| DIBDIN, THOMAS JOHN
(), English dramatist and song-writer, son. of Charles Dibdin, the
song-writer, and of Mrs Davenet, an actress whose real name was Harriet
Pitt, was born on the 21st of March 1771. He was apprenticed to his
maternal uncle, a London upholsterer, and later to William Rawlins,
afterwards sheriff of London. He summoned his second master unsuccessfully
for rough treatment; and after a few years of service he ran away to join
a company of country players. From 1789 to 1795 he played in all sorts of
parts; he acted as scene painter at Liverpool in 1791; and during this
period he composed more than 1000 songs. He made his first attempt as a
dramatic writer in Something New, followed by The Mad Guardian in 1795. He
returned to London in 1795, having married two years before; and in the
winter of 1798-1799 his Jew and the Doctor was produced at Covent Garden.
From this time he contributed a very large number of comedies, operas,
farces, &c., to the public entertainment. Some of these brought
immense popularity to the writer and immense profits to the theatres. It
is stated that the pantomime of Mother Goose (1807) produced more than
20,000 for the management at Covent Garden theatre, and the High-mettled
Racer, adapted as a pantomime from his fathers play, 18,000 at Astleys.
Dibdin was prompter and pantomime writer at Drury Lane until 1816, when he
took the Surrey theatre. This venture proved disastrous and he became
bankrupt. After this he was manager of the Haymarket, but without his old
success, and his last years were passed in comparative poverty. In 1827 he
published two volumes of Reminiscences; and at the time of his death he
was preparing an edition of his fathers sea songs, for which a small sum
was allowed him weekly by the lords of the admiralty. Of his own songs The
Oak Table and The Snug Little Island are well-known examples. He died in
London on the 16th of September 1841.
Taken from : http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/D/DI/DIBDIN_THOMAS_JOHN.htm
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