H. Robert Averell, grandson of Jenny Lind, on tour in the United Kingdom during 1908 in The Girls of Gottenberg

H. Robert Averell (1885-1913), English actor and singer, as he appeared on tour in the United Kingdom during 1908 in the role of Prince Otto in George Dance’s The Girls of Gottenberg company. The part was first played by George Grossmith junior in the original production of The Girls of Gottenberg at the Gaiety Theatre, London (15 May 1907).
(photo: Foulsham & Banfield, London, 1908; postcard published by The Rotary Photographic Co Ltd, London, in the Rotary Photographic Series, no. 2356 B)

The promising young actor known as H. Robert Averell (and sometimes as Robert Averell) was born Walter Averell Lind Goldschmidt in Kensington, London, on 4 May 1885. He was the son of Walter Otto Goldschmidt (1854-1929) and his first wife, Mary Julia (née Daniell, 1859-?), who were married in 1884 and acrimoniously separated ten years later. Averell was therefore the grandson of Jenny Lind (1820-1887), the celebrated soprano known ‘The Swedish Nightingale,’ his father being her eldest child by her husband, the German-born musician, Otto Moritz David Goldschmidt (1829-1907).

* * * * *

‘Mr Robert Averell, a promising young English actor, died suddenly recently from the after effects of a chill. Only a few days previous Mr Averell, who made his name on the metropolitan stage as Hubert in The Girl in the Taxi, was playing in Oh, I Say at the London Criterion. A grandson of Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish diva, he was an old Westminster schoolboy and a ward in Chancery, and, consent to his adopting the stage as a career being practically impossible to obtain, he made his way to South Africa, where although under age he managed to join the Cape Mounted Rifles. Then he joined a travelling theatrical company which was often unable to proceed for lack of funds and the privations he then met with unquestionably hastened his end.’
(The New Zealand Observer, Auckland, Saturday, 13 December 1913, p. 14a)

In 1910 Averell was declared bankrupt, ‘his failure being attributed to his having lived in excess of his income.’ (The Times, London, Saturday, 14 May 1910, p. 17d) This reverse did not interfere with his career, however, and he went on to appear in several West End productions including Our Little Cinderella, a play with music (Playhouse Theatre, London, 20 December 1910), with his kinsman Cyril Maude (1862-1951) in the leading role; and The Girl in the Taxi, the musical play produced at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912. Averell’s last appearance was in the Parisian farce, Oh! I Say!, produced at the Criterion Theatre, London, on 28 May 1913. During the run he became ill and died suddenly in October that year, when his part was taken over by Ronald Squire who went on to become a well-known character actor.

Adeline Burgon

Adeline Burgon (b. 1890), English actress and singer, as she appeared as Tommy in the pantomime Dick Whittington, produced at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, on 23 December 1910, with Lillian Lea in the title role and Madge Crichton as Alice.
(photo: Garratt, Leeds, 1910)

Adeline Burgon, born Edith Lina Burgon, was the daughter of William Henry ‘Harry’ Burgon (1858-1898), a well-known concert baritone and sometime member of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and is wife Zoe Josephine Philomene (née Chatenet, born in Paris about 1862), who were married in London in 1887. The couple also had a son, Adrian (Adrien) Burgon (1888-1970), who began his stage career as a choir boy.

Adeline Burgon’s career flourished from about 1906 to 1916, mostly on tour in the United Kingdom. In 1906 she was in C.P. Levilly’s Company in La Poupee, with Stella Gastelle, before touring in The Gay Parisienne (1907), in Charles Macdona’s Company in The Girl from Kay’s (1908), and in The Merry Widow in 1909 with Octavia Barry and Leonard Mackay. At Christmas 1910 she appeared as Tommy in the pantomime, Dick Whittington at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, after which no more is heard of her until 1913 when she appeared in Horace Goldin’s Theatrical Company at the Palace Theatre, New York. Her final performances seem to have been on tour during 1916 in the United Kingdon in The Girl in the Taxi.

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.

Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz
in an incident from Die keusche Susanne,
Carltheater, Vienna, 18 March 1911
(photo: L. Gutmann, Vienna, 1911)

This real photograph postcard, published in Vienna in 1911, is of Josef König and Mizzi Zwerenz in the operetta, Die keusche Susanne by Georg Okonkowski, with music by Jean Gilbert. The piece, which was originally produced at the Wilhelm-Theater, Magdeburg, on 26 February 1910, was first seen in Berlin at the Neues Operetten-Theater on 6 August 1911. The English adaptation, entitled The Girl in the Taxi, by Frederick Fenn and Arthur Wimperis, was first seen at the Lyric Theatre, London, on 5 September 1912, when the part of Susanne was played by Yvonne Arnaud.

For further information, see Kurt Gänzl, The Encyclopedia of The Musical Theatre, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, vol. I, pp. 766-768.