Frederick Mouillot
Frederick Mouillot (1864-1911)[1] was a British born actor-manager and playwright.
Contents
Biography
Born Frederick Charles Arthur Mouillot in Suffolk Street, Dublin on 31st May 1864 to a family which had a French aristocratic pedigree, he began his career working for touring stock companies. His first professional appearance was at the Princess’s Theatre, Glasgow as a utility player and by 1883 he was appearing in name roles, e.g. in Lady Grey at the New Royal Theatre in Bristol.
In 1885, at the age of twenty-one, he formed a theatrical company with Mr. H.H. Morell and purchased the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth, which had opened in 1882. Continuing to act, he now became a manager as well and during the 1890s the Morell and Mouillot business expanded dramatically.
In this period he met the young Gertrude Emily Davison who would become his second wife on 2nd April 1895 at St. Stephen’s, Shepherd’s Bush, west London. She would become a well-known actress in her own right.
By 27th July 1897, when they opened the Queen’s Opera House at Crouch End, north London with the popular "Japanese operetta" The Geisha, the Morell and Mouillot Company owned 18 theatres, and by 1906 Mouillot was listed in the Green Room Book as the proprietor or managing director of numerous more theatres and music halls. Part of their success was attributed to them touring the same acts around their many theatres. The performers were offered a smaller wage than they would have earned for appearing at just one theatre, but they had guaranteed work for months at a time. On top of this, Mouillot was also involved in businesses in Australia, South America and South Africa.
As a playwright, he was part author, with his friend Edward Abbott Parry, of What the Butler Saw (1905), What’s the Matter with London? and The Captain of the School (1910).
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He became one of the original directors of The Electric Theatres, which had at least five bio/theatres in Cape Town and a bioscope in Durban for the black population, and a large number of touring companies.
Sources
Gertrude Mouillot biography, The Palace Theatre Club website[2]
D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)
F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.
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