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Article:  An Old Stager, Actors and Actresses I HAVE KNOWN. XII.GUSTAVUS VAUGHAN BROOKE, Illustrated Sydney News, 29 October 1892, 18
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Article:  Helen Oppenheim, Brooke, Gustavus Vaughan (1818–1866), Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXIX., Sydney Sportsman, 21 December 1904, 3
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXVII., Sydney Sportsman, 7 December 1904, 3
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. NO. LXXVIII., Sydney Sportsman, 14 December 1904, 3
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXVIII., Sydney Sportsman, 9 November 1904, 3
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXIV., Sydney Sportsman, 16 November 1904, 8
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Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXV., Sydney Sportsman, 23 November 1904, 3
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Charles Lamb, in an essay on some old actors, remarks that the casual sight of on old playbill which he had picked up brought back such a flood of memories that he was constrained to 'write them up.' Lamb says : 'These old remembrances makes us feel how we once used to read a play-bill, not as now, peradventure, singling out a favorite performer, and casting, a negligent eye over the rest, but spelling out every name, to the very mutes and servants of the scene.' This was written over 80 years ago, and the words are applicable to-day. There is no greater delight to an old playgoer than in turning over a sheaf of old play-bills and living in the past, and with these dead and gone actors recalling happy days that are no more.
Next, perhaps, to the delight of recalling the actors and actresses of our boyhood days is the present delight of running through old books and papers, musty with age; when in search perhaps of one object you light upon another and are equally a gainer of pleasure. One day recently, to get rid of some cobwebs which had gathered about the brain, I strolled among some of my old familiar friends, the second-hand booksellers of Sydney, and in the shop of Mr. J. Murphy, 22 Castlereagh-street, I came across what was to me an almost priceless treasure, a copy of the play-bill of the opening night of the old Queen's Theatre, Melbourne, now nearly 60 years ago. Mr. Murphy very kindly presented me with the relic, and as it brings back to earth, in memory, some of our ancient favorites, I may be excused for quoting it in extenso.
QUEEN'S THEATRE ROYAL,
QUEEN-STREET, MELBOURNE.
OPENING NIGHT.
THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 1, 1845.
The proprietor having completed his arrangements for the opening of the New Theatre Royal, Queen-street, on the above-named evening, has the honor of announcing to the patrons of the drama —the public of Melbourne and its vicinity—that he had secured all the available talent in the province, and is in communication with neighbouring colonies for the purpose of adding strength to his company.
Previous to the rising of the curtain an opening address will be delivered by Mr. Nesbitt.
ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 1, the performances will commence with Tobin's celebrated Comedy (in five acts),
THE HONEYMOON.
Duke Aranga ……………… Mr. Nesbitt
Balthazar ………………….. Mr. Capper
Count Montalban …………. Mr. Boyd
Rolando ………………….... Mr. Cameron
Jacques …………………….. Mr. Lee
Lampedo ………………...… Mr. Cochrane
Campillo …………………... Mr. C. Boyd
Lopez ……………………… Mr. Miller
Servant …………………….. Mr. Jacobs
Juliana ……………………... Mrs. Cameron
Zamora …………………….. Mrs. Knowles
Volanto …………………….. Mrs. Boyd
Hostess …………………….. Mrs. Avins
Villagers …………………… Messrs. Jones and Smith
In Act 4 a rustic dance incidental to the Comedy.
End of the Comedy, an Admired Song by Mrs. Knowles; a Comic Song by Mr. Miller.
To conclude with the laughable Farce of the
UNFINISHED GENTLEMEN ;
or
BELLES, BEAUX, CANTABS AND TIGERS.
Lord Totterley (an
Adonis of 60) ………………. Mr. Capper
Hon. Frisk Flammer ………... Mr. Boyd
Jem Miller (an Incipient tiger
or gentleman's gentleman)….. Mr. Miller
Charles Danvers ……………. Mr. C. Boyd
Bill Downey (an unfinished
gentleman, a polished philoso-
pher) ………………………… Mr. Lee
Bailiffs ………………………. Messrs. Cochrane and Jones
Louisa (with songs) ………..... Mrs. Knowles
Chintz ……………………..… Mrs. Cameron
Doors open at half-past 6. Performance to commence at 7 precisely.
Dress circle 5s, half-price 3s ; upper Circle 4s, half-price 2s ; pit 2s 6d, half price 1s 6d ; gallery 1s 6d, no half price.
Proprietor, Mr. Smith ; stage manager, Mr. Nesbitt; mechanist, Mr. Capper.
Vivat Regina.
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Mrs. Avins was the last of the thespians who opened the "old Queen's" to "Pass over." She died in the Actors' Homes, built by Mr. George Coppin some years ago. Mrs. Avis had been a subscriber to the Dramatic and Musical Fund founded by Mr. Coppin, which gave her a claim on the Homes, of which she availed herself.
Mr. Capper died between the ages of 80 and 90 years. I had the pleasure of meeting the ancient on more than one occasion, long after he had retired from the stage. He was particularly fond of reminiscing both in the newspapers and on the platform and was as full of old lore as the hungriest antiquarian could desire. Mr. Capper wrote a book, about which more at another time.
Six weeks later, the success of Mr. John Thomas Smith's theatre having precipitated matters, Mr. George Coppin, with a company, crossed over from Launceston, under the following agreement ; —
''Theatre, Launceston,
“May 30, 1845.
“We, the undersigned, hereby agree to proceed to Melbourne by the brig Swan, and to perform there under the management of George Coppin, Esq., for a season, and to return to Launceston when required, he paying passages both ways; and we also bind ourselves under a penalty of £25— to be paid to the said George Coppin— that we will not perform at the Melbourne Theatre, or any other place of amusement, unless it is under the management of the said George Coppin, or by his free will and consent.
'”Signed) Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Young, Mrs. and Miss Thompson, Messrs. F. B. Watson, E. A. Opie, J. Hambleton, J. Wilks, B. Rae, J. Megson, W. Howson, A. Howson, and A. M'Donald.”
Mr . Opie, or one of the same name, was a scene painter, and Mr. J. Megson was leader of the orchestra.
On arrival Mr, Coppin found that he could not come to terms with Mr. J. T. Smith, who, by the way, was also the proprietor of the St. John's Tavern, next door, and sooner then be "stuck," or allow the monopolist to dictate his own terms, Mr. Coppin engaged the large room at the Royal Hotel, in Collins-street, where afterwards stood the well-known and much-frequented, and where now stands the Union Bank of Australia, with a firm determination to oppose the theatre. John Thomas Smith appears to have taken fright at the energy of the man from Launceston, and came to terms. What these terms were, Mr. Smith announced in his playbill:-
QUEEN'S THEATRE ROYAL,
Queen-street, Melbourne.
The proprietor is happy to announce to his friends and the public generally that he has entered into an agreement with Mr. Coppin and the entire of his Corps Dramatique, to perform alternate nights with the present company for one month only. Trusting the greatest combination of talent ever witnessed in any of the colonies will receive the patronage and support it will ever be his study to deserve.
On Saturday evening, June 21, 1845, the entertainments will commence with Sir E. Lytton Bulwer's celebrated play (In five acts), entitled the
LADY OF LYONS.
Claude Melnotte ………… Mr, Charles Young
Colonel Damas ………….. Mr. Rogers
Beauseant ……………….. Mr. Thompson
Glavis …………………… Mr. Coppin
Mons. Deschappelles Mr. Watson
Pauline ………………….. Mrs. Coppin
Madame Deschappelles … Mrs. Watson
Previous to the play, and during the
evening, the band will play : — Overture, 'Italiana in Algero' (Rossini); overture, 'Fra DiaVolo' (Auber); .quadrille, 'Royal Irish' (Julien).
Wreath dance ……………. Mrs. Chas. Young
Song—
'Should He Upbraid 'Me …. Mrs. Rogers
Comic song ……………… Mrs Hambleton
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Young will dance the 'Tarantella,' in the costume of the country.
To be followed by an entirely new interlude (never acted here), called
THE FOUR SISTERS.
An entirely new comic double, Irish Jig by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Young.
The whole to conclude with the very laughable farce of the
TURNPIKE GATE.
Crack the Cobbler …………. Mr. Coppin
Joe Standfast ………………. Mr. Rogers
Nights of performances during the present month Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
On Monday night will be produced Howard Payne's celebrated tragedy of
BRUTUS,
By the members of the Melbourne Company.
On Tuesday evening will be produced the celebrated comedy of
THE SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER,
And a variety of entertainments by the Launceston Company.
The prices of admission and the time of opening were as on the first night of the theatre.
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Sixty years ago the playgoers of Melbourne got enough for their money. Those who recollect Charlie Young as a comedian will try to imagine him as Claude Melnotte, and then the Tarantella and double Irish jig! and the afterwards classic Mrs. Charles Young-Herman Vezin dancing a double Irish jig. I won der what London Haymarket audiences would have thought of it. However, it would appear as if, in the long ago, all thespians engaged for general utility and general usefulness. You won't require the fingers of one hand to count those of these double bills who new remain on earth.
After a time the amalgamation of the companies took place under the sole management of Mr. Coppin, Mr. J. T. Smith (the proprietor) taking a share of the profits for his rent. I have obtained an insight into the methods and cost of working an early-day theatre. Leading actors in 1845 received from 30s to 40s a week, and were satisfied. Ten years afterwards the same class of actor got from £7 to £12 per week. The entire working of the Queen's Theatre in 1845, with the combined companies, in expenses, was under £60 a week. What profits the manager and lessee must have divided !
What accounts we read of the same old Queen's in the golden roaring 'fifties, when red-shirted, sun-browned diggers, 'lucky diggers' lounged in the dress circle, smoked their pipes, called out to their acquaintances in other parts of the house, pelted their favorites on the stage with golden nuggets, and drank champagne at fabulous prices, ate and drank, sang and danced, as if the good times were never to end. And while the theatres crowded nightly with prices quadrupled, the St. John's Tavern adjoining did a roaring trade. John Thomas Smith, a Magistrate and a member of the City Council, raked the shekels into the till in bucketfuls. The daily and nightly saturnalia beggared description. The time and place are apropos for an incident, which occurred in the early days of the Queen's Theatre and St. John's Tavern.
In July 1846, the neighborhood of the theatre was the scene of an alarming riot, which kept Melbourne in some excitement for more than a week, and threatened at one period to end in a
general fight between Orangemen and Roman Catholics. The Orangemen decided to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne by a banquet in the Pastoral Hotel, which stood on the north-east corner of Queen and Little Bourke streets. The building was
decorated for the occasion, and Orange flags were displayed on polls from the windows facing Queen-street. This display aroused the passions of the R.C's., who assembled in hundreds round the Pastoral Hotel, many on both sides being armed. The Mayor, James Frederick Palmer, hurried to the spot. He ordered the door of the hotel to be opened, and entered, for the purpose of putting a stop to the riot ; but the R.C's., now finding the door opened, rushed through the hallway to the staircase, where they
were met by the Orangeman, and a regular battle ensued.
J. F. Palmer was a medical man, who, on arrival in Melbourne, found that the manufacture of gingerbeer and cordials would pay better than would the vending of Epsom salts and jalap. Palmer in after life became Speaker of the mixed Legislative Council, and President of the Legislative Council under Responsible Government. The doctor was squat, fat man, with a pair of calves that would have been the envy of Dr. Dill Macky to-day.
The crowd in front fired into the hotel, and 'Yellow-bellies' quickly responded. At this moment Father Geoghegan arrived and attempted to restrain his parishioners. As the good old padre (he was the first priest in Melbourne, and became Bishop of Adelaide); was in some danger of getting an ounce of lead, John O'Shannassy and a Mr. Hurley went over to his rescue, when Hurley got a bullet in the shoulder. Another man, drinking a glass of ale in the bar of the St. John's Tavern was badly wounded in the cheek, the shot having crashed through the bar window. The riot now was at its height; the doors, windows, and the furniture of the Pastoral Hotel were demolished ; the one party attacking the building and endeavoring to force an entrance, the other , defending every inch of ground. Fortunately some soldiers appeared upon the scene, and temporary peace was secured.
The R.C/s were induced to disperse by the promise of Dr. Palmer, and his brother magistrates that the Orange dinner should not total place. Three or four persons were badly wounded in the riots. Several of the Orange party were taken into custody and bound over to keep the peace. Mr. William Hinds, a grocer of Queen-street, was charged with firing the shot which wounded Mr. Hurley, and was committed for trial. The town was alarmed the whole of the night by skirmishes between detachments of both factions. On the following day the rival
greens and yellows assembled in different parts of the town. The whole of the hotels were closed by order of the authorities. Many of the shops were shut, and a dense fog, perhaps opportunely settled down upon the town. The police and military were called out, and having formed in Market-street, proceeded to an hotel in Flinders-street, where fifty Orangemen were assembled, but who quickly dispersed when the military and police appeared. They next proceeded to the top of Flinders-street, where afterwards stood the Stork Hotel, where some eighty Roman Catholics were assembled. After some hesitation these were persuaded to go to their several homes. The town was put under martial law for the night, and the soldiers bivouacked in Collins-street, opposite the Royal Exchange Hotel, which stood where the Bank of New South Wales stood thirty years ago. This riot gave birth to the Party Processions Act, prohibiting any party flag from being explayed under any circumstances in the colony of New South Wales, an Act more honored in the breech than in the observance.
The old Princess' Theatre, in Spring street, was built in 1854 by Mr. G. B. W. Lewis, who married Rose Edouin. It was of corrugated iron, and called Astley's Amphitheatre; and therein, with a good stud of trained horses, gave the uproarious diggers the delight of a circus. In 1857 John Black, who built the Theatre Royal in Bourke-street, bought the place, and, by adding a stage, etc., converted it into the Princess' Theatre, wherein Joseph Jefferson made
his first appearance. Of the great American actor-manager more hereafter. While George Coppin was building the Olympic — or 'iron pot'— John Black was building the Theatre Royal. That was in 1855. Mr. Black, in three years, made a huge fortune— or 'pile,' as the diggers named it— as a carrier between Melbourne and the diggings. His long line of drags and wagons were the means of supplying thousands of diggers with the necessaries of life, as much as £100 a ton being paid as freight to Bendigo, 100 miles from Melbourne. Mr. Black's great ambition was to own a theatre, and a fine building he erected. It was the first building lighted with gas in the city. The streets were then lighted with oil lamps, though a company had been formed, and was building its works on the Yarra. Mr. Black, however, built his own retorts, and made his own gas. Black thought that he could manage a theatre as well as he did his horse and bullock teams, but he found to his cost that the two enterprises took a totally different stamp of man to control. After a year of small successes and some heavy failures he leased the theatre to George Coppin, who immediately transferred G. V. Brooke and his company from the 'iron pot' to the Bourke-street establishment. The Theatre Royal was opened with 'The School for Scandal,' Mr. G. H. Rogers being the Sir Peter Teazle. The old Royal had many ups and downs from the first day that John Black opened it, and numerous owners, mortgagees, lessees and managers tried their luck in it. Few, outside the actual covenanting parties, knew who really did own the Royal. Fred. Bayne, the solicitor, had some big interest in it in the late fifties, as he claimed and got the free use of a stage box. The dress circle entrance was on a different leasehold, and at one time complications were threatened. In the late fifties Brooke and Coppin were lessees. The pair dissolving partnership, Brooke retained the Royal, Coppin taking the old Olympic and the Cremorne Gardens. Brooke at this time should have been worth £50,000. Henry Edwards and George Faucett Rowe became managers after Bob Heir had resigned. Brooke went travelling, and things got messed up generally. Then Ambrose Kyte, with a rent roll of about £10,000 a year, came in, lending the management money and getting the lease as security. He put Barry Sullivan in, and for some years the Royal was the best-conducted theatre in the Southern Hemisphere.
(To be continued.)
Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES. In New South Wales and Elsewhere. NO. LXIV., Sydney Sportsman, 3 August 1904, 3
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There died in Melbourne, last week, one who may be termed the mother of the Australian stage, if 90 years of life can give the lady a claim to the title. Mrs. Theodosia Stewart was the widow of Richard Stewart, comedian, who died but last year, and has been a figure in Australian theatres for over two generations. My first recollection of Mrs. Stewart was in the year 1861, if my memory is not playing me a trick, when she came from Sydney to Melbourne with her husband, Richard Stewart, and a small family of three girls and one son. But Mrs. Guerin was even then a veteran on the stage. She had appeared years before at the old Victoria Theatre in Pitt-street, and had a splendid record. Her first husband, I am informed, was a Mr. Stirling—what his occupation was I have at present no knowledge. On his death she married a Mr. Guerin, who, I think, had a seat in the orchestra. I have before me a playbill of the: ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE of August 2, 1851, 'When will be produced a drama of intense interest, entitled 'Therese, or the Orphan of Geneva.' Carwin, Mr. Willis; Fountain, Mr. Griffiths ; Picard, Mr. G. H. Rogers ; Lavigne, Mr. F. Howson ; Therese, Mrs. Guerin ; Bridget, Mrs. Gibbs ; Nannette, Miss A. Hart. Flute solo with variations, Mr. Robert ...hen; ballad, ''A Lovely Youth," Madame Carandini; drum polka, Miss F. Griffiths ; ballad, 'The Keepsake,' Madame Sara Flower ; song, 'Those Odious Diggings.' Mr. John Howson. The whole to conclude with the extravaganza of "The Loves of Lord Bateman and the Fair Sophia.'' That is just 53 years, the lady then being 37. Here is another bill which may be quoted, as the entertainment took place two nights after, and Mrs. Guerin was in the cast : ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE. Under the patronage of the Captain and Officers of the Oriental and Peninsular Steam Navigation Company's steamship Chusan, For the Benefit of Madame Sara Flower, On Monday Evening, August 23. The performance will commence with the Grand Operatic Drama, entitled, "The Female Mascaroni; or, The Fair Brigands." Dance, Miss F. Griffiths. Grand instrumental trio arranged from Meyerbeer’s opera of "Il Clociato" for piano, violin, and violincello. Madame Sara Flower, Mr. A. Moore, and Mr. Frank Howson. Duet : 'As it Fell Upon a Day.' Madame Sara Flower and Mrs. Guerin. To be followed by the interlude, 'Sent to the Tower.' Comic Song : 'Seven Ages,' Mr. G. H. Rogers. Favorite Song, Madame Carandini. The whole to conclude with the farce, "Out on the Loose". Boxes may be secured on application at the Royal Victoria Theatre. Tickets may be obtained of Messrs. Woolcott and Clarke, Lower George-street; and at Madame Sara Flower's residence, Riley-street, South Head-road.
There is much food for reflection in these two playbills. How often have I listened enraptured to the notes of poor Sara Flower, sweetest of singers: or hung on the notes of Carandini. No mention here of the four daughters who afterwards grew in beauty, and became as famous as their mother; and G. H. Rogers, of whom I wrote quite recently in a comic song, 'The Seven Ages.' I heard him in it once. Sara Flower rested in the old Devonshire-strict Cemetery, near Rosalie Durand, and both have been removed to La Perouse; Carindini died not long ago in England, The Howsons went to California; and now the last of a long list, Mrs. Guerin-Stewart, has gone over, at the age of 90 years.
In Melbourne, Mrs. Guerin appeared but at intervals, and then purely in drama, I never heard her sing, excepting in the chorus of witches in 'Macbeth,' while her husband was the Hecate. Lock's music was always given then with Shakespeare's tragedy. Mr. Stewart was always employed, and at a good salary, before he became one of the six who had leased the Royal ('Sportsman,' l3/7/'04). In addition, the family was growing up, and required tuition, which the mother was fully qualified to give. Docy (Theodosia) was the first to face the footlights ; Maggie next, quickly followed by Nellie and Dick, jun., the latter two being Stewarts, the two former Guerins. When Mr. Richard Stewart retired from the stage he was possessed of sufficient means to keep himself and wife comfortable in their old age, but, like Mr. H. R. Harwood, he lost all in the boom days ! At an advanced age Mr. Stewart returned to work ; his occupation being that of treasurer to one of the big theatrical firms. This position he filled until his death, a couple of years ago.
Henry R. Harwood was married thrice, his first wife was a great Melbourne favorite, Miss Mortimer. She made Harwood the actor he was. His second wife was not, I think, upon the stage. On her death he married Mrs. Collins, a widow, but better known to us as Docy Stewart, who survives him. Richard Stewart, junior, married one of the Deorwyns. Though broken in fortune in her great age, Mrs. Guerin-Stewart was lovingly looked after by Dick and the girls. In 1857, in a Sydney directory, 'Mrs. Guerin, actress,' resided at 97 Woolloomooloo-street, right opposite George Commins' Cottage of Content Hotel. *****
The programme of Madame Sara Flower's benefit is interesting in many particulars The Chusan was the first P. and O. mail boat to enter Sydney Harbor, the first of a long line of splendid steamers. To celebrate the arrival of the steamer a grand ball was given, at which such reverend seigniors as Stuart Alexander Donaldson, James Martin, Charles Nicholson, W. C. Wentworth, and other notabilities acted as stewards. Four hundred applications for tickets had been made and were 'considered' by the stewards. How many were refused we know not, but no doubt the exclusives were exclusive, and made many hearts ache by refusals
******
Apropos Charles Dillon ('Sportsman,' 25/5/'04), a correspondent writes that the Dillons in Sydney in 1863 were a decided success, and that they elevated the drama in this city. They appeared at the old Victoria on April 4, the house then being under the management of Raphael Tolano, the initial piece being 'Louis XI,' a drama first played in Australia by G. V. Brooke, and subsequently made famous by Charles Kean, it being one of that actor's best characters. I think Kean was the original Louis XI. Supporting Dillon at the Vic. was Henry Neil Warner, a grand actor, who never did himself justice. He always reminded me of a great actor in the English provinces, who made periodical appearances in Dublin, his native city, T. C. King. Just here let me interpolate an anecdote. When G. V. Brooke was last in Dublin, he, with J. L. Toole, went to visit T. C. King in Queen's-square. "Everybody thought that King was dying, and he certainly looked as if he had not long to live. "We went into his bedroom"— I am quoting Tco'e— "and I was very much impressed with the sorrowful manner in which they erected each other, their deep, rich voices adding to the solemnity of the occasion. Poor Brooke was much moved at the close. 'Well, my dear Tom,' he said, 'Please Good, you'll soon get better.' 'God bless you, Gus, you're very kind, but we'll never meet again.' Brooke leaned over the bed, and kissed King very tenderly on the forehead, and said, 'Good-bye ' We had a cab at the door. When we got into it Brooke said, 'Poor Tom! I fear he is right. We shall never see the dear fellow again.' Brooke sailed a few days after for Australia, and was drowned at sea." T. C. King lived for many years after. He was alive in 1888, according to J. L. Toole.
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Getting back to Dillon and his sup ports in 1863. Fred Younge, Charles Burford, F. C. Appleton, J. Hall, Sam Howard, Danie's (? which), J. P. West, Jas. Hasker, H. Clifford, and C. W. Barry, the latter a sterling actor of the old school of tragedians. The ladies were — Mrs. Dillon. Mrs. Charles Poole, Mrs. Fred Younge, Mrs. Charles Jones, and some others more or less noted. Charles Dillon had, I admit, a long list of characters in which he shone — 'The Gamester' (to my mind this was Charles Kean's greatest part), 'Wild Oats,' 'Ruy Blas,' 'The Willow Copse,' 'The Wife's Secret,' etc. No doubt in his prime, or when I saw him in Dublin in the early fifties, he was great in these char actors, but he had become stale when I saw him, in 1863, in Australia. An anecdote of John Dunn ('Sportsman,' 20/7/04). The Zavistowski Sisters were playing at Bendigo. The Zavs were a mother and two daughters. In the company at Bendigo was John Dunn, 'Cast-iron Jack,' as he was call ed. A local scribe expressed his dissatisfaction with the Zav trio. and especially with the mother, whom, I think, he accused of having swindled a washerwoman out of her weekly wash bill, or was it Madame who accused the newspaper man of having bilked the laundress? Anyhow, Madame provided herself with a greenhide whip, and, waylaying the ink slinger, laid it lustily about his shoulders. A police court case resulted, Madame being summoned for assault. The court was crowded, of course, and much amusement resulted from the trial. The bench of magistrates considered that an assault had been committed, but under great provocation, and fined the defendant Zav one shilling. Then 'Cast-iron Jack' strutted to the table, and, dumping down a handful of silver, handed melodramatically to the clerk, the required coin.
*****
In the course of this series I have had occasion to make mention of Avonia Jones, who became the wife of the lamented G. V. Brooke, in Liverpool, in 1863 ('Sportsman,' 25/5/04.). In the year 1860 the dead walls and hoardings of Melbourne were plentifully adorned with huge posters, printed by Charlwood and Son, and Shaw, Harnett and Co., announcing that Mrs. Melinda Jones and Avonia Jones, mother and daughter, had arrived, and would appear at an early date. In those times Thespians were not heralded as they are to-day— three or four months before arrival. They just dropped in, as it were, from the, clouds, and did their 'fixings' on arrival. The Jones's had arrived at a period when there was a decided lull in matters theatrical. Prior to the Ladies from the States, we had numerous tragic stars, Mr. and Mrs. James Stark, Mary Provost, G. V. Brooke, Nesbitt M'Cron, Clarence Holt, M'Kean Buchanan, a spluttering actor, , who had one good character, Sir Har- court Courtley ('London Assurance'), ; and Henry Neil Warner. While G. V. Brooke held the Australian stage as the 'greatest tragedian of the age,' no great actor in the higher walks of the drama visited these shores. When Brooke left the colonial stage clear, Barry Sullivan arrived, having as his agent Mr. J. H. Wilton, who came in a similar capacity with G. V. Brooke. Then Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean appeared upon the scene, Engineered by Mr. George Coppin. Then we had Montgomery Howe, James Anderson, Creswick, etc., so that in 1860, when Mrs. and Miss Jones arrived, they at once filled the public eye— Mrs. Jones physically, Avonia mentally. The mother, a weighty woman, made but one appearance, when she played Romeo to her daughter's Juliet. I cannot say that she conveyed to me an agreeable idea of the love-sick young gentleman of Verona. The latter was corpulent, and displayed wealth of limb which was certainly not practical. Mrs. Jones had filled a leading position on the American stage, and the daughter, who was born in 1836, clung to her for domestic reasons, with a tenacity which was described as 'filial even to piety.' The father of Avonia Jones, the Count Joannes, was a vain eccentric, yet clever author, and actor. Why the wife separated from him and took the daughter with her need not be dealt with now ; suffice it that, in the opinion of her friends, she acted wisely. Miss Jones, it is said, inherited nothing from her father but his good looks and great ability. Her personal gifts were 'tall. well-made, with a lithe form and expressive features and voice. She seemed born to become a tragedy queen. A classic head, wreathed with hair as dark as a raven's wing, and a complexion that was clear, though colorless, surmounted a figure that regularly responded in every phase of emotion she was called upon to Portray. Such was the enthusiastic eulogy passed upon the lady by a critic of the day, a critic who still lives and occasionally criticises; I cannot enthuse as did this writer, as I have a distinct recollection of certain Americanisms and a touch of nasal twang. Had she lived and studied, Miss Jones would have made a great actress. Her Medea was perhaps her best piece of acting; but later on when playing with Brooke, she made a great Lady Macbeth. Another great hit was in 'As You Like It.' and as Beatrice in 'Much Ado About Nothing,' although on one occasion poor Brooke, as Benedict, was so "overcome" that the performance was sadly marred. Space does not permit of going through her list of characters, but no actress of her age — she was but 32 when she died— had played such a round of characters and played them so well.
*****
In 1861 she went to England with her mother and G. V. Brooke, and appeared at Drury Lane theatre, where she created a marked sensation. In Birmingham Brooke was arrested for debt and had to go through the Bankruptcy Court. On his release he and Miss Jones played at Manchester. At this time they had not been married, and the Manchester "Examiner" thus noticed this performance: "The great and ever interesting tragedy of Macbeth was last night given for the benefit of Miss Jones, who had evidently gained friends among our playgoers during a brief engagement. On this occasion she had procured the services of Mr. Gustavus Brooke, and as this gentleman has not appeared in Manchester for some ten or twelve years there could be no surprise at seeing the house crammed to excess in every part, stalls, boxes, pit, gallery, all equally crowded. Mr. Brooke on his appearance with Banquo on the heath, was received in the most enthusiastic manner, and shared his 'calls' with Miss Jones."
*****
As a truthful chronicler, some not very pleasant facts must be given. Mr. Brooke had a domestic quarrel with the lady whom we all recognised for years in Melbourne as his wife, and the lady left, placing herself under the protection of Mr. Henry Edwards, an old time Sydney actor, well and favorably remembered in the fifties. Mr. Edwards had succeeded Robert Heir as Brooke's manager, and by some means could not make ends meet, hence the quarrel between the two men, in which, possibly, the lady may have had a share of the blame thrust upon her. Mr. Edwards now dead, was in Sydney a few years ago with "Little Lord Fontelroy," He and Mrs. Edwards (Mrs. Brooke that was) kept for many years an hotel at Callao. When Mr. and Mrs, Brooke separated, Avonia Jones brought a good deal of scandal on herself by constantly appearing in the street and elsewhere with the tragedies. It was determined to return to England At that time there was an exodus of actresses and actors from Australia. Miss Jones took a farewell benefit, at which Brooke did not appear. She delivered an address, in which she slated her critics for entrenching upon her private life. One newspaper ungenerously stated the address was written for her by a professional address writer, and that this "beloved parent" was prompting her through the hole in the baize curtain." Mr. Brooke had announced his departure in the ship Suffolk, and as a guarantee that he was at last going, the receipt for the passage money was published in the newspapers. Mrs. and Miss Jones took their passages in the ship The Great Britain, and Brooke went in the same vessel. An army of bailiffs were waiting on Sandridge Pier, to make an arrest. Richard Younge was arrested at the suit of Robert Heir, but promptly settled the claim. (By the way, a very well-informed friend, who knew both gentlemen well, tells me that Richard and Fred Younge were not brothers, a delusion under which I have labored for 55 years.) Miss Jones was arrested at the suit of Mr. R. H. Horne ( "Orion") for £30, the price of a tragedy ordered, but which she refused to accept. Two gentlemen guaranteed to pay any claim Mr. Horne could sustain, and Miss Jones was released. Anxious inquiries were made for Mr. Brooke, but it was not until The Great Britain had sailed that it was assured that the tragedian had got away from our shores. When in Europe and America, Miss Jones kept up a constant correspondence with some Australian friends. In one letter she gave details of the career of Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Miss Jones knew Booth intimately. He had been her playmate in childhood, and her letter at the time of the tragedy is extremely interesting.
(To be continued.)
Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES. In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXIII, Sydney Sportsman, 27 July 1904
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At Spiers and Pond's 'Hall by the Sea’, at Margate, when the 'Special Bohemian' of the 'Orchestra' arrived at his destination ('Sportsman,' September 28, 1904), he found 'A crowd, a Tricon playing, surrounded with gas jets, looking as if Spiers and Pond were practising hard to set the Thames on fire, more gas devices and jets over the facade (for which word I am indebted to the 'Standard'), and a large poster, which informed me that Claribel's Ballads were to be sung every night.
***
'On being restored to consciousness'—he does not say how he became unconscious, I have my suspicions — 'I found the concert had commenced. M. Jullian was the conductor; and the programme included the names of Madame Parepa, Mdlle. Liebhart, Miss Eyles, Miss Rose Herssee, Mr. Farquharson, Mr. Weiss, and Mr. Perron (vocalists), Miss Kathleen Ryan, Miss Kate Gordon, and Herr Strauss. Herr Meyer Lutz was the accompanist, The hall was crammed, and the concert went off like one of Spiers and Pond's champagne corks. The orchestra is first-rate, and Jullian conducts with all the chic of his father before him. I never heard popular music more popularly played than the lighter selections on Saturday. As for the singing, we had the pompous Parepa, who was not half so much to my Bohemian taste as the graceful and unpretending Rose Hersee, who sang 'Where the Bee Sucks' in a way that electrified Margate right through the hall and out and across the road, right down to the bathing machines. Then there was Fraulein Liebhardt, who was vociferously recalled for her 'Lover and the Bird' (especially the 'Bird'), and the chivalrous-looking Weiss, who kept his 'Watch at the Fore’, although it was long past that hour, and, of course, his watch must have been awfully slow, although the song wasn't; and there was the terrific basso from the colonies called Farquharson, who accompanied capitally on the piano and sang the 'Wolf' with the most hilarious hilarity. (At this point I had an interview with Spiers and Pond in the refreshment room.) George Perren was then on with Mr. Weiss, and, as by this time the place had been formally opened, the duet was appropriately 'Hall's Well,' after which Miss Kathleen Ryan played a lot of Weber on the piano, and a flutter went through many a manly Margate heart to behold that clever and fascinating young lady, with the large dark eyes, and the power of the wrist, not to mention— (Spiers and Pond have just sent for me). To resume, Miss Kate Gordon also gave us a touch of her very excellent quality on a somewhat obdurate Broadwood, and Miss Eyles having contributed 'The Lady of the Lea,' which the programme informed us was composed by 'Claribel' (Ha! ha! I now see how her songs are to be done every night!), and Spiers and Pond having executed a most successful duet together in the shape of a bow from the orchestra, exhausted nature could do no more, and I rushed off to sup with a noble and intimate friend at No. 4 Royal Crescent. When I emerged from the hall a very beautiful experiment in lights was going on under the direction of my talented and affable friend, Mr. George Dolby. It appeared that whenever the transparencies at the hall were lit up, all the Margate lights, including the pier lights, went down. It had an indescribably beautiful effect, and, as such, reflects great credit on Spiers and Pond. Our old friend Dolby did not seem to see it in the same light, and made severe remarks upon the Gas Company. Mr. Thorne (local assistant of Mr. Hingston, the manager), having been despatched to sit on the gasometer, peace and harmony were restored, and your old Bohemian speedily found his weary form reposing elegantly on a sofa, at No. 4, above distantly referred to. There was hock, much hock, a beautiful balcony, and cigars; also fair women, and a murmurous sea in front. I like the lot, my noble friend , ———.
'Come! (said your own Bohemian to the company generally) unto these yellow Margate sands, with yellow Margate boots on at 4s 6d, and there take hands. Where the wild waves tumble o'er— and in which I shall bathe to-morrow, probably in the afternoon, drinking in the meantime a cup of kindness yet (with a slice of lemon in it) to Spier's and Pond, than whom I——'
(Here our correspondent's letter becomes luckily illegible. We are, however, enabled from other and more trustworthy sources to state that the Margate Hall-by-the-Sea is likely to prove a well-merited success.— Ed.)
***
The old Melbourne Royal and the historic cafe are doomed. After a life of half a century, with a fire midway, the old building, I believe, goes. The history of the Melbourne Theatre Royal will include the history of the best days of the Victorian stage, when the acting was acknowledged to be at his best, and without the adjunct of pretty scenery and elaborate properties. The theatre was built by John Black, a name unknown in theatricals until then, but well known on the road between Melbourne and Sandhurst as a carrier in the early fifties, at a time when carriage meant £100 per ton. Out of his pile Mr. Black built the Royal, and lost his pile. It was opened in 1855 with the 'School for Scandal.' The old Queen's was then open, and doing well, G. V. Brooke being the attraction. The Queen-street house was good enough for the prehistoric days of Melbourne, but with the discovery of gold and the advent of thousands of gold-seekers, and the success of thousands of these in gold finding, the 'playhouse' erected by John Thomas Smith in the forties was found to be inadequate to the public wants.
When George Coppin (whom God preserve) went to England in search of talent, and found G. V. Brooke, he also bethought him that, being such an expensive star-— £300 a week— and he dependent upon one small theatre, was not, in colonial parlance, good enough. Accordingly he made his way to Birmingham, and entered into a contract with Messrs Bellhouse and Co. to build him in sections an iron theatre, capable of holding £300. Mr. Coppin's first agreement with G. V. Brooke was, I believe, for 200 nights at £50, or a total of £10,000. The theatre was named the Olympic, out of compliment to the theatre so named in which, in 1847, G. V. Brooke made his first London appearance. The Melbournites, however, dubbed it the 'Iron Pot,' though it was as pretty and cozy a theatre as anyone could wish. Brooke, however, did not open it; that honor was bestowed on the Wizard Jacobs, as Brooke was playing elsewhere. In 1856 George Coppin became possessed of the Royal. In that year Brooke and Coppin entered into partnership, before, I think, the original engagement was concluded. They separated in 1858, Brooke retaining the Royal, Coppin taking as his share of the assets the 'Iron Pot' and Cremorne Gardens, at which latter place he did a roaring business. It was then, I think, that Brooke commenced to lose money. As I have pointed out before he was not a business man and relied upon others to look after his interests. At first Richard Younge managed for him, then Robert Heir. Henry Edwards, from Sydney, was engaged in the stock company, and George Fawcett was running the old Princess'. On the failure of Heir as manager, Edwards and Fawcett were appointed. Their management ended in disaster. Ambrose Kyte was owner of the building, and had been called upon on many occasions for accommodation cheques to keep the ghost walking. The failure of Edwards and Fawcett, as managers, was the means of healing a breach that had occurred between Coppin and Brooke, and the former returned to the Royal as manager. Its position at this time was not satisfactory. After giving Burton's circus a show, Wilton had it for a while, and under his auspices, in 1862, Barry Sullivan appeared. In 1863 Sullivan showed what he could do in management, and in 1865 William Hoskins and Clarence Holt joined hands, holding together until 1867, when the theatre came under the joint management of six very worthy stage men — J. Chambert, Charles Vincent, H. R. Harwood, Richard Stewart, T. S. Bellard, and John Hennings, the scenic artist. The six held together, and did well for some time. Each man had his allotted duty in management, and did it. The first break in the six was the death of Charles Vincent, occasioned by an accident, deemed of small moment at the time. He had purchased a horse, and was about mounting to go for a ride when the animal became restive and threw the rider; in the fall one of his hands was injured, lockjaw set in, and the popular husband of Miss Cleveland went the way of all flesh. Mr. Lambert went England and ended his days in the village in which he first saw the light. Tom Bellair went into hotel management. He kept the Rainbow at Ballarat for some years, and died in the principal hotel at Wagga Wagga. Harwood retired, and went on a tour to to India and China, I think. The partnership then became Coppin, Greville and Hennings, and Harwood again joined later on. The old Royal Theatre was burned in March, 1872. The piece being performed on the fatal night was the 'Streets of New York,' the hero of which was played by a very capable actor of those days, James Carden, Miss Eloise Juno also being in the company. Mr. G. R. Ireland and all the members of the company suffered losses in wardrobes, etc. The historic cafe was then in the occupation of the renowned scenic artist, William Pitt, father of the architect of today. Mr. Pitt had for many years kept the Garrick's Head Hotel, opposite the Eastern Market, where his right-hand Hebe was the now Mrs. Roberts, of the Criterion Theatre Hotel, Sydney, but then well known to us youngsters as Miss Polly Smith. The first to discover the fire was Jack Conway, the well-known cricketer, who was smoking a midnight cigar at the window of Sayers' Prince of Wales Hotel, Bourke-street. Six months previously the Haymarket Theatre was burned down, and but a few weeks before the Prince of Wales Opera House, in Castlereagh-street, went under to the same agency. In the seventeen years life of the old Royal there were memories both pleasant and painful. In the seventeen years there were, it might be said, three periods, the Brooke, the Sullivan, and the Montgomery. Mark the distinction between the two pieces, that at the opening 'The School for Scandal,' and that at the close, 'The Streets of New York!' A decadence truly.
As the actors were homeless through the fire, and out of work, and many out of cash, something had to be done for their relief. Among the most attractive efforts to gather in coin was a cricket match on the principal Melbourne ground, the cricketers in costume, and to some extent supporting the characters they sustained. George Coppin appeared as Paul Pry, J. R. Greville as 'A party by the name of Johnstone,' Mr. Hennings as Claude Melnotte, Mr. Carden as Enoch Arden, Richard Stewart as Lord Dundreary, Ireland as Cassio, John Dunn as 'That Rascal Jack,' Appleton as Ronaldo, Roberts as Asa Trenchard, old Jimmy Milne as Mike Feeney, and minor men in various guises. At the time of the fire the Princess' was empty, and the lessee, William Saurin Lyster, offered it to Mr. Coppin and his friends for a short season. Mr. Coppin made a speech — he was always great on speeches — in which he detailed his sorrows. Six years previously he had started life afresh without a sixpence; he had succeeded, but the fire had swept away most of the provision which he had made for old age and a large family. Yet Mr. Coppin re-built the Royal and opened the new venture on Cup night (Cup winner, John Tait's The Quack), 1872, with an address written by Dr. Neild and spoken by Mrs. Collins, then (later on Mrs. H. R. Harwood) nee Docy Stewart. Then followed 'To Oblige Benson' and 'Milky White,' in both of which Mr. Coppin appeared. The company proper was at Adelaide, but Coppin did not wish to miss a bumper house such as always eventuates on Cup night. Since then the fortunes of the theatre have been varied. Many new theatrical ventures have sprung into existence, the most formidable being the gorgeous Princess'.
At the time of the opening of the Theatre Royal (No. 2), the Princess' was in full swing with a strong company under Stuart O'Brien and Miss Jones, heavy tragedy being the order of the night. During the same Cup week a dramatic benefit was given Mr. John Whiteman, who had filled as many parts in life as did the late George Adams. Mr. Whiteman was a blacksmith by trade, and a poet by instinct, his little volume, 'Sparks from the Anvil,' being readable. He had been a publican, and in that, as in other trades, had his ups and downs. On the benefit night Coppin and Stewart appeared; Marcus Clarke wrote an address, which was spoken by John Edwards the younger. Looking over those old bills, one comes across many names now absolutely forgotten, of the seniors George Coppin being about the only one of a long list now remaining; and about this time— 1872 — there arose a controversy regarding 'deadheads,' in which Mr. George Coppin, Morton Tavares, and others took part. The germ of the controversy was as to whether Vice-Regal patrons should not pay for seats occupied in the theatre even on 'command nights.' The Vice Regal delinquent at whom George Coppin was hitting, and hitting mighty hard, was Viscount Canterbury, who in his earlier days was known as John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton. The correspondence was carried on with some vigor, the theatrical critics, strange to say, siding with the deadheads, from a fellow-feeling perhaps. There was a dramatic association in existence in Melbourne at the time, and the matter was thoroughly threshed out at its meetings. Viscount Canterbury, who appears, from the correspondence, to have been a persistent deadhead, asked Mr. Coppin to send in an account of the 'items,' but this Mr. Coppin declined to do, on the ground that his profession never gave credit. Of this interesting dispute more anon.
(To be continued.)
Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES. In New South Wales and Elsewhere. No. LXXIII., Sydney Sportsman, 5 October 1904, 3
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That Shakespearian controversy (in the "Sportsman," May 18, 1904) has awakened long dormant memories, and a pleasant evening recently spent with one, who, like myself, lives chiefly in the past, has served to recall many incidents in connection, with music and the drama not before seen In print.
What old faces we brought back in our gossip! What happy days we revived! The days when John Gordon Griffiths managed the old Victoria Theatre in Pitt-street, numbering in his company such artistes as Sarah Flower, Madame Carandini, Sam Howard (known as "Gypsy”“ and sometimes Tinker" Howard, the former from his appearance, the latter from his trade before taking to the stage), Mrs. Guerin (afterwards Mrs. Richard Stewart, and still with us), the Sisters Howson and their brothers, and many others of equal calibre and fair fame.
John Gordon Griffiths was a Shropshire man, born in August 1810, and shortly after leaving school joined a dramatic company. He became a member of the M’Kay circuit, and subsequently joined Mr. Alexander at Glasgow. It was while with these managers that Mr. Griffiths acquired a knowledge of Lowland Scotch, which made him a success in such parts. After leaving Scotland he played in London, and there met Mr. Joseph Wyatt, of the Victoria Theatre, Sydney, who induced him to come south.
He arrived in 1842, and opened in “Hamlet.” He met with great opposition, mainly, I think, from the friends and admirers of Francis Nesbitt McCron, who was in or near Sydney at the time. Griffiths, however, overcame the trouble, and eventually become manager of the Victoria Theatre, and in 1855 filled the same position at the Prince of Wales Theatre, Castlereagh-street. He retired after a short term, and took up his residence at the Pier Hotel, Manly, where he died on March 4, 1857. Gordon Griffiths was a good man, and a good actor.
The years 1855-56 saw many eminent actors in Sydney, Julia Mathews, Mrs. Charles Poole, Fanny Cathcart (Mrs. Robert Heir, and afterwards Mrs. Geo. Darrell), Lola Montez, Mrs. Charles Young (afterwards Mrs. Hermann Verzin), Mrs. James Stark, Julia Harland (a daughter of the house of Wallack and wife of William Hoskins), Marie Duret, the sisters Gougenheim, etc., etc., G. V. Brooke, George Coppin, Joe Rayner, Robert Heir, Richard Younge, Charles Young (not related), J. P. Hydes, James Stark, William Hoskins, John Dunn (father of Mrs. Marcus Clarke and Mrs. L. L. Lewis, M’Kean Buchanan, Charles Burford, etc., etc. Mr. George Coppin is the only one in this list who, to my knowledge is still amongst us. Strange to say, Mr. Coppin "managed" most of them at one time or other, and “imported” direct not a few of them. Julia Mathews and Lola Montez died in the United States; Charles Poole died in Boston, in the same country; and, presumably, Mr. and Mrs. Stark, Mr. M’Kean Buchanan, and Marie Duret returned to the country from which they hailed, and laid their bones there. Mrs. Charles Young, after a chequered domestic career, died not long since in England, I believe. Julia Harland and Fanny Cathcart lie near Ellen Mostyn, Mrs. Vickery, Marie St. Denis, Hattie Shepherd, John Dunn, G. H. Rogers, and other Thespians in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Poor Bob Heir sleeps his last sleep at the Bluff, having died at sea on his way, with his wife, to fulfil Maoriland engagements. Dick Younge died in England, Charles Young at his residence, the Museum Hotel, William-street Woolloomooloo, next to the Blind Asylum of to day.
I have in front of me an interesting playbill of the good, old-fashioned sort, about three feet in length and one foot wide. It is dated 1859, and was from the printing office of Charlwood and Son, “Herald” passage, Bourke-street East. It is issued for the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, and announces the farewell performances of MR. G. V. BROOKE. The play on this particular night is “Macbeth,” Brooke in the principal part, of course; Richard Younge as Macduff; Ben Tannett, the scenic artist (who, like W. J. Wilson, played occasionally), was the Banquo; dear old Lambert, his wife, and “Old” Downey, with the cracked voice, were the witches; Harwood was Duncan; Bob Lawrence (who married Carrie George) was Malcolm; Fanny Morgan, Donaldbain; and Tilly Earle, Fleance - The Lady Macbeth was Mrs. Vickery, one of the best I have ever seen in the character. Locke’s music was given in full, the Hecate being a Mr. Hancock, who, with his wife, was popular as a singer. Brooke did not go to London then, nor for a couple of years afterwards. When Richard and Fred Younge left Brooke he brought Henry Edwards from Sydney as manager, and Edwards brought Dick Stewart, Wigan, Bill Andrews, and other old Sydneyites. Then George Fawcett Rowe was brought into the management, and in their hands it was said that G. V. Brooke was ruined. Ambrose Kyte was now the supposed owner of the Theatre Royal, and it must be admitted, if he were truthful, that he assisted the treasury with much money. About this time, 1861, Miss Avonia Jones appeared upon the scene, at the Theatre Royal. She was the daughter of an actress (Mrs. Melinda Jones) who had filled a leading position on the American stage; her father was the Count Joannes, "a vain clever and eccentric author and actor, from whom the wife was separated." Avonia inherited nothing from her father but his handsome face; - at least Avonia herself said so. I never saw the father, but Avonia Jones was handsome and attractive, and on her arrival in Melbourne, in 1860, she was but 24 years of age. Here is a description of her, published in 1878, when she had been years dead, by one who knew her well and intimately. “Tall, well-made, with a lithe form and expressive features, and a sweet, powerful and flexible voice, she seemed born to become a tragedy queen. A classic head, wreathed with hair as black as a raven’s wing, eyes equally dark, and a complexion that was clear, though colourless, surmounted a figure that readily responded to every phase of emotion she was called upon to portray.” No wonder that the advent of such a lady at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, caused some disruption in the Brooke household. The lady whom we knew as Mrs. Brooke joined her fortunes, domestic and otherwise, with Mr. Henry Edwards, and a newspaper war, much scandal and a lot of bitterness were imported into matters theatrical in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-one, in Melbourne.
Mrs Melinda Jones appeared seldom; she was without doubt “fat, fair and (certainly) forty.” I saw her play once, the character Romeo, her daughter being the Juliet. That was at the old “Princess” Theatre, in Spring-street. When Brooke saw the young lady he fell in love with her right off, and married her, as we then understood. When the quarrel with Edwards and Faucett caused G. V. Brooke to fall back upon George Coppin as his manager, the latter brought Richard Younge and other old supporters back to the old house – in Bourke-street. The nightly speeches by Coppin and the daily letters by Kyte, Faucett, and Edwards were choice, but the Shakespearian and other performances with Brooke and Avonia Jones in the leading characters, will live in memory.
Nothing has been seen before, and I am certain that nothing has been since, to equal them as joint performers. A great exodus of theatrical people, London-wards, took place then, the brothers Younge, Hancock and his wife, Mrs and Miss Jones, G. V. Brooke, and others taking part. Even then there was trouble. Richard Younge had a writ served on him at, I think, the suit of Robert Heir; Miss Jones was threatened with arrest at the suit of R. H. Home (“Orion”) who claimed to have written a drama which the lady declined; Brooke was sought for by the Sheriff’s officers, but could not be found; Younge promptly satisfied the claim against him. Miss Jones gave surety to defend any action which Horne might bring (he never brought one); and the Great Britain was said to have gone without the great tragedian. Wherever he had hidden himself, Mr. Brooke did leave in the Great Britain, and reached London.
It was announced some years afterwards that he had married Avonia Jones on February 28, 1863, at St. Philip’s Church, Liverpool. He led a very erratic life in England, Mrs. Brooke (Miss Jones) having left him for a time, ostensibly as a duty to her mother, but in reality because of her husband’s unhappy fondness for strong drinks. Playing at Belfast, poor Brooke was incapable one night of performing. The audience hissed, and Brooke, in dudgeon, advanced to the footlights, bowed to the audience, stuttered out a farewell, and left that stage, never to return. At Birmingham he was arrested for debt, and to obtain his release had to declare himself bankrupt. At last he picked himself up, and determined, with his only sister, to return to Melbourne under engagement to his old friend George Coppin. He took passage in the S.S. London, which, as all the world knows, foundered in the Bay of Biscay in January 1866, and Brooke and his sister went down in her. Richard Younge had returned to Australia before, and at a dramatic performance in Sydney delivered an address on the death of Brooke when the news reached this city.
I have before me another old playbill, only one of many, time stained, mildewed, and yet revered. It was issued from the Caxton Printing Office, 146 Pitt-street Sydney. Old Sydneyites will remember that it stood between the then Foxlow-place and Brougham-place, known in later days as Moore street and Rowe-street. The building was peculiar, being somewhat of the colonnade type. The printer himself was also peculiar, and E. G. is sadly remembered by some. He did most if not all, the theatrical and sporting printing. He was a jolly good sort; and at Jack Hampton’s Metropolitan Hotel in the garden beneath the trees, enjoyed with his friends the good things of things of this life. But Mr. G. fell on evil days, and Fiji for a time, and subsequently San Francisco, was his home. One cannot help but admire, however inexcusable, the ingenuity with which he engineered his way out of Sydney. He drove a handsome buggy, with a spanking horse, the admiration of Sydney. On the morning of his departure — a Saturday— he went among his friends and raised £30 each from half a dozen— “wages had to be paid,” and other engagements had to be met. To each he sold the horse and buggy, promising delivery in the afternoon. The last friend visited was a reverend father at St. Mary’s, who readily advanced such a prominent citizen as Mr. G. the sum required, and the reverend father became the proprietor of the horse and buggy. His claim was disputed, but he had a receipt and possession. A steamer was off Miller’s Point ready to sail. Mr. R. B. Smith - Bob Smith - the solicitor was on board seeing friends off. He encountered Mr. G., the latter saying that he was seeing some friends off also. He ostensibly got into a waterman’s boat, watched Bob Smith off and returned to the steamer; and sailed with her. The maddest man in Sydney on Monday, when the news of Mr. G.’s elopement was made known, was Robert Burdett Smith! Unlike another very prominent citizen and sporting man, who left about the same time, Mr. G. did not return to the city of the beautiful harbour. The Golden Gate was good enough for him.
This playbill is of the Victoria Theatre In the sixties, when Rachael Tolano was lessee, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dillon the stars, and “Belphegor the Mountebank” and “The Bonnie Fishwife” the bill of fare. Charles Dillon was announced as the great London tragedian, and was pronounced “a triumphant success.” It was the last week but two of their engagement. In the company was Henry Neil Warner, Fred Younge, C. H. Burford, Sam Howard, Appleton, James Hasker, and some minor men, including Mr. Harlowe, who was a brother of Richard and Frederick Younge, but, being a minor actor and merely a prompter, the brothers insisted on a nom-de-theatre. Amongst the ladies were Mrs. Charles Poole, Mrs. C. Jones, Mrs. M’Gowan and Miss Dickson. In the afterpiece Mrs. Dillon was the Miss Thistledown and Maggie Macfarlane. As the former she sang the old ballad “Ever of Thee,” and in the latter, of course, “Caller Herring.”
I saw Charles Dillon in Dublin in the early fifties as Belphegor, and I saw him in Australia in the sixties in the same character. He had not improved. Australia seldom gets an actor in his prime. I saw J. L. Toole in the Queen’s, Dublin, as Fanfaronade in “Belphegor,” with Dillon, and I saw him in the Royal, Sydney, and I thought it was a cruelty to induce the old gentleman so far away from the scenes where he was tolerated to such places as Sydney and Melbourne, where every playgoer is a critic.
Though Charles Dillon - of course I am speaking of the Charles Dillon of the mid-sixties, not the stage fraud who visited us under the same name years after - played a “round of characters,” he pinned his fame to the melodrama. “Belphegor” not only In Australia but in England, and it was, when the actor was in his prime, a splendid performance. The only man whomever played it in Australia to equal Dillon was to my mind, Clarence Holt, father of Bland Holt.
The Bancrofts, in their published memoirs, pay a high compliment to Dillon in this character. It may be perhaps from the fact that Mrs. Bancroft, when a little lady known only in the West of England as Marie Wilton — and now Lady Bancroft, thank you! — played Henri, that the particular circumstance is mentioned, but the mere mention shows how jealous the “star” of our old days was of any “fat” falling to the stock actor, Dillon objected to the little lady weeping at his pathos, but as she explained that she could not help weeping, he insisted that her weeping attracted public attention from him. Eventually the matter was referred to the manager, who decided that Henri could weep to his (her) heart’s content.
Henry Neil Warner was an especial favourite at Ballarat when that city was golden and could support a theatre and a good company. Warner was a great actor, but, like all good men in his line, had his little failing. When Barry Sullivan first appeared in Melbourne, Warner was engaged to support him, and did so very ungenerously. There was a prejudice against Sullivan at the time, why I know not. Warner was the favourite, and as the curtain fell Warner was called for, Sullivan ignored. One night, the play was “Richelieu,” Warner of course the Nemours. At the conclusion Warner as usual was called for, but Sullivan stepped in front. The decrepitude of the Cardinal had been left off, and Sullivan stood, towering in rage, amidst hisses, hoots and shouts of “Warner,” “Off, off” etc., etc. Sullivan bided his time. When a lull came he stepped forward with, “What do you want? I did not come here to make a name; I brought it with me.” The tone of the audience changed towards him, and after a year or two Barry Sullivan ruled at the Royal, with a double company, composed of the best men and women in Australia. Warner subsequently went to America, and, I believe, died there.
(To be continued.)
Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF AND OTHER PASTIMES. No. LIV, Sydney Sportsman, 25 May 1904, 3
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The rejoicings over the success of the New South Wales horses in the intercolonial matches in October, 1857 at Flemington took a form agreeable to at least two of the parties concerned. Old Sydneyites who had taken up their abode in Victoria were determined that the horseman who had upheld the honor of the mother colony on a 'foreign field,' as it were, should not go unrewarded. Accordingly, some active spirits set about getting up a testimonial to Mr. John Higgerson, who had successfully steered Veno to Victory on the memorable October 3. Subscriptions were had for the asking, the result being that a very handsome gold-mounted whip was purchased for presentation to the successful jockey. The presentation was made on the stage of the Theatre Royal, at a performance given under the patronage of the Victoria Jockey Club 'and the Sydney sporting visitors.' The piece staged was an old-time melodrama, 'Fraud and its Victims,' a play we never hear of nowadays. The chief performer on the male side was an actor then new to Melbourne, Mr. W. H. Stephens, who earned for himself the nickname of 'Jockey' Stephens, through his capital performance of a jockey in some racing drama. In thosegood old racing days a 'laughable farce,' as the playbills had it, wound up the evening's performance. Between the play and the farce, Mr. Hamilton, of 'Bell's Life,' appeared on the stage, accompanied by Mr. Johnny Higgerson. Mr. Hamilton, in a neat and appropriate speech, made the presentation. The whip mountings were exquisite, and the gold band bore the inscription : —
'Presented to Mr. Johnny Higgerson,
Trainer and Rider
of G T. Rowe, Esquire's c g
Veno,
as a Memento of the Challenge Match.
October 3rd, 1857.'
Though it was Mr. Higgerson's first appearance on the boards of a theatre, his 'stage' being usually a four-wheeler, Mr. Higgerson was not amiss in his speech of thanks. The newspapers of the day did not report the speech, but I know that Mr. Higgerson said that Wellington did not feel prouder at Waterloo than he (Johnny Higgerson) did on Veno in the champion match. The owner of Veno, Mr. G. T. Rowe, who was in the dress circle, had to bow his acknowledgments of the applause which greeted him when recognised. The Sydney sportsmen and the Sydney press admitted that the Victorians took their defeat in a manly fashion, asserting that they would have better luck next time. The gold-mounted whip, the subscribers explained, was not presented as an acknowledgment of Veno's victory, but as a mark of esteem to Mr. Higgerson as a man of whom they were all proud, who did his best in the interests of his employer. Mr. W. H. Stephens, the 'other star' of the night, after a couple of years tearing the colonies, went to London, and became a most successful actor and manager, and was, I think, the first of a long list who having made a name in Australia, made fame and fortune in England.
As Tomboy, ridden by Sam Holmes, had conquered Veno, ridden by Higgerson, in one race at the meeting held immediately after the intercolonial matches, it was thought only right and proper that 'old Sam,' as he was known in after years when he kept the Horse and Jockey Inn, at Enfield on the Liverpool-road, N.S.W., should also have a presentation. This took the shape of a gold watch and chain and a purse of sovereigns. Anthony Greene was the spokesman, and Sam Holmes made a very neat speech. Tomboy was also to have 'shown' on the stage, but Mr. Greene had to apologise for the equine hero, stage fright, or something akin to it, having prevented Tomboy making his bow to the crowded audience at the Princess', for it was at that theatre that Mr. Holmes had his presentation. 'Fraud and its Victims' at the Royal had given way to 'Sardanapulus,' with Mr. G. V, Brooke in the leading part. It was announced as one of a series of performances prior to G. V. B.'s return to England. These announcements were frequently made, and an announcement of a final appearance by Mr G. V. Brooke, became a by-word as one of 'Coppins dodges.' On the night when the presentation was made to Mr Sam Holmes, the sisters Gougenheim—Joey and Adelaide— were playing in 'Court and Stage' supported by George Fawcett, who subsequently went to London and achieved success as an actor and playwright, under the name of George Fawcett Rowe, the latter being his real name.
If not actually on the night of the presentation to Mr. Holmes, it was on the night previous, that Joey, who was the more energetic of the sisters, made a bitter complaint that they, as 'stars,' had great difficulty in getting an opening in Melbourne, unless they accepted undignified terms. As Mr. George Coppin was absent from Melbourne, Mr. G. V. Brooke wrote the newspapers explaining the position. The agent of the sisters had written Mr. Coppin from Hobart Town offering their services at the Royal on certain terms, which we may suppose, from the tone of Mr. Coppin's reply, to have been, perhaps, exorbitant. Brooke gave a copy of Coppin's letter. There it was stated that the expenses were £600 a week! but that he would give the sisters £100 a week and two half-benefits, the engagement to be for a fortnight or a month. These terms, the sisters indignantly rejected, and gave themselves to the old wooden structure known as The Princess', in Spring-street. This old wooden 'Matchbox,' as it was named, had pit, stalls, and bores, and might hold £100 a night on a pinch. What terms they made with George Fawcett we know not, possibly share and share, after deducting a sum for expenses. Strange to say, the 'Old' Queen's' in Melbourne, the Princess' just mentioned, and an old theatre still standing in Durham-street, Bathurst, a relic of the roaring days of the Turon Diggings, and in which G. V. Brooke played, are the only ones, I am creditably informed, which have escaped destruction by fire.
Mr. Holmes, in acknowledging the gift of a watch and chain and a purse of sovereigns, was not to be outdone by Mr. Higgerson in similes; Mr. Holmes said that he was prouder of his position that night than Nelson at Trafalgar! Some little unpleasantness was hinted at over the race won by Tomboy. It was a sweep of 25 sovereigns with 100 sovs added. There were several starters, the principals being Van Tromp, Veno, and Mr. Purcell's Tomboy. Higgerson was on Veno, Waldock on Van Tromp, and Holmes on Tomboy, three as upright jockeys as ever threw leg over saddle. It was said that Holmes rode light, having got rid of some of his weight; and what pained the Victorians more than anything else was the fact that Messrs. Rowe and Atkinson believed it; and Sam Holmes was a Sydney man, too. Those who knew Sam Holmes will, I know, say that such a charge was simply ridiculous. The jockey weighed out and weighed in the same weight, and there was no opportunity, even if he wished it, to play hanky-panky with the weights between times. It may be mentioned that in this race Van Tromp was nowhere but in the race run half an hour afterwards he got second place.
Within the week in which the great Intercolonial Matches were run, the Victoria Jockey Club held, I think, its first meeting. This was the club of which Mr. J. M. Tarlton (U. S. Consul), Henry Phillips, George ???????, Edward Row were stewards, with Mr. W. P. Symons as secretary, and Mr. Richard Goldsbrough as honorary clerk of the course.
Just think of 'John Bull' Goldsbrough, 20 stone if an ounce, in starlet, and breeches, as clerk of the course! It was late in the season, and the horses were not in the best of condition, and the meeting was remarkable for the defeat of all the favorites.
The Intercolonial Matches seem to have given a zest to racing in Melbourne, the V.J.C. meeting on October 7, 8 and 9 being very largely patronised. Tattersall's newly founded rooms attracted a crowd, the regulations framed and the admission fee proving a barrier to a large number of noisy 'bummers,' who did no business and whose chatter, clatter and bounce had been intolerable. This 'push' had to content itself with the kerbstone when Tatt's was established. In the rooms the Sydney people were well represented, foremost amongst them being Mr. G. F. Pickering, editor and part proprietor of 'Bell's Life in Sydney.' It was noticeable that the Sydney contingent wagered only on Sydneyside horses.
The first race of the meeting was a Maiden Plate. Nine came to the post, amongst them a horse called Yankee, entered as a five-year-old, made first favorite, and backed heavily all through. This horse Yankee had done all his galloping as one of a team in Cobb and Co.'s coaches! The coaching crowd believed that they had found a wonder, but the result proved that Yankee was great at a mile, but no further. Though Joe Smith, a well-known rider of the time had the mount, he found his horse beaten at the mile. A horse with the Hibernian name Bathershins proved the winner, while Lady of the Lake, a sister of Alice Hawthorne, ran into third place.
Under the auspices of this club the Victorian Derby of 1857 was run. The entries were Mr. William Greene's Tricolor, Dr. Bathe's Vain Hope, Mr. Dawes' Union Jack, Mr. H. Phillips' Cavalier, Mr. E. Row's Melbourne, Mr. Payne's Skylark, and Mr. Davis' Marco. The added money was £150, the race being won by Tricolor, bred at Woodlands, the old home of Pomeroy Greene and his sons Rawdon and Molesworth. The winner had only been in Anthony Greene's hands for six weeks prior to the race. The Jockey Club Cup, £150 added money, brought a number of well known horses to the post, and was the cause of a special match being made between two of the runners. There were five entries: Mr. Warby's Cardinal Wiseman, Mr. A. Chirnside's Alice Hawthorne, Mr. John Sevoir's Sir Robert, Mr. B. D. Clarke's Camel, and Mr. Payne's Sinbad; welter weights, members of the Jockey Club up. Alice Hawthorne was the favorite against the field. The race was a two-miler, the winner turning up in Cardinal Wiseman, ridden by Mr. Rutland; Alice, with Mr. John Orr up, being second. That night at Tattersall's it was stated that Cardinal Wiseman's victory was only a fluke, and a match between 'The Churchman' and Alice was spoken of. On the following evening the match was made, the owners of Alice laying £1000 to £500, 2½ miles, welter weights, 12st 41b the horse, 12st 1lb the mare, to be run on the afternoon of the next day. Next afternoon the betting was 6 to 4 on Alice Hawthorne, which became firmer when it was known that Johnny Higgerson had the mount on the mare, and the 'gentleman jock,' Mr. Rutland, was to steer 'The Cardinal.' The start was a dead level one. Almost immediately the mare forged ahead, the Cardinal made an effort and passed the mare, the latter, however, got in front again, but Higgerson hauled off at the boggy ground under the hill, where the grandstand is now. Turning into the straight the pair were stride for stride, fighting for every foot; the mare was beaten by three lengths, in 3min 22sec. The horse Cardinal Wiseman surprised everyone. Mr. Warby had purchased him a few weeks before for 200 guineas, for stud purposes, but proving what horse masters call 'too playful,' he was given to one Bentley to train and make what he could out of him. It was now decided that Alice Hawthorne had seen 'her day.' In the first ten days of October, 1857, she had been tried four times, having as riders Steve Mahon, Mitchell, Johnny Higgerson and Mr. John Orr, and she failed to score a win with either up. All four riders gave the verdict 'out of form.'
The Victoria Jockey Club had a 'Great Metropolitan' as part of the programme. It was run on the second day, the added money being a modest 200 sovs. with a sweep of 15 sovs. The starters were: Veno (Higgerson up), Mr. Jenkins' Voltaire, Alice Hawthorne (with Mitchell up), Van Tromp, and five others, Veno and Alice went stride for stride from the start, when Veno went to the front, leaving Alice to fight for second place with Voltaire, who beat the mare by a head. The third day was wet, the entries being second and third rate, and the interest deadened by the absence of the 'big game.' At Tattersall's, at the settling up, everything passed off in first-class fashion. There were no complaints, because there were no defaulters. The bookmakers proper had not as yet become an institution, the betting being done between friends and by well-known sportsmen. Cash betting had not been thought of. Joe Thompson was but 20 years of age, and still in obscurity. The late Sammy Isaacs had not started 'pencilling' at Kirk's Bazaar. I think little Sammy, who 'pattered' for the fighting men at their booth at Flemington on race meetings, was the first recognised layer of the odds per book and pencil.
At the 'settling,' when the champagne had gone round, and everyone was satisfied with himself, his neighbor, and owner of Van Tromp, issued a challenge the world generally, Mr. William Frazer, to Victorian sportsmen, two challenges, in fact. The first was that he (Mr. Frazer) would find a horse in the Geelong district, which he would match against any other Victorian horse for 250 sovereigns, in six weeks' time, two miles, over the Geelong course. The second challenge was somewhat similar, the distance being 1½ mile, Mr. Frazer explained that both horses were strangers to the Flemington and Geelong racecourses. Nothing came of the challenges at the time. But while challenges were flying about Melbourne, new ground had been broken in Sydney. In 'Bell's Life in Sydney' appeared an advertisement worded after this fashion :— A gentleman from Ipswich, Moreton Bay (there was no Queensland then), will back his horse, Newbolt, against the champion of Australia or any horse in the colony (New South Wales, which included everything north of Gabo lighthouse), for nothing less than 500 to 1000 sovereigns, £250 allowed either party removing his horse to either turf. Stakes ready at the Willow Tree Inn, Pitt-street. No deposit but cash down. Match to be made in four weeks, the race run in three months from this date. October 17, 1857. An answer expected by Saturday, as the gentleman is about to leave the colony. No race within 22 days of the horse landing at either post. I don't think the Sydney sportsmen paid much heed to the gentleman from Ipswich, who had such a high opinion of his horse Newbolt.
A coincidence, surely! While I was writing about the Edouin family ('Sportsman,' 27/4/'04) and Cremorne one of the family, Mrs. G. B. W. Lewis nee Rose Edouin, was on her way to pay a professional visit to Sydney, and the lady is now in our midst.
The Mr. Warby mentioned above belonged to an old— very old— Campbelltown (New South Wales) family, which had a big interest in certain valuable Sydney properties. The old Yorkshire Stingo Hotel, at the corner of Castlereagh and Goulburn streets, was an heirloom of the family. Likewise the old Liverpool Arms, at the corner of King and Pitt streets, a house dating back to the old 'lag days' of the colony, but which, when rebuilt, had its name changed to 'Warby's.' I believe it has now passed out of the Warby family.
Article:  Joseph Michael Forde, ANNALS OF THE TURF. In New South Wales and Elsewhere. , Sydney Sportsman, 11 May 1904, 8
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Notice:  Dissolution of Partnership, Victorian Government Gazette, 1859, 104, 5 July 1859, 1397
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