DEATH OF MR. GEORGE MUSGROVE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 18, 22 January 1916, Page 8

DEATH OF MR. GEORGE MUSGROVE

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.) .'''.. SYDNEY, 21st January. Mr. George Musgrove, the well-known :iheatria4 manager,, is dead. . .

The late "Mr. George Musgrove was a ',well-known figure in the Australian theatrical wotM and also in New Zealand, he having; visited the Dominion on several occasions. He was about 60>years of age. His: mother is a venerable lady who forms <a link with the great theatrical past extending baak to the days of the great Sarah Siddons, from whom sho is descended. Mr. Musgrove was a nephew of William Laurm Lister, whoso life, was wholly and solely giren up to the production of opera in Australia continuously, from 1851 to 1880. For many years ho was in Mr. Lister's employ, and assisted .in-the management of a great number of ■ productions, which made his uncle fam;Oub in Melbourne and Sydney. But he :was ambitious, and after a time ho left . Mr.' lister's staff in order to enter the ! theatrical business on his own account. , Tho first productions managed by him were "Tambour Major" and "Olivette," which at the time were regarded as the productions Australia had seen. • The venture was attended with the great-' 1 est'success, an enormous boom setting in. Shortly afterwards Mr. J. C. William- ■ Eon arrived," and made a big success with the; comedy "Struck Oil," in which Miss Maggie Moore, at present with tho Royal Comic Opera Company now in Wellington, appeared. Mr. Musgrove and Mr. Williamson agreed to enter into partnership. Not long afterward, Mr. Arthur Garner brought out from London a comedy company, which also roado good, and tho "result was tho formation of tho triumvirate-^-Williamson, Musgrove, and Garner—which became in Australasia the leading factor in theatrical enterprise. Ultimately Mr. Garner' withdrew, and a like step was taken by Mr. Musgrove shortly after his original and highly successful ( staging of "The Belle of New lYqrk" at tho Shaftesbury Theatre, London. Mr. Musgrove then brought to 'Australasia a Shakespearean Company, .whoso visit to Wellington in November, 1903, • will bo well remembered, particularly' for tho performance of "A Midsummer Nights Dream," a gorgeous production the like of which had not been scon in Wellington previously. Mr. jMusgrovo did everything thoroughly, and spared no expense to obtain results. Howover, the tour was not altogether a financial success, and tho same- fato attended an ■ imported Opera • Company which, placed " The Scarlet Feather," " The .Thirty Thieves," and other pieces in Australia. In August, 1907, Mr. . Mus--srovo brought the German Grand Opera pnipany to Wellington. Madame Melba and Miss Nellie Stewart' are among tho famous artists who have appeared under his banner. As with his brother George, who pre-deceasod him by a few months, ho -was an enthusiastic cricketer and a leading light in tho Royal Comic Opera team, which on one' occasion played all tho principal clubs in New Zealand without, suffering a loss. •