-round UK tours, Carte mounted tours of North America in 1927, 1928–29, 1934–35, 1936–37, 1939 and 1947–48). During the 1936 tour an American critic wrote, "If there were only some way of keeping them on this side permanently. I humbly suggest to the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
that it cancel England's war debt in exchange for the D'Oyly Cartians. We should be much the gainer."
Carte was deeply affected by the death of his son Michael in 1932, discussed below. The actor Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
said, "The heart dropped right out of him. His interest in both the operas and the hotel seemed to fade away." Nevertheless, in 1934 the company made a highly successful eight-month North American tour with Green as its new principal comedian, replacing Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
. Carte gave approval for, and was closely consulted about, a 1938 film version of The Mikado produced and conducted by Geoffrey Toye, starring Green and released by Universal Pictures, but his only new stage production after 1932 was of The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
designed in 1939 by Peter Goffin
Peter Goffin
Peter Goffin F.R.S.A. , was an English set and costume designer and stage manager, known for his work with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Biography:...
. The re-staging was regarded as radical, but when Goffin took fright at the storm of controversy, Carte told him, "I don't care what they say about the production. I should care if they said nothing."
On 3 September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the British government ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of all theatres. Carte cancelled the autumn tour and disbanded the company. Theatres were permitted to reopen from 9 September, but it took some weeks to re-form the company. The company resumed touring in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
on Christmas Day 1939. It continued to perform throughout the war, but German bombing destroyed the sets and costumes for five of its productions: Cox and Box, The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
, H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
and Ruddigore. The old productions of Pinafore and Cox and Box were recreated shortly after the war, but the other two operas took longer to rejoin the company's repertory. On the other hand, for the first wartime season, Peter Goffin designed and directed a new production of The Yeomen of the Guard first seen in January 1940, and his new Ruddigore debuted in 1948, shortly after Carte's death. A return of the Company to the U.S. in 1947 was very successful.
Savoy Hotel group
From the beginning of his career, Carte maintained the Savoy group in London, disposing in 1919 of the Grand Hotel, Rome, which his father had acquired in 1896. In the 1920s, he ensured that the Savoy continued to attract a fashionable clientele by a continuous programme of modernisation and the introduction of dancing in the large restaurants. The Savoy OrpheansSavoy Orpheans
The Savoy Orpheans were a British dance band of the 1920s. They were resident at the Savoy Hotel, London, between 1923 and 1927.The band was formed by Debroy Somers, an ex-army bandmaster, in 1923. Both the Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band were under the management of Wilfred de Mornys...
and the Savoy Havana Band
Savoy Havana Band
The Savoy Havana Band was a British dance band of the 1920s. It was resident at the Savoy Hotel, London, between 1921 and 1927.The band was formed by the American saxophonist Bert Ralton in 1921. Originally there were six players including Ralton. It was later increased to ten players. From 1924 it...
were described by The Times as "probably the best-known bands in Europe". In 1927 Carte appointed his opera company's general manager, Richard Collet, to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which began in April 1929.
Until the 1930s, the Savoy group had not thought it necessary to advertise, but Carte and his manager George Reeves-Smith
George Reeves-Smith
Sir George Reeves-Smith was an English hotelier. Hired by Richard D'Oyly Carte in 1900 to replace César Ritz as manager of the Savoy Hotel, he remained in the post until his death four decades later. In addition to running the Savoy, he was general manager of the other hotels and restaurants in...
changed their approach. Reeves-Smith told The Times, "We are endeavouring by intensive propaganda work to get more customers; this work is going on in the U.S.A., in Canada, in the Argentine and in Europe." Towards the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Carte added to the Savoy group the bombed-out site near 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...
of Stone's Chop House, the freehold of which he purchased with a view to reopening the restaurant there on the lines of the group's Simpson's-in-the-Strand. The revived Stone's reopened after Carte's death.
Personal life
In 1907, Carte married Lady Dorothy Milner Gathorne-Hardy (1889–1977), the third and youngest daughter of the 2nd Earl of Cranbrook, with whom he had a daughter, Bridget, and a son, Michael (1911–1932). Michael was killed at the age of 21 in a motor accident in Switzerland. In 1925, Carte and his wife had a country house built for them in DevonDevon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
between Paignton
Paignton
Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251. It has...
and Kingswear
Kingswear
Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth...
, named Coleton Fishacre
Coleton Fishacre
Coleton Fishacre is a property consisting of a garden and a house in the Arts and Crafts style, situated in Kingswear, Devon, England. The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1982.-The house:...
. The house is still known for its design features and garden with exotic tropical plants. After her parents' divorce, Bridget D'Oyly Carte took over the house, which her father, who lived in London, would visit for long weekends. She sold the house after his death, and it is now owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
.
In 1941, Carte divorced his wife for adultery. The suit was undefended. Lady Dorothy moved to the Bahamas and married St Yves de Verteuil, who had been the co-respondent in the divorce case. De Verteuil died in 1963, and Lady Dorothy de Verteuil died in February 1977.
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
based the character Psmith
Psmith
Rupert Psmith is a recurring fictional character in several novels by British comic writer P. G...
, seen in several of his comic novels, on either Rupert D'Oyly Carte or his brother Lucas. In the introduction to his novel Something Fresh, Wodehouse says that Psmith (originally named Rupert, then Ronald) was "based more or less faithfully on Rupert D'Oyly Carte, son of the Savoy theatre man. He was at school with a cousin of mine, and my cousin happened to tell me about his monocle, his immaculate clothes and his habit, when asked by a master how he was, of replying, 'Sir, I grow thinnah and thinnah'." Bridget D'Oyly Carte, however, believed that the Wykehamist
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
schoolboy described to Wodehouse was not her father but his elder brother Lucas, who was also at Winchester College. Rupert D'Oyly Carte was "shy, reserved and at times distinctly taciturn." Psmith, by contrast, is outgoing and garrulous.
Death and legacy
Carte died at the Savoy Hotel, after a brief illness, at the age of 71. A memorial service was held for him at the Savoy ChapelSavoy Chapel
The Savoy Chapel or the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy is a chapel off the Strand, London, dedicated to St John the Baptist. It was originally built in the medieval era off the main church of the Savoy Palace...
on 23 September 1948. His ashes were scattered on the headland at Coleton Fishacre
Coleton Fishacre
Coleton Fishacre is a property consisting of a garden and a house in the Arts and Crafts style, situated in Kingswear, Devon, England. The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1982.-The house:...
. He left an estate valued at £228,436. At his death, the family businesses passed to his daughter, Bridget D'Oyly Carte. The Savoy hotel group remained under the control of the Carte family and its associates until 1994. Carte's hotels have remained among the most prestigious in London, with the London Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
calling the Savoy "London's most famous hotel" in 2009. The year after Carte's death, the opera company, which had been the personal possession of Richard and Rupert D'Oyly Carte, became a private company, of which Bridget retained a controlling interest and was chairman and managing director. She inherited a company in strong condition, but the rising costs of mounting professional light opera without any government support eventually became unsustainable, and the company closed in 1982.
The Gilbert and Sullivan operas, nurtured by Carte and his family for over a century, continue to be produced frequently today throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. By keeping the Savoy operas popular throughout the mid-20th century, Carte continued to influence the course of the development of modern musical theatre.