Ralph Roberts

Ralph Roberts was the stage name of Robert Symington Gompertz. He was born in India on April 4^th 1869, the son of Robert William Barent Gompertz, a civil engineer, and Mary Kathleen, nee Shortt. It appears that he came to England when he was very young and was brought up by his grandfather while his father remained in India. In 1891 he married the actress Edith Housley, 1872–1953, with whom he had two sons. They divorced in 1902 and the following year he married Ethel Lilian Monkman, b.1876, whose stage name was Ethel Caryllon. They had one son. His forte was musical comedy but he turned his hand to everything from Cinderella in Crewe to Die Fledermaus at Covent Garden, radio to the movies, and song and sketch writing.

The first record I have of his career is of his appearance in The Pickpocket in Exeter in 1888; “As Andrew, the waiter, Mr Ralph Roberts was a decided success.” In 1990, and again in ’91, he played Roundy in Uncle Josh. Edith Housley was also amongst the cast and this is presumably where they met. He toured throughout 1892 in The Trumpet Call; “Mr Roberts must also be complimented for his excellent performance on the trumpet.” In 1894 Ralph and Edith went to Australia and appeared together in various productions. Edith had returned to England by the end of 1895 but Ralph continued to tour in Australia until 1897.

Back in Britain, The Trumpet Call was revived and toured for two years, the military theme being popular at the time of the Boer War. “Mr Ralph Roberts as Tommy Dutton delighted the audience.“ It was the same with Under the Red Cross, billed as “A Patriotic and Spectacular Drama” of 1900 which also featured Ralph’s future wife, Miss Caryllon. “Ralph Roberts [is] exceptionally good” and Ethel “most effective”.

After 1900 the records are more sketchy, but Ralph continued to act and write until shortly before his death in 1944. Notable appearances include The Merry Widow at Daly’s, Leicester Square in 1909, The Three Graces, Empire Theatre, Leicester Square in 1924, Julia at Covent Garden, 1936, and Idiot’s Delight at the Apollo in 1838 and a couple of Green Room Rag charity evenings. Two productions, Money for Jam and Bees on the Boat-Deck appear to have been filmed by the BBC and broadcast in 1939. He also recorded for BBC Radio and made half a dozen films between 1936 and ‘42. Whether for work or pleasure I cannot say but he sailed to New York each Summer from 1925 to 1932 except ‘26.

Maybe the critics were more polite in those days but I have not seen anything but positive reviews of Ralph Roberts’ work with the possible exception of the very last one, Sixth Floor in 1939 with Celia Johnson and James Mason, but even here it is the play as a whole and not Ralph’s performance which was poorly received by The Times. The same paper’s unenthusiastic review of All-in Marriage from 1936 ended by writing of the his character, “It is a curious part, but Mr. Ralph Roberts plays it curiously well” – and other reviews were more positive.

He died in Charing Cross Hospital, London, on October 31^st, 1944.

The pre-1900 quotes are all from The Era.