George Grossmith - Writings and Compositions; Legacy; Recordings

Writings and Compositions; Legacy; Recordings

Grossmith wrote numerous comic pieces for the magazine Punch, including a series of ten skits in 1884 inspired by his Bow Street experiences, which he called "Very Trying". He also wrote two memoirs, A Society Clown: Reminiscences (1888) and Piano and I: Further Reminiscences (1910). In his career, Grossmith wrote 18 comic operas, nearly 100 musical sketches, some 600 songs and piano pieces, and three books. He also wrote both serious and comic pieces for newspapers and magazines throughout his career, displaying a wide range of styles.

Grossmith was followed, in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic roles, by a number of other popular performers, including Henry Lytton, Martyn Green, Peter Pratt, John Reed, and many others, who each owed a debt to Grossmith as the creator of the roles. Many actors have portrayed Grossmith in biographical films, revues and sketches. In Britain, among others, Martyn Green, John Reed (in A Song to Sing, O at the Savoy Theatre in 1981), Simon Butteriss and Leon Berger have done so. Australian Anthony Warlow played Grossmith in A Song to Sing, O in 1987.

Over forty of the songs that Grossmith wrote or performed in his one-man shows have been recorded by baritone Leon Berger (a British Gilbert & Sullivan singer and Grossmith scholar), accompanied by Selwyn Tillett (G&S scholar) on two CDs: A Society Clown: The Songs of George Grossmith and The Grossmith Legacy. The latter also contains the recorded voice of Grossmith's son, George Grossmith Jr. Both are on the Divine Art Label. No known recordings of Grossmith's voice are known to exist, although wax cylinder recording technology was available during his lifetime.