Tag: Ken G Hall

46 Pre-War Aussie films & where to watch them

A Directory of 46 surviving Australian feature films 1906-1939

Above:  US director William Reed (seated) directing Eva Novak (left) in The Romance of Runnibede (1928). [Photo enlarged – see the original here] Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sam Hood Collection.

Frustrated about where to find classic Australian films?
* This is an attempt to list the surviving Australian feature films of the silent and early sound era that you can access – in most cases online – and in most cases at no cost.
* At the time of writing – December 2024, all the links are live. Films are listed in rough order of release from 1906 -1939.
Note – Some of these films are incomplete, and the list is not definitive, because there are some films that are known to have been preserved but have not been re-released. Garry Gillard’s list of all surviving films can be consulted at the Australian Cinema website.
* The National Film & Sound Archive (NFSA) website and Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper’s 1980 book are referred to throughout.[1]Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford Uni Press/AFI

[Note – addresses struck out have been removed by the original poster]

1. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)

2. Thunderbolt (1910)

  • @ NFSA channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Another film on the popular topic of bushranging. It starred and was directed by the prolific John “Jack” F Gavin (1874-1938) – who churned out several other bushranger films in 1910-1911, before some state governments brought in a ban on such films. About 25 minutes of this film survives. See Garry Gillard’s synopsis of Gavin’s career here at The Australian Cinema website. Ina Bertrand’s article on his professional and personal partner, scriptwriter and actor Agnes Gavin (1872-1948), can be read at the Women Film Pioneers Project. [3]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 14-15

3. The Romantic Story of Margaret Catchpole (1911)

  • @ NFSA channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Directed by Raymond Longford (1878-1959), this was his second film as director – a familiar tale of the convict making good in Australia. Leading players included his professional and personal partner Lottie Lyell (1890-1925). About 25 minutes of the film survives. As NFSA curator Paul Byrnes notes, this film helped establish Lottie Lyell as a popular star. [4]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 30-32 Of passing interest, 1911 was the busiest year for Australia film production. It is telling that this is the only survivor.

4. The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915)

5. The Woman Suffers (1918)

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    Comment: “The woman suffers… while the man goes free.” A melodrama of seduction and betrayal, it was written and directed by Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell, who was also leading player. It was their thirteenth collaboration. Paul Byrne’s notes on the film can be read here – he describes it as one of the most significant Australian silent features. About two thirds of the film survives. It did good business – although it was banned in New South Wales after a six month run – for reasons never fully explained, but presumably through pressure from rival cinema interests.[5]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 102-103

6. The Sentimental Bloke (1919)

  • @ Classic Films channel on Youtube [Watch here]
  • @ Classic Old Australian films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]

    Comment: Raymond Longford’s film is regarded as a classic – one of the country’s greatest silents.[6]Pike & Cooper (1980) p121-122 Based on C.J. Dennis’ (1876-1938) verse novel, it starred popular stage comedian Arthur Tauchert (1877-1933) as the bloke and Lottie Lyell as Doreen. It was such a popular release in Australia and in Britain that it sparked several more films – Ginger Mick (1920) and The Dinkum Bloke (1923). The entire film survives.

7. The Man from Kangaroo (1920)

  • @ Pelciulas Mudas/ Silent cinema channel on Youtube [Watch here]
  • @ Classic Old Australian Films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]

    Comment: Producer EJ Carroll (1868-1931) brought a US team to Australia to make a series of films. The team included director Wilfred Lucas (1871-1940) and his wife, scriptwriter Beth Meredyth (1890-1969). Australian athlete Snowy Baker (1884-1953) starred as the boxer turned Minister, in this variation of a Western. Popular US actor, Brownie Vernon (1895-1948) took the leading female role.[7]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 126-128 Not surprisingly, the influence of Hollywood filmmaking, particularly of westerns, was commented on at the time. Graham Shirley’s notes on the film can be read here.

8. Robbery Under Arms (1920)

  • @ The VideoCellar channel on Youtube [Watch here]
  • @ Classic Old Australian films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]

    Comment: Directed by and starring Kenneth Brampton (1881-1942), this was based on Rolf Boldrewood‘s (1826-1915) 1880s novel, and made at a time when Bushranging films were still discouraged or simply banned. (Only a few years before the NSW Chief Secretary had rejected another script based on this book with the comment “I fail to see that any good…. will be served by reproducing… the bad old days.” [8]Pike & Cooper (1980) p135-6 ) Most of the film has survived.

9. On Our Selection (1920)

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    Comment: Raymond Longford’s film was his own interpretation of the Steele Rudd stories. Longford dispensed with the country bumpkin interpretations of Dad and Dave that had become popularised thanks to the stage versions and pointedly rejected the impression created “that our backblocks are populated with a race of unsophisticated idiots” – as he felt were portrayed in Beaumont Smith’s Hayseeds series.[9]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 132-134 Paul Byrnes article on the film is here.

10. The Breaking of the Drought (1920)

  • @ Classic Old Australian films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]
  • @ Pelciulas Mudas/ Silent cinema channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Director Franklyn Barrett’s (1873-1964) drought scenes were severe enough to worry politicians, who feared the depiction of a savage drought would harm the standing of the nation, if shown overseas. Adapted from a stage play and extolling the virtues of an honest living made in the country as opposed to the lazy life of the city, the film was moderately well received in Australia. Trilby Clarke (1896-1983) took the leading role as Marjorie. She left a year later to pursue opportunities in the US and UK. [10]Pike & Cooper (1980) p131 Paul Byrne’s notes on the film can be read here.

11. Silks and Saddles (1921)

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  • @ Classic Old Australian films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]

    Comment: Directed by John K Wells (1886-1953), who had arrived in Australia with Wilfred Lucas. US actor Brownie Vernon took the lead role in what appears to have been her final film. Pike & Cooper characterise this as a “racecourse melodrama,” and it was released in the US with the title Queen of the Turf. [11]Pike & Cooper (1980) p138-9 The entire film survives.

12. ‘Possum Paddock (1921)

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    Comment: Kate Howarde’s (1864-1939) Possum Paddock was her own film of her own popular play, making her the first woman to write and direct an Australian feature film. Ina Bertrand’s survey of her life can be read at the Australian Dictionary of Biography, and at the Women Film Pioneers project. Leading player Leslie Adrien was her daughter (real name Florence De Saxe, 1884-1951). About 40 minutes survives of this, Howarde’s only film.

13. The Life Story of John Lee, or The Man They Could Not Hang (1921)

  • @ The Vault channel on You Tube [Watch here]

    Comment: The true story of John Lee, a man who survived several execution attempts, apparently had a strong appeal to Australians, even though the events all took place in England. A popular play, it was made as a film three times in Australia – in 1912, in 1921 and 1934. Pike & Cooper explain that Director Arthur Sterry and Frederick Haldane toured the 1912 version accompanying it with a pious lecture. It was such a great success that in 1921 they remade the film – a “new expanded version” .[12]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 49-50, 147 Then, in 1934, Raymond Longford made a third (sound) version.[13]Pike & Cooper (1980) p220. Unfortunately Longford’s version seems to be lost or at least unavailable

14. A Girl of the Bush (1921)

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  • @ Internet Archive Library at Internet Archive [Watch here]

    Comment: This film by Franklyn Barrett casts the action around the heroine – the Squatter’s daughter – played by New Zealand actor Vera James (1892-1980). With its picturesque scenes of honest rural life juxtaposed against the corruption of the city, it was a familiar narrative. Comic relief was offered by aged townspeople and several Chinese workers (one of whom – Sam Warr – really was Chinese). The entire film survives.[14]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 140-141

15. Painted Daughters (1925)

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    Comment: Directed by F. Stuart-Whyte (1877-1947), whose intention was to “construct bright, snappy, amusing productions, such as might find favour in all parts of the world,” for Australasian films.[15]Pike & Cooper (1980) p163-164 There are indeed, plenty of scenes of bright young people of the era, driving shiny cars, dancing, swimming and having fun at fashionable Sydney homes, set against a melodrama of love lost and won. Numerous Sydney tyros were deliberately selected for the cast – including Phyllis Barry (1908-1954), Billie Sim (1900-1980), Fernande Butler (1897-1972) and Marie Lorraine (1899-1982). About 50 minutes of the film survives.

16. Those Terrible Twins (1925)

17. Around the Boree Log (1925)

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    Comment: Directed by Phillip K Walsh in the Goulburn area of New South Wales, using local talent, it was based on the poems of John O’Brien (Father Patrick Hartigan) (1878-1952). Pike & Cooper describe it as a “sentimental journey through Australian bush society,” but because of its Catholic- Irish sentiments it was treated with caution by distributors and had limited success.[16]Pike & Cooper (1980) p166 It survives in its entirety.

18. The Moth of Moonbi (1926)

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    Comment: Pioneer director Charles Chauvel‘s (1897-1959) first film survives – at least in part. Chauvel had previous experience on Snowy Baker films and had spent several years working in Hollywood. He based this feature on a newly published novel, filming some of it in difficult terrain in Queensland. The plot concerns a country girl who squanders her inheritance in the big city, before returning, wiser, to the country, to marry a stockman. In real life, leading actors Marsden Hassall and Doris Ashwin later married, but they did not appear in another film. [17]Pike & Cooper (1980) p167

19. Greenhide (1926)

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    Comment: Chauvel’s second film was a reverse of the plot of his first. Elsie Sylvaney (1898-1983) played the high society city girl who visits a cattle station, and after some adventures, falls in love with “Greenhide Gavin”, the station manager.[18] Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 175-6 Elsie (later Elsa) Sylvaney married Chauvel in June 1927 and became his constant collaborator. The Chauvels struggled to get the film released, frustrated by the dominant cinema block booking system, and they took to hawking the film to country cinemas themselves. In 1928 they took prints of their two films to the US, but without success – as sound films were rapidly becoming popular. The Chauvels returned to filmmaking in 1933 with In The Wake of the Bounty. Ina Bertrand’s article on Elsa Chauvel is here at the Women Film Pioneers Project.

20. For the Term of His Natural Life (1927)

21. The Kid Stakes (1927)

22. The Far Paradise (1928)

23. The Romance of Runnibede (1928)

  • @ The Administrator Channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Recently (2025) made available by the good folks at the Administrator channel. Starring US actor Eve Novak (1898-1988) and directed by US director Scott R Dunlap (1892-1970). Dunlap’s arrival was delayed so some scenes were directed by Novak’s husband William Reed (also see headline photo above) Pike & Cooper describe this as a “Hollywood formula movie designed for overseas audiences, with maps and explanatory title about Australia…” made in the enthusiastic rush after For the Term of His Natural Life. [20]Pike & Cooper (1980) p184-5 [Caution – contains dated and offensive stereotypes of indigenous Australians]

24. The Birth of White Australia (1928)

  • @ The Administrator channel on YouTube [Watch here]

    Comment: The Birth of White Australia was discovered intact in the 1960s, at Young, NSW, where it was filmed. It was an attempt by Phillip K Walsh to make “a panoramic view of Australian racial history,” again using local talent.[21]Pike & Cooper (1980) p191 Although it reflected common prejudices of the era, it had no commercial screenings after its local premiere and Walsh made no more films. [Caution – the film’s crude and racist content and clunky production values makes it very heavy going for modern viewers]

25. The Cheaters (1929-30)

  • @ Pelciulas Mudas/ Silent cinema channel on Youtube [ Silent version – Watch here]
  • @ Classic Old Australian Films channel at Internet Archive [Silent version – Watch here]
  • @ The Administrator channel on Youtube [includes 3 surviving sound clips – Watch here]

    Comment: This crime melodrama was completed as a silent in 1929, but with the arrival in cinemas of sound, the McDonagh sisters added some sequences with sound to improve the film’s commercial chances. [22]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 201-2 Unfortunately, the sound quality was primitive and the audience reaction mixed.[23]Andree Wright (1986) Brilliant Careers, Women in Australian Cinema, Chapter 3 The sound footage can be heard in this talk by Graham Shirley: The McDonagh Sisters and ‘The Cheaters’ . In 1932 the McDonagh sisters made an anti-war film called Two Minutes Silence. That is now a lost film and it was their last. [24]It was also the last feature film to be directed by a woman in Australia until Gillian Armstrong (b.1950) directed My Brilliant Career almost 50 years later

26. Diggers (1931)

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  • @ The Administrator Channel on Youtube [in three parts – Watch part 1 here]

    Comment: Directed by Frank W.Thring (1882-1936), this 60 minute comedy was largely based on Pat Hanna’s popular “digger” stage act. Hanna (1888-1973), the leading player, was very unhappy with Thring’s editing, and thereafter directed his own films. Thring had imported the latest RCA sound equipment to make this film – reflecting his ongoing efforts to establish a viable Australian film industry. The film was released in November 1931 and survives today.[25]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 205-6

27. Showgirl’s Luck (1931)

  • @ The Administrator Channel on Youtube [Watch here]
  • @ Classic Films channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Often cited as Australia’s “first talkie” this musical was directed by Norman Dawn and starred his wife Susan Denis (Katherine Dawn 1896-1984) Dawn had returned to Australia in October 1929 with plans to make sound films in Australia. The plot concerns the making of an Australian talkie, “from which was hung as many musical numbers as could be worked in.” [26]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 206-8 But trade reviews were poor – and the sound-on-disc technology he had used was already being superseded. With sound transferred to optical, it was finally released in December 1931. However, Dawn soon abandoned Australia. The film remains interesting for Dawn’s use of special effects.

28. On Our Selection (1932)

  • @ Classic Old Australian films channel at Internet Archive [Watch here]
  • @ The Administrator channel on Youtube (Introduced by David Stratton) [Watch here]

    Comment: Ken G Hall’s(1901-1994) first sound feature film was a great success – it broke all house records when it opened at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre. It was based on the popular stage version of On Our Selection, made famous by Bert Bailey (1868-1953), who also produced the film and starred as “Dad Rudd.” It differed markedly from Raymond Longford’s 1920 version, with Hall “stressing the characters’ ability to fight back against adversity,” which struck a chord with Depression era audiences. [27]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 208-210 As David Stratton states in the introduction (to the Administrator channel copy) the film combined comedy and melodrama, mercilessly satirising city dwellers as opposed to the honest characters of “the bush.” On the back of this great success, Cinesound Productions was established. There were three successful sequels made – Grandad Rudd (1935), Dad and Dave Come to Town (1938) and Dad Rudd, M.P. (1940)

29. His Royal Highness (1932)

30. Diggers in Blighty (1933)

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    Comment: Pat Hanna again used stage material and actors from his Famous Diggers troupe for this, his own production. In direction, Hanna was assisted by Raymond Longford who also briefly appeared as a German spy. As Pike & Cooper point out, the pace is slow, with stock footage of London used to provide some context of “Blighty.” The film also has a slight claim to fame in that it was the first screen appearance by future actor Peggy (later Mary) Maguire (1919-1974). The 14 year-old sat in the background in just one office scene, giggling at Hanna’s antics – apparently Hanna provided her with little direction. This may also be the first Australian film to give a speaking role to an Indigenous actor, who plays another soldier.

31. Harmony Row (1933)

  • @ The Administrator channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Another Efftree film production directed by Frank W Thring, and again starring popular comedian George Wallace. The plot concerns the humorous adventures of Wallace as a policeman, on a tough beat called Harmony row. Leonard, a child street singer, was played by Bill Kerr (1922-2014) – then known as Willie Kerr, in his first screen role of a very long career.[29]Pike & Cooper (1980) p213

32. In the Wake of the Bounty (1933)

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    Comment: This was Charles Chauvel’s first sound film, and the first of a series of projected travel films. Chauvel faced great difficulties filming at Pitcairn Island and then, further challenges with the censors on his return to Australia. This was also the first film for young Errol Flynn (1909-1959), who turned in a very wooden performance as Fletcher Christian in the dramatized scenes.[30]Pike & Cooper (1980) p214

33. The Squatter’s Daughter (1933)

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    Comment: Ken Hall’s second film for Cinesound was another great success – it did very well and returned its money in Australia and New Zealand. Hall’s difficulty in developing the script is described in Paul Byrnes’ notes. The plot revolved around Joan Enderby’s efforts to save the family sheep station[31]Australian term for large pastoral lease or property from a wicked neighbour. Enderby was played by young Australian actor Jocelyn Howarth (1911-1963) who moved to the US in 1936 and adopted the stage name Constance Worth. Apart from the film’s startlingly realistic bushfire scenes, of interest is the long introduction written by then Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, reminding us again that politicians often attached great importance to cinema depictions of Australia. [32]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 215-6 The entire film survives.

34. The Hayseeds (1933)

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    Comment: Beaumont Smith had previously made six (silent) Hayseed rural family comedies, but this final offering may have been an attempt to cash in on the success of Hall’s On Our Selection, with some musical numbers added for good effect. As usual in this genre, simple but honest country people are the heroes while city dwellers are ridiculed – in this case the monocle wearing Mr Townleigh and his family – who later befriend the Hayseeds. Dad Hayseed was played by Cecil Kellaway (1890-1973), the first of many film roles in his long career. [33]Pike & Cooper (1980) p218

35. The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934)

  • @ The Administrator channel on Youtube [ Watch here]

    Comment: Based on a novel by Maxwell Gray and subsequently a play, this had been filmed twenty years before by Raymond Longford. It became another success for Ken Hall and Cinesound, who used visiting British actors John Longden (1900-1971) and Charlotte Francis (1904-1983) in the leading roles. In supporting roles were Jocelyn Howarth and John Warwick (1905-1972). The melodrama concerned “a clergyman who denied responsibility for the pregnancy of his lover and death of her father.” [34]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 218-9 This is a shortened version.

36. A Ticket in Tatts (1934)

  • @ The Administrator channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: This was another Frank W Thring film featuring George Wallace. As Paul Brynes writes, this film was again based on existing material that Wallace had developed for the stage. The underwhelming plot drifts through a number of largely unrelated sequences but concerns a horse race and some crooks who wish to drug “Hotspur”, the cup favourite.[35]Pyke & Cooper (1980), pp 218-9 Paul Byrnes suggests that “Thring was a director of meagre talents, although he often worked with the best of Australia’s theatrical performers.” [36]Soon after this film was completed, Thring began work on Sheepmates, but this project was soon abandoned. A few outtakes from Sheepmates can be seen here.

37. Clara Gibbings (1934)

  • @ The Administrator Channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: One of the last films from Frank W.Thring‘s Eftee productions, this had been a successful stage play – with a familiar “rags to riches” plot. London pub proprietor Clara Gibbings discovers she is the daughter of an Earl. The happy ending is that, disillusioned with “society,” Clara moves to Australia. But even the inclusion of popular musical comedy star Dorothy Brunton (1890-1977) in the title role could not save the film, which looks exactly like the filmed stage play it was. Pike & Cooper note that after a three week run in Melbourne, it simply disappeared. [37]Pike & Cooper (1980) p221 Eric Reade rightly observed that the film was overloaded with dialogue, but at least it provided welcome relief from Steele Rudd films. [38]Reade (1979) History & heartburn, Harper & Row. p96-7

38. Strike Me Lucky (1934)

  • @ The Administrator Channel on Youtube [Watch here]

    Comment: Uploaded recently (2025) by the good folks at the Administrator Channel on Youtube, this film is significant in many ways. It was the only film made by very popular Australian stage comedian Roy Rene (1891-1954), and yet director Ken Hall and Rene himself, regarded it as a failure. Rene said he “found it too hard trying to be funny to no one. [meaning in a studio] You need the stimulus of an audience when you’re used to one…” [39]Rene cited in Pike & Cooper (1980) p221

39. Heritage (1935)

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    Comment: This was Charles Chauvel’s very ambitious panorama of colonial history. In the opinion of Paul Byrnes at the NFSA it was intended to be a “thunderous endorsement of the pioneer mythology of Australia”. But the film was not well cast – Franklyn Bennett (1904-1975) was an amateur while Peggy Maguire was just 16 years old – and Chauvel’s script often seemed more like a tiresome lesson on colonial history, with key characters delivering very serious lectures about Australia’s wonderful prospects. The film was not a success in Australia or internationally, but it did win the £2,500 Commonwealth film prize for that year – from a very small pool. Pike & Cooper point out that as a result of the experience, Chauvel’s backers turned to “material with wider international appeal.” [40]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 224-226 The entire film survives.
    . 

40. Rangle River (1936)

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    Comment: This film was based on an original story by writer of numerous US Westerns, Zane Grey (1872-1939), with a script treatment written by Charles and Elsa Chauvel. Rangle River also partly owes its existence to New South Wales’ short-lived efforts to have an Australian film quota – a requirement that a certain number of films exhibited had to be Australian-made. As with The Flying Doctor(1936) it was made with significant US input, including director Clarence Badger (1880-1964), principal technicians and leading man Victor Jory (1902-1982). The plot concerns the heroine, played by Margaret Dare (1912-1999) returning to her father’s cattle station, while the evil neighbour attempts to shut them down by damming up the Rangle River and depriving them of water. The film has since gained some unintended notoriety, based on its US release name Men With Whips, and due to the climatic stock-whip fight between the two leading protagonists.[41] Pike & Cooper (1980) p232 The entire film survives.

41. It Isn’t Done (1937)

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    Comment: NFSA curator Paul Byrnes describes 1937 as a golden year for Cinesound Pictures, who now had developed an efficient business model – with backing by Greater Union Theatres, an efficient production unit, and Ken Hall‘s competent direction of competent actors. In this case, a story was provided by stage actor Cecil Kellaway (1890-1973) who was starring in his first film, while newcomer Shirley Ann Richards (1917-2006) took an ingenue role. The plot concerns an Australian farmer Hubert Blaydon (Kellaway) who inherits a title and an English baronial estate. Blaydon decides he prefers life in Australia and contrives to lose the title, while his daughter Patricia (Richards) marries the next heir.[42]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 232-3 The entire film survives.

42. Tall Timbers (1937)

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    Comment: As Pike & Cooper point out, the climax of this Ken Hall Cinesound picture, a “timber drive” (where trees on a mountain slope fall and knock down more in their path) had to be modelled after two attempts to do it in real life failed. The plot involves a race between rivals to fulfil a timber contract. As Paul Byrnes notes, the film was very much in the style of a classic silent melodrama , but it made money for Cinesound. Shirley Ann Richards again featured. [43]Pike & Cooper (1980) p235 The entire film survives.

43. Lovers and Luggers (1937)

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    Comment: Ken Hall’s film featured imported US actor Lloyd Hughes (1897-1958) in this adventure film of pearl diving on Thursday Island. As Paul Byrnes comments, Ken Hall always regarded this as one of his best films. In addition to its technical competence, the strong supporting cast, including Shirley Ann Richards, Elaine Hamill (1911-1981), Alec Kellaway (1897-1893) ensured it did well at the box-office. In the US it was titled Vengeance of the Deep.[44]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 235-6 The entire film survives.

44. Gone to the Dogs (1939)

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    Comment: Ken Hall had filmed Let George Do It with George Wallace in 1938, which had been another success for Cinesound.(Unfortunately, so far this writer has not found a copy anywhere to watch) This second Cinesound outing with Wallace had the benefit of talented co-star Lois Green (1914-2006), a singer and dancer for JC Williamsons. Gone to the Dogs is about the then popular past time of dog racing – George Wallace‘s character having invented a tonic that makes dogs run faster. The main song and dance number of the film is a highlight.[45]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 242-3 The entire film survives.

45. Dad and Dave Come to Town (1939)

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    Comment: For the third of Cinesound’s Dad and Dave series, Ken Hall moved the story from its usual rustic country setting to a modern city, where Dad Rudd (again played by Bert Bailey) inherits a women’s fashion store. Shirley Ann Richards played his sophisticated adult daughter Jill, who ends up running the business, after thwarting efforts by a rival firm to shut them down. The film was a great success in Australia and in Britain, where it was released as the Rudd Family Goes to Town. [46]Pike & Cooper (1980) pp240-1 Also in the supporting cast was a very young Peter Finch (1916-1977). The entire film survives.

46. Seven Little Australians (1939)

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    Comment: Perhaps it is a good thing to end this directory with a film that failed at the box office, to balance any impression of continual success. Ethel Turner’s (1870-1958) novel had been written in 1894 and was well known to Australians. But according to Pike & Cooper, this 1939 film was rambling and crudely made.[47]Pike & Cooper (1980) p244. Director Arthur Greville Collins (1896-1980) had experience as a director of plays in the UK and on several US films in the mid 1930s. Funding came from Sydney businessman Edward H O’Brien, who apparently initially planned more films. Almost certainly the poor reception for this film – both at the box office and critically – helped him come to this decision not to do this. And yet despite the poor reception, Collins settled in Australia, and directed one more film in 1949.
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Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford Uni Press/AFI
↑2 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 7-9
↑3 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 14-15
↑4 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 30-32
↑5 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 102-103
↑6 Pike & Cooper (1980) p121-122
↑7 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 126-128
↑8 Pike & Cooper (1980) p135-6
↑9 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 132-134
↑10 Pike & Cooper (1980) p131
↑11 Pike & Cooper (1980) p138-9
↑12 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 49-50, 147
↑13 Pike & Cooper (1980) p220. Unfortunately Longford’s version seems to be lost or at least unavailable
↑14 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 140-141
↑15 Pike & Cooper (1980) p163-164
↑16 Pike & Cooper (1980) p166
↑17 Pike & Cooper (1980) p167
↑18 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 175-6
↑19 Pike & Cooper (1980) p178
↑20 Pike & Cooper (1980) p184-5
↑21 Pike & Cooper (1980) p191
↑22 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 201-2
↑23 Andree Wright (1986) Brilliant Careers, Women in Australian Cinema, Chapter 3
↑24 It was also the last feature film to be directed by a woman in Australia until Gillian Armstrong (b.1950) directed My Brilliant Career almost 50 years later
↑25 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 205-6
↑26 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 206-8
↑27 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 208-210
↑28 Pike & Cooper (1980) p211
↑29 Pike & Cooper (1980) p213
↑30 Pike & Cooper (1980) p214
↑31 Australian term for large pastoral lease or property
↑32 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 215-6
↑33 Pike & Cooper (1980) p218
↑34 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 218-9
↑35 Pyke & Cooper (1980), pp 218-9
↑36 Soon after this film was completed, Thring began work on Sheepmates, but this project was soon abandoned. A few outtakes from Sheepmates can be seen here.
↑37 Pike & Cooper (1980) p221
↑38 Reade (1979) History & heartburn, Harper & Row. p96-7
↑39 Rene cited in Pike & Cooper (1980) p221
↑40 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 224-226
↑41 Pike & Cooper (1980) p232
↑42 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 232-3
↑43 Pike & Cooper (1980) p235
↑44 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 235-6
↑45 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp 242-3
↑46 Pike & Cooper (1980) pp240-1
↑47 Pike & Cooper (1980) p244.

Jocelyn Howarth (1911-1963) – Endless disappointments

Above: Constance Worth (Jocelyn Howarth) manages a smile while being made up during shooting of the abysmal film, The Wages of Sin (1936). The phrase “endless disappointments” is suggested by Andrée Wright’s 1987 account of her life. [1]Photo – Author’s collection. Photographer unknown
The Five second version
Born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 19 August 1911, Constance Worth was known to family and friends in Australia as Joy. She used the stage name Jocelyn Howarth in Australia. It was in the US that she adopted the stage name Constance Worth.
A talented and popular actress who appeared on stage and in several films in Australia, she travelled to the US in 1936 to pursue her career. She has often been represented as an Australian pioneer in Hollywood – part of the wave of Australian women who travelled there for work between the wars. Sadly, her experiences in the US suggests she was continually frustrated by underwhelming roles in B films, and by poor treatment by the studio system. She died in Los Angeles, California USA on 18 October 1963, aged only 52. The IMDB suggests she appeared in 35 US films, sometimes in uncredited roles.
(See Note 1 below regarding the British actress Constance Worth)
Howarth without makeup, about the time she made 10 Minute Alibi at Melbourne Comedy Theatre in 1934. Courtesy the Marriner Theatrical Archive, Melbourne.

Enid Joyce Howarth was born in Sydney on 19 August, 1911.[2]NSW Births Deaths and Marriages certificate 44906/1911, Enid Joyce Howarth She was one of Australian director Ken G Hall’s “finds,” making a great impression under her stage name, Jocelyn Howarth, in The Squatter’s Daughter (1933) and The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934) before moving to Hollywood in 1936, where she was given or adopted the stage name Constance Worth. But her story was not a happy one. Indeed, her US film career would end up being one of frustration and continual disappointment. She spent much of her Hollywood career chasing film roles that either did not eventuate or failed to live up to expectations.[3]See Wright (1987) p63-64

To family and friends she was known all her life as Joy. The youngest of three daughters[4]Gwen born 1908, Nancy born 1910 born to wealthy Sydney importer Moffat Howarth and his wife Maryellen nee Dumbrill, her childhood was privileged but the family had its moments of unhappiness – and her parents finally divorced very publicly and acrimoniously in 1921.[5]Truth (Syd) 25 Sept, 1921, p7 After leaving St Gabriel’s Church of England School, Waverley, she involved herself in amateur theatre, appearing in a production of Cynara.[6]Despite many the many references to the contrary, the Ascham school archivist has assured the author that Jocelyn did not attend their school

Above: Cinesound publicity at work. Jocelyn Howarth advertising Ken Hall’s The Squatter’s Daughter, holding a Koala. [7]Table Talk, 20 July 1933. Via State Library of Victoria.

In 1933, Ken Hall tested her for The Squatter’s Daughter, his entertaining film of Australian pastoral life.[8]Hall gave an account of testing Joy in his autobiography (1980) p58 Hall made much of her ability and composure during the film’s spectacular scenes – especially the bush fire scene. Publicity from production company Cinesound helped establish her reputation as “Australia’s bravest girl”. Cinesound ensured she appeared at screenings of the film around Australia and she certainly impressed reviewers. In late 1933, a reviewer from the Melbourne Argus wrote; “She is a most winning and attractive figure, who both looks and acts her part. She will establish a reputation for her work in this film.” [9]The Argus (Melb) 23 Oct 1933, P5 She certainly looked the part of the glamourous film star, but her answers to the press as she traveled Australia were well considered and also revealed a mature and thoughtful mind. In May 1934 The Silence of Dean Maitland was released with Joy in a supporting role and again, she enjoyed good reviews. According to Ken Hall, she had wanted the leading role in this film.

Above: Screen grabs of Jocelyn Howarth in Ken Hall’s The Squatter’s Daughter 1933. She was 22 at the time. [10]Unfortunately only a few of Ken Hall’s films are available publicly, in shortened low-quality versions from US sources, including this one. Author’s collection

Through 1934 and 1935, Joy waited for more parts in film. She performed on stage in Ten Minute Alibi and The Wind and the Rain and in several radio plays. Five feet, five inches tall, Blonde, blue eyed, and widely admired for her willingness to throw herself with gusto into her roles, Joy was a talented and seemingly confident young Australian about to go places.

She attracted great attention, and appears to have been briefly engaged to “Digger Comedian” Johnnie Marks. But unfortunately the problem for all of Australia’s enthusiastic young actors was that there were few feature films being made. Appearances – in advertising for iced tea and on radio with James Raglan, would not have satisfied her interests and ambitions for very long. So, in April 1936, aged 25, Joy sailed for California on the Matson liner Monterey, determined to try her luck in Hollywood.

Jocelyn Howarth, “charming young Australia actress” at the time she appeared in Ten Minute Alibi in 1934. [11]Table Talk, 23 August, 1934, P17, via State Library of Victoria.

Journalists reported Joy and a travelling companion mixing cocktails for well-wishers in their cabin on the eve of departure. Although she publicly claimed to be “loaded with introductions to people in Hollywood,” she was cautious enough to add “it seems to me going to Hollywood in search of a career is like taking a ticket in the lottery …” [12]The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1936, P20 And so it was. Despite travelling on the Monterey with actor and director Miles Mander, and enjoying welcome dinners with the likes of expat Australian director John Farrow and actress Maureen O’Sullivan, by August 1936, Joy had received no film offers. In an angry despair she reportedly made a half-hearted attempt to take her own life. She was saved by the timely intervention of young actor friend, Tyrone Power, whom she telephoned for help.[13]Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug 1936, PA2 via Newspapers.com Unfortunately, Joy found herself dogged by reports of this event for the rest of her Hollywood career, and the explanation of what had happened with the gas in her flat changed and therefore became less believable (a pot boiling over,[14]Santa Rose Republican, 10 Aug 1936, P9 and Prescott Evening Courier, 11 August 1936 P5 via Newspapers.com a gas leak,[15]The Daily News (Perth WA)14 Sep, 1937, P1, a new type of stove,[16]The Mail (Adel. SA) 14 Aug 1937, P1 a heater[17]The Daily Telegraph (Syd)13 Jul 1937, P2 over time. Years later, she would publicly acknowledge how hard her early years in Hollywood had been. “I really was in an emotional state in those days… I had little faith in myself and still less money.”[18]Sydney Morning Herald 5 Nov 1961, P27 “I’ll rebuild my life as an actress” via

Above: Joy Howarth, August 5, 1936, taken just after the gas event. The accompanying story states “an inhalator squad worked an hour reviving her.” [19]A syndicated US news agency photo, Author’s collection.

Joy’s luck changed soon after this incident and she finally secured a contract with RKO. She took the lead in two underwhelming mystery/adventure films, China Passage and Windjammer, both released in 1937. On China Passage she was to co-star with Vinton Haworth, so at the suggestion or perhaps insistence of RKO she changed her stage name to Constance Worth.

Howarth1
Above: Constance Worth in her first Hollywood movie, playing the leading female role in the exotic 1937 RKO thriller China Passage. The film was possibly influenced by the success of MGM’s China Seas, made a few years before. [20]Photo is an enlargement from an RKO film publicity photo. Author’s Collection. The film has recently been re-released on DVD
With Geo O'Brien in Windjammer 1937
Above: With George O’Brien in Windjammer (1937), her second RKO film. [21]Cine-Mundial, Jan-Dec 1937. Via Lantern, Media History Digital Library

In the midst of this excitement, she met another actor, a friend of Tyrone’s, and began an intense relationship. Unfortunately the object of her affection was serial Hollywood womaniser, George Brent, who already had two failed marriages and numerous relationships behind him. Under intense pressure from Brent, they married, secretly, in Mexico in May, 1937. It was a disaster and within months the entire saga was played out in the press in agonising detail. After a few weeks of marriage, Brent had become morose, withdrawn and uncommunicative, later to suggest he realised he had made a terrible mistake. Brent attempted to have the marriage annulled on the grounds that having been conducted in Mexico it wasn’t a legal marriage, but before the end of the year it ended up as a full-blown stoush in a US divorce court.

cw and brent
Above- Joy and George Brent, about the time of their marriage in 1937.[22] Picture play Magazine, 1938, Media History Digital Library

When Joy’s mother Mary-Ellen was pressed to comment she said; “when I first met Brent I was not impressed.” But “Joy…was in love and that was all that mattered to me.”[23]The Australian Women’s Weekly, Dec 11, 1937, p27 Mary-Ellen was to spend the next twenty years worrying about Joy, while Moffatt Howarth repeatedly told his daughter to come home to Sydney.

Joy’s sister Gwen Howarth visited Hollywood in late 1937, to support her sister through the divorce. Her thoughtful and considered views about Hollywood appeared in The Australian Women’s Weekly, in September and October 1937.[24]Joy’s accounts appear in The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 11, 1937, Page 3 and The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 18, 1937, Page 4 While she celebrated Australian successes, amongst them that of Mary Maguire, Gwen Howarth didn’t balk at reporting the reality, which was often quite the opposite to the well-peddled stereotype of Hollywood success. She also told The Sydney Morning Herald of “Some of Hollywood’s Failures” in August: “Hollywood … is a city of hopes which are fulfilled for few. Its drug-stores, shops, and restaurants have as assistants and waitresses scores of beautiful girls who linger on in the hope of gaining employment in films. And most of them wait in vain.” Little did she imagine that a few years later, her sister Joy would also turn to waitressing when acting jobs dried up.[25]The Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 5, 1961 p27

Gwen also wrote a scathing account of the way the press reported events relating to her sister in Hollywood: “I was rather amused to read in a recent paper here… ‘Miss Worth had been seen out dining alone and she would be leaving for Europe next month.’ She has not dined out alone since she has been here, and will not be leaving for Europe next month. But that is Hollywood. What they don’t know, they invent.”[26]The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 18, 1937, p4

Of course, there is an irony in Gwen’s “letters from Hollywood.” Despite her efforts to report to Australian readers with a high degree of reflection and honesty, the papers that carried her occasional accounts were the same ones that reported the nonsense and fed the impossible fantasy.

Wages of Sin 1936
Above: Screengrabs from Joy’s rather dismal The Wages of Sin (1936). Left; the family meal scene accompanying the sound grab below. Right; One of the film’s scenes that attempt to titillate – Marjorie has a conversation with Tony (who is in another room) whilst in the shower. [27]Author’s collection

The Brent affair of 1937 undermined Joy’s public standing as a serious actress and RKO offered her no further roles. She was too closely associated with a messy public divorce to warrant more effort by the studio. In a 1945 interview, she acknowledged that not only had Brent’s rejection hurt her deeply, it had also hurt her career.[28]The Australasian (Melb) 25 Aug 1945, p18 But besides this, the studio had dozens of young women keen to pursue film careers.

Joy’s next film was also a starring role, but in a minor studio exploitation flick – The Wages of Sin, a story of a young woman lured into prostitution. Producer Willis Kent was notorious for his sensationalist films made outside the Hollywood production code. The young Australian was desperate for work after the Brent divorce and apparently felt she had no other option. Perhaps she convinced herself that there was something worthwhile about the film. There wasn’t, but she made a great effort with the useless script, her Sydney accent sounding incongruous alongside the broad US accents of her co-stars.

In this short audio clip, hard working Marjorie (Constance Worth) scolds her oafish family for not giving young Tommy milk, and her father for not working. [29]The Wages of Sin is now in the public domain. Copy in the author’s collection

The scandalous film had only limited release in the US, usually opening and closing in towns before local authorities could act. It was never released in Australia.

Not surprisingly, when Joy returned home to Australia in June 1939 she let slip her true opinions about working in the Hollywood studio system. It gave an actress “no scope” she said, and added that she “far preferred the stage.” She modelled the spring collection for Anthony Hordens department store and appeared at the Minerva Theatre (under her real name) in Good Morning, Bill.

The film star comes home. Joy Howarth on the Monterey in 1939. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.
Joy Howarth at the Minerva theatre – photographed in quick change of costume, 26 July 1939. Photographed by Ray Olson. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

In October 1939, Joy announced she had been “called back” to Hollywood to do film work. This might have been for Angels Over Broadway (1940), but perhaps the dream of success in Hollywood was simply too strong. Back in Hollywood as Constance Worth again, she worked tirelessly over the next few years to re-establish herself as an actress. She freelanced, taking a mixture of uncredited, minor and supporting roles. A two year contract with Columbia was signed in the early 1940s, although she also suggested to journalist Lon Jones that finding work had been so difficult she had taken up waitressing.[30]Lon Jones was an Australian journalist based in Hollywood. See The Australasian (Melb) 25 Aug 1945, p18

In a makeup test for Columbia, about the time she appeared in Meet Boston Blackie (1941)[31]Author’s Collection

In 1943 she landed a leading role in Republic’s fifteen part serial G-Men Versus the Black Dragon. Playing British agent Vivian Marsh, she lurches from one hair-raising scenario to the next, tied to buzz-saws and fiendish torture machines by wicked Japanese spies, regularly saved “just in time” by US agent Rex Bennett, played by Rod Cameron. Unfortunately, while Director William Witney admired Joy as an actress, in his autobiography he also commented on the reputation the thirty-two year old Australian had developed. “One of the best actresses that I’d ever worked with. She handled her body well, was a good study and was as pretty as any blonde in pictures. Unfortunately she drank.”[32]Witney (1996) p324-328

Cary Grant’s biographers, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley, also commented on this aspect of Joy’s personality, and a memorable early morning fight she had with actor Phyllis Brooks, at a Hollywood party sometime in 1940.[33]Higham & Moseley (1989) p109

CW & John Beal
Above: With John Beal on the set of Let’s Have Fun in 1943.[34] Hollywood Jan-Dec 1942 via Lantern, Media History Digital Library

In 1943’s Crime Doctor, the first of a long running series of crime films, Joy plays a nurse who is in the ward just before the hero, Ordway, awakes (He has amnesia and doesn’t recall, no matter how hard he tries, that he was a gangster). Joy’s lines, as Nurse Betty, include this banter with another nurse as they fuss about Ordway. Here was Constance Worth – well and truly typecast.

Nurse Betty: From where I sit he promises to be good looking
Nurse 2: I wonder if he’s married…
Nurse Betty: If he appeals to me, he’s married!
Nurse 2 (laughing): Well you can’t do anything with an unconscious guy!
Nurse Betty: You should know some of the men I’ve been out with!

And later when Nurse Betty asks a doctor whether there is any news as to the patient’s identity:

Doctor: Apparently no one misses him
Nurse Betty: (aloud, but almost to herself) I would, if he were mine![35]Transcription – copy in the author’s collection

In 1945, Joy was in the news again in connection with another court case, but this time she was named as co-respondent. Wilma Pierce, the wife of Bill Pierce, a Hollywood scriptwriter, had found her husband in Joy’s flat. Joy was apparently semi-naked when private detectives burst in, but she insisted there was nothing illicit in their relationship. They were just friends. She claimed Pierce had too much to drink “and decided to spend the night on the apartment couch, while she used the bedroom.”[36]See Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1945, p13 and The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 11 Jan 1946, p1 Following the divorce, in March 1947 Bill and Joy married in Nevada.

Joy kept on working and in total, had appeared in at least 32 Hollywood films in the ten years 1939 – 1949. In this writer’s view, meaningless roles in underwhelming films soon became the norm for her, although as Graham Shirley notes (below), her supporting role in the film noir Deadline at Dawn (1946) is a reminder of what might have been.

Her final film was in the B-western film, Western Renegades, in 1949. With light entertainment offered by the plump and ever good-humoured Johnny Mack Brown, lots of western stereotypes and “comedy relief” provided by aging ventriloquist Max Terhune and his dummy Elmer, the audience for this film was clearly the emerging post-war generation of young American boys, about to be exposed to the onslaught of TV westerns. Taking another minor supporting role and looking thinner than ever, Joy played a flashy “actress” hired to impersonate a missing mother, Ann Gordon. In her final scene, she is strangled or bashed-up, it’s not clear which, at the foot of the stairs of the Gordonville hotel by the angry daughter of the real Ann Gordon.

Above. Older but in classic film star makeup and pose. Left, in 1945 [37]On the cover of Australasian, 25 August, 1945 At right; in Klondike Kate in 1943.[38] Author’s Collection. Probably a public relations photo by Columbia Pictures.

In mid 1950 it was reported that she was pregnant.[39]Personal correspondence with a cousin, and also see Louella Parsons in The San Francisco Examiner, May 6, 1950 p7 If this was true, she did not carry the child to full term successfully, as there were no children from Bill and Joy’s relationship. There were also no more film roles after 1949, despite several reports that she was about to re-boot her career.[40]See for example The San Francisco Examiner Sept 8, 1956, p21 and Sydney Morning Herald 5 Nov 1961, p27 She did at least, have the presence in the US of sister Gwen, who had married William Babylon in 1944 – although Gwen now lived in Maryland.[41]The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Apr 1944, p5

Later in life.[42]Author’s collection. undated


Joy Howarth died at age 52,  on 18th October 1963, of complications arising from cirrhosis of the liver.[43]Joy Howarth Pierce, State of California Certificate of Death, 7053 21590 It was a thoroughly dismal end to what had started out as a brilliant career for a genuinely capable actress. With the benefit of hindsight, it would seem Joy’s greatest pleasure came from performing on screen and stage at home, where to Australians, she was always a star.

Cw signature
Joy Howarth was never completely happy with her stage name. She complained on one occasion that it brought her bad luck. Her signature here, for a 1940s fan, looks like it was scribbled under sufferance. Author’s collection.

Note 1
Joy is regularly confused with British stage actress Constance Wadsworth (born 1892) who used the stage name Constance Worth for several films in England between 1919 and 1922. Wadsworth was the second wife of actor Dan Rolyat (Herbert Taylor) (1872-1927).

Nick Murphy, May 2018, updated 2022, 2024

References

  • Special Thanks
    Marguerite Gillezeau, Archivist at Ascham School.
    The Marriner Theatrical Archive, Melbourne Australia

Film Clips

Text 

  • Ina Bertrand (1989) Cinema in Australia. A Documentary History. New South Wales University Press.
  • Ken G. Hall (1977) Directed by Ken G. Hall, autobiography of an Australian film maker. Lansdowne Press.
  • Charles Higham & Roy Moseley (1990) Cary Grant. The Lonely heart. Avon Books
  • Scott O’Brien (2014) George Brent: Ireland’s Gift to Hollywood and Its Leading Ladies. Bear Manor Media
  • Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford Uni Press/AFI
  • Eric Schaeffer (1999) “Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!” A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959. Duke University Press.
  • Amber Sloan (1998) Jocelyn Howarth. Bonza RMIT film resource, via National Library of Australia.
  • William Witney (1996) In a Door, into a Fight, Out a Door, into a Chase: Moviemaking Remembered by the Guy at the Door. McFarland & Co.
  • Andrée Wright (1987) Brilliant Careers: Women in Australian Cinema. MacMillan

National Library of Australia, Trove

  • The Australian Women’s Weekly, Aug 28. 1937, Page 4
  • The Australian Women’s Weekly, Oct 16, 1937, Page 4
  • The Australian Women’s Weekly, Dec 11, 1937, Page 26
  • The Australian Women’s Weekly, Nov 30, 1940, Page 20
  • The Australian Women’s Weekly, Dec 12, 1942, Page 12
This site has been selected for archiving and preservation in the National Library of Australia’s Pandora archive

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 Photo – Author’s collection. Photographer unknown
↑2 NSW Births Deaths and Marriages certificate 44906/1911, Enid Joyce Howarth
↑3 See Wright (1987) p63-64
↑4 Gwen born 1908, Nancy born 1910
↑5 Truth (Syd) 25 Sept, 1921, p7
↑6 Despite many the many references to the contrary, the Ascham school archivist has assured the author that Jocelyn did not attend their school
↑7 Table Talk, 20 July 1933. Via State Library of Victoria.
↑8 Hall gave an account of testing Joy in his autobiography (1980) p58
↑9 The Argus (Melb) 23 Oct 1933, P5
↑10 Unfortunately only a few of Ken Hall’s films are available publicly, in shortened low-quality versions from US sources, including this one. Author’s collection
↑11 Table Talk, 23 August, 1934, P17, via State Library of Victoria.
↑12 The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1936, P20
↑13 Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug 1936, PA2 via Newspapers.com
↑14 Santa Rose Republican, 10 Aug 1936, P9 and Prescott Evening Courier, 11 August 1936 P5 via Newspapers.com
↑15 The Daily News (Perth WA)14 Sep, 1937, P1,
↑16 The Mail (Adel. SA) 14 Aug 1937, P1
↑17 The Daily Telegraph (Syd)13 Jul 1937, P2
↑18 Sydney Morning Herald 5 Nov 1961, P27 “I’ll rebuild my life as an actress” via
↑19 A syndicated US news agency photo, Author’s collection.
↑20 Photo is an enlargement from an RKO film publicity photo. Author’s Collection. The film has recently been re-released on DVD
↑21 Cine-Mundial, Jan-Dec 1937. Via Lantern, Media History Digital Library
↑22 Picture play Magazine, 1938, Media History Digital Library
↑23 The Australian Women’s Weekly, Dec 11, 1937, p27
↑24 Joy’s accounts appear in The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 11, 1937, Page 3 and The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 18, 1937, Page 4
↑25 The Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 5, 1961 p27
↑26 The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sept 18, 1937, p4
↑27 Author’s collection
↑28 The Australasian (Melb) 25 Aug 1945, p18
↑29 The Wages of Sin is now in the public domain. Copy in the author’s collection
↑30 Lon Jones was an Australian journalist based in Hollywood. See The Australasian (Melb) 25 Aug 1945, p18
↑31 Author’s Collection
↑32 Witney (1996) p324-328
↑33 Higham & Moseley (1989) p109
↑34 Hollywood Jan-Dec 1942 via Lantern, Media History Digital Library
↑35 Transcription – copy in the author’s collection
↑36 See Los Angeles Times, July 22, 1945, p13 and The Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 11 Jan 1946, p1
↑37 On the cover of Australasian, 25 August, 1945
↑38 Author’s Collection. Probably a public relations photo by Columbia Pictures.
↑39 Personal correspondence with a cousin, and also see Louella Parsons in The San Francisco Examiner, May 6, 1950 p7
↑40 See for example The San Francisco Examiner Sept 8, 1956, p21 and Sydney Morning Herald 5 Nov 1961, p27
↑41 The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Apr 1944, p5
↑42 Author’s collection. undated
↑43 Joy Howarth Pierce, State of California Certificate of Death, 7053 21590