Henry Lytton Jr.
{{Short description|British actor and singer (1906–1965)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Henry Lytton, Jr. (2 July 1906 – 16 September 1965) was an English actor and singer who appeared in musical comedy and a few screen roles, and later as a pantomime dame and Ringmaster of the Blackpool Tower Circus.
Early life and career
Lytton was born Lord Alver Lytton in Chiswick in 1906, the youngest child of Gilbert and Sullivan performers Henry Lytton and Louie Henri.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1558/images/31280_198966-00140?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=aca838153cc8dbe974e7430e0f6fd96a&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Hxx84&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=5261782 London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813–1917, Lord Alver Lytton, Ealing, St Alban, Acton Green, 1888–1906], via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}} He was disinherited from his father's will because Lytton Sr. disapproved of his son's marriage to Jessie Matthews and his following a career in the theatre.Jones, Brian. Lytton: Gilbert and Sullivan's Jester, Basingstoke Books, London (2005), p. 192 However, on her death in 1947 he found himself in his mother's will.[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38113/page/5167/data.pdf Will of Dame Louie Lytton (1947)], The London Gazette, 31 October 1947, p. 5167
He appeared in The Charlot Show of 1925, and the following year as Reggie opposite the singer and dancer Jessie Matthews in The Charlot Show of 1926 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.[https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/matthews-jessie-1907-1981 Jessie Matthews (1907–1981)], Encyclopedia.com[http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/London%20Revues%201925-1929.pdf London Revues 1925–1929], Over the Footlights Following a whirlwind romance the two married in Hammersmith in London on 17 February 1926, aged 19 and 18 respectively.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8753/images/ons_m19261az-0489?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=aca838153cc8dbe974e7430e0f6fd96a&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Hxx82&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.182355495.1886740868.1599773070-1197399642.1515349816&pId=61716842 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005 for Lord A Lytton, 1926], via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}} They divorced in November 1929 owing to Lytton's numerous infidelities. Lytton played Lord Campton in the musical Virginia (1929) at the Palace Theatre in London and later on tour. In 1931 he was touring in the musical Here Comes the Bride opposite Pola Negri.[https://www.manchestertheatrehistory.co.uk/2020/03/13/rudolf-valentinos-sweetheart-appears-at-the-manchester-hippodrome/ "Rudolf Valentino and Charlie Chaplin’s sweetheart stars at the Manchester Hippodrome"], Manchester Theatre History He married the actress Barbara Joan Weale (1906–2000) in Kensington in London in 1931,[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8753/images/ons_m19312az-0785?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=aca838153cc8dbe974e7430e0f6fd96a&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Hxx83&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.217369238.1886740868.1599773070-1197399642.1515349816&pId=53031860 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005 for Lord A Lytton, 1931], via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}[https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/17/archives/alva-lytton-reweds-son-of-the-actor-sir-henry-lytton-takes-joan.html "Alva Lytton Re-Weds; Son of the Actor, Sir Henry Lytton, Takes Joan Barbara Weale as Bride"], The New York Times, 17 May 1931 and by 1939 the couple were living in Sunbury-on-Thames.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_0902_0902j_021?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=aca838153cc8dbe974e7430e0f6fd96a&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Hxx81&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.190818475.1886740868.1599773070-1197399642.1515349816&pId=11124531 1939 England and Wales Register for Lord Alva Lytton, Middlesex, Sunbury-on-Thames UD], via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}
Later years
Lytton appeared in the pantomime Goody Two Shoes at the Grand Theatre in Leeds (1938);[http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1161512/poster-unknown/ Poster for Goody Two Shoes (1938)], The Victoria and Albert Museum in High Time (1946–1947), and in Here There and Everywhere (1947–1948) alongside Tommy Trinder, both at the London Palladium.[http://www.overthefootlights.co.uk/London%20Revues%201945-1949.pdf London Revues 1945-1949], Over the Footlights website His film appearances included the short After Dinner (1938), in which his wife Barbara Lytton also appeared, and George in Laugh It Off (1940),[https://web.archive.org/web/20090125185824/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/39836?view=cast Laugh It Off (1940)], British Film Institute both with Trinder, while his television appearances included four episodes of The Charlie Chester Show (1951).
From 1954 to his death Lytton lived in Blackpool, Lancashire, having moved there to take over as Ringmaster each summer at the Blackpool Tower Circus, a position he held until his death.[https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/projects/normanbarrett Blackpool Tower Circus], National Fairground and Circus Archive, University of Sheffield[http://www.circopedia.org/Charlie_Cairoli "Charlie Cairoli"], Circopedia During the Christmas period Lytton appeared as a pantomime dame, on one occasion in Goody Two Shoes at the Empire Theatre in Leeds.Hudd, Roy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hyTdAgAAQBAJ&dq=henry+lytton+jr+circus&pg=PT66 A Fart in a Colander: The Autobiography], Michael O'Mara Books (2010) Other pantomime appearances included Dame Horner in Jack and Jill in 1948–1949 at the Manchester Hippodrome, repeating the role in 1951–1952, followed by Queen Hysteria in Little Miss Muffet in 1952–1953 and 1958–1959, all at the New Palace Theatre of Varieties in Plymouth.[http://www.oldplymouth.uk/New%20Palace%20Theatre%20of%20Varieties-Palace%20Pantomimes.htm New Palace Theatre of Varieties, Plymouth], Old Plymouth
Lytton died of a heart attack in Blackpool in 1965, aged 59. In his will he left £1,205 to his widow Barbara Joan Lytton.[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1904/images/32858_611411_1984-00501?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=aca838153cc8dbe974e7430e0f6fd96a&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Hxx79&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=17873979 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995 for Lord Alver Lytton, 1965], via Ancestry.com {{subscription required}}
References
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External links
- {{IMDb name|1694253}}
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Category:Singers from the London Borough of Hounslow
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Hounslow
Category:Male actors from Blackpool
Category:Musicians from Blackpool