Tag: Officer 666

Henry Matsumoto (1879-1934) Valet, Actor, Businessman

Henry Matsumoto, undated photo. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/3848.

This article was originally published in On Stage, the online journal of Theatre Heritage Australia.

The Five second version.
‘Henry’ Kakusakuro Matsumoto, was born in Japan on 8 September 1879. He spent most of his adult life in Australia, and despite the fact he lived in a limbo-land of non-citizenship—a consequence of the racist White Australia policy—he appeared on stage in Australia in the 1910s, and in two Australian films made by Fred Niblo, followed by a stint on stage in the US. However, his footsteps through the historical record are faint. He was never interviewed and only rarely reviewed, and the Second World War swept away memories and cultural records of the Japanese in Australia. Fortunately, the National Archives of Australia hold very comprehensive files on ‘aliens’ who resided in Australia in the early twentieth century, and here we can meet Henry Matsumoto.[1]National Archives of Australia. SP42/1, C1931/3848, Henry Kakusaura Matsumoto
The Mail (Adelaide) reports on a ‘Jap Comedian’ with the Royal Banzai Troupe of Japanese Acrobats [2]26 April 1913, p6

When South Australia’s Daily Herald announced in November 1912 that Henry Matsumoto was the “first Japanese to appear on the Australian stage”, they were, or course, engaging in a piece of journalistic shorthand.[3]Daily Herald (Adelaide) 27 November 1912, p9 He wasn’t. The success of touring Japanese acrobats in Australia in the late nineteenth century was well known at the time and has been recorded by Mark St Leon.[4]St Leon (2011) pps155-6 In spite of discriminatory colonial and later national legislation, since labelled as the White Australia policy, there were in fact, a few performers of Asian backgrounds who achieved a degree of success in Australia. Most famous perhaps was Melbourne-born Rose Quong (1878-1972), whose journey to the stage has been documented by Angela Woollacott. The story of others of mixed race, including the celebrated dancer of the late nineteenth century, Saharet (1878-1964), is now also well documented, despite her lifelong efforts to hide her origins of Chinese-Australian ancestry.

Henry Matsumoto, undated photo, probably about the time of his arrival in Queensland in 1899. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/3848.

Moving to Australia

Kakusakuro Matsumoto[5]He apparently adopted the first name ‘Henry’ on arrival in Australia arrived in Queensland in November 1899. He was employed as a clerk at the Yamato Company Store in Townsville, one of the colony’s first silk suppliers.[6]Killoran (2023) p153 Born in Osaka, a Japanese Treaty Port, he had probably acquired a high degree of fluency with English language before arriving in Townsville, which had a sizeable Japanese population working in the sugar and pearling industries.[7]Sizeable in the north of Queensland, but Armstrong (1973) p8 estimates there were never more than 3,000 Japanese in the entire colony Townsville even boasted a Japanese Consulate office at the time. Queensland’s delay in introducing restrictive immigration laws—as other Australian colonies had done—apparently benefited Henry.[8]See Neville Meaney (2007) p18-19

In 1901, only a few years after Henry’s arrival, Australia’s new Commonwealth Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act. In Alfred Deakin’s(1856-1919) words, the law’s stated intention was “the prohibition of all alien coloured immigration, and… by reasonable and just means, the deportation or reduction of the number of aliens now in our midst.”[9]Attorney-General Alfred Deakin, 12 September 1901 The law’s mechanisms for excluding “alien coloured immigration” included the infamous dictation test, applied when non-Caucasians arrived to seek entry to Australia. Exemptions could be granted, but the intention was avowedly to create a ‘White Australia.’

Henry’s National Archives file shows that in 1904 he left Townsville to work as a valet for pastoralist Philip Gidley King at Goonoo Goonoo station near Tamworth, in New South Wales. Then for the three years 1905-7 he was a valet in Sydney, to Sir Frederick Darley, one time Chief Justice and Lieutenant Governor. In 1908 he served as a valet for E.H.L. von Arnheim, Deputy Master of the Sydney Mint. These were impressive appointments, which also provided him with useful character references—just the sort of references required to support exemptions from provisions of the 1901 Act.

In 1909 Henry moved on again, apparently to establish his own import business – to cater for the fashion in oriental fabrics and ceramics—a contradiction indeed in a country wishing to exclude non-Caucasians. Henry also married Ada Maud White, an English dressmaker, in Melbourne, in December 1909. A daughter was born of the union in 1912, and a son in 1913. But the marriage did not mean that Henry became British or Australian. Rather, it meant Ada became a Japanese national.

A New Opportunity beckons

In July 1912, US actors Fred Niblo(1874-1948) and Josephine Cohan(1876-1916) arrived in Australia to launch a tour of American farces for J.C. Williamson, the first being George M Cohan’s Get Rich Quick Wallingford. Niblo and Cohan would have been quite aware that in New York, a Japanese American named Yoshin Sakurai had successfully taken the supporting role of Yosi the Japanese valet in 1911.[10]See Esther Kim Lee (2006), p14. However, Elizabeth Craft suggests a Korean actor “Du Gle Kim” first played the role in the US. Craft (2024) p100 The character of Yosi had not appeared in the original Wallingford stories by George Randolph Chester—it had been added to the play by Cohan.[11]Elizabeth Craft (2024) p236

As Josephine Lee argues, the more authentic use of real Asian actors on stage instead of Caucasians in ‘yellowface’ did not change the fact they were “onstage for the benefit of white spectators, and their performances strongly framed by assumptions about their racial and cultural difference.” They were “exotic novelties” she concludes.[12]Josephine Lee (2015) p63

Yoshin Sakurai playing Yosi in the US in 1911. [13]The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 16 October, 1911, p14

As Elizabeth Craft notes, the minor character of Yosi, valet to the con-man J Rufus Wallingford, both reinforced and undermined existing stereotypes. The character is mocked and dehumanised as ‘the Jap.’ However, when a resident of Battlesburg—the fictional town where the action of the play is set—assumes he is Chinese and makes an offensive comment, Yosi retorts in fluent English and appropriate US slang, “Go on, you big stiff.”[14]Elizabeth Craft (2024) p100

Melbourne Punch reported that Niblo had asked the Japanese consulate in Sydney for help in casting the part of Yosi and Henry Matsumoto had been nominated.[15]Punch (Melbourne) 21 Nov 1912, p42 The pragmatic Niblo obviously felt the previously unknown Henry could take the part. Table Talk noted Henry spoke “very fair English” and claimed he had previous stage experience in Japan. Henry’s skill with English was important, however, given the play was so dependent on distinctive US slang and mannerisms for comic effect.

During their three-year performance tour for J.C. Williamson, Niblo and Cohan presented eight comedies, all of which were a success.[16]The tour was extended three times; in December 1912, May 1913 and May 1914. The contracts survive in the Australian Performing Arts Collection In addition to Get Rich Quick Wallingford, Henry also appeared in speaking roles in Excuse Me! and Officer 666 although these were again minor roles—as a porter and valet.

The company toured all the Australian capitals and went to New Zealand twice. The travel to New Zealand meant the troupe left the country, and with their return, Henry was potentially exposed to the provisions of the Immigration Restriction Act—including the dictation test. But such was the influence of J C Williamson he was exempted at their request, and Henry breezed back into Australia with the rest of the cast.

Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/3848. F.J. Quinlan was a secretary of Australia’s External Affairs Department.
Poster for Excuse Me! showing Henry in another minor role. Image Courtesy Australian Performing Arts Collection.

In May 1915, Fred Niblo quickly directed film versions of Get Rich Quick Wallingford and Officer 666 for J.C. Williamson, using the stage cast. These were fairly unimaginative, static camera films. As Ralph Marsden has explained, J.C. Williamson turned to making films because they were concerned about the release of US-made films, based on plays to which Williamson’s already held the Australian stage rights. The Firm probably assumed that filmed plays might provide a means to safeguard their claim on the plays and provide income from distribution to less populous parts of the country.[17]Marsden (2009) p4

Existing credit lists show Officer 666 included Henry, and it is reasonable to conclude he also appeared in the (now lost) filmed version of Get Rich Quick Wallingford, made only a few weeks earlier.[18]Pike & Cooper (1980) p80 Writing in 2009, Ralph Marsden was obviously lucky enough to see all of the 40 minutes of Officer 666 that survives, but only a two minute clip is freely available to us today—and that clip does not include Henry. In the end, neither film proved successful at the Australian box office, and J.C. Williamson soon abandoned its filmmaking.

Niblo and Cohan finally wrapped up their tour in June 1915 and returned to New York, taking two promising young actors with them—Enid Bennett(1893-1969) and Pirie Bush(1889-1965). Did Henry Matsumoto also dream of an ongoing career on the stage? It would seem he did.

Henry Matsumoto about the time he appeared on stage in Australia c1912-1915
Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/384

In December 1915, Hugh Ward, the J.C. Williamson Manager who had previously contracted Fred Niblo and Josephine Cohan, returned to Australia with a new US acting partnership—Hale Hamilton and Myrtle Tannehill. Their repertoire again included the very popular Get Rich Quick Wallingford. Several Australians were on hand to reprise their supporting roles from the Fred Niblo-Josephine Cohan tour. But not Henry Matsomoto.

In October 1915, Sydney’s The Theatre Magazine reported that Henry had been cabled by Fred Niblo, urging him to come to New York for acting work.[19]The Theatre Magazine (Sydney) 1 October 1915, p16 He arrived in San Francisco on the SS Sierra in January 1916. On arrival in the US, Henry listed his profession as actor, and his contact in the US as Fred Niblo, care of George M Cohan, New York. For the very thorough US immigration records, Henry was also required to give his nationality. For this question he stated he was Australian, although this was not the case. As far as the Australian Government was concerned, he was Japanese—and there was no provision for dual citizenship at the time.

Back in Australia, the Hamilton-Tannehill performance of Get Rich Quick Wallingford failed to find another Japanese actor to take the role of Yosi. Instead, Frank Seegoolam was engaged. He was a former Officer’s cook from HMS Cambrian and later a personal cook for several wealthy Sydney families. Originally from Mauritius, then a British colony, Seegoolam was a British subject and thus his Australian residency could never be questioned.[20] National Archives of Australia. C1912/21405, Frank Seegoolam But in Get Rich Quick Wallingford the character of Yosi had to be changed to Hassan,[21]National Library of Australia. J.C. Williamson scrapbooks of music and theatre programmes, Sydney and Melbourne, 1905-1921. PROMPT Scrapbook 8 – Vol 3, p129 and presumably some of the dialogue was changed too.[22]The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 2 September 1916, p2 The racial stereotype was simply transferred from one ethnic group to another.

Henry in the US 1916-1918

After his arrival in the US in January 1916, Henry disappears from the historical record in the US for about twelve months. He may have appeared on stage, but there is, so far, no record that he did. In later life he listed travelling salesman as one of his occupations, perhaps this is what he did in New York in 1916. However, in early 1917 Hale Hamilton and Myrtle Tannehill returned to New York and a revival of Get Rich Quick Wallingford was soon announced. In the cast was Henry Matsumoto, reprising his role as Yosi.

The Billboard announces Get Rich Quick Wallingford’s revival featuring Hale Hamilton and Myrtle Tannebill, with Henry as Yosi. May 19, 1917.

The revival had a short run at two theatres in New York and by the end of May it was over. So too, apparently, was Henry’s acting career. He had returned to Australia by August 1918, when, National Archives records indicate, he had recommenced his import business and added teaching Japanese to his resume.

Quite a lot thinner and now 40 years old, Henry Matsumoto after his New York experience c1919. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/3848

Henry Matsumoto had long abandoned his dreams of acting by 1934, but he was still required to apply for exemptions and permission to re-enter on his return to Australia from business trips to China and Japan. On his final trip to Japan in 1934, he became seriously ill after stopping over in Shanghai. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died on 27 September while at the Osaka Imperial University Hospital, Japan. In the best traditions of reporting about the exotic East, Australian newspapers speculated that the well-known Sydney merchant had been poisoned by some ‘obscure poison’ while on the ship. Sydney’s Truth newspaper ran the headline:
“Tragic fate of popular Sydney Japanese. Scientists baffled. Did orient love potion send him mad?”
It claimed he had been seduced, drugged and robbed by a beautiful Filipino girl who had joined the ship in Manila—a type of Mata Hari story.[23]Truth (Sydney) 14 October 1934, p21 The story dragged on for months. It remains completely unclear whether there was any truth to this story at all.

Henry Matsumoto, business card, c1930. Image courtesy of the National Archives of Australia. NAA: SP42/1, C1931/3848.

Despite his early death, the ongoing prejudice and the endless legalities Henry Matsumoto endured, he remains someone we should celebrate. A minor but determined actor and a successful businessman, he never showed any interest in making his life anywhere but Australia, even though the country would not accept him as a citizen.

Following his death, Henry’s family showed no interest in moving either. Ada went through the process of regaining her British citizenship, and seven years later, after war broke out in the Pacific, the family changed their surname to Maxwell.

Twenty years after Henry’s death, probate on his estate was finally granted to his two children.

Nick Murphy
November 2025

Sources

Collections

  • Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
  • National Archives of Australia.

Text

  • J. Armstrong, ‘Aspects of Japanese Immigration to Queensland before 1900.’ Queensland Heritage, Vol 2, No 9, 1973. University of Queensland espace Library.
  • Elizabeth T Craft, Yankee Doodle Dandy. George M. Cohan and the Broadway Stage, Oxford University Press, 2024.
  • Tianna Killoran, The near north and the far north: The Nikkei community in North Queensland, 1885-1946. PhD Thesis, James Cook University, 2023.
  • Esther Kim Lee, A History of Asian American Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
  • Josephine Lee, ‘Stage Orientalism and Asian American Performance from the Nineteenth in the Twentieth Century’ in Rajini Srikanth & Min Hyoung Song, (eds.) The Cambridge History of Asian American Literature. Cambridge University Press; 2015
  • Ralph Marsden ‘Melbourne’s Forgotten Movie Studio’ in On Stage, Vol 10, No 2, 2009 (Part 1) and Vol 10, No 3, 2009 (Part 2) Theatre Heritage Australia.
  • Neville Meaney, Towards a New Vision, Australia and Japan across time, University of New South Wales Press, 2007
  • Andrew Pike & Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900-1977, Oxford University Press, 1980.
  • Mark St Leon, Circus, The Australian Story, Melbourne Books, 2011.
  • Angela Woollacott, Race and the Modern Exotic. Three ‘Australian’ women on Global Display. Monash University Publishing, 2011
This site has been selected for preservation in the National Library of Australia’s Pandora archive

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 National Archives of Australia. SP42/1, C1931/3848, Henry Kakusaura Matsumoto
↑2 26 April 1913, p6
↑3 Daily Herald (Adelaide) 27 November 1912, p9
↑4 St Leon (2011) pps155-6
↑5 He apparently adopted the first name ‘Henry’ on arrival in Australia
↑6 Killoran (2023) p153
↑7 Sizeable in the north of Queensland, but Armstrong (1973) p8 estimates there were never more than 3,000 Japanese in the entire colony
↑8 See Neville Meaney (2007) p18-19
↑9 Attorney-General Alfred Deakin, 12 September 1901
↑10 See Esther Kim Lee (2006), p14. However, Elizabeth Craft suggests a Korean actor “Du Gle Kim” first played the role in the US. Craft (2024) p100
↑11 Elizabeth Craft (2024) p236
↑12 Josephine Lee (2015) p63
↑13 The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 16 October, 1911, p14
↑14 Elizabeth Craft (2024) p100
↑15 Punch (Melbourne) 21 Nov 1912, p42
↑16 The tour was extended three times; in December 1912, May 1913 and May 1914. The contracts survive in the Australian Performing Arts Collection
↑17 Marsden (2009) p4
↑18 Pike & Cooper (1980) p80
↑19 The Theatre Magazine (Sydney) 1 October 1915, p16
↑20 National Archives of Australia. C1912/21405, Frank Seegoolam
↑21 National Library of Australia. J.C. Williamson scrapbooks of music and theatre programmes, Sydney and Melbourne, 1905-1921. PROMPT Scrapbook 8 – Vol 3, p129
↑22 The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 2 September 1916, p2
↑23 Truth (Sydney) 14 October 1934, p21

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

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

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

Within a year of their return to New York, Josephine had died of the heart condition that had plagued her for so long. She was only 39. In early 1918 Fred Niblo married Enid Bennett and turned to live and work in California’s booming film industry, although not before JC Williamson’s made another attempt to bring him back to Australia, on an even larger contract. It was unsuccessful.
Josephine and Fred on tour in the US about the time they signed their Australian contract.[2]The Cleveland Leader (Ohio) 19 Mar 1912, p6

Off to Australia

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

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

Fred on the cover of Sydney’s The Theatre Magazine. November 1912 [7]State Library of Victoria

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

The Australian contracts

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

Kingsclere apartments built 1912. One of Sydney’s earliest apartment blocks and home to Fred and Josephine in 1914.[11]Dictionary of Sydney

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

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

Josephine M Cohan in 1912[15]The Theatre 1 Sept 1912, p37

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

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

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

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

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

Wallingford opens in Melbourne in November 1912, but without Josephine.[19]National Library of Australia, J. C. Williamson Theatres General Theatre Programs, Prompt Collection[Click to enlarge]

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

Poster and program for Excuse Me! in (left) Melbourne and (right) Sydney. Josephine Cohan is not listed on either program.[21]Marjorie Newton was her usual role Courtesy Australian Performing Arts Collection, Melbourne.
Josephine as Josie Richards and Fred in the title role of Broadway Jones. [22]The Theatre Magazine (Sydney) 1 Jan 1915

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

Fred Niblo’s first films

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

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

Screengrabs from Officer 666, showing left to right – Sydney Stirling & Enid Bennett, Fred Niblo in a rare Melbourne location shot, and Fred dressing as Officer 666.[Click to enlarge] [27]Screengrabs from Author’s copy of Pictures that Moved: Australian Cinema 1896-1920 (1968)

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

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

Fred and Josephine, and being in Australia

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

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

Bob Greig and Bea Holloway’s wedding in Melbourne in December 1912. Josephine and Fred stand at the rear, centre and right.[32]Punch (Melb) 26 Dec 1912 Fred was a witness on the marriage certificate, and gave Bea away.

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

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

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

A page from the Niblo-Cohan souvenir program, 1915.[36]Farewell souvenir program, 1915. National Library of Australia

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

Above: Enid Bennett in Cock O’ the Walk, with Janet Dunbar and Rita Otway, 1916. Author’s Collection

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

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

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

Nick Murphy
November 2025

References

Collections

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

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

Other Online Sources

Text

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

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 The Stage Pictorial (Melb) April 1913, p59. State Library of Victoria
↑2 The Cleveland Leader (Ohio) 19 Mar 1912, p6
↑3 So large a concern in Australasia it was known as “The Firm”
↑4, ↑6 Critic (Adelaide) 12 Nov 1913, p21
↑5 which included an increasing fatigue caused by the onset of heart disease
↑7 State Library of Victoria
↑8 The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 1912 p18
↑9 See for example The Washington Post, 28 March 1909 pgSM3
↑10 Based on contracts surviving in the Australian Performing Arts Collection. Salary conversions are based on the RBA inflation calculator
↑11 Dictionary of Sydney
↑12 when she did not perform the salary dropped to £100 per week
↑13 Honolulu Star-Bulletin 13 June 1913, p5
↑14 The Green Book Magazine (US), Vol 9, No 2, Jan-June 1913, pps 332-338
↑15 The Theatre 1 Sept 1912, p37
↑16 These were probably planted by The Firm
↑17 The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 5 Aug 1912, p11
↑18 The Sun (Sydney) 4 Aug 1912, p4
↑19 National Library of Australia, J. C. Williamson Theatres General Theatre Programs, Prompt Collection
↑20 Sun (Sydney) 27 April 1913, p15
↑21 Marjorie Newton was her usual role
↑22 The Theatre Magazine (Sydney) 1 Jan 1915
↑23 The Age (Melb) 24 May 1915 p14
↑24 a lost film
↑25 W.J. Lincoln started work directing Wallingford, but was replaced by Niblo, possibly because of his chronic alcoholism
↑26 Pike & Cooper (1980) pps77-78 and 80
↑27 Screengrabs from Author’s copy of Pictures that Moved: Australian Cinema 1896-1920 (1968)
↑28 Marsden (2009) p4
↑29 Sun (Syd) 10 Jan 1915, p14
↑30 The Theatre (Syd) 1 April 1914, p1
↑31 Josephine had collected their son Fred Junior on a trip home in September 1914, thus that source of anxiety had been removed
↑32 Punch (Melb) 26 Dec 1912
↑33 Critic (Adelaide) 12 Nov 1913, p21
↑34 Pirie Bush was actually born in Wellington New Zealand, but had been with the Niblo-Cohan troupe in Australia from its inception
↑35 The Age (Melb) 3 June 1915, p12
↑36 Farewell souvenir program, 1915. National Library of Australia
↑37 New York Herald, 15 July, 1916, p5
↑38 Morehouse(1943) p20
↑39 Some Australians were unkind about the marriage. As late as 22 December 1947, journalist Jim Donald of the Sydney Daily Mirror publicly and incorrectly stated Josephine and Fred had divorced before her death.

Enid Bennett (1893-1969) – The Australian who kept her accent

Above: Enid Bennett in Fred Niblo’s Strangers of the Night (1923). She was at the height of her Hollywood popularity. Sadly it is a lost film. Via Wikipedia Commons. See below for full frame photo.

The 5 second version

Born Enid Eulalie Bennett, York, Western Australia, Australia, 15 July 1893,
Died Malibu, California, USA 14 May, 1969. Busy on stage in Australia 1910-1915. Also appeared in Fred Niblo’s two Australian films before working in the US. Most active in Hollywood between 1917-1927, during which time she gained great attention. Some later minor roles in sound films and worked until her death for the Christian Science Church. Married to Fred Niblo 1918-48.

Enid Bennett, a young Australian who arrived in the US with Fred Niblo and Josephine Cohan in June 1915, hardly qualifies as “a forgotten Australian actor.” She received widespread publicity in the early 1920s and was, at the time, one of Hollywood’s premier stars. Many of her films still exist and she has been the subject of numerous biographies since her death in 1969.

In Australia 

enid bennet about 1910
Above: Enid Bennett photographed by May and Mina Moore, C 1910, about the time she began to develop a reputation in Australia.  State Library of Victoria, via National Library of Australia’s Trove.

She was born Enid Eulalie Bennett to Francis Bennett and Nellie nee Walker at York, Western Australia in 1893. She had an older brother  – Francis Reginald (1891-1917) and a younger sister Marjorie Esme (1896-1982), and two step siblings. Having attempted to open his own school in the inland town of York, about 100 kms east of Perth , Western Australia, her father Francis Bennett became the founding Principal of Guildford Grammar School in 1896. It wasn’t for very long unfortunately. He apparently took his own life in 1898 while suffering the increasingly debilitating effects of locomotor ataxia. Nellie, who seems to have been the school matron, then married the school’s new Principal Alexander D Gillespie in 1898. Two children were born of this union – Catherine Fanny (1901-1978) and Alexander David (born 1903). But Gillespie also died only a few years later.

Enid Bennett’s career can be traced through early performances first in Western Australia and then under the tutelage of Julius Knight. In 1910 visiting US performer Katherine Gray had also encouraged her to pursue a career on stage. In the eastern states she performed in Everywoman with British actress Hilda Spong and another up and coming Australian, Dorothy Cumming, in 1911. However, her major breakthrough was to find work with Fred Niblo and his wife Josephine Cohan, on their extended tour of Australia. About the same time Nellie moved the family back to Sydney, where she had been born, eventually settling down in Rose Bay. 

Above: L-R Enid, Fred and Josephine. Such was the fame of the Niblo-Cohan troupe during their three years in Australia, that they regularly featured in Australian papers, and interest continued even after they departed in 1915. These are covers of Sydney’s The Theatre Magazine. Left: January 1920, Centre: November 1912, Right: March 1914.  Via State Library of Victoria

Moving to the US

Niblo was effusive about the Australian performers in his company, and young Enid Bennett in particular. In early 1915 he told Perth’s Sunday Times; “Miss Enid Bennett … is a splendid actress, and the Perth people will watch her career with interest and pride,” noting how well she had filled in for Josephine Cohan when she was (often) indisposed. The Niblo-Cohan troupe traveled Australia for three years, despite Josephine’s declining health. In June 1915 Niblo, Cohan and 22 year old Enid packed up and headed for the US on the Matson liner Ventura.

Above: Enid and Fred Niblo performing together in the comedy The Travelling Salesman in Sydney, in March 1915. Theatre Magazine, 1 March 1915. Via State Library of Victoria.

Before they departed, Niblo quickly made two filmed versions of popular plays for J.C.Williamson’s – Get Rich Quick Wallingford and Officer 666.  According to film historians Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, the surviving reels of Officer 666 “reveal a crude production doggedly faithful to the stage.” These were Niblo’s first efforts as a director – he was to significantly refine his skills in Hollywood. Watch a clip from Officer 666 here

Soon after arriving in the US, Enid Bennett appeared in a supporting role in Henry Arthur Jones‘ comedy Cock O’ The Walk, a vehicle for popular comedian Otis Skinner being performed in east coast US cities, including New York. At about the same time she also appeared in her first film, A Princess of the Dark for Thomas H. Ince and Triangle Studios.

Enid Bennett first play in US
Above: Enid Bennett in her first US play, Cock O’ the Walk, with Janet Dunbar and Rita Otway, in early 1916. Author’s Collection
A princess of the dark
Above: Thomas Ince marketing his latest star in March 1917. “El Paso Times”, 2 March 1917. Via Newspapers.com

Enid’s sister Marjorie was to claim that the family pressured her to join Enid in the US, to keep her company.  But the early years in Hollywood appear to have a degree of excitement about them even if the transition to work in the US was tough. Sylvia Bremer‘s biographer Ralph Marsden reproduces one photo showing a happy Bremer, Enid and Marjorie Bennett swimming together at California’s Arrowhead Springs, in 1917. According to Theatre historian Desley Deacon, the success of these young Australian women inspired others, including Judith Anderson.

In Australia in late 1917 Nellie, Catherine and Alexander received some catastrophic news. The family’s oldest son, Frank Reginald, had been killed in fighting at Passchendaele, Belgium on 9 October 1917, not long after being promoted to Lieutenant. Nellie’s few letters held in Frank’s Australian military file reflect the deep grief the family must have felt. Soon after, Enid’s two step-siblings packed up and departed for the US on the SS Ventura.

Above: Enid Bennett in The Theatre Magazine, 2 April, 1917. Via State Library of Victoria

Enid and Fred Niblo married in late February 1918 – his first wife Josephine Cohan had died in July 1916. The impending wedding was almost certainly the main reason for the Bennett family’s arrival in the US a few months before. But there the family stayed, all building careers for themselves in the US. For a few years in the early 1920s, Catherine enjoyed a career in comedy films, often with Monty Banks. Alexander Bennett is reported to have become an accountant. Marjorie, the reluctant actress, would eventually build a remarkable career in Hollywood character roles from the late 1940s, after a long career on stage, including two years performing back in Australia (1921-23).

The Niblo-Bennett wedding in 1918. All of the family were in attendance. The Green Room, 1 June 1918, P23. Via State Library of New South Wales.
Catherine and Enid Bennett, c 1924. Photoplay magazine, July-Dec 1924, P57. Via Lantern, Media History Digital Library.

Fred Niblo’s first US directing experience was The Marriage Ring, with Enid in a leading role, in 1918. He had learned a lot since the days of his Australian film experience; he went on to direct until the early 1930s and the first years of sound film. Kevin Brownlow has documented Niblo’s work on one of his most famous films – Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ made in 1925. Like Enid, he also took on small acting roles in sound films later in life. He died in 1948.

Enid Bennett was busy – her most prolific period was the ten years between 1917-1927. There were some stand-out roles in films that still survive. These included Robin Hood in 1922 with Douglas Fairbanks, The Sea Hawk with fellow Australian Mark McDermott, and The Red Lily with Ramon Novarro, both in 1924, the latter also being directed by Niblo.

1923 comedy silence of the night

Above – The author’s favourite photo of Enid Bennett as  she appeared in Fred Niblo’s Strangers of the Night (1923). Via Wikipedia Commons  (which has more than 50 public domain images of her).

Enid later in Life

Did she retire? Well, not exactly. As noted below, Enid continued to act until the early 1940s. A great Hollywood hostess, she earned a reputation for entertaining, and sometimes newspapers published her favourite recipes. In addition, she had another and more significant interest. By 1930, Enid Bennett was an active Christian Scientist, in company with many Hollywood actors – including Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers and Dick Powell.

She remained so to the end of her life, and there is plenty of evidence she devoted much of her time and expertise in front of the camera and microphone in the cause of the church, particularly after the death of her first husband Fred Niblo, in 1948. She regularly appeared on radio and TV, sometimes credited as Enid Bennett Niblo, hosting short Christian Science programs on healing, including Light of Faith and How Christian Science heals.

Melbourne Age Aug 18 1956
Above: The Melbourne Age, 18 August 1956, reporting on Enid’s work as a Christian Scientist but already seriously muddled up about her connection to Australia. (If she ever lived in St Kilda, Melbourne it wasn’t for very long.) Via newspapers.com

Enid and Fred had three children in the 1920s – Loris, Peter and Judith. They also parented Niblo’s son Fred Junior, from his marriage with Josephine. Late in life, Enid married family friend and former film director Sidney Franklin. But Enid Bennett’s ashes were interned next to Fred Niblo’s after her sudden death in May 1969.

Marjorie Bennett outlived all her siblings. She died in Hollywood in 1982, working almost to the end of her life.

Enid Bennett’s accent

Although most famous as a silent star, what interests this writer is her accent, as evidenced by her voice in the talkies she appeared in between 1931 and 1941. It is not the very broad and theatrical accent often heard when an “Australian voice” is used in Hollywood films, or a faux-British one, but the authentic accent of many middle-class Australians living on the coastal fringe.

Why accents evolve and vary as they do is well beyond the scope of this article, but it is safe to note that Bennett’s accent is a feature of her ethnicity, social standing and education. Desley Deacon has also established that middle-class girls like Bennett often attended schools of acting and elocution as a first step on the path to acting on stage and screen. Her accent and vocabulary is clearly one of middle Australia, perhaps tending a little to the broad accent on pronunciation of certain words  – See more on accents here.

It is also notable that Enid Bennett plays essentially the same role in all these films – usually an earnest and thoroughly decent mother figure. Here are some examples:

The Big Store (1941)

In this well known Marx Brothers comedy,  Bennett plays an unnamed store clerk in the millinery department. Nasty Miss Peggy Arden (played by Marion Martin) makes life very hard for her. (Harpo Marx then plays a clever trick on Miss Peggy – which is the point of the scene.)

The Big Store 1941

Above: Screen grab of 48 year old Enid Bennett in her final film role – the Marx Brothers film The Big Store, of 1941. The film is widely available on DVD. Author’s collection.

Strike Up the Band (1940)

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland star in this cheerful Busby Berkeley musical. In this scene Bennett is welcoming Jimmy, although he soon learns he is not allowed to play at her daughter Barbara’s birthday.

strike up the band
Above: This is Rooney as Jimmy Connors, with Enid Bennett playing Mrs Morgan and June Preisser as her daughter Barbara Morgan. Strike Up The Band, 1940. Author’s collection.

Meet Dr Christian (1939)

This is the first of six Dr Christian films made between 1939 and 1941, starring (and partly written by) Danish actor Jean Hersholt, as the sensible small town Doctor. Enid Bennett plays the Mayor’s wife, but her role is not reprised in the later films. In this scene she is talking to her husband.

Enid Bennett in Meet Dr Christian
Above: Screen grab of Enid Bennett as Mrs Hewitt in Meet Dr Christian. This film is widely available, and apparently now  in the public domain. Author’s Collection.

Waterloo Bridge (1931)

Waterloo Bridge was based on the play of the same name by Robert Sherwood. In this scene Mrs Wetherby (Enid Bennett) welcomes her son Roy’s new girlfriend Myra (Mae Clarke) and insists she stays, not yet knowing she is really a prostitute. When Myra admits this later to Mrs Wetherby, she is unbelievably nice about it, although naturally she doesn’t think marriage is a good idea.

waterloo bridge 1931
Above: Screen grab of Enid Bennett from Waterloo Bridge (1931). The film is still available from TCM. Author’s Collection.

Skippy (1931)

Director Norman Taurig won the Academy Award for Best Director for this film. Jackie Cooper‘s character might be regarded as tiresome today, but in 1931 the film was immensely popular. Enid Bennett plays Skippy’s mother and Dr Herbert Skinner’s wife. A sequel was made with many of the actors reprising their roles, including Bennett.

This is a sound clip from the beginning of the film, where the Skinners are having breakfast while Skippy is still lying in bed upstairs pretending to get dressed.

Skippy 1931, Breakfast scene
Above: Screen grab of Willard Robertson and Enid Bennett as Skippy’s parents, in the breakfast scene that begins the film. Skippy is available from TCM. Author’s Collection

 

Nick Murphy
February 2020

Further Reading

Online

  • Film – Robin Hood 1922 – on Youtube and Internet Archive
  • Film clip –Officer 666 National Film and Sound Archive
  • State Library of Victoria
  • State Library of New South Wales
  • National Library of Australia – Trove.
    • May and Mina Moore Collection
    • The Daily News, 3 Aug 1910. Page 3
    • The Lone Hand, 1 August 1913. Pages 326-7
    • The Leader, (Vic) 30 Dec 1911. Page 27
    • Sunday Times  21 Mar 1915. Page 25
    • The Catholic Paper – Freeman’s Journal, 10 Dec 1931. Page 3
    • The Age, 18 August 1956. Page 11
  • Peter Niblo (2006) –Remembering My Father, Fred Niblo  The Silents are Golden website
  • Australian Live Performance Database
    AusStage – Enid Bennett
    Austage – Majorie Bennett
  • Newspapers.com
    • Boston Globe. 13 July 1916. (This extraordinary newspaper article attributes Josephine Cohan’s death to “Too much dancing” rather than heart disease, which it was)
    • New York Tribune. 2 August 1915. P9
    • El Paso Times 2 March 1916 P9
    • Los Angeles Times. 30 Oct 1935. P13

Text

  • Kevin Brownlow (1968) The Parade’s Gone By. University of California Press.
  • Desley Deacon (2008) “Cosmopolitans at Home: Judith Anderson and the American aspirations of J C Williamson’s Stock Company Members” in Robert Dixon, Veronica Kelly (Eds) Impact of the Modern: Vernacular Modernities in Australia 1870s-1960s. University of Sydney.
  • Desley Deacon (2013) Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. Vol 18, No 1 “From Victorian Accomplishment to Modern Profession: Elocution Takes Judith Anderson, Sylvia Bremer and Dorothy Cumming to Hollywood, 1912-1918“
  • Desley Deacon (2019) Judith Anderson: Australian Star, First Lady of the American Stage. Kerr Publishing.
  • Al Kemp, Tina Kemp (2002) Enid Bennett A Forgotten Star : Life of a Jazz Actress
    Pen Productions Media/Publishing. [Book could not be sourced for this narrative]
  • Ralph Marsden (2016) Who was Sylvia? An autobiography of Sylvia Breamer. Screencrafts Productions.
  • Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper (1980) Australian Film 1900-1977. Oxford University Press
  • Hal Porter (1965) Stars of Australian Stage and Screen. Rigby
  • Scott Wilson (2016) Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons.  Third Edition. McFarland and Co.

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