He was born in 1862. A fragile child, he was sent to Australia to regain his health. He returned to England without his health, but still nursing the ambition to be an actor. He fulfilled that ambition in Denver, USA. From that time his career grew and he soon was leasing London theatres as an actor/ manager.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Cyril Maude
He was born in 1862. A fragile child, he was sent to Australia to regain his health. He returned to England without his health, but still nursing the ambition to be an actor. He fulfilled that ambition in Denver, USA. From that time his career grew and he soon was leasing London theatres as an actor/ manager.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Melbourne Theatres
It's a book called Magical Nights at the Theatre by Charles Waller, a magician.
Above is the Princess Theatre. Melbourne tends to preserve its buildings far better than Sydney and so the Princess Theatre can still be visited at Spring Street. It was here that J C Williamson ran his Melbourne business and it was here that 13 year old Carrie Moore auditioned for the great man. The black and white picture is dated 1908.
Her Majesty's Theatre on the corner of Exhibition and Little Bourke Streets. This was J C Williamson's other theatre. He leased it, renovated it and changed its name from the Alexandra. The Royal Comic Opera Company used this as their second home.
Finally a repeated photo to complete the set. The Opera House ( later the Tivoli) and Bijou Theatres in Bourke Street between Swanston and Russell Streets. As in Sydney where the Tivoli and National Amphitheatre were virtually neighbours, the two major popular theatres in Melbourne were also close together.
The people of Melbourne do not seem to be afflicted with the dreaded destoy and rebuild disease so prevalent in Sydney. I hope their immunity continues. Sydney, of course, remains the best city of Australia, despite her dreadful affliction.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Minne Tittell Brune
Her family were quite religious and so was Minnie, she once said she was "half a nun" She particularly disliked the way men looked at her, and how many people equated "actress" with bad moralily.
She was not very successful overseas but JC Williamson saw something in her that would appeal to Australian audiences. He was right, and she was tremendously popular on the Australian stage.
She played male and female roles and her most famous character was "Sunday" in the Western themed play of the same name.
When Minnie left Australia, her career dwindled. In her later years she returned to the US and after her husband's death,retired to a convent.
She died in Los Angeles in 1974 aged 99 years .
Monday, October 25, 2010
Music Postcards
To encourage people to buy music sheets and to return to the theatre, companies produced postcards. The ones here date from around the mid 1900s and the first three come from "Albert's Lyric series". There was an Albert's music store in Sydney in 1905 which specialised in sheet music and Edison phonographs, so the postcards may originate from there.
Below is the American Baritone Post Mason, singing Would You Care? A love ballad. Mason did a series of concerts around Australia in 1906-07
Heba Barlow is next, singing"Im trying so hard to forget you" For many years Heba was the leading lady of Irish American John F Sheridan's Company. After Sheridan's sudden death in 1908, Heba went to England to continue her career.
Finally, the song that everybody knows, "Home Sweet Home." Sung by Lilian Hallows and Sidney Howard of the Sidney Howard English Drama Co. They were presented by Harry Rickards at the Criterion Theatre in 1907 according to the reverse of the postcard. This postcard is English and it seems to have been altered to include details of the Australian season.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Nance O Neil
Friday, October 22, 2010
Jack Cannot's last letter
Jack Cannot was a very famous comedian in the 1920s, but the talkies and the depression came and life was difficult for Jack and his family.
When you get this it will be a case of "Alas, poor Yorrick", and I want you to do the best for my family, who will be more or less destitute. I have fought against doing what I intend to do, but it is the only way I can see clear to enable my children to get a proper education and my darling wife to feel that every postman's knock does not mean a summons.
Charles, I have the greatest wife and children a man could wish for, so you can guess with what heart yearnings I am leaving all I love best, but I cannot get decent work. I have done 26 weeks work in two years and then I got scaled for 70 pounds in a pantomime.
More on Jack's Story
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Allan Wilkie
Here is Allan
and here is Frediswyde
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Her Majesty's Theatre Fire
In the early morning hours of 23rd March 1902 another fire occurred in the heart of Sydney.
Her Majesty's Theatre on the corner of Market and Pitt Street went up in flames. The theatre had a hotel attached and almost shared a wall with its other neighbours.
The fire decimated the theatre as can be seen in this photo from the Town and Country Journal
Tragically a young woman was killed when a wall at the back of the theatre collapsed upon her. She was a cleaning lady and was doing the early morning rounds of the theatre when the fire broke out.
Fortunately the fire brigade managed to contain the blaze and it did not spread to other parts of the city.
JC Williamson lost 35000 pounds worth of sets and equipment, but the theatrical community pitched in and helped with a benefit performance for him and for the people who lost their jobs through the destruction of the theatre.
Naturally they rebuilt .
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Australian theatre programmes of the 20th century
For example during World War 1 programmes were on rough paper, in black and white like this
During the 1920s the programmes reflected the optimism and excitement of the times. They were also in many cases beautiful artistic worksThis is a full colour cover and a booklet printed on glossy paper.
Of course as the depression came, the programmes became less showy.
The Williamson programme above is from 1931. The same cover was used through 1931 only the pictures of the stars on the cover changed. It was a booklet, but in black and white.
As the economy improved so did the programmes. Williamson updated to colour covers, but still kept the same cover through the mid 1930s.
Of course during the Second World War the theatres had to show patriotism by keeping their programmes simple. They went back to brouchure type programmes, many with colour covers like the one below from 1943.
Theatre history is a reflection of cultural and economic history. The above programmes are a fantastic illustration of the relevance of our theatrical history to the wider history of Australia.
Monday, October 18, 2010
William Anderson
Above are Bill and Eugenie on the cover of a programme. Eugenie soon became the leading lady of Bill's company.
Bill spent 15000 pounds on Wonderland, it had a circus, a helter skelter, rides, amusement halls and other entertainments. At times it had its own vaudeville performances. It also had wowser neighbours who complained about the noise and the obstruction of the beach.
With all these enterprises, it was perhaps inevitable that the freewheeling Bill would get into financial difficulties. After 4 years Wonderland was closed, his productions became scarce and Bill's life became a bit less flamboyant
Friday, October 15, 2010
Carrie Moore
Above is a picture of Carrie in costume for an Australian production.
She returned to Australia in 1908 and was Australia's first Merry Widow.( picture below.)
I've long been fascinated by Carrie and wrote a small book about her.
She died in Sydney in 1956 after living an incredible life.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Maud Jeffries
During that tour she met a young man called James Osborne who was the son of a wealthy squatter family. He was smitten with her and somehow joined the company. They acted together, and in 1905 he asked her to marry him. She agreed, finished the tour in 1906 and then retired from the stage.
Above you can see Maud acting as a very domestic Edwardian lady. Although many of the aristocratic marriages in England caused scandal, this marriage in the colonies, wasn't really frowned upon. In fact one of the papers said that James was a very lucky man.
Maud had a son, and lived out her life in the country with James. She made one appearance on stage before her death, a benefit with Julius Knight in 1910. She died in 1946 outliving her husband.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The London Gaiety Burlesque Company
They performed two burlesques of opera on the tour, Faust up to date and Carmen up to data. These were,of course, parodies of the originals.
A tour by the Gaiety company was a huge event because they represented the very best in English entertainment, so everything about the production was of high quality, including the souvenirs.
One example was a lovely, "Souvenir of the Gaiety Theatre, George Edwardes" Which included a set of eight sketches by Percy Anderson.
Above is a soldier
This is Carmen and below is Frasquita.
These are beautiful examples of the time and effort that was taken to make visiting the theatre such a special experience in the late 19th Century.
More information about the tour is here
Monday, October 11, 2010
Harry Rickards and the Tivoli Theatre
Below is a letter dated 1893 on Harry Rickards' stationery. I'm not sure if it's signed by Rickards or by his brother Jack Leete. The Tivoli circuit was a family affair and Jack managed a lot of the business side.
This is a picture of Harry Rickards from an early 20th Century magazine. It outlines all the theatres he operated in Australia. These included the Tivoli in Sydney, The Opera House in Melbourne, and theatres in Adelaide and Brisbane. As you can see, Rickards had no problem with self promotion.
Finally, below is a 19th Century postcard of the New Opera House in Melbourne. It was later called the Tivoli and was run by Rickards. A shopping mall now stands on the site.
Frank Van Straten's book on the Tivoli called Tivoli, covers everything you want to know about the history of this legendary theatre chain.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Pantomime.
Xmas 1883 saw Aladdin come to Melbourne. It starred J C Williamson's wife, Maggie Moore as the principal boy.
Everything about the pantomime experience was special, including the programmes, which detailed the names of cast and crew, the libretto of the panto and beautiful colour prints of the scenes.
10 years later Sydney was treated to Cinderella. Once again a huge production which featured a transformation scene showing the "wealth produce and progress of Australia.' Here is a part of the programme.
The nationalistic theme echoed the concerns of the community of the time. 1895 was the time of Federation debates and a rise in Australian nationalism. The pantomimes reflected the cultural concerns of colonial society and in many ways contibuted towards shaping political and social opinion.
Unfortunately pantomime is a fading art form, particularly in Australia, but in the 19th century it was the epitome of style, class and Christmas cheer.
More information about Australian pantomime.