Austen Hurgon
actor, singer, and theatre director
Austen Hurgon (1867 – 24 June 1942) was an actor, singer, theatre director and librettist for several successful Edwardian musical comedies of the 1900s and 1910s.
Early life
Born as Richard Cornelius Horgan in London in 1867 to Irish parents Timothy Horgan (1838 – c. 1901), a provisions merchant, and Helena née Callanan (1839–1913), he married Constance Aimee Hurst née Daniel (1872–1951) in London in 1900, at which time he gave his occupation as "stage manager". The two had a son, Richard Kenneth Hurgon (1902–1994).
Theatre career
Hurgon began his theatre career with the supporting rôle of Alberto in the musical Miss Wingrove (1905), with songs by Howard Talbot, which Hurgon produced and directed for Frank Curzon, for whom he next directed The White Chrysanthemum (1905) and The Girl Behind the Counter (1906). Following these successes Hurgon became the director at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London where, when Paul Rubens was indisposed due to ill health while working on Miss Hook of Holland, Hurgon quickly replaced him and finished writing the book and directed the play. Miss Hook was another success, and he moved on to direct My Mimosa Maid (1908) for Curzon. However, The Three Kisses (1907) at the Apollo Theatre and My Mimosa Maid failed, and his association with Curzon ended, his management having lasted for just four performances of the latter piece. Next Hurgon directed The Hon'ble Phil (1908) and Kitty Grey (1909) with music by Talbot at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York. For C. H. Workman he took over the management of and directed the failing musical Two Merry Monarchs (1910) at the Strand Theatre, the last piece that can be considered a Savoy opera.
“Austen Hurgon” enters the record as actor, singer, and theatre director. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Austen, Hurgon and actor can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Austen Hurgon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.