author
Harry Paulton
1842–1917
A lively Victorian stage figure, he built a career as a comedian, actor, and playwright, and is now best remembered for writing the libretto for the comic opera Erminie. His work also included farces and stage comedies such as Niobe, showing a gift for light, popular theatre.
1 Audiobook
Niobe, All Smiles: A Farcical Comedy in Three Acts
by Harry Paulton, Maurice Ordonneau, Edward A. (Edward Antonio) Paulton
About the author
Working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Harry Paulton was active as an actor, comedian, author, and playwright. Reliable theatre and library records connect him with Wolverhampton as his birthplace and place his death in London in 1917, though some sources give his birth year as 1841 and others as 1842.
He is especially associated with Erminie, the comic opera he wrote with music by Edward Jakobowski. The piece became a major success in Britain and the United States, and its long afterlife helped keep Paulton’s name in theatre history.
Paulton also wrote stage comedies including Niobe, and his career seems to have moved easily between performing and writing. That mix of practical stage sense and comic timing helps explain why his work appealed so strongly to popular audiences of his day.