Willie Edouin

Willie Edouin, born William Frederick Bryer on 1 January 1846 in Brighton, England, was a comedian, actor, dancer, singer, writer, director, and theatre manager whose Broadway career spanned from 1870 to 1900. The youngest of five children born to John Edwin Bryer, an English dance instructor, and his wife Sarah Elizabeth (née May), Edouin began performing in childhood alongside his siblings. By 1849, the Bryer children were appearing together in London as "The Living Marionettes," performing in farces, ballets d'action, and extravaganzas. In 1852 and 1854, the family performed in pantomimes at the Strand Theatre, and in 1857 their parents took them on a six-year tour encompassing Australia, India, China, and Japan. In 1863, Edouin and his sister Rose performed in burlesque with Fawcett's stock company at the Princess's Theatre in Melbourne.

Edouin relocated to the United States in 1869, making his American debut alongside Lawrence Barrett and John McCullough at the California Theatre in San Francisco, where he gained recognition for his burlesques of popular plays and local celebrities. His New York debut came in 1870, when he appeared in The Dancing Barber as Narcissus Fitzfrizzle, followed by the role of Murphy in Handy Andy with Bryant's Minstrels. In 1871, he joined Lydia Thompson's burlesque company as its leading male comedian, a position he held for six seasons. It was with Thompson's troupe that he met Alice Atherton, who would become his wife. The company performed burlesques of works including Bluebeard, Robin Hood, The Forty Thieves, Lurline, and Mephisto and the Fourscore, many written by H. B. Farnie. Edouin earned particular notice for his acrobatic clowning as Friday in Robinson Crusoe and for his portrayal of Chinaman Washee-Washee in Bluebeard. He traveled with Thompson to England in 1874, reprising the latter role in London and continuing to perform with the troupe on tour in Britain for three seasons.

Returning to New York with Thompson in 1877, Edouin subsequently performed with Colville's Folly Company and then with Edward E. Rice's Surprise Party in pantomimes including Babes in the Woods, a version of The Lost Children, and Horrors. By 1880, he had formed his own troupe, Willie Edouin's Sparks, co-authoring and starring in the farce Dreams. In 1881, he purchased a photo gallery in Philadelphia, selling it the following year.

Edouin went back to England in 1884, partnering with Lionel Brough to produce The Babes, or, Whines from the Wood, a burlesque by Harry Paulton staged at Toole's Theatre, in which both Edouin and his wife appeared. In August 1886, he played Carraway Bones in Mark Melford's farce Turned Up. From 1888, he worked primarily under his own management at the Strand Theatre in London, appearing in a revival of H. J. Byron's burlesque Aladdin, or the Wonderful Scamp as Widow Twankay and producing Katti, the Family Help alongside his wife. In 1889, he managed Our Flat at the Opera Comique, playing Nathaniel Glover in a production that ran for nearly 600 nights. He continued managing and performing in comedies at the Strand into the early 1890s, and in 1894 appeared as Jeremiah Grubb in Melford's The Jerry Builder, a production in which his daughter May made her stage debut.

Among the Edwardian musical comedies in which Edouin appeared were New Market at the Opera Comique, La poupée (1897), The Royal Star (1898), A Bunch of Keys, Fun in a Photograph Gallery, and Dreams. His greatest success came with the international hit Florodora, which opened in London in 1899 and transferred to Broadway in 1900, one of his verified Broadway credits alongside Kenilworth, Ixion, Mr. Bluebeard, and Robin Hood. He subsequently appeared in The Silver Slipper (1901) before taking his own company on tour to South Africa. Returning to London, he performed in The Girl from Kays (1902), Sergeant Brue, The Little Michus (1905), The Blue Moon, and The Little Cherub.

In 1906, Edouin toured Britain and returned to the United States in 1907 to perform in vaudeville. Despite a career in which he is said to have portrayed as many as five hundred characters, he did not achieve financial success as a manager and left a small estate. He married Alice Atherton, and the couple had two daughters, Daisy and May, both of whom became actresses. Edouin died on 14 April 1908 at the age of 62 and is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.