J. C. Williamson
Encyclopedia
James Cassius Williamson (August 26, 1845 – July 6, 1913) was an American
actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd.
Born in Pennsylvania
, Williamson moved with his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. His father died when he was eleven years old. He acted in amateur theatricals and joined a local theatre company as a call-boy at the age of 15, soon taking roles and eventually moving to New York where he played for several years at Wallack's Theatre
and then other New York theatres. In 1871, he became the leading comedian at the California Theatre
in San Francisco and the next year married comedienne Maggie Moore
.
The two found success touring in Australia, and then playing in London, the U.S. and elsewhere in a comedy called Struck Oil. In 1879, Williamson obtained the right to present H.M.S. Pinafore
and then other Gilbert and Sullivan
operas in Australia. He soon formed his Royal Comic Opera Company. In 1881, Williamson became the lessee of the Theatre Royal, and the next year he entered into a partnership with Arthur Garner and George Musgrove
, expanding to own more theatres and bringing famous actors to Australia, such as Sarah Bernhardt
, H. B. Irving and (Dame) Nellie Melba
, and becoming known for spectacular, large-scale productions.
After 1907, Williamson moved his family to Europe and, his old partners having left, he hired capable managers and changed the theatre company's name to J. C. Williamson Ltd. Williamson died in 1913, but he left a strong theatrical empire that became the largest theatrical firm in the world, with extensive film and property holdings. The company continued to produce seasons of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, operetta, musical comedy
, straight plays, pantomimes and occasional musical revue
s, and later grand opera
, ballet seasons, and concert tours by visiting celebrity singers and musicians, at the many theatres that it owned or leased throughout Australia and New Zealand. It also toured and presented shows in London and elsewhere. In 1976, the company closed and leased out its name.
. He was the son of a doctor, James Hezlep Williamson, and his wife Selina. About 1856, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
, where young James appeared in amateur theatricals beginning in 1857. That year, his father died in an accident.
. From his seven year apprenticeship there, Williamson emerged with a thorough knowledge of acting, play production and stage management. He then played in a musical comedy at the Theatre Comique in New York under the management of W. H. Lingard. Although Williamson was not a good singer, his talent for comedy carried him.
In 1871, Williamson was engaged as leading comedian at the California Theatre, in San Francisco, where he met comedienne Margaret Virginia Sullivan (known as Maggie Moore
) in 1872, whom he married at St. Mary's Cathedral on February 2, 1873. Shortly after that, they starred together in a comedy called Struck Oil in Salt Lake City, Utah
. Williamson purchased the script for $100 and had it rewritten by his friend Clay Greene.
in London at Easter in 1876, The Graphic wrote, Struck Oil is but a poor play; but the acting of Mr. Williamson in the part of Stofel, the Pennsylvanian Dutchman, exhibits genuine humour and pathos." The Williamsons returned to San Francisco in June 1877 after their round-the-world professional tour, which had covered five continents. Again, Struck Oil was a major success for them, and they toured it throughout the United States.
In 1879, Williamson acquired a one-year exclusive right to perform H.M.S. Pinafore
in Australia and New Zealand for £300. They began their 1879–80 Australian season with Struck Oil and staged the first legitimate Australian production of Pinafore at the Theatre Royal, Sydney in November with great success, with the Williamsons playing Sir Joseph Porter and Josephine. In early 1880, Williamson formed his Royal Comic Opera Company. Williamson then acquired the Australian performing rights from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
for The Pirates of Penzance
for £1,000 and opened that work at the Theatre Royal Sydney in 1881. Between their appearances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, James and Maggie Williamson continued to play engagements of Struck Oil along with similar popular favourites, The Danites, Arrah-na-Pogue, The Colleen Bawn and Rip Van Winkle
.
. This triumvirate was often criticized for creating a monopoly, crushing the old repertory system and discouraging local actors, but it brought to Australia such artists as G. R. Rignold and Dion Boucicault senior, as well as training new talent such as Nellie Stewart
. In December 1886, they opened the luxurious (New) Princess's Theatre in Melbourne with The Mikado
. By 1890, Williamson had hired Henry Bracy
as a leading tenor
and a stage manager. Bracy subsequently directed numerous comic opera productions for Williamson, also becoming Williamson's chief advisor on casting, working for the company until 1914.
Musgrove left the partnership in 1890, and Williamson, Garner & Co. then had a major success when they brought Sarah Bernhardt
to Australia in 1891. At the end of the year Williamson bought Garner out, but Maggie Moore left him for the actor Harry Roberts, making extensive financial claims upon him. Musgrove rejoined Williamson in 1892, and in 1896 they broke box-office records with an original Australian pantomime
, Djin Djin. Williamson married Mary Alice Weir, a dancer, in 1899, and his partnership with Musgrove dissolved that year unpleasantly. Among other ventures, in 1900 Williamson leased Her Majesty's Theatre
in Melbourne, and began a series of extensive renovations and expansions to the theatre that became the flagship venue for J. C. Williamson in years to come. He also leased Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney, and in 1902 mounted the biggest production in its history, Ben Hur, at a cost of £14,000. With a running time of nearly four hours, the production contained huge choral numbers, marches and a spectacular chariot race, with horses galloping on a treadmill in front of a moving backdrop. The music was composed by American Edward Stillman Kelly and remained popular for some years. A bubonic plague
outbreak temporarily closed the theatre soon afterwards, and it was burnt down with huge losses. But Williamson organized a Shakespeare company at the Theatre Royal and rebuilt the theatre in 1903. The next year he entered partnership with George Tallis, his Melbourne manager, and with Gustav Ramaciotti as legal adviser. Visually sensational shows were now 'the Firm's' speciality, and the organisation had grown to employ 650 people.
; the latter and Williamson earned £46,000 profit each from her tour. Williamson successfully opposed an application by Australian actors to form a union in 1913. In February 1913, Williamson performed in a benefit in Sydney for the widows of Captain Robert Scott
's Antarctic expedition. Returning to his family in France via the United States, his heart condition worsened, and he died in Paris on 6 July. He was buried, contrary to his wishes, in the Williamson section of Oak Woods cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. He left an elaborately divided estate, valued for probate at £193,010.
, beginning in 1917. Gladys Moncrieff
was a hit as Teresa, appearing in over 2,800 performances of the musical. In 1930, James Nevin became manager of the Williamson London office. In 1937, New Zealand businessman Sir John McKenzie
became chairman, and Ernest C. Rolls was appointed to the board and made managing director and principal producer of J. C. Williamson. By 1938, the Tait brothers were running Williamson's property and investment company. In 1941, Viola Hogg Wilson, a former principal soprano
with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
who had toured with the Williamson company beginning in 1940, married Frank Tait, later becoming an artistic director of the company. By 1943, the brothers were also running J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd., and Frank eventually became managing director. In 1958, John McCallum became assistant managing director to Frank. In 1961, The Australian Ballet Foundation was formed, and Frank was appointed chairman. Frank died in 1965.
In addition to operating its film company and its property and investments company, J. C. Williamson Ltd. (whose name changed many times over the years), continued to produce seasons of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, seasons of operetta, musical comedy, straight plays, pantomimes and occasional musical revues, and later grand opera
, ballet seasons, and concert tours by visiting celebrity singers and musicians, at the many theatres that it owned or leased throughout Australia and New Zealand until 1976, when the company wound-up and leased out its name.
The company's activities even extended to London's West End
, where it produced, among others, seasons of the musicals High Jinks (in 1916), and Mr. Cinders
, together with the revue Coo-ee! and the plays Little Accident and Coquette, in 1929.
's comic opera
s from 1879 to 1963. J. C. Williamson Ltd. secured exclusive rights to stage professional productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) operas in Australia and New Zealand. The company continued this licensing arrangement with D'Oyly Carte family until the expiry of copyright to the operas in 1961.
Initially the G&S operas were staged by Williamson amongst the repertoire of his Royal Comic Opera Companies, where they shared the bill with seasons of Jacques Offenbach
, Alfred Cellier
, Charles Lecocq, Robert Planquette
and others. Although repertory seasons solely devoted to G&S had been staged at individual theatres throughout Australia from around 1885, the first specially organised G&S tour began in 1905 and played for a year, during which time Utopia Limited received its Australian premiere at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne on 20 January, 1906. Williamson's toured the operas throughout both Australia and New Zealand in the years 1914–15, 1920–22, 1926–28, 1931–33, 1935–37, 1940–45, 1949–51 and 1956–58, with a final tour by the company in 1962–63. Williamson's also sent G&S touring companies to South Africa between 1913 and 1933 and to India and the Far East in 1922–23, headed on this occasion by C. H. Workman. It was on the return voyage to Australia from this tour that Workman died at the age of 49.
Unlike the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
, the J. C. Williamson G. & S. Opera Co. was not in continuous operation but was organised specifically to tour the operas for a duration of two or more years, depending on how popular the season was with audiences, after which it was disbanded. The company would then be re-formed, after a variable interval of years, for another tour in response to perceived audience demand. During the years of the Great Depression
in the early 1930s, the popularity of the G&S company, in fact, helped to keep the firm financially viable when a number of their musical comedy productions lost money. The operas were directed and choreographed by Melbourne-born Minnie Everett. She was believed to be the only woman director of Gilbert and Sullivan at the time, and was one of the first female directors of professional theatre companies in the world.
Many members of the D'Oyly Carte, or former members, were engaged for Australasian G&S tours on the recommendation of the D'Oyly Carte management. Savoyards who toured Australia and New Zealand over the years included Frank Thornton
, Alice Barnett
, Leonora Braham
, Courtice Pounds
, Charles Kenningham
, Wallace Brownlow
, C. H. Workman, Frederick Hobbs
, James Hay, Ivan Menzies
and wife Elsie Griffin
, Evelyn Gardiner, Winifred Lawson
, Richard Watson
, Viola Hogg Wilson (who married Frank Tait, the youngest of the five Tait brothers who were then running the Company), John Dean
, Marjorie Eyre
and husband Leslie Rands
, Richard Walker
and wife Helen Roberts
, and Grahame Clifford
, among others.
In 1925 Sydney Granville
, with a number of other D'Oyly Carte principals, sailed to Australia to join the J. C. Williamson Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company for its 1926–28 tour of Australia and New Zealand, playing the "heavy" baritone G&S roles that he later played when he rejoined D'Oyly Carte in Britain. The G&S operas played in Australasia during that tour were mostly re-costumed in accordance with the D'Oyly Carte designs supplied by Rupert D'Oyly Carte
.
In 1949, J. C. Williamson Ltd. brought Granville's wife, Anna Bethell
, to Australia to direct its season of G&S operas, which then toured throughout Australasia for the next three years. Bethel was a former contralto
with D'Oyly Carte and had served as that company's stage director from 1947 to the spring of 1949. The former Savoyards who participated in the Australia tour included Menzies, Gardiner, Dean, Rands and Eyre, and Walker and Roberts. This tour also marked the farewell appearance of Menzies, who had been principal comedian with the Williamson company for all of their G&S seasons since 1931.
issued by Australia Post
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd.
Born in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Williamson moved with his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. His father died when he was eleven years old. He acted in amateur theatricals and joined a local theatre company as a call-boy at the age of 15, soon taking roles and eventually moving to New York where he played for several years at Wallack's Theatre
Wallack's Theatre
Wallack’s Theatre , located on 254 West 42nd Street in New York, United States, was opened on December 5, 1904 by Oscar Hammerstein I. Wallack’s was Hammerstein’s 8th production theatre and was originally known as the "Lew Fields'", a name that Hammerstein gave it in recognition of his favourite...
and then other New York theatres. In 1871, he became the leading comedian at the California Theatre
California Theatre (San Francisco)
The California Theatre , was located at 414 Bush Street, San Francisco. It was built in 1869 by William Ralston, at that time the treasurer of the Bank of California. S. C. Bugbee & Son were the architects and the theatre cost $250, 000 to build.Anpther source puts the figure at $150,000...
in San Francisco and the next year married comedienne Maggie Moore
Maggie Moore
Maggie Moore was the stage name of the American-Australian actor Margaret Virginia Sullivan .Sullivan was born at San Francisco, U.S.A., in 1851, and began her theatrical career at an early age. She established a local reputation, and having married J. C. Williamson came with him to Australia in 1874...
.
The two found success touring in Australia, and then playing in London, the U.S. and elsewhere in a comedy called Struck Oil. In 1879, Williamson obtained the right to present H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
and then other Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas in Australia. He soon formed his Royal Comic Opera Company. In 1881, Williamson became the lessee of the Theatre Royal, and the next year he entered into a partnership with Arthur Garner and George Musgrove
George Musgrove
George Musgrove was an English-born Australian theatre producer.-Early life:Musgrove was born at Surbiton, England, the son of Thomas John Watson Musgrove, an accountant, and his wife, Fanny Hodson, an actress and sister of Georgiana Rosa Hodson who married William Saurin Lyster...
, expanding to own more theatres and bringing famous actors to Australia, such as Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
, H. B. Irving and (Dame) Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
, and becoming known for spectacular, large-scale productions.
After 1907, Williamson moved his family to Europe and, his old partners having left, he hired capable managers and changed the theatre company's name to J. C. Williamson Ltd. Williamson died in 1913, but he left a strong theatrical empire that became the largest theatrical firm in the world, with extensive film and property holdings. The company continued to produce seasons of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, operetta, musical comedy
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, straight plays, pantomimes and occasional musical revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s, and later grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
, ballet seasons, and concert tours by visiting celebrity singers and musicians, at the many theatres that it owned or leased throughout Australia and New Zealand. It also toured and presented shows in London and elsewhere. In 1976, the company closed and leased out its name.
Life and career
Williamson was born in Mercer, PennsylvaniaMercer, Pennsylvania
Mercer is a borough in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,391 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Mercer County. Mercer is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area....
. He was the son of a doctor, James Hezlep Williamson, and his wife Selina. About 1856, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, where young James appeared in amateur theatricals beginning in 1857. That year, his father died in an accident.
Early career
In 1861, Williamson worked for the local theatre company of Messrs. Hurd and Perkins as call-boy, general assistant and scenery and props maker. There he made his official stage debut. He later recalled: "I used to act in amateur theatricals, and when I was sixteen I got an engagement with a company at the Milwaukee theatre. I was full of energy and enthusiasm, and did pretty well everything. My mornings were spent in learning fencing and dancing. In the afternoon I'd look after the box office, and at evening help the stage manager and take my part – sometimes three or four parts." The next year, he joined the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Toronto, Canada and then moved on to New York where he found work as a dialect comedian and then played for several years at Wallack's TheatreWallack's Theatre
Wallack’s Theatre , located on 254 West 42nd Street in New York, United States, was opened on December 5, 1904 by Oscar Hammerstein I. Wallack’s was Hammerstein’s 8th production theatre and was originally known as the "Lew Fields'", a name that Hammerstein gave it in recognition of his favourite...
. From his seven year apprenticeship there, Williamson emerged with a thorough knowledge of acting, play production and stage management. He then played in a musical comedy at the Theatre Comique in New York under the management of W. H. Lingard. Although Williamson was not a good singer, his talent for comedy carried him.
In 1871, Williamson was engaged as leading comedian at the California Theatre, in San Francisco, where he met comedienne Margaret Virginia Sullivan (known as Maggie Moore
Maggie Moore
Maggie Moore was the stage name of the American-Australian actor Margaret Virginia Sullivan .Sullivan was born at San Francisco, U.S.A., in 1851, and began her theatrical career at an early age. She established a local reputation, and having married J. C. Williamson came with him to Australia in 1874...
) in 1872, whom he married at St. Mary's Cathedral on February 2, 1873. Shortly after that, they starred together in a comedy called Struck Oil in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. Williamson purchased the script for $100 and had it rewritten by his friend Clay Greene.
Visiting, and then moving to, Australia
The Williamsons then visited Australia, travelling on the S.S. Mikado. They opened a season at The Theatre Royal, Melbourne, beginning with Struck Oil, which became an instant success. Its run of 43 nights was the longest yet known in the colonial theatre. In February 1875 the Company sailed for Sydney, playing various pieces, including their successful Struck Oil, which yielded even larger profits than its Melbourne run had. The Williamsons returned to Melbourne repeating their success. They then traveled on to Adelaide and eventually to India, playing several pieces. Everywhere they went, Struck Oil was their biggest success. When they opened the play at the Royal Adelphi TheatreAdelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
in London at Easter in 1876, The Graphic wrote, Struck Oil is but a poor play; but the acting of Mr. Williamson in the part of Stofel, the Pennsylvanian Dutchman, exhibits genuine humour and pathos." The Williamsons returned to San Francisco in June 1877 after their round-the-world professional tour, which had covered five continents. Again, Struck Oil was a major success for them, and they toured it throughout the United States.
In 1879, Williamson acquired a one-year exclusive right to perform H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
in Australia and New Zealand for £300. They began their 1879–80 Australian season with Struck Oil and staged the first legitimate Australian production of Pinafore at the Theatre Royal, Sydney in November with great success, with the Williamsons playing Sir Joseph Porter and Josephine. In early 1880, Williamson formed his Royal Comic Opera Company. Williamson then acquired the Australian performing rights from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
for The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
for £1,000 and opened that work at the Theatre Royal Sydney in 1881. Between their appearances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, James and Maggie Williamson continued to play engagements of Struck Oil along with similar popular favourites, The Danites, Arrah-na-Pogue, The Colleen Bawn and Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle (operetta)
Rip Van Winkle is an operetta in three acts by Robert Planquette. The English libretto by Henry Brougham Farnie was based on the stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving after the play by Dion Boucicault and Joseph Jefferson.-Performance history:The operetta...
.
The beginning of the J. C. Williamson Ltd. theatrical empire
On September 8, 1881, Williamson became the sole lessee of the Theatre Royal, which was newly renovated, introducing modern technical facilities and lavish sets. This transaction marked the beginning of Williamson's long career as Australia's foremost theatrical manager. After a tour of New Zealand, in 1882 Williamson entered into partnership with Arthur Garner and George MusgroveGeorge Musgrove
George Musgrove was an English-born Australian theatre producer.-Early life:Musgrove was born at Surbiton, England, the son of Thomas John Watson Musgrove, an accountant, and his wife, Fanny Hodson, an actress and sister of Georgiana Rosa Hodson who married William Saurin Lyster...
. This triumvirate was often criticized for creating a monopoly, crushing the old repertory system and discouraging local actors, but it brought to Australia such artists as G. R. Rignold and Dion Boucicault senior, as well as training new talent such as Nellie Stewart
Nellie Stewart
Nellie Stewart was an Australian actress and singer, known as "Our Nell" and "Sweet Nell".Born into a theatrical family, Stewart began acting as a child. As a young woman, she built a career playing in operetta and Gilbert and Sullivan operas. In the mid-1880s, she began a long relationship with...
. In December 1886, they opened the luxurious (New) Princess's Theatre in Melbourne with The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
. By 1890, Williamson had hired Henry Bracy
Henry Bracy
Henry Bracy was a Welsh tenor who is notable as the creator of the role of Prince Hilarion in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera Princess Ida. Bracy was often a lead tenor within the operettas in which he appeared. He was married to actress Clara T. Bracy, the sister of Lydia Thompson...
as a leading tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
and a stage manager. Bracy subsequently directed numerous comic opera productions for Williamson, also becoming Williamson's chief advisor on casting, working for the company until 1914.
Musgrove left the partnership in 1890, and Williamson, Garner & Co. then had a major success when they brought Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
to Australia in 1891. At the end of the year Williamson bought Garner out, but Maggie Moore left him for the actor Harry Roberts, making extensive financial claims upon him. Musgrove rejoined Williamson in 1892, and in 1896 they broke box-office records with an original Australian pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, Djin Djin. Williamson married Mary Alice Weir, a dancer, in 1899, and his partnership with Musgrove dissolved that year unpleasantly. Among other ventures, in 1900 Williamson leased Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne
Her Majesty's Theatre is a 1706 seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia. Built in 1886, it is located at 219 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. It is classified by the National Trust of Australia and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register....
in Melbourne, and began a series of extensive renovations and expansions to the theatre that became the flagship venue for J. C. Williamson in years to come. He also leased Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney, and in 1902 mounted the biggest production in its history, Ben Hur, at a cost of £14,000. With a running time of nearly four hours, the production contained huge choral numbers, marches and a spectacular chariot race, with horses galloping on a treadmill in front of a moving backdrop. The music was composed by American Edward Stillman Kelly and remained popular for some years. A bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
outbreak temporarily closed the theatre soon afterwards, and it was burnt down with huge losses. But Williamson organized a Shakespeare company at the Theatre Royal and rebuilt the theatre in 1903. The next year he entered partnership with George Tallis, his Melbourne manager, and with Gustav Ramaciotti as legal adviser. Visually sensational shows were now 'the Firm's' speciality, and the organisation had grown to employ 650 people.
Williamson's later years
From 1907 Williamson reduced his managerial work and spent more time with his wife and their daughters Marjorie and Aimée, moving the family to France and spending most of his time in Europe. He also became involved in raising racehorses. In 1910, the company was renamed J. C. Williamson Ltd., with Ramaciotti as managing director. The company achieved outstanding successes with tours by H. B. Irving and Nellie MelbaNellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
; the latter and Williamson earned £46,000 profit each from her tour. Williamson successfully opposed an application by Australian actors to form a union in 1913. In February 1913, Williamson performed in a benefit in Sydney for the widows of Captain Robert Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
's Antarctic expedition. Returning to his family in France via the United States, his heart condition worsened, and he died in Paris on 6 July. He was buried, contrary to his wishes, in the Williamson section of Oak Woods cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. He left an elaborately divided estate, valued for probate at £193,010.
World War I and beyond
After Williamson died in 1913, his company — at one time the largest theatrical firm in the world — continued to operate under various managing directors, including, for many years, Sir George Tallis, and then the five Tait brothers, Charles (1868–1933), John (1871–1955), James Nevin (1876–1961), Edward (1878–1947) and Frank (1883–1965). In 1920, their production company, J. & N. Tait, merged with the J. C. Williamson Film Company. The firm continued to present musical comedy and operetta, including the extremely successful The Maid of the MountainsThe Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, beginning in 1917. Gladys Moncrieff
Gladys Moncrieff
Gladys Moncrieff OBE was an Australian singer who was so successful in musical theatre and recordings that she became known as 'Australia's Queen of Song' and 'Our Glad'.-Early years:...
was a hit as Teresa, appearing in over 2,800 performances of the musical. In 1930, James Nevin became manager of the Williamson London office. In 1937, New Zealand businessman Sir John McKenzie
John McKenzie
John McKenzie may refer to:* John McKenzie , New Zealand politician* John McKenzie , Canadian ice hockey player* John C. McKenzie , United States Representative from Illinois...
became chairman, and Ernest C. Rolls was appointed to the board and made managing director and principal producer of J. C. Williamson. By 1938, the Tait brothers were running Williamson's property and investment company. In 1941, Viola Hogg Wilson, a former principal soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
who had toured with the Williamson company beginning in 1940, married Frank Tait, later becoming an artistic director of the company. By 1943, the brothers were also running J. C. Williamson Theatres, Ltd., and Frank eventually became managing director. In 1958, John McCallum became assistant managing director to Frank. In 1961, The Australian Ballet Foundation was formed, and Frank was appointed chairman. Frank died in 1965.
In addition to operating its film company and its property and investments company, J. C. Williamson Ltd. (whose name changed many times over the years), continued to produce seasons of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, seasons of operetta, musical comedy, straight plays, pantomimes and occasional musical revues, and later grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
, ballet seasons, and concert tours by visiting celebrity singers and musicians, at the many theatres that it owned or leased throughout Australia and New Zealand until 1976, when the company wound-up and leased out its name.
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, where it produced, among others, seasons of the musicals High Jinks (in 1916), and Mr. Cinders
Mr. Cinders
Mr. Cinders is a musical. The music is by Vivian Ellis & Richard Myers, and the libretto by Clifford Grey & Greatorex Newman. The story is an inversion of the Cinderella fairy tale with the gender roles reversed. The Prince Charming character has become a modern young and forceful woman, and Mr....
, together with the revue Coo-ee! and the plays Little Accident and Coquette, in 1929.
Williamson's Gilbert and Sullivan productions
The J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company was a successor to J. C. Williamson's Royal Comic Opera Companies. The company staged touring seasons, initially in Australia, of Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s from 1879 to 1963. J. C. Williamson Ltd. secured exclusive rights to stage professional productions of the Gilbert and Sullivan (G&S) operas in Australia and New Zealand. The company continued this licensing arrangement with D'Oyly Carte family until the expiry of copyright to the operas in 1961.
Initially the G&S operas were staged by Williamson amongst the repertoire of his Royal Comic Opera Companies, where they shared the bill with seasons of Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
, Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
, Charles Lecocq, Robert Planquette
Robert Planquette
Jean Robert Planquette was a French composer of songs and operettas.Several of Planquette's operettas were extraordinarily successful in Britain, including Les cloches de Corneville , the length of whose initial London run broke all records for any piece of musical theatre up to that time, and Rip...
and others. Although repertory seasons solely devoted to G&S had been staged at individual theatres throughout Australia from around 1885, the first specially organised G&S tour began in 1905 and played for a year, during which time Utopia Limited received its Australian premiere at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne on 20 January, 1906. Williamson's toured the operas throughout both Australia and New Zealand in the years 1914–15, 1920–22, 1926–28, 1931–33, 1935–37, 1940–45, 1949–51 and 1956–58, with a final tour by the company in 1962–63. Williamson's also sent G&S touring companies to South Africa between 1913 and 1933 and to India and the Far East in 1922–23, headed on this occasion by C. H. Workman. It was on the return voyage to Australia from this tour that Workman died at the age of 49.
Unlike the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
, the J. C. Williamson G. & S. Opera Co. was not in continuous operation but was organised specifically to tour the operas for a duration of two or more years, depending on how popular the season was with audiences, after which it was disbanded. The company would then be re-formed, after a variable interval of years, for another tour in response to perceived audience demand. During the years of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in the early 1930s, the popularity of the G&S company, in fact, helped to keep the firm financially viable when a number of their musical comedy productions lost money. The operas were directed and choreographed by Melbourne-born Minnie Everett. She was believed to be the only woman director of Gilbert and Sullivan at the time, and was one of the first female directors of professional theatre companies in the world.
Many members of the D'Oyly Carte, or former members, were engaged for Australasian G&S tours on the recommendation of the D'Oyly Carte management. Savoyards who toured Australia and New Zealand over the years included Frank Thornton
Frank Thornton (Savoyard)
Frank Thornton was an English actor, singer, comedian and producer. Despite a successful stage career in comedies in London, on tour and abroad, Thornton is probably best remembered as the understudy to George Grossmith in a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas from 1877 to 1884.Thornton began...
, Alice Barnett
Alice Barnett
Alice Barnett was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in contralto roles of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Leonora Braham
Leonora Braham
Leonora Braham , born Leonora Lucy Abraham, was an English opera singer and actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas....
, Courtice Pounds
Courtice Pounds
Charles Courtice Pounds , better known by the stage name Courtice Pounds, was an English singer and actor known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and his later roles in Shakespeare plays and Edwardian musical comedies.As a young member...
, Charles Kenningham
Charles Kenningham
Charles Kenningham was an English opera singer best remembered for his roles in the 1890s with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Wallace Brownlow
Wallace Brownlow
Wallace Brownlow was an opera singer of the Victorian era best known for baritone roles in the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.-D'Oyly Carte Opera Company:...
, C. H. Workman, Frederick Hobbs
Frederick Hobbs (singer)
Frederick Hobbs was a New Zealand-born singer, actor and theatre manager. After performing as a concert singer in New Zealand and Australia and in opera and musicals in Britain, he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1914. There he played the baritone and bass-baritone roles of the Gilbert...
, James Hay, Ivan Menzies
Ivan Menzies
J. Ivan "Jimmy" Menzies was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the comic baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Britain in the 1920s and the J. C. Williamson Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company in Australia the 1930s and 1940s.Menzies...
and wife Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin
Elsie Griffin was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, Evelyn Gardiner, Winifred Lawson
Winifred Lawson
Winifred Lawson was an opera and concert singer in the first half of the 20th century. She is best remembered for her performances in the soprano roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Life and career:Lawson was born in Wolverhampton, England...
, Richard Watson
Richard Watson (singer)
Richard Charles Watson was an Australian bass opera and concert singer and actor. He is probably best remembered as a long-time principal with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who sang the comic bass-baritone roles of the Savoy Operas, but he appeared in a wide range of operas at the Royal Opera...
, Viola Hogg Wilson (who married Frank Tait, the youngest of the five Tait brothers who were then running the Company), John Dean
John Dean (singer)
John Dean was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Life and career:...
, Marjorie Eyre
Marjorie Eyre
Marjorie Eyre was an English opera singer, best known for her performances in the soprano and mezzo-soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
and husband Leslie Rands
Leslie Rands
Leslie Rands was an English opera singer, best known for his performances in baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. He married D'Oyly Carte soprano Marjorie Eyre in 1926.-Life and career:...
, Richard Walker
Richard Walker (singer)
Richard Walker, was an English opera singer and actor, best known for his performances in the baritone roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Between 1932 and 1939 Walker was married to D'Oyly Carte chorister Ena Martin...
and wife Helen Roberts
Helen Roberts
Helen Florence Roberts , later known by her married name, Betty Walker, was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in soprano roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, and Grahame Clifford
Grahame Clifford
For the film editor with a similar name, see Graeme Clifford.Grahame Clifford , was an English opera singer and actor primarily known for his work in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and as principal baritone of the Royal Opera Company, Covent Garden.-Life...
, among others.
In 1925 Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville
Sydney Granville was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
, with a number of other D'Oyly Carte principals, sailed to Australia to join the J. C. Williamson Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company for its 1926–28 tour of Australia and New Zealand, playing the "heavy" baritone G&S roles that he later played when he rejoined D'Oyly Carte in Britain. The G&S operas played in Australasia during that tour were mostly re-costumed in accordance with the D'Oyly Carte designs supplied by Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte
Rupert D'Oyly Carte was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from 1913 to 1948....
.
In 1949, J. C. Williamson Ltd. brought Granville's wife, Anna Bethell
Anna Bethell
Anna Bethell was an English actress, singer and stage director. She is best known for her performances in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After playing other small mezzo-soprano parts, she played the role of Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer for many years. She...
, to Australia to direct its season of G&S operas, which then toured throughout Australasia for the next three years. Bethel was a former contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
with D'Oyly Carte and had served as that company's stage director from 1947 to the spring of 1949. The former Savoyards who participated in the Australia tour included Menzies, Gardiner, Dean, Rands and Eyre, and Walker and Roberts. This tour also marked the farewell appearance of Menzies, who had been principal comedian with the Williamson company for all of their G&S seasons since 1931.
Recognition
In 1989, Williamson was honoured, together with Nellie Stewart, on a postage stampPostage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
issued by Australia Post
Australia Post
Australia Post is the trading name of the Australian Government-owned Australian Postal Corporation .-History:...
.
External links
- Morrison, Robert. "The J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company"
- Paul Bentley, Research Paper No. 5: J. C. Williamson Limited, The Wolanski Foundation
- 'J. C. Williamson - the early years' (article) on the Down Under in the 19th Century website
- Article about the Williamsons and formation of the J. C. Williamson companies
- 1911 NY Times article about Willimson's choice of shows and business methods
- Information about early Pirates and other productions
- "Williamson, James Cassius", Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Information about the Tait brothers' association with the Company
- Information about D'Oyly Carte members who performed with the company
- J. C. Williamson Ltd., 1881-1972 organisational profile from the Australia Dancing website.
- Profile of Minnie Everett, Historically important as one of the first professional woman choreographers and directors of an opera company
- Information about the 1949–50 tour
- J.C. Williamson Opera Programs in the National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
- Williamson posters
- Photos of Williamson players
- Culture Victoria – video, images and text on a 1920s scenebook and 19th & 20th century costume designs