London, in 1900, and this was followed by several appearances at the Palace Theatre from 1901 onwards. For a time ‘The Follies’ was included in the entertainment given by Mr. Albert Chevalier at the Queen's Hall, and in December 1904 Pélissier and his ‘Follies’ were commanded to appear before King Edward VII at Sandringham, in connexion with Queen Alexandra's birthday festivities.
So successful was his entertainment that Pélissier determined to test its capacity to stand alone as an attraction, and after a preliminary experiment at the Midland Theatre, Manchester, at the end of 1906, he opened at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 19 March 1907. The venture was completely successful. In September 1907 he removed to Terry's Theatre, and in 1908 to the Apollo, where the entertainment was given for hundreds of nights. His ‘Follies’ became famous for their burlesques of current theatrical pieces, and their ‘potted plays’ and ‘potted opera’ were triumphant successes. Gifted alike as composer, producer, and comedian, Pélissier was, for a time, immensely popular; but after 1911 his powers declined, and ill-health seriously impeded his work. A revue at the Alhambra, a pantomime at the Empire, and a final season of ‘The Follies’ at the Apollo (1912) were all unsuccessful, and after a three months' illness Pélissier died in London 25 September 1913.
Pélissier was a man of immense proportions, and his bulk undoubtedly added to his attraction as a comedian. He had an exceedingly mobile countenance, which he used with excellent effect, and an agreeable voice, and he was an accomplished musician. His facility in writing songs, humorous and sentimental, burlesques, extravaganzas, and ‘potted plays’ was remarkable. A series of humorous sketches entitled Potted Pélissier was published in 1913.
He married in 1911 Fay Compton, actress, a member of his troupe, youngest daughter of Edward Compton, actor, and left an infant son.
[The Times, 27 September 1913; Daily Telegraph, 27 September 1913; private information.]
PENLEY, WILLIAM SYDNEY (1852–1912), actor-manager, was born at St. Peter's, near Broadstairs, 19 November 1852, the only son of William George Robinson Penley, schoolmaster, by his wife, Emily Ann Wootton, widow of Walter Pilcher. His grandfather was Aaron Edwin Penley [q.v.], water-colour painter to William IV. The family had old theatrical associations; his great-uncles William, Sampson, and Belville Penley were all actor-managers, and his great-aunt, Rosina Penley, was an actress. Penley attended his father's school, Grove House Academy, St. Peter's, for a short time, and when his father removed to Charles Street, Westminster, he also attended there. He then became one of the children of the Chapel Royal, St. James's, and was subsequently a chorister of Westminster Abbey. From the Abbey he went as chief bass vocalist to Bedford chapel, Bloomsbury, where the incumbent was John Chippendall Montesquieu Bellew [q.v.], the well-known preacher, father of the actor, Harold Kyrle Bellew. He also sang at the Russian Embassy chapel. After apprenticeship with a City firm of milliners and fancy-goods manufacturers, he joined the staff of Copestake, Moore, Crampton, & Co.
Through the introduction of William Terriss, Penley obtained an engagement at the old Court Theatre under the management of Marie Litton [q.v.], and first appeared on the professional stage at that theatre on 26 December 1871 in the farce My Wife's Second Floor by John Maddison Morton. His salary was thirteen shillings a week. In the following October he played in T. F. Plowman's Zampa, and subsequently appeared at the Holborn Theatre in Doctor Faust. In 1875 he appeared at the Royalty Theatre, under the management of Madame Selina Dolaro, in Trial by Jury by (Sir) W. S. Gilbert and (Sir) Arthur Sullivan. After touring in comic opera, he returned to London to appear at the Strand Theatre (October 1876) in the comic opera, Princess Toto, by W. S. Gilbert and Alfred Cellier. He remained at the Strand Theatre under the management of Mrs. Swanborough for three years, appearing principally in burlesque. In April 1879, at the Royalty, he appeared with success in Sullivan's The Zoo and in Crutch and Toothpick by G. R. Sims. Later in that year he toured the provinces in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera H.M.S. Pinafore. In March 1880 he appeared at the Gaiety in La Voyage en Suisse with the Hanlon-Lees, a well-known troupe of pantomimists, and accompanied them to the United States. He reappeared in London at the Globe Theatre (July 1882) in The Vicar of Bray, and at the Comedy Theatre (September 1882) in Robert Planquette's Rip Van Winkle.
Penley made the first notable advance
431
