E. J. Lonnen
{{Short description|English actor, comedian and singer}}
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Image:LonneninFrankenstein.jpg
Edwin Jesse Lonnen (1860 – 31 October 1901),[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw160829/Edwin-Jesse-EJ-Lonnen-as-a-policeman "Edwin Jesse ('E.J.') Lonnen as a policeman"], National Portrait Gallery, accessed 27 August 2012 credited as "E. J." or "Teddy",[http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER3357365 Programme: "Benefit of Teddy Lonnen"], Melbourne Opera House, 17 August 1892, Theatre Programme Collection, State Library Victoria was an English actor, comedian and singer known for his performances in musical burlesques, operettas and musical comedies, particularly at the Gaiety Theatre, London at the end of the Victorian era.
Lonnen began acting as a child in pantomime and other theatre in the British provinces. He made his London debut in 1885 and appeared in several of the famous Gaiety burlesques from 1887 to 1891. He starred in such other major works as Little Christopher Columbus (1893), Baron Golosh (1895) and The Messenger Boy (1900) before dying at the age of 41.
Biography
Lonnen was born in Kingston upon Hull, YorkshireGeneral Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, volume 9d, p. 217 into a theatrical family. His father William Rooles Lonnen (1833–1890)General Register Office, England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, volume 1d, p. 217 was an actor-manager, well known in the provinces under his stage name, Champion."A Chat with E. J. Lonnen", The Era, 25 November 1893, p. 11 His brother Victor was an orchestra conductor under the name Victor Champion.{{Cite news|date=26 March 1928|title=Mr. Victor Champion|page=15| work=The Argus| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3920531| access-date=28 October 2020}} Lonnen appeared in his father's productions from an early age. "I have a distinct recollection of playing a speaking part in a pantomime when I was five years old. I have been the baby in East Lynne; Prince Arthur – in fact I have played the whole round of juvenile parts." As a teenager, Lonnen acted for Harry Wright's "booth" company of travelling players, and shortly before he was 20, he was engaged to appear with Barry Sullivan, and then with Edward Terry playing Tootles in Weak Woman and the Dougal Creature in Robbing Roy. He made a hit in a Liverpool pantomime with Frank Emery, who engaged him for his burlesque company for a provincial tour that brought him to wider attention.
Lonnen made his London debut as Tancred in Falka at the Avenue Theatre in 1885 and subsequently starred in a series of successful musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre in London, including Monte Cristo Jr. as De Villefort and Ballyhooly (1886), Miss Esmeralda as Frollo (1887, in which he sang Killaloe, perhaps his most popular song),The Times, 2 November 1901, p. 8 Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887), Faust up to date as Mephistopheles (1888), Carmen up to Data as José (1890) and Cinder Ellen up too Late as Prince Belgravia (1891). In 1892–1893 Lonnen toured with the London Gaiety Burlesque Company to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.{{Cite news|date=12 November 1892| title=Actors and Actresses|page=18| work=Illustrated Sydney News| url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64031764|access-date=28 October 2020}} Later, back in England, he starred in another burlesque hit, Little Christopher Columbus, as O'hoolegan (1893 at the Lyric Theatre), in the title role of the operetta Baron Golosh (1895 at the Trafalgar Theatre), and in La Béarnaise as Girafo (1896 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre). He also starred in the musical comedy hit The Messenger Boy as Cosmos Bey (1900 at the Gaiety).Adams, pp. 113, 127, 255, 291, 352, 503 and 547
Lonnen married Emily Inman, a dancer.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} They had a daughter, actress Jessie Lonnen,London Metropolitan Archives, England, Marriages and Banns (1754–1921), Saint Matthew's Church, Brixton, Register of marriages, p. 19 who performed with George Edwardes's company in EnglandThe Manchester Guardian 27 December 1919, p. 1 and the J. C. Williamson company in Australia. His son, Lieut. Edwin John Leslie Lonnen,London Metropolitan Archives, Brixton Register of Baptisms, p. 77 a pilot with the RFC, was killed in action in World War I on 16 August 1916 at the age of 27.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1916/1916%20-%200728.html Suffolk Regiment personal announcements], 24 August 1916[http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=UKsoldiersGreatWar&h=1000270&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=2352 "UK Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914–1918"], British and Irish Military Databases, The Naval and Military Press Ltd. Lonnen died of tuberculosis at the Sanatorium, Hailey, Ipsden at the age of 41.General Register Office, England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index: 1837–1915, volume 3a, p. 495 He is buried at the Norwood Cemetery.London Metropolitan Archives, Church of England Parish Register of Burials (1813–1906), Norwood Cemetery Transcript of Burials, (January 1901 – December 1903), p. 2645
Notes
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References
- Adams, William Davenport. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1UM5AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA547 A Dictionary of the Drama], London: Chatto & Windus (1904)
External links
- [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O144871/guy-little-theatrical-photograph-photograph-bassano-alexander/ Photo of Lonnen in] Carmen up to Data
- [https://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/lonnen-edwin-j/34696/ Several photos of Lonnen at the V&A Images archive]
- [http://www.jamd.com/image/g/3096204 Image of sheet music for "Ballyhooly"]
- [http://www.musicaustralia.org/apps/MA?function=showDetail¤tBibRecord=000013776834&itemSeq=10&total=45391&returnFunction=searchResults&scope=scope&simpleTerm=image&sessionId=reuseSearch1E6CF720EA9DC94C96F00981F021CD181230697341657 Image of sheet music for one of Lonnen's songs]
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Category:English male musical theatre actors
Category:English male comedians