Helen Carte

Helen Carte [née Susan Helen Couper Black; stage name, Helen Lenoir] 1852-1913, theatre impresario. She met Richard D'Oyly Carte in 1875 and became his assistant and business manager, co-producing all of the Savoy Operas. To counter unauthorised productions, and control performance copyrights of the operas in the USA she arranged profitable overseas productions and tours of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Her eye for detail, organisational skills, and management of the often-difficult relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan was acknowledged by Richard to be the basis of the company's success. She married Richard D'Oyly Carte in 1888, and by the 1890s, with Carte's health declining, took responsibility for the businesses, assuming full control of the family businesses upon his death in 1901.