A Vaudeville and a Dramatic Company (1901)
‘Kate Howarde, a clever actress, who made her first appearance in Victoria at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat on Boxing Night 1901’—The Arena, 19 December 1901Kate Howarde managed dual companies in 1901—Federation Year—with her Dramatic Company servicing the NSW mid-north coast and the west of the state, drawing huge audiences with Sins of a City, When London Wakes, Charley’s Aunt and Hall Caine’s The Christian (inexplicably interpolating ‘patriotic’ songs). Brothers Bert and Lou Howarde were included in this combination (Lou now acting as Musical Director). The second company, all variety performers, played concurrently at Grafton and centres in the Northern Rivers. Kate chose to join the latter tour, of ‘14 first class Star Artistes’: Little Jim Smith (comic); Will Anderson; Alf Martin, an American dead shot; a conjuring artist; and The Whitfield Sisters.
The Dramatic Company reconvened after the usual winter respite in Sydney with a brief return to the Northern Rivers before heading down to the Riverina to offer a portfolio of drama from their stock (including The World’s Verdict, The Ticket of Leave Man and Queen’s Evidence) until September.
Harry Craig proved to be a resourceful and enterprising manager, and equally as provocative: an incident described by the Coolamon Echo (19 July 1901) provides a prime example from a performance at Gundagai. It appeared that Craig hired a local band to play in front of the hall to attract a crowd:
The [band] said they wouldn’t play a note till they got paid. Harry Craig, the manager, said he would pay them as soon as they were finished, but the band would not agree, and packed off up the street, and started to give a free concert. The theatricals then employed half a dozen men with bells, and a perfect pandemonium ensued, with the result that the popular actress got a good house.
The season was abruptly cancelled after three nights in West Wyalong when Kate made a hasty return to Sydney to tend to her youngest sister Minnie who was seriously ill; exhaustion no doubt a contributing factor. Since the birth of her son Francis in 1892, Minnie and her husband Robert Henry began to build a career together, working freelance in the first instance for W.J. Wilson’s Company, the Maclean Gaiety Company and the Hawthorne & Lambert Comedy Company, as well as a brief season joining Kate and Irve Hayman’s Criterion Burlesque Company. In January 1897, however, the couple launched their own enterprise, Henry’s Dramatic Company, with Minnie—now calling herself Billie Howarde—as the lead attraction. They launched their season with a production of ‘the sensational military drama’ All for Gold, concentrating on Sydney suburban audiences. In February (1897) they took a lease on the Royal Standard Theatre (Sydney) where, over the next twelve months they built new repertoire (over eighteen productions), alternating between the Royal Standard Theatre and suburban venues (such as Petersham Town Hall). They were regulars at the Victoria Theatre (Newcastle); toured number of circuits (established by Kate) in regional NSW; played in Hobart and South Australia; and made two long and successful tours of New Zealand (in 1899 and 1900). ‘This fine company is now in its fifth year’, observed The Dominion Post, ‘and the heyday of its prosperity, playing to packed houses right through the Maoriland tour. ... Their Charley’s Aunt night furnished the largest house ever seen in Wellington. … The performance was the best we have ever had in Wellington, the Company being the strongest that has visited Wellington for several years’. Robert and the Company had just departed for their first appearance in Perth and the West Australian goldfields when Billie fell ill.
Billie Howarde of the Henry Dramatic Company
From Quiz, 17 January 1901
Billie’s first husband, Robert Henry, proprietor Henry Dramatic & Comedy Company
From Western Mail, 23 February 1901
Billie was well enough by October to return to work and she joined Kate’s Comedy and Vaudeville Combination. Kate offered Billie a benefit performance on Friday 25 October (1901), where she made her first appeared, after eight months, as Polly in the C.S. Fawcett’s farcical comedy Bubbles.
The Company then made a return to Tasmania. According to The Hobart Clipper (16 November 1901) ‘Miss Howarde is the smartest woman in Australia; she knows every Show Day; she understands the inner idiosyncrasies of every theatrical proprietor and manager in Australia from Charles E. Davies up to Harry Rickards; she is a right down talented woman’.
The Company passed through Hobart on Friday 29 November en route to Sydney. They were home on 7 December and Kate’s on-going respect in the industry was reflected in a par in The Sunday Times (8 December 1901):
In order to encourage touring managers who desire to go straight, here is an instance for which Miss Kate Howarde is to be commended. A few weeks go Miss Howarde, who was about to leave on a tour, called upon Mr William Anderson, of the Lyceum Theatre, and asked his terms for the right to play a certain piece. Mr Anderson stated the conditions, and received a cheque for the full amount from Miss Howarde before the lady left his office. It is not surprising, when Miss Howarde conducts her business in this fashion, that the estimation in which her name is held in the country is in inverse proportions to that of the average touring manager.
While in Sydney, Kate reorganised her Company to progress through the usual circuits in regional Victoria and NSW throughout 1902. The line up included Violet Bertram, Daisy Strathmore, Christina Tennyson, Wilkie Power, Augusta Glover, Sydney Everett, Ethel Boydhouse, Bert Howarde and Harry Craig; the musical director was Professor Airey, the scenic artist James Hutchensen and ‘a small army of mechanists’, under George Ives. Also making her stage debut was Kate’s eighteen year old daughter, using her stage name Florence Adrienne.
With a repertoire comprising The Silver King, Modern Babylon and On Shannon’s Shore, they opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Ballarat on Boxing night with A City Waif. On New Year’s Night, the box office take was £218, a record for the house. They were playing at the Victoria Theatre (Newcastle) during celebratory week marking the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (26 June). For this season, Kate returned a favour and engaged Collett Dobson1 as the leading man for both A Midnight Mystery and Dinna Forgo.
(left) Collet Barker Dobson was a member of a distinguished New Zealand pioneering family, the youngest son of of Edward Dobson, civil engineer and survey of Christchurch—Collett Family Collection (c. 1930); (right) The Victoria Theatre and Hotel, Perkins Street, Newcastle. Designed by architect James Henderson with a Corinthian-style facade, the four storey brick and iron building with fly tower was opened in 1891. It seated 2000.—Newcastle Region Library.
It was in Newcastle that Kate also premiered one of her own plays, The Sign of Seven. ‘It was an excellent one’, the Newcastle Morning Herald responded following the opening on 3 July.
It has an abundance of sensational, humourous, and pathetic situations. The piece deals principally with the doings of Socialists, and the scenes alternate between London and Venice. ... The part of the hero was excellently played by Mr Collett Dobson. Mr Sydney Everett’s villain was a capable performance. As Nina Hollinswood, Miss Kate Howarde was highly successful.
As there appears to be no public statement from her, it’s unclear how Kate responded to the death of her husband William (known as Bill in the industry) Cowan [né William Henry de Sax] who died aged 35 in Launceston General Hospital in the early hours of 11 July 1902. Kate and William had been estranged for nearly a decade. As reported by the Launceston Examiner (22 July 1902), Bill was ‘a much respected member of the theatrical profession’.
Deceased, whose name was de Saxe, was a chronic sufferer from asthma, which was accentuated by an affectation of the heart, and his death was directly attributable to the last named complaint. He was a well known actor in all parts of Australasia, and came to Tasmania in the early part of April last, when he appeared at the Academy of Music as General Kingsley in The Two Little Drummer Boys, and in prominent parts in other plays which were produced by Messrs Levy & Linden’s Royal Dramatic Company. Subsequently he went on tour with the Company, and returned to Launceston a few weeks ago, suffering seriously from illness. About a week ago he entered the hospital in order to obtain careful nursing but his case was considered hopeless from the first, his heart being in a very weak condition. He was not without means, and recognising the slender hold he had on life, some time ago made arrangements in Melbourne for the interment of his remains at Kew … He … had relatives on the mainland, Mr de Saxe, the well know Melbourne dentist, being a brother.
Meanwhile, further accolades for Kate’s business acumen were offered during her Gundagai season in August: ‘People often remark’, observed The Gundagai Times (29 August 1902), ‘when the Kate Howarde Company visit us “How it is it these people always get a good house when so many others are sent empty away?”’
The answer is that people are attracted to Miss Howarde’s performances because she has earned the reputation of paying her way and because she always lists some good talent. Nobody ever hears of the printer the bellman or the lodging housekeeper chasing the Howarde Company for money earned.
The majority of 1903 Kate spent in Brisbane, the Darling Downs and Far North Queensland (Maryborough, Bundaberg, Charters Towers, Macky, Townsville, Rockhampton and Gympie).
One of the most vexing issues confronting Kate was the variable stage sizes and capacity of venues the Company faced on the various circuits: from the traditional proscenium arch configuration (like the relatively new Victoria Theatre, Newcastle) to the various Mechanics’ Institutes, Masonic or Town Halls with no theatrical facilities at all. When she reached Wagga Wagga she attempted an innovative solution by transforming the Farmers ’Market into ‘a temporary theatre’.
Miss Howarde is incurring great expense, the stage which is being erected being a most commodious and superior class of structure. The building will be lit throughout with gas and very comfortable seats provided for visitors.—Wagga Wagga Advertiser, 15 August 1903
The ‘very pretty and cosy theatre’ made provision for ‘splendidly’ seating 1,000 patrons; the stage was 50’ x 30’ [15.25 x 9.1m]. ‘Miss Kate Howarde’, observed The Sydney Sportsman (25 November 1903), ‘is one of the most marvellous instances of feminine brain and energy forcing their way to the front ever exhibited in this big sand-patch. She has just got in and hustled, and kept her eye on business’. The Sportsman predicted that perhaps her days in the regions were numbered and that she was planning to try her luck in the city ‘with something of her own’. ‘When it comes off, don’t be surprised if you are very agreeably surprised, ye critical first nighters’.
By Christmas the Company were in Parkes and the schedule mapped out a now regular pattern: Western NSW (with a program of musical comedy until March); then Tasmania (April-May); followed by the Riverina (June-September). Kate was in Hay, when she celebrated her 40th birthday on 28 July. The repertoire included both stock and new pieces, including The Monastery Lights, The Girl from Appenzall, The Swiss Maid, A Kiss in the Dark, The Road to Ruin and Aladdin.
The highlight of the year appeared to be an adaptation of Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s ‘sensational melodrama’ Run to Earth—based on her own novel—that entered the repertoire in July during the progress through regional NSW. The marketing made it clear that Kate ‘purchased the sole Australian rights at a big cost’. Advance publicity suggested that the play had ‘proved one of the great dramatic attractions of the year in England and elsewhere’.
Locally, interest was drawn to Kate’s new play, When the Tide Rises, that premiered at the Victoria Theatre in Newcastle. Adelaide’s Evening Journal (22 May 1905) provided a succinct synopsis—in the vernacular of the day—of When the Tide Rises:
The story opens in the bar parlour of Zack Ison’s inn. The greasy Jew ‘reigns where knavery is Empire. ’Frank Glenny, a weak but generous hearted gentleman, calls at the hotel in an intoxicated state. He has won £400 at the races. Ison gives his hilarious customer a sleeping draught, and the drink having taken effect he relieves Glenny of his bundle of notes. James Grantley, who is a professional thief of the swell order, witnesses the robbery, and being a partner in all things of the wily Jew, insists on having half the plunder. Glenny recovers unexpectedly, and soon sobers up when he finds his pockets have been gone through. He grows threatening and pugnacious, and Jim Grantley knocks him on the head with a revolver. The two villains then deposit their victim in a secret cellar. Here he is to be left ‘till the tide rises’, when he will be silenced for ever. In the employ of Ison is a girl named Madge, who, in observance of the Jew’s cruel dictates, affects dumbness. Larry Larkspur realizing the danger which hangs over Glenny, secures the assistance of Nat Brewster, a famous detective. Grantly and Ison use all their cunning to outwit and circumvent the office of the law, but, aided in every way by Madge and Larry Larkspur, Glenny is rescued from his fearful doom and restored to his loving wife, while after a long chase, Brewster runs Grantly to earth.
‘It allows full scope for good scenery, and Miss Howarde has made complete arrangements for its staging. ... During the evening several of the latest popular songs will be introduced’, (Newcastle Morning Herald, 14 October 1904). The Herald review the following day declared the performance had ‘passed off with a considerable amount of success. It is a drama that appeals strongly to playgoers who appreciate intense excitement and deep emotion’.
Elton Black [aka James McWhinnie], the Scottish comedian—The Critic (Adelaide), 21 November 1923The Metropolitan Dramatic Company was ‘a strong one’, and Kate’s ‘splendid coterie of metropolitan artistes’ included Adey Sabel and Albert Lucas, Violet Beard, Nancy Hymmer, Nellie Dalton, Harry Craig, Vincent Scully, Horace Denton, Charles Archer and Bert Howarde. The season also marked the debut performance of Scots comedian Elton Black.
The comic actor Elton (also known as Edward or Ted) Black [the stage names taken in Australia by James McWhinnie] was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1882, and appears to have arrived in Australian aged 21 in early 1903. His first appearance as an actor was with the Ethel Grey Company from March the same year. As a vaudeville artiste, ‘the newcomer’ Edward Black was in the line up of the Harry Rickards’ Company at the Theatre Royal (Brisbane) in July-August—where he ‘installed himself a favourite’. He made his Sydney debut at the Tivoli, again for Rickards, on Saturday 29 August 1903—‘an amusing corner man2 and Scotch entertainer’—after which he became a regular at the venue. Six months later, he was listed amongst the cast (as Lieuteant of the King's Own’) in Billie [Minie] Howarde's Dramatic Company’s production of Shamus O'Brien during their tour of the New England area in March, where he stayed until the combination disbanded under controversial circumstances in June (subsequently, and significantly, he was absorbed into Kate Howarde’s Dramatic Company the following month and made his debut as Larry Larkspur in When the Tide Rises).
The unfortunate situation for the Billie Howarde Dramatic Company had perhaps been brewing for some time; an ‘adjustment ’to the professional arrangement between Billie Howarde and spouse Robert Henry took place two years earlier. While they toured together under the Henry Dramatic Company banner throughout 1902, by July 1903 the emphasis had changed, and the entity was renamed The Billie Howarde Dramatic Company—Kate provided financial and administrative support in the new arrangement. Robert Henry on advertisements remained as General Manager, but was now cast ‘in support’.
An incident occurred in Parkes, NSW, in June 1904, that terminally impacted on the couple’s professional reputation and private relationship. A syndicated article appeared in The Narromine News (24 June 1904) under the following headline ‘The Troubles of the Billie Howard Co’:
At the Police Court on Wednesday 15 June, before Mr C.E. Oslear, PM the police proceeded against Robert Henry for playing without a license, in connection with the recent visit of the Billie Howarde Company. The defendant did not appear, and a warrant was ordered to issues, bale being allowed, self in £20 and one surety of £20.
Maintaining the licence, it appeared, was in Henry’s domain as manager of the Company, but he had been negligent and placed both Billie and the Company in a precarious legal and financial position. Henry compounded the problem when he failed to answer the summons, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. ‘Bob Henry’, wrote the Molong Express (25 June 1904) ‘is probably one of the unluckiest pros in Australia and has more than once experienced the bitterness of defeat in litigious matters. He has a plucky, hard-working little wife, however, and it is due to her efforts that the Company has always managed to keep its head above water’. The Company was quickly disbanded and the cast disbursed—some, like Edward Black, were employed by Kate. When The Billie Howarde Metropolitan Dramatic Company reconvened for their Christmas season at Kyogle, Billie had replaced Henry with comedian Tom Leonard (late of the Tivoli); Ernie S. Duncan was the Advance Agent. Robert Henry then disappeared. There were still advertisements in The Sydney Morning Herald attempting to locate Robert Henry as late as 11 May 1906. Whatever the case Billie and Robert Henry didn’t work together again, and their marriage was over. At some point before 1911 they were divorced.3
Following the Newcastle season, the Kate Howarde Dramatic Company sailed for Western Australia, where, after an absence of three years, they opened at the Theatre Royal, Perth on Saturday 30 November 1904 in Kate’s ‘spectacular melodrama’ The Sign of Seven. With Kate the leading player, her company of eighteen included Albert Lucas, Violet Beard, Edward [now listed as Elton] Black and both her brothers, Bert and Lou Howarde. The repertoire—that included His Natural Life, The Outlaw Kelly, The Brand of Cain, Sins of a City and a revival of her own early melodrama When the Tide Rises—played through to Christmas, after which they progressed to Her Majesty’s Theatre in Kalgoorlie, where they opened on 28 December. Menzies, Boulder and Coolgardie followed until 25 January.
The Company subsequently returned to the East coast and undertook a tour of Western NSW centres during which Kate announced that she would take an extended working holiday abroad. This trip had been floated since 1899.
The United States of America and United Kingdom (1905-1909)
It was theatre polymath, colleague and impresario Bland Holt ‘who advised [Kate] to pack up half a dozen manuscripts and try them on the American market’, Kate revealed in an interview a decade later. (The Herald, 12 November 1919) Leaving her Company in the capable hands of Harry Craig, Kate surprised many when she chose Elton Black, clearly some years her junior, as her travelling companion.
Popular stage actor Lee Willard (1873-1940) went on to have a successful career as a screen star
J. Willis Sayre Collection, University of Washington
The Almeda Times Star, 3 January 1906
They had, however, married in secret in Port Adelaide on the journey back from Perth, just before they sailed together for the United States in July 1905.
Kate easily secured a three week engagement as leading lady opposite the ‘Romantic young actor’ Lee Willard with his Stock Company in Los Angeles (made up from players from San Francisco) and, she was marketed as ‘a long, stellar attraction in Australia’. Kate made her American debut in Arthur Shirley’s ‘roaring comedy’ What Happened to Tompkins at the Opera House in Santa Barbara, California on 18 September 1905; this was quickly followed by roles in J.A. Frazer’s A Gay Deceiver, East Lynne and Way Out West. Elton Black made his first appearance on 26 September 1905 as Augustus Cholmonday (‘a dude’) opposite Kate Howarde in the ‘strong comedy role’ of Mrs Merryweather (‘a dashing widow’) in the great society melodrama His Wife’s Honour.
Willard’s season went on to play in Ventura, Santa Cruz, progressing to San Francisco, but ultimately without the Australians. Kate and Elton otherwise quickly established a vaudeville troupe of their own and played their first performances at the Oxnard Auditorium on 13 October. This gave her sufficient time to build the logistics for her own troupe. She then presented a repertoire of ten plays in the Pomona and San Bernadino areas of Southern California for the two months leading up to Christmas 1905 [the plays included The World’s Verdict, Face to Face, My Sweetheart, The Convict’s Daughter, East Lynne, Night Bride of New York, A Family Affair and Under the Stars and Stripes].
In the new year, they gravitated north and planned a three month residency for the Kate Howarde Stock Company in Alameda (known as the Island city), located on the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay area. Kate engaged Fabian H. Hirshberg as manager, advertised urgently for a new ‘responsible leading man’ and leased the Park Theater (that opened in 1904 as the first dedicated vaudeville theatre in Alameda and seated 800).
Miss Howard has assumed charge of the theater and is not only head of the Howarde Company but head of the theater as well. She said today that vaudeville was being superseded by stock companies in a number of houses on the coast which have been playing vaudeville for several years. … She has declined an offer to play in stock productions in the northwest and manage theaters for a former leading man, Lee Willard, to branch out on her own account as a theater manager. She believes that the change to drama will draw increased business at the Park.—Alameda Daily Argus, 2 January 1906
Kate launched her season on New Year’s Day 1906 with the American premiere of her own new play The World’s Verdict. The Alameda Daily Argus (2 January 1906) recognised ‘the very capable company’ that ‘injected new life into the Park Theater’. Kate reportedly spoke to the opening night audience during which she outlined ‘that the bill would be changed twice a week, the change being made on Thursday evenings’. Otherwise, the reviewer devoted a great deal of space to Elton Black, ‘the comedian of the company’.
This artist is gifted with great personality—this virile force amounts almost to magnetism. Every appearance he made was greeted with laughter, or rounds of applause. In fact The World’s Verdict might be rechristened ‘Sammy Carrotts’, with Mr Black as the titular star.
Of Howarde, ‘who appeared late in the bill’, the review observed that she
had the usually somewhat thankless part of the emotional lead, but was accorded a flattering reception. Her rendition of the forsaken wife was particularly good and it was her personal charm that scored most heavily.
Using the advertising slogan ‘Popular Plays at Popular Prices’, her repertoire subsequently included East Lynne, All For Gold, Man to Man, Looking for a Wife, A Soldier’s Sweetheart, Ten Nights in a Barroom and A Life for a Life. On 1 February, Kate introduced another ‘new and original melodrama’ she had written, Night Birds of New York (that provided another strong role for Elton, and two ‘good characters’ for herself). The work was enthusiastically received, earning the Company an effusive editorial in the Daily Argus (3 February):
Miss Kate Howarde, by hard and conscientious work, is affording Alameda really meritorious entertainment at the Park Theater. Her bills succeed each other rapidly, so that there is ever something new. Her company are hard working and loyal. The acting is earnest and a very satisfactory comparison with that in many more professional theaters. The members are imbued with the old time spirit of the stock actor as we knew him before the days of the syndicate, when he was expected to assume many parts and almost any part at short notice. Miss Howard herself is versatile, and in addition to being a meritorious actress is a successful business woman.
The season, along with her lease, expired with a benefit (for Kate) on Friday 2 March.
The Company then went on the road for the next three weeks, performing in centres north of San Francisco: the outward tour up to Petaluma, Napa and Redding; then, on the way back, to Red Bluff and Chico, with five performances at the Atkins Theatre in Oroville, Butt County, that closed on Saturday 14 April. The trajectory of the tour suggests that Kate and her troupe were heading towards the state capital Sacramento, 70 km further south. However, when the devastating earthquake struck San Francisco four days later, on Wednesday 18 April, Kate later reported that she was actually in the city of San Francisco and ‘staying in an hotel that was badly damaged … and she barely escaped with her life’. She also related that, apart from ‘thousands of pounds’ that she’d spent on preparations for her San Francisco season, she lost ‘most of her possessions,’ including her jewellery and copies of all her manuscripts. (The Herald (Melbourne), 12 November 1919) 4 Kate and Elton weren’t the only Australians impacted. Nellie Stewart—staying at the newly opened luxury hotel, the St. Francis—had just enjoyed a huge success in Sweet Nell playing Downtown at the Majestic Theater at the time of the quake. She and partner George Musgrove were forced to abandon their planned tour to New York after their etire repertoire was destroyed.
We lose track of her movements at this time, but if Kate was in San Francisco, she and Elton would no doubt have been amongst the ‘many hundreds of refugees’ who left by train travelling east, in their case, to New York. Kate explained the sequence of events in an interview when she returned to Australia:
... all went merry as the proverbial marriage bell till the big earthquake. Who can describe the awful horrors and ghastly experiences of that never to be forgotten time. I saw sights, and heard sounds, that will live in my memory for ever; but enough of that terrible episode.
Those that escaped were grateful to think that amid all that devastation and desolation their lives were spared. Though it spelt to many thousands, as to me, utter ruin, still we had plenty left to be thankful for. Two days after the terrible quake amongst crowds of homeless and penniless refugees I made my way to New York City—by free Government transportation—and from there got my first wire through to my folks at home, assuring them of my escape and safety.—The Gundagai Times, 13 May 1913
She relates further details elsewhere (The Gundagai Independent, 17 May 1911) that she reached New York with 2s in her pocket, half of which was invested in food. The other shilling went to secure accommodation.
Being stony broke, she sought out a theatrical manager and explained her position to him. She asked for a small loan to send a cable to her brother in Australia for financial assistance. She struck a good Samaritan in the manager, and he handed her a purse containing a good many dollars and told her to take what she wanted. The cable was sent, and she got a remittance from Australian.
Various reports suggest that, in the first instance, she found employment as a journalist and theatre critic. Kate later clarified her role as a theatre reporter (Table Talk, 13 November 1919):
... it was killing work. They expected so much ... that it was a physical and mental strain all the time. There were forty-eight theatres then on Broadway, and they expected me to cover the half of them each night and find out something about each—how they were doing, any change in cast or business, and to comment upon it. The pay was good, but the strain big, and it left no time for any other work. ... I discovered, too late, that there was a big opening for dramatic sketchers, and that I could make much more in this way than by journalistic work. It was just as I was leaving though.
Otherwise, Kate was theatrically frustrated that she had to start again ‘from the bottom-most rung of the ladder’. In the meantime, whatever spare time she had she devoted to her own writing (including revising lost manuscripts, and penning a number of vaudeville sketches and songs) and presumably reconstituting her Stock Company.
Over time, Kate appeared to embellish their achievements abroad. In an interview in The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill) (26 February 1910), Kate details that her tour ‘embraced the entire United States of America’. Further, that Elton Black ‘starred on the big B.C. Whitney Musical Comedy circuit’. Whatever the case, she and Elton were in America for over a year.
The passenger list for the steamer Philadelphia, that left New York bound for Plymouth in November 1907 lists Elton Black (his occupation surprisingly given as ‘labourer’) and his wife K.H. Black (‘actress’). They arrived in Southampton, destined for London, on 2 December 1907.
Kate told the story that she had not been long in London when ‘she dropped across a brother Thespian, who told her he was making up a dramatic company to tour Australia’.
He had secured several stars in the theatrical firmament, and, oh, yes, he would take her. But she would have to pay £100 to help finance the venture—the others had done so.
Kate thought everything was right, and that this was a perfect opportunity to facilitate her return home. She paid him the £100. Shortly afterwards he disappeared, and so did her £100!
Getting over the disappointment, apparently, she got on with what she did best. Within six months, Kate had collaborated with composer Joseph Tabrar on a musical extravaganza, Jack’s the Lad, that premiered at Colchester Hippodrome on Monday 8 June 1908 under the banner of Jake Friedman’s Company (but jointly produced with Howarde). Fred Lester played Jack, Rosalie Jacobi played Mirabelle, and Frank Wahthorn was ‘a capital dame … without any show of vulgarity’. (The Era, 13 June 1908) They played in Dover and Eastbourne a month later.
Meanwhile, Elton Black found representation with the firm of Zossenheim & Co and made his London Music Hall debut at the Granville on 22 September 1908; billed as a Scotch comedian ‘his success was pronounced’. (Music Hall and Theatre Review, 25 September 1908). This lead to a string of dates at the Chelsea Palace, and tours to Liverpool. Then in the new year, he played in Dublin and Belfast. Kate also revealed later that Elton was also featured in ‘the world-known Moss and Still tours’. Intriguingly, Kate is listed as an ‘impersonator of male characters ’and a ‘descriptive vocalist’ at the Town Hall in Portsoy in January 1909, sharing the stage with the mesmerist Professor Charles E. Erneste and the Scotch comedian Neile Nelson (‘the Second Harry Lauder’).
Kate Howarde and Elton Black were reunited in London in January 1909, during which time he had secured dates at the New Empire Palace, Shepherd’s Bush and the Manchester Hippodrome.
Return to Australia
The couple then made the decision to return to Australia, and Kate wrote to The Sunday Times (Sydney) (21 March 1909) informing her friends and colleagues of her imminent return:
Just a line on the eve of leaving the world’s capital for home. I have visited many places, seen many sights, since leaving NSW for America just over three years since; but like many another weary travellers, I have come to the conclusion that there’s no place like home. It seems years since I’ve seen a decent sun. My tours have taken me all over the best part of the United States, and latterly I have done some flying trips through England; but I’ve come to the conclusion—I can’t better my own bright spot. I haven’t be idle over here, or in America, and am bringing back quite a host of new plays, music ideas, and so forth, and intend to pick up, please the fates, my old theatrical running.
They took six months to make the trip home, breaking their journey in Singapore and ‘playing the Malay Federated States … with splendid success’. From the Adelphi Hotel she again wrote via The Sunday Times (26 September 1909):
Singapore contains many Australian friends, and they rolled up in amazing numbers. We have had a capital reception, and our season here of ten night has been one of my pleasantest experiences, but how sweet to possess the strongest attraction after all and I am just wild with delight at the thought of seeing my own place and people again.
She adds, in the same letter, an odd attempt to reintroduce her husband, with new credentials, to her Australian audience: ‘I am bringing with me a London comedian in the person of Mr Elton Black’.
Kate and Elton sailed into Darwin Harbour aboard the steamer Airlie on the afternoon of 7 September 1909. The couple gave a performance that night at the Darwin Town Hall, the playbill declaring: ‘Miss Kate Howarde, English actress vocalist and “raconteuse”, and Mr Elton Black, the brilliant Scotch comedian and vocalist’. Howarde’s dramatic recitations (from For the Term of His Natural Life and A Tale of the Turf), as far as the local press were concerned, were somewhat eclipsed by the comic songs and ‘versatility’ of Black. The performance was accompanied at short notice by pianist Olive Cain. Kate was otherwise pleased to discover that the Kate Howarde Dramatic Company, active under Harry Craig, were currently performing at the Hippodrome in Brisbane and it was decided that they would rendevouz in Rockhampton by Christmas.
Kate and Elton re-boarded the Airlie the following day, and progressed via Thursday Island—where they played to ‘a splendid house’ on Saturday 11 September—to Cooktown and Warrego, arriving in Cairns by 23 September. They gave a performance in the Shire Hall on the same night, accompanied by Miss Flamenco Adrian. ‘Miss Howarde has just returned from a world tour’, headlined the Cairns Post, and published ‘A Card to the Public’:
To my many warm friends of the past and prospective patrons of the future, I wish to earnestly draw attention to the fact, that after and absence of over four years, during which I have toured America, England, the Mediterranean Ports, Egypt, and the Malay States, I am once more amongst ‘my ain folk’, and again a candidate of your favour. I take much pleasure in announcing too—that I shall have the support and cooperation of the very fine Scotch comedian and vocalist Mr Elton Black, who has joined me, direct from the principal London music halls, and who has just scored a splendid success there. The entertainment we give is one of song, laughter and story—and I may add, that since we gave our initial performance in Port Said, and from thence to Singapore and Thursday Island our efforts have met with instant and most gratifying success. … Trusting, dear friends, to again win the support you have hitherto always accorded me, and with sincerest greetings to all, I am, yours faithfully,
Kate Howarde,
Australian Actress and Manageress
In an interesting, albeit unusual marketing faux pas, when Kate and Elton performed in Charters Towers in late October, they were advertised as the Kate Elton Comedy Company:
Nothing much need be said of Miss Kate Elton, as she is well known throughout Australia as a first class artiste, but Mr Elton Black, the second Harry Lauder, as he has been nicknamed here, was in excellent form, and with Miss Elton, gave an excellent program.—The Evening Telegraph, 27 October 1909
Harry Craig, singer, actor and theatre manager—The Gadfly (Adelaide), 9 October 1907While Kate was abroad, Harry Craig managed her Company touring the well-established circuits; Billie Howarde was the leading lady, and Bert Howarde was also in the line up. By September 1908, however, the organisation was trading as Harry Craig’s Australian Players. The other significant occurrence was that Harry married Kate’s now divorced sister Billie Howarde.5 Other family news included the birth of Bert and Violet Howarde’s daughter Evelyn (known as Poppy) in 1907, and Lou (who had spent a couple of years in Lismore), was now settled in Sydney running a prosperous music business in Oxford Street, Paddington (including private pupils and ‘a capable orchestra’).
Kate and Elton stayed in the north through November and early December. They played at the School of Arts in Charters Towers offering ‘the dramatic study’ The Diamond Maker and ‘in the second part, the audience was kept in a constant scream of laughter from start to finish by the comicalities of Miss Kate Howarde and Mr Elton Black. The latter is far and away the best in his line that we have seen here, his Scotch items, in which he imitates the redoubtable Harry Lauder, being splendid’. (The Norther Miner, 1 December 1909)
In Rockhampton, just before Christmas, the Company appeared at the Theatre Royal under engagement to the British Bioscope Company; a mixture of moving pictures in conjunction with comic sketches and song.
Kate and her now brother-in-law Harry Craig connected in early January 1910, and it was agreed that Harry and Billie would maintain their discreet company (as they headed north to Mackay), while Kate was determined to return to Sydney and re-establish her credentials. They also agreed to share production values for their now substantial repertoire.
The ‘original’ Kate Howarde Dramatic Company featured a combination made up from Bland Holt’s and Meynell and Gunn’s late companies, with her opening piece being ‘the great American western drama’ entitled The Ranch Girl, one of the ‘many novelties’ secured while abroad. In an open letter published throughout Western NSW in February, she wrote (presumably to distinguish herself from Harry Craig): ‘My object, apart from the pleasure I feel in renewing my old acquaintanceship, is to definitely inform my patrons of the fact that it is myself—the original Kate Howarde—who is now coming back amongst them ...’.
Over the following months, Kate began rebuilding her repertoire of ‘new and attractive plays’ to include The Nightbirds of New York, The Irishman, The Man Next Door, The Female Swindler, The Convict’s Daughter and the latest London version of Hall Caine’s The Christian. Touring out as far as Cobar and back, and then down to the Murray, most of the plays now featured and promoted Elton Black, as Kate consciously began to pull back on her own performance career. Elton was 28 years old at this time; his wife, in reality was 46.
Kate introduced her ‘Great London Musical Comedy’ Jack’s the Lad during her excursion to the Clarence River area, where she launched in Grafton on 18 April 1910; and, from 7 May, they went south and played for two months in regional centres in Tasmania, as well as Hobart, introducing My Moonlight Maid and Smile On Me. Included in this tour was Kate’s twenty-four year old daughter Lesley [formerly Florence] Adrienne [but often billed as Lesley Howarde]. ‘It is seldom, if ever’, wrote The North Western Advocate (12 May 1910), ‘one sees such a versatile all-round combination. First class artists, magnificent scenery, and new and popular plays, are all included in this bill of fare; also a unique combination of musical excellence’.
To be continued …
Endnotes
1. Dobson (1861-1936) began his career in his father’s surveying office but he chose a career in the theatre and became an accomplished actor. He married Harriet Meddings, the daughter of the Inspector-General of Telegraphs in New Zealand, and their daughter Agnes Dobson was also a prominent actor. Dobson spent much of his later career with the Fuller organisation, both as a producer and later an assistant to Bert Lennon. He died in 1936 at his office at the Majestic Theatre, Adelaide in 1936.
2. In a vaudeville house the cornerman led the applause once an act had finished. Other notable performers who began their careers as cornermen were George Sorlie and Roy Rene.
3. Reverting to his birth name, Robert Henry Nichols, he married Ethel Beatrice Pearsons (she was sixteen years his junior) on 30 May 1911 [three months after, their son, Ross Henry Nichols, was born (23 February 1911)]
4. In another version of the story, Kate related that ‘when the big earthquake occurred ... she was running a dramatic show in the city and in a few seconds lost everything she possessed—she had £1800 invested in a theatre there’. (The Gundagai Independent, 17 May 1911)
5. In her private life, Billie used the name Mrs Evelyn Craig.
