(1879-1938) English-born singer, entertainer, stage manager [Born in Halifax, Yorkshire]
Ben Calvert decided against going into the family wool textile mill business and instead studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music under Alberto Randeggar. After a number of years playing the leading London concert halls and provincial circuits he accepted a contract with Edward Branscombe that led to 12 months (and 38,000 miles) of international touring with the Scarlet Troubadours. Calvert came to Australia in 1910 with Branscombe’s Jesters, and later transferred to the entrepreneur’s Dandies companies (notably the Green Dandies). He and fellow Jesters/Dandies artist Florence Henderson married in 1913 and four years later settled in Mildura where Calvert ran a singing academy and presented concerts. They later owned a fruit farm.
1: A tenor capable of performing any style required of him, Calvert notes in the 1910 Prahran Telegraph interview that he had a special fondness for Oratorio singing.
2: Calvert, who died on his Mildura property on 22 April 1938, is buried in the town’s Nichols Point Cemetery.
Image source: Prahran Telegraph (Melbourne) 31 Dec. 1910, 5. Additional information courtesy of Chris and Lorraine Lemon.
Lawrence Campbell studied acting and elocution in England and attempted a career on the English stage before poor health forced him to immigrate to Australia in 1892. After setting up schools of elocution in Tasmania he moved to Sydney in 1894 and quickly established himself as one of the country’s leading instructors. Campbell performed regularly himself, and between 1916 and the mid to late-1920s held the rights to recite verse and do impersonations from C.J. Dennis’s Songs of the Sentimental Bloke in both Australia and New Zealand. He also presented it on Australian radio in 1930.
The Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition is named in his honour.
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FRANK CANE
aka Kavello
Ventriloquist, shadowgraphist, magician, film exhibitor.
Frank Cane started out performing in Melbourne and regional Victoria in the early 1900s, initially playing community events and social functions before turning professional. Active well into the 1920s Cane also often doubled-up as the shadowgraphist Kavello and occasionally worked a magic/mystery act (under his own name). It was as a ventriloquist (with his ‘partner’ Curly) that he was best known by Australian audiences, however. Cane also briefly ran his own picture house in Yarraville (1914) and operated a vaudeville agency in Melbourne (1916-1920). Among the many companies and circuits he worked with were: Harry Clay (1920), K-Nuts (1921), Fullers’ Theatres (1922), Copeland and Cole (1924), George Drew‘s New South Wales Western Line circuit (1925).
1: Cane was based out of Sydney for around five years beginning 1920, apart from some 12 months touring New Zealand (1923-24). He is known to have still been performing as late as 1930. From around 1922 he appears to have been working with a dog named “Bluey.”
2: As the shadowgraphist Kavello (often spelled Kavelio), Cane created mini-dramas and comedy sketches by throwing shadows of puppets and other objects on a screen. Some reviews from 1919 onwards indicate that the act was in colour.
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JACK CANNOT
(1883-1929) English comedian, singer (tenor). [Born: John Valentine Cannot]
After establishing his name in the UK under George Edwardes’ management Jack Cannot came to Australia for J.C. Williamson’s in 1910 to play the dame in Jack and the Beanstalk and never left. A huge star with the Firm and on the Tivoli circuit during the 1910s and early to mid-1920s, he also found engagements with companies like J. and N. Tait and Fullers’ Theatres and featured regularly on radio. Struggling to get stage work in the late-20s he joined the staff of the Daily Guardian but eventually succumbed to depression and committed suicide. Shortly before his death Cannot was filmed by Ray Allsop during the development of his sound-on-disc system for “talkies.”
Image Source: “Boys in Khaki, Boys in Blue” (National Library of Australia)
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EILEEN CAPEL
aka Baby Capel
Child mimic, serio/dancer, soubrette/danseuse.
A student of Sydney teachers Tom Donnelly (dance/stage work) and Mrs Golding (voice), Eileen Capel was active on the Australasian stage between 1899 and 1915. Billed as Baby Capel she began presenting song and dance routines at the School of Arts from September 1899 and by 1903 was a regular with Harry Rickards. She later appeared, as Eileen Capel, with leading vaudeville and theatrical firms such as James Brennan, Fullers’ Theatres, Harry Clay, J.C. Bain and Holland and St John, and William Anderson (in vaudeville and pantomime). One of her early signature acts was an imitation of Little Tich. Capel retired after suffering a nervous breakdown in late-1915.
Capel’s surname was often spelled with two ‘l’s during her career (i.e. Baby Capell and Eileen Capell). For the sake of consistency the AVTA uses the name Capel, as this appears to have been used more often. Her given name was also mistakenly spelled ‘Aileen.’
Myra “Emmie” Carden took her Bijou Variety troupe around south-west Queensland and Northern New South Wales in 1884, and over the next decade toured the same region for much of each year. She also travelled further afield on occasions, being identified in the mid-1880s with South Australia and southern-New South Wales. Between 1886 and 1891 Carden toured in partnership with Fred Loyola, initially with Loyola’s Magnet Troupe but for the most part under the billing Myra Carden’s Magnet Company. In the early 1890s she also worked briefly for Dan Tracey and provided a much-used testimonial for Bonnington’s Irish Moss. Carden settled in Manilla (N.S.W.) in 1894, and soon afterwards became known as Myra Hill-Carden.
Vera Carew developed her craft as an actress/entertainer through numerous legitimate and popular concerts in Melbourne and in regional Victoria and South Australia, including for example J. and N. Tait‘s Opera Pops and the Page Lang Entertainers. From 1918 onward she frequently toured wider a field, notably with Walter Kirby (1918-22) and Cesaroni (New Zealand, 1920). She and her husband, tenor Jim Foran, began working together in 1924. They toured with Pat Hanna‘s Famous Diggers (ca. 1926), performed in England and America in the mid-1930s and were still appearing on stage together as late as 1939.
It is unclear if there is any familial connection between Carew and a singer/actress who toured with the Woodfield Opera Company through regional Victoria during the early 1890s. That artist’s name is reported as being Vera Carewe.
Thanks to Suzanne Coburn and Robyn L Brooks/Neal for additional information.
One of Australia’s longest comedy partnerships, Harry Carlton and Ted Sutton came together in 1893 while appearing in Sydney with Dan Tracey‘s minstrel company. Apart from a couple of periods when they briefly teamed up with other comedians, the two comedians toured their act for some thirty years – their last known engagements together being in 1924. During that time they worked for virtually every Australian and New Zealand vaudeville firm of any consequence. Carlton and Sutton initially built their reputations as specialist Irish sketch comedians and clog dancers, and later turned almost exclusively to patterology.
Ted Sutton is known to have teamed up briefly with Arthur Alberts (ca. 1905) and Walter Jamieson (ca. 1914-16). Harry Carlton was still working as a comedian (in Newcastle) in 1935.
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BILLIE CARLYLE
(ca. 1901-1991) Actress, singer, comedienne. [Born: Doris Davy in Adelaide]
Billy Carlyle began her professional career in the early 1920s as a model and dramatic actress. After touring with D.B. O’Connor‘s company in 1924 she was cast in the film The Adventures of Algy (1925). Carlyle and the film’s star Claude Dampier teamed up soon afterwards, securing work as a comedy sketch act on Fullers’ Theatres circuit. Carlyle also worked briefly with Brandon Cremer’s Comedy Company. A move to England in 1927 saw the pair establish a popular comedy partnership on stage and in radio that lasted until Dampier’s death in 1955. Carlyle appeared in at least five British films and two variety television series between 1930 and 1947.
Carlyle and Dampier married in 1929. She self-published Claude Dampier, Mrs Gibson and Me in 1978 (Mrs Gibson being a fictional audience member popularized by Dampier). Although several film databases (including IMDb) indicate that Carlyle appeared in only six films, she has been linked to several more through various newspaper articles published in the 1930s. See Carlyle’s “Research Notes” for further details.
Image source: David Walker. Great Paper Treasure (on sale via eBay, 2014).
The son of Yankee Henri Carney, proprietor of a late-nineteenth century English provincial variety company and inventor of the “stilt” dance, Denis Carney started out in Manchester pantomimes from age ten and in 1896 came to Australia. He remained a regular presence in the Australasian region until at least the mid-1920s. Although best known for his female impersonations, comic songs, and stilt dancing (often as a Yorkshire policeman), Carney also played dame roles, performed grotesque dances, patter, and even wrote farces. His services were taken up by most of the leading firms of the era, including Frank Clark, Harry Rickards, Fullers’ Theatres, Harry Clay, Ted Holland, Birch and Carroll, J.C. Bain, and Dix-Baker.
Carney made his Australian debut in Perth for Jones and Lawrence (Cremorne Theatre) on 11 November 1896 (billed as “direct from London”). His last known engagements were in 1925 with Alf Coleman’s pantomime and revue tent show.
Female impersonator/dancer. [Born: Arthur Sydney Carpenter]
One of up to five female impersonators in the Smart Set Diggers, “Tiki” Carpenter performed largely as a “danseuse.” His forte as a dancer also allowed him to specialise in “dainty miss” and flapper-type roles during the company’s sketches and burlesques. Carpenter joined the troupe after the Armistice, having served in France with another concert party, the Green Diamonds, and was still performing as late as 1930.
Claiming to be a descendant of Lord Wolverston. Neva Carr-Glynn was born on Walloon Station (Ipswich, Queensland) and educated at Richmond Convent. Immediately after finishing school she was secured for a dramatic tour by Albert Norman and Walter E. Baker (1893) and the following year made her debut for Harry Rickards. She appeared regularly on his circuit before leaving Australia in 1905, while also securing engagements with Slade Murray, Harry Barrington, the California Minstrels, Ettie Williams, Elsie Adair, Harry Cogill [below], J.C. Bain and John F. Sheridan among others. She and her husband were killed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Neva Carr-Glynn was the great-aunt of actress/entertainer Neva Carr-Glynn [2].
Image source: Referee (Sydney) 10 Aug. 1898, 10.
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NEVA CARR-GLYNN [2]
(1908-1975) Actress (stage, radio, film and television), dancer, entertainer. [Born Neva Josephine Mary Carr-Glyn]
The daughter of Irish vaudevillian Arthur Glynn and Scottish singer, Marie Dunoon, Neva Carr-Glynn learned dance from Minnie Hooper and left school at 14 for the theatre. After appearing in the Fullers‘ Dick Whittington chorus in 1923 she quickly rose to principal girl (Robinson Crusoe, 1925) and principal boy (Aladdin, 1927) roles, and worked in revue and musical comedy for Gayle Wyer, Jim Gerald, Phil Smith, George Wallace, and Frank Neil. After seven years in England (1930-37) Carr-Glynn returned, initially working in revue with Jim Gerald, then in numerous radio dramas for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) between 1938 and 1941. She later worked extensively in television and legitimate drama.
For further details see: Martha Rutledge. “Carr-Glyn, Neva Josephine Mary (1908–1975).” Australian Dictionary of Biography 13 (1993) • Richard Lane. Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama (1994), 189-91 • “Neva Carr-Glynn.” Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Neva Carr-Glynn shares the same name with her great aunt [above]. Her son is actor Nick Tate.
Image source: Sydney Morning Herald 29 Mar 1934, 29.
Dave Carson left his home city of New York in 1853 aged 16 to try his luck on the Australian goldfields but instead went on to carve out a long and successful international career as a minstrel performer and theatrical impresario. During the eight years he spent in Australia Carson was associated with several companies including the Virginia Minstrels, Ethiopian Serenaders and the San Francisco Minstrels. He and Tom Brower toured the East with a company between 1861 and 1865. Carson then operated his own circuit in opposition to Maurice Bandmann up until at least the mid-1880s.
Billy Cass started out his career in the early 1900s and by 1907 was touring with Jones’ Huge Surprise Party, along with Ivy Bowman (later Ivy Cass). The pair worked for Harry Clay, J.C. Bain, Post Mason, and Dix-Baker among others during the 1910s, and by the end of the decade Cass had developed into a specialist revusical comedian and pantomime dame. He toured consistently up until the early 1940s, either for firms like the Fullers’ Theatres, Clay’s Bridge Theatre Co, Stanley McKay, Alf Coleman, and Union Theatres Vaudeville, or with his own troupes. Cass also reportedly appeared in the 1920 Snowy Baker film, The Jackeroo of Coolabong.
Cass began using the professional nickname, Skeeta, after playing the character with that name in The Jackeroo of Coolabong.
Image: Will and Ivy Cass ca. 1907. Source: Lyn Workman
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HERBERT CATO
aka J. Herbert Cato
(1861-) Singer, actor, conductor, theatrical agent, law clerk. [Born Joseph Herbert Cato in New Town, Hobart]
Herbert Cato began to emerge as one of Tasmania’s leading concert baritones after settling in Launceston in late-1882. Over the next 12 years he maintained a high profile as singer, conductor, and occasional manager/promoter while also working as a lawyer’s clerk. After moving to Sydney in 1894 Cato attempted to establish his concert career but was forced at various times to pursue opportunities as a variety artist, finding work with Harry Rickards, the Coogee Aquarium, and the Elite Minstrel Company (Brisbane) among other firms. He founded the Cato and Co theatrical agency in Sydney in 1900 but appears to have retired from the entertainment industry after it ran into financial difficulties in 1903.
For further information see: Shirley Elrick. “Joseph Herbert Julian Cato.” shirley-elrick.com [sighted 13/08/2015] • Carol Cato and Marion Sargent May. “Julian Herbert Cato.” Launceston Family Album [sighted 13/08/2015]
1: Although largely known as Herbert Cato, he used the name Julian instead of his given birth name Joseph. Members of Cato’s family, including his grandfather and four uncles, were among the pioneers of the Tasmanian fruit industry. For further details see “Cato Family.” Mercury (Hobart) 25 Nov. 1932, 8.
2: In his youth Cato was regarded as a fine athlete, competing in competitions as a cyclist and Australian Rules footballer (he captained the Launceston club in 1883). Before leaving the state he also served in numerous administrative roles (including secretary and manager) for Hobart and Launceston sports and social clubs and musical societies.
3: Research undertaken by various descendants and family members indicates that Cato was employed as a tally clerk in the 1930s. He may well have returned to this area of employment following the collapse of his agency.
Regarded as a highly versatile entertainer Daisy Chard was considered a favourite with audiences around Australia up until her retirement in the early 1900s (ca. 1907). She reportedly made her stage debut (billed as Fascinating Daisy) with a touring minstrel company in Melbourne at age three. Her success led to an appearance alongside Hosea Easton at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre the following year. Over the next three decades Chard worked for most of the leading theatrical firms operating in Australia, including John F. Sheridan, Bland Holt, Harry Rickards, Williamson and Musgrove, John Gourlay, Frank Clark, Charlie Cogill [below], and Ada Reeve.
1: Chard married her first husband, vaudeville artist Tom Edwards, ca. 1898. Their only child later took to the stage ((known professionally as Eva Chard), and performed with Eileen Ryan as the Chard Sisters. Daisy Chard’s second husband, L. E. Rowe was proprietor of Perth’s Empire Picture Theatre.
2: One of her last shows as a professional entertainer was in Brisbane in 1907 under the management of Bella Sutherland (Tivoli Gardens, Hamilton).
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JOE CHARLES
(-1921) Comedian, dancer, actor, troupe manager.
A native of Melbourne, Joe Charles was a “most versatile and gifted vaudeville comedian” (Theatre Magazine, 38) who developed a “droll” style of delivery and also established himself as an eccentric dancer of considerable ability. He initially worked as an office boy at the Melbourne Herald for five years and later found employment as a drover, waiter and night porter before turning to minstrelsy as a full-time professional in the early 1900s. His twenty-year career saw him associated with all the leading Australasian-based firms, including the Rickards, Fullers and Clay‘s circuits. He also toured his own troupes. Between 1914 and his death Charles worked a very popular act with Emilie Dani (aka the Glory Girl).
Emilie Dani and Joe Charles possibly met when he joined Post Mason‘s Record Breakers in Brisbane in early December 1913 (she was the company’s top-billing The Glory Girl). They made their debut as a double act in February 1914 at Brisbane’s Crystal Theatre (under Cook and Fowles’ management) and by May were touring their own company through Queensland. Charles and Dani travelled together throughout Australia appearing both as solo artists and as a comedy patter/sketch act until Charles’ death in 1921. Their engagements with other firms and companies included long associations with Harry Clay and Fullers’ Theatres, as well tours for Birch and Carroll, Walter Morris, and Taylor-Coleman. They were also popular with regional film exhibitors.
In late-1915 an Australian Variety journalist “mistakenly,” referred to the pair as husband and wife. In a subsequent issue Dani vehemently denied this claim, mentioning that Charles was already married to someone else. The pair eventually became a couple, however, leading to Charles’s eventual divorce. An obituary published in Everyones records that Dani had arranged to be married to Charles when he was admitted to hospital. He died before it could take place, however (11 May 1921, 16).
Image source: Theatre Magazine (Sydney) Mar. 1916, 43.
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CONRAD CHARLTON
New Zealand-born variety entertainer, radio broadcaster, ABC studio manager/state manager, publicist.
Conrad Charlton started out singing professionally in the 1910s and by the early 1920s was a Fullers’ Theatres artist – appearing in Dick Whittington (1921/1922) and with Walter George’s Sunshine Players (1922). He was later a member of Pat Hanna‘s Famous Diggers (1922-23), worked as between-films singer, and toured with Billy Maloney (Town Topics / Scandals) and J.C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company (1927-28). Charlton made the first of many radio broadcasts as a singer (and actor) in 1925 and in 1929 secured work with 2BL (Sydney) as a producer/ announcer/presenter. He later rose to studio manager with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and before being appointed its General Manager for Western Australia (1936-47) and Victoria (1947-53). After retiring from the ABC he joined the Age newspaper as Public Relations Officer.
1. When Charlton joined 2BL in 1929 it was being operated by the Australian Broadcasting Company (not to be confused with the Australian Broadcasting Commission – better known as the ABC). He remained with 2BL when the ABC assumed ownership in 1932 and in the early 1930s often presented programmes on poultry farming and pigeons (among other duties).
2: Charlton died in Melbourne on 6 June 1976. His sons Michael (1927-) and Tony (1929-2012) also carved out long careers in the media.
Image source: West Australian (Perth) 1 Apr. 1947, 6.
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CARLTON CHASE
American singer/revue and burlesque lead actor.
“Fashion-plate” entertainer Carlton Chase toured South Africa and the USA (with Ziegfield Follies) before joining the American Burlesque Company for its 1913-14 Australasian tour. After the company disbanded he toured the Fullers‘ circuit with troupes led by ex-American Burlesque Company members Paul Stanhope and Bert Le Blanc. Chase went back to America after the war, but returned to Australia in 1924. During the remainder of the 1920s he appeared in vaudeville and pantomimes, on radio and with various revue/revusical troupes (including George Ward‘s company). His whereabouts after 1929 are unknown.
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MAURICE CHENOWETH
(1881-1968) Tenor, revue producer, straight man, music teacher, composer, manager.
After graduating from Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium, Maurice Chenoweth toured Australasia with the Westminster Glee Club and performed with the Leidertaefel and Royal Philharmonic Societies, before turning to a career in vaudeville. He had long associations with Harry Clay and Fullers’ Theatres as both a performer and manager. Chenoweth also had a good deal of involvement in radio as a performer in variety programmes during the late-1920s/early-1930s.
Essie Clay’s career on the stage encompassed both variety and serious drama between the early to mid-1890s and World War I. She first appeared on stage as a child, touring with her parents Harry and Kate Clay, and made her debut with Harry Rickards in 1898. Her career highlight was a dramatic tour of Queensland in 1909 starring opposite Scottish tragedian Walter Bentley. Clay’s last known stage appearances were in 1914.
Largely associated with her husband Harry Clay, Catherine Clay started performing in the early 1890s as Kate Henry and later toured with the same minstrel troupes – notably Walshe’s Novelty Co, the Continental Vaudeville Co (1898, 1899) and the Australian Eleven (1899-1900) before helping establish Clay’s Waxworks and Vaudeville Co in 1900. She retired in 1905 after having appeared on each of the annual Queensland tours (billed as either Kate Henry or Kate Clay).
(1870-1948) American actor, comedian, dancer, Dame, songwriter, comedy writer. [Born: Frank Ernest Edwards in New York]
Born into an acrobatic family, Nat Clifford started out with Barnum and Bailey’s Circus but later attempted a career in the US Navy. After realising that his future lay in the theatre he quickly rose to be a vaudeville star, while also securing notoriety as a boxer, pimp, card sharp, bigamist and prison escapee. In the 1890s Clifford began to diversify into song writing, finding international success that led to Australia engagements with Harry Rickards (1904), William Anderson (1909-10) and James Brennan (1910-11). During these tours he wrote songs for many local artists, including Jennie Opie, Maude Beatty and Ernest Fitts.
Sometimes referred to as an Englishman (due to his many years in British musical hall), Clifford later carved out a highly successful career in Hollywood as Frank Terry, a gagman for silent films and in the 1920s and 1930s as Laurel and Hardy’s comedy writer. He also wrote occasionally under the pseudonym La Petit Franklin. Clifford/Terry died in California, having spent several years as a missionary to a leper colony in Hawaii.
Image source: National Library of Australia.
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TOMMY CLYDE
Scotch comedian, singer, entertainer.
One of the first comedians to score a radio contract in Australia, Tommy Clyde’s was active in this country between 1922 and 1929. He initially secured engagements with Harry Clay (Sydney/New South Wales), Fullers’ Theatres (Brisbane), T.A. Shafto (Perth), People’s Concerts (Melbourne), and Roland Staverli (Hobart), with reports from this period indicating that he specialised in presenting Harry Lauder‘s song success (by permission), while also regaling audiences with Scottish stories and Lauder anecdotes. In late 1923 he accepted a contract with 2BL (Sydney) to present comedy and stories on a weekly basis. He maintained a heavy involvement with radio up until 1929 (joining 2GB in 1928), while also continuing to work as a vaudeville and musical comedy comedian.
1. The 1923 Hobart season at Temperance Hall was with the Maynard Dakin English Entertainers (aka Cabaret Follies).
2. Clyde’s stage appearances between 1925 and 1927 were largely with Fred E. White‘s touring musical comedy company. Among the works he featured in were White’s Dancing Nancy (1925), a 1926 revival of Cockatoo Farm (1922) and Madamoiselle from Armentieres (ca. 1927).
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Calvert to Clyde ……. p.1 Cogill Brothers to Freda Cuthbert ……. p.2
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COGILL BROTHERS
American comics, dancers, singers, entrepreneurs, writers, producers. [Charles William Cogill (-1903) and Harry Payon Cogill (ca. 1859-1903)]
Considered to be among the most significant minstrel showmen to work the Australasian region during the late-1800s, Charles and Harry Cogill first came to the region with Billy Emerson’s Minstrels in 1885 and remained for more than 15 years. During that period they were largely known for running their own troupes, supporting local performers and introducing many hit sketches, farces and songs. Charles left Australia ca. 1900 and died of consumption in San Francisco. Harry toured his own companies around Australasia and the East until 1902. He died in New York, less than a month after the death of his brother.
(1892-1971) Singer, elocutionist, songwriter. [Born David Harley Victor Cohen in Sydney]
Harley Cohen first came to prominence in 1916 when his song “They Were There, There, There” (written while recovering from wounds received at Gallipoli) became a hit for Peter Dawson on the Tivoli circuit. Later that year he co-founded the Gallipoli Strollers, a troupe of wounded veterans which toured Australia through until the early 1920s. Cohen’s solo turns largely comprised songs and monologues, most of which he wrote himself.
NB: In later years Cohen’s songs were published under the name Harley Cohan.
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KEN COLLIE
(1910-1984) Comedian, singer, dancer, musician (banjo), radio announcer/performer, author.
Ken Collie started his career in Melbourne the early 1920s playing child parts in melodrama at theatres such as the Playhouse and Gaiety. He toured with Frank Neil‘s Company in 1928 and worked in revue and pantomime as a specialty artist and light comic before turning to radio in 1933 (both as an announcer and performer). He initially worked for 3KZ and 3UZ in Melbourne and later for radio stations in Newcastle, Deniliquin and Broken Hill (New South Wales). Collie maintained a link with the stage during the 1930s, however, touring Tasmania with the Frivolities of 1935 and in his own shows – notably “Laugh Time” and “Radio Rascals” (partnering artists such as Myrtle MacDonald and Dorothy Watkins).
Collie was involved in broadcasting for the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces during WWII, and was sent to Kure, Japan to manage radio station WLKS following the country’s surrender. He returned to run WLKS during the Korean War with his wife. In his later career Collie worked as a journalist for the Argus (Melbourne) and published fiction, poetry and articles in a range of magazines and newspapers. He also published Once a Jolly Gagman (1964) and compiled and edited Australasian Post’s Great Joke Book in the 1970s.
Image: Captain Ken Collie at Radio Station WLKS, Japan ca. 1950. Source: Australian War Memorial.
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LES CONEY
(1891-1943) Comedian, songwriter, actor (radio/film).
The nephew of comedian Fred Bluett, Leslie William Coney started out as an amateur comedian/singer in Melbourne at age 11 and turned professional at 15. His first big break was with the Gaiety Vaudeville Company in September 1906. He was still entertaining audiences up until the early-1940s, both on the stage and as a radio actor/comedian and singer. During his five decades-long career Coney toured extensively throughout the Australasian region, was involved in radio from its start in 1924 (he claims to have been the first comedian to be broadcast on Sydney station 2FC), and appeared in two films in the early 1930s – Fellers (1930) and Showgirl’s Luck (1931). Coney also wrote many of his own songs, one of the most successful being “The Old Sundowner” (which Fred Bluett made a hit in London ca. 1913/1914). Regarded as a prominent “sportsman” in Sydney where he lived for many years, Coney died at the Randwick Auxiliary Hospital on 14 June 1943, survived by his wife Annie (nee Ryder) and three children, Phillip, Leslie and Jennifer.
Image source: Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 13 June 1935, 11. Thanks to Stig Hokanson for additional research.
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THE CONGO MINSTREL [1]
(1848-1849) Blackface minstrel act (presented by J.P. Hydes).
Upon his arrival in the Australian colonies, John Proctor Hydes established himself as a minstrel entertainer and actor at Sydney’s Royal Victoria Theatre. His debut appearance was on 25 April 1848 as the Congo Minstrel, supporting J.W. Newlands and his Chromatrope. Hydes continued to present the act through until May then focused on acting roles. He revived the Congo Minstrel at Melbourne’s Queen’s Theatre during April and May the following year. The act, which was said to be illustrative of the Negro life in Kentucky, comprised Negro plantation melodies, witty conundrums and funniosities. These were accompanied by bone castanets.
The Chromatrope was limelight projector which exhibited dissolving images.
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THE CONGO MINSTREL [2]
(1849-50) Blackface minstrel act (presented by Charles Young).
A little under two months after J.P. Hydes debuted his Congo Minstrel act at Melbourne’s Queen’s Theatre, the venue’s lessee/manager Charles Young presented a similar act under the same name during a benefit show given to music director Mr Megson (16 July). For his 24 October performance Young is recorded as singing the favourite Ethiopian melody “Melbourne Gals Have Pretty Faces” with bone castanet accompaniment. His last known appearances as the Congo Minstrel were at Hobart’s Royal Victoria Theatre in August 1850.
Although advertising for the 16 July performance indicates that this was Mr Young’s second performance as the Congo Minstrel, no details regarding the first performance have yet been located.
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THE CONGO MINSTREL [3]
(1849) Blackface minstrel act (presented by Mr Jackson).
Advertising published in Melbourne’s Argus newspaper by the Queen’s Theatre management records: “The celebrated American Serenader [Mr Jackson] will have the honour of making his first appearance in the Colonies as the Congo Minstrel, and sing the Ethiopian Melody of ‘Dandy Jim from Caroline’ accompanying himself with the Congo Bone Castinets, as originally performed by him with 2,000 stick approbation” (19 Oct. 1849, 3). No other appearances have been located. Interestingly Charles Young, the theatre’s lessee/manager, made his re-appearance as the Congo Minstrel [2] five nights later.
No details regarding Mr Jackson’s activities in Australia, or his given name, have yet been located.
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NB: A troupe of blackface performers known as the Congo Minstrels was also active in Tasmania around the same period. See entry in Troupes [A-F]. See also the Piccaninny Congo Minstrel (aka Master Chambers) in Practitioners [P-Q]
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GERRY CONNOLLY
(1908-) Singer, dancer, actor, musician, band leader, radio host.
The youngest of three children born to entertainers Gerald Shaw and Mary Connolly, Gerry Connolly was born in Sydney and made his first stage appearance at age three. He later worked with his siblings, Keith and Gladys in various companies, as well as independently. Prior to beginning his full-time radio career with 4BC (Brisbane) in 1937 Connolly worked for such firms as Tivoli Celebrity Vaudeville, Union Theatres, and Fullers’ Theatres as both performer and stage band leader. He was also associated with Brisbane’s Cremorne Theatre and spent three years touring with J.C. Williamson’s musical and revue companies (1935-37). Connolly remained at 4BC until 1953 as breakfast announcer before taking on the same role with 2UE (Sydney).
For further details see: Sharon Connolly. My Giddy Aunt and Her Sister Comedians. Perth (WA): Upswell, 2022.
Connolly’s stage debut was likely made in one of his parents’ shows shortly before they separated in 1912. His siblings were known professionally as Keith Connolly and Gladys Shaw.
(1897-1961) New Zealand-born comedian, actor, dancer, singer, band leader.
Keith Warrington Connolly performed with his parents’ variety troupe from age seven and was later a member of the Young Australia League. In 1916 he enlisted with the Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) and went on to serve with the Mining Corps. After returning home in 1919 he and his sister Gladys Shaw toured with such troupes as the Royal Strollers [2] (1919) and Nat Phillips’ Stiffy and Mo Revue Co (1921-25) before forming Keith’s Syncopating Jesters (1925-27). Connolly’s career, which continued well into the 1950s, included engagements with George Wallace, Nat Phillip’s Whirligigs, Fullers All-American Revue Co (including New Zealand, 1939) and in companies featuring Roy Rene, Stud Foley, Nellie Kolle, and his wife Elsie Hosking.
For further details see: Sharon Connolly. My Giddy Aunt and Her Sister Comedians. Perth (WA): Upswell, 2022.
1: Connolly’s father, Gerald Shaw, was a basso/theatrical manager who also became involved in a series of mining ventures during the early-1900s.
2: Connolly married entertainer Elsie Hosking in December 1926. Their only child, Keith Andrew Warrington Connolly (1928 -2005), became a journalist and much-respected film critic.
Thanks to Sharon Connolly for the above information and image.
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MARY CONNOLLY
aka Mary Warrington / Claire Delmar / Madam Marie Shaw
(1864 -1931) Serio comic and burlesque artist, actor. [Born: Mary Agnes Warrington]
Mary Connolly’s earliest known stage appearances were as Claire Delmar in 1892. By then she was mother of two sons to draper, Edward Connolly. In 1894 she began a relationship with variety entertainer Gerald Shaw and that same year toured New Zealand where the Auckland Star described her as “a clever performer and a public favorite.” Her career also involved dramatic performances like Wilson Forbes’s 1902 productions of East Lynne and Camille. From 1904 onward, as Madam Marie Shaw, she toured with her family troupe – known variously as Shaw’s Royal Entertainers, Shaw’s Merrymakers and The English Pierrots. After separating from Shaw during the mid-1910s she resumed the name Connolly.
For further details see: Sharon Connolly. My Giddy Aunt and Her Sister Comedians. Perth (WA): Upswell, 2022.
1: Connolly’s 1892 engagements included appearances with William Rignold’s company in Newcastle and with Dan Tracey’s Gaiety Theatre Company in Sydney.
2: She and Gerald Shaw (aka Harry Thomson and Harry Shaw) had three children, Gladys, Keith and Gerry, all of whom went on to become entertainers.
Thanks to Sharon Connolly for the above information and image.
Mike Connors came to Australia on a Fullers‘ contract. The following year, while touring with Bert Le Blanc’s Travesty Stars he met and married Queenie Paul. The couple remained Fullers artists until 1930, with much of the time spent in association with Nat Phillips. In 1931 they established Con-Paul Theatres and began reviving the Tivoli circuit. After selling their interest in 1934 the couple toured revues, notably with George Wallace and Syd Beck, until Connors turned to full-time radio work in 1938. Employed by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) he established himself as a extremely popular radio host through the “Hospital Half Hour,” and as a breakfast announcer. He also worked as a comedian on “Out of the Bag.”
1: Reportedly born in New York, Connors came to Australia with stage partner Fred Witt (billed as “the harmony boys”).
2: Much of Connors and Paul’s time with the Fullers was spent touring with Nat Phillips’ Stiffy and Mo and Whirligigs companies.
3: Connors died in Sydney on 16 January 1949 after some three months of ill health. His passing was widely reported throughout Australia. He was survived by his wife Queenie, daughter Celestine (later Celestine McDermott) and son Paul.
Sketch artists, singers/dancers, entrepreneurs, producers. Mike Connors (1892-1949); Queenie Paul (1894-1982)
Mike Connors met and married Queenie Paul during their 1917 engagement with Bert Le Blanc’s Travesty Stars. The couple remained on the Fullers’ circuit until the late 1920s, spending many years as members of Nat Phillips’ Stiffy and Mo Company. They established Con-Paul Theatres in 1931 and revived the Tivoli circuit. After selling their interests in the company in 1934 the couple worked as independent producers. Connors later became a successful ABC radio host. After his death Paul worked professionally until her death, producing revues, playing the club circuits and singing on television.
American duo Mike Connors and Freddy Witt came to Australia in 1916 under contract to Fullers’ Theatres. Billed as “the harmony boys,” the two tenors performed a repertoire of Irish, “coon” and ragtime songs at the piano (played by Witt). In 1917 they joined Bert Le Blanc’s Travesty Stars, an engagement which saw Connors meet and marry Queenie Paul. After Connors and Paul departed, Witt remained with the company until the early 1920s. Both men went on to establish high profile careers in Australia. Witt’s Australian career saw him eventually become involved in radio as a performer, music director and manager.
(1891-1984) Dancer, comedian, acrobat, film actor. [Born: Clyde Wilfred Cook, near Port Macquarie, New South Wales]
A skilled acrobat and dancer before he first appeared on stage in 1901, within a few years Clyde Cook went on to establish an acclaimed reputation as an all-around comic entertainer, and in doing so carved out a hugely successful career in Australia and Great Britain as in the early-1900s. Cook specialised in dance routines and comic roles in both vaudeville and musical comedy and in 1919 left Australia in 1919 to try his luck in America. He subsequently went on to become a star of the early Hollywood film industry (appearing in more than 130 films).
(ca. 1883-) Singer, comedian, actor, troupe manager/proprietor. [Born: James Herbert Corrigan]
Although described in advertising in 1908 as “Melbourne’s Favourite Baritone,” Bert Corrie’s career prior to that year is currently unknown. Largely associated with Doris Baker between 1911 and 1923, Corrie also performed both solo. His other partnerships included Claude Golding (1909-10), Joe Verne (1924-25), Heather Belle (1925), Tom Preston (1928), Jarvis the Talking Dog (ca. 1932), and Joe Rox (1935). During his career he worked for numerous vaudeville firms, including the Tivoli circuit, and occasionally toured his own shows. His longest associations were possibly with Fullers’ Theatres and Harry Clay. He was also heard regularly on radio during the 1930s. His last known performances were in 1939 aboard the Brisbane River show and cruise boat S.S. Gippsland.
1: Advertisements and reviews published in 1908 indicate that Corrie was still using his birth surname for some engagements. It is unclear whether the Master Bert Corrie performing in Terang, Victoria, in 1896 is the same person. Also in the programme was a Miss B. Corrie (possibly a sibling).
2: Corrie and Verne, along with Doris Baker, toured as the Austral Trio between 1916 and 1917.
3: Corrie and Baker married ca. 1911/1912. Their divorce in 1926 received much attention in newspapers around Australia, largely due to the salacious nature of their difficult marriage.
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CORRIE & BAKER
(ca. 1912-1923) Song, dance and patter act.
Bert Corrie and Doris Baker began touring together in the early 1910s before marrying in 1911 or 1912. Corrie was 29 and Baker 19. Over the next 13 years the couple performed throughout Australasia as a duo, individually (either in the same or in different troupes), and as with Joe Verne (Austral Trio). Doris also worked a double act (The Golden Duo) with another female for a while. Among the biggest firms and managers to secure their services were Brennan-Fuller, Fullers’ Theatres, West’s Picture, Harry Sadler, Dix-Baker, Frank Wright, and Harry Clay. The pair undertook two tours of New Zealand (1912/1919) and operated their own shows at various times.
1.: When their marriage ended in a much-publicised divorce in 1926 Corrie and Baker were both described as having combative temperaments. It was further revealed that the pair had endured years of fighting (including at least two previous attempts at divorce), parting ways and making up. Both levelled allegations of desertion, cruelty, drunkenness and immorality in the final court case. Their last engagements together are believed to been in 1923.
2.: The 1926 Truth expose records that in addition to “travelling around the various states with small theatricals,” Corrie and Baker also ran Dandies Parties and Sunshine Players. No details relating to these companies have yet been located, however.
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CORRIE & VERNE
(1924-1925) Comedy, patter, song and dance act.
By late 1923 Bert Corrie’s 13 year marriage to fellow entertainer and stage partner Doris Baker was all but over (they would divorce in 1926). Sometime early in 1924 he reunited with comedian Joe Verne (formerly with Corrie and Baker in the Austral Trio), the pair making their first known appearance in Bathurst, New South Wales, in late February. Over the next 12 months the two men worked their act for managers such as Weston and Hill, Alf Raleigh, Bambury and White, J.C. Bain, while also touring with George Drew‘s company. Their engagements are believed to have been confined primarily, if not exclusively to Sydney and regional New South Wales.
Comedians/endmen Walter (tambo) and Harry (bones), Lucy (serio-comic/vocalist) and Master Ernest (specialty dancer), came to prominence in Melbourne during the 1870s through their association with the People’s Concerts (Russell St). They cemented their reputations as harlequin and farce specialists in the 1880s with companies run by Alfred Dampier, Tommy Hudson (Melbourne) and Frank Smith (Sydney), and between 1884 and 1887 operated their own Peoples Concerts in Sydney (these were revived in 1891 and 1897). While little is known of Harry, Lucy and Ernest past 1900, Walter continued to perform well into the 1910s.
The family was joined in the late 1880s by Wal Cottier’s wife, Amy Blackie.
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WALTER C. COTTIER
Comedian, endman (tambo), producer.
Having established his credentials as a comedian/endman in Melbourne (1870s), Wal Cottier was invited to join Tommy Hudson‘s company in 1882. With his family he later ran shows in Sydney (1880s/1890s) before carving out a solo career in tandem with his wife, Amy Blackie. Between 1900 and Blackie’s retirement 1909 the secured engagements with Harry Rickards, Frank Smith, Percy St John, Bovis Bros and Harry Clay etc. During the 1910s Cottier worked for the Puglieses, Harry Clay, Harry Barrington, Jack Kearns, Walter Morris, Jacky Landow and Les James among others. He retired ca. 1917.
Film and limelight operator, advance rep, juggler, equilibrist, spruiker.
Lou Courtney began his association with Harry Clay in 1904 as an advance rep. He was later employed as a film and limelight operator, while occasionally performing as equilibrist. After returning from WWI service Courtney was re-employed by Clay. He also managed the Bridge Theatre in Newtown after Clay’s death in 1925.
A niece of Peter McCourt, owner of the Silver Circuit of theatres (USA), Maude Courtney began performing songs and recitations in public as a child. She reportedly made her professional debut at the Casino Roof Garden, New York, in June 1898, and quickly gained a reputation in musical comedy, farce and vaudeville/music hall. Known in her early career as “the girl who sings the old songs,” Courtney was the first to have a hit with “The Honeysuckle and The Bee.” She toured Britain, Europe, South Africa and India before teaming up with Finlay Currie as Maude Courtney and Mr C sometime between 1906 and 1911). She likely retired from performing in the early 1930s.
1: In Australia Courtney was initially billed as “the Yankee Girl.” She was also known as “The Dainty Girl” largely in response to her “sweet voice, simple demeanor and gentle manners.”
2: Several secondary sources insist that she and Currie worked together as early as the 1890s. There is no evidence to support this claim.
Image: Hemus Sarony (Christchurch, New Zealand, ca. 1911). Source: Footlight Notes
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VINCE COURTNEY
Songwriter, singer, revusical and pantomime actor.
One of Australia’s leading variety songwriters of the 1910s and 1920s, Vince Courtney often performed with his wife, Eva. For several years he was a key member of Nat Phillips’ Stiffy and Mo Revue Co, and contributed songs to The Bunyip pantomime (1916). Many of his songs were also written for other leading variety performers.
James Craydon spent the first 20 years of his professional career as a member of the “Australian Team” Delohery, Craydon and Holland. After the trio called in quits in the early 1900s, Craydon worked both a solo act and in partnership with his wife, Addie Barton and their daughter, Letty (billed as Baby Jackson). Over the next two decades he appeared on bills for Harry Rickards, James Brennan, Ted Holland, J.C. Bain and others before turning his career towards the production side – as a stage manager, agent and producer.
Image source: Quiz and Lantern (Adelaide) 21 Apr. 1898, 15.
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LETTY CRAYDON
(1899-1965) dancer, comedy soubrette, songwriter, writer (radio and stage), actress.
The daughter of James Craydon (Delohery, Craydon and Holland) and soubrette Addie Barton, Letty Craydon spent more than 60 years on the stage, initially billed as Baby Jackson. In the 1920s she worked in vaudeville, revue, pantomime and musical comedy, and was a member of companies led by Jim Gerald and George Wallace among others. Craydon turned to writing in the 1930s and appeared at least nine films and toured Australia and England in dramatic and comedy roles. She and her husband, comedian Ron Shand also toured their own company.
Harry Cremar and his wife Daisy came to Australia in May 1885 with the Rickards-Leete Combination. The couple separated later that same year, however, and in August 1886 their nine year marriage ended in divorce. Shortly afterwards, while in Queensland, Cremar was sacked from the company after he and Harry Rickards had a falling out. He later toured Australasia with a number of minstrel, musical comedy and dramatic companies including those run by Rose Clifford, Maude Danvers, Martyn Hagan (Oriental Minstrel Co) and F.E. Hiscocks (Federal Minstrels / Royal Court Minstrels). He also ran his own troupe (Harry Cremar Combination), appeared with the U.S. Minstrels, and operated the Victoria Theatre, Wyalong, in regional New South Wales (early-1894).
1: The Rickards-Leete Combination was bought to Australia by George Rignold and James Allison.
2: The Cremar’s are believed to have separated around September/October 1885. Daisy, who was thereafter known professionally by her maiden name, Simpson, eventually left the Rickards troupe in June 1886. Her initial divorce petition, which she sought on the grounds of her husband’s cruelty and adultery, was denied after the court refused to accept her claims without evidence and questioned its own jurisdiction given they were not residents. She later appealed, and while the court again refused to give credence to her allegations, it accepted that the couple had intended to make Victoria their headquarters, and granted the divorce.
3: Survived by his second wife and two small children, Cremar’s sudden and unexpected death in Sydney on 24 August 1894 left his family destitute. A benefit was subsequently organised by J. Harding Tucker.
An accomplished all-round entertainer and legitimate actor, Colin Croft toured as a juvenile female impersonator with the Young Australia League (Y.A.L., 1931-35), the Young Australian Boys Band and Revue Party (1937-39) and the Young Australian and New Zealand Revue Co (1940). Before joining the 2nd Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) in 1942 (with which he served in the entertainment corps), Croft starred in 2GB’s Radio Youth Show and the ABC’s Comedy Club, and toured with various revue companies. After the war he worked in revue (Tivoli circuit) and musical comedy (J.C. Williamson’s) before heading to England in 1949. His British career included radio, film, television, musicals and drama. Croft returned to Australia in the early 1960s.
1: Colin Croft’s film and television career involved at least 12 UK and Australian films and more than 30 television series and telemovies. Notable films incl. Tread Softly (England, 1952), Careful, He Might Hear You (1983), The Wild Duck (1984) and Kokoda Trail (1989). His television credits include The Adventures of Robin Hood (England), Skippy, Division 4, Number 96, Alvin Purple, Sons and Daughters and The Family Business.
2: His first British success was in the controversial 1950 Australian “outback” play Pommy (produced by Peter Finch. In 1953 he became the first non-American to play the lead comedy role in the Drury Lane season of South Pacific (it had by then been running for 18 months).
Image source: Manning River Times (Taree, NSW) 13 Mar. 1940, 3.
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MARSHALL CROSBY
(1882-1954) Stage and film actor, singer, comedian, trade union official. [Born: Joseph Alexander Crosby]
Marshall Crosby made his professional debut with English entertainer Lesley Harris in 1907 (as a baritone). After working his way up to Harry Rickards circuit (and later the Hugh McIntosh-led Tivoli company) he went on to appear in J.C. Williamson’s musicals in the 1920s before joining George Wallace‘s revue company (1924-30). He also later starred in the Wallace films His Royal Highness (1932) and Harmony Row (1933). Crosby’s late career saw him appear in more than dozen films, take lead roles in radio serials and dramas and become President of the Actors’ and Announcers Equity Association.
His son Donald (1924-1985) became a well-known actor and prominent actor’s union representative. For further details see “George Wallace Donald (Don) Crosby (1924-1985).” Australian Dictionary of Biography [sighted 6/10/2016]
Image source: Sunday Times (Sydney) 26 Apr 1914, 22.
Finlay Jefferson Currie began his show business career at age 20, working as a double-voiced singer (under the name Harry Calvo) in London and the British provinces before making his US debut in 1906 at Tony Pastor’s, New York. He could reportedly sing as a baritone, tenor and soprano. Currie met his future wife, American comedienne Maud Courtney prior to them making their Australian debut in 1911. As Maud Courtney and Mr C. they toured throughout Australasia (1911-1912, 1917-1926) and internationally until the early-1930s. After making his film debut in The Old Man (England, 1931), Currie went on to appear in more than 150 film and television productions in both Britain and America.
1: Currie’s only Australian film was Kangaroo (1952). During his extensive film career he garnered much acclaim for his roles in Great Expectations (1946) and People Will Talk (1951, opposite Cary Grant). He also featured in Ben Hur (1959). His last role was in the British television series, The Saint (1968).
2: The son of a Black Watch officer, Currie was born in Edinburgh Castle while his father was stationed there. In his later life he became a much respected antiques dealer, specializing in coins and precious metals.
Image: Spotlight Casting, 1939. Source: Gilbert Davis Vintage Photoprint.
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CUSKO’S MONKEYS
(aka Cusko’s Monkeys, Dogs and Cockatoos / Cusko’s Jungle Circus)
(ca. 1910s-1950) Animal act.
William Henderson (aka Bill Cusko) started out in the circus at age seven. During a 12 year engagement with the Fitzgerald Brothers he discovered an ability to train animals and eventually went on to tour his own act in both circus and vaudeville. His first stars were monkeys Judy and Biddy, and “Jerry the Wonder Dog.” In addition to an 18 year association with the Melbourne Aquarium and working under contract for various variety firms, Cusko also managed his own tours. His last known appearances were with George Sorlie in 1950.
Image Source: Port Pirie Recorder and Western Mail (SA) 26 Oct. 1917, 2.
In a career spanning five decades Freda Cuthbert worked as dancer and animal trainer in vaudeville and for film exhibitors. In the early 1900s she studied dance in Melbourne with the Hymans sisters and in 1906 performed routines in the lions’ den at Prince’s Court. Although considered Australia’s queen of the Salome dance during the 1910s, she turned to training dogs in the early-1920s, touring variety/revue shows and specialty entertainments such as A Day in Dogtown and A Dog’s Life with her husband Joseph Rinaldo (aka Rinaldo Flaneur). Her last recorded appearance was at the Parkside Cinema, Ipswich (Queensland) in 1940, where she presented “The World’s Greatest Dog Actors… direct from leading southern theatres.”
1: In a 1934 Perth interview Cuthbert claims to have been born into a show business family, and that after coming to Australia with Bostock and Wombwell’s Menagerie as a wild animal trainer, she later worked for Wirth’s Circus (“Snakes and Lion’s Cubs for Pets.”. Daily News 27 Sept. 1934, 11). There is evidence suggesting that some or all of this may have been either fabrication or embellishment. While it has been ascertained that she did perform dance routines in the Prince’s Court lions’ den as early as April 1906, the Bostock and Wombell company only arrived in Australia at Fremantle in September 1905 and did not play Melbourne until October 1906. The company’s wild animal trainer and tour manager has been identified as Captain Taylor (“Chat with Lion Tamer.”. Barrier Miner 16 Dec. 1905, 5). Cuthbert’s Prince’s Court appearances were presented in the company of animal trainer Mons. Marco, who possibly also schooled her in the craft. Although Cleo Bullen (nee Rinaldo) records in a 2007 Age interview (“A Gradual Disappearing Act.”) that her mother toured as a snake charmer and lion tamer with Bostock and Wombell no primary source evidence has yet been found to support the claim. It may therefore be heresay. It is feasible that Cuthbert had an association with Wirth’s after the company took control of Prince’s Court in August 1906.
2: A Freda Cuthbert has been identified as appearing in the Clifton Operatic Society’s 1905 production of H.M.S. Pinafore (Age 11 Nov. 1905, 16). The advertisement indicates that she was a student of the well-known Hymans sisters of Melbourne. It is believed that this is the same person.
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