Ivan Menzies
Encyclopedia
J. Ivan "Jimmy" Menzies (1896 – 19 April 1985) was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone
roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
in Britain in the 1920s and the J. C. Williamson
Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in Australia the 1930s and 1940s.
Menzies married a D'Oyly Carte principal soprano
, Elsie Griffin
. Later, Menzies became a leader of the Moral Re-Armament
movement in Australia and Britain.
, England, the son of a Lake District
doctor. He served on the Western Front
in World War I
before shattering his right arm and thigh in the Battle of the Somme on 8 August 1916.
roles in the company's second touring company, including the Associate in Trial by Jury
, First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard
and Antonio in The Gondoliers
and sometimes joining the organisation's main repertory company. In 1923, Menzies added the role of Major Murgatroyd in Patience
to his regular repertory. The same year, over the protests of her family, Menzies married D'Oyly Carte soprano
star Elsie Griffin
. They had one daughter, Mahala.
During these early seasons, Menzies understudied Henry Lytton
, Leo Sheffield
and other principal comedians of the company and appeared occasionally in the leading comedy roles of the Learned Judge in Trial, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance
, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe
, Jack Point in Yeomen, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. Menzies related that "The first time I played the Duke of Plaza-Toro, I started by catching my spurs and falling into the canal. It was decidedly not traditional."
In the secondary touring company, Menzies became the principal comedian in 1925, playing Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko in The Mikado
, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore
, Major General Stanley and the Duke of Plaza Toro. In 1927, with the closing of the secondary touring company, Menzies left D'Oyly Carte. He then appeared with Macdonald & Young's company in Happy Go Lucky, and, in 1928, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in Love in a Village
.
Gilbert and Sullivan company in Australia. He toured extensively with that company as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore
, General Stanley, Bunthorne, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, Jack Point, the Duke of Plaza Toro and the Learned Judge, leaving Griffin and his infant daughter in England while carrying on extra-marital affairs in Australia.
In 1934, he met Peggy Williams from the Oxford Group
, later known as the Moral Re-Armament
, a Christian movement founded at Oxford
in the 1920s. Williams persuaded Menzies to join the movement, and he resolved to change his life, adopting the group’s so-called four absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. He aggressively proselytized for the movement by giving lectures, when not performing onstage.
In September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II
, the British government ordered all theatres to close. Rupert D'Oyly Carte
cancelled the company's autumn tour and terminated the contracts of his performers. When the company started up again at Christmas 1939, the company's principal comedian, Martyn Green
, had accepted another engagement. Carte hired Grahame Clifford
to play Green's roles. Carte engaged Menzies to return to England and the company to share some of the principal comedian roles with Clifford for two months until Clifford could be trained in all the roles and could settled in. Menzies appeared as Sir Joseph, General Stanley, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, and (occasionally) the Duke of Plaza Toro, before leaving the company in February 1940. He was in Australia again as principal comedian in the J. C. Williamson G&S tours in 1941, 1944, 1949, and 1951.
Menzies died in Blackheath, London
at the age of 89.
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
in Britain in the 1920s and the J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in Australia the 1930s and 1940s.
Menzies married a D'Oyly Carte principal soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
. Later, Menzies became a leader of the Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament was an international Christian moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from the American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman, a Lutheran, headed MRA for 23 years, from 1938 until his death in 1961...
movement in Australia and Britain.
Life and career
Ivan Menzies was born in BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England, the son of a Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
doctor. He served on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
before shattering his right arm and thigh in the Battle of the Somme on 8 August 1916.
Early career
Menzies joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1921, soon playing small Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
roles in the company's second touring company, including the Associate in Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
and Antonio in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
and sometimes joining the organisation's main repertory company. In 1923, Menzies added the role of Major Murgatroyd in Patience
Patience (opera)
Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride, is a comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. First performed at the Opera Comique, London, on 23 April 1881, it moved to the 1,292-seat Savoy Theatre on 10 October 1881, where it was the first theatrical production in the...
to his regular repertory. The same year, over the protests of her family, Menzies married D'Oyly Carte soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
star Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
. They had one daughter, Mahala.
During these early seasons, Menzies understudied Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
, Leo Sheffield
Leo Sheffield
Leo Sheffield was an English singer and actor best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
and other principal comedians of the company and appeared occasionally in the leading comedy roles of the Learned Judge in Trial, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
, Jack Point in Yeomen, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. Menzies related that "The first time I played the Duke of Plaza-Toro, I started by catching my spurs and falling into the canal. It was decidedly not traditional."
In the secondary touring company, Menzies became the principal comedian in 1925, playing Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore
Ruddigore
Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse, originally called Ruddygore, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written together by Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Major General Stanley and the Duke of Plaza Toro. In 1927, with the closing of the secondary touring company, Menzies left D'Oyly Carte. He then appeared with Macdonald & Young's company in Happy Go Lucky, and, in 1928, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in Love in a Village
Love in a Village
Love in a Village is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces borrowed from Arne's earlier stage works, a new overture...
.
J. C. Williamson and Moral Re-Armament
In 1931, Menzies joined the J. C. WilliamsonJ. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
Gilbert and Sullivan company in Australia. He toured extensively with that company as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, General Stanley, Bunthorne, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, Jack Point, the Duke of Plaza Toro and the Learned Judge, leaving Griffin and his infant daughter in England while carrying on extra-marital affairs in Australia.
In 1934, he met Peggy Williams from the Oxford Group
Oxford Group
The Oxford Group was a Christian movement that had a following in Europe, China, Africa, Australia, Scandinavia and America in the 1920s and 30s. It was initiated by an American Lutheran pastor, Frank Buchman, who was of Swiss descent...
, later known as the Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament
Moral Re-Armament was an international Christian moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from the American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman, a Lutheran, headed MRA for 23 years, from 1938 until his death in 1961...
, a Christian movement founded at Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in the 1920s. Williams persuaded Menzies to join the movement, and he resolved to change his life, adopting the group’s so-called four absolutes: honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. He aggressively proselytized for the movement by giving lectures, when not performing onstage.
In September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the British government ordered all theatres to close. Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from 1913 to 1948....
cancelled the company's autumn tour and terminated the contracts of his performers. When the company started up again at Christmas 1939, the company's principal comedian, Martyn Green
Martyn Green
William Martyn-Green , better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.After army service in World War I,...
, had accepted another engagement. Carte hired Grahame Clifford
Grahame Clifford
For the film editor with a similar name, see Graeme Clifford.Grahame Clifford , was an English opera singer and actor primarily known for his work in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and as principal baritone of the Royal Opera Company, Covent Garden.-Life...
to play Green's roles. Carte engaged Menzies to return to England and the company to share some of the principal comedian roles with Clifford for two months until Clifford could be trained in all the roles and could settled in. Menzies appeared as Sir Joseph, General Stanley, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, and (occasionally) the Duke of Plaza Toro, before leaving the company in February 1940. He was in Australia again as principal comedian in the J. C. Williamson G&S tours in 1941, 1944, 1949, and 1951.
Later years
Later, Menzies and Griffin appeared in the Moral Re-Armament musical, The Vanishing Island, in which they toured around the world from 1955 until 1957. In 1962, Elsie Griffin's singing career was ended by a throat operation; Menzies had a heart attack the same year. They spent most of their remaining years living quietly in the London suburb of Barnes, although they continued to participate in Moral Re-Armament activities. In 1975, during the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's centennial season, Menzies was invited to participate in the final performance of Trial by Jury, in which the company's regular chorus was augmented by fourteen former stars of the company.Menzies died in Blackheath, London
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
at the age of 89.