Oscar Asche

John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical Chu Chin Chow, both on stage and film, and for acting in, directing, or producing many Shakespeare plays and successful musicals.

In December 1892 he went to Norway again to give a Shakespeare recital, which was successful and brought him a little money.

After studying acting in Norway and London, Asche made his London stage debut in 1893 and soon joined the F R Benson Company, where he remained for eight years, playing more than a hundred roles including important Shakespearean parts.

On 25 March 1893 Asche made his first appearance on the stage, at the Opera Comique Theatre, London, as Roberts in Man and Woman.

He then joined the F. R. Benson Company and for eight years gained experience an actor.

Among other venues, they played at the summer Stratford festivals.

He started with small parts and was eventually cast as Charles the Wrestler in As You Like It, being well suited because of his excellent physique.

His other early roles included Biondello in The Taming of the Shrew.

He was paid a salary of £2 10s.

a week, but his father had been involved in a financial crisis and was unable to send him any allowance.

At holiday times when he had no salary, Asche sometimes slept on the Thames Embankment and was glad to earn trifling tips for calling cabs.

His salary was raised to £4 a week, and he was never in such straits again.

Asche played more than a hundred roles with Benson's company including Brutus, Claudius and other important Shakespearian parts.

His resonant voice and his dignified, formal bearing are often mentioned in the reviews of his performances.

He married the actress Lily Brayton in 1898, and the two were often paired onstage for many years.

He played Maldonado in Arthur Wing Pinero's Iris in the West End in 1901, his first important part in modern comedy.

He repeated the role on Broadway the following year, and then joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree's theatre company in London in 1902, playing more Shakespearean roles over the next few years.

Asche and his wife became managers of the Adelphi Theatre in 1904 and His Majesty's Theatre in 1907; he made his first tour of Australia in 1909–10, and was much moved by his reception in his native land.

In 1911 Edward Knoblock wrote the play Kismet for him; Asche revised and shortened it, and the production enjoyed great success in London and on tour with Asche in the leading role of Hajj.

Asche most famously wrote and produced Chu Chin Chow, starring himself and his wife, which ran for an unprecedented 2,238 performances, from 31 August 1916 to 22 July 1921.

During the run, among other projects, he directed the hit London production of The Maid of the Mountains.

From 1922 to 1924 he toured in Australia with the J C Williamson company.

As a result of his high-spending lifestyle, he was declared bankrupt in 1926.

Though his success as a producer waned, he continued to direct and act, including in several films, until the mid-1930s.

Asche was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

His father, Thomas, born in Norway, studied law at Christiania University; he did not pursue a legal career in Australia because he failed to master the English language.

After being a digger, a mounted police officer and a storekeeper, Thomas Asche became a prosperous hotel-keeper and publican in Melbourne and Sydney.

Asche's mother, Thomas Asche's second wife, Harriet Emma, née Trear, was born in England.

Asche was educated at Laurel Lodge in Dandenong and the Melbourne Grammar School, which he left at 16.

He then went on a holiday voyage to China, and after his return to Australia was articled to an architect who died soon afterwards.

A few months later, he ran away and lived in the bush for some weeks and then obtained a position as a jackaroo.

He returned to his parents and obtained a position in an office, but he had now decided to become an actor and made a beginning by getting up private theatricals at his home.

He travelled to Fiji and on his return his father agreed to send him to Norway to study acting.

At Bergen, Asche was instructed in deportment, voice production and theatre arts.

He found the Norwegian acting technique to be easy and natural.

Two months later, he went to Christiania to study acting.

There he met Henrik Ibsen, who advised him to go to his own country and work in his own language.

Asche then went to London and was so impressed by Henry Irving and Ellen Terry in Henry VIII, that he saw the performance six times in succession.

More study followed in London, where he worked to lose his Australian accent.

He was fortunate in having an allowance of £10 a week from his father, but could not obtain work.