Marie Ney

After four long years, the war was finally over and soldiers started returning home, and the lucky men who had survived the hostilities were reunited with their families. For many, Christmas 1918 was the first time that they could relax … and slowly, perhaps, things could get back to normal.

At the Palace Theatre, Boxing Day saw a welcome revival of De Luxe Annie, with performances commencing at the matinee. A crowded house greeted Emelie Polini. It was clear that a ‘brief’ revival was out of the question.

Emelie Polini, c.1919

National Library of New Zealand, Wellington

Marie Ney, c.1919. Photo by Mina Moore.

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Meanwhile, on 23 January 1919 (a week later than originally announced), a matinee performance of John Gabriel Borkman was given by J&N Tait’s Repertory Company, under the direction of Gregan McMahon, with George Bryant in the title role, Marie Ney as Ella Rentheim, Olive Wilton as Mrs Borkman and McMahon as Vilhelm Foldal. This was the first Sydney production; the Ibsen play having received its Australian premiere in June 1911 when McMahon launched his Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company.¹

While in the Melbourne the play was well received, in Sydney, critics found it unrelentingly gloomy. The Sydney Morning Herald (24 January 1919) for example reported:

Running over with dreary dialogue and having very little action to give it value from the dramatic standpoint, Ibsen’s ‘John Gabriel Borkman’ was produced yesterday afternoon at the Palace … Dismal from the commencement to the close, the stage story of the sour-tempered, callous, and course-grained Borkman, and the two women whose lives he has ruined, is to a large extent a sneer at selfishness in several forms.

Going on to say of the actors:

Mr George Bryant was lumbering and lugubrious as the ex-bank director whose dreams do not come true … On the principle of compensation Miss Marie Ney was admirable as Ella Rentheim … and Olive Wilton was equal to nearly all the demands which were made upon her as Borkman’s unenviable wife … [while] Mr Gregan McMahon contrived to blend the admirable characteristics of old Adam in ‘As You Like It’ and Jaikes in ‘The Silver King’.

On 27 January 1919, the last two weeks of De Luxe Annie were announced. But how things can change—two days later, all Sydney theatres were ordered to close by the NSW state government.

Notice in The Theatre Magazine (Sydney), 1 February 1919, p.26

Since late 1918, Australian authorities had been aware of the threat faced by pneumonic influenza or Spanish Flu. The disease had already claimed the lives of thousands in Europe, America and elsewhere. With the mass return of people from overseas, it was only a matter of time before the disease reached the Australian mainland. Despite the introduction of quarantine facilities, the first case was confirmed in Melbourne in January 1919. On 28 January, four people were reported to have died from influenza, with 99 new cases added, bringing the total number to 334, with 50 cases regarded as serious. Travel between Victoria and NSW was halted and civilians were being encouraged to wear masks.

In Sydney, newspapers for 29 January, reported that twelve infected people were being treated at Randwick Hospital, and although this number seemed low, authorities were leaving nothing to chance. All public institutions across the city, including libraries, churches, schools and theatres, were ordered to close. But this was just the tip of the iceberg. Between January and September, 290,000 people in NSW would contract the disease, resulting in over 4,000 deaths.

From 27 January to mid-May theatres remained closed, forcing thousands of performers and theatre personnel out of work, and when they did re-open on 17 May, it did not mark the end of the pandemic. According to statistics, the period May to July would see the highest death rate in Sydney.

Nevertheless, the all-clear came on 16 May, and the following day, theatre doors were flung open. As a result of the closures, the shows originally listed at the Palace during early 1919 were disrupted. Firstly, a second matinee of John Gabriel Borkman, scheduled for 30 January, did not take place, and as a result the Repertory Company was sent off on tour, eventually establishing a residency in Melbourne. The proposed Sydney season of Bubbly set to open on 8 February was postponed indefinitely, and Jack and Jill, originally slated to open in early April was delayed by more than a month. It seems the entire company of 100 people had set out for Sydney in early April and underwent four days’ quarantine in Albury, only to return to Melbourne when the ‘axe fell’.²

Barry Lupino as Dame Durden

Marriner Theatre Archive

Gracie Dorran as Jill. Photo by Elizabeth Nash-Boothby.

Marriner Theatre Archive

The Palace re-opened on 17 May with Jack and Jill. This pantomime, produced by Bert Bailey, had played in Melbourne at Christmas 1918/1919, with Virginia Roche and Gracie Dorran in the title roles, along with Barry Lupino as the Dame, Gracie Leigh as Prince Fearnaught, Violet Collinson as Princess Bountiful, Bert Bailey as Ginger, and William Hassan as the Donkey.³

Virgina Roche who played Jack was brought over from America, while Gracie Dorran, the young Australian performer who played Jill, had joined the Bailey company in Adelaide in mid-1918 to play ingenue roles, including Nell in Gran’dad Rudd when it played at the Palace in August 1918. Gracie was a seasoned performer, having been on the stage since the age of 10, notably touring with Philip Lytton’s Dramatic company and performing with one of Edward Branscombe’s Dandies concert parties.

The pantomime at the Palace ‘is a good tonic for influenza’, observed The Bulletin (22 May 1919), while The Triad (10 June 1919) wrote:

There need be no dodging of the fact as to the Tait pantomime at the Palace Theatre. It is the brightest and briskest and generally jolliest little pantomime of the last five years. There is more honest mirth in it than there would be in any three of the others concentrated. Mr Barry Lupino is the most humourist of dames … [and] Miss Gracie Dorran, who plays Jill, is a frank, natural, gentle, and very charming girl on the stage, with a pleasant little voice and a delightful manner.

Jack and Jill played until 26 June.

(left) Harry Lauder travelling from San Francisco to Sydney on the ship S.S. Ventura, 1919. State Library Queensland, Brisbane; (right) Harry Lauder by Bancks, The Bulletin (Sydney), 17 July 1919, p.34

The 12 July saw the highly anticipated return of Harry Lauder. Following the huge success of his 1914 tour, the Taits were keen to coax the Scottish comedian back to Australia. Almost the day after peace was declared Lauder, accompanied by his wife, sister and brother-in-law, set sail for Canada. Keen to earn enough money to retire to his beloved property ‘Laudervale’ in Dunoon on the Clyde coast, he departed on a six-month Farewell Tour, having arranged to also visit America, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Since his first visit to Australia, Lauder had worked tirelessly for the war effort, and when his beloved son, Captain John Lauder, lost his life on the battlefields of France, he was determined to see the world one last time and raise further funds for war charities.⁴

Lauder arrived in Sydney on 29 April 1919 per mail steamer Ventura. In addition to his family, Lauder was accompanied by two performers, Muriel Window and Eddie Montrose, who would be part of his show. Muriel Window was an American artiste called ‘The Little Peacock of Vaudeville’ who had made a name for herself in the revue The Passing Show in which she wore some amazing costumes; while Montrose, known as ‘The Broadway Clown’, was a skilled acrobat. Amy and Dolly Castles were also on the ship as was singer Harry Dearth.

The ship was inspected by quarantine officers and ‘passed as clean’ allowing Lauder and the other passengers to disembark. Lauder was greeted by a vast crowd, echoing his arrival in Australia five years earlier. He and his party were escorted to the Hotel Australia by a ‘body of Scotch pipers and a number of leading Scottish residents’, where he was met with a cable from England announcing that the King had awarded him a knighthood—Sir Harry Lauder—in recognition of his assiduous efforts during the war, raising money, running recruitment drives and performing for troops on the front lines. Many actors had received the honour, beginning with Henry Irving in 1895, but Lauder was the first vaudeville entertainer to be knighted.

With Sydney theatres still closed, Lauder’s planned opening at the Palace Theatre was postponed, and arrangements were made for him to open at the King’s Theatre in Melbourne from 10 May to 12 June, with a six-night season at the Adelaide Tivoli from 21 June.⁵ Of the current situation in Sydney, Sir Harry was somewhat dismissive, saying he took no notice of the influenza, ‘It never once interfered with me. Right through America I played to capacity houses. I never heard of such a thing as theatrical restrictions there.’ ⁶

Sheet music cover for ‘Australia is the Land for Me’

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Sheet music cover for ‘Don’t Let Us Sing Any More About War, Just Let Us Sing of Love’

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

As a result of his recent illness and the delay of the Adelaide season, Lauder’s Sydney opening, originally announced for 28 June, was postponed until 12 July, which meant the theatre remained ‘dark’ for the two weeks following the departure of the Jack and Jill company. Lauder had played the Palace in mid-1914, when he transferred there from the larger Royal for a few nights at the conclusion of his last visit. His return Sydney season got off to a great start. Audiences and critics were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the little Scottish comic.

Harry Lauder, the homely, the humorous, the home-loving, faced a Sydney audience at the Palace Theatre on Saturday night. There he stood convulsed with silent laughter and reminiscent glee, the same kilts, the same gnarled and twisted cudgel, the same inimitable Scottish comedian we all learned to love when he first came here five years ago. Joyous enthusiasm followed all his efforts, and the happiest of evenings resulted.⁷

A mixture of old songs and new, combined with his characteristic dry humour comments, a twinkle in his eye and smile on his lips, he was a sensation, but as on the previous tour, audiences had to wait until the second half of the program for him to appear. In addition to Lauder’s two principal associate artists, Muriel Window (presenting a series of quick changes into costumes from different periods—1871, 1919 and 1931!—to the accompaniment of bird-song) and Eddie Montrose (with his dazzling ‘falling’ stunt and side-somersaults on one hand), there was Highland dancer Heather Belle, baritone Colin Crane with a series of ballads, and other sundry musicians and jugglers. (See THA Digital Library for copy of program for week commencing 9 August 1919)

Cartoon by Mick Paul

The Lone Hand (Sydney), August 1919, p.35

Cartoon by Mick Paul

The Lone Hand (Sydney), August 1919, p.35

Over the following ten weeks, Lauder played to packed houses, with many people reportedly attending more than once. He presented a changing repertoire of songs, including the peace song, ‘Don’t Let Us Sing Any More About War, Just Let Us Sing of Love’, and a patriotic Australia-themed ballad, ‘Australia is the Land for Me’. Due to the huge demand for seats, Lauder’s Palace season was extended until Wednesday 3 September 1919. His final night was so popular that many people had to be accommodated on the stage. It was said to be an attendance record for the Palace.⁸

With his departure from Australia set for 8 October, Lauder concluded the Australian leg of his world tour by visiting Brisbane and the Northen Rivers, concluding with a return visit to Melbourne. Owing to ‘shipping difficulties’ the planned New Zealand tour was cancelled.

Palace Theatre attractions. The Sun (Sydney), 3 September 1919, p.10

With the smell of heather still lingering in the air, Emelie Polini began a brief return season on Thursday 4 September. Having been persuaded by the Taits to postpone her planned departure in July 1919, she had presented her first Brisbane season and was now en route for New Zealand. Reprising her role of Gina Ashling in Eyes of Youth, she was supported by Arthur E. Greenaway, who had previously played the role of Peter, as the Yogi, with Harmon Lee as Paolo Salbo and Maurice Dudley as Picquand, along with John De Lacey, John Fernside, Monica Scully and Georgia Harvey.

Once again audiences crammed the theatre and it was reported that with this third return season of Eyes of Youth, it had ‘eclipsed the business done when it was first produced at the Palace’.⁹ The season ended on 26 September, when Emelie Polini and the company left for Wellington.

From program for Daddies. State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.

With the next attraction, Daddies, a play by John Lessing Hobble, the Taits announced something of a departure—there would be no star! ‘The play is to be the thing’. ¹⁰ In America, under David Belasco’s management, it had premiered in Washington on 10 June 1918, prior to commencing a highly propitious New York season on 5 September at the Belasco Theatre. When it was given its first Australian outing at the King’s Theatre in Melbourne on 19 July 1919, it had just ended on Broadway. Having transferred to the Lyceum Theatre in November, it closed on 4 June 1919 after 340 performances, with Jeanne Eagles (Ruth Atkins), Winifred Fraser (Mrs Audrey), Edith King (Bobette), Bruce McRae (Robert Audrey), Edwards Davis (Nicholas Waters) and George Abbott (Henry Allen).

Despite its obvious success, the play divided the critics, with some calling it ‘powerful’ and ‘artistic’ and others decrying its ‘sugar and sentimentality’.¹¹

It is the story of a group of college buddies who shun marriage and set up an anti-matrimonial club that meets once a year. Out of a sense of duty, however, they decide to each sponsor a war orphan, but Robert Audrey’s orphan turns out not to be a baby but a ‘beautiful seventeen-year-old girl’—and of course—he falls in love with her!

In Melbourne, Daddies had played for eight weeks, with Margaret Nybloc (Ruth Atkins), Beatrice Esmond (Mrs Audrey), Greta Brunelle (Bobette), Jerome Patrick (Robert Audrey), Reginald Wykeham (Nicholas Waters), Gerald Kay Souper (Henry Allen), Tal Ordell (William Rivers), James Crocket (George Bryant), and Roland Rushton (Parker). The play was jointly directed by Jerome Patrick and Roland Rushton. Of the cast, Jerome Patrick, Roland Rushton and Greta Brunelle hailed from New York, though it seems Brunelle was the only actual American, as Patrick was a New Zealander and Rushton came from Adelaide.

Daddies arrived in Sydney on 27 September with the promise of a long run. The cast was the same as in Melbourne with a few key exceptions. The role of Ruth was now played by Gracie Dorran, who had replaced Margaret Nybloc during the Melbourne run, with Cyril Mackay as Nicholas Walters and Wilfred Hilary as William Rivers.¹²

Sydney critics were mixed in their reception, with Sunday Times calling it ‘a tender, laughing comedy’ while The Sun called it ‘a pretty play … not a great one’. The Referee declared it ‘a delightful comedy with any amount of human interest’.¹³ Although it proved popular and played to good houses, it was withdrawn after just four weeks.

Advertisement for Old Lady 31, The Sun (Sydney), 1 October 1919, p.8

Saturday 1 November 1919 saw the welcome return of Sara Allgood. Since her last appearance at the Palace in February 1918, she had been through an incredibly tough time. While experiencing immense success with Peg o’ My Heart and appearing in her first ‘photoplay’, Just Peggy (a sort of Peg spin-off),¹⁴ Allgood’s personal life was in turmoil. In September 1916 she had married her leading man, Gerald Henson, and on 18 January 1918, just a month prior to her third reappearance at the Palace, she gave birth to a baby, Mary, who died within an hour. Previously, in May 1917, she learned that her brother had died from wounds in France, and a month later that a good friend, Major H.K. Redmond, had also been killed in the firing line. In mid-1918, she embarked on a six-month tour of New Zealand, her second visit, commencing in Dunedin on 26 July. By November, however, influenza had reached New Zealand, and that month, while in Wellington, several members of the Peg o’ My Heart company contracted the disease, including Sara and her husband. While Sara recovered, Gerald sadly died on 24 November 1918. Due to shipping issues, she remained stranded in New Zealand until she could secure passage back to Australia on 14 January 1919, but due to quarantine requirements, a trip that usually takes four days, turned into a four-week ordeal, including twenty days in the Federal enclosure at North Head.

Postcard of Sara Allgood with a personal note, c. 1919. Author’s collection.

After eight months absence from the stage, the Tait management announced that they had secured Sara Allgood for a new play, Old Lady 31. This new play by Rachel Crothers, based on a novel by the late Louise Forsslund, represented quite a departure from Peg o’ My Heart and Just Peggy. In many ways it was a return to the types of characters she had been playing at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin: old ladies! Subtitled ‘the sunshine comedy with 306 laughs’, it is set in 1860s New England where, through penury, Angie is separated from her seafaring husband Abe and sent to an Old Ladies’ Home, but the twenty-nine inhabitants of the home are so impressed by the couple’s devotion that they arrange to accommodate him also. Thus, Angie becomes Old Lady 30 and Abe becomes Old Lady 31!

After a short try-out season, Crother’s ‘gentle, homely, rainbow comedy’ was given its first Broadway performance at the 39th Street Theatre on 30 October 1916.¹⁵ With Emma Dunn as Angie and Reginald Barlow as Abe, it proved an unexpected ‘hit’, playing for 160 performances. In 1920, it was made into a film by Metro Pictures, with Dunn reprising her role of Angie.¹⁶

From program for Old Lady 31. State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.

As in Melbourne, many of the ‘old lady’ roles were played noted stage veterans including Maggie Moore, Katie Towers and Madge Herrick.

Old Lady 31 played until 12 December, and the following night Peg o’ My Heart was relaunched for Sara Allgood’s ‘farewell’ season.

To be continued

Endnotes

1. The initial season of the McMahon’s Melbourne Repertory Theatre Company took play at the Turn Verein Hall and comprised three plays: the double bill of The Two Mr Wetherbys and Act 2 of The Critic (26 June & 3 July 1911) and John Gabriel Borkman (29 June & 6 July 1911). Amateurs F. Kingsley Norris and J. Beresford Fowler were both praised for their acting in the Ibsen play. See also https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/profiles/item/688-jack-beresford-fowler-a-life-well-spent-part-1

2. Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 1919, p.17

3. In Melbourne, Virginia Roche missed the premiere due to quarantined requirements, and her original role of Prince Fearnaught was played by Dorothy Leigh with Ida Newton as Jack; but on her arrival, Roche declared she wanted to play Jack, and Dorothy took on the role of the Prince.

4. Lauder published a book, A Minstrel in France, about his wartime experiences. It was published in 1918 and was promoted in Australia during his 1919 tour.

5. Lauder was to have played eight-nights in Adelaide from 14 June, but contracted laryngitis and ordered not to travel by doctor.

6. Advertiser (Adelaide), 30 April 1919, p.10

7. Sydney Morning Herald, 14 July 1919, p.7

8. Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 4 September 1919, p.5

9. Referee (Sydney), 24 September 1919, p.9

10. Table Talk (Melbourne), 10 July 1919, p.12

11. Bordman, p.86

12. The Ballarat Star, 16 August 1919, noted, ‘Miss Nybloc was essentially a character actress, and not at all well cast in Daddies’.

13. Sunday Times, 28 September 1919, p.2; The Sun, 28 September 1919, p.2; Referee, 1 October 1919, p.9

14. For more detail see Pike and Cooper, p.106-107

15. New York Times, 31 October 1916, p.11

16. See IMDB, Old Lady 31 (1920) - IMDb

It was remade in 1940 as The Captain is a Lady, with Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi. See IMDB, The Captain Is a Lady (1940) - IMDb

References

Gerald Bordman, American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1914-1930, Oxford University Press, 1995

Harry Lauder, A Minstrel in France, Andrew Melrose Ltd, London, 1918

Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper, Australian Film, 1900-1977, Oxford University Press in association with The Australian Film Institute, Melbourne, 1980

Viola Tait, A Family of Brothers: The Taits and J.C. Williamson; a theatre history, Heinemann, Melbourne, 1971

Newspapers

New York Times with Index (1851-2022), via State Library Victoria

Trove, trove.nla.gov.au

Pictures

Marriner Theatre Archive, Melbourne

National Library of Australia, Canberra

National Library of New Zealand, Wellington

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

State Library Queensland, Brisbane

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

With thanks to

Rob Morrison

Dion Boucicault Jr, 1927

From theatre program

Irene Vanbrugh, 1928

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

The biggest successof the theatre’s first years was a four-month season by British husband and wife stars Dion Boucicault Jr and Irene Vanbrugh, beginning on 21 July. Their repertoire, which occasionally echoed that of the old Brough–Boucicault company, included plays by Pinero, A.A. Milne and Frederick Lonsdale—notably a first Australian production of Lonsdale’s On Approval on 20 October.

The arrival of sound films and the imminent Great Depression made 1929 the first of several patchy years. But the attractions included seasons by the reigning imported dramatic favourite Leon Gordon, English actor Lewis Shaw starring in John Van Druten’s then sensational Young Woodley, and a short revival of Sweet Nell of Old Drury with the beloved Nellie Stewart.

American actor William Faversham, 1931

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Nellie Stewart, 1931

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Spanish-American comic actor Leo Carrillo interrupted the beginning of a busy Hollywood career to star in Lombardi Limited from 29 February 1930. This ran until mid April when Nellie Stewart, together with her daughter Nancye and son-in-law Mayne Lynton, starred in Edward Sheldon’s Romance. 1930 also saw seasons by English actor William Faversham and American actress Edith Taliaferro. The Firm was not too proud to refuse a six-night lease for the Victorian Amateur Boxing and Wrestling Championships early in September either. But the longest running single attraction of the period was St. John Irvine’s play, The First Mrs Fraser, which notched up 67 performances from 26 December—a very good run for the times.

Gregan McMahon and his repertory players first came to the Comedy on 17 March 1931. McMahon, who also directed more commercial fare for The Firm, had entered into an arrangement for the use of their theatres when they fell vacant and his group were frequent occupants of the Comedy throughout the 1930s. Their first offering was a comedy called Yellow Sands which featured McMahon and rising local actress Coral Brown(e). This was followed by Galsworthy’s The Roof. Each play ran for five nights.

Frank Harvey, 1931

From theatre program

Ethel Morrison

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

British actor Frank Harvey in a couple of Edgar Wallace thrillers interspersed with Galsworthy’s Loyalties held the stage for two months from 4 April 1931 and returned for another month in September. Prior to this came a short run of the comedy A Warm Corner, whose cast included Ethel Morrison, Cecil Kellaway, Campbell Copelin and Coral Brown(e), who also supported Harvey in his later season.

Nellie Bramley and her company, with their policy of weekly change popular drama, came to the Comedy on 26 March 1932 but transferred to the Palace after three weeks, leaving the theatre dark—apart from short runs by McMahon’s Players—for the rest of that year. 1933 was equally bleak, beginning with a couple of transfers from the King’s, including a fortnight of the Athene Seyler–Nicholas Hannen season from 15 April. A short-lived Ben Travers farce, A Bit of a Test, followed this but for the rest of the year the theatre was used only by amateurs.

1934 brought some improvement, with the Melbourne premiere of Ivor Novello’s Fresh Fields on 18 May. Then came a popular thriller, Ten Minute Alibi, followed by a light comedy, The Wind and the Rain. Both of these starred Englishman George Thirlwell and Australia’s Jocelyn Howarth in a run totalling fourteen weeks from 25 August. The Russian Ballet, transferring from the King’s, ended the year with a week-long run from Christmas Eve.

Ruth Draper. Photo by Max Dupain.

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Coppin plaque

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

A trio of modern comedies got 1935 off to a moderate start but other offerings petered out by early April and returned only fitfully towards the end of the year. From 11 January 1936 The Firm bowed to the inevitable and reopened the Comedy as a cinema screening first releases and revivals, beginning with a British double bill comprising The Constant Nymph and Man of Aran.

This policy continued over the next three years with only occasional interruptions for live attractions. Notable plays and players in this period were a month long run of Emlyn Williams’ thriller, Night Must Fall, from 15 February 1936; famous American impressionist Ruth Draper in a series of character sketches for a month from 16 May 1938; British silent film star Betty Balfour in a comedy called Personal Appearance for a fortnight from 20 August 1938; another month-long run for a thriller called Black Limelight from 8 April 1939; and American stage and screen actor Ian Keith in Libel during August 1939. It was also in this year that the bronze plaque honouring George Coppin was installed in the Comedy’s foyer. Unveiled by his daughter Lucy on 26 March, it was dedicated to ‘The Hon. George Selth Coppin, Philanthropist and Father of the Theatre in Victoria’.

Marie Ney and Hal Thompson in Private Lives, 1940

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Marjorie Gordon, the star of Susan and God, 1941

Theatre Heritage Australia

The Comedy switched to foreign film revivals in March 1940 but from 14 September British actress Marie Ney was starred in the thriller Ladies in Retirement for six weeks; she returned from the King’s for the last three weeks of Private Lives on 23 December. Also notable in 1940 was a two-night debut season by the Borovansky Australian Ballet Company on 9 and 10 December—the very first presentation of ballet in Australia by a locally nurtured company.

March–April 1941 saw the last seasons by the Gregan McMahon Players. McMahon himself died only a few months later in August—but immediately following came a fresh lease of life for the Comedy when JCW entered into an arrangement with David N. Martin to present a series of plays from his Minerva Theatre in Sydney. These began with Room for Two, a comedy starring Marjorie Gordon and Hal Thompson, which ran for a month from 12 April 1941. This was followed by another comedy, Susan and God, which also starred Gordon, and ran for a then record 228 performances from 17 May.

Aileen Britten, c.1942. Photo by Ritter-Jeppersen Studios, Melbourne.

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Gwenda Wilson and Madge Aubrey in Kiss and Tell, 1943

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Polished British actor Edwin Styles was the resident star for almost a year from 4 April 1942, beginning in the comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner, which ran for 161 performances. This was followed by Robert’s Wife, a comedy drama by St. John Irvine, Daphne Du Maurier’s romantic drama Rebecca, and Robert Sherwood’s romantic comedy, Reunion in Vienna. These and other Minerva attractions employed such rising or established local talents as Dick Bentley, Aileen Britten, Letty Craydon, Keith Eden, Claude Flemming, Sheila Helpman(n), Lloyd Lamble, Hal Lashwood, John McCallum, Muriel Steinbeck and Bettina Welch.

The classic black farce Arsenic and Old Lace was the first fresh attraction of 1943, and was followed by the comedy My Sister Eileen and Lillian Hellman’s drama, Watch on the Rhine. On 12 November came a second, month long season by the Borovansky Ballet and, from 11 December, Kiss and Tell. This very successful F. Hugh Herbert comedy had run close to 200 performances when it was ‘suspended until further notice’ by an Actors Equity strike on 26 March 1944. This was the first major industrial action taken by actors in Australia and was resolved after three weeks with victory for the strikers and the adoption of compulsory union membership for the profession. Kiss and Tell resumed on 10 June 1944 and went on to establish an all-time record for a straight play at the Comedy, with a run of 414 performances.

Edwin Styles returned for another long stay on 23 December 1944 in The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse, which ran until 11 April 1945 and was followed by Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit which played even more successfully, until 7 September. A short break from the middlebrow, mostly lightweight fare now familiar at the Comedy came on 5 April 1946 when The Firm presented Doris Fitton and her Independent Theatre company from Sydney in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra. All thirteen acts of this American adaptation of classic Greek tragedy were played out for twelve nights between 6.30 pm. and 11 pm, with a twenty-minute interval at 8 pm.

Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard in Shadow Play, 1946. Photo by S.J. Hood.

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Program cover for the Kiwi Revue Company’s Cassino which opened on 21 December 1946

Theatre Heritage Australia

Australian-based international stage stars Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott opened at the Comedy on 17 August 1946 in three Noël Coward one-acters, Ways and Means, Family Albumand Shadow Play and played profitably until 14 December. Following them came the Kiwis, an all-male New Zealand wartime concert party company formed in Egypt in 1941. Now sponsored by The Firm, the Kiwis opened on 20 December 1946 in Alamein, the first of three fast moving revues. On 16 August 1947 this was replaced by a second revue called Tripoli and on 10 January 1948 came Benghazi. On the following 20 November came a ‘farewell’—a compendium of all three shows—which ran until 6 January 1949. In total the Kiwis played for a phenomenal 867 consecutive performances—an all-time record for an individual attraction at the Comedy.

Ken Fraser and June Jago in Fly Away Peter, 1949. Photo by Hal Williamson.

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Program cover for Edward, My Son, Comedy Theatre, 1949

Theatre Heritage Australia

Plays returned on 8 January 1949 with Garson Kanin’s comedy, Born Yesterday, followed by a London success, Fly Away Peter, then an American farce called Separate Rooms. All these did well but the stellar highlight of the year was British comic actor Robert Morley opposite Sophie Stewart in his own play, Edward, My Son, from 2 December—the first of Morley’s many successful Australian visits.

After this came the Australian premiere of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire on 18 February 1950—appropriately enough a summer night of overpowering heat in the as yet un-airconditioned Comedy. American actor Arthur Franz starred as Stanley Kowalski in this rare venture by JCW into serious modern American drama which paid off with a run of more than three months.

Not quite as successful was Harvey, the American comedy that followed, despite the presence of famed wide-mouthed American film comedian Joe E. Brown. From 12 August The Firm took another gamble with a Doris Fitton production—an American musical fantasy called Dark of the Moon. Some six weeks later this made way for the hit of the year, the R.F. Delderfield wartime farce, Worm’s Eye View, which ran exactly six months from 30 September with British immigrants William Hodge and Gordon Chater in the casts.

Evelyn Laye in September Tide, 1951

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Kenneth Thornett and William Hodge in Seagulls Over Sorrento, 1953

Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

British husband and wife stars Evelyn Laye and Frank Lawton began a four month season on 12 May 1951 in Daphne Du Maurier’s September Tide and John Van Druten’s Bell, Book and Candle, F. Hugh Herbert’s comedy, The Moon is Blue, which followed, had a reputation for raciness at the time but was only moderately well received during its ten weeks from 14 September.

From 5 December 1951 the Comedy housed its first ever Shakespearian season when John Alden’s Australian company arrived with a repertoire beginning and ending with King Lear, which ran until 29 March 1952. The hit show of that year was Seagulls Over Sorrento, a farce by Australian author Hugh Hastings, which brought back William Hodge as star and chalked up 221 performances from 5 April, The Kiwis also returned after this and their two new revues again did excellent business, with a combined run of over six months to 24 April 1953.

Program cover for Dial M For Murder, Comedy Theatre. 1954

Theatre Heritage Australia

Advertising card for Reluctant Heroes, Comedy Theatre, 1953

Theatre Heritage Australia

Frederick Knott’s Dial M For Murder, gripped Comedy audiences for four months from 30 April and although Agatha Christie’s The Hollow, which came next, closed after five weeks, a third William Hodge hit followed this: Reluctant Heroes, another services farce, running seven months to 5 May 1954. The rest of that year saw Dear Charles, a comedy with Sophie Stewart and Clement McCallin, doing well with a run of over five months. But a revival of White Cargo and a new Australian play, Pommy (again with Bill Hodge) did poorly and the end of the year saw Hodge in the perennial Charley’s Aunt.

On 12 February 1955 Googie Withers and John McCallum made their first duo appearance in Australia in a comedy called Simon and Laura. They followed this on 14 May with Terence Rattigan’s drama, The Deep Blue Sea, ending this first of their many successful Comedy seasons on 9 July. A couple of American comedies that failed to draw preceded what many considered the artistic highlight of the year—Judith Anderson in her American success, Medea, on 20 December—the first presentation at the Comedy by the recently formed Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT).

Emrys Jones and Bettina Welch in Double Image, Comedy Theatre, 1956

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Program cover for The Chalk Garden, Comedy Theatre. 1957

Theatre Heritage Australia

Sailor Beware, another services farce, held the Comedy stage between 18 January and 5 May 1956 and on 12 June came a second AETT drama season lasting nine weeks, the highlight of which was a revival of the original production of Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll with Lawler himself in the cast. British husband and wife Roger Livesey and Ursula Jeans starred in William Douglas Home’s comedy The Reluctant Debutante for over five months from 25 August 1956 while 4 February 1957 brought another successful expatriate, Leo McKern in The Rainmaker—although the play itself failed to please.

Nor did Janus the comedy which followed, despite the presence of British star Jessie Matthews, nor the next, Double Image, a thriller with British actor Emrys Jones. Although only introduced late in 1956, the popularity of television was already taking effect and the days of four or five month runs for often routine plays were coming to an end.

Another AETT presentation arrived on 23 July 1957: British actor Paul Rogers in Vanburgh’s The Relapse, and Hamlet, with a local cast including Zoe Caldwell as Ophelia, which played alternate weeks until 28 August. Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden, with the distinguished Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson, ran for over three months from 31 August. Not so fortunate for The Firm was a prize-winning local play, The Multi Coloured Umbrella, which had been a success when first produced at the Little Theatre but closed here after three weeks.

Lobby card advertising Luisillo and his Spanish Dance Theatre, Comedy Theatre, 1958

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Program cover for Nude with Violin, Comedy Theatre, 1958

Theatre Heritage Australia

An undisputed money-spinner was Luisillo and his Spanish Dance Theatre, beginning the first of several Comedy seasons on 11 March 1958. On 22 April another Australian play sponsored by the AETT, Richard Benyon’s The Shifting Heart was well received prior to a London production, with an eight week run to 18 June. Eight-week runs were also scored by expatriate star Robert Helpmann in Noël Coward’s Nude with Violin and Edwin Styles and Sophie Stewart in Not In the Book. The end of the year brought For Amusement Only, an English revue starring rising locals Toni Lamond, Tikki Taylor, John Newman and Frank Sheldon.

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was revived for five weeks from 31 January 1959 and was followed by Googie Withers and John McCallum (now also The Firm’s assistant managing director) in Roar Like a Dove for nine weeks. John Alden’s Shakespeare company also returned on 12 June, with Scottish actor John Laurie as King Lear the highlight of the season, and on 12 September came the premiere of Ray Lawler’s new play, The Piccadilly Bushman. This failed to repeat the success of The Doll during its eight week run and the end of year attractions were British husband and wife Muriel Pavlow and Derek Farr in The Gazebo and Odd Man In for a total of three months to 23 February 1960.

In his autobiography, Life with Googie, John McCallum recalls working at the Comedy about this time in a ‘near-perfect set-up…for running a theatre circuit. Head office was on the second floor...with the Accounts department above it and Publicity below. Across the road was the flagship of the circuit, Her Majesty’s Theatre, behind which were the workshops and paint-frames, rehearsal rooms, wardrobe, laundry and dry cleaning, scene dock and stores... And so it was possible, in the course of a few minutes’ walk, to check on the exact state of any production in preparation.’

To be continued