Tag: Nellie Quealy (1885-1936)

Harry and Nellie Quealy ~ Life and death in variety

Above: Nellie and Harry Quealy in 1910, at the height of their popularity on the Australian stage.[1]The Theatre (Syd) 1 December 1910, P6, via State Library of Victoria
The Five Second version
Harry Quealy was another Australian variety performer who had started his career on the stage at a very young age. He worked for Tom Pollard for a decade, developed a reputation for clever comedy and was much liked by audiences. When he met an early death in Australia in 1927, there was widespread and genuine regret. He worked in the US for six years and had a leading role in the US film Madame Sherry in 1917. But he maintained that he always preferred the stage.
Nellie Quealy, nee Finlay, was his partner on stage – the couple working together with great success in Australia. She had also begun her career as a child performer in the early 1890s, appearing overseas with Pollards in 1898. She married Harry in 1904, and as well as pursuing her own career, took on the role of parenting her three performing siblings – Nattlie, Myra and Irene Finlay. She died in the US in 1936, after a long battle with TB.
A stage turn like Fun in the Kitchen (above and below) was only intended to last 15 minutes being part of a mixed variety program. “There is nothing in the sketch itself… it is all in the acting, swing and drollery of the situations.”[2]The Northern Miner (Qld) 25 April 1911, P7. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove
It is rare to have photos based on scenes from a variety turn. These are from the boxing scene in Fun in the Kitchen – taken for The Theatre magazine in 1910. [3]The Theatre (Syd) 1 December 1910, P5, via State Library of Victoria

Harry Quealy, born 1876

Harry was born Henry Joseph Quealy in Brisbane in July 1876 to Thomas, a shoemaker, and sometime mechanic at Brisbane’s Theatre Royal – and who was, according to Harry, also “the best dancer in Queensland”[4]The Theatre (Syd) on 1 December 1910, via the State Library of Victoria and his Irish born wife Margaret nee Byrne.[5]See State of Queensland, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Birth certificate Henry Joseph Quealy, 25 July 1876 Harry’s stories about being encouraged onto the stage at a young age are true. He recalled that he was on stage in a benefit concert as early as 1882, when he danced to much acclaim.[6]The Brisbane Courier (Qld) 21 Feb 1882, P1,via National Library of Australia’s Trove By 1891, 15 year old Harry was a part of Tom Pollard’s new juvenile troupe touring Australia. He continued to be associated with Tom Pollard’s troupes of players as they matured, until they finally broke up, about 1908.[7]See Peter Downes (2002) The Pollards, P80-81 Harry’s associates are not well remembered now but were very well known at the time and included – Maud Beatty(1878-1959) and May Beatty(1880-1945), William S Percy (1872-1946), Nellie Wilson(1877-) and Jack Ralston (1882-1933). See Note 1 below regarding various Pollard tours.

Harry Quealy in Tom Pollard’s The Gondoliers, the King of Barataria, The Princess Theatre, Melbourne Australia, October 15, 1892 [8]Program via State Library of Victoria

Harry developed to become a popular comedian for Tom Pollard’s comic operas, taking on numerous character roles –“a list too long for me to give it to you right off” he told The Theatre in 1910. In 1903 he joined Pollard’s “Royal Australian Comic Opera Company” for an extended tour of South Africa.[9]So named because the performers were now too old to be called Lilliputians It was here that Harry met Nellie Finlay, who was touring with Harry Hall’s Juvenile Australian Company at the same time.[10]It is hard to believe the Pollards and Harry Hall had not reached some type of agreement regarding itinerary and performances in South Africa

Both Harry and Nellie were short and slight – a physical profile famously preferred by juvenile companies. Harry was inclined to claim he was even shorter than his 162 cms (5’4″) inches while Nellie stood just 152 cms (5′) in height. But it was their skills as dancers, singers and comedians that made them so popular, even before they teamed up on stage. “We both revel in sketch work” Harry assured Theatre magazine.[11]The Theatre (Syd) December 1, 1910, P1-4. Via State Library of Victoria

Nellie Finlay, born c1885

Nellie Finlay was born c1885 in New Zealand.[12]The US census of 1920 lists Nellie’s birthplace as Port Chalmers, New Zealand Details of her childhood are obscure, almost certainly because her mother Millie Robins was unmarried.[13]While her birth certificate has yet to be found, Nellie is listed, aged 6, with sister Nattlie aged 4, on the Queensland birth certificate of her youngest sister Irene. See State of Queensland, … Continue reading Nellie and her sisters Nattlie and Irene adopted the surname Finlay when her mother married George Charles Finlay in 1893.

A photo of Nellie, presumably taken well before its publication in 1916.[14]The Sun (Syd) 9 July 1916, P18. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove

According to Harry Quealy, Nellie’s performance career began when she was aged only 4 and a half – or in about 1890. She was documented onstage in 1892, dancing a sailor’s hornpipe in a program at the Exhibition Hall at 232-234 Brunswick Street Fitzroy and the Finlay family moved permanently to this area soon after.[15]Fitzroy City Press (Vic) 2 Dec 1892 P2, Via National Library of Australia’s Trove A few years later, this part of inner city Melbourne had become the main recruiting ground for Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Company troupes and it is not surprising that Nellie and her sisters would end up being associated with them.

By 1897, Nellie had a reputation for her dancing – which included a version of Bessie Clayton’s “back kick dance” – meaning she was flexible enough to kick backwards and touch her head. In late 1898, Nellie and Nattlie joined a Charles Pollard tour of South Africa – performing the usual repertoire of musical comedies – The Geisha, The Gaiety Girl and the like. A report written for Sydney’s Referee included interviews with Nellie and Nattlie: “Nellie Finlay, aged 12 years, who is a bright and clever girl, said: ‘I like South Africa, and travelling. I came to Cape Town from Australia on November 17, 1898. I like playing parts and dancing. My best part is Mamie Clancy in The Belle of New York.“[16]The Referee (Syd) 5 Jul 1899, P10, via National Library of Australia’s Trove

The Era reports on the success of Charles Pollard’s troupe in South Africa in August 1899.[17]The Era, London, 26 Aug 1899, P15, via British Library Newspaper Archive

In 1900, Nellie and Nattlie joined Harry Hall’s own troupe to perform in South Africa. [18]Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard attempted to stop Hall’s tour in the Victorian Supreme court but failed. Hall’s group was also made up of other adult members of the … Continue reading However, even by the permissive employment standards of the time, the choice of South Africa as a destination for a children’s troupe was unusual – the country was then in the midst of the Second Anglo-Boer war. See Note 2 below regarding Irene Finlay joining the Pollards.

Nellie Finlay remained connected with Hall’s company in South Africa for several years [19]Referee (Syd) 27 Feb 1901, P10 via National Library of Australia’s Trove – she travelled there again in early 1903, with other up and coming juveniles like Harold Fraser (later Snub Pollard) and Mae Dahlberg (later Mae Laurel). Hall died suddenly in South Africa in late October 1903,[20]Otago Daily Times (NZ) 2 Dec 1903 P6 Via Papers Past and his Australian Juveniles mostly returned to Australia. However, Nellie returned to Australia on the same ship as Harry Quealy, and the couple married in Western Australia in 1904.[21]See State of Western Australia, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Marriage certificate 1336/1904

Working together

Fun in the Kitchen included Nellie dancing on a table, humorous songs and concluded with the boxing match ~ shown here ~ between Cook (Nellie) and Buttons (Harry). Australian audiences loved it.

Following their marriage in Western Australia, Nellie and Harry both appeared on the Australian and New Zealand stages for Tom Pollard, with Nellie increasingly choreographing for productions.[22]Daily Post (Hob), 13 Jun 1908, P7, via National Library of Australia’s Trove Fun in the Kitchen was first performed in September 1908.[23]Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) 21 Sep 1908, P6, via National Library of Australia’s Trove It met with great approval and appeared in Australia on and off for six years, being entirely devised and regularly refreshed by Nellie and Harry.[24]The Sun (Syd) 27 Apr 1913, P10, via National Library of Australia’s Trove

In April 1909 Arthur Pollard asked Nellie and Harry to accompany his new Lilliputian tour of the “Far East,” India and North America – Nellie as Ballet Mistress and Harry as Stage Manager.(Charles Pollard had announced he was retiring from running his North American tours) [25]Truth (Bris)18 Apr 1909, P8 via National Library of Australia’s Trove About thirty young performers departed in July 1909 on the SS Gracchus, bound for Java and Singapore as first performance stops. However, as this writer has noted elsewhere, the tour of India was a disaster. Pollard was inexperienced as a manager and temperamentally quite unsuited to be a supervisor of children. The tour fell apart and the child performers returned home in early 1910, with considerable press attention. Harry went out of his way to protect the name of his mentor and friend Tom Pollard, but it didn’t help – the Pollard family reputation was ruined and new Federal legislation followed soon after to restrict the employment of children overseas. Harry also studiously avoided saying anything about his sister in law, Nellie’s youngest sister, Irene, who had disappeared with Arthur Pollard after the troupe broke up in Madras. This writer can find no evidence Nellie and Irene saw each other again. Perhaps the early death of their mother Millie Finlay in Melbourne in 1907 saw the family relationships fracture for good.

Above: Harry Quealy is one of the few who can be identified in this photo of the disastrous 1909 Pollard tour of India. He is standing, sixth from right, behind two seated girls in black. [26]The Leader 2 April, 1910. Via the National Library of Australia’s Trove

Back home, Harry and Nellie resumed their career in vaudeville. For six years, they toured far flung towns and cities in Australia and New Zealand, as part of varied variety lineups, almost without a break. Fun in the Kitchen made a regular return, but they also had new acts – Ragtime Musical Stores, On the Stage and Only a Dream – unfortunately only the titles survive. Fun in the Kitchen continued to tickle Australia audiences, in late 1912 the Kalgoorlie Miner reported that the huge audience “screamed with laughter, and wanted more.” [27]Kalgoorlie Miner (WA) 15 Nov 1912, P7, via National Library of Australia’s Trove At the conclusion of a final, very long run on the Fuller circuit and shortly before they left Australia in September 1916, the Sunday Times of Sydney reported that Nellie “possesses all the accomplishments necessary for success in vaudeville, with a good voice, a good presence, and shapely figure she has all the essentials for success in the rapid-fire sketches she and her husband present.“[28]Sunday Times (Syd) 2 Apr 1916, P19,via National Library of Australia’s Trove

Harry, Nellie and their first daughter Maize in 1915.[29]The Theatre (Syd) 1 Feb 1915. Via State Library of Victoria

Working in the US

It was wartime, but the Quealys were able to catch a ship to South Africa, and in January 1917 they arrived in Boston – the shipping manifest for SS City of Lahore suggests they had work already arranged. Harry’s first few years in the US saw his enthusiastic self promotion at work again – but many of the claims he made at this time to boost his profile now appear to be without foundation.[30]For example – that he tried to enlist in the Australian Army 4 times, that he was Scottish singer Harry Lauder’s cousin, and that he had performed on every continent

In 1917 Nellie was pregnant with their second child, Aileen, born in that year in New York. Harry found work in a film in mid 1917 – just one – a version (silent of course) of the musical comedy Madame Sherry. Clear photos of Harry, credited as H J Quealy, can be seen at Kay Shakleton’s Silent Hollywood website.[31]Why just the one film? Perhaps the experience of friend and former Pollard colleague William S Percy, who had also dabbled in film in Australia and then on his arrival in the US, had some influence He then found work in Oh Boy, a successful New York musical comedy that had opened in August at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre.

Harry Quealy (as H J Quealy) at right, in Madame Sherry, released in September 1917 [32]Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917 Reviews, via Lantern Media History Library

There is also evidence the Quealys were working together on tour at the end of 1920, in the “novelty” vehicle On Manilla Bay, but after this the couple did not work together again.[33]These so called “mechanical electrical” novelty shows were an effort by vaudeville to respond to the growing power of the moving picture. Married by Wireless, also produced by former … Continue reading

Harry and Nellie touring the US together, (and using their connections in a Pollard designed show), in late 1920.[34]Logansport Pharos-Tribune (Indiana) 14 Dec 1920, P9 via Newspapers.com

Nellie was busy – without Harry – in the early 1920s, on tour performing with Frank Roberts in Time – a sequence of episodes in the night life of a large city, and later in partnership with Jack Girard, who was sometimes listed as “Jack Quealy” in Shoe Echoes.

In 1920 Harry toured the US in the musical SeeSaw, followed by a run in Canada with fellow Australian Alma Gray in The Royal Perriots in 1921. And in 1922 he took a role in Rain, at the Maxine Elliott Theatre in New York – a Somerset Maugham story,[35]Daily News (New York) 9 Jan 1923, P20 via Newspapers.com later filmed several times, as Sadie Thompson.

It is not clear whether Nellie and Harry had separated by this time, or whether their careers just took them in different directions, by some sort of mutual agreement.

Early and tragic deaths

Fate did not treat Nellie or Harry well.

Harry Quealy (centre) as Quartermaster Bates in Rain, 1923.[36]Hearst’s International, Vol 43, 1923, P93, Via Internet Archive

In October 1923, during the long run of Rain in New York, Harry suffered a debilitating stroke, bad enough to keep him off stage and in hospital for some months.[37]Variety, 11 October 1923, P9 via the Internet Archive Library With financial support from friends, he returned to Australia in March 1925, and lived with his sister Mary at her home in Lyon Street, Randwick, Sydney.[38]The Telegraph (Bris) 12 Mar 1925, P5 via National Library of Australia’s Trove

Despite the positive spin he tried to put on his circumstances – he claimed he was much improved by the sea voyage home – he required nursing and died in 1927, aged 51.[39]See State of New South Wales, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Death certificate Henry Joseph Quealey(sic), 2 July 1927

Still working in the US, Nellie was diagnosed with tuberculosis in late 1929.[40]Variety Oct 9, 1929, P84. via the Internet Archive Library Before the era of antibiotics, bed rest, fresh air and diet were all that could be done to treat the disease. Nellie went into a specialist sanitorium at New York state’s Saranac Lake, run by the National Vaudeville Association.[41]See Saranac Lake Historic Wiki – Gonzalez Cottage And there she stayed, her progress regularly reported for the benefit of other performers, in the pages of Variety – in a public fashion we would find unthinkable today. In December 1935 Variety reported she was “doing nicely after a slight setback,” but she succumbed to the disease in 1936.[42]Variety Dec 11 1935, P70, via the Internet Archive Library She was aged about 50.

Harry and Nellie’s two daughters lived out their lives in the United States.

Nellie’s youngest sister Irene eloped with Arthur Pollard after the disastrous 1909 tour, went to England with him and finally married him in New Zealand, in 1925. Nattlie Finlay and step sister Myra Finlay both left the stage. A step brother Nigel Finlay, pursued other interests.

Note 1 – the Pollard tours

Based on Peter Downes work, we might define the Pollard troupes this way:

  • James Pollard‘s (Original) Lilliputians (mostly comprising his own children, 1880-1886),
  • Tom Pollard‘s Lilliputians aka the Pollard Opera Company (Australasia, the Far East and South Africa, 1891-1905)
  • Tom Pollard‘s Juvenile Opera Company (mostly Australasia 1907-c1908)
  • Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard’s Lilliputian Opera Companies (one to South Africa, then generally to the Far East and North America 1896-1910 )
  • Arthur Pollard‘s Company (to the Far East and India 1909-1910)
  • Nellie Chester nee Pollard’s “Pollard Company” (only active in North America 1909-1914 but mostly comprising Australians)

Tom Pollard’s troupes are the subject of Peter Downes book The Pollards (2002) – and their members came from across New Zealand and Australia. Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollards companies were mostly enlisted from inner Melbourne. Most child actors did not swap companies.

Note 2 – The Finlays and the courts

There were at least 7 civil cases brought by Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard against members of their troupes, between 1898 and 1904, including several against the Finlay family. Despite the legal wrangling in 1900, Nellie’s youngest sister Irene Finlay joined a Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard troupe to North America. She ended up travelling on five overseas tours with them, reminding us again that the Pollards were running a business and parents of child performers were entering into transactions with them – there was no altruism involved.

Nick Murphy
August 2022

References

Text

  • Gillian Arrighi and Victor Emeljanow (2014) Entertaining Children: The participation of youth in the entertainment industry. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Gillian Arrighi (2017) “The Controversial ‘Case of the Opera Children in the East’: Political conflict between popular demand for child actors and modernising cultural policy on the child.” Theatre Journal No 69, 2017, Johns Hopkins University Press via Jstore.
  • Peter Downes (2002) The Pollards. Steele Roberts.
  • Maryna Fraser (Ed), Edmund Bright, Thomas Richard Adlam (1985) Johannesburg Pioneer Journals, 1888-1909. (Excerpts from the memoirs of William T Powell) Van Riebeeck Society
  • Camille Hardy (1978) “Bessie Clayton: An American Genée” Dance Chronicle, 1978 – 1979, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 251-278. Taylor and Francis via Jstore.
  • Kirsty Murray (2010) India Dark. Allen and Unwin
    [Note: While written as a novel for teenagers, this beautiful book is closely based on the events of Arthur Pollard’s troupe in India and is highly recommended]

Web

Newspaper & Magazine Sources

  • National Library of Australia’s Trove
  • Newspapers.com
  • State Library of Victoria
  • Hathitrust digital library
  • National Library of New Zealand’s Papers Past
  • Internet Archive Library

Primary Sources

  • Ancestry.com
  • Victoria, Births, Deaths and Marriages
  • New South Wales, Births, Deaths and Marriages
  • Western Australia, Births, Deaths and Marriages

This site has been selected for preservation in the National Library of Australia’s Pandora archive

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 The Theatre (Syd) 1 December 1910, P6, via State Library of Victoria
↑2 The Northern Miner (Qld) 25 April 1911, P7. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑3 The Theatre (Syd) 1 December 1910, P5, via State Library of Victoria
↑4 The Theatre (Syd) on 1 December 1910, via the State Library of Victoria
↑5 See State of Queensland, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Birth certificate Henry Joseph Quealy, 25 July 1876
↑6 The Brisbane Courier (Qld) 21 Feb 1882, P1,via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑7 See Peter Downes (2002) The Pollards, P80-81
↑8 Program via State Library of Victoria
↑9 So named because the performers were now too old to be called Lilliputians
↑10 It is hard to believe the Pollards and Harry Hall had not reached some type of agreement regarding itinerary and performances in South Africa
↑11 The Theatre (Syd) December 1, 1910, P1-4. Via State Library of Victoria
↑12 The US census of 1920 lists Nellie’s birthplace as Port Chalmers, New Zealand
↑13 While her birth certificate has yet to be found, Nellie is listed, aged 6, with sister Nattlie aged 4, on the Queensland birth certificate of her youngest sister Irene. See State of Queensland, Births, Deaths and Marriages, 16 August 1891 – Birth Certificate, Irene Robins
↑14 The Sun (Syd) 9 July 1916, P18. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑15 Fitzroy City Press (Vic) 2 Dec 1892 P2, Via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑16 The Referee (Syd) 5 Jul 1899, P10, via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑17 The Era, London, 26 Aug 1899, P15, via British Library Newspaper Archive
↑18 Charles Pollard & Nellie Chester nee Pollard attempted to stop Hall’s tour in the Victorian Supreme court but failed. Hall’s group was also made up of other adult members of the Pollard family – Alice Landeshut nee Pollard, Will Pollard and May Pollard were all supervising adults – and thus, these actions suggest a tradition of tension and mistrust within the Pollard family itself.
↑19 Referee (Syd) 27 Feb 1901, P10 via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑20 Otago Daily Times (NZ) 2 Dec 1903 P6 Via Papers Past
↑21 See State of Western Australia, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Marriage certificate 1336/1904
↑22 Daily Post (Hob), 13 Jun 1908, P7, via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑23 Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton) 21 Sep 1908, P6, via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑24 The Sun (Syd) 27 Apr 1913, P10, via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑25 Truth (Bris)18 Apr 1909, P8 via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑26 The Leader 2 April, 1910. Via the National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑27 Kalgoorlie Miner (WA) 15 Nov 1912, P7, via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑28 Sunday Times (Syd) 2 Apr 1916, P19,via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑29 The Theatre (Syd) 1 Feb 1915. Via State Library of Victoria
↑30 For example – that he tried to enlist in the Australian Army 4 times, that he was Scottish singer Harry Lauder’s cousin, and that he had performed on every continent
↑31 Why just the one film? Perhaps the experience of friend and former Pollard colleague William S Percy, who had also dabbled in film in Australia and then on his arrival in the US, had some influence
↑32 Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Dec 1917 Reviews, via Lantern Media History Library
↑33 These so called “mechanical electrical” novelty shows were an effort by vaudeville to respond to the growing power of the moving picture. Married by Wireless, also produced by former Pollard members and toured in the US, was another
↑34 Logansport Pharos-Tribune (Indiana) 14 Dec 1920, P9 via Newspapers.com
↑35 Daily News (New York) 9 Jan 1923, P20 via Newspapers.com
↑36 Hearst’s International, Vol 43, 1923, P93, Via Internet Archive
↑37 Variety, 11 October 1923, P9 via the Internet Archive Library
↑38 The Telegraph (Bris) 12 Mar 1925, P5 via National Library of Australia’s Trove
↑39 See State of New South Wales, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Death certificate Henry Joseph Quealey(sic), 2 July 1927
↑40 Variety Oct 9, 1929, P84. via the Internet Archive Library
↑41 See Saranac Lake Historic Wiki – Gonzalez Cottage
↑42 Variety Dec 11 1935, P70, via the Internet Archive Library

Irene Finlay (1891-1962)-the longest serving Lilliputian

Above centre – Irene Finlay, then aged about 10, with other performers, enlarged from a group photo of the Pollard troupe c1902-3, (outside the Badminton Hotel, Vancouver). Source Vancouver As It Was, A Photo Historical Journey, used with their kind permission – it remains one of few high quality and well photographed images of the Pollard children.

In early 1910, 18 year old performer Irene Finlay (1891-1962) eloped with 37 year old Arthur Hayden Pollard (1873-1940), the manager of the Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company tour to India and the Far East, and the junior member of the famous Pollard family. Arthur Pollard had been accused of mistreating the children in his care on the tour, and the news of this had slowly filtered back to Australia. His relationship with Irene Finlay was also a central feature of the scandal. The collapse of the tour has been well documented by Gillian Arrighi (2017) and in a creative retelling by Kirsty Murray (2010).

After the protracted and embarrassing legal proceedings in Madras and the subsequent press attention, Irene and Arthur disappeared. Reports suggested they had gone to Pondicherry, or maybe Saigon, or perhaps North America. In the wake of the tour, Australia’s Federal Parliament passed new laws to restrict children leaving the country as performers.

Above: Despite its grainyness, this photo shows Arthur Hayden Pollard (seated, centre) with the performers in his 1909-1910 troupe. Most of the children are in makeup and are therefore difficult to identify. The Leader (Melb) 21 May, 1910. National Library of Australia’s Trove.

Nine years before, in September 1901, Charles Pollard and his sister Nellie Chester brought their troupe of 30 young Australian child performers to Honolulu, en route to Canada and the US for a 13 month tour. Interviewed by journalists, Charles Pollard had a well prepared story, possibly anticipating the company would face with some child labour laws – especially in the eastern states of the US. The child performers varied in age, but were mostly in their early teens.

Charles Pollard told the Honolulu Advertiser: “Every one of our children hails from Melbourne, and most of them from the five mile radius… that includes Collingwood, Fitzroy and Carlton. They come from all classes, some from respectable parents, some from the street with no parents.” (The Honolulu Advertiser 14 Sept, 1901, P10). But they didn’t really come from “all classes” – they were instead usually from working class families. They were predominantly girls, indentured to the supervising Pollard adults in a way we would find unthinkable today, and were away on overseas tours for lengthy periods – up to 32 months in one case. At first glance, Irene Finlay appears to match this profile of a typical Pollard performer. 

In early 1910, Arthur Hayden Pollard, used even starker language for the press – he described the parents of the children in his care as “people in very humble positions who could not afford to keep them.” (The Madras Times cited by Arrighi 2017, 168). All this fitted well with a narrative that child performers were being taken overseas as some type of educational or public service. The fact that it was also an extremely lucrative business for the supervising Pollards was not mentioned.

The Finlay family

Irene was born in Brisbane in August 1891, to Amelia “Millie” Robins. No father was listed on Irene’s birth certificate – in fact, in the space for father’s name it was specifically stated that Millie was “not married”. The document acknowledged Irene’s living older sisters Nellie (born 1885) and Nattie or Nathalie (born 1889), whose own birth certificates have proved elusive. In 1893, Millie married widower and former pastoralist George Charles Finlay. While living in New South Wales, two children were born of this union – Myra (born 1893) and Nigel (born 1895). George Finlay had already fathered a large family with his first wife, but they all appear to have stayed in North Queensland. In the late 1890s, the newly combined family moved to Melbourne, to a very modest cottage in Napoleon Street, Collingwood.

Above: Napoleon St, Collingwood, today. The Finlay home was at number 11, to the right of the silver car. Today, Irene might recognise the cottages in the left distance, but other buildings are testament to the suburb’s many stages of development – on the left; factories of the post WW1 period, in the distance residential tower blocks of the 1960s, and at right apartment living of the 21st century.

It was while living at No 11 Napoleon Street that 9 year old Irene joined her first Pollard tour – in 1900. She then appears to have dutifully attended every single one of Charles Pollard‘s extended overseas tours thereafter – making six in all. In the eight and a half calendar years between July 1900 and February 1909, she was touring for over seven years. It was a childhood spent in the company of a small group of Australian juvenile performers and the supervising Pollard adults – and she knew Arthur Hayden Pollard well, even as a child. Of the quality of Irene’s performances for Pollards we have limited information. Reviewers of Pollard performances were encouraged to write about the troupe’s leading players – Daphne Pollard, Teddie McNamara and the like. Irene Finlay “acquitted herself well” was a familiar comment made by North American papers, although her success in male roles seems to have been particularly well received.

Above: There are few photos of Pollard performers in costume who can be identified with absolute confidence. However, here is Irene Finlay playing a boy’s part while on Pollard’s lengthy 32 month North American tour (July 1904-Feb 1907). Sacramento Daily Union, 14 May, 1906, via Newspapers.com

The Finlay’s home life was to prove tragic – step father George Finlay died of tuberculosis in 1902, and mother Millie died of liver failure in 1907. For Irene, perhaps her relationships with other Pollard performers was what sustained her as she grew up. Yet while photos such as the one below might suggest normal childhood friendships, we have no other corroborating evidence of this. (Although at least one enduring friendship from Pollards has been noted elsewhere – between Daphne Pollard and Alf Goulding).

Irene and Leah
Above: Irene Finlay and a smiling Leah Leichner sitting side by side in about 1905, possibly on the SS Empress of India. Five years later, Irene eloped with Arthur Pollard, and Leah had been struck by him for “misbehaviour” and sent home early. Enlarged from a photo in the collections of the University of Washington, Special Collections JWS21402

Nellie Finlay takes charge of the family 1907+

In 1900, it was not Irene but her 15 year old sister Nellie Finlay who the Pollards were most keen to employ. She had been appearing on stage from a very young age – in 1897 Nellie was listed in pantomimes in Sydney and in 1898 she performed as part of the lineup at Harry Cogill’s Gaiety Theatre in Bourke Street, Melbourne. But in early 1900, Pollards stage manager Harry Hall and (Pollard sibling) Alice Landeshut contracted Nellie and Nattie to appear in their “Australian Juvenile Theatrical Company” for a performance tour of South Africa. Charles Pollard promptly issued a writ against the Finlays with the intention of stopping Nellie and Nettie, arguing they had made a prior agreement. The Pollards sometimes threatened legal action against the parents of their performers, and their writs still exist in public records collections in Victoria. Unusually for the time, Minnie Finlay vigorously defended her girls and the Pollard’s case did not hold up in court. Within a month, the two older Finlay girls were in South Africa, performing with Alice Landeshut and Harry Hall, while Irene was appearing with Charles Pollard’s troupe. No hard feelings apparently!

Above left; Nellie Finlay as Dicky, the crossing sweeper, in Bluebell in Fairyland, with Tom Pollard’s troupe. The Critic, 23 Dec, 1908, P7. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove.

Nellie Finlay married fellow vaudevillian Harry Quealy in early 1904, while they were performing in Perth, Western Australia. Quealy had a nation-wide reputation as a regular comic performer and by 1904, the couple were both with Tom Pollard’s “Comic Opera Company.” Reviews of Nellie’s work on stage for Tom Pollard were equally positive. She was, observed The Truth in 1908, a favourite with audiences and her performance as Dicky in the musical panto Bluebell in Fairyland was greeted with great enthusiasm. By 1916, and after 3 years working side by side with Harry on the Fuller circuit, The Sunday Times reported on her “good voice… good [stage] presence..[showing] all the essentials for success in the rapid-fire sketches she and her husband present.”

When Minnie Finlay died in 1907, Nellie Quealy became the family matriarch – she was listed as the contact for Irene when she travelled, and even as late as 1915, for her step-brother Nigel when he joined the Australian Army.

The Disaster in India 1909-1910

When Arthur Pollard arranged his 1909 tour, Harry Quealy was signed up as stage manager, with Nellie also attending as one of the supervising adults, (some reports claim she was Ballet mistress), in addition to Irene and younger sister Myra as performers. Thus Irene had two sisters and a brother in law on the tour with her.

What is often not mentioned in accounts of the scandals that overwhelmed the tour is that Arthur Pollard had plenty of experience with juvenile troupes already – he had helped his older siblings Charles and Nellie (Chester) manage at least five extended tours successfully over the previous ten years. He also knew many of the children very well from previous tours – Freddie and Johnnie Heintz, the three McGorlick sisters, Willie Howard as well as Irene Finlay. He therefore knew exactly what was involved in a performance tour and one is left with the conclusion that he was simply unsuited to managing young people. His very indiscrete relationship with Irene began while on the ship from Australia, or according to Arrighi, in Australia before leaving. It was later reported that when the relationship was noticed, adults on the tour spoke to Harry and Nellie Quealy about it, presumably hoping they could help bring it to an end. They couldn’t.

Much of what Australians knew of the problems with the India tour was reported with a delay of several weeks. Arthur Pollard did attempt a defence at first, and it was given some publicity, but it was to little avail. Calcutta’s weekly The Englishman, reported Arthur Pollard’s court evidence in early April. Pollard told the court “he had always behaved properly and fairly towards the children”… “It was not true he had ruined a girl”… “It was not his intention to divorce his wife” (The Englishman, April 14, 1910, P7). Four days later, the Madras court found Pollard was “not a fit a proper person to be in charge of children” and soon after, he and Irene were gone.

On his return to Australia in mid April 1910, Harry Quealy went out of his way to give his version of events to the Australian press. Pollard’s relationship with Irene was never mentioned in his reports, which at first focussed on ensuring Tom Pollard (still active as an entrepreneur in Australia) and Arthur Hayden Pollard weren’t confused with each other. His story became more dramatic over the next two weeks, particularly after accounts of Pollard hitting children gained currency. By early May, Quealy’s account included suggestions he and Nellie had tried to intervene when Pollard hit some of the children. “Here cut that game, Pollard” he claimed he said. 

The child performers had all returned home by early May 1910 – the further careers of some of them has been covered elsewhere.

Above: Melbourne’s Leader was keen to cover the 1909-10 Pollard tour of India. This photo of the troupe was reportedly taken on 26 Feb 1910 near Bangalore, two days after they broke up. The Leader, 20 April, 1910. Via the National Library of Australia’s Trove. Harry Quealy stands at rear, 13th adult from the left. His wife Nellie is not in the photo, neither is Irene Finlay, who had thrown her lot in with Arthur Pollard. Also missing was Leah Leichner, who had already been sent home to Australia. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove.

Harry and Nellie working together 1910 +

Whatever Harry and Nellie experienced on the India tour, or thought of Irene or Arthur Pollard, they did not allow it to hold them back. By July they were back on stage for Harry Rickards at the Sydney Tivoli and by the end of 1910, they had developed their own musical comedy turn, Fun in the Kitchen. They regularly performed together, including four years on the Fuller circuit around Australia, until September 1916, when they departed for a performance tour of South Africa.

Above; Nellie performing in Sydney. The Sun (Syd) 9 July 1916, P18. Via National Library of Australia’s Trove.

The Quealys moved on to the US in early 1917, where they worked up touring vaudeville acts. An effective self-promoter, Harry attracted publicity by all means necessary and with some success. By 1920 Harry, Nellie and their children were living and working in New York.

Above: Harry Quealy and Nellie Finlay with their daughter Maizie c 1915. The Theatre Magazine, 1 Feb 1915. Via State Library of Victoria

Irene and Arthur’s later life 1910+

Arthur Pollard was 37 years old when he eloped with Irene in India, taking the company profits with him. Probably using aliases to travel, the couple quickly made their way to England, where they settled in the east Sussex area. Arthur had left behind his wife Mary and their two children, in Charters Towers, Queensland. In spite of his abandoning them, his wife and children stoically carried on and made a success of their lives.

Above: Irene Finlay in 1909, about the time of the last Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company tour. The Leader, 21 May 1910. Via the National Library of Australia’s Trove. 

The very thorough 1911 United Kingdom census reveals the couple living as man and wife in Hastings, Irene now calling herself Irene Olga Pollard. Although provincial England was probably a good place for Australians on the run to live; as local cinema operators, they could not entirely avoid attention. The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly covered the couple’s work in East Sussex several times during World War One – they ran cinemas at Rye, Tenterden and Hastings. Arthur appears to have been happy to comment on matters of public entertainment, being an opinionated person from an established theatrical family. When their 200 seat “Electric Palace” theatre in Hastings caught fire in January 1915, Arthur publicly committed to rebuild. (Although he and Irene lived on the buildings’ upper floors, the rebuild does not seem to have happened). At the end of the war, Arthur and Irene seem to have divested themselves of their remaining cinemas.

Above: The Kinomatograph Weekly, 25 July, 1918, P115. Via British Library Newspaper Archive.

On 27 February 1925, Irene and Arthur married in New Zealand. What had happened in the intervening seven years seems unclear. On the wedding certificate, Arthur claimed that he was a widower – although he wasn’t, his wife Mary was still very much alive in Queensland. He was recorded as a “retired Theatrical Manager” while Irene was described as a “Theatrical artiste”. The couple lived comfortably in the suburb of Ponsonby, overlooking Auckland Harbour, until Arthur’s death in 1940.

It is worth noting that in October 1940, Irene Pollard needed to publicly acknowledge the many “expressions of sympathy,… letters, cards, telegrams and floral” tributes she had received when Arthur died. (Auckland Star, 11 Oct, 1940, P1). The few contemporary writers about the Pollard 1909-10 tour were understandably often torn between admiration for the Pollard family as pioneer Australian and New Zealand theatre entrepreneurs, and having to acknowledge that some of Arthur Pollard’s behaviour was reprehensible, even by the permissive standards and lax child labour laws of the time.

Above centre – Arthur Pollard, enlarged from a group photo of the Pollard troupe of 1902-3, (outside the Badminton Hotel, Vancouver). Source Vancouver As It Was, A Photo Historical Journey, used with their kind permission.

Harry Quealy returned to Australia in 1925, after he suffered a stroke during the production of Rain. He died in Australia in 1927. Nellie stayed on in the US, and died at Saranac Lake in New York in 1936, almost certainly as a result of tuberculosis. Irene died in New Zealand in 1962 – there were no children by her marriage to Arthur. Myra left the stage and married an engineer in 1916. She ended up living in Peru. Nathalie also left the stage and appears to have ended her days working at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne as a domestic.

To the best of this writer’s knowledge, none of the Finlay girls were ever interviewed about their work on stage, with the Pollards or about the ill-fated India tour.

Nick Murphy
July 2021

References

  • Text:
    • Gillian Arrighi (2017) The Controversial “Case of the Opera Children in the East”: Political conflict between popular demand for child actors and modernizing cultural policy on the child”. Theatre Journal 69, (2017) Johns Hopkins University Press.
    • Peter Downes ( 2002) The Pollards. Steele Roberts.
    • Kirsty Murray (2010) India Dark. Allen and Unwin
      [Note: While written as a novel for teenagers, this beautiful novel is closely based on the events of the Arthur Pollard troupe in India and is highly recommended]
    • Frank Van Straten (2003) Tivoli. Thomas Lothian
  • Australian Performing Arts Collection,
    • Pollard Opera Companies Collection
  • State of Victoria: Births, Death and Marriages
    • 2 March 1902. Death Certificate. George Charles Finlay
    • 24 April 1907. Death Certificate. Amelia Finlay
    • 27 Sept 1917. Marriage Certificate Oliver Oates and Nathlie Finlay
  • State of Queensland: Births, Deaths and Marriages
    • 16 August 1891. Birth Certificate. Irene Robins
    • 21 March 1914. Marriage Certificate. Theodore Evans and Myra Finlay
    • 14 June 1945. Death Certificate. Mary Pollard
  • New Zealand Births Deaths and Marriages
    • 27 Feb 1905. Marriage Certificate. Arthur Haydon Pollard and Irene Olga Finlay
  • Public Record Office, Victoria
    • Civil Case Files Supreme Court of Victoria
      • VPRS 267/ P7  1900/200
        Charles Pollard Nellie Chester Pollards Lilliputian Opera Company v Millie Finlay
  • State Library of Victoria
    • The Theatre Magazine, 1 Feb 1915.
  • National Library of Australia’s Trove
    • Quiz and the Lantern (SA) 28 Jan 1897, P15
    • The Age (Melb) 13 June 1898, P8
    • The Herald (Melb) 12 Mar 1900, P4
    • The Referee (Syd) 17 July 1901, P10
    • Maitland Weekly Mercury (NSW) 8 Feb 1902, P13
    • The Age (Melb) 4 Mar 1902, P1
    • The Argus (Melb) 26 Mar 1903, P4
    • Evening News (Syd) 25 Feb 1904, P6
    • North Coolgardie Herald (WA) 25 Mar 1905, P2
    • Barrier Miner (NSW) 27 Nov 1905, P2
    • Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW) 15 July 1908, P4
    • The Critic (SA) 23 Dec 1908, P6, P7
    • Daily News (WA) 9 Mar 1910, P7
    • The Register (SA) 30 March, 1910 P7
    • Leader (VIC) 2 Apr 1910 P23
    • Barrier Miner (NSW) 22 April 1910, P2
    • Truth (WA) 23 April 1910, P2
    • The Register (SA) 25 April 1910 P8
    • Advertiser (SA) 28 April 1910 P9
    • Barrier Miner (NSW) 29 April 1910, P2
    • Leader (VIC) 30 April 1910, P34
    • Evening Star (WA), 11 May 1910, P 3
    • The Herald (VIC) 17 May 1910
    • Leader (VIC) 21 May 1910 P24
    • The Telegraph (Bris), 12 Mar 1925, P5
    • Sunday Times (WA) 21 Aug 1927, P14
  • The British Library Newspaper Archive
    • The Times of India, 6 Jan 1910 P5
    • The Times of India 31 March 1910, P9
    • The Englishman’s Overland Mail (Calcutta) 31 Mar 1910 P7
    • The Times of India, 13 April 1910, P7
    • The Englishman’s Overland Mail (Calcutta) 14 April, 1910
    • The Englishman’s Overland Mail (Calcutta) 12 May, 1910, P6
    • The Bioscope, 1 June 1911, P37
    • The Kinomatograph Weekly, 11 Feb 1915, P37
    • The Kinomatograph Weekly, 25 July, 1918, P115
  • Newspapers.com
    • The Honolulu Advertiser, 14 Sept 1901, P10
    • Woodland Daily Democrat (CA), 20 May 1908, P4
    • The Boston Globe, 7 Oct 1917, P52
  • National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, Papers Past
    • Auckland Star, Oct 11 1940, P1

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