Lilian Meyers

The Lilian Meyers Dramatic Company—with its sumptuously dressed 24-year-old leading lady—enjoyed a particularly good season at Charters Towers, Queensland, over Christmas 1906 ¹ —so good, in fact, that manager Fred Patey promised to return for Christmas 1907.² But, instead, the company headed south, gambling on their first Tasmanian tour. The new plan included two seasons at Hobart’s Theatre Royal, beginning 9 November 1907, and two at Launceston’s Academy of Music. Before departing from Tasmania on 12 February 1908,³ the company would also make brief circuits of small communities, and venture to the western mining towns of Zeehan, Queenstown and Waratah.

(See Table A: Town, Dates, Venue, Productions)

Accidents and incidents are inevitable when companies travel. But the most complicated, most damaging, and most public misadventure occurred after the tour’s conclusion, when John Norton’s scurrilous newspaper, Truth,made several allegations about “haughty hamfats”—referring to Lilian Meyers and manager Patey.⁴ Company members had not been paid, Truthsaid, nor hotel bills. Furthermore, an explosive argument between Patey and lead actor Kenneth Hunter had resulted in Hunter’s departure.

Truth’sversion of events must be accepted with caution but, nevertheless, the article reveals the difficulties of provincial touring. It also provides a glimpse of Lilian Meyers, a fascinating performer barely remembered today.⁵

Lilian Meyers, photo by Burlington Studios

From Table Talk (Melbourne), 8 July 1909, p.20. State Library Victoria, Melbourne.

Fred Patey, photo by Talma

From New Zealand Mail, 22 April 1903, p.42 (Supplement). Paperspast, New Zealand.

Lilian Meyers

Lilian Meyers (b. 1884) grew up in a horse-racing family. Parents Charles Norman and Louisa Ellen Meyers lived in Caulfield (Melbourne),⁶ conveniently close to the racetrack. Her father, a paper merchant,⁷ operated a race-horse stud ⁸ and could be violent and sometimes scandalous.⁹ Her older brother Charles Norman (jr.), was a veterinarian who tended horses at the racetrack, and—after his father’s 1926 death ¹⁰—raced horses and established his own stud.¹¹ Later, his mother Louisa Meyers also successfully raced her own horses.¹²

Despite Lilian’s Jewish heritage,¹³ she attended Fitzroy’s Academy of Mary Immaculate.¹⁴ Five years of elocution studies with British stage veteran James F. Cathcart¹⁵ laid a foundation for Melbourne University’s proclamation that she was “an elocutionist of a very high order”.¹⁶

One newspaper commented on her “wealth of raven hair and remarkably expressive eyes”;¹⁷ another writer noted her “comfortable private income”.¹⁸ It was also suggested that her father financed her theatre company¹⁹ —but this was no vanity project. Lilian had prepared for leading roles by undertaking small parts for several years with J.C. Williamson companies. She claimed she was “specially engaged by Mr Williamson to understudy Miss Tittell Brune”,²⁰ and also understudied May Chevalier in Cuyler Hastings's Company. On one occasion, when she took the female lead “at one hour’s notice”, Mr Hastings publicly stated that “she was word-perfect, a feat which he had never witnessed before”.²¹

“Only merit and talent could gain such a high position in such a short space of time”,²² said the ambitious Miss Meyers. Frustrated by the prominence of imported international stars like Tittell Brune, May Chevalier and Cuyler Hastings—alongside who she had worked—she took action when just 21 years old:

Miss Lilian Meyers... found that supporting “stars” was but a poor return for all her hard work and study, so the plucky lady decided to organise her own combinations, and travel the Commonwealth.²³

On 22 December 1905, the Bathurst Advocateannounced: “Miss Meyers has completed arrangements with Mr Wm. Anderson to present four of his best productions... in a truly Metropolitan style”.²⁴ At this point, she had never carried a show, night after night, role after role. If it turned out that she lacked skill, charisma and stamina, even her father's funds would not guarantee success. But Lilian Meyers was clearly a bold, confident risk-taker.

Nevertheless, her youth and lack of experience demanded a reliable hand at the helm. That hand belonged to Fred E. Patey, who had held similar managerial positions since at least 1888.²⁵

The company launched its melodrama-heavy country tour from Bathurst, with When London Sleeps(Charles Darrell, 1896);Camille (Alexandre Dumas, fils,1852);The Worst Woman in London(Walter Melville, 1899), and the “Anglo-American drama”, The Evil Men Do(Theodore Kremer, 1903).²⁶ At this stage of melodrama's development, it was criticised as “[c]rude, violent, dynamic in action, psychologically and morally simplistic, reliant on machinery and technological know-how for its powerful effect”.²⁷ Melodramas were more complex and nuanced than this,²⁸ but nevertheless attracted sneers:

Lilian Meyers... was at latest leading lady with her own company at Albury, where they astonished the natives with The Worst Woman in Wodonga, or something like that.²⁹

Theatre Royal, Hobart, photo by Alfred Winter. Allport Library and Museum of FineArts, State Library and Archives of Tasmania.

Travelling in Tasmania

Lilian Meyers and company disembarked from the Westralia at Hobart on 7 November 1907.³⁰ She had previously visited with Cuyler Hastings in 1903,³¹ but back then, she was a mere understudy. Now she headed her own company.

A local journalist interviewed Lilian Meyers at Heathorn’s Hotel. Miss Meyers pointed out that Hobart’s most important venue, the Theatre Royal (licensed to seat 629 people),³² was only one-third the size of His Majesty’s Theatre in Brisbane. There, she said, they had performed to “standing room only” for nine weeks straight.³³ But, she confided, she had a strategy for making the best of smaller audiences. “I quite appreciate the fact that the playgoing community of Hobart is a small one, and that constant change of bill is necessary”, said Miss Meyers. “But you will see I am quite prepared for this”.³⁴ 

(See Table B for populations of towns visited)

The 26-member company (see Personnel List) would deliver the 15-play repertoire (see Table C for repertoire), in a range of different styles that appealed—she said—“to every class of the theatregoing community”.³⁵  To compensate for the restricted customer base, the repertoire would repeatedly lure customers with fresh stories and new thrills. Patrons could expect high-quality presentation, including new scenery “painted for this tour by the company's artist, Mr E. Lake”.³⁶  She claimed the necessary equipment weighed 100 tons,³⁷ but this was sometimes cited as “50 tons”.³⁸ This may mean the first figure was exaggerated for effect; equally it could indicate that the load was divided and stored as they travelled. Table A suggests a possible division of sets and costumes: on the first small-town circuit, for example, the company could limit their baggage to stage equipment needed for just two plays, The Executioner’s Daughter and Camille.

The initial four-week Hobart season opened with The Executioner’s Daughter, which had “a highly sensational character, relieved by a vein of comedy-writing”.³⁹ Miss Meyers had apparently purchased exclusive performing rights,⁴⁰ and the company’s publicity spruiked it as a “new work”.⁴¹ This wasn’t strictly true: Tasmanian audiences had seen Charles Holloway’s production during April 1902.⁴² Nevertheless, opening-night attendees were enthusiastic:

The curtain was repeatedly raised at the close of each act for the principals to acknowledge the applause which came from all parts of a well-filled house, and Miss Meyers received several bouquets.⁴³

The play tells of a French executioner who provides his family with a luxurious life, while hiding the grisly nature of his work. His virtuous daughter Annette—played by Lillian Meyers—is accused of murder and dragged to the guillotine dominating the stage. On recognising the young woman, the executioner states that “no law can compel a man to kill his own child”. However, another character:

resolves to carry out the execution himself, thereby intensifying the scene, till it makes one’s flesh creep. The reprieve arrives at the last moment, and the tension is relieved... ⁴⁴

But relief is short-lived; evil-doers burn a telegraph office to destroy the telegrammed pardon. A reviewer admited the story “sometimes strains credulity” but, to compensate, “the action is rapid, and the scenes highly dramatic”.⁴⁵

Camille, presented two nights later, “roused the audience to a high pitch of enthusiasm”.⁴⁶ Lilian Meyers publicised herself as “the youngest pourtrayer [sic.] of this difficult part that has ever appeared in Australasia”, and she was also one of the best dressed: “Miss Meyers’ wardrobe for this play alone having cost £180”.⁴⁷ The reviewer was impressed with the lead actress’s performance:

she drew in fine nervous strokes the awakening passion of Camille in her first passage with Armand... in the passionate invective against society in the second act the full power of the actress first became apparent. The death of Camille added the final touch to a clever actress’s version of a great part. The staging of the play was appropriate, and the costumes worn by the actresses were rich and of good design.⁴⁸

The first Hobart season ended on 28 November with a performance of Camille attended by Their Excellencies Governor and Lady Strickland.⁴⁹

After Hobart’s applause, Launceston’s negative responses to The Executioner’s Daughter must have hit hard:

The demand for melodrama... is... somewhat restricted, the natural result of which is that there was room for more [patrons] at the Academy of Music on Saturday night... Miss Lilian Meyers... has some of the qualifications of a fair exponent of histrionism [sic.], but, unfortunately, she moves along in the old melodramatic groove.⁵⁰

Surprisingly, the following night’s presentation of the same play, in the same theatre, received a positive assessment. A “large and appreciative audience” attended, and Lilian Meyers “was again a decided success”.⁵¹ But at the end of that season, the company received mean-spirited parting comments:

Most of the pieces played have been uninteresting—being too sensational and unreal... Miss Meyers wears some attractive costumes, but they did not suit her style, she having a decided tendency to embonpoint; some of her attitudes, too, lack grace; in fact, they are extraordinary, and only possible to a very graceful slim figure.⁵²

Burnie Town Hall and Public Library

Tasmanian Archives: PH30/1/6304

Now the company travelled frequently, the route doubling back on itself and circling around. There was a new venue nearly every day (see Table A). At the newly renovated Deloraine Town Hall on 16 December, the company presented The Executioner’s Daughter. Prior to alterations, the building did not comply with the Health Act, and the local Council pointed out “that companies could not play for want of room”.⁵³ Lilian Meyers and company benefitted from “extensive renovations and splendid improvements... an entirely new and up-to-date stage... a handsome proscenium and red cloth curtain, and new escape and exit doors”, making “the hall one of the safest and most compact in Tasmania”.⁵⁴

The following evening, the La Trobe Oddfellows’ Hall proffered a too-small stage, forcing a quick decision to present Camille instead of the advertised Executioner’s Daughter.⁵⁵The audience did not seem disappointed. A newspaper review reported that all performers’ parts were “well sustained, and the audience frequently applauded. The acting of Miss Lilian Meyers was specially admired”.⁵⁶

Then, the next night at Devonport Town Hall, The Executioner’s Daughter claimed a victim when, during the performance, “the drum of the scene” fell on May Renno’s shoulder. She wasn’t injured; the show went on.⁵⁷

At Ulverstone Town Hall—built 1883, capacity around 400⁵⁸— the presentations of The Executioner's Daughter (19 December), and Camille (20 December), were free of mishaps. The company then doubled back to Devonport Town Hall (Camille, 21 December), and Deloraine Town Hall (The Executioner's Daughter, 23 December), before travelling to Hobart to open their second Theatre Royal season (26 December–10 January) with Hands across the Sea.

Poster for Lilian Meyers, Theatre Royal, Hobart, November 1907

Libraries Tasmania

Poster for Lilian Meyers, Theatre Royal, Hobart, January 1908

Libraries Tasmania

Truth

At the Theatre Royal on 7 January 1908, leading man Kenneth Hunter played Joe Saunders in My Partner, and was “loudly applauded”⁵⁹—which raises questions about why, within a week, he departed the company.

Truth’s version of the disagreement between Hunter and manager Patey⁶⁰ is that it erupted while the cast made-up for The Colleen Bawn at the Theatre Royal. There were only two performances of that play at that theatre—8 and 9 January—so the argument must have occurred on one of those nights. The basis for the tension is unclear, but Truth makes unpleasant insinuations that manager Patey—a married man—was jealous of a close relationship between Lilian Meyers and leading man Hunter.

Then, on 10 January, “a special benefit programme”⁶¹ celebrated the company’s final night in Hobart. Lilian Meyers and Kenneth Hunter presented excerpts from several plays. Although Hunter had been with Lilian Meyers for 12 months,⁶² that was his final appearance with the company.

The next performance was Hands across the Sea, on 13 January at Launceston. E.A. Melville took the role of hero Jack Dudley, previously played by Hunter.⁶³ According to Launceston’s Daily Telegraph, the replacement actor “has materially strengthened the company. His bearing is natural and pleasing”.⁶⁴ Melville had been with the Meyers company since March 1907,⁶⁵ but did not take on all Hunter's leading roles. For example, on 15 January, George Merriman (actor/stage manager)⁶⁶ played Hardress Cregan in The Colleen Bawn.⁶⁷

These were short-term fixes, and new problems arose. Now, hotel bills were apparently not paid (unverifiable), and “members of the combination had to go to the trouble and expense of suing for their salaries in the police courts”.⁶⁸  Truthnamed 10 (out of approximately 26) members who initiated actions against Lilian Meyers and Fred Patey.

On January 29 1908, at Launceston Police Court, Edward “Teddy” Miles Lake (mechanist) claimed £12, and Alfred “Ike” Edward Souter (scenic artist) claimed £14, “due for services rendered behind the footlights... Subsequently the case was settled out of court, the amounts due being paid”.⁶⁹

Athenaeum Hall, Smith Street, Waratah (Spurling), photo by William Ernest Kerrison & Allan Edwin Kerrison

Tasmanian Archives: NS2218/1/207

Despite its difficulties, the following day,⁷⁰ the company travelled by ss Mahinapun from Burnie to the West Coast to visit  Zeehan (1–5 February), Queenstown (6–9 February), and Waratah (10 February). All were mining towns, but Zeehan and Queenstown, with populations over 5,000, were much larger than the small places the company had previously visited (Table B). Assuming these miners were as eager for entertainment as those in Charters Towers, this part of the company’s tour was potentially its most profitable. Indeed, the Gaiety Theatre in Zeehan had a stage that matched the size of the Hobart Theatre Royal, and seated 1000 patrons⁷¹ —about 400 more than the Theatre Royal.

The company presented four plays at Zeehan: The Executioner’s Daughter, Hands across the Sea, The Sorrows of Satan, and No Wedding Bells for Her. Three of the four were staged at Queenstown’s Metropole Theatre (The Sorrows of Satan was omitted).

Crowds flocked to the Gaiety on opening night, and accolades from audience and reviewer were no doubt a balm amid the company’s challenges:

Every available seat was occupied, large numbers only finding room to stand. The Executioner’s Daughter ... satisfied the public taste... This satisfaction of course, was in greater measure due to the splendid characterisations of the different players... Miss Meyers had opportunities for showing her undoubted talents. By her sympathetic rendering of the hapless Annette, she proved herself to possess that invaluable quality... which Mr Beerbhom Tree has called “instinct”. Other noteworthy features were her good looks, graceful figure and deportment...⁷²

The last night at Queenstown’s Metropole was Sunday 9 February; a Sacred and Classical Concert was held instead of a play. The following night, at Waratah’s Atheneum Hall, the company had a “bumper house”⁷³ for No Wedding Bells for Her, the final performance of the tour. Then, on Tuesday 11 February, the company “returned from the West Coast by train... after a successful season, and leave tonight by the Wakatipu for Sydney”.⁷⁴

Two days later, on 13 February 1908, at Burnie Police Court, William Russell (scene shifter) sued for £3 1s “wages due”. He was awarded the amount claimed, plus 9s 6d court costs, and £1 1s counsel’s fee.⁷⁵

And on 19 February 1908, at the Launceston Court of Requests, J. Newton, W. Artis, William Russell (again) and A. Cartledge claimed a total of £7 10s 8d. Unfortunately, “there was no appearance of the plaintifs, the case was struck out”.⁷⁶ It is likely the plaintifs had departed on 12 February, with the rest of the company, on the Wakatipu.⁷⁷

Truth states that actors May and Daisy Renno and Arthur Shirley also “invoked the assistance of the law”,⁷⁸ but their cases cannot be verified in newspapers.

The company did not appear to have a prior history of non-payment during earlier travels in New South Wales and Queensland. However, that didn’t prevent Truth’s offensive comment about the company’s financial difficulties. Lilian Meyers is referred to as “Jewish”, in a context that suggests theft:

Truth advises the members of the company... also the local publicans, to keep their two glims wide open and tightly glued on Mr Fred Patey and his fat Jewish lady star... It is people of this description, the rotters in “the business,” by these endeavouring to evade the payment of their just liabilities, who bring discredit on an honorable calling—the theatrical profession.⁷⁹

This was typical of Truth: “Norton’s attacks ranged over Jews, Chinese and wealthy plutocrats”.⁸⁰

In all likelihood, the company came to grief by underestimating the touring costs. Although Lilian Meyers was aware of the challenges of touring small communities, her strategy for touring Tasmania ironically involved presenting a repertoire larger than that for the previous NSW tour, which in turn required more personnel, both on and off stage. The short stays also generated additional handling, transport and storage costs. So, in small venues with limited capacity, and with 100 tons of sets to manage, the strategy may have proved more expensive than expected—and the takings smaller.

There is yet another possibility. Truth reveals that the Meyers’ company received an inviting deal from Allan Hamilton, leesee of Hobart’s Theatre Royal and Launceston's Academy of Music:

The probabilities are that the Lilian Myers [sic.] show would not have done this particular Tasmanian tour but that Mr Allan Hamilton let them into the Hobart and Launceston theatres... Mr Hamilton found the theatres, the local printing, lighting, front of the house and orchestra (except conductor), all of which were promptly paid. Patey and Myers were to supply plays, actors, musical conductor (Mr Florack) and stage hands.... Outside of... Hobart and Launceston, Mr Allan Hamilton had absolutely nothing to do with the Myers-cum-Patey theatrical enterprise.⁸¹

At first glance, this arrangement appears generous, possibly enticing the company away from Charters Towers. But maybe the offer was not as generous as it appears. If Allan Hamilton took all the earnings from the two big venues, both of which supported two long seasons, Lilian Meyers’ takings may not have been all they had hoped.

And there is at least one precedent of a Hamilton-associated tour that left actors unpaid. In July 1885, Messrs J.L. Hall and Allan Hamilton requested a theatrical agent to engage Melbourne “talent” for a Tasmanian tour. The route visited properties owned or leased by Hall and Hamilton, including several visited by the Lilian Meyers company in 1908: Theatre Royal, Hobart; Oddfellows’ Hall, La Trobe; and Town Hall, Ulverstone.

Once travelling began, however, the 1885 company found:

business in Tasmania this trip was far from being gay. Half and quarter salaries were suggested, and it finished up with no salaries at all... [Mr Hall and Mr Hamilton] were simply very sorry.... These unfortunate people, who were induced in good faith to go over to Tasmania, have not been paid; and it seems as though somebody had not acted very manly in the business.⁸²

Lilian Meyers’ 1907/1908 experience certainly parallels that of the 1885 company. If there were something awry with the Hamilton arrangement, maybe the odds were stacked against Lilian Meyers, right from the beginning. And maybe she never knew what was going on.

Arthur Shirley

From Chronicle (Adelaide), 3 September 1910, p.32. Trove.

Lilian Meyers, photo by Humphrey

From The Stage Year Book, Carson & Comerford, London, 1910 

Afterwards

Lilian Meyers’ new Brisbane season opened 8 March 1908 at His Majesty’s, with new leading man Ernest Leicester, along with some loyal Tasmanian troupe members.⁸³ But at season's end, she disbanded her company,⁸⁴ and joined the Meynell-Gunn enterprise, recently expanded by Rupert Clarke and John Wren.⁸⁵ On 1 August, she opened as lead in Two Little Sailor Boys at Melbourne’s Theatre Royal.

At that point, Lilian Meyers’ connections to the theatre world intersected with her connections to horse racing. John Wren—millionaire race-horse owner who for years ran the illegal Collingwood tote—knew Miss Meyers’ veterinarian brother, and must have known her father, C.N. Meyers.⁸⁶ And stud-owner Rupert Clarke undoubtedly knew the Meyers from horse-racing circles.

But what of the other members of the Tasmanian company? Ousted leading man Kenneth Hunter joined Geach’s Dramatic Company;⁸⁷ Arthur Albert returned to vaudeville;⁸⁸ and George Merriman became involved with a new medium altogether, joining McMahon’s Picture Show.⁸⁹

Young Ray Shirley found fame under the name “Arthur Shirley”—and the name change happened on this tour. His first inclusion in the published cast list was for A Daughter of the Million, in which he played Jenkins from Scotland Yard. Accidentally or as a deliberate joke, he was listed as A. G. Shirley⁹⁰ —“A.G” being the initials of the much more famous, very prolific British playwright, Arthur George Shirley. Ray assumed the name “Arthur” from then on.

In February 1909, Fred Patey was hired by boxer Tommy Burns—defeated by Jack Johnson three months earlier—“to assist in the productions of the ex-champion's theatrical enterprises”.⁹¹

The May Renno Dramatic Organisation presented The Greatest Scoundrel Living at Casino on 2 October 1909.⁹² Seven of the 14 company members had previously been with Lilian Meyers, in this or earlier companies: May and Daisy Renno, Ray Longford, Augustus Neville, David Drayton, Ada Clyde, and Arthur Shirley.⁹³

Longford later became an acclaimed silent film director, making The Silence of Dean Maitland (1914) in which Arthur Shirley starred, leading to Shirley’s Hollywood career.

But Lilian Meyers made the most unexpected move of all. In 1910, she travelled to New York. On arrival, she presented a theatrical agent with a professional recommendation written by James Cassius Williamson:

A few weeks later, the agent wrote to JCW, to say he had done his best for the young lady by getting her married into the family. The happy man is his brother-in-law, who assists him in his play-booking business.⁹⁴

Lilian Meyers—always bold, always confident—married Gerald Bacon in New York on 11 September 1910.

Endnotes

1. “Lilian Meyers Dramatic Company”, Evening Telegraph (Charters Towers), 2 January 1907.

2. “Brief Mention”, Evening Telegraph (Charters Towers), 8 January 1907, p.2.

3. “Burnie”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 12 February 1908, p.2: “The Lilian Meyers Dramatic Company returned from the west coast by train yesterday after a successful season, and leave to-night by the Wakatipu for Sydney”.

4. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

5. More about Lilian Myers can be found in previous issues of On Stage magazine:
Elisabeth Kumm, “Little Wunder: The Story of the Palace Theatre (Part 9)”, On Stage, Little Wunder: The story of the Palace Theatre, Sydney (Part 9) - Theatre Heritage Australia
Frank Van  Straten, “Frank Neil—‘He Lived Show Business’ (Part 1)”, On Stage, https://www.theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/profiles/item/880-frank-neil-he-lived-show-business-part-1

6. “Mr C.N. Meyers to Miss N. Phillips”, Punch (Melbourne), 29 September 1910, p.30.

7. “Jewellery in Dispute”, Herald (Melbourne), 23 February 1916, p.8.

8. In the last half-year of his life, C.N. Meyers’ stable raced 5 winning horses, for a total of 6 wins, with £2,747 prize money. “Principal Winning Owners”, Australasian (Melbourne), 7 August 1926, p.24.

9. For violence, see: “£49 Asked for Assault on Retired Bookmaker”, Herald (Melbourne), 2 June 1916, p.10.
For scandal, see: “Jewelery in Dispute”, Herald (Melbourne), 23 February 1916, p.8.

10. “Blind Sportsman Dead”, Circular Head Chronicle (Stanley), 30 June 1926, p.5.

11. “Turf Notes and Gossip”, Australasian (Melbourne), 15 May 1926, p.23. “An Unlucky Mare”, Australasian (Melbourne), 23 June 1928, p.29. 

12. She co-owned race winner Fission, who became “the dam of more winners than any other mare in the book”. “Fission’s Great Record as Stud Matron”, Herald (Melbourne), 27 August 1947, p.19.

13. “Lilian Meyers Dramatic Season”, Brisbane Courier, 11 February 1907, p6.

14. “AMDG”, Australasian (Melbourne), 7 January 1899, p41.

15. “Dramatic Notes”, Australasian (Melbourne), 27 December 1902, p26. Information about Cathcart comes from his death announcement. His connection to Lilian Meyers has not been verified.

16. “Lilian Meyers' Company”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 16 December 1907, p.4. This claim has not been verified.

17. “Lilian Meyers’ Company”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 16 December 1907, p.4.

18. “Who’s Who To-day”, Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People (Sydney), 25 July 1908, p.10.

19. Frank Van  Straten, “Frank Neil—‘He Lived Show Business’ (Part 1)”, On Stage, https://www.theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/profiles/item/880-frank-neil-he-lived-show-business-part-1

20. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

21. “Sherlock Holmes”, Advertiser (Adelaide), 12 September 1904, p.9.

22. “Lilian Meyers’ Company”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 16 December 1907, p.4.

23. “Lilian Meyers Company”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 28 November 1907, p.5.

24. “The Lilian Meyers Company”, National Advocate (Bathurst), 22 December 1905, p.2.

25. See advertisement for the Academy of Music production of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (Ballarat Star, 26 September 1888, p.3).

26. “The Lilian Meyers Company”, National Advocate (Bathurst), 30 December 1905, p.2. As far as I can see, The Evil Men Do was infrequently performed by the Lilian Meyers Company. The “Anglo-American” (not “Anglo-Australian”) detail is from “King’s Theatre”, Fitzroy City Press, 5 April 1913, p.2; William Anderson apparently spared no expense for this production. The play is not mentioned in Eric Irvin’s Australian Melodrama: Eighty Years of Popular Theatre, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1981.

27. Daniel C. Gerould, Introduction: “Americanisation of Melodrama”, American Melodrama, ed. Daniel C. Gerould, Performing Arts Journal Publications, New York, NY, pp.7–29, p.7.

28. This is demonstrated in Peter Brooks’ significant The Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, and the Mode of Excess, Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 1985.

29. “At Poverty Point”, Bulletin (Sydney), 10 May 1906, p.9.

30. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

31. “Theatre Royal”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 15 June 1903, p.1.

32. “Overcrowding the Theatre”, Daily Post (Hobart), 6 October 1909, p.4. During the 1909 Nellie Stewart appearance at the Theatre Royal, “police counted 1125 persons leaving the building”. Harry Musgrove, manager of the company, paid a fine. It is surprising that the “official” 1909 capacity is far under the 800 calculated by the Friends of the Theatre Royal in 2025, but the crowded theatre in 1909 was far over the 800 figure. Thanks to Meyrick Harris and the Friends of the Theatre Royal for helping with my query. Email to Jeannette Delamoir, 26 May 2025.

33. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

34. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

35. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

36. “Amusements”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 26 November 1907, p.5.

37. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 November 1907, p.7.

38. “Amusements”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 26 November1907, p.5.

39. “Amusements”, Mercury (Hobart), 11 November 1907, p.6.

40. “Amusements” Mercury (Hobart), 31 October 1907, p.3.

41. “Amusements” Mercury (Hobart), 31 October 1907, p.3.

42. “Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 19 April 1902, p.4.

43. “Amusements”, Mercury (Hobart), 11 November 1907, p.6.

44. “Amusements”, Mercury (Hobart), 11 November 1907, p.6.

45. “Amusements”, Mercury (Hobart), 11 November 1907, p.6.

46. “Amusements”, Tasmanian News (Hobart), 14 November 1907, p.4.

47. Advertisement, Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, 29 January 1906, p.3.

48. “Music and Drama”, Mercury (Hobart), 19 November 1907, p.2.

49. “Amusements”, Tasmanian News (Hobart), 27 November 1907, p.4.

50. “Miss Lilian Meyers”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 2 December 1907, p.7.

51. “Amusements”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 3 December 1907, p.8.

52. “The Ladies’ Column”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 12 December 1907, p.6.

53. Health Act: “North-Western News”, North West Advocate and Emu Bay Times, 28 July 1904, p.2. 
Companies could not play: “Chudleigh”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 7 July 1904, p.5.

54. “Reopening of Deloraine Town Hall”, Examiner (Launceston), 11 February 1905, p.7.

55. “La Trobe”, North Western Advocate and Emu Bay Times, 19 December 1907, p.2.

56. “La Trobe”, North Western Advocate and Emu Bay Times, 19 December 1907, p.2.

57. “Devonport Theatrical Performance”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 19 December 1907, p.5.

58. Built in 1883: “River Leven”, Mercury (Hobart), 22 January 1883, p.3.
Capacity of 400: The 1883 Town Hall was replaced in 1921 with a new hall seating 950, “rather more than double the capacity of the old building”. “Ulverstone”, Examiner (Launceston), 26 May 1921, p.2.

59. “Amusements”, Mercury (Hobart), 8 January 1908, p.3.

60. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

61. “Amusements: Theatre Royal”, Mercury (Hobart), 11 January 1908, p.3.

62. “The Lilian Meyers Dramatic Co.”, Morning Post (Cairns), 10 January 1907, p.2.

63. “Theatre Royal”, Tasmanian News (Hobart), 27 December 1907, p.2.

64. “Amusements”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 14 January 1908, p.5.

65. “Evening Entertainments”, Telegraph (Brisbane), 15 March 1907, p.4.

66. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

67. “Amusements”, Examiner (Launceston), 16 January 1908, p.5.

68. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

69. “Actors’ Salaries”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 29 January 1908, p.4.

70. “Burnie”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 31 January 1908, p.2.

71. Stage size: Gabrielle Lis, 2021, “Boom and Bust in the Gaiety”, Island, issue 161, 2021, https://islandmag.com/read/boom-and-bust-in-the-gaiety-by-gabrielle-lis. Accessed 17 June 2025.
1000 patrons: “Gaiety Theatre, Zeehan”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaiety_Theatre,_Zeehan. Accessed 17 June 2025.

72. “Lilian Meyers”, Zeehan and Dundas Herald, 3 February 1908, p.3.

73. “Waratah”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 14 February 1908, p.4.

74. “Burnie”, North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 12 February 1908, p.2.

75. “Burnie. Dramatic Company Sued”, Northwestern Advocate and the Emu Bay Times, 13 February 1908, p.2.

76. “Court of Requests”, Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 18 February 1908, p.3.

77. “Court of Requests”, Examiner (Launceston), 19 February 1908, p.6.

78. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

79. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

80. Niall Brennan, John Wren, Gambler: His Life and Times, Hill of Content, Melbourne, 1976, p.107.

81. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

82. “Theatrical Troubles”, Launceston Examiner, 27 July 1885, p.3.

83. For Ernest Leicester: “His Majesty’s”, Truth (Brisbane), 1 March 1908, p.8. Cast list for Hands across the Sea, in Brisbane Courier, 14 March 1908, p.2. Among those who stayed with Lilian Meyers: Fred Patey, Vincent Scully, E.A. Melville, Frank Crossley, T.H. Cunningham, Claire Terry, Cora Warner, and Tempe Piggott.

84. “Who's Who To-day”, Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, 25 July 1908, p.10.

85. “Greenroom Gossip”, Punch (Melbourne), 30 April 1908, p.34. The writer of the “Lady's Letter” column pondered: “I wonder if he [i.e., John Wren] ever muses about the eccentricities of fortune which have brought him, the once humble boot operative, into partnership with Victoria's only Baronet”. (Punch, 23 April 1908, p.22)

86. John Wren knew Norman Meyers (jr.) because of their sometimes dramatic race track interactions: See “Turf Notes and Gossip”, Australasian (Melbourne), 15 May 1926, p.23. Undoubtedly, stud-owner Rupert Clarke knew C.N. Meyers (sr.) from horse-racing circles. Interestingly the older Meyers was born in Collingwood in 1860; Wren was born there in 1871.

87. “In Bohemia”, Truth (Brisbane), 15 March 1908, p.12.

88. “National Amphitheatre”, Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 1 February 1908, p.10.

89. “Haughty Hamfats: The Tasmanian Theatrical Tour of the Lilian Myers Dramatic Company”, Truth (Brisbane), 22 March 1908, p.9.

90. Advertisement, Mercury (Hobart), 23 November 1907, p.5.

91. “On and Off the Stage”, Table Talk (Melbourne), 11 February 1909, p.22.

92. “May Renno Dramatic Organisation”, Northern Star (Lismore), 1 October 1908, p.3.

93. For company members from Lilian Meyers’ company: “Theatrical Performances”, Richmond River Express and Casino Kyogle Advertiser, 15 September 1908, p.2. For Arthur Shirley: “May Renno Dramatic Company”, Northern Star (Lismore), 6 October 1908, p3.

94. “At Poverty Point”, Bulletin (Sydney), 8 December 1910, p.9.

List: Personnel (alphabetical)

The company was said to have 26 members, but it is unclear if this referred to those both on and off the stage. These 24 names are taken from cast lists published in newspapers:

The Executioner's Daughter, Mercury(Hobart), 9 November 1907, p.5

A Daughter of the Million, Mercury(Hobart), 23 November 1907, p.5.

The list for The Executioner’s Daughternotes “an Army of Auxiliaries” playing “Soldiers, Courtiers, Police Officials, Monks, etc.”. One of these may have been an un-named Arthur Shirley, who was not shown in the cast until A Daughter of the Million,in which he played Jenkins (from Scotland Yard). Another unnamed young cast member may have been Frank Neil, who apparently celebrated his 21st birthday with the company on 23 December 1907, at Deloraine. (Frank Van Straten, “Frank Neil—‘He Lived Show Business’ (Part 1)”, On Stage, https://www.theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/profiles/item/880-frank-neil-he-lived-show-business-part-1)

Albert, Arthur

Cunningham, Thomas

Evans, Lyn

Hunter, Kenneth

Jordan, Arthur

Lake, Edward (scenic artist/mechanist, played a small role in Camille,“Amusements”, Daily Telegraph(Launceston), 4 December 1907, p.5)

Melville, E.A.

Merriman, George

Meyers, Lilian

Murray, Paltney

Napier, Francis

Page, Holly

Patey, Fred E.

Piggott, Tempe

Renno, May

Renno, Winifred (Daisy)

Rosomond, F.

Rossmore, Joe

Royd, Arthur

Scully, Vincent

Shirley, Arthur

Steele, Paul

Terry, Clare

Warner, Cora

Also:

Artis, W. (role unknown)

Cartledge, A.( role unknown)

Newton, J. (role unknown)

Russell, William (scene shifter)

Souter, Alfred Edward (scenic artist)

These names became apparent when company members sued for payment.

Table A: Town, Dates, Venue, Capacity (when known), Productions 

Endnotes

1. “Overcrowding the Theatre”, Daily Post(Hobart), 6 October 1909, p.4. During the 1909 Nellie Stewart appearance at the Theatre Royal, “police counted 1125 persons leaving the building”. Harry Musgrove, manager of the company, paid a fine. It is surprising that the “official” 1909 capacity is far under the 800 calculated by the Friends of the Theatre Royal in 2025, but the crowded theatre was far over the 800 figure. Thanks to Meyrick Harris and the Friends of the Theatre Royal for helping with my query. Email to Jeannette Delamoir, 26 May 2025.

2. The estimate is based on the report that the 1883 Town Hall, which was replaced in 1921, seated 950, “rather more than double the capacity of the old building”. “Ulverstone”, Examiner(Launceston), 26 May 1921, p.2.

Table B: Population in towns visited (alphabetical order)

Tasmanian Census, 1901. (Mercury[Hobart], 3 September 1901, p.3.)

Table C. Repertoire (alphabetical) 

Following the departure of Carter, the Great Magician on 6 December 1907, the Sydney Muffs returned for a brief season from 16 December to 20 December 1907, presenting three plays: Rob Roy, The New Boy and A Village Priest.

Boxing Day saw the first appearance of Irish-American comedian J.F. Sheridan at the Palace. Playgoers were well-acquainted with Sheridan’s special brand of comedy. Since his first trip in 1884, he had been a regular visitor to these shores. Sheridan’s speciality was ‘travestie’ roles, which is to say he played female characters, typically buxom Irish widows!

Heba Barlow, leading lady with the Anderson-Sheridan company

Josef Lebovic Gallery collection no. 1, National Museum of Australia, Canberra

Sheet music cover for ‘Will he answer, Goo-Goo’, published by Allan & Co., c.1907

National Library of Australia, Canberra

The attraction at the Palace was Cinderella, a Christmas pantomime devised by J.F. Sheridan and Fred W. Weierter, with topical allusions by journalist Pat Finn (son of Edmund Finn, who as ‘Garryowen’ wrote Chronicles of Early Melbourne). Presented in association with William Anderson, this work had already been seen in Perth, Fremantle and Adelaide during the Christmas/New Year period 1906/07, though it seems it had its first outing back in 1902.¹

Naturally, Sheridan played the Baroness. Other roles were performed by Heba Barlow (Cinderella), Stella Selbourne (Prince Charming), Marie Eaton (Dandini), along with Olive Sinclair as the Fairy Queen, Miss Roland Watts Phillips and Percy Denton as the Ugly Sisters, and Joseph Lamphier as the Baron. Sheridan was the undoubted star of the show, as noted in the Sydney Morning Herald, 27 December 1907:

Probably, when the memory of this year’s Cinderella has become obliterated, or confused with other versions, there will still remain one outstanding feature of artistic distinction, and that will be John F. Sheridan’s inexpressibly quaint and ridiculous portrait of the Baroness Bounder. On his entrance the comedian presents the severe simplicity of some antique spinster of uncertain age and horribly certain ugliness, in the dress of the Early Victorian era, with crinoline, lace collar and cuffs, and a chastely discreet exhibition of fowl-like, sinewy neck. Probably an ugliness less insistent would make this character even more telling than it is because its whole value consists in the marvellous way in which the actor always keeps within the bounds of lifelike femininity. It is a real study; and the Baroness singing ‘Will he answer, Goo-Goo?’ in a prim little voice, and with a daintily dished style of old-maidenly dancing, is a thing to be remembered.²

The song, ‘Will he answer, Goo-Goo’ was published by Allan & Co., and the sheet music cover featured a portrait of Sheridan in his costume as the Baroness.³

The pantomime was a riot of colour and movement. As the Australian Star noted, ‘With limited stage accommodation Messrs. William Anderson and John F. Sheridan have succeeded in putting on some wonderfully good spectacles with more than 100 performers on stage.’ One of the highlights was the Porcelain March. Other attractions included a Snow and Robin ballet, Sappho and Rainbow ballets, and an amusing routine entitled ‘five minutes on ice’ by American champion roller-skater Fred Norris.⁴

Cinderellaran until 30 January 1908, and the following night, for one performance only, the company presented Fun on the Bristol, in which Sheridan played his most enduring character, that of the Widow O’Brien.

Thereafter, the company took Cinderella to Newcastle, and then on to New Zealand. In October 1908, Sheridan returned to Sydney and was seen in a matinee benefit at the Tivoli in aid of the NSW Vaudeville Club, in what would be his last appearance in the city. Two months later, in Newcastle, about to open his Christmas season, he died of heart failure. He was 65.

Thereafter a ‘mixed bag’ of tenants occupied the Palace stage.

Following the departure of the Sheridan company, Spencer’s Theatrescope Co. returned for a six-week season of novelties, from 2 February to 27 March.

From 28 March to 2 April, the NSW Sports Club Ltd presented amateur boxing and wrestling tournaments.

On 3 April, the Bank of NSW Musical and Dramatic Society staged the A.W. Pinero comedy The Parvenu.

Owen Clark, 1908

W.G. Alma conjuring collection, State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Barclay Gammon, comedian with Maskelyne and Devant’s Co. at the Palace Theatre

From The Referee (Sydney), 13 May 1908, p.12

Magic returned from 4 April to 27 May with the Maskelyne and Devant’s Mysteries. Though neither John Nevil Maskelyne nor David Devant was in the company, the tricks that they perfected at the Egyptian Hall in London formed the basis of the show. Magician and illusionist Owen Clark was the principal performer, supported by Gintaro, a Japanese juggler, with comedian Barclay Gammon at the piano. Clark proved to be an able and popular performer, though on opening night he upset the gallery boys who not being able to see the stage clearly due to a piece of stage apparatus blocking their view, shouted to Clark to have it raised. But not understanding their calls, an altercation ensued, and the management had to bring the curtain down while the problem was rectified.⁵

Decorative program for the 1908 Australian and New Zealand tour of Edward Branscombe’s Scarlet Troubadours. Reed Gallery, Dunedin Public Libraries, New Zealand.

On 30 May and the following week, the Scarlet Troubadours made their first appearance in Sydney, having already achieved success in Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne. Described as a ‘costume concert company’, this troupe was under the direction of the enterprising concert promoter Edward Branscombe. He had visited Australia several times before, notably with the Westminster Glee Party in 1903. Branscombe would go on to establish The Dandies, individual troupes of performers distinguished by the colour of their costumes—Red Dandies, Green Dandies, Pink Dandies, etc. During the summer months, these troupes performed throughout Branscombe’s network of open-air theatres.

The Scarlet Troubadours, 1908. Maude Fane is second from the left in the middle row. HAT Archive.

The line-up of the Scarlet Troubadours comprised eight performers. One of the ladies in particular, Maude Fane, would go on to enjoy a successful career in musical comedy with JCW. She was described as ‘a discovery of Mr. Branscombe … gifted with a soprano of unusual clearness and sparkle’.⁶

Then on 6 June, West’s Pictures settled in, presenting the ‘latest novelties and surprises in cinematography’, accompanied by De Groen’s Vice-Regal Band.

From 31 August, McMahon and Carroll commenced a four-week season of films.

Postcard commemorating Frank Thornton’s last performances in Australia. Photos by Talma & Co.

Author’s collection

Finally on 5 September, comedy returned to the Palace when Frank Thornton commenced a four-week farewell season, presenting revivals of his two most popular plays: The Private Secretary (in which he played the hapless cleric the Reverend Spalding) and Charley’s Aunt (where he excelled as Lord Fancourt Babberley, aka Donna Lucia, the Aunt from Brazil—‘where the nuts come from’!). Thornton was supported by an ‘all new’ company that included Templer Powell, Charles Stone, Belle Donaldson, Clare Manifield and Harriet Trench.

Like Sheridan, Thornton had been a regular visitor to Australia, making six tours between 1885 and 1909. Thornton made his final bow before a Sydney audience on 9 October, the Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 1908, reporting:

Laughter reigned supreme, however, until the very end, when, in a touching and dignified speech of farewell, Mr. Thornton revealed to a surprised and regretful audience his resolution to retire from the stage. In doing this he remarked that his heart was too full on that occasion of long leave-taking to do justice either to himself or them … He was now terminating his sixth return to the country he had learned to love so well.⁷

Thornton concluded his tour with appearances in Brisbane and Melbourne, and on his return to England, true to his word, he settled into quiet retirement. He died in 1918, aged 73.

Characters in Two Little Sailor Boys

From Sydney Mail, 7 October 1908, p.947

Lilian Meyers. Photo by Talma & Co., Sydney and Melbourne.

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Saturday, 10 October 1908 saw the return of Meynell and Gunn’s Dramatic Company. During the following five weeks they presented two plays: Two Little Sailor Boysand A Miner’s Trust.

Two Little Sailor Boys, a drama by Walter Howard, the author of the highly successful The Midnight Wedding, was being presented for the first time in Sydney. The title characters were played by Louise Carbasse and Maisie Maxwell, though it seems they did not make an appearance until the last act. The real focus of the drama was the ‘handsome adventuress’ Lola (played by Lilian Meyers), described as an ‘utterly callous fortune hunter’. She is the mother of one of the sailor boys, Tom Yorke, who almost drowns when she pushes him into a swirling river, only to be saved by Cyril Grey, the other sailor boy of the title.

Sydney-born Louise Carbasse, who played the role of Cyril, would go on to have a successful career as Louise Lovely appearing in some fifty Hollywood movies between 1915 and 1924.

Other roles were played by Conway Wingfield, Maud Chetwynd and Lorna Forbes.

Poster for The Miner’s Trust. Colour lithograph by Troedel & Co., Melbourne, c.1909.

From Australian Theatrical Posters, Josef Lebovic Gallery, 1988

Conway Wingfield. Photo by Sarony Studios.

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Three weeks later, on 31 October, the same company presented A Miner’s Trust by Jo Smith, ‘for the first time on any stage’. A former Melbourne businessman, Smith would go on to have further success with The Bushwoman (1909) and The Girl of the Never-Never (1912). With respect to ‘home-grown’ talent, Anderson was one of the few managers who was prepared to back Australian plays. This new piece, which was having its ‘world premiere’, was set in part on the Australian goldfields in the early days. The melodramatic plot concerns two miners, Alan Trengrove (Conway Wingfield) and Jack Howard (Wentworth Watkins), who having amassed considerable fortunes are returning to England after ten years in Australia. The two men are similar in appearance—and when Howard is murdered en route for home, Trengarth takes his place; not for any sinister reason, but to save Howard’s blind sweetheart, Alice Medway (Lorna Forbes), from certain shock should she learn the truth about the death of her fiancé! But the hero faces numerous dilemmas, when among other things, he falls in love with Alice’s sister Ida (Lilian Meyers) and having changed his name learns that as himself he has been left a fortune following the death of his uncle. A Miner’s Trust played until 13 November.

Advertising postcard for The Prince Chap, Criterion Theatre, London, 1906. Author's collection.

The following evening, H.R. Roberts (under the management of Harold Ashton and Allan Hamilton) made his debut at the Palace. This New Zealand-born actor, well-known in Sydney, was making his reappearance in Australia after nine years abroad. Roberts’ opening play was The Prince Chap, a comedy-drama by Edward Peple, based on Peple’s 1904 novel of the same name. This was the first Sydney production; the play having already been seen in Christchurch on 1 June 1908 and in Melbourne on 15 August 1908.

When The Prince Chap was premiered in New York at Madison Square Theatre in September 1905, the principal role of William Peyton was created by Cyril Scott. Roberts, however, played the role in London, when it received its British opening at the Criterion Theatre on 16 July 1906. Other players in the company included Hilda Trevelyan, Sam Sothern, Lilias Waldegrave, Janet Alexander and A.E. Greenaway.

Peple was taken by H.R. Roberts portrayal of William Payton. Quoting a letter from Peple to Roberts, the Daily Telegraph recorded:

It is rather a remarkable coincidence that, in writing both the play and the novel, I should have described the leading character as a man whose personality and temperament are so eminently in accord with your own; and indeed, had I called upon you originally as a model for the man himself, I could not have been more accurate in portraying the spirit and individuality of my hero.⁸

Set in London, it tells the story of a young sculptor whose loses the affections of his sweetheart when, after seeing him with a young girl, mistakenly believes he is the father. The girl, Claudia, is the daughter of one of his models (who in the play’s prologue, asks William to look after her daughter, before dramatically dying in his arms)—and he raises her as his own. The play spans some thirteen years, and when the final curtain falls, Peyton, now a successful artist, realises that he is in love with Claudia, who is now a young woman. The play’s three acts are subtitled: The Child (Act 1), The Girl (Act 2) and The Little Woman (Act 3), and to represent Claudia at each of these times, she is played by three different actresses.

In Australia, Claudia was played by Vera Huggett (Act 1), Beryl Yates (Act 2) and Justina Wayne (Act 3). Australian actor A.E. Greenaway reprised his London role of the Earl of Henningford, while other newcomers included Frank Lamb (Marcus Runion) and Mary Keogh (Phoebe Puckers), with Vera Remee as Alice Travers (Peyton’s former sweetheart).

The play was enthusiastically received, but due to the short season it only played for a fortnight. On 28 November, the company produced A Message from Mars. This play had been seen at the Palace back in 1901 with the Hawtrey Comedy Company. In this current revival, Roberts played Horace Parker, with A.E. Greenaway as the Messenger from Mars, and Fanny Erris as Minnie Templar.

H.R. Roberts

Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

Maggie Moore in Struck Oil, 1908

Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

Six nights later, Maggie Moore joined the company. She was reappearing after an absence of six years. Her last Sydney season had been at the Palace in June 1903. Maggie and Roberts, who had been performing together since the early 1890s, had ‘tied the knot’ in New York in April 1902. Maggie had first come to Australia in the mid-1870s with her then husband J.C. Williamson, but the two had separated by 1891, finally divorcing in 1899.⁹

On Saturday, 5 December 1908, Maggie joined her husband in a revival of Struck Oil, a play they had performed in together on many occasions, though it was Maggie and Williamson who had first created the characters of Lizzie Stofel and her father John Stofel back in the 1870s. In this current revival, Maggie introduced two new songs: ‘Dixie and the Girl I Love’ and ‘I’ll Be Waiting, Dearie, When You Come Back Home’.

Struck Oil held the stage until 24 December. On Boxing Day, Edwin Geach took over the theatre, presenting two shows daily: the Christmas pantomime Robinson Crusoeat 2pm and the drama The Woman Paysin the evening.

Robinson Crusoe, with libretto and score by Fred W. Weierter, featured an ‘all-juvenile’ cast headed by Louie Crawshaw (Robinson Crusoe), Florrie Johnson (Polly Perkins) and Walter Cornock (Will Atkins). The piece had been seen in Sydney the previous Christmas when it was staged at William Anderson’s Wonderland City, transferring to the Oxford Theatre in George Street in mid-January.

The pantomime was a hit: ‘the pretty little playhouse was packed with parents and their children, and a capital entertainment on a modest scale at popular prices was given by a great troupe of well-trained juveniles’.¹⁰

Nellie Fergusson

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Ethel Buckley. Photo by Talma & Co.

Powerhouse Collection, Sydney

The evening show was in compete contrast. Written by Frank M. Thorne, The Woman Payswas a sensation drama in which ‘Thrilling incidents follow one another in quick succession, and the action of the drama is worked out in melodramatic fashion’, including a spectacular waterfall scene and a shipwreck. ‘The old story of man’s inhumanity to woman, and of the woman’s revenge’, the central characters were played by Nellie Fergusson (Madge Threadgold), Kenneth Hunter (Sid. Armstrong), Jefferson Taite (Roger Marchant), and Ethel Buckley (Polly Stokes).¹¹ Having had its UK premiere in Gateshead in 1907, the piece was being performed in Sydney for the first time, the company having given the Australian premiere at the Victoria Theatre, Newcastle, on 8 September 1908, and it had been produced in Melbourne the following month.

At the Palace, The Woman Pays attracted crowded houses, but due to the brevity of the season, it was withdrawn on 8 January 1909 and replaced by the ‘the most popular drama of the century’, East Lynne, with Nellie Fergusson in the dual role of Lady Isabel and Madam Vine. It played for six nights—and on 15 January 1909, both it and Robinson Crusoe were performed for the last times. 

To be continued

Endnotes

1. See https://ozvta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1907-682019-1.pdf

2. Sydney Morning Herald, 27 December 1907, p.6

3. https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn7052964

4. Australian Star, 19 December 1907, p.8

5. Magical Nights at the Theatre, pp. 145-146

6. Bulletin, 28 May 1908, p.9

7. Sydney Morning Herald, 10 October 1908, p.16

8. Daily Telegraph, 18 April 1908, p.17

9. See Leann Richards, How Mrs J C Williamson Struck Oil | Stage Whispers

10. Sydney Morning Herald, 28 December 1908, p.3

11. Sydney Morning Herald, 28 December 1908, p.3

References

Eric Irvin, Australian Melodrama: Eighty years of popular theatre, Hale & Iremonger, 1981

Allardyce Nicoll, English Drama 1900–1930: The beginnings of the modern period, Cambridge University Press, 1973

Peter Sumner, Australian Theatrical Posters 1825–1914, Josef Lebovic Gallery, 1988

J.P. Wearing, The London Stage, 1900–1909: A calendar of productions, performers, and personnel, 2nd edition, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014

Newspapers

The Australian Star (Sydney), The Bulletin (Sydney), The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Gadfly (Adelaide), The Referee (Sydney), The Sphere (London), Sydney Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, Town and Country Journal (Sydney)

Trove, https://trove.nla.gov.au/

Pictures

Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

HAT Archive

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Powerhouse Collection, Sydney

Reed Gallery, Dunedin Public Libraries, New Zealand

State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

With thanks to

John S. Clark, Judy Leech, Rob Morrison