Patti Morgan on the cover of Sydney’s Sunday Sun, 19 May, 1946.  The photographer responsible for this striking photo is unknown.Via the National Library of Australia’s Trove. 

“We must not touch our idols; the gilt sticks to our fingers.”

Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary

 

This site is dedicated to some of the undocumented Australian actors – who travelled to work overseas, particularly before World War II.

Of great interest to this writer is the extent to which these actors identified as Australians. Today, at a time of heightened national consciousness, it perhaps suits our purpose to think they all did – and that they were all brilliant actors as well. It’s also been surprisingly difficult to find anything very helpful written about the Australian accent in the twentieth century – and so the author has presented the short voice samples here without much commentary.  The examples of silent actor Lotus Thompson’s or Florrie Forde’s broad accents compare rather dramatically with the refined accents of Mary Maguire and Fred Stone. Some of the old Vaudevillians like Snub Pollard and Daphne Pollard seem to have accents that sit somewhere in between, as does Patti Morgan, the most recent Australian featured here.

If you would like to comment or think something needs correcting, feel free to do so via the comments option. This site is a work in progress, so where new information becomes available, entries will be updated.

So far… here they are, in (known) order of birth…

• Maud Hobson (Jane Elizabeth Manson)
  Born Toorak, Victoria, Australia, 13 November 1860,
  Died London, England, 6 January 1913.

• Marc McDermott (Marcus Patrick McDermott)
  Born Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia, 24 July 1871,
  Died Glendale, California, USA, 5 January 1929.

• Florrie Forde (Flora Flannagan)
  Born Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, 16 August 1875,
  Died Aberdeen, Scotland, 18 April, 1940.

• Norma Whalley (Birth name unknown)
  Probably born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia c 1875-79,
  Died London, England, UK, 9 October, 1954.

• Saharet (Paulina Clarissa Molony).
  Born Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 23 March 1878,
  Died Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, 24 July 1964.

• Harry Radford Allen (Henry Radford Allen)
  Born Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 10 July 1878,
  Died Los Angeles, California USA, 4 December 1951.

• Maie Saqui (May Vivian Saqui)
  Born Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, 19 December 1879,
  Died, London, England, UK, 28 March 1907.

• Robert Greig (Arthur Alfred Bede Greig) and Beatrice Denver Holloway
  Robert born Toorak, Victoria, Australia, 27 December 1879,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 27 June 1958.
  
  Beatrice born Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 12 October 1884,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 22 November 1964.

• Alice Crawford.
  Born Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 5 January 1880,
  Died place and date unknown (sometime after 1946).

• Carrie Moore, (Caroline Moore) and her sisters. [still in development!]
  Born Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 31 July 1882,
  Died Sydney New South Wales, Australia, 5 September 1956.

• Alf Goulding (Alfred John Goulding)
  Born Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 26 January 1885,
  Died Hollywood, California, USA, 25 April, 1972.

• Willie Thomas (William Thomas) and Emma Thomas
  William born Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 1 January 1889,
  Died Boulder, Western Australia, 1969.

  Emma born Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, 1885,
  Died Sunshine, Victoria, 1963.

• Snub Pollard (Harold Hopetown Fraser).
  Born North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 November 1889,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 19 January, 1962.

• Daphne Pollard (Daphne Trott)
  Born Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, 19 October 1891,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA. 22 February 1978.

• Sylvia Breamer (Sylvia Poppy Bremer)
  Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 9 June 1897,
  Died New York City, USA, 7 June, 1943.

• Mary Macgregor (Francis Mary Macgregor)
  Born Brisbane, Queensland,Australia, 16 August, 1904,
  Died Mornington, Victoria, Australia, 17 March, 1954.

• Lotus Thompson (Lotus May Thompson)
  Born Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia, 26 August 1904,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 24 May 1963.

• Mona Barrie (Mona Barlee Smith).
  Born London, England, 1906,
  Lived in Australia 1914-1933,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 27 June 1964.

• Fred Stone (Frederick George Stone)
  Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 9 July, 1908,
  Died London, England, 8 July 1995. 

• Constance Worth also known as Jocelyn Howarth (Enid Joyce Howarth).
  Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 19 August  1911,
  Died Los Angeles, California USA, 18 October 1963.

• Judy Kelly (Julie Aileen Kelly)
  Born Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia, 1 November 1913,
  Died, London, England, 22 October 1991.

• Margaret Leila Vyner
  Born Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, 3 December 1914,
  Died Reading, Berkshire, England, 30 October, 1993.

• Joan Winfield (Joan Marie Therese MacGillicuddy)
  Born Melbourne, Australia 24 September 1918,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 16 June 1978.

• Mary Maguire (Helene Teresa Maguire) 1919-1938, 1939-1974, Epilogue
  Born Melbourne, Australia, 22 February 1919,
  Died Los Angeles, California, USA, 18 May, 1974.

• Patti Morgan (Patricia Joan Morgan)
  Born Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 7 September 1928,
  Died London, England, 2 February 2001.

 

And

• Frank Healy’s San Francisco Opera Company 1907
• The Stars of Old Fitzroy
• What you might need at the theatre 
• The Theatres of Cowper, Murphy & Appleford.
• Thanks to, links and sources
• Contact

 

Nick Murphy
October 2019