Ruby Armfield

The chorus wasalways a special feature of J.C. Williamson’s musical comedies and often the honours of a performance fell to the chorus, with their excellence often highlighted in reviews. Much was expected of these talented and well-trained performers, and while important in its own right, the chorus was sometimes called upon to invigorate a performance which was going through a dull patch or to give support to ineffective principals. Additionally, a few of the chorus members had a ‘principal’ performer to understudy. So important was the chorus wrote Russell, that ‘the worse trouble that meets the playgoer is that the star actors will get in the way and hide their (the chorus girls) multitudinous charms’.¹ The chorus was indispensable to the character and charm of musical comedies.

A chorus line, Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 July 1909, p.241

Ruby Elsie Armfield was born on 23 October 1885 in Majorca, central Victoria, her father Edward a railway worker, and her mother, Jane concerned with home duties. Little is known about Ruby’s early years, although some newspaper snippets refer to a Miss Ruby Armfield having made amateur appearances at the Wodonga Children’s Festival in September 1885 and at the Wesleyan Sunday School concert in Wodonga the following year.² Ruby’s number at the Festival was praised by the local press: the talent and self possession of this little performer are remarkable, more especially as she is of very tender years. It seems most likely that the performer who showed promise as a child was Ruby Elsie. Mrs Armfield, presumably Ruby’s mother, had tutored the young concert artistes.

Little is also known about Ruby’s off-stage, early adult years. Although contrary to the glamour, and extrovert behaviour expected of a chorus girl, she appears to have been a very private person, a 'home-body', and even in her twenties at the height of her career she was living at home in Albert Park with her parents.

Sadly, Ruby died when only 42 on 26 February 1928 at the Greenvale Sanatorium, Broadmeadows of pulmonary tuberculosis. Her death certificate reveals that her usual address was Albert Park and that she was married in Sydney when 35 (this would be in 1920) to Frederick Bennett. She was survived by her daughter, Jean aged 5. Her husband had pre-deceased her. Records of Ruby’s marriage, Bennett’s death and Jean’s birth cannot be sourced.

The Early Years 1901–1904

The chorus girls were mainly Australian performers and like so many hopeful young actresses of her generation, Ruby Armfield’s entrée to the stage was as a member of the chorus. It appears Ruby had the attributes that Williamson and his stage managers expected of a chorus girl—she had a good singing voice, was vivacious and stylish and above all, had musical awareness and insight, qualities which often saw Ruby playing minor ‘named’ roles and sometimes being called upon, as an ‘understudy’, to substitute for a principal.

Ruby’s emerging stage career is first noted in late August 1901, when in her late teens she is named as a member of Williamson’s Comic Opera Company in an advertisement for Florodora and The Belle of New York, which were playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre Kalgoorlie.  She is also named in an advertisement the following October for The Belle of New York which was staged at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal. 

On 26 April 1902, Williamson’s Musical Comedy Co. opened its season at the Theatre Royal Perth with San Toy, with Ruby a member of a strong, talented chorus. The following May the company staged Florodora, in which Ruby played a minor character, Mamie Rowe, one of the English lady friends of Angela Gilfain (played by Lilian Digges) who were on a visit to the flower farm. Ruby and other ‘lady friends’, together with Cyrus Gilfain’s (proprietor of the Florodora perfume recipe) clerks had two concerted numbers, with the audience favourite, ‘Tell me, pretty maiden’, well rendered and deservedly encored.³

Ruby is named in the part of Mary Lambkin, an English lady of the Consulate staff, when  San Toy was performed for the first time in Kalgoorlie at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 26 May.⁴ Florodora followed on 4 June with Ruby again cast as Mamie Rowe and on 6 June in The Belle of New York, Ruby played Myrtle Mince, one of Cora Angelique’s (the off-divorced Queen of Comic Opera) bridesmaids, a role she maintained when the ’Belle’ was staged in Perth a few days later and in the return season at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal in early July. The return season also included San Toy with Ruby, on this occasion, cast as the Hon. A. Stachpole.

Following successful seasons in Western Australia and Adelaide, Williamson’s company commenced their Brisbane season at His Majesty’s Theatre, opening with San Toy on 17 July where Ruby again played the Hon. A. Stachpole. After a short run, San Toy gave way to The Runaway Girl on 26 July with Ruby in another minor part as the Hon. Cicily Hake (the daughter of Sir William Hake, a tourist with the Cook Company). This was a character she sustained with success, wrote the Brisbane Courier.⁵

In early August 1902, Williamson’s new Musical Comedy Company performed for the first time at the Palace Theatre Sydney with San Toy, their first appearance at one of the more renowned venues. In their review the Daily Telegraph wrote that the splendid energy and newness of the company were undoubted factors in the success of the performance.⁶ A revival of The Belle of New York followed on 13 August with Rose Musgrove as the Belle and Fred H. Graham as Ichabod Bronson. Ruby again played Myrtle Mince. 

An eighty-strong Musical Comedy Company left for New Zealand the next day. Williamson had assembled a very impressive touring party which included Lilian Digges, Rose Musgrove, Blanche Wallace, Fred H. Graham, Claude Bantock and Fred Leslie. Ruby was also in the touring party, it was her first, of several tours to New Zealand.

The season began at the Opera House, Wellington on 7 November 1902, with successful performances of A Runaway Girl and San Toy, both which later played  in other New Zealand cities. The Belle of New York and A Circus Girl were also part of the tour repertoire.

Ruby Armfield and Hazel Melvin of the San Toy production in canoes on the Avon River, Hagley Park, November 1902

Christchurch City Libraries, New Zealand

Ruby Armfield and Miss Siefed and Mr Rice of the San Toy company, November 1902

Christchurch City Libraries, New Zealand

The company was In Auckland in January 1903 with  performances of The Belle of New York and A Circus Girl at His Majesty’s Theatre.  Ruby played her familiar role of Myrtle Mince in The Belle, and in the latter, produced by the company for the first time on tour, she was cast as Mdlle. Guilbert. Ruby continued to play these roles throughout the rest of the tour.

Ruby’s name also appears in the New Zealand  press when she is named as a member of the ‘Runaway Girl’ side which played against the ‘San Toy’ side in a ladies Costume Cricket Match and Garden Party organised by Williamson’s company in aid of the Elingamite Wreck Fund. Ten days prior to the cricket match, on 9 November 1902, the SS Elingamite en-route from Sydney to Auckland struck rocks off the north coast of New Zealand with a loss of 45 lives. 

Arena-Sun (Melbourne), 6 April 1903, p.13. Ruby front row, far right.

In June 1903, Williamson’s Musical Comedy Company staged two musical comedies in a six night season at the Theatre Royal Hobart. The company opened with A Runaway Girl where Ruby again played the Hon. Cecily Hake and the season finished with San Toy. Plans to perform in Launceston were abandoned due to an outbreak of small pox, and as a precaution the season in Hobart concluded after the second performance of San Toy. The members of the company were vaccinated before leaving for Victoria.

Ruby’s next performance was in Williamson’s Christmas Pantomime, The Sleeping Beauty and the Beast or Mother Goose and the Seven Champions which opened at Sydney’s Theatre Royal on Boxing Night 1903. Ruby made two appearances in the pantomime, firstly as one of the seven sisters of the Commonwealth and also as St. David of Wales, one of the seven champions of Christendom. The Adelaide Critic noted that the ladies displayed their magnificent proportions to great effect. Indeed the fine limbs of these bodies presented many a weary one from deeming the price of admission completely thrown away.⁷ The Pantomime finished on 29 January. See Aggie Thorn (Part 1) for program.

Also in January, Williamson staged a series of revivals of the most popular musical comedies, with the program starting on 30 January with the ever popular The Belle of New York at Sydney’s Theatre Royal. The cast was essentially new, including May Beatty, Elsie Moore, Minnie Hooper, Sara Hyman and Vinia de Loitte in the role of Fifi Fricot, which was her first stage appearance. Ruby was named in her well-versed role as Myrtle Mince.

Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 25 January 1904, p.2

The next revival was Florodora which opened on 13 February. Reviews of the show made special mention of the good work done by the English lady friends of Angela Gilfain, (which included Ruby as Mimie Rowe) and clerks in contributing to the success of the revival, noting in particular the piece, ‘Tell me pretty maiden’.⁸

In mid-May 1904 George Edwardes’ Gaiety Company commenced an 18-week season at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre, with later performances in Adelaide and Sydney. The season opened with Three Little Maids, and after a successful run of three weeks was replaced with The Girl from Kay’s, with Ruby cast as Rhonda Castaur, one of the bridesmaids. Kitty Grey was the third and final novelty of the Gaiety Season, opening on 25 June. In this piece Ruby played Florence a member of the Frivolity Theatre. It will be recalled that Clara Clifton as Mrs Bright (Brightie) made her first stage appearance in Australia in Kitty Grey.⁹

As part of their Gilbert and Sullivan season, Williamson’s Repertoire Company ran a revival of The Pirates of Penzance at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sydney on Saturday night, 28 January 1905. Most reviews noted that the trio of Vinia de Loitte (as Edith), Sara Hyman (as Kate) and Ruby (as Isabel) were well cast as the daughters of Major-General Stanley, although The Player magazine wrote that the three daughters did not reflect too much credit on him.¹⁰ As Isabel, Ruby had replaced Aggie Thorn who had been seconded to the Royal Comic Opera Company to play Yvonne in Paul Jones.¹¹

A revival of Iolanthe followed at Her Majesty’s on 11 February. Other than Howard Vernon, Charles Kenningham and Frank Wilson who were members of the 1900 production, the principals were new. Ruby was cast as Celia,who together with Belle Gross and Sara Hyman had small parts as the three leading fairies.

The Pirate King (Frank Wilson), Frederick (Walter Whyte) and Ruth (Celia Ghiloni) in The Pirates of Penzance. From The Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Co. souvenir, 1905. 

The Productive Years 1905–1910

By now Ruby had established herself as an accomplished performer and she joined Williamson’s Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company 1905 tour of New Zealand. Her touring fellows included Dolly Castles, Celia Ghiloni, Vinia de Loitte, Aggie Thorn, Howard Vernon, Frank Wilson and Charles Kenningham. The tour was eagerly anticipated by theatregoers, their interest aroused by the theatre critic ‘Lorgnette’, who, writing for the New Zealand Mail said that Williamson’s Repertoire Company was the finest combination to visit New Zealand for some years.¹²

The season saw a repertoire of six Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and opened with Patience at the Wellington Opera House on 9 March. Ruby played the part of  Lady Saphir, alongside Aggie Thorn as Lady Angela and Vinia de Loitte as Lady Ella, parts which they continued to perform throughout the tour. On their performance at Christchurch the Press newspaper wrote that these young ladies sang excellently in the concerted music, particularly in the sextette, ‘I Hear the Soft Note’, and the quintette, ‘I Shall Have to be Contented.’¹³

While on tour, Ruby played other minor roles, including Celia in Iolanthe and Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance. As Isabel the Wanganui reviewer commented that Ruby looked charming, acted well and sang sweetly.¹⁴

During the tour, members of Williamson’s company gave a concert in the social hall of the Wellington Men’s Club and Literary Institute in aid of the club’s hospital fund. Songs were contributed by Ruby, Blanche Farey, Vera Buttell and others.¹⁵

After their extended New Zealand tour, Williamson’s Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company was back in Sydney for a three-week season at the Theatre Royal, opening on 24 June 1905 with The Yeomen of the Guard. The Gondoliers followed the next week with Dolly Castles as Gianetta, Aggie Thorn as Tessa, Vinia de Loitte as Casilda and Celia Ghiloni as the Duchess of Plaza-Torro. Ruby played Fiametta a leading Contadina.

The opening scene of the first act shows Fiametta, Vittoria, Giulia and the chorus of Contradine on the Venetian Piazetta, singing whilst collecting bunches of red and white roses to impress two Gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe Palmieri who visit to choose brides from the group. The chorus sings ‘List and Learn ye Dainty Roses’ and Fiametta responds—

‘Two there are for whom, in duty,
Every maid in Venice sighs—
Two so peerless in their beauty
That they shame the summer skies.
We have hearts for them, in plenty,
We, alas are four and twenty!
They have hearts, but all too few,
They alas are only two!’

The singing, dancing and gaiety of the colourful opening scene, in which Ruby as Fiametta was front and centre, set the tone for what followed.

From Sydney the Company travelled to Brisbane for a hectic fourteen-night season at His Majesty’s Theatre with a new opera performed every second night, opening on 15 July with a revival of The Pirates of Penzance. Press reviews were particularly complimentary for the trio of Vinia de Loitte, Aggie Thorn and Ruby cast as the Major-General’s daughters—all these young actresses showed themselves clever and bright, wrote the Telegraph¹⁶ and the Courier commented, the three were worthy companions in artistic effort; have agreeable voices, sing tastefully, and they are refined and graceful in their acting.¹⁷

As Celia in the Brisbane season of Iolanthe, Ruby made the most of the small part and a review noted that the role gave the audience an opportunity of admiring the beautiful quality of her mezzo-soprano voice.¹⁸

As part of the review of the Brisbane season, the Brisbane Truth referred to Vinia de Loitte, Aggie Thorn and Ruby as ‘young artistes who each appear able to do perfect honour to themselves, and would not be misplaced even in a star part’.¹⁹ (This happened for Vinia and Aggie but not for Ruby.)

Left: The Pirates of Penzance, Melbourne, 12 August 1905. State Library Victoria, Melbourne. Left: The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury, Sydney, 18 November 1905. National Library of Australia, Canberra.

At the conclusion of the Brisbane season the Repertoire Company visited Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s for a three-week season. Typically, reviews carried scant comment on the performance of the ‘non-principal’ performers, although the Australasian review was most lyrical about the parts played by Ruby, Aggie and Vinia in The Pirates of Penzance, noting that they were a pleasing element in the operas general success, giving all the help which the brightness of girlish faces, the sweetness of girlish voices, and the suppleness of youthful figures can alone impart.²⁰

After Melbourne, in late August, early September 1905, Ruby was at the Theatre Royal Adelaide for a revival of Pirates of Penzance, and received praise for excellent work. In Patience, Aggie Thorn, Vinia de Loitte and Ruby played their usual roles and were said to have exhibited much better voices than were usually heard in these parts.²¹

A sixteen night season at His Majesty’s Theatre Perth followed, and in October the company appeared in Kalgoorlie. In a review of the ‘Pirates’, Vinia, Aggie and Ruby were said to be ‘very acceptable’ as daughters of the Major-General and their singing, particularly in the trio in the first act, called for much applause.²²

Punch (Melbourne), 17 August 1905, p.24

Mabel (Dolly Castles) and Frederick (Walter Whyte) in The Pirates of Penzance.

From The Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Co. souvenir, 1905. 

Following the successful tour of Western Australia, Williamson’s Repertoire Opera Company returned to Sydney’s Criterion Theatre, and in a change from traditional offerings the company ran a double bill of two of the earliest Gilbert and Sullivan works, The Sorcerer and Trial by Jury, opening on 18 November, 1905.  It had been many years since both pieces had played in Sydney, and given the lapse of years this was something novel for the majority of Sydney theatre goers, and the productions were also new for Ruby and gave her an opportunity to play roles, different to her regular ones—Mrs Partlet in The Sorcerer and the First Bridesmaid in Trial by Jury.

In brief, The Sorcerer opens with a group of people all in love with their respective partners. Alexis (Charles Kenningham) is betrothed to Aline (Dolly Castles) and wanting everyone to be as happy as he is, engages a Sorcerer (Howard Vernon) to give all of them a potion which on awaking they will fall in love with the first person they meet. Things go astray! When  they awake they are attracted to the wrong person—Sir Marmaduke (Arthur Crane) who is about to marry Lady Sangazure (Celia Ghiloni) sets eyes on Mrs Partlet, a pew-opener at a village church. Mrs Partlet who idolises the Vicar, shifts her affections to the Notary. And so on.

Ruby, received favourable comments on her performance, and though looking rather young for the part of Mrs Partlet, wrote one critic, showed marked ability in the role.  This was supported in another review—Ruby, ‘in black side curls and old fashioned black silk played creditably as a genteel and rather young Mrs Partlet’.²³

The supporting show, Trial by Jury, is a farcical portrayal of a breach of promise trial between Edwin the defendant and Angelina the Plaintiff. While there is a chorus of bridesmaids there are only two ‘named’ actresses in this one act operetta—the plaintiff, dressed in bridal attire, and the First Bridesmaid, the role Ruby played in both Sydney and Melbourne. But the part was of no real consequence, and Ruby was merely another voice in the chorus of bridesmaids. Vinia de Loitte and Aggie Thorn alternated as the plaintiff.

The Sydney season also included Iolanthe (Ruby as Celia), Princess Ida (Ruby as Sacharissa, one of the three leading girl graduates), Patience (Ruby as Lady Saphir) and Pirates of Penzance (Ruby as Isabel).

Celia Ghiloni (Little Buttercup) and Frank Wilson (Captain Corcoran) in HMS Pinafore. From The Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Co. souvenir, 1905.

After an absence of some five years, HMS Pinafore played at the Princess Theatre Melbourne on 23 December as the Christmas attraction. There is no record of a ‘name’ part for Ruby, but she was, no doubt, part of the chorus of Sisters, Cousins and Aunts.

The following January the company produced a successful revival of The Gondoliers, with the cast said to be one of the best seen; the singing was good throughout and the acting much above the average.²⁴ A particularly notable feature of the show, wrote The Australasian, was Ruby’s performance as Casilda (the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro), when substituting for Vinia de Loitte. The critic commented: ‘Miss Armfield surprised and charmed the audience with the sweetness of her voice’.²⁵

The Melbourne Age critic agreed, noting that when management lost the services of Vinia de Loitte at late notice, ‘her place was filled with quite remarkable success in the circumstances by Ruby Armfield, who may be encouraged to follow so auspicious a start’. The review continued—‘the character of Casilda gave Miss Florence Young her first big “lift” fifteen years ago, and it may do as much for Miss Armfield.²⁶

But typical of the industry, despite praise for her performance Ruby returned to the lesser role of Fiametta and subordinate roles in other pieces in the repertoire. A situation one of Ruby’s contemporaries commented on when she announced her retirement from the stage—‘I think the most heart-rendering part of a girl’s life on the stage is to be brought out of the chorus to play a part and then be put back again. Oh, its terrible!.’²⁷

The rest of the repertoire followed, with The Sorcerer in which Ruby was said to be thoroughly satisfactory as Mrs Partlet, by the Age critic, Trial by Jury, Utopia Ltd which had its Australian premiere on 20 January, in which Ruby, as Melene, did well as one of the leading Utopian maidens and The Yeomen of the Guards, a production in which Ruby had little to do as Kate, but was a valuable assistance in the charming madrigal in the 2nd act.²⁸

The brief Melbourne season closed with Patience and The Mikado. The press were generally pleased with the revival of the satirical opera, Patience: the Herald thought Ruby was piquant as Lady Saphir,²⁹ and the Argus wrote that ‘Bunthorne’s clinging admirers were charming in persons of Misses De Loitte, Thorne [sic], and Armfield.’³⁰

The following February the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company performed in Hobart and Launceston. While espousing the excellent work of Dolly Castles as Giametta and Aggie Thorn as Tessa in The Gondoliers, the Daily Telegraph critic wrote: by no means far behind—both from the histrionic and musical point of view were Vinia de Loitte as Casilda, Celia Ghiloni as the Duchess and Ruby Armfield as Fiametta.³¹

The Company then toured the provincial cities of Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Albury and in the April a two night run in Newcastle with performances of Veronique, in  which Ruby played Eliza one of five florists.

As soon as the Newcastle season finished, Williamson’s Comic Opera Company was in New Zealand for a three-month tour, performing their repertoire of Gilbert and Sullivan operas and Messager’s Veronique. The Company included Dolly Castles, Aggie Thorn, Vinia de Loitte, Celia Ghiloni, Frank Wilson, Charles Kenningham and Ruby.

As in Australia, Ruby played her regular minor roles, including Fiametta in The Gondoliers, Sacharissa in Princess Ida, Melene in Utopia Limited, the First Bridesmaid in Trial by Jury and Eliza in Veronique. In her role in The Gondoliers, staged at His Majesty’s Theatre Dunedin, Ruby was praised in reviews for her admirable singing of Fiametta’s solo in the splendid opening by the chorus.³²

To be continued

Endnotes

1. Egbert T. Russell, ‘The Ladies of the Chorus’, Lone Hand, 1 July 1909. See also Florence Young, ‘The Australian Chorus Girl’, Lone Hand, June 1908.

2. Wodonga and Towong Sentinel, 6 September 1885, p.3. See also The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 20 November 1886, p.24.

3. The West Australian (Perth), 23 May 1902, p.9

4. Kalgoorlie Miner, 26 May 1902, p.7

5. The Brisbane Courier, 28 July 1902, p.9

6. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 11 August 1902, p.3

7. Critic (Adelaide), 20 January 1904, p.10

8. Sydney Morning Herald, 15 February 1904,  p.4

9. See Bob Ferris, Clara Clifton: From England’s provincial theatres to the Australian stage (Part 1), On Stage, 1 September 2022

10. The Players (Sydney), 15 February 1905, p.13

11. Sunday Times (Sydney), 29 January 1905, p.2

12. New Zealand Mail, 15 March 1905, p.28

13. Press (Christchurch), 15 May 1905, p.7

14. Wanganui Herald, 11 April 1905, p.7

15. Evening Post, 27 March 1905, p.5

16. The Telegraph (Brisbane), 18 July 1905, p.7

17. The Brisbane Courier, 18 July 1905, p.5

18. The Brisbane Courier, 29 July, 1905, p.5

19. Truth (Brisbane), 23 July 1905, p.8

20. The Australasian (Melbourne), 19 August 1905, p. 26

21. The Register (Adelaide), 8 September 1905, p.8

22. Kalgoorlie Miner, 17 October 1905, p.8

23. Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 1905, p.5

24. Table Talk, 4 January 1906, p.16

25. The Australasian (Melbourne), 6 January 1906, p.26

26. The Age (Melbourne), 4 January 1906, p.4

27. Gadfly (Adelaide), 21 November 1906, p.18. Aggie Thorn’s interview which announced her decision to leave the stage.

28. Leader (Melbourne), 27 January 1906, p.21

29. Herald (Melbourne) 12 February 1906, p.3

30. The Argus, 12 February 1906, p.7

31. Daily Telegraph (Launceston), 21 February 1906, p.8

32. Evening Star, 12 July 1906, p.6

References

The Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Co., Syd Day, Melbourne, [1905]

Revusical Ballets & Chorus, Australian Variety Theatre Archive Popular Culture Entertainment: 1859-1930, https://ozvta.com/revusical-ballets-chorus/

Vinia de Loitte, Gilbert & Sullivan Opera in Australia 1879–1933, Ninth Edition

Papers Past

Trove

The Productive Years – 1905 to 1910 (cont.)

The farewell season of Williamson’s Comic Opera Company of July 1906 in Wellington was a fitting finale to a triumphant tour of New Zealand wrote theatre critic Lorgnette, and demonstrated the strong appeal of comic opera for theatregoers. Ruby contributed to this artistic success.

By early August Ruby was in Brisbane with the Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company which opened the season with Veronique and followed with a full repertoire of Gilbert and Sullivan works. Ruby again played minor parts which attracted little press coverage, although in Patience, Ruby as Ella, together with Dolly Castles, Aggie Thorn and Vinia de Loitte were described as ‘picturesque and pleasing’.¹

The following September the Repertoire Company commenced a three-week season at Her Majesty’s Sydney, performing Utopia Limited for first time in Sydney. The whimsical show sends up English Institutions and conventions and also follows the desire of the King of a south sea island to govern his Utopia along English lines. While Sydney reviewers generally thought there was much to like about the production, for some it was too satirical, and as expressed by The Sydney Mail:

It requires the exercise of too much brain power to fully appreciate the satire and people who go to comic opera don’t usually want to do any thinking.²

Ruby had a small part as Melene, one of the ‘beauteous and gaily attired maidens of Utopia’, and is mentioned in the review by The Don of Punch when she, Vera Buttel and Blanche Farey were said to be studies in artistic decoration as the Utopian maidens.³

In other shows during the season Ruby played Eliza in Veronique and Fiametta in The Gondoliers.

Williamson’s newly named Comic Opera Company appeared in Perth on 1 October for an eighteen-night season at the Theatre Royal, and then at His Majesty’s Theatre in Kalgoorlie. Ruby was cast in her usual minor parts—Melene in Utopia Limited, Ernestine in The Little Michus and Eliza in Veronique. But it was in Princess Ida in her role as Melissa, one of the girl graduates and the daughter of Lady Blanche, that she received an ‘honourable mention’.

Ruby had replaced Aggie Thorn in the part as Thorn didn’t tour the West due to ill-health. As Melissa, it was an ideal opportunity for Ruby to show her versatility and acting skill and she didn’t disappoint, earning praise in reviews with the critic from the Western Australian paper describing her as a charming Melissa and that her duet with Celia Ghiloni (Lady Blanche), ‘Now wouldn’t you like to rule the roast and guide this University?’ was well done and enthusiastically re-demanded. Ruby’s other singing segments were also praised, including her quintet with the other girl graduates and the concerted piece with Lady Psyche, Hilarion, Cyril, and Florian, and particularly her solo with the chorus at the commencement of Act III—(death to the invader)—‘thus our courage, all untarnished, we’re encouraged to display’.⁴

Ruby’s performance as Melissa was also applauded when Princess Ida was performed in Kalgoorlie, late October. The Kalgoorlie Miner reported that Miss Celia Ghiloni as Lady Blanche, ‘The professor of abstract science’: Miss Vinia de Loitte as ‘professor of humanities’ and Miss Ruby Armfield as the daughter of Lady Blanche were among the principal denizens responsible for a great deal of the enjoyment afforded by the performance.⁵

Vinia de Loitte in Princess Ida—photo by Talma & Co., Melb. & Syd.

Private collection

A season of 12 nights at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal opened mid-November 1906 with the Comic Opera Company’s performance of Veronique. Ruby played Eliza and she, together with Madge Griffiths (as Zoe), Mignon Ashton (as Irma) and Lena Bergin (as Heloise) were described by the press as ‘blithe, bonnie and harmonious’.⁶ And, at one performance of Veronique, Ruby substituted for Vinia de Loitte’s part of Sophie; while it was a small part, she played it pretty well wrote the Adelaide Gadfly.⁷

Sketch from The Blue Moon—Reginald Kenneth with the chorus of Burmese girls. Photo by Talma, Melbourne & Sydney. State Library Victoria, Melbourne.

Williamson’s New Musical Comedy Company, a grouping of leading local and overseas artistes, with a chorus of local talent, began its life with the Australian premiere of the bright Burmese musical comedy The Blue Moon at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre on 22 June 1907. The piece was packed with catchy musical numbers by Paul Rubens which provided much involvement for Ruby and sister chorus members, including the opening chorus—‘You’d Better Come to Burmah’, ‘The Crocodile’ with Victor Gouriet (Moolraj), ‘Burmah Girl’ with Reginald Kenneth (Capt Jack Ormsby), and ‘The Major’s the Pet of the Ladies’ with Myles Clifton (Major Vivian Callabone).

Cast for Lady Madcap from program, Melbourne, August 1907

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Cover of vocal score for Lady Madcap, published by Chappell, 1905

University of Rochester

The Melbourne season continued with the premiere of Lady Madcap, a musical comedy in two acts, also with music by Paul Rubens. After Melbourne, the Company played in Bendigo and Ballarat before staging the Adelaide season on 30 August, then Western Australia and Sydney in November.

In Lady Madcap, Ruby appeared as one of the gorgeously dressed Archery Ladies in Act 1 who were among the guests for a night of revelry arranged by Lady Betty (the Madcap) at Egbert Castle.⁸ The group presented the ‘Archery’ song, described in reviews as a ‘pretty’ item, with the refrain whistled by their military admirers: ‘we are little ladies who are keen on shooting with an arrow and a bow’.

In another first the Company staged the Three Little Maids for the first time in Ballarat (at Her Majesty’s Theatre), where Ruby, Dora Wallace and Jessica Dean played as young society ladies, the protegees of Lady St. Mallory (Celia Ghiloni). Ruby was cast as Lady Crichton. The show was also included in the season’s repertoire in Adelaide, and all three actresses enhanced the gladness of the entertainment, wrote the Adelaide Advertiser.⁹

In late December 1907 the New Musical Comedy Company arrived in New Zealand with some seventy-five members, comprising a few old favourites but for the majority of the principals it was their first visit there. The principal soprano was Amy Murphy and Reginald Kenneth the leading baritone, with Victor Gouriet, Myles Clifton and Daisy Wallace as the main comedians. Ruby was making her fourth tour to New Zealand.

The Christmas season of nineteen nights opened at Wellington’s Opera House on Boxing Day with a production of The Blue Moon, followed by Lady Madcap with Ruby named as one of the Archery Ladies. Also included in the company’s tour repertoire was The Little Michus, with Ruby cast as Mme Rousselin and, in a later show, Mme. de St. Phar, both of whom were guests of General des Ifs when he awaited the arrival of his daughter. Ruby as Mary Methuen in The Girl from Kay’s, and Lady Marjory Crichton in Three Little Maidswere other roles she played during the season.

After the New Zealand tour Ruby performed with Williamson’s New Musical Comedy Company at Hobart’s Theatre Royal, at His Majesty’s Theatre Brisbane and in Newcastle where Ruby maintained the roles she had enjoyed in New Zealand. Of particular note was the Archery song in Lady Madcap and the vivacious acting of Ruby, Ada Page and Blanche Farey as Lady Mallory’s protegees in Three Little Maids and the exceedingly tuneful sextette ‘The Town and Country Mice’ which they sang with the ‘Little Maids’ (Daisie Wallace, Amy Murphy, Alma Barber) in the first act.

Cast list for The Red Mill, Melbourne, 1908

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

The Twentieth Century Girls in The Red Mill

From Otago Witness, 3 March 1909, p.48

Ruby next appeared in J.C. Williamson’s Australian premiere of Henry Blossom and Victor Herbert’s The Red Mill which opened in Sydney at the Theatre Royal on 11 July 1908,then followed at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre on 29 August and Adelaide’s Theatre Royal on 17 October. Ruby played Flora, an artist’s model, and when The Red Mill was later staged in New Zealand, she was cast as Mabel, one of Joshua Pennyfeather’s (a London solicitor) daughters.

Another New Zealand tour followed with Ruby as a member of a 100 strong Williamson Musical Comedy Company which opened its Christmas attractions of The Red Mill and the Prince of Pilsen in Auckland in December 1908, ending the tour in Invercargill in late March. During the tour, in addition to playing Mabel, Ruby was cast as Myrtle Mince in a revival of The Belle of New York, but had no named part in Williamson’s production of the Prince of Pilsen.

The Prince of Pilsen preceded The Red Mill, and for a musical comedy the cast was small and provided few opportunities for company members other than a handful of principals. The piece did however give opportunities to Ruby and fellow chorus members, including a notable tableau which was provided in the song ‘Tales of the Cities’ in which twenty ‘attractive willowy formed girls’ were appropriately dressed to represent Australian capital cities and principal New Zealand cities, with the scene being accompanied by apt verses from Olive Godwin.

After a very successful tour of New Zealand the company performed the first of six revivals of The Belle of New York at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal on 30 March 1909, with Ruby in the role of Myrtle Mince. An Easter season in the West followed with performances of The Red Mill, the Prince of Pilsen and The Belle of New York.

During their season in Western Australia, the Musical Comedy Company provided entertainment, stalls, side shows, and musical numbers in a Saturday charity event in aid of the Children’s Hospital Fund. Also, as part of the entertainment the ladies of The Red Mill Company played a costume cricket match against members of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association. Ruby was a member of the ‘Red Mill’ team. On the Sunday evening members of the Company gave a concert which raised £200 for the Hospital Fund.

Ruby Armfield

From Sydney Mail, 12 February 1913, p.21

The Twilight Years, 1911-1918

The next two Williamson productions, the outstandingly successful Our Miss Gibbs and equally successful The Quaker Girl gave Ruby the chance for more significant roles. Our Miss Gibbs premiered at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sydney on 24 September 1910, running for some eight and a half months.  After Sydney it played in other capitals with equal success. Williamson had engaged Gaiety Theatre actress Blanche Browne in the name-part of Mary Gibbs, the much admired ‘star’ girl at Garrod’s store in London, Andrew Higginson played Lord Eynsford, the love interest in the guise of a bank clerk, and Nellie Wilson was Madame Jeanne the French milliner at the store. Of lesser ‘named’ roles there were four Irish Colleens and six Country Ladies in the cast, but Ruby was listed in the theatre program as one of many store girls. Was this a come down for Ruby? Or maybe it was thought that Ruby’s fine voice would benefit the chorus of store girls

Indeed, Ruby was part of the opening chorus of the first act which is staged in the interior of Garrod’s store and following the rendition of ‘We will be quick to do our shopping’, Ruby with other animated shop girls announce the entry of Miss Gibbs in a lively number:

Garrod’s! Garrod’s! if you are lacking

Whiting or blacking,

Lace or sacking,

Garrod’s! Garrods! all things are there!

Broaches, coaches,

Tresses of hair!

Rosies, cosies,

Silk underwear—

Ev’rything for ev’rybody—

Everywhere!

The popularity of the show with theatregoers saw it revived in Melbourne in December and in Sydney as the Christmas attraction. The original cast reappeared on both occasions.

Florence Vie as Mrs Farquhar the impecunious ‘woman of fashion’; Bertie Wright as Timothy Gibbs; and Langford Kirby as the Hon. Hughie Pierrepoint, an amateur crook, in Our Miss Gibbs. The Sun (Sydney), 26 September 1910, p.3. Caricatures by Will Donald.

In early December 1910, Perth’s Daily News carried an item that Ruby in partnership with Daisy Coppin (youngest daughter of George Coppin) had formed the Australian Mascottes, a vaudeville song and dance sketch act, noting their overseas success, especially in Honolulu and further bookings for Seattle.¹⁰ No reference to the Australian Mascottes can be found in American newspapers, but there are several advertisements and comment on the Mascotte Sisters (an acrobatic, song and dance act). Was this Coppin’s team? The Sisters first appeared at The Novelty Theatre, Honolulu on 12 October 1910, having recently arrived on the ‘Makura from the colonies’.¹¹ In the January of the following year the Mascotte Sisters performed at Seattle’s Pantages Theatre.¹² But the Sisters were not named.

On this the following snippet in the ‘Melbourne Chatter’ column in the Bulletin of 25 May 1911 is helpful as Dancer Daisy is said to be ‘with the Mascottes Sisters, now showing in San Francisco’, and that ‘they expect to arrive in New York in time to meet “Aunt Lucy”, as they affectionately term Mrs Bland Holt’.¹³ But there is no mention of Ruby, indeed due to her commitments with J.C. Williamson’s productions the unnamed sister could not be her!

Buoyed by the local success of Our Miss Gibbs, Williamson took the show and cast to New Zealand, opening its season in Auckland on 11 September 1911 and concluding at Invercargill in late November. Ruby was again in the ‘shop girls’ chorus but took on a principal part when the piece was staged in Dunedin when she was called upon at very short notice, due to the indisposition of Nellie Wilson, to play the small but amusing part of Madame Jeanne, the Milliner at Garrod’s store, including a solo rendition of the bright number, ‘Hats—What’s a Dress Without a Hat’, which appealed to the ladies in the audience. The Evening Star reported that ‘this young lady filled the breach in a most satisfactory manner’.¹⁴

Blanche Browne in The Quaker Girl, from program, Melbourne, 1912

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Jessie Lonnen as Phoebe and Bertie Wright as Jeremiah in The Quaker Girl

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Following Our Miss Gibbs Williamson’s next offering was The Quaker Girl which opened at her Majesty’s Sydney on 13 January 1912. Prudence, the Quaker Girl, was played by Blanche Browne, Olive Godwin was the exiled Bonapartist Princess Mathilde and Jessie Lonnen was cast as Phoebe, maid to Princess Mathilde. The lyrics were by Adrian Ross, with music by Lionel Monckton, which received mixed reviews, with some describing it as sparking and pleasing while others thought it lacked originality. Nevertheless, the show was full of musical numbers and good choruses (of which Ruby was part), including the entrance of the Quakers and double chorus in ‘Quakers Meeting’, ‘On Revient de Chantily’ and ‘Come to the Ball’ (chorus with Frank Greene (Prince Carlo).  

Ruby played a more substantial role in The Quaker Girl when called upon as an understudy to Ivy Bickford. When The Quaker Girl was performed in Melbourne at Her Majesty’s, (commencing 13 July) then Adelaide, Perth and its reappearance in Sydney in November, Ivy Bickford, the young Melbourne born soprano, played the part of Princess Mathilde with success. Ruby, as Bickford’s understudy, played Mathilde when she replaced an unwell Bickford, although it is unclear how many performances Ruby played the part, but she showed herself thoroughly at home in the role, her solo ‘O, Time, Time!’, her duet ‘Wonderful’ with Andrew Higginson and Quartet, ‘A Runaway Match’ were rendered with confidence. The critic for the Sydney Referee commenting on Ruby’s performance wrote:

Taking the place of Miss Ivy Bickford who was ill, Miss Ruby Armfield looked well as the Princess, and used her fine voice with telling effect.¹⁵

Black and White Sextette—‘Tell Me Pretty Maiden’. From the Australasian (Melbourne), 19 October 1912, p.65.

In October 1912, The Royal Comic Opera Company revived Florodora at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, later playing in Sydney in early December and continuing as the Christmas and New Year attraction. Other than Grace Palotta as Lady Hollyrood, the principals were entirely new, with Blanche Browne as Dolores, Jessie Lonnen as Angela Gilfain, Leslie Holland as Cyrus Gilfain and Andrew Higginson as Captain Donegal. In this production Ruby played the part of Cynthia Belmont, one of Angela Gilfain’s English friends, a change from the Mamie Rowe character she had played in the 1902 production.

There was plenty of bright music in Florodora and many of the songs were enthusiastically welcomed by the audience, especially the memorable song in the second act, ‘Tell Me Pretty Maiden’ performed by Ruby and Angela Gilfain’s other English girl friends who were decked out in stunning black and white dresses and matching head pieces, complemented by the white suits and straw hats of Cyrus Gilfain’s clerks. Although the Bulletin thought the six maidens were handicapped by tight skirts, but, even so were more satisfactory than the clerks.¹⁶ Regardless, the audience was captivated by the double sextette when the clerks sang:

Tell me pretty maiden,

Are there any more at home like you?

And the English girls answered

There are a few, kind sir,

But simple girls, and proper, also.

In their review of the Sydney performance the Sunday Times critic expressed surprise that Ruby who sang so well as the Princess in The Quaker Girl had a very small part as Cynthia Belmont.¹⁷

‘Take me for …..!’—Delia Dale and Chorus of Country Ladies. The London cast (with Phyllis Dare). From The Sunshine Girl souvenir published by George Robertson & Co., Melbourne, 1913. State Library Victoria, Melbourne.

The Sunshine Girl was staged for the first time in Australia by the Royal Comic Opera Company at Her Majesty’s Sydney on 18 January 1913, later playing in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. What plot there was had to do with a soap factory, a young owner (in the guise of a factory hand) and a pretty work-girl from the Perfume Department. The show was generally thought of as a series of strung together comedy numbers, rather than a musical comedy. Blanche Browne played the lead role of Delia Dale, a Sunshine soap factory girl from the perfume department, Frank Greene was Vernon Blundell, the factory owner, Leslie Holland was Lord Bicester a young stockbroker and Ivy Bickford played Emmeline. While it was a cast dominated by imported performers as principals, some local talent played small parts, including Gladys Moncrieff who was one of the Department Heads at the soap factory; it was the start of Moncrieff’s long and successful career.

Blanche Browne, 1911. Photo by Talma Studios, Sydney

Private collection

Ruby played the part of the Hon. Miss Grey, and was also named as understudy for Blanche Browne. To be named as the understudy for the principal lead was positive management recognition for Ruby and involved her having command of the several songs in Delia’s repertoire including, ‘Love’, ‘Ladies’ and ‘A Tiny Touch’ in Act 1 and ‘Take Me For’ and ‘The Argentine’ in Act 2. Disappointingly, for Ruby nothing much came of this.

Miss Hook of Holland, which opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sydney on 14 June 1913, is principally concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes of Mr Hook, a distiller who loses a valuable liqueur recipe, and the love interests of Sally, his daughter. Olive Godwin played the lead part of Sally (Miss Hook), Leslie Holland excelled as Mr. Hook and Jessie Lonnen was Mina the Hook’s maid. Ruby was cast as Greta, a market girl, and when the show was revived the following month at Sydney’s Criterion Theatre, Ruby received a favourable mention for her graceful dancing.¹⁸ Ruby’s ability to play a variety of roles was evident when the show played in New Zealand in late 1913 when she took the role of Gretchen the Manageress of Mr Hook’s Liqueur Distillery, a part played by Flossie Dickenson in the 1913 Sydney production. 

Cast list for Miss Hook of Holland from program, Melbourne, 1913

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Jessie Lonnen as Mina, the Hook’s Maid

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

The next attraction for The Royal Comic Opera Company was a season of revivals at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal opening with The Sunshine Girl on 21 June, followed by three favourite musical comedies with Ruby appearing in a change of roles. Ruby played Pansy Pinns in The Belle of New York and Lucy Ling in Florodora, and in The Quaker Girl she played Diane (a role previously played by Nellie Wilson) the designing Parisian actress who sought to bring about a break-up between the Quaker Girl and Tony Chute (Leslie Holland)—‘Miss Armfield who was assigned the character (of Diane) gave an excellent portrayal of the part.’¹⁹

The Company reappeared in New Zealand for a short season from September to November 1913 with a repertoire of four of their most successful productions—The Quaker Girl, The Sunshine Girl, Miss Hook of Holland and The Belle of New York. Some 150 artists joined the tour, with Grace Palotta, Blanche Browne and Olive Godwin among the principals.  

Ruby was again in the tour party, and played several minor named parts, including the Hon. Miss Grey in The Sunshine Girl, Gretchen in Miss Hook of Holland and Pansy Pinns in The Belle of New York. At the Opera House in mid-October Olive Godwin was unable to take her part as Princess Mathilde in The Quaker Girl and her part as the exiled princess was capably filled by Ruby. Ruby’s excellent voice was well suited to some of the tuneful ditties, wrote the Manawata Standard.²⁰ Ruby was well acquainted with the role as It will be recalled she had previously substituted for Ivy Bickford as the Princess when The Quaker Girl played at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sydney in November 1912.

In sharp contrast to traditional musical comedy theatre, on 20 December 1913 as the holiday attraction, Williamson staged Come Over Here at Her Majesty’s Theatre Sydney. Advertised as the first revue staged in Australia, the cast was drawn mainly from the Royal Comic Opera Company, together with Englishman Jack Cannot as the principal comedian and Daisy Jerome an American diseuse. Based on the British production it was a revue of topical items laced with humour and satire, described as a mixture of pantomime, vaudeville, burlesque and more. Most reviews thought the show lacked appeal with the Bulletin particularly sceptical.²¹

Ruby was involved in a number of sketches—in Act I, Scene V, A Theatre, she played Madame Vine, in Act II, Scene VIII, The Flowers of Allah she was one of five wives, and in A Telephone Tangle, an amusing piece which was a mix up of telephone conversations between two operators and five callers situated in separate rooms. In this medley Ruby played as a pretty wife, with Leslie Holland, Jack Cannon, Olive Godwin and Violet Collinson as other characters.

Come Over Here: The ‘plank’ allowed actresses to move over the heads (and eyes) of the audience.  Cartoon by Harry Julius.

From The Bulletin (Sydney), 1 January 1914, p.8. 

When the revue transferred to Melbourne and Adelaide, prudent pruning and rewriting made the show more successful. One of the new features added was the burlesqued ‘East Lynne’ performed by Alfred Andrew, Rita Nugent, William Lockhart and Ruby which was done ‘in a manner that kept the house in roars’.²²

Come Over Here program

State Library Victoria, Melbourne

The Revellers

From Advertiser (Adelaide), 14 November 1917, p.2

From mid 1914 to 1918 was a lean period for Ruby, despite live theatre doing particularly well during the war years with many musical comedy productions; Williamson staged twenty new productions at Her Majesty’s Melbourne alone.²³ The dearth of engagements for Ruby was most likely due to the competition posed by many young, new actresses who increasingly found favour with the Williamson management.

Diminishing engagements with Williamson saw Ruby on the program for the summer season of entertainment at the re-opening of the popular Semaphore Beach Ozone open air pavilion (South Australia) in late 1917. Ruby was announced on the program as a Dramatic Soprano, late of J.C. Williamson’s, Grand Comic Opera Companies.²⁴ And on 20 February 1918 Ruby contributed to the Northcote and Preston Scottish Society concert at the Northcote Town Hall with ‘My Ain Folk’ and ‘Annie Laurie’. In response to audience demands she added extra numbers.²⁵

Poster for the first Australian production of 
Oh! Oh! Delphine

National Library of Australia, Canberra

Reginald Roberts and Florence Young in 
Oh! Oh! Delphine

From New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, 15 May 1919

Ruby did return to the stage and rejoined The Royal Comic Opera Company’s in their production of Oh! Oh! Delphine which held its Australian premiere at Her Majesty’s, Melbourne on Saturday 7 September 1918. Gladys Moncrieff played the name part of Delphine, the heroine, Olive Godwin as Simone with Reginald Roberts as the artist Victor Jolibeau, the love interest while Florence Young played a somewhat small part of Bimboula, a Persian carpet seller. Ruby was cast as Amandine one of the six ‘beauteous artist’s models’ who travelled with Jolibeau. The show was not a success, insufficient catchy songs was blamed for the short run of four weeks. It later played in Sydney with more success, ending on 17 January 1919.

The ‘Posing of Venus’ song by Ruby and her fellow models in the first act was singled out for praise in reviews—the grouping of the six models for the song was a novel and splendid chorus effect, wrote the Bulletin.²⁶ And, when performed in Sydney a gushy review wrote that in the fascinating air ‘Posing of Venus’ cleverly scored with harp, strings and brass, the six models in their maize-coloured frocks, with blue swathed waist belts, formed kaleidoscopic groups that pleased the eye.²⁷

Oh! Oh! Delphine—The Models and Victor Jolibeau (with Ruby as Amandine). From Punch, 19 September 1918, p.19.

It appears that Ruby’s last time on stage was in the Sydney season of Oh! Oh! Delphine in mid-January 1919. It was a time which coincided with the first detection of the virulent influenza virus in Melbourne and which soon spread to New South Wales and South Australia affecting all walks of life, including stage productions with consequences for the employment of stage performers. As the situation worsened the health authorities closed theatres, not permitting them to re-open until early March 1919, a decision that would have impacted on any career decision by Ruby and others in the theatrical industry. Ruby’s forthcoming marriage during 1920 most likely also influenced her decision, as did waning stage opportunities .

There was no announcement that Ruby was retiring from the stage into private life, there was no fanfare! Ruby was now in her mid-thirties and had been on the stage for some eighteen years since her debut in 1901; an achievement in such a highly competitive industry.²⁸ Ruby’s stage career was at a time when theatre producers, particularly J.C. Williamson placed considerable importance on the use of imported artistes of repute, mainly from England but also from America. This made it difficult for many exceptionally talented local actresses to secure ’leading principal’ roles and was much harder for those not in the front row on the musical comedy stage, a group in which Ruby sat.

Sadly, Ruby’s retirement was cut short when she contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease she suffered with for two years before she died on 26 February 1928, aged 42, a patient at the Greenvale Sanatorium, Broadmeadows, Victoria.

While Ruby Armfield did not become a principal star, she typified the talented, hardworking performer who was crucial to musical comedy theatre during the early years of the 20th century. Ruby’s career followed the path of a gifted actress who could transition between chorus girl to minor character roles to that of an understudy, contributing significantly to the overall quality of musical comedy theatre throughout her long career. 

‘No girl, unless she possesses outstanding merit will get out of the chorus’.²⁹

Ruby did!

Endnotes

1. Brisbane Courier, 25 August 1906, p.6

2. Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser, 5 September 1906, p.629

3. Punch (Melbourne), 6 September 1906, p.3

4. The West Australian (Perth), 22 October 1906, p.5

5. Kalgoorlie Miner, 1 November 1906, p. 6

6. Advertiser (Adelaide), 12 November 1906, p.7

7. Gadfly (Adelaide), 28 November 1906, p.10

8. Chronicle (Adelaide), 5 October 1907, p.60

9. Adelaide Advertiser, 18 September 1907, p.8

10. Daily News (Perth), 9 December 1910, p.2

11. The Hawaiian Star, 12 October 1910, p.6

12. The Seattle Star, 14 January 1911, p.5

13. The Bulletin (Sydney) 25 May 1911, p.22

14. Evening Star (Sydney), 21 November 1911, p.6

15. Referee (Sydney), 27 November 1912, p.16

16. The Bulletin (Sydney) 17 October 1912, p.11

17. Sunday Times (Sydney), 8 December 1912, p.2

18. Sydney Morning Herald, 21 July, 1913 p.7

19. The Register (Adelaide), 4 July 1913 p.8

20. Manawata Standard, 18 October 1913, p.6

21. See The Bulletin (Sydney), 25 December 1913, p.8

22. Referee (Sydney), 27 May 1914 p.15

23. Elisabeth Kumm, ‘Theatre in Melbourne, 1914-17: The best, the brightest and the latest’, La Trobe Journal, No. 97, March 2016

24. Advertiser (Adelaide) 14 November 1917, p.2

25. Preston Leader, 23 February 1918, p.2

26. The Bulletin (Sydney) 26 September 1918, p. 9

27. Sydney Morning Herald, 9 December 1918, p.5

28. Edmund Fisher, ‘The Business Side of Drama – How a Theatre is Run’, Lone Hand (Sydney), 1 July 1909, p.241ff. In 1909 some 355 actors and actresses were on J.C. Williamson’s salary list.

29. Egbert T. Russell, ‘The Ladies of the Chorus’, Lone Hand, 1 July 1909

References

Revusical Ballets & Chorus, Australian Variety Theatre Archive Popular Culture Entertainment: 1859-1930, https://ozvta.com/revusical-ballets-chorus/

Vinia de Loitte, Gilbert & Sullivan Opera in Australia 1879-1933, Ninth Edition

Veronica Kelly, ‘Come Over Here! The Local Hybridisation of the International “Ragtime Revues” in Australia’, Popular Entertainment Studies, Vol. 4, Issue 1, 2013, pp 24-49

The Play Pictorial, Volumes 9 and 13, The Strand Pictorial Publishing Co., Ltd.,London, 1909

Elisabeth Kumm, ‘Florodora’, On Stage, Theatre Heritage Australia, June 2015

Trove

Papers Past New Zealand

Chronicling America, Library of Congress (historic newspapers)