Robert Sparrow Smythe
Robert Sparrow Smythe (1833-1917)[1] was an Australian journalist, newspaper editor/owner and a theatrical manager.
Also known as Robert Smythe
Contents
Biography
Born Robert Smith on 13 March 1833 in London, son of the unmarried Elizabeth Bridge, he trained as a journalist and in 1855 he emigrated to Melbourne to begin a career as reporter and for the first five years was a successful editor of various journals and newspapers.
In 1861 he started a new career in theatrical management, working with numerous visiting artists, including the French violinist Horace Poussard and the cellist Rèné Douay in 1862. Through them he met the local soprano, Amelia Elizabeth Bailey (usually billed Amelia Bailey), who was to become his "wife" and had three children with him.
In 1864 he and Bailey, who had been on a disastrous tour of the East, joined forces with violinist Horace Poussard and the "serio-comic vocalist" Florence Calzado, to found the Poussard-Bailey Opera Company, with which they undertook a 4-year tour of India and South Africa, giving more than 300 performances.
He died in Deepdene, Victoria, on 23 May 1917
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
In 1864 he and his wife wife, the soprano Amelia Bailey, joined forces with violinist Horace Poussard and the "serio-comic vocalist" Florence Calzado, to found the Poussard-Bailey Opera Company, with which they undertook a 4-year tour of India and South Africa, giving more than 300 performances.
Sources
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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