John Lawrence Toole
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John Lawrence (J. L.) Toole (March 12, 1832 – July 30, 1906) was an English comic actor and theatrical producer. He was born in London and died in Brighton.
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[edit] Life and career
J. L. Toole was the son of an old employee of the East India Company who for many years acted as toastmaster in the City of London. He was educated at the City of London School, and started life in a wine merchant's office.
[edit] Early career
Toole's natural propensity for comic acting was not to be denied, however, and after some practice as an amateur with the City Histrionic Club, he definitely took to the stage in 1852, appearing in Dublin as Simmons in The Spitalfields Weaver. He gained experience in the provinces, and in 1854 made his first professional appearance in London at the St. James's Theatre, acting as Samuel Pepys in The King's Rival and Weazel in My Friend the Major. In 1857, having just had a great success as Paul Pry, he met Henry Irving in Edinburgh, and recommended him to go to London. From then on they remained very close friends.
In 1858 Toole joined Webster at the Adelphi, and established his popularity as a comedian, among other parts creating Joe Spriggins in Ici on parle français. In 1868 he was engaged at the Gaiety, appearing among other pieces in Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration. His fame was at its height in 1874, when he went on tour to the United States, but he failed to reproduce there the success he had in England.
[edit] Later years
In 1879, Tool took over the "Folly" theatre in London, which he renamed "Toole's" in 1882. He was constantly away in the provinces, but he produced here a number of plays:
- H. J. Byron's Upper Crust and Auntie
- Pinero's Hester's Mystery and Girls and Boys
- Burlesques such as Paw Claudian, and, later, J. M. Barrie's Walker, London.
But Toole's stage appearances gradually became fewer, and after 1893 he retired from the London stage. His theatre was pulled down shortly afterwards for an extension of Charing Cross Hospital.
Toole published his reminiscences in 1888. Toole had married in 1854, and the death of his only son in 1879, and later of his wife and daughter, had distressing effects on his health. Attacks of gout beginning in 1886 crippled him, and ultimately he retired to Brighton, where after a long illness he died at the age of 74.
In his prime, Toole was immensely popular, and also immensely funny in a way which depended a good deal on his tricks and delivery of words. He excelled in what may be called Dickens parts, combining humour and pathos. He was a good businessman and left a considerable fortune, out of which he made a number of bequests to charity and to his friends. His genial and sympathetic nature was no less conspicuous off the stage than on it.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
