Ivan Menzies

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J. Ivan "Jimmy" Menzies (1896 – April 19, 1985) was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He married another D'Oyly Carte performer, Elsie Griffin, in 1923.

1 Life and career
- 1.1 Early career
- 1.2 Later years
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Life and career

Ivan Menzies was born in Bristol, England.

[edit] Early career

Menzies joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1921, soon playing the small roles of the Associate in Trial by Jury, First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Antonio in The Gondoliers. In 1923, Menzies added the role of Major Murgatroyd in Patience.

He also understudied Henry Lytton in the principal comedian roles and appeared occasionally as the Learned Judge in Trial, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Jack Point in Yeomen, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. Menzies related that "The first time I played the Duke of Plaza-Toro, I started by catching my spurs and falling into the canal. It was decidedly not traditional." (Ayre, p. 213)

In the touring company, Menzies became the principal comedian in 1925, playing Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore, Major General Stanley, and the Duke of Plaza Toro.

[edit] Later years

In 1927, Menzies left the D'Oyly Carte organisation. He found work first as a "lead" with Macdonald & Young's Happy Go Lucky company, and in 1928 played in Love in a Village at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. In 1931 Menzies eagerly accepted an offer to return to Gilbert and Sullivan with the J. C. Williamson organisation in Australia. There he toured extensively as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, General Stanley, Bunthorne, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, Jack Point, the Duke of Plaza Toro, and the Learned Judge.

He returned to England and D'Oyly Carte briefly in 1939 as a wartime replacement. He shared principal comedian roles with Grahame Clifford for two months, appearing as Sir Joseph, General Stanley, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, and (occasionally) the Duke before leaving the company in February 1940. He returned to Australia again as principal comedian in the G&S tours in 1941, 1944, 1949, and 1951.

He was also an evangelist for the Oxford Movement (or Moral Re-Armament) and appeared in the Moral Re-Armament musical, The Vanishing Island, in which he toured around the world with his wife from 1955 until 1957.

Menzies died in Blackheath, London.

[edit] References

Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd. Introduction by Martyn Green.

Magor, Cliff and Edna (1976). The Song of a Merryman. London: Grosvenor Books. This short biography deals mostly with Menzies' life in Australia and his work for Moral Re-Armament.