Jacqx Melilli

In collaboration with the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, Theatre Heritage Australia continued the partnership instigated by the late Sue-Anne Wallace to launch its 2025 Stage On Sunday series.

The first event was a captivating presentation by Jacquelin Melilli (Jacqx) on Sunday 27 July to a full house of 27 attendees.

Jacqx’s research offered a fascinating glimpse into the world of vaudeville and the hardships faced by touring performers in regional Victoria during the Great Depression. Through the lens of the Broadway family, she shed light on the resilience, creativity, and cultural contribution of performers often left out of the spotlight.

Book cover

Jacqx and Simon

In 2000, when she was involved in community theatre, Jacqx met Shirley Barnett (nee Broadway) (1930-2021), who in the 1930s was the youngest member of Alf Broadway’ Pantomime Players. Shirley’s parents, Alf and Ettie, managed a touring troupe of vaudeville players, adept at singing, dancing, tumbling and juggling. At Christmas, Alf Broadway would play the Dame in pantomime, with his wife as the Principal Boy.

In the 1930s, Shirley Temple’s films were hugely popular in Australia, and Shirley Temple look-alike competitions were all the rage. In 1934, little Shirley Broadway was entered into a competition run by Hoyts Cinemas - and she won. The competition win was prize money and for a one-year contract to promote Shirley Temple films by having Shirley dressed in replica dresses worn by Shirley Temple in the film being screened. Her father capitalised on this win for a few years by referring to Shirley as Australia’s Shirley Temple in newspaper advertisements for their shows. This marked the beginning of an incredible career performing on stage and television.

Alf's Troupe

Shirley’s career as a child star and her parents’ touring troupe formed the basis of Jacqx debut novel, When the Glitter Fades. Through conversations with Shirley and research of her own, Jacqx was able to piece together a detailed account of a tour undertaken by the Broadway troupe in regional Victoria in 1933-1935. As she notes in the preface to her book:

One of my aims when writing When the Glitter Fades was to preserve Australian entertainment history to the best of my ability, I started by recording Shirley’s experiences. Whatever she couldn't recall in specific detail, I researched in the newspaper archives. I was able to piece together information and dates recorded through advertisements Shirley’s father, Alf Broadway, had placed to announce their shows.

Jacqx presented her findings as a slide show: photographs of the Broadway troupe on tour, extracts from diaries, and portraits of Shirley dressed as Shirley Temple. Visiting the towns that the family toured through helped Jacqx to visualise the places they performed in, and thankfully many of the venues and shops that they would have seen were still extant. But, as she explained, this was backgound. Although the Broadway family provided the context for the action, her book is historical fiction, the names of the characters and much of the plot - a love triangle revenge story - stems from Jacqx’ imagination!

When the Glitter Fades by Jacqx Melilli, Escribano Publishing, 2024, may be purchased as a paperback or eBook from online book retailers. Special edition copies are available from jacqx.com, for A$32.00. Also available through some libraries.

For more information including interviews with Jacqx and sample chapters from the book visit Book2Look