Harry Gordon
This collection includes correspondence, photographs, posters, presscuttings and programmes.
Harry Gordon was born in Aberdeen as Alexander Gordon, on 11 July 1893, one of five sons and a daughter. Born in 1893 he attended King Street and later Central School, leaving to work as an insurance clerk. His first public appearance was probably on the stage of Gilcomston Parish Church at the age of 12 when he appeared as Princess Chrysanthemum, by the time he was fifteen years old he decided to pursue a full-time career as an entertainer.
An important turning-point in his career was the 1909 formation of a Pierrot troupe, with whom Gordon played in many open-air performances. The company formed in the village of Banchory, which influenced Gordon's most famous creation, The Laird o' Inversnecky.
Gordon often performed in Aberdeen at His Majesty's Theatre and the Beach Pavilion, originally a wooden concert hall which was replaced in 1928 by a more permanent structure. Gordon eventually leased the theatre himself before its closure in 1941.
In 1956 Harry Gordon suffered a severe attack of influenza and died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary in January, 1957.
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