Burnside, R. H. (Robert Hubberthorne), 1873-1952

Showman R.H. Burnside was born in Glasgow to a theatrical family.

By the age of twelve he had twice run away from home to join the circus. His career began at London's Savoy Theatre in the 1880s where he worked backstage for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company on its original productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. After moving to America, Burnside staged over 200 shows during his career, including many musicals for which he wrote music, librettos and lyrics. He was most closely identified with his direction of the popular musical extravaganzas at N.Y.'s Hippodrome Theatre, a vast playhouse where he mounted circus-sized spectacles with casts of hundreds between 1908-1923. After the Hippodrome's heydey, Burnside acquired all its costumes and equipment and began a theatrical rental business, R.H. Burnside Productions, while continuing to stage theatrical productions in a variety of venues.

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