Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Pélissier, Harry Gabriel
PELISSIER, HARRY GABRIEL (1874–1913), comedian, was born at Finchley 27 April 1874, the second son of Frederic Antoine Pélissier, a French diamond merchant, by his wife, Jennie Kean. After leaving school he was for six months employed in his father's business in Berwick Street, London. Not finding the occupation congenial, and having from his earliest years a predilection for the stage, he made up his mind to try his fortune on the music-hall stage, and he made his first appearance at a London suburban hall. In 1895 he joined a troupe of entertainers under the direction of the brothers Baddeley, the well-known lawn-tennis players, and Mr. Sherrington Chinn. A year later he took over the direction of the troupe and renamed it ‘The Follies’. It was first heard at Worthing under that title on 7 August 1896. After several years of provincial and seaside engagements, the troupe appeared at the Alhambra, London, in 1900, and this was followed by several appearances at the Palace Theatre from 1901 onwards. For a time ‘The Follies’ was included in the entertainment given by Mr. Albert Chevalier at the Queen's Hall, and in December 1904 Pélissier and his ‘Follies’ were commanded to appear before King Edward VII at Sandringham, in connexion with Queen Alexandra's birthday festivities.
So successful was his entertainment that Pélissier determined to test its capacity to stand alone as an attraction, and after a preliminary experiment at the Midland Theatre, Manchester, at the end of 1906, he opened at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 19 March 1907. The venture was completely successful. In September 1907 he removed to Terry's Theatre, and in 1908 to the Apollo, where the entertainment was given for hundreds of nights. His ‘Follies’ became famous for their burlesques of current theatrical pieces, and their ‘potted plays’ and ‘potted opera’ were triumphant successes. Gifted alike as composer, producer, and comedian, Pélissier was, for a time, immensely popular; but after 1911 his powers declined, and ill-health seriously impeded his work. A revue at the Alhambra, a pantomime at the Empire, and a final season of ‘The Follies’ at the Apollo (1912) were all unsuccessful, and after a three months' illness Pélissier died in London 25 September 1913.
Pélissier was a man of immense proportions, and his bulk undoubtedly added to his attraction as a comedian. He had an exceedingly mobile countenance, which he used with excellent effect, and an agreeable voice, and he was an accomplished musician. His facility in writing songs, humorous and sentimental, burlesques, extravaganzas, and ‘potted plays’ was remarkable. A series of humorous sketches entitled Potted Pélissier was published in 1913.
He married in 1911 Fay Compton, actress, a member of his troupe, youngest daughter of Edward Compton, actor, and left an infant son.
[The Times, 27 September 1913; Daily Telegraph, 27 September 1913; private information.]