Bland Holt

Montage by Judy Leech. Image on front page: Oscar Asche in Kismetby Alick P.F. Ritchie. National Library of Australia, Canberra.

By the beginningof the twentieth century live theatre in Australia was at the height of its popularity and attendances at both ‘cultured’ and ‘popular’ theatre continued to expand. Both Sydney and Melbourne boasted several central city theatres as well as numerous vaudeville and variety halls. International theatre companies regularly performed in Australia and their principal stars added to the popularity of the productions.

World War I had an initial impact on theatre attendance, but numbers soon returned, perhaps as a distraction from the European conflict, and Australian audiences continued to enjoy a wide range of entertainment. More than 350 different plays were staged in Melbourne alone during the war years.¹

Newspapers, leading magazines and journals responded to their readers’ passion for the theatre and gave it considerable coverage with reviews and commentary and most had dedicated ‘theatre critics’ on the payroll. Increasingly, and of present interest, this theatre copy was punctuated with illustrations by a raft of ‘black and white’ artists who plied their craft to portray theatrical personnel, often in unflattering, humorous caricatures and cartoons.

While a few of the artists had more or less regular arrangements with the press, for most their input to the theatrical theme was intermittent and only one aspect of their freelance work in a highly competitive profession. Without question, these artists were fortunate to be working in a time when cartooning and caricatures came of age and their output was prolific.

No newspaper or magazine in Australia in the early 1900s did more to encourage black and white artists than the Bulletin. It employed some of the finest artists of the time, including Will Dyson, Harry Julius, Hal Gye, Jim Bancks, D.H. Souter, Tom Glover and Mervyn Skipper. The Bulletin was where many cartoonists made their start. However, the Bulletin was not alone in nurturing the growing number of freelance black and white artists; Smith’s Weekly, Lone Hand, Sydney Sportsman, Bookfellow, Gadfly, Clarion, and Critic were some of the publications that regularly printed cartoons and caricatures.

Unlike other sections of a newspaper or magazine where illustrations were usually editorially driven, it is probably fair to say that as these artists were adding pictorial comment to written theatrical reviews—usually an actor or a scene—many of these theatrical caricatures and cartoons were included without editorial direction; the ‘black and whiters’ enjoyed a large degree of artistic independence.

There are too many artists in the black and white school of cartoonists and caricaturists to do them all justice, as such the following represent this writer’s personal favourites.

Many would agree that Australia’s greatest caricaturist was the exceptionally gifted Will Dyson (1880–1938). Arguable, some of Dyson’s best work were the numerous theatrical caricatures he drew for the Bulletin around 1904–10 as the magazine’s theatre cartoonist.

Dyson was acclaimed for the penetrating force of his cartoons and caricatures and saw the pretentious theatre personnel as a target for his acerbic penmanship; although it was once said that while he did not often attack the ladies with his pointed crow quill, he did the ‘wicked deed’ now and again.²

A ‘wicked deed’ perhaps, was Dyson’s 1908 sketch of Lady Dunscombe (Nellie Mortyne) in Jim the Penmanat the Theatre Royal Melbourne, where the lady, a decorative titled visitor of some importance, is portrayed with a rather unflattering figure. More sensitive was Dyson’s portrayal of Arthur Greenaway as the hunched and doddery King Louis XI in the musical The Vagabond King, which was produced by J.C. Williamson Ltd. in spectacular style during 1928–1929.

Will Dyson: A rather unflattering portrait of Nellie Mortyne as Lady Dunscombe in Jim the Penman at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne

Bulletin (Sydney), 17 December 1908, p.9

Will Dyson: Arthur Greenaway as Louis XI in the musical The Vagabond King, 1928

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Other Dyson works include that of actor Julius Knight playing Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel, performed at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne—‘a hero whose tigerish nonchalance gives him the aspects of a drugged prig …’—a description which is perfectly captured by Dyson’s caricature.

Another notable caricature shows ‘Norman: The bold bad man of the Bland Holt Co.’ Albert Norman was a leading actor with the Bland Holt Co. for many years and was well known for playing sinister characters. In fact, one review described him thus: Norman ‘is such a villain as he has been many times before, and the sardonic smile of sin on his countenance is the same old smile’.³ Again, a description well captured by Dyson.

A rare survivor, the original artwork for Leave It to Jane, published in Table Talk, demonstrates the use of sepia wash to achieve the tonal contrasts in the published cartoon, and the application of white touch-up to conceal changes.

Will Dyson: ‘Julius Knight in The Scarlet Pimpernel’

Bulletin (Sydney), 5 November 1908, p.9

Will Dyson: ‘Norman: The bold bad man of the Bland Holt Co.’

Bulletin (Sydney), 19 December 1907, p.8

Will Dyson: Original artwork for Leave It to Jane which was published in Table Talk (Melbourne),
17 June 1926, p.27

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Harry Julius(1885–1938) was another fine caricaturist of the period as well as a most versatile artist—among many pursuits, he was a newspaper cartoonist, writer and illustrator, advertising executive and film animator. But it is his theatrical caricatures for which he is best known—stageland appealed to him as a splendid site for the caricaturist. Julius once remarked that for years he’d had opera glasses on actors with evil intent and it was melodrama and tragic grand opera, not placid modern plays, which moved him as a pictorial satirist.⁴

From around 1907, Julius consistently provided magazines, particularly the Bulletin, with humorous caricatures of performers from across the whole spectrum of the theatre from grand opera to vaudeville and pantomime; his output was prodigious. Julius had the skill of getting fine caricatures in a few lines with unmistakeable portraiture.⁵

There is a wonderful record of some 250 of Julius’ early theatrical caricatures (many of which had appeared in the Bulletin) of most of the prominent stars of the period presented in Theatrical Caricatures, published by the NSW Bookstall Co. in 1912. The book also includes stories on the theatre celebrities by Claude McKay. To view these pen and ink sketches in one collection gives an appreciation of how they would have ‘coloured’ the reviews of current and coming shows which the Bulletin ran in its ‘Sundry Shows’ pages.

One example of Julius’ caricatures includes Annette Kellerman in the glass tank from the Annette Kellerman Show at the Sydney Tivoli. Kellerman was an Australian long-distance swimmer, aquatic and vaudeville performer. Of her Tivoli show it was said: ‘the versatile mermaid has added submarine evolutions, toe dancing and wire walking to an endearing personality, and between them have captured the multitude.’⁶

Another cartoon that appears in the Bulletin illustrates a scene from the light musical comedy High Jinks, produced by J.C. Williamson at Her Majesty's in Sydney in 1915. The Bulletin review, on the same page as the cartoon, noted ‘the fair and willowy Gertrude Glyn as usual looms up in one or two gowns which stun the stalls... C.H. Workman one of the comedians puts up a good plainclothes performance’.

Harry Julius: ‘Annette Kellerman in the glass tank’

Bulletin (Sydney), 16 June 1921, p.42

Harry Julius: ‘High Jinks: Dance Chi-Chi (Gertrude Glyn) and the discoverer of the “High Jinks” perfume (C.H. Workman)’

Bulletin (Sydney), 11 February 1915, p.8

In another, John Coates the English tenor appears as Radames in Aida which played at Her Majesty’s, Sydney. In this caricature, Julius shows ‘John Coates going nobly to his doom, escorted by four stalwart Egyptians. Amneris (Edna Thornton) is grief-stricken’. Of Coates’ performance, the review said, it shows ‘what the portly Yorkshireman can do—when he chooses to exert himself’.⁷

Another cartoon shows a scene from Hamlet at the Sydney Criterion, where Hamlet (Walter Bentley) asks Horatio (W.S. Titheradge) and an inoffensive solder to swear an oath. According to the accompanying review, ‘Walter Bentley has a way of “beefing out” his lines on occasion that compels enthusiasm regardless of the exact meaning of the phrases beefed’.

Harry Julius: ‘Hamlet at the Sydney Cri: Hamlet (Walter Bentley) asks Horatio (W.S. Titheradge) and an inoffensive soldier to swear’

Bulletin (Sydney), 22 July 1909, p.8

Harry Julius: ‘Aida at Her Majesty’s, Sydney: John Coates going nobly to his doom, escorted by four stalwart Egyptians. Amneris (Edna Thornton) grief-stricken’

Bulletin (Sydney), 8 August 1912, p.10

Another prominent black and white artist whose caricatures regularly appeared in the Bulletin during this period was Jim Bancks(1889–1952). His work also featured in Melbourne Punch, Sydney Sun and Sunday Sun. Bancks fame was ensured in particular, with his comic ‘Us Fellows’ which evolved into Ginger Meggs.

Bancks works include Mr Pim Passes By at Sydney Criterion: Ashton Jarry as Mr Pim, ‘only just a passer-by’. Ashton Jarry first came to Australia in 1917 with Ada Reeve and since then performed in several Australian productions. One of his notable performances was as Mr Pim. Jarry also played Count Dracula in J.C. Williamson’s production of Dracula performed at the Sydney Theatre in June 1929.

Jim Bancks: ‘Mr Pim Passes By at Sydney Criterion: Ashton Jarry as Mr Pim, “only just a passer-by” ’

Bulletin (Sydney), 18 August 1921, p. 34

Jim Bancks: ‘Pianist Mischa Levitzki’

Bulletin (Sydney), 9 June 1921, p.14

Other notable caricatures include Mischa Levitzki, the Russian born American based concert pianist who at the Sydney Town Hall was described as ‘the young man with the strong forearms and rubber fingers’ (Bulletin, 9 June 1921), and Scandal at the Sydney Criterion (Bulletin, 26 May 1921) with Kenneth Brampton as Malcolm Fraser, the rejected lover and Maude Hannaford as the heroine, Beatrix Vanderdyke. Hannaford, described as a possessor of good looks, young and ambitious, had quickly become a star of the American stage with successful roles in Redemption and as the leading lady in The Jest.

Oh, Lady, Lady! was one of a number of sensational J. C. Williamson’s musical comedies of the 1920s. The leading lady, Dorothy Brunton was a hit as ‘Faintin’ Fanny a Peel-street pick-pocket; one review said, ‘The New Dot is as impish as the old one was coy and curly’. Her performance is complimented by an outstanding cast, including William Green as Hale Underwood, a man about town.

Jim Bancks: Two characters from the musical Oh, Lady, Lady! at the Theatre Royal, Sydney: William Green as Hale Underwood and Arthur Denton as the detective Cyril Townsley

Bulletin (Sydney), 8 September 1921, p.34 & 15 September 1921, p.36

Continuing with his depiction of stage actors, his 1921 portrait of George Gee in The Lilac Domino perfectly captures the gait of the rubber-legged dancer and comedian.

Of current ‘historical’ significance is Bancks’ cartoon ‘WHEN AT LAST SYDNEY THEATRE RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED: Montague Loveslush and his leading lady, Lulu De Vere, the stage’s smartest dressers, present themselves for re-employment’ (Bulletin, 15 May 1919).

This is Bancks’ take on the news on 15 May 1919 that Sydneysiders could go to the theatre again, with their masks off, after months of anti-influenza restrictions.

Jim Bancks: ‘The Lilac Domino at the Sydney Criterion: A goldfish movement by dancer George Gee’

Bulletin (Sydney), 7 April 1921, p.34

Jim Bancks: ‘WHEN AT LAST SYDNEY THEATRE RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED: Montague Loveslush and his leading lady, Lulu De Vere, the stage’s smartest dressers, present themselves for re-employment’

Bulletin (Sydney), 15 May 1919, p.36

Hal Gye (1888–1967) was another brilliant black and white artist, principally working in the Bulletin stable, who provided the magazine with theatrical and sporting caricatures and in 1910 replaced Will Dyson as the Bulletin’s theatre cartoonist. Gye drew for numerous other papers and magazines; caricatures of politicians for Melbourne Punch and sporting identities for the Judge, cartoons for the Australian Worker, Vanguard, Referee, Smith’s Weekly, Table Talk and the Sydney Arrow.

Examples of Gye’s Bulletin caricatures include Oscar Asche and Caleb Porter in Count Hannibal at the Melbourne Royal in 1910; the popular Scottish singer and entertainer Harry Lauder on the occasion of his first Australia tour; J.P. O’Neill in the melodrama No Mother to Guide Her at the Princess, 1913; and comedian W.S. Percy as the gaoler in Nightbirds, an adaptation of Die Fledermaus that played at Her Majesty’s in Melbourne during 1912.

Hal Gye: ‘Count Hannibal at Melbourne Royal: Caleb Porter as Father Pezelay [and] Oscar Asche as the Count’

Bulletin (Sydney), 27 January 1910, p.9

Hal Gye: ‘Harry Lauder, at Melbourne Princess’s’

Bulletin (Sydney), 7 May 1914, p.8

Hal Gye: ‘No Mother to Guide Her at Melbourne Princess’s: J.P. O’Neill as Bill Bunce, the bad’un (with a few of his hobbies)’

Bulletin (Sydney), 6 February 1913, p.11

Hal Gye: ‘Nightbirds at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne: W.S. Percy as the Black-Eyed Warder’

Bulletin (Sydney), 28 November 1912, p.10

Mervyn Skipper(1886–1958) became more prominent in the mid to late 1920s with his work often printed in the Bulletin and at one time he was the Melbourne cartoon correspondent for the magazine. Skipper left the Bulletin in 1933 to start his own magazine, the Pandemonium, which ran for 12 issues. Skipper later returned to the Bulletin as the art and drama critic and wrote extensively for Australian magazines including Lone Hand.

Some of his works include The Masquerader at Sydney Royal and The Truth About Blayds, a comedy by A.A. Milne at the Criterion.

Mervyn Skipper: ‘The Masquerader at Sydney Royal: Winnington Barnes as the faithful Brock, and Oliver Bainbridge as Bobby Blessington, a social hack’

Bulletin (Sydney), 10 September 1925, p.35

Mervyn Skipper: ‘The Truth About Blayds at the Sydney Criterion: Irene Vanbrugh and Janet Eccles return from burying a poet’

Bulletin (Sydney), 26 March 1925, p.35

D.H. Souter(1862–1935) had a 40-year association with the Bulletin, with his first cartoon appearing on 23 February 1895. His cartoons were fanciful and loosely described as ‘art nouveau’. Two examples from the Lone Hand magazine are shown below—‘Contralto Dramatique’ and ‘Prima Donna Assoluta.

D.H. Souter: ‘Contralto Dramatique’

Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 July 1907, p.257

D.H. Souter: ‘Prima Donna Assoluta’

Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 August 1907, p.412

Somewhat different in style was Souter’s cartoon announcing the musical comedy, Betty. The musical was produced by J.C. Williamson Ltd. and opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney on 22 November 1924. Souter’s sketch shows Edith Drayson (Betty), Field Fisher (Duke of Crowborough), Alfred Frith (Lord Playne), Harold Pearce (Earl of Beverley), Reita Nugent (David Playne) and Harry Wotton (Hillier).

His skill as a black and white artist is also demonstrated by his portrait of Elsie Prince in her role of Judy in the Gershwin musical Lady Be Good, which opened at the St. James Theatre in Sydney on 30 July 1927. The original artwork is in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

D.H. Souter: ‘Elsie Prince as Judy in Lady Be Good’, 1927

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

D.H. Souter: ‘First Night Impressions (by DHS)’ of Bettyat Her Majesty’s Theatre, Sydney

Country Life Stock and Station Journal (Sydney), 28 November 1924, p.10

Souter, himself, was involved in the theatre and his operetta, The Grey Kimona was staged in Adelaide in 1907. He was also involved with Alfred Hill’s Sydney Repertory Theatre Society.

Tom Glover (1891–1938) was a New Zealand cartoonist who came to Australia in the 1920s and joined the Bulletin in 1922 where his cartoons and caricatures of personalities stamped him as a talented black and white artist.⁸ Prior to this he was cartoonist for the New Zealand Truth and also drew for the Free Lance under the name ‘Tom Ellis’. In around 1925, Glover joined the staff of the Associated Newspapers Ltd. and remained there until his sudden death in 1938.

A good example of his work is his portrait of the theatrical producer George A. Highland, drawn in 1925. Highland came to Australia in 1917 and worked with J.C. Williamson Ltd. He produced Maid of the Mountains in 1921 and many other productions.

Another portrait by Glover was of Tom Clare, the British music hall singer and pianist best known for singing humorous songs. Clare performed in a vaudeville show at the Melbourne Tivoli where it was said he ‘was better when he was less grandfatherly’.⁹

Tom Glover: Theatrical producer George A. Highland, 1925

National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Tom Glover: ‘Tom Clare, who purveys songs from the piano’

Bulletin (Sydney), 26 March 1925, p.35

In 1925 he captured a good likeness of Allan Wilkie as Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Wilkie and his wife, Frediswyde Hunter-Watts, arrived in Australia in 1914 and worked with Nellie Stewart’s and J.C. Williamson’s touring companies. In 1920, Wilkie established the Wilkie Shakespearean Company, which debuted at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre in September 1920 with Macbeth. The previous year, Glover captured a fine image of showman and cartoonist Bert Levy.

Tom Glover: ‘Twelfth Night at Melbourne Palace: Allan Malvolio Wilkie’

Bulletin (Sydney), 2 April 1925, p.35

Tom Glover: ‘Melbourne Tivoli: Bert Levy, artist, author, journalist, international vaudeville star and good Australian’

Bulletin (Sydney), 18 September 1924, p.35

Ambrose Dyson(1876–1913), another of the artistically talented Dyson family, was essentially a political cartoonist, but occasionally dabbled in theatrical cartoons.

In his cartoon ‘The Tempter’, Dyson combined political and theatrical commentary with a pointed reference on Ada Ward, a former actress who had returned to Australia after ‘finding God’. Ada Ward first performed in Melbourne in 1877 with some success, but after many years performing in London she sensationally left the stage in 1897 to train as a preacher. Ward returned to Australia in 1907 as an evangelist and addressed an audience at the Melbourne Wesley Church on ‘Can an Actress be a Christian’, where she denounced the immorality of the theatre and its ruination of young women.

True to the theatrical theme, another of Dyson’s cartoon was a New Year’s card for 1905 to his theatrical friend the actor manager Bland Holt.

Ambrose Dyson: ‘THE TEMPTER. Miss Ada Ward claims that the actress cannot be a Christian because of the terrible temptations that constantly assail her—AGE.
Dyson’s retort: True, every man in the world will admit that the pretty actress has to encounter fascinations and allurements of which her humdrum stay-at-home sisters can know nothing.’

Bulletin (Sydney), 9 May 1907, p.18.

Ambrose Dyson: New Year’s card to actor-manager Bland Holt, who is depicted tickling the ‘grim old world’ with his cane. Dated 1905.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

One of the lesser known Australian black and white cartoonists of the early 1900s is George Dunstan (1876–1946) who drew under the pen name ‘Zif’. Besides the general run of publications, Zif also contributed cartoons to the Sydney Sportsman and the Australian Worker and was chief cartoonist for the International Socialist Magazine. As one of his many attributes, Zif also took to the stage, regularly performing across Australia as a lightning sketch artist, often billed as ‘Chats in Charcoal’.

Illustrative of his style, Zif created a series of cartoons on ‘Suburban Drama’ for the Bulletin in September 1909. One was captioned, ‘East Lynne in the Suburbs’.

George Dunstan (Zif): ‘East Lynne in the Suburbs: Barbara Hare: “Alas! Alas! Why did he pass me over for a baby-faced chit like that?”.’

Bulletin (Sydney), 9 September 1909, p.10

Harry Julius: ‘Zif: The well-known cartoonist, now appearing at the Melrose Theatre. He is the greatest “drawing” card in Australia’

Truth (Perth), 22 March 1913, p.11

Around 1910, Zif produced a series of coloured postcards for the New South Wales Bookstall Co., in their ‘Art Series’. One set of six cards, ‘Theatrical Travesties’ embodied caricatures of ‘theatre types’, a style which typified his work.

George Dunstan (Zif): ‘Theatrical Travesties: The Scalem Dramatic Coy.
LANDLORD: “I want your board money in advance.”
MANAGER: Have you no heart for these poor orphans?”
LANDLORD: Yes, I have a heart, but it takes cash in advance to touch it.”’

Courtesy of Gary Davies

George Dunstan (Zif): ‘Theatrical Travesties: Scene from East Lynne. Owing to circumstances the parts of “Little Willie” and “Francis Levison” had to be doubled.
LITTLE WILLIE: “Why do you cry Madame Vine. I’m not your Little Willie!”’

Courtesy of Gary Davies

Mick Paul(1888–1945), a Sydney cartoonist of the early twentieth century, contributed to the Bulletin, Lone Hand, Comic Australia, Lilley’s Magazine (cover designs) and the Australian Worker. Paul was well-known for his bohemian lifestyle, his socialist views and anti-conscription cartoons and was a foundation member of the Society of Australian Black and White Artists.

Paul’s cartoon, ‘TOO HOT’, offered a social comment on the influenza which devastated Australia around 1919, while ‘NATURALLY’ presents a feminist view on the prevailing gender imbalance in theatre life.

Mick Paul: TOO HOT—The Manager: “This influenza scare doesn’t seem to have made much difference to us—house full every night.” The Star: “No influenza germ could come within a mile of this show – they hate warmth.”

Bulletin (Sydney), 19 December 1918, p.30

Mick Paul: NATURALLY—Flo: “That beast of a stage manager has complained again about us talking on the stage. He wouldn’t do that if we were men.”

Bulletin (Sydney), 7 November 1918, p.30

Bert Levy(1871–1934) described as a clever black and white artist and showman, began his working life as an apprentice scenic artist at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. A prolific creator, Levy was published in Melbourne Punch, the Mirror, Table Talk, drew cartoons and theatrical caricatures for the Bulletin, was the dramatic critic for the Bendigo Adventurer and cartoonist for the Age, Leader magazine. Levy travelled to America in the early 1900s where he worked for Weber and Fields Music Hall, then the Morning Telegraph while running vaudeville shows in New York.¹⁰

Examples of his work include ‘In a Vaudeville Green Room’, a cartoon which shows several performers waiting in a dedicated space—‘the green room’ before going on stage. Another is of Hugh Ward in The Emerald Isle. Ward was a major figure in Australian theatre as an actor and entrepreneur. He was one time managing director of J.C. Williamson Ltd. and after resigning from that position, formed Hugh J. Ward Theatres Ltd. in partnership with the Fuller brothers.

Bert Levy: ‘In a Vaudeville Green Room’

Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 February 1912, p.299

Bert Levy: ‘Hugh Ward in The Emerald Isle’

Bulletin (Sydney), 28 March 1903 p. 10

Bert Levy: Self-portrait, 1906: ‘As Bert Levy sees himself from the New York Morning Telegraph’

J. Willis Sayre Photograph Collection, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, USA

By the 1920s, Smith’s Weekly had become the premiere source of cartoons in Australia and unlike other publications their cartoonists were on the pay role, not freelancers. To emphasise this and introduce their staff to the public, the magazine often presented cartoons as composite drawings where all artists contributed; the cartoonists and their characters appeared side by side.¹¹

A variation of the composite cartoon can be seen in the work of, Syd Miller(1901–1983), who joined Smith’s Weekly in 1919 and worked there for some 22 years as a cartoonist and film and stage reviewer.

Miller’s illustrations of ‘Sally in Our Majesty’s’ and ‘Six People Who Make The Flaw’ are examples of his style.

Syd Miller: ‘Sally in Our Majesty’s’, with (from left to right) Hugh Steyne, Gracie Laver, George Gee, Josie Melville (out of and in the kitchen), George Baker, George Lane

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 27 January 1923, p.12

Syd Miller: ‘Six People Who Make The Flaw—Mayne Lynton, Frank Harvey, Sheila Helpman, Emelie Pollini, Raymond Lawrence, Nancye Stewart’

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 10 February 1923, p. 12

Lance Driffield(1898–1943) was a newspaper and magazine cartoonist and illustrator during the 1920s and 30s, drawing under the pen name ‘Driff’. Driffield started his career as a process engraver and went on to work for the Sunday Times, Truth and Smith’s Weekly.

Typical of his work is the cartoon of Mother Goose which stared Roy Rene and Nat Phillips (‘Stiffy and Mo’), two of the most significant comedians of the period.

Lance Driffield: ‘Mother Goose at the Sydney Hippodrome: Stiffy and Mo try to discover what the Dame would like for supper’

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 13 January 1923, p.12

Ray Whiting: ‘Windsor, Edgar and Kellaway, three bright Musical Fellows at the Tivoli Circuit’

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 5 April 1924, p.12

Ray Whiting (1898–1975) contributed cartoons to Smith’s Weekly, Table Talk and the Bulletin in the 1920s and 30s and later sketched for the AIF ‘News’ when serving with the 9th Division Camouflage Training Unit in the Middle East during WW2. Arthur Streeton once said his cartoons display a fine decorative sense, good drawing and imagination. ‘Some of the works are weirdly grotesque, and yet they are wickedly like the objects caricatured.’¹²

These qualities are evident in his portrayal of Windsor, Edgar and Kellaway, a brilliant musical trio from the London Hippodrome, and Joe Brennan, Charles Heslop and particularly Oliver Peacock from Mother Goose. Peacock is an interesting figure. He had a long association with the Australian musical stage, playing support roles to Florence Young, Carrie Moore and Dorothy Brunton. Notably, in 1922, he was understudy to Oscar Asche when Asche took Cairo and Chu Chin Chow to New Zealand.

Ray Whiting: ‘Joe Brennan (Mother Goose) and Charles Heslop (Fitzrabbit) in Hugh Ward’s panto, Melbourne Palace’

Smith’s Weekly, 26 January 1924, p.12

Ray Whiting: ‘Mother Goose’s offsider at the Melbourne Palace—Oliver Peacock as Squire Hardflint’

Smith’s Weekly, 26 January 1924, p.12

Alec Sass (Sass) (c.1870–1922) drew for Melbourne Punch and its humorous page between 1896-1912, where he introduced the Sass girl, Sass policeman and Sass johnnie. After working at the New York Journal, Sass joined Smith’s Weekly in around 1921 as an artist and art editor. As art editor he was responsible for teaching staff artists to draw for reproduction on newsprint. Like other Smith’s artists, Sass also drew composite cartoons, a style which is well-illustrated in his cartoon ‘Fooling Around at Fuller’s Panto on a Hot Night’. Another portrait shows an exceedingly stout Oscar Asche in Cairo, which was playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney.

Alec Sass: ‘Fooling Around at Fuller’s Panto on a Hot Night’

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 7 January 1922, p.10

Alec Sass: ‘Cairo: If Oscar gets any stouter we hope he gets transparent’

Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 23 September 1922, p.12

Will Donald(1883–1959) was a pioneering cartoonist of the period who contributed to mainstream and socialist newspapers and magazines, including the Bulletin, Quit, Gadfly and the Critic. Donald was one of Australia’s early comic artists.

Examples of his work include a caricature of the Late F.H. Pollock, Lessee Theatre Royal Adelaide. Pollock was an actor and theatre entrepreneur. He acquired the lease of the Royal in 1900 from Wybert Reeve (English actor and impresario) but, following illness, Pollock appointed a manager in his stead. Pollock died in 1908. Interestingly, George Coppin was the first lessee of the theatre.

Another of Donald’s caricatures, published in the Sydney Sun during 1910, depicts Julius Knight and Reynolds Denniston in the romantic drama Henry of Navarre, set in seventeenth century Europe.

His signature profile style is also evident in his caricatures of Victor Loydall and Rupert Darrell in the pantomime Jack and Jill from the Sydney Sun; while his portraits of Oscar Asche and Lily Brayton in The Taming of the Shrew are rare pieces of original artwork.

Will Donald: A caricature of ‘The Late F.H. Pollock, Lessee Theatre Royal Adelaide’

Bulletin (Sydney), 19 November 1908, p.18

Will Donald: ‘Julius Knight as Henry of Navarre and Reynolds Denniston as his faithful watch dog’

Star(Sydney), 13 June 1910, p.7

Will Donald: ‘Victor Loydall as Perks’ and ‘Rupert Darrell as Baron Bounce’ in the pantomime Jack and Jillat the Theatre Royal in Sydney

Star (Sydney), 27 September 1909, p.2

Will Donald: ‘Oscar Asche as Petruchio’ and ‘Lily Brayton “Tamed”’ Drawn during Oscar Asche’s 1909 Sydney Shakespeare season at the Criterion.

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Tasmanian-born Alf Vincent(1874–1915) joined Melbourne Punch in 1895 and a year later he succeeded Tom Carrington as feature artist for the magazine. Vincent joined the Bulletin in 1898 and drew for the magazine until his death in 1915. His style of work was similar to that of Phil May (his mentor) for which he was often criticised by his contemporaries.

Outside the usual run of newspaper and magazine caricatures, Vincent did a fine piece of work in a theatrical souvenir, a pamphlet consisting of twelve sketches (some in colour) of performers in J.C. Williamson’s Comic Opera Co. production of San Toy which premiered on 21 December 1901 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. On the occasion of the fiftieth performance of the show on 8 February 1902, a portfolio of sketches was handed out to every lady visitor.

Alf Vincent: Carrie Moore in the title role of San Toy—“I’m not a littee Boy—I’m a Littee Girl.’ From San Toy: Sketches by Alf Vincent.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne.

Alf Vincent: Grace Palotta as ‘Dudley’. From San Toy: Sketches by Alf Vincent.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Alf Vincent: ‘Poppy gives Fo Hop a piece of her mind.’ From San Toy: Sketches by Alf Vincent.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Donald MacDonald (Pas)(1862–1945) was one of the finest caricaturists of the early 20th century to freelance his work to several magazines and newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. The scope of his work was not restricted to a particular theme, but he was particularly noted for his caricatures of theatre personnel.

For Sydney Sportsman he contributed studies of well-known theatrical personalities Bland Holt and Julius Grant. Actor-manager Bland Holt, nicknamed the ‘King of Melodrama’, was known for his elaborate stagings of Drury Lane melodramas which he produced at the Lyceum Theatre in Sydney and Theatre Royal in Melbourne. Julius Grant established theatrical enterprises with Bert Bailey and was lessee of King’s Theatre for 15 years. He produced several shows including the record breaking On Our Selection. He also introduced Melbourne audiences to stars such as Oscar Asche and Lily Brayton.

In response to the composer and music teacher Signor Roberto Hazon receiving an address and testimonial from His Excellency the Governor on the occasion of his farewell performance in Sydney, Pas provided a likeness for Sydney Sportsman.

During the 1920s, for Everyone’s, he contributed a sketch of Miss Aylet, ‘Australia’s only trap drummer’ who was performing at Sydney’s Crystal Palace.

Donald MacDonald (Pas): Signor Hazon on the occasion of his farewell to Sydney

Sydney Sportsman, 25 September 1907, p.2

Donald MacDonald (Pas): ‘Julius Grant (Business Manager, Criterion Theatre)’

Sydney Sportsman, 4 December 1907, p.2

Donald MacDonald (Pas): ‘Bland Holt etcetera’, drawn while Holt was performing in the melodrama Women and Wine at the Theatre Royal

Sydney Sportsman,15 March 1905, p.2

Donald MacDonald (Pas): ‘Miss Aylet, Australia’s only trap drummer at the Crystal Palace, Sydney’

Everyone’s (Sydney), 16 July 1924, p.18

Tom Ferry (1891–1954) started his working life as an apprentice with John Sands Ltd. doing lithographic work and before qualifying, he was seconded to work for the Sun newspaper for two years, eventually joining Union Theatres Ltd., drawing and designing posters, advertisements and lobby cards. In the early 1920s Ferry had a casual arrangement with the Sydney Sunday Times to provide weekly cartoons and by 1925 he was the official artist to Fox Films in Sydney.¹³

Examples of his work that appeared in the Sunday Times includes the actors Cyril Gardiner, Frederick Lloyd, Frank Hatherley and Claude Dampier. A drawing he did of visiting English actor Seymour Hicks as Mr William Busby (Old Bill) in the play Old Bill, MP, was published on the programme cover.

Tom Ferry: Frederick Lloyd as Alf in The Man in Dress Clothesat the Sydney Opera House

Sunday Times(Sydney), 29 June 1924, p.24

Tom Ferry: Claude Dampier. who was appearing in revue at Fullers’ Theatre in Sydney

Sunday Times(Sydney), 13 July 1924, p.20

Tom Ferry: Cyril Gardiner in Old Bill, MP

Sunday Times(Sydney), 6 July 1924, p.22

Tom Ferry: Cover of the programme for Old Bill, MP at the Palace Theatre, Melbourne, 20 September 1924, with Seymour Hicks as the title character

Elisabeth Kumm collection

Brodie Mack (1897–1965) combined his cartooning skills with his role as a theatrical business manager. A New Zealander, he initially worked for the Wellington Freelance as a cartoonist before becoming a theatre executive with positions as House Manager for Fullers at His Majesty’s Theatre in Wellington and then with Fullers Opera House in Auckland. Mack later moved to Sydney as Booking Manager for Fullers Vaudeville and Theatre Ltd. He was a founding member of the Society of Australian Black and White Artists in 1924 and did cartoons for Everyone’s, Fuller News, the Bulletin, Aussie, Smith’s Weekly and others.

Examples of his work from Everyone’s included Lee White, ‘the cheerful star of The Girl for the Boy’ at the Sydney Tivoli; and ‘Carter the Great’ (stage name of the American illusionist Charles Carter), who thrilled audiences with his disappearing lion act.

During 1924/24 Mack drew a series of 16 caricatures for Everyone’s titled ‘If Managers Were Artists’. Number 5 in the series depicts JCW theatre manager Tom Holt.

Brodie Mack: Lee White, the cheerful star of The Girl for the Boy, Tivoli Theatre, Sydney

Everyone’s (Sydney), 8 December 1920, p. 10

Brodie Mack: ‘CARTER (not forgetting his lion): The Magic Man at the Sydney Royal’

Everyone’s (Sydney), 16 June 1920, p.11

Brodie Mack: ‘If Managers Were Artists. No.5.’: Tommy Holt, Manager of the Theatre Royal, Melbourne (J.C. Williamson Vaudeville), ‘one of the Leaders of the Tait Navee’

Everyone’s (Sydney), 3 September 1924, p.5

From the early 1900s to the late 1920s the profession of black and white artists was predominantly a male profession, and few women artists were actively involved. There were, however, a number of fine women artists well recognised for their black and white cartoons and caricatures, including Mahdi McCrae, Esther and Betty Paterson, Grace Burns and Ruby Lindsay who were regular but casual contributors to various publications. Later, Joan Morrison and Mollie Horseman were the first women to be employed on the pay roll of Smith’s Weekly.

Typically, the work of these artists, while stylish and amusing, was placed away from the theatrical section of the magazines and appeared randomly throughout, usually as page filler ‘gag’ cartoons or to illustrate ‘women’ stories.

An exception to how the cartoons of women were typically treated was the work of Esther Paterson(1892–1971) who was a student at the National Gallery of Victoria from 1907–1912. A talented artist of street scenes and landscapes, Paterson later applied her skill to commercial art, book illustrating and caricatures/cartoons. Her theatrical caricatures were regularly featured in the Melbourne Punch pre first World War and were prominently featured on the ‘Playgoer’ pages. Her caricatures often featured female performers and her artistic style of her caricatures is markedly different to that of her male contemporaries—her women are more feminine and sensual.

Esther Paterson: Miss Zola Terrill and Ada Reeve

Punch (Melbourne), 7 February 1918, p.37 & 31 January 1918, p.195

Esther Paterson: Maude Fane and Miss Frediswyde Hunter-Watts

Punch (Melbourne), 6 September 1917, p.595 & 12 April 1917, p.595

To be concluded in the next issue.

Endnotes

1. See Elisabeth Kumm, ‘Theatre in Melbourne 1914-18: the best, the brightest and the latest’, La Trobe Journal, No. 97, March 2016

2. Punch (Melbourne), 27 May 1909, p.730.

3. ‘A Life’s Romance’, Bulletin (Sydney), 25 August 1904, p.10.

4. See The Bookfellow (Sydney), 1 July 1913, p.xvii.

5. Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 August 1912, p. 352.

6. Bulletin (Sydney), 16 June 1921, p.42.

7. Bulletin, 1 August 1912, p.10.

8. Argus (Melbourne), 8 September 1938, p.9.

9. Bulletin (Sydney), 26 March 1925, p. 35.

10. See Bert Levy, ‘Bert Levy (by Himself)’, Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 February 1912.

11. Joan Kerr, Artists and Cartoonist in Black and White: The most public art.

12. Argus (Melbourne), 7 August 1934, p.5.

13. See ‘Knights of the Pencil and Brush, No. 3: Tom Ferry’, Everyone’s, 29 April 1925, p.30.

References

‘Black and Whiters IV: Alfred Vincent’, The Bookfellow (Sydney), 1 January 1913, pp. 20–21.

‘Black and Whiters VII: Harry Julius’, The Bookfellow (Sydney), 1 July 1913, p. xvii-xix.

David M. Dow, Melbourne Savages: A history of the first fifty years of the Melbourne Savage Club, Melbourne Savage Club, Melbourne, 1947.

W.E. Fitz Henry, ‘Stories of “Bulletin” Artists’, Bulletin (Sydney), 14 December 1955, pp. 26–28, 32.

Harry Julius, Theatrical Caricatures, with Marginal Anecdotes by Claude McKay, NSW Bookstall Co. Ltd., 1912.

Joan Kerr, Artists and Cartoonist in Black and White: The most public art, National Trust of Australia, Sydney, c.1999.

‘Knights of the Pencil and Brush, No. 3: Tom Ferry’, Everyone’s, 29 April 1925, p.30.

Elisabeth Kumm, ‘Theatre in Melbourne 1914–18: the best, the brightest and the latest’, La Trobe Journal, No. 97, March 2016, pp.6–23, www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/La-Trobe-Journal-97-Elisabeth-Kumm.pdf

Bert Levy, ‘Bert Levy (by Himself)’, Lone Hand (Sydney), Vol. 10, No. 58, 1 February 1912, pp. 293–300.

Ross McMullin, Will Dyson: Australia’s radical genius, Scribe, North Carlton, Vic, 2006.

Carol Mills, ‘In Black and White: The little-known Lindsay: Ruby Lindsay’, This Australia, Winter 1984, pp.80-85, available from Women’s Museum of Australia, wmoa.com.au/uploads/the-little-known-Lindsay.pdf

Les Tanner, ‘The Black and White Maestros’, Bulletin (Sydney), 29 January 1980, pp.134–142.

M.G. Skipper, ‘The Art of the Bulletin’, Bulletin (Sydney), 29 January 1930, pp.40–42.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Elisabeth Kumm for her advice and comments.

REVIEW OF A THA EVENT by Judy Leech

In the talk entitled "Hidden Theatrical Gems Revealed"!" on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at the State Library of Victoria, we were shown a selection of playbills, posters, photos and memorabilia from the SLV's George Selth Coppin Manuscript Collection by theatre historians Mimi Colligan and Elisabeth Kumm. These items had been in the possession of George Selth Coppin's daughter Lucy (one of his seven daughters - there were also two sons, young George and Frederick).

Elisabeth and Mimi with some items from the Coppin Collection. Photo Judy Leech

When Miss Lucy Coppin died, in 1960 at the age of 87, she had been assisting E.D.A.(Alec) Bagot in the preparation of a biography of her father. Miss Coppin left the papers to Alec Bagot providing, once the book was completed, he gave them to the Commonwealth National Library of Australia - now the National Library of Australia. Coppin the Great duly appeared in 1965. When Bagot died, three years after the book was published, his widow and son complied with Lucy Coppin's directive. After some time, most of the collection was distributed to the State Library of Victoria.

The selection shown represents just a tiny fraction of a vast collection, one containing a wealth of Australian theatre history - material that has been worked intensively and extensively by the State Library of Victoria's Joan Maslen and Shona Dewer.

Among the items displayed by Mimi and Elisabeth were:

GEORGE SELTH COPPIN 1819 - 1906

Playbills for "Coppin's Farewell" as Billy Barlow (Geelong's Theatre Royal, December 1853); Cremorne Gardens (November 1856); Dion Boucicault's "Elfie, or The Cherry Tree Inn" (July 1871) - a world premiere; "The Streets of New York" (March 1872) and Opening of the New Theatre Royal (Melbourne, September 1872).

Photographs of Madame Celine Celeste as Miami in "Green Bushes" (1867); Mr. and Mrs. Coppin in their homes in Richmond (Pine Grove) and Sorrento (The Anchorage); hand-coloured portrait of George Coppin as Sir Peter Teazle in "School for Scandal" (1845) plus a carte-de-visite of Coppin (New York, 1865);

Bland Holt, Falk Studios, SLV Pictures

JOSEPH THOMAS (BLAND) HOLT 1851 - 1942

Playbill for "The Breaking of the Drought" (1902); Posters for "The Great Rescue" (1907) and for the film "The Derby Winner"(1915), a British silent film adapted from the 1894 play by Augustus Harris, Henry Hamilton and Cecil Raleigh; Photos of his wife Florence Bland Holt (née Griffiths Anderson); vision scene settings of "The Breaking of the Drought" (1902) and photographic stills from the Franklyn Barrett film of the same name (1920); Postcards advertising 'real water effect' in the production "Never Despair" (date); Drury Lane album of scenes and photographic reference for the 1893 (London) play "A Life of Pleasure" set in England and Burma.

George Selth Coppin was born in Sussex in 1819 in a village not far from the seaside towns of Brighton and Worthing. His father was an actor, and by 1826 George too was acting, singing and playing the fiddle in England, Ireland and Scotland. In 1843 at the age of 24 he travelled to Sydney with Maria Burroughs, an actress nine years his senior - she took the name Mrs. Coppin.

They toured New South Wales and Tasmania for the next three years and in June 1845 formed a company in Launceston, moving to Melbourne for a season at the newly opened Queen's Theatre, at the corner of Queen and Little Bourke Street. The repertoire included "The School for Scandal", plus Melbourne's first performances of ballet. The following year Coppin spent some time in Adelaide. Not only involved in theatre he had interests in hotels, politics, racing, mining and freemasonry.

In 1849, after a short illness, Maria died. A period in Geelong and the Victorian Goldfields followed for George, plus a return to London, in 1853 (the Haymarket Theatre) where he engaged the tragedian Gustavus Vaughan Brooke for an Australian tour. In December 1854 he returned to Melbourne with a prefabricated iron building which became the Olympic Theatre - the "Iron Pot" - where the Comedy Theatre now stands. The year after he married Harriet Hillsden, Brooke's widowed sister-in-law. During the 1850s he ran three theatres, four hotels and the Cremorne Pleasure Gardens in Richmond. (He was a member of various legislative assemblies and councils off and on up until 1895.)

In 1854 English actor-manager Clarance Holt (originally Joseph Frederick Holt), at the suggestion of George Coppin, came to Melbourne with his first wife Marie (nee Brown). He played in Geelong, Hobart and Launceston, Sydney, the Victorian Goldfields and New Zealand. In 1858 he returned to Melbourne with his family, including his seven year old son Joseph Thomas (later, known as Bland) Holt. Holt senior leased theatres in Victoria and New Zealand (his son received his education in both these places), but in 1864 he returned to England.

Poster, SLV MS 882Two years after the death of his wife Harriet, George Coppin married his eighteen year old step-daughter Lucy Hilsden. The following year, in 1862 shortly after the birth of their first child, George opened the Haymarket Theatre (and the adjoining Apollo Music Hall) in Bourke Street, Melbourne. He engaged the American actor Joseph Jefferson for the Haymarket opening. He also managed to secure English actors Charles and Ellen Kean (and in 1874, James Cassius Williamson and his wife, Maggie Moore).

In 1865 at the age of fourteen, Bland Holt was a professional actor and toured England and the United States of America for the next nine years. He settled in Australia in 1876. His father back in the UK kept in close touch and he was able to secure for his son the rights for "The New Babylon", a melodrama by Paul Merritt and George Fawcett Rowe. Bland established his own company in Sydney in 1880.

The 1880s saw George Coppin back in theatre management (although he had announced his retirement in the late 1860s - none took this seriously), he set up a lucrative copyright agency, a post-office savings bank, Victoria's St. John's Ambulance - plus Australia's very first roller-skating rink. With Bland Holt, in the 1890s, he produced several lavish pantomimes. In 1900, Daisie Coppin, his youngest daughter, appeared regularly as a danseuse at Melbourne's Bijou Theatre, under the banner of Harry Rickards.
After falling ill in March 1906 at his property in Sorrento, George returned to his home "Pine Grove" in Richmond, where he died. He was survived by his wife Lucy and their two sons and five daughters, and by two of his three daughters from his first marriage to Harriet.

Meanwhile Bland Holt had become known as the King, or Monarch, of Melodrama, and he was famed for his productions' spectacular effects - involving horses and hounds, balloon ascents, pigeons, diving feats - plus the first motor-car ever to be used on stage. He frequently starred as a comedian in these productions - which he ensured were stylish - extravagant - expensive. But they paid off!

In 1883 after the death of his first wife - stage-name Lena Edwin - Bland returned to England and stayed for almost four years. He toured sensational melodramas for Sir Augustus Harris, manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and for whom Clarance Holt was provincial agent. On Bland's return to Australia he remarried; an actress, Florence Anderson, whom he had employed in England. For the next twenty years Bland and Florence became Australia's favourite stage comedians.

Scene from  Holt's production of The Breaking of the Drought 1902, SLV MS 882

Bland Holt's company staged meticulous, opulent and spectacular comedy-melodramas and plays right up until the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1909 both Bland and Florence decided to retire, following a tour of the Continent, North America and New Zealand, accompanied by private secretary Lucy, George Coppin's daughter. The Holts spent the next thirty years or so in some comfort and style in East Melbourne, Kew and at Miss Coppin's holiday home, The Anchorage in Sorrento,  Bland died in June 1942, Florence four years later. There were no children.

The style and business perspicacity of Coppin and Holt equalled that of their English or North American counterparts - they both, in their interpretation of theatre, shared more than a touch of the showman. The legacy of their ventures surpassed their artistic successes on stage and this legacy led the way for others - individuals who aspired to model themselves on these two great Australian actor-managers.

We are very grateful to Mimi Colligan and to Elisabeth Kumm for sharing their passions and their research with us, bringing these two men to our attention, reminding us of our fascinating theatrical heritage, and making us more aware of these two quite extraordinary men.

The Coppin Collection at the State Library Victoria covers the theatre activities of the Coppin family from the 1830s, and the career of Bland Holt, who took over the business later in the 19th century. Much has been written about George Coppin (1819–1906) and Bland Holt (1951–1942), so in the interest of avoiding repetition, I will confine discussion in this article to the contents of the Library’s collection in the hope of introducing the reader to this vast and wonderous archive. In the course of writing this piece, new and surprising information was revealed about the provenance of the Coppin Collection, which will also be discussed in the concluding section.

The Collection contains personal papers pertaining to the life of the Coppin family (including personal correspondence, family photographs, scrapbooks of press clippings of personal interest and family history, connections with clubs, societies and charities, illuminated addresses, and memorabilia), as well as corporate records of the theatre management activities of George Coppin (including legal documents, business correspondence, promotional material and playbills). There is also material on political elections, freemasonry, the Old Colonists’ Association, and on Sorrento.

The Bland Holt component of the archive does not have as much personal material like correspondence and memoirs, but is very rich in programs, playbills and posters, reports, photographs, playscripts, music scores, and costume and scenery designs. There are also documents relating to the research done by Alec Bagot while writing Coppin’s biography, Coppin the Great.¹ The papers include drafts of the book, correspondence, notes, articles, lists of sources and receipts.

A new Finding Aid² was completed in 2023, incorporating legacy data from handwritten contents lists, as well as new description for previously unseen material, some with digitised images attached. What follows is some discussion and description of the countless treasures in this extraordinary collection.

Playbills

Theatre Royal, Geelong. Rainer's Original Ethiopian Serenaders, concluding with Mesmerism, 1853

MS8827/11/859

Theatre Royal, Geelong. Discarded Daughter; Maniac Mother, or Mabel's Curse, 1853

MS8827/11/882

One of the most significant components of this Collection is the playbills. There are 1280 individual playbills in the collection,³ and numerous others pasted into scrapbooks and elsewhere. Playbills relating to productions by the Coppin family and company date from 1811 to 1901. They include many from England which were collected and sent to Coppin in Australia by his father. The playbills relating to productions by the Bland Holt company date from 1879 to 1907. Just under half are for performances in England (dating from 1811 to 1854) and the other half for Australia (dating from 1843 to 1907). There are a few American playbills too, from 1864-1865, when George Coppin travelled there. They are aesthetically beautiful, designed to be eye-catching using varying text fonts and sizes, with relatively little illustration in the early ones. Later playbills include engravings amongst the text, and by the later decades of the 19th century, with the use of colour lithography and even photolithography, they begin to more resemble a poster rather than a notice. There are also a number of playbills printed on silk. These were usually produced for special guests, mementos for valued clients or special occasions, such as Coppin’s farewell performances.

Theatre Royal, Sydney. One of the Best, silk playbill, with tartan design, for Bland Holt's Military Command Night performance of One of the Best, at Theatre Royal, Sydney, 24 April 1896

Accession number MS8827/11/1106

Exhibition Hall, Geelong. Rivals; The Artful Dodge, letterpress on silk, program for the last performance George Coppin was to make on stage in Geelong on Saturday 22 July 1882. As well as the two plays, the event included a farewell address by George Coppin.

Accession number MS8827/11/1032

As the playbills became more decorative and elaborate, they also became larger, incorporating vast amounts of information. This larger format meant there was space to include information that was often left off the smaller bills. We can see who the star attractions were, what songs and other entertainment was offered, scenery descriptions, and previews of forthcoming productions, and most importantly the names of those in the cast, including the women (who are often not written into history).

Playbills for performance of Lyster’s Royal Italian and English Opera at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide, on Vice-Regal Command Nights, Tuesday 13 October 1879 and Saturday 25 October 1879. Left: Theatre Royal, Adelaide. Un Ballo in Maschera, letterpress on silk, gold fringe, MS8827/11/1026, and Right: Theatre Royal, Adelaide. Fra Diavolo, letterpress on silk, gold fringe, MS8827/11/102

The playbills were arranged in chronological order (within country of origin) by Library staff when they were originally organised after the Collection donation was completed in 1969–1972. This order reveals the movements of the itinerant theatre troupes in England; we see their journeys dotting around the country, playing in various towns, not staying longer than about a month at a time before moving to the next town. The Australian playbills point to a more stable existence brought about by the wealth created through theatre ownership and management, rather than just acting.

Silk playbills for performances at the Argo Theatre, (on board the ship Argo) from a scrapbook containing miscellaneous text and images, including hand-drawn and silk playbills

MS 8827 BOX 122.⁴

What becomes apparent is that the order of the playbills is in itself a source of information on which evidence-based narratives of past events and lifestyles could be based; the playbills are primary documents which enable historians to place particular people in particular places, and at a particular time, and as such, they are invaluable research sources. We see the broad repertoire of the troupes, revealing clues about the evolving tastes of audiences over more than a century. Productions of Shakespeare plays practically disappear after the mid-1850s and we see the rise of melodrama and the high-action stage spectacular. And given the era, we also see derogatory racial and gender characterisation.

Programs

Theatre programs for Bland Holt productions, 1901, MS 8827 BOX 93

This series contains approximately 109 theatre programs dating from 1887 to 1936, relating to productions by Bland Holt, and other theatre companies, including some international companies. There are also some theatre programs pasted into the numerous scrapbooks in the Collection.

Posters and billboards

Drury Lane Pantomime “Sindbad”, lithograph on paper, 76.2 x 50.9 cm, MS8827/11/1254

There are eight posters in the Collection, most come from the Bland Holt component of the archive and are monochrome chalk lithographs. Two exceptions are for productions of the pantomime Sindbad. They are beautiful colour lithographs by John Hassell, advertising the London Drury Lane production of Sindbad, a pantomime by J. Hickory Wood and Arthur Collins.

Of the eight multi-sheet billboards in the collection, dating from 1873–1908, I will highlight and discuss two: ‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls,and Little Jim. All the billboards have been digitised and will be made available online via the catalogue in due course.

‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls, lithograph, 1887, MS8827/12/7

‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls, a multi-sheet advertising billboard, is made up of 15 lithographed sheets printed by the Strand Publishing Company and measures almost 2 x 8 metres. It is not dated in the image, nor titled; the title in the Library’s catalogue was derived from information on the original wrapping paper in which the loose sheets that make up the whole were stored. Harry Nicholls is depicted on the extreme left and again behind the carriage. The artist/lithographer was I. J. Linzell, and other examples, dated 1885, of theatre posters by them are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The play Pleasurewas written by Paul Merritt and Augustus Harris, and performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, starring Harry Nicholls.⁵

Little Jim, c.1908

MS8827/12/1

Bland Holt in Flint and Steel, c.1873-c.1876

MS8827/12/3.⁶

The billboard Little Jim is one of two for this play. Made up of three colour lithographed sheets adhered together, it measures 211.5 x 97.6 cm. The play is a stage adaptation by Arthur Shirley (1853–1925) and Ben Landeck (1864–1928) of Le Petit Muet [The little mute] by Henri Kerouel. Shirley and Landeck are known to have collaborated from 1908–1928, though this play was performed in London as early as 1902. The printing firm, James Walker & Co., Dublin, later produced many WWI posters.⁷

There are also 4 billboards for the play Flint and Steel, which date from 1873 to 1876, two are three sheeters, and the other two are 6-sheet billboards. At the time of writing, I was unable to find any information about this play, so dating the billboards was a challenge. The billboards were printed by the National Print and Engraving Co. Chicago (USA), which is known to have operated from at least 1870 to 1920 and given the stylistic elements of the chalk lithography, they can be placed in the 1870s. While two of them are titled simply Flint and Steel, the other two are titled Bland Holt in Flint and Steel, suggesting they date from 1873–1876 when Holt was in America.

Illuminated addresses

[Illuminated address] To George Selth Coppin, Esq. J.P., 1877, 7 watercolours, 1 albumen silver photograph hand-coloured, gouache, gold and coloured inks laid down on buff board

Pictures Collection, H31478⁸

There are nine illuminated addresses presented to George Coppin, five in the Pictures Collection and four in the Manuscripts Collection; all are gifts of Lucy Coppin in 1953 and 1958. A fine example was presented to George Selth Coppin in recognition of his services as a Member of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly from a group of gentlemen including Henry McGuigan, Chairman, Louis L. Smith, Vice-Chairman, and John Anderson, Treasurer. Illuminated by Hamel & Ferguson, it consists of photographs, lithography, a number of watercolours, and gold and coloured inks.

Photographs

A rare double daguerreotype of Blanche and Amy Coppin; and portrait of Lucy Coppin with Constance, MS8827/13/PHO9

The collection of photography in the Coppin Collection is fully digitised (though at the time of writing, not all digitised images have yet been linked to their catalogue records). It consists of close to one thousand photographs (many contained in albums) and includes early format photographs, family photographs, portraits of actors, and views of stage productions and scenery design.

Among the early format photographs, there are ten fine examples of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes depicting members of the Coppin family dating from circa 1850 to 1860, and a number of glass plate negatives from around 1900 to 1905, some showing Coppin at home.

Bland Holt and Florence Holt at home, hand coloured, unknown photographer, c.1930

MS8827/13/PHO286

Bland Holt with chickens, by Pegg Clarke, c.1930

MS8827/13/PHO128

The large collection of photographs, in albums or loose, of the Coppin family and the Bland Holt family date from the 1870s to the 1930s. Most are studio portraits, but some are less formal, showing the families in their Melbourne (Richmond and Kew) and seaside (Sorrento) homes.

Portrait of Harry Nash, in Album of portraits, 1886

MS8827/13/PHO54

Hand coloured studio portrait of Emily Duncan, c.1875

MS8827/13/PHO371

A substantial collection of studio portraits of actors and other theatre personalities—both Australian and international—appear in numerous albums and in loose form. There are also several albums dating from the late 19th century, produced in England, that depict stage and scenery designs. These were used as guides for designing productions in Australia. Theatre productions included: A Run of Luck, The Best of Friends, The Great Millionaire, The White Heather, A Life of Pleasure, The Prodigal Son, The White Cat, The Great Rescue, Sporting Life, Going the Pace, Never Despair, The Ruling Passion, Mankind, and scenes from the 1920 film The Breaking of the Drought.⁹

Two examples from a series of hand-coloured photographs in oval mounts, of George Coppin in the roles of Jem Bags the Wandering Minstrel (MS8827/13/PHO86), and Putzi the maire of Nevers (MS8827/13/PHO79) 

The Coppin Portfolio, containing 6 albumen sliver photographs of George Coppin in his signature roles, by Edmund Cosworth Waddington & Co, and one playbill, Manuscripts Collection, MS8827/13/PHO6410

Playscripts

A collection of over 900 published playscripts used by the theatre companies of George Coppin and Bland Holt dating from c.1849 to c.1917. The handwritten annotations make these fascinating examples of the playscript as a working tool of theatre companies. Most of these playscripts bare the imprint of either Lacy’s Acting Edition of Plays, published in London by the playwright and publisher Thomas Hailes Lacy (or T.H. Lacy, 1809–1873), or French’s American Drama, published in New York by Samuel French (1821–1898). The plays were published over many years and were the central resource for 19th century theatrical productions. There are also a number of what appear to be unpublished handwritten and typescript playscripts dating from 1879 to 1927.

Music

Music folios for instrumental parts for the production of A Path of Thorns, MS 8827 BOX 28 and BOX 69¹¹

The music component is extensive and impressive in its scope. There are instrumental parts and songs for over 30 theatrical productions, dating from 1873–1910, most containing between 10 and 13 folios of music for the various instruments. The folios are personalised with handwritten notes. The music component also contains examples of lyrics, songbooks, loose sheet music and voice training exercises.

An outstanding example is the music for A Path of Thorns. Consisting of 10 folios, each cover has been decorated with ornate instrument-themed designs, some with gold highlights and others signed by the artist.

Costume and scenery designs

Album of costume drawings of Kings and Queens of England, circa 1880-circa 1900. Contains watercolour drawings annotated with grey lead pencil, includes some fabric swatches. MS 8827 BOX 64.¹²

There are 13 scrapbooks which contain inspiration and source material for costume and scenery design. These volumes include pen and ink drawings, watercolours, original photographs, press clippings, fabric swatches, often thematically arranged and collaged onto pages. They date from 1880 to 1909 and were used by costume and set designers working in Bland Holt’s company.

Subject matter includes various national dress and racial ‘types’, royalty, military, aristocratic fashions, comic dress and sporting dress. Some volumes also contain portraits of actors and stage personalities. Source material for scenery includes depictions of countries and cities, streetscape, country views, carriages, animals and weaponry.

Design for theatre curtains and drop curtains, by Philip W. Goatcher, c.1890-1900, Pictures Collection, H31477

The Collection also includes extraordinary examples of the original artwork for set designs. An exquisite example, gifted to the Library by Lucy Coppin in 1958, is the watercolour and gouache piece Design for theatre curtains and drop curtains, by Philip W. Goatcher.

In recent years more examples of set designs were found (wrapped in brown paper parcels), when the Coppin Collection as a whole was being catalogued and rehoused. An almost forgotten resource, they include a substantial number of set designs for various acts of the play The Breaking of the Drought, and a few for The Cotton King. They have now been cleaned and treated by the Library’s Conservation team, who have documented their research and processes in a fascinating Library blog.¹³

Provenance

The Coppin Collection extends across the Library’s Pictures and Manuscripts Collections. The acquisition of it as a named collection was formally recorded in the Manuscripts Accession Register in 1969 (with further material added in 1970) and was given the accession number MS 8827, which identifies it to this day. A donation by the Estate of the late E.D.A. Bagot (1893–1968), George Coppin’s biographer, it came via the National Library of Australia¹⁴ where Bagot had deposited it after finishing his book, and consisted of numerous bundles, folders and boxes of Bagot’s research notes, book manuscript and transcripts, as well as primary source material given to him by Lucy Coppin (Coppin’s last surviving daughter) which included Coppin’s diaries for 1864, 1865 and 1886, volumes of correspondence dating from 1845 to 1880, scrapbooks, playbills and newspaper clippings, biographical information, and the research notes of John McEwan, an historian who had done extensive research on Coppin and was supported by Daisie Young (nee Coppin) the youngest Coppin daughter.

Further research into the provenance of the Coppin Collection at the State Library though, reveals that the Library had a long standing relationship with the Coppin family which predates the donation that came from Bagot. As early as 1932 the Library acquired from Daisie Coppin, a collection of 84 theatrical playbills issued 1846–1847 in South Australia and Port Phillip District,¹⁵ and in 1953 we see a donation of nearly 300 items from Lucy Coppin.¹⁶

The Coppin material was identified as historically significant in 1950 by art historian Agnes Paton Bell¹⁷ who arranged for notable academics and librarians from the University of Melbourne and the State Library Victoria to visit and assess the material with a view to acquiring it for preservation. Members of the Coppin family were conscious of the importance of finding a suitable institution to house the collection for the benefit of researchers and to contribute to the wider story of the growth and development of Victoria. Interest in Australian history was growing in the 1950s, and with the fervour that accompanied the knowledge of the planned building of the La Trobe Library to house and grow the Australiana material of the SLV, donations of primary source historical material increased greatly.

It was during this waive of enthusiasm to build the State Collection that we see in 1953 the incredible donation of Coppin material by his daughter Lucy Coppin mentioned above. The donation included a collection of masks painted by Sam Wills, used by Bland Holt in recitals,¹⁸ numerous illustrated addresses, invitations, photographic portraits of actors including many of Bland Holt and Coppin in his signature rolls, albums of photographs of set designs for plays from Drury Lane, collections of playbills, books of costume design, words and music of songs, legal documents and financial documents, volumes of newspaper cuttings, and correspondence. This material was accessioned into the Historical Register (with the accession prefix ‘H’ preceding a running number) which, as well as being the register for most non-book material, was the formal Pictures Accession Register.  Much of this material was eventually transferred to the portion of the Coppin Collection that is now in the care of the Library’s Manuscripts Collection. A few years later Lucy Coppin donated further significant items: in 1958 the grand Coppin clock which stood in the Queen’s Hall until 2002;¹⁹ in 1959 the White marble clock belonging to George Coppin, dated 1880;²⁰ and in 1960 she bequeathed the Shakespeare window.²¹

The foundation stone of the La Trobe Library was laid in 1951 and it was not until 14 years later that it was officially opened in 1965.²² Without a building to house these new acquisitions, collection items were wrapped in paper and stored in the basements of the various Library buildings, awaiting the completion of the new building on La Trobe Street. It was these packages that are referred to in accounts of the development of the Library’s Pictures and Manuscript collections. Former Pictures Librarian Christine Downer writes:

Patricia Reynolds, the first La Trobe Librarian recounted in a recent interview that shortly after joining the Library staff in 1952, she discovered numbers of brown paper parcels, tied up with string and filled with photographs, in cupboards in the Palmer Hall. The excitement of this discovery was such that she forgot to go to lunch that day.²³

Regarding the Manuscripts Collection, historian John Thompson writes:

In 1956 the Library appointed its first Manuscripts Librarian (though not yet a full-time position) and at last a start could be made in bringing the scattered holdings together to form a separate collection. Recalling her first experiences working with the manuscripts collections, Clarice Kemp has told me that material was held in no more than 121 or so boxes and that manuscripts were held in as many as thirteen separate locations around the main Library building.²⁴

Registration of manuscript material began in earnest in 1958, and as the Coppin Collection emerged from the various storage places around the Library, and the final portions of it returned from the NLA by 1974, we start to see a formal, logical arrangement into 15 Series (which have remained relevant and proven to be very useful in the listing and digitising efforts of recent years).²⁵ We also see some back and forth transferring of material from the Pictures Collection to the Manuscripts Collection and vice versa. The Accession Registers of the time are dotted with annotations about these various moves which is in itself an extraordinary documentation of the management of archives and artifacts by a large collecting institution.

As concluding remarks, it is worth recording the names of staff and volunteers who have worked to organise, shape and log the vast Coppin Collection since the 1950s. Library staff include Joan Maslen (former Librarian and theatre specialist), Shona Dewer (Librarian, Manuscripts), Frances Thiele (former Field Historian and music expert, Manuscripts), Elizabeth Payne (Senior Librarian, Description Original Materials) and the volunteers who have lent their expertise and labour over the years: Ruth Bryce, Mimi Colligan, Elisabeth Kumm and Anne Glover. It is a great source of pride for me that I was involved in the cataloguing and digitising of the photographs and playbills in the Collection, and in the final concentrated push over the last few years to bring together the efforts of my colleagues to create a complete Finding Aid which will serve researchers for many years to come.

Endnotes

1. Alec Bagot, Coppin the Great: Father of the Australian theatre, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1965

2. The Finding aid is available via this link, or via the catalogue record: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/resources/256

3. The entire collection of playbills in the Coppin Collection have been digitised and are available to view online.

4. Finding aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/166550

5. Harry Nicholls was known to have performed in A Life of Pleasure at the Theatre Royal, Dury Lane in 1893. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nicholls_(comedian). A citation in the catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand states: Bland Holt in ‘A life of pleasure’, by Sir Augustus Harris. With Mrs Bland Holt and Miss Elizabeth Watson from London. Opera House Wellington. 25 November 1895.https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22415638, (Viewed 20 November 2023); There are two small playbills in the SLV’s collection for the production of Pleasure by Paul Merritt and Augustus Harris at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. Details of cast vary on each bill. Bland Holt is not in the production. As with the billboard, these are printed by the Strand Publishing Company too. (Accession number: MS8827/11/1249)

6. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/161900

7. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk (Viewed 2 May 2021)

8. Catalogue link: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/253094

9. The photographs relating to the film The Breaking of the Drought are discussed in the SLV blog, The Breaking of the Drought: Silent movies and photography. https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/the-breaking-of-the-drought-silent-movies-and-photography/

10. The whole Portfolio can be viewed online: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/382866

11. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/165347

12. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/161891

13. Melodrama in Miniature—the conservation treatment of model set pieces from the 1902 play ‘The Breaking of the Drought’: https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/collection-care/melodrama-in-miniature/

14. The National Library of Australia passed the collection on to the State Library of Victoria according to the wishes of Mrs Bagot after the death of her husband. The National Library made copies for its collection.

15. These were accessioned in the Pictures (Historical) Register at H3063–H3146.

16. These are listed in the Pictures (Historical) Register at H16579–H16688.

17. Agnes Paton Bell, How the George Coppin and Bland Holt material was discovered, 1967, Australian Manuscripts Collection, SLV, MS 8240.

18. These are in the Pictures Collection, H15973/1–16 and H15974/1–43, and are fully catalogued and digitised so can be viewed online via the SLV catalogue. They are in copyright, so reproduction here was not possible in time for publication.

19. Now conserved and on display in the Foundation Members Lounge, off the Dome (La Trobe Reading Room).

20. Pictures Collection, H18183. In storage LTRE 551.

21. The Shakespear window is installed for exhibition on Level 6 of the Dome (La Trobe Reading Room) at the Library. For discussion and history of this donation, see Mimi Colligan, “‘That window has a history’: The Shakespeare Window at the State Library,” La Trobe Journal, No.78, Spring 2006, pp. 94-103.

22. See the State Library Victoria, Research Guide: https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/slvhistory

23. Christine Downer, “Pictures In Victoria - Images As Records In The La Trobe Library Picture Collection”, La Trobe Journal, No. 50, Spring 1992, p.13; available online: https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-50/t1-g-t2.html

24. John Thompson, “The Australian Manuscripts Collection in the State Library of Victoria: Its Growth, Development and Future Prospects”, La Trobe Journal, No. 21, April 1978, p.12; available online: https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-21/t1-g-t2.html

25. The new Finding Aid is available via the catalogue record for the Coppin Collection, or directly:  https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/resources/256