Payne Brothers

Harry Payne (1833 – 27 September 1895) and Frederick Payne (1841 – 27 February 1880) were members of a popular Victorian era of British pantomime entertainers. They were billed as The Payne Brothers.

Fred Payne became known for portraying Harlequin, and Harry became famous as Clown in the Harlequinade that followed Victorian pantomimes. Together, the brothers appeared in Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis, in 1871. Gilbert made references to the brothers in two of his Bab Ballads.

Harry and Fred Payne were the sons of William Henry Schofield Payne (1804–1878), the classic pantomime artist who was a master of "dumb show" or comic mime, and who invented much of the Harlequinade action. Known as "the King of Pantomime", he trained with Joseph Grimaldi and the great Harlequin, Jack Bologna, at Sadler's Wells Theatre, and starred at Covent Garden in the 1830s and 40s. The dancing of the Payne Brothers was so celebrated that W. S. Gilbert referred to it in two of his comic Bab Ballads, "The Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo" and "The Bishop of Rum-ti-Foo Again". When the Paynes appeared in The Grand Duchess at the Gaiety in 1871, a reviewer in The Olio wrote, "People go rather to see the eccentric dancing than to hear the eccentric music. However, in justice to the latter, it may be urged that we have all heard enough of the 'Grand Duchess', while we are all agreed that we would never see sufficient of the Payne pantomimists – perhaps, taken for all in all, the best in the world."

Harry Payne began his career playing Harlequin at Covent Garden. In 1859 he was playing a bear, and he had to take over as Clown in the middle of a performance when Richard Flexmore collapsed. He was so successful in the role that he remained as Covent Garden's Clown until the 1870s. After other appearances, including one with his brother Fred in Gilbert and Sullivan's Thespis in 1871, choreographed by their father, he went to Drury Lane in 1883, where he played Clown for the last twelve years of his life.

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