3-011-946 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Frederick Robson, of the Olympic Theatre, 1864. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. Herbert Watkins. 'Mr. Robson...was, beyond question, a man of genius. His acting was unique...He became a strolling player, and passed from one small country town to another till he got an engagement at the Grecian Saloon. There he remained five years, delighting a cockney audience...with some of those farcical characters, such as the "Wandering Minstrel"...[in] the late Mr. Francis Talfourd's burlesque of "Macbeth"...Mr. Robson played the chief character, and produced an immense effect. In less than three months after he renewed his triumph by playing Shylock in another burlesque by the same author; and this...established him as a great and original English actor. When Mr. Farren gave up the theatre, and it was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Wigan, Mr. Robson was retained as its most valuable attraction...It was...by his burlesque performances, especially those of Masaniello and Medea, that he commanded the greatest share of public admiration. After the retirement of Mr. Wigan he became manager of the Olympic conjointly with Mr. Emden; nor has he ever been a regular actor at any other theatre since his first appearance there in 1853'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.