Horace Green

Horace Green (b. Enfield, Middlesex, 14/12/1890 - d. Cape Town, 06/10/1940) was an actor and theatre manager.

Biography

Horace Thomas Green was born in Enfield, Middlesex, where his father was a blacksmith. He came to South Africa at the age of 25 as a member of a theatrical company. In 1917 he was the principal comedian in Maid of the Mountains with Nancy Benyon’s 's touring company, while in that same year he appeared in an unidentified role in the film And Then--- for African Film Productions, directed by Joseph Albrecht and Dick Cruikshanks. Later, when Dan Thomas produced Dick Whittington and His Cat, his first pantomime at His Majesty’s Theatre in Johannesburg, he chose Horace Green to play the Cat and he subsequently appeared in Thomas's revue S’Nice. In November 1918 he married Olympia Nava (1889-1949), at the time a fellow member of the London Gaiety Company, who had appeared in the revue The Million Dollar Girl (1916) at the Empire Theatre and subsequently in The Pink Lady (1918).

During World War I he was a machine-gunner attached to General Louis Botha's staff during the South West Africa campaign, while in East Africa he was with the 4th South African Horse. During this time he was also involved in organising entertainment for the troops. After leaving the stage he turned to the business side of the theatre. At different times he was manager of the Apollo Theatre (Germiston), the Bijou Theatre (Johannesburg) and the Carlton Theatre (Johannesburg) and managed many visiting theatrical companies. For some years he was the representative of African Consolidated Theatres in what was then Rhodesia and the time of his death he was supervisor of ACT in Cape Town. His wife died in Durban in 1949. At the time she was a cinema cashier. (FO)

Sources

Cape Argus, 7 October 1940

Sunday Times, 20 October 1940

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