NICHOLLS, Harry (b London, 1 March 1852; d London, 29 November 1926).

For many years a popular comedian and pantomime artist, Nicholls spent the bulk of his acting career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and at the Adelphi Theatre, but he had, in his early days on the stage, played in comic opera on the London stage in Selina Dolaro's La Perichole (Don Andres) company. Alongside his performing career, Nicholls also worked as a playwright, scoring a major hit with the comedy Jane (1890 w William Lestocq) and then further successes as the part-author of two of the most internationally played of the Gaiety Theatre musical comedies, A Runaway Girl and The Toreador. In a busy and eclectic career, he also wrote many lyrics for both popular and show songs and appeared at the Gaiety in the role of Hooker Pacha in The Messenger Boy (1900).

Jane was turned into a musical comedy in 1919 under the title Baby Bunting (Nat D Ayer/Clifford Grey/Fred Thompson, Worton David) with some success, and it may very well have also been the basis of a pasticcio musical comedy called Oh! Jemima which appeared in Melbourne, Australia in 1913 with Nicholls's name attached to it and Carrie Moore as its star.

1898 A Runaway Girl (Ivan Caryll, Lionel Monckton/Aubrey Hopwood, Harry Greenbank/w Seymour Hicks) Gaiety Theatre 21 May

1901 The Toreador (Monckton, Caryll/Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank/w James T Tanner) Gaiety Theatre 17 June

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