A prolific writer of vaudeville sketches and pantomime 'books' and lyrics, Harry Taylor was responsible for at least 14 complete pantomimes staged between 1902 and 1923. The first of these is believed to have been Dick Whittington and His Cat, which was the result of a collaboration with William Wade, Barney Fagen and composer Leon Caron. He also wrote at least one musical comedy, The Jam of Cathay (1913), and one comic opera, Lady Nora (1907)
From 1910 onwards most of Taylor's shows were toured around Australia and New Zealand by pantomime companies run by Stanley McKay (beginning with Bo-Peep in 1910), Edward Jasper, Taylor-Coleman (which he co-owned with Alf Coleman) and Stephenson and Linley (New Zealand). Taylor died in Sydney of pneumonia, aged 51.
Taylor's established credits as writer and/or composer are:
- Dick Whittington and His Cat (1902)
- Lady Nora (1907), Bo-Peep(1910)
- A Modern Bluebeard (aka Bluebeard, 1910)
- The Jam of Cathay (1913)
- Old Mother Hubbard (1914)
- Humpty Dumpty (1920)
- Robinson Crusoe (1914)
- Cinderella (aka Hello Cinderella, 1915)
- Babes in the Woods (1919)
- Little Jack Horner (1919)
- Beauty and the Beast (1920)
Other reported works (yet to be established as Taylor's) are:
- Hey Diddle Diddle and the Man in the Moon
- Old King Cole.
[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
