RTC Research Forum: "Performing George Grossmith: Three Generations of Humor from the Lecture Hall to the Cabaret" with Laura Kasson Fiss

Join us on Friday the 16th for our October RTC Research Forum! Presented by Laura Kasson Fiss, the talk is titled "Performing George Grossmith: Three Generations of Humor from the Lecture Hall to the Cabaret".

The event will take place from 12-1 in the Petersen Library (Walker 318), so bring your lunch and join us for another exciting look into the active research of our amazing graduate faculty!

Full Abstract:
The best-known George Grossmith (1847-1912) sang Gilbert and Sullivan’s patter songs and wrote The Diary of a Nobody. His contributions to Victorian performance went far beyond these well-known roles in the performance and print circulation of his comic songs and sketches. Furthermore, his father (1821-1880) and son (1874-1935), also named George Grossmith, each found fame as professional comic performers. Taken together, these three Georges provide a window into the social world of humorous performance from the stage—which the first George rejected—to the lecture hall and back. As they navigated antitheatrical prejudice and maintained a class standing in the upper middle classes, the Grossmiths projected sociable personas. The drawing room and the dressing room blurred as GGIII invited royalty to his dressing room and GGI and II performed “drawing-room entertainments” for the paying public. From Sunday-school rooms to the stage of the Gaiety Theatre to private drawing-rooms, the Grossmiths provided sociable humor.