PITOU, AUGUSTUS

(1843-1915)

Born in New York, Augustus Pitou began his acting career in a small role inEdwinBooth'sHamletin 1867 and continued in Booth's company for a few seasons. He was a member of the inaugural company at Kansas City's Coates Opera House during the 1870-1871 season. Then he settled in New York to manage, at various times,Booth's Theatre, the Fifth Avenue Theatre, theFourteenth Street Theatre, and the Grand Opera House. He also managed several stars, includingRobert B. Mantell, Rose Coghlan, William Scanlan, andChauncey Olcott, and served as Olcott'sagentas well as producing and writing librettos for romantic musical dramas for theIrishtenor, includingSweet Inniscarra(1897),A Romance of Athlone(1899),Garrett O'Magh(1901),Old Limerick Town(1902),Terence(1904),Edmund Burke(1905),Eileen Asthore(1906),O'Neill of Derry(1907),Ragged Robin(1910),Barry of Ballymore(1911), andMacushla(1912). His 1914 memoir is titledMasters of the Show.