Background
He was born on November 14, 1833, in Portsmouth. His father was Willis Barnabee, "a noted whip in those palmy days of the stage coach, his route for many years being between Portland and Boston, via Portsmouth".
He was born on November 14, 1833, in Portsmouth. His father was Willis Barnabee, "a noted whip in those palmy days of the stage coach, his route for many years being between Portland and Boston, via Portsmouth".
At school the boy took part in tableaux vivants, and learned, under the care of a French dancing master, the waltz, polka, mazurka, and quadrille. He had no systematic musical training, and all his life he struggled against his lack of knowledge of musical notation. His high-school teacher was tenor in a local church and fired him with ambition to sing.
Amateur performances, where he was required to blacken up as a minstrel, or to dress as a Yankee type, in makeshift halls, constituted his early acting experience. He was definitely inspired to stage work by seeing Junius Brutus Booth in John Howard Payne's Brutus. But many years were to pass in mercantile pursuits, in various stores of Boston, before he was to enter the theatre. By 1854, however, while still a clerk, he was recognized as a successful entertainer. His voice was trained by J. Q. Wetherbee, and he sang in various churches, though his livelihood depended on the yardstick. His love for the drama and opera was his dominant taste, and he was an active member of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society.
Barnabee left business and entered the lyceum field. On November 9, 1866, he made his professional appearance as Toby Winkle, in All that Glitters is not Gold, where he also appeared as Cox opposite the Box of Boston's beloved William Warren. He next organized a touring concert company, and won reputation as a spirited songster, his most famous lyrics being "The Cork Leg" and an encore, "The Patent Arm. " The Boston Ideals were founded in 1879, the year that heralded in America the first production of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, H. M. S. Pinafore. Barnabee had seen the London production, first given at the Opéra Comique, May 28, 1878, and he was astute enough to study its stage business at the time. Arrangements were made for the production of Pinafore by the Ideals, and it was given a first performance in Boston on April 14, 1879. This proved a substantial start for them, and under Barnabee's guidance they won rapid favor.
In 1886, he and his company appeared at Manchester-by-the-Sea, in an outdoor performance of As You Like It, one of the earliest open-air theatre attempts in America. After some years of conquest, the Ideals slowly died, with a splendid reputation but a steadily decreasing purse. In order to begin afresh, with a new policy to suit new tastes, Barnabee and W. H. MacDonald organized the Bostonians in 1887. Their most famous production was Robin Hood (libretto by Harry B. Smith and music by Reginald De Koven), and in this opera Barnabee found his most famous rôle, the Sheriff of Nottingham, which he claimed to have sung over 1, 900 times. "It deserves, " wrote H. B. Smith, "a full-length portrait in the theatrical Hall of Fame, beside Jefferson's Rip, Raymond's Colonel Sellers, and Florence's Captain Cuttle".
His love for the drama and opera was his dominant taste, and he was an active member of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society.
Henry Clay Barnabee was an active member of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society.
On December 1, 1859, he married Clara George, who was identified with his career as light opera comedian; she died, December 25, 1909.
