John McRobbie Gordon, né John McRobbie (12 October 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a Scottish singer, actor, stage manager and director, known as an influential stage director of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company after the death of W. S. Gilbert. In his early career Gordon appeared in the chorus and minor roles in D'Oyly Carte productions, and after a period as a freelance actor, manager and director, he returned to the company permanently in 1910, as stage manager, and later stage director, establishing a reputation as a firm disciplinarian and upholder of the performing practices originated by Gilbert. Life and career Early years Gordon was born in Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, the eldest son of Samuel McRobbie, a carpenter and farmer. Gordon retained his Aberdeen accent throughout his life. The family was musical and did not discourage the boy's ambitions for a career as a singer. He studied at the short-lived Aberdeen Conservatoire before moving to London in 1880. He took his mother's maiden name as a stage name to avoid embarrassing his more puritanical relatives, who disapproved of the theatre. He joined a touring opera company, playing baritone roles in such works as La Sonnambula and Fra Diavolo. In 1881 he was understudy to the baritone lead in the West End production of Audran's La Mascotte. Further small roles in touring opera companies followed. In 1883, while playing Marvejol in Audran's Olivette, he married a fellow member of the company, May Piemonté. In 1883 Gordon joined one of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring companies as a member of the chorus in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience. In 1884, he played the part of Colonel Calverley in Patience on tour. Richard D'Oyly Carte saw him perform and offered him the chance to join the main London company at the Savoy Theatre, as a chorus member and understudy. Gordon remained a member of the company until 1890, playing Piscator in The Carp, a one-act curtain raiser, when it accompanied Ruddigore (1887), and Harrington Jarramie in Mrs. Jarramie's Genie (another curtain raiser), when it accompanied The Yeomen of the Guard (1888). He was in the chorus in the original runs of Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore, The Yeomen of the Guard and The Gondoliers (1889), and the 1885 revival of Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer at the Savoy. In the 1890s, Gordon managed, and acted in, his own touring company,