Media (International) …… p.1
Media (Australia) …… p.2
Music Publishing …… p.3
Public Halls …… p.4
Showboats & Cruises …… p.5
Sidelines …… p.6
Socio-Cultural Factors …… p.7
Ye Olde Englysh Fayres …… p.8
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International magazines and newspapers with a connection to the Australian variety industry (including columns, reviews and source material)
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MADISON’S BUDGET (USA)
(1898-ca.1928) Published in New York by James (Jim) Madison, Madison’s Budget was a “gag” book which described itself as a “cyclopedia of comedy material for vaudeville artists, radio stars, masters of ceremony, etc.” Comprising around 40 pages, each issue contains original monologues, sketches, minstrel first-parts, sidewalk patter, wise cracks, farces, songs and “other kinds of stage fun.” All the material was written by Madison, with much of it tending towards racial humour and stereotypes. Published twice a year, Madison’s Budget, was widely circulated among vaudeville comedians, not only in the USA but elsewhere, including Australia and New Zealand. For the price of $1 the purchaser was free to use anything within issue.
1: Madison, aka Charles Aronstein (ca. 1871-1943), also wrote material specifically for certain artists – notably Al Jolson, Frank Tinney, Nora Bayes, Ben Welch, Emma Carus, Jack Wilson, Howard and Howard, Eleanor and Williams, Hunting and Frances, Nat Carr, Fred Duprez, Cartmell and Harris, Diamond and Brennan, Stuart Barnes, Doc O’Neill.
2: Each issue also carried advertisements for a range of products and services aimed at both amateurs and professionals.
3: The Nat Phillips Collection, held by the Fryer Library, The University of Queensland, includes a script for a Stiffy and Mo revusical called A Pretty Kettle of Fish. Extracts from Madison’s Budget No 18 (1921), which are also held in the collection, provide evidence that Nat Phillips adapted his revusical from Madison’s farce, The Dooleys. No production details for A Pretty Kettle of Fish have yet been located, suggesting it may never have been staged. For further details see “Nat Phillips Collection: Finding Aid.” (Box 2, P. 2, page 20).
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