THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

George B. Frothingham as the Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance

George B. Frothingham (1887)

[Born Boston, Massachusetts 12 Apr 1844, died Burlington, Vermont 19 Jan 1915]

George B. Frothingham will forever be associated with the Boston Ideal Opera Company and its successor, the Bostonians. Frothingham was an original member of both, appearing as Dick Deadeye with the former organization when it was launched in 1879 to give New England audiences an "ideal" production of H.M.S. Pinafore. The chief success of the Bostonians was Harry B. Smith & Reginald de Koven's Robin Hood, and Frothingham made Friar Tuck his signature role.

The Bostonians were formed in 1887, just after Frothingham made his only appearance under D'Oyly Carte auspices:as Sir Roderick Murgatroyd with Carte's Second American Ruddygore Company, touring New York and New England between March and May of that year.

George Frothingham appeared in scores of comic operas over the years including The Pirates of Penzance (as the Sergeant of Police), and Patience (as Colonel Calverley), but he kept coming back to Robin Hood.

On January 19, 1915, the day after he had given his 5, 601^st performance as Friar Tuck, George B. Frothingham collapsed and died of heart failure in Burlington, Vermont. He was 75 years old.

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