J. M. Gordon

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J. M. Gordon, (1857 – February 22, 1944) was an English singer, actor, stage manager and director, best known as the influential long-time director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company following the death of W. S. Gilbert.

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[edit] Life and career

John McRobbie Gordon was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and died in Brighton. Early in his career, he sang with the Dan Godfrey Quartet in Bournemouth.

Gordon joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1883 on tour in Patience as a member of the chorus. In 1884, he played the part of Colonel Calverley on tour. He remained with the D'Oyly Carte organisation until 1890, playing Piscator in The Carp (a one-act curtain raiser) when it accompanied Ruddigore, and Mr. Harrington Jarramie in Mrs. Jarramie's Genie (another curtain raiser), when it accompanied The Yeomen of the Guard.

In 1907, Gordon returned to D'Oyly Carte as a stage manager. He appears to have left the company for a time but returned by 1911. Following the death of W. S. Gilbert earlier in 1911, Rupert D'Oyly Carte sought a stage manager who could maintain the company's production standards and preserve Gilbert's traditions and style. Gordon's skills, experience with the company directly under Gilbert, attention to detail, and notorious tenacity were exactly what the company desired.

Gordon stage managed and then directed D'Oyly Carte productions for the next twenty-eight years. He coached new artists on the blocking, dances, and line readings for each part, and maintained strict quality control over the productions. He was named Stage Director for the company in 1922 and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1939. He was responsible for making the textual revisions to Ruddigore when that opera was restaged in December 1921, as well as the extensive revision (with music director Harry Norris) to create the Savoy Edition of Cox and Box, and he approved any changes to stage business, such as Darrell Fancourt's introduction of the Mikado's famous laugh.

A photograph of Gordon and D'Oyly Carte colleagues with the huge recording horn used in the acoustic recording process can be seen here. Gordon's daughter Lilian preserved many of his papers with information about the company's productions.

[edit] Anecdotes about Gordon

Many members of D'Oyly Carte wrote anecdotes about Gordon's dedication and the value of his instruction, including Martyn Green, in his Treasury. Viola Wilson, who served briefly near the end of Gordon's career, wrote this typical description in her memoir:

He worshipped Gilbert and this was reflected in his own productions. Although a stickler for tradition, he believed first and foremost in building up an intelligent performance. Short and slight, James Gordon kept a small step ladder [to see over the heads of the chorus] near the prompt corner so he could stand on it, peer through his pince-nez spectacles at us and not miss a single movement. He knew the exact spot where we should stand and no one dared be half an inch out of place. From the stage we could see his luminous pen jotting down notes which he later handed to us. Some of these I still have: "You took three steps too close to Strephon during the duet." "Keep your arms steady during song and sing with more feeling" and so on.[1]

Derek Oldham described Gordon as follows:

...a tiger for knowing and getting what he wanted! He was only really happy when he was rehearsing. He loved rehearsing. ...when all the routine daily rehearsals were over... he would go on until curtain-time with whoever would stay and play. He was the everlasting secret joke of the Company... and there were some funny tales.... But he had that company on its toes.
He [later] became a martinet in tiny little things of "business" and tradition, and would not allow the individuality of the actor to colour a part, as he used to in my time... making for a dull uniformity.
Gordon gave me diction, much solid stage technique, and nursed the passion and sincerity for my job.[2]

[edit] References

  • Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd.  Introduction by Martyn Green.
  • Green, Martyn (1961). Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan. New York: Simon & Schuster.  (Includes Green's annotations on the operas, including a few anecdotes concerning Gordon)

[edit] External links