Josephine M Cohan & Fred Niblo’s 3 years in Australia

Above; Fred Niblo and Josephine M Cohan at the time they left Australia in 1915. Images and Poster for Excuse Me! courtesy Australian Performing Arts Collection, Melbourne. Below left; Fred and Josephine with their son Fred Junior.^[1]The Stage Pictorial (Melb) April 1913, p59. State Library of Victoria

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The Five Second Version

US husband & wife team Josephine M Cohan(1876-1916) and Fred Niblo(1874-1948) ran a hugely successful performance tour of Australia and New Zealand between July 1912 and June 1915, introducing George M Cohan’s breezy Broadway style to the Australian audiences. Today it might even be called “Josie and Fred’s excellent adventure” – it brought them great popularity in Australasia and they were feted wherever they went. As their surviving contracts with the JC Williamson organisation also show, they were very well paid while in Australia – their contracts being repeatedly extended. Josephine also made the long sea voyage back to New York to see her family twice during the tour, despite her increasingly frail health. In 1915, shortly before they wrapped up, Fred made two quickly filmed versions of their plays Get-Rich- Quick Wallingford and Officer 666 for JC Williamson. Fred took the leading comic roles he often played on stage, but Enid Bennett (1893-1969) took the parts usually taken by Josephine in the stage version. 22 year old Enid Bennett had regularly been Josephine’s stage understudy over previous three years.

Within a year of their return to New York, Josephine had died of the heart condition that had plagued her for so long. She was only 39. In early 1918 Fred Niblo married Enid Bennett and turned to live and work in California’s booming film industry, although not before JC Williamson’s made another attempt to bring him back to Australia, on an even larger contract. It was unsuccessful.

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Off to Australia

In early March 1912, Hugh J Ward (1871-1941), a manager for the Australian theatrical firm JC Williamson^[3]So large a concern in Australasia it was known as “The Firm” signed a six month contract with Fred Niblo and Josephine M Cohan, to lead an Australian tour of what was being heralded as the “Farce Comedy Company”. Ward, himself an actor and a US native, had a good sense of what would work in Australia, and may even have seen Fred and Josephine in the US while they toured the comedy The Fortune Hunter in 1911. The repertoire for Australia was anticipated to include other popular “American comedies”^[4]Critic (Adelaide) 12 Nov 1913, p21 Officer 666, Excuse Me! and Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford – the latter authored by Josephine’s brother George M Cohan.(1878-1942)

Josephine’s stage credentials (Josie to those who knew her) were impressive and she was rightly promoted to Australians as one of “the best-known Broadway comediennes.” With her parents and brother George, she had come to prominence in a family vaudeville act called The Four Cohans.(You can read more about the Four Cohans here) She had married Fred Niblo in June 1901 and a son, Fred Junior, was born of the union in late January 1903. However, with the “breakdown” in her health ^[5]which included an increasing fatigue caused by the onset of heart disease the singing and dancing of vaudeville had proved too strenuous, and American comedy on the legitimate stage beckoned.^[6]Critic (Adelaide) 12 Nov 1913, p21

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Australians were advised by JC Williamson publicity that Fred Niblo was a “New York Star-comedian.”^[8]The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 1912 p18 This he was, although he had initially built his reputation as a monologist – his amusing lectures on world travel were well known.^[9]See for example The Washington Post, 28 March 1909 pgSM3 After his marriage to Josephine he became increasingly associated with George M Cohan, as a performer and producer.

The Australian contracts

In addition to covering the couple’s first class travel, the six month contract with JC Williamson allowed for a joint salary of £120 per week, for a guaranteed minimum of at least 22 weeks. In todays terms, this is the equivalent of a 6 month salary of at least $AU 370,000, thus one can see why Fred and Josephine took the offer. By comparison, Enid Bennett’s August 1913 weekly salary was £5 per week and when her sister Marjorie Bennett was enticed back to Australia in 1920, her salary was £20 per week.^[10]Based on contracts surviving in the Australian Performing Arts Collection. Salary conversions are based on the RBA inflation calculator However, an important distinction was that Niblo was producing (directing) the plays as well as taking leading roles. Ward was undoubtedly also aware that the contract with Josephine and Fred gave Williamson’s easy access to the works of George M Cohan.

The degree of success the couple enjoyed in Australia is reflected in the fact that Josephine and Fred’s contract was renewed another three times – in December 1912 for a further 6 months, in May 1913 for 12 months and May 1914 for another 12 months. While it is clear that some provision was now made for Josephine’s regular absences from the stage,^[12]when she did not perform the salary dropped to £100 per week by the time of the final contract of May 1914-May 1915, the salary had been negotiated up to £160 per week. Thus in their final year Josephine and Fred probably made the equivalent of $AU 900,000 in today’s money, assuming they again worked 40 weeks. That it was lucrative work was noted even at the time. In June 1913, on the first of several trips back to New York to see her son and family, Josephine told reporters in Honolulu how well it was going in Australia. The “pickings are good” she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which went on to claim that “a harvest of golden sovereigns” awaited “high class performers” in Australia.^[13]Honolulu Star-Bulletin 13 June 1913, p5

Josephine and Fred arrived in Sydney on 6 July 1912. In letters home to her parents, some of which were later published, Josephine commented on the couple’s warm reception on arrival in Sydney. And after a few days in a Sydney hotel (twenty years behind the times, Josephine thought) they moved into a large, comfortable apartment on Macquarie St, with city and sea views, and, much to Josephine’s delight, containing open wood fires. She commented, politely, on all the differences she observed – including the more casual customs and dress of Australians – “they are comical dressers, but they don’t know it… They stare at [Fred’s] evening suit and his gray dinner jacket.” She was impressed by many things, including the sights of winter swimming on Manly beach. “The girls… dress à la Annette Kellerman… [and] are wonderful swimmers.”^[14]The Green Book Magazine (US), Vol 9, No 2, Jan-June 1913, pps 332-338

Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford was given a very enthusiastic reception when it opened in Sydney in August 1912. Australians embraced the irreverent humour of George M Cohan and managed its slang, despite endless press comments about how unfamiliar and difficult it was.^[16]These were probably planted by The Firm Sydney’s Daily Telegraph told readers:

Mr. Fred. Niblo and his company carried all before them on Saturday night at the Criterion, in Mr. George M. Cohan’s comedy Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford. The performance was one of the smartest seen in Sydney for years…

Although the Williamson contract was primarily written for Fred Niblo, Josephine also created a distinctive and favourable impression. The Daily Telegraph felt her a most convincing actress – “very natural, even quiet in style, and yet very sure.”^[17]The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 5 Aug 1912, p11 The Sun went even further in praise of Josephine ;

The highest praise must be given to Miss Josephine Cohan (who is the sister of the author of the play) for her characterisation of the stenographer Fanny Jasper. It is the most difficult role in the piece. The other characters have straight-ahead parts to play. They are either crooks or “boobs.” But Fanny Jasper has to be, in the first instance, the one sharp-sighted “wise girl” among a town-full of simpletons, and after wards a complete convert to the worship of J. Rufus Wallingford.^[18]The Sun (Sydney) 4 Aug 1912, p4

The following cast list for Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford in Melbourne in November 1912 shows the mix of local Australian actors (Lowden Adams, Beatrice Holloway, Enid Bennett, George Whitehead, H.H. Wallace and Robert Greig) and visiting US players (James H Manning, Edwin Lester, Harry Corson Clarke and Margaret Dale Owens). Henry Matsumoto(1879-1934), a Japanese-born, Sydney based merchant turned actor, played Yosi, Wallingford’s valet.

Josephine’s declining health meant that when Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford opened in Melbourne, she was not in the cast. Instead Fanny Jasper was played by 28 year old Beatrice Holloway (1884-1964). A few months later, Josephine spoke enthusiastically about her new understudy, twenty year old Australian Enid Bennett, who she was training up. Enid was “a darling child, and I’ve…set my heart on making her a success.”^[20]Sun (Sydney) 27 April 1913, p15 And she did. When Fred and Josephine left Australia on the Matson liner Ventura in June 1915, Enid packed up and went with them. By that time, Fred and Josephine had introduced eight new comedies to Australian audiences – including two more from the pen of George M Cohan – Seven Keys to Baldpate and Broadway Jones . All of these were directed by Niblo and all were a great success at the box office.

A few weeks before they departed, the always sensible Melbourne Age reported on the Cohan-Niblo tour of Australia:
The remarkably successful visit to Australia of Fred Niblo is nearing the close. During the three years Mr. Niblo has appeared before Australian audiences he has achieved an unbroken series of successes and an amount of popularity that few artists have enjoyed.^[23]The Age (Melb) 24 May 1915 p14 But no mention was made of the films he was hurriedly making for JC Williamson during the day.

Fred Niblo’s first films

Before the couple left Australia in June 1915, Fred quickly directed two films for JC Williamson – Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford^[24]a lost film and Officer 666, apparently using the stage cast and costumes.^[25]W.J. Lincoln started work directing Wallingford, but was replaced by Niblo, possibly because of his chronic alcoholism It is more accurate to describe these as filmed plays – the camera was static – and sat in place of the audience. Pike & Cooper also describe these as “potted versions” of the plays, and without the snappy dialogue the Cohan plays were famous for, there is not much doubt these would only be palatable to those who had already seen the live show.^[26]Pike & Cooper (1980) pps77-78 and 80

Josephine Cohan did not appear in either film – instead Enid Bennett took the leading female roles.

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Writing of the short-lived JC Williamson film studio in Melbourne, Ralph Marsden has revealed a compelling reason for The Firm’s foray into filmmaking in 1915. They were concerned about the release of US-made films, based on plays to which Williamson’s already held the Australian stage rights. Writing in 2009, Marsden was obviously able to see all of the 40 minutes of Officer 666 that survives, but only a two minute clip is available to us today [view here]. Marsden wrote “The film’s strengths are in the performances of Fred Niblo, debonair and amusing, and Enid Bennett, a petite, graceful beauty with large expressive eyes who gives a relatively naturalistic interpretation as the ingénue.“^[28]Marsden (2009) p4

The films were not released until 1916, but being pale reflections of very popular stage shows, they were not a success at the Australian box-office. JC Williamson pulled out of film production soon after.

Fred and Josephine, and being in Australia

Over 1912-1915, the reviews of Fred Niblo and Josephine Cohan’s work in Australia and New Zealand were universally enthusiastic. However, the admiration for the couple was also shared by those who worked with them. Maurice Dudley, the troupe’s stage manager in 1915 spoke warmly of Niblo’s approach to delivering comedy on the stage. He described the methodical rehearsals and characterised Niblo as “the most unselfish comedian I have ever known….Mr Niblo doesn’t care who gets… [the laughs] as long as they’re got.”^[29]Sun (Syd) 10 Jan 1915, p14 Fred Niblo was probably amongst the first actors to publicly explain the concept of stage “team work” in April 1914 – an idea new to many at the time.^[30]The Theatre (Syd) 1 April 1914, p1

When the end of the tour was announced in 1915, Fred went to some effort to explain why the couple were leaving – simply because they could not stay away from their family or professional home indefinitely.^[31]Josephine had collected their son Fred Junior on a trip home in September 1914, thus that source of anxiety had been removed

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It was Josephine who characterised the troupe as one “big family” ^[33]Critic (Adelaide) 12 Nov 1913, p21 and evidence suggests that a strong bond really did exist between some of the players. Young Australians Enid Bennett and Pirie Bush(1889-1965)^[34]Pirie Bush was actually born in Wellington New Zealand, but had been with the Niblo-Cohan troupe in Australia from its inception travelled to New York with Fred and Josephine in June 1915.^[35]The Age (Melb) 3 June 1915, p12 Lowden Adams(1881-1959) arrived in New York in October 1915. Henry Matsumoto, the Japanese born merchant who had taken some roles with Fred and Josephine in Australia, was convinced to try his luck in the US. At Niblo’s suggestion he travelled to the New York in January 1916 and reprised his role as Yosi in Get Rich Quick Wallingford. Robert Greig and Beatrice Holloway were also close friends and ten years later, after much deliberation, they also headed to the US. There, the talented Beatrice abandoned her career, while Bob Greig endured a film career playing butlers – as did Lowden Adams.

Fred and Josephine expressed their feelings on leaving Australia in a souvenir program printed just before their departure. A century later, they are still quite touching sentiments.

We meet, We part, Sometimes we remember.  We have played in every English-speaking country in the world. This is our longest absence from Broadway, and it has been all too short. It has been the most delightful engagement of our professional careers… In saying goodbye to our many friends, we do so with the sincerest regret.  The one hope that cheers us is that someday we may be able to return and renew an association that has been so thoroughly happy. 
Our memories of Australia will be pleasant always. May we hope that we will not be entirely forgotten.
Australia, 1915.

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Josephine M Cohan died of her heart ailment at their apartment in the Hotel Belleclaire in New York on 14 July 1916, only a year after the return to the US. Fred and Fred Junior were by her side. George M Cohan felt the death of his sister so deeply he suffered a collapse on the day of the funeral.^[37]New York Herald, 15 July, 1916, p5 Biographer Ward Morehouse, who interviewed George M Cohan in the early 1940s, noted that by then, he was estranged from Niblo. This writer wonders whether the mercurial George held Fred responsible for Josephine’s death.^[38]Morehouse(1943) p20

In New York in early 1916, Enid Bennett went on stage in a supporting role in the comedy Cock O’ The Walk, a vehicle for popular comedian Otis Skinner. At about the same time she also appeared in her first film, A Princess of the Dark for Thomas H. Ince and Triangle Studios.

In 1918, Fred Niblo and Enid Bennett married.^[39]Some Australians were unkind about the marriage. As late as 22 December 1947, journalist Jim Donald of the Sydney Daily Mirror publicly and incorrectly stated Josephine and Fred had divorced before … Continue reading Only a few months later, JC Williamson’s made a sterling effort to get Fred and Enid back to Australia. This time, the salary on offer was an extraordinary £200 per week for two years – an eyewatering sum for the time. The surviving files in the Performing Arts Collection suggest they seriously considered it.

However, in the end Fred and Enid turned this down. Hollywood beckoned, and both went on to long careers there. In addition to their contributions to cinema, they also raised three children and built a landmark home in the Hollywood hills. They never returned to Australia, but they maintained some of their old friends from Australia – and welcomed new ones.

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Nick Murphy
November 2025

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References

Collections

• Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne. Thank you, as always, to Claudia Funder, Collection Access Manager.

Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.

• Martha Rutledge, ‘Ward, Hugh Joseph (1871–1941)‘, Published first in hardcopy 1990.

Other Online Sources

• Gerard H. Heroux (2013) “The Rhody Colossus.” Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame Historical Archive
• Ralph Marsden (2009) “Melbourne’s Forgotten Movie Studio” in On Stage, Vol 10, No 2, Theatre Heritage Australia. (Part 1)
• Ralph Marsden (2009) “Melbourne’s Forgotten Movie Studio” in On Stage, Vol 10, No 3, Theatre Heritage Australia. (Part 2)
• State Library of NSW – Dictionary of Sydney
• Travalanche (2009) “The Four Cohans: George M Cohan’s Incredible Performing Family”(July 4, 2009)

Text

• Frank Cullen (Ed) Florence Hackman & Donald McNeilly (2007) Vaudeville Old & New. An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, Vol 2. Routledge Taylor & Francis
• Ward Morehouse (1943) George M Cohan, prince of the American Theater. J. B. Lippincott Co
• Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford University Press/AFI
• Hal Porter (1965) Stars of Australian Stage and Screen. Rigby
• Michael & Joan Tallis(1999) The Silent Showman. Sir George Tallis, the man behind the world’s largest entertainment organisation of the 1920s. Wakefield Press.
• Clive Unger-Hamilton(Ed) (1980) The Entertainers. Harrow House Editions