tom liddiard / liddiard's lilliputians · pdf filetom liddiard / liddiard's...
TRANSCRIPT
TOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS
AUSTRALIAN VARIETY TH EATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NO TES
See last page for citat ion, copyright and last updated details .
(ca. 1854-1924) Singer (baritone), actor, theatre lessee, manager, advance agent (stage/film), entrepreneur.
The owner of Australia's last internationally-touring Lilliputian company, Melbourne-born Thomas John Liddiard initially pursued a similar career to his famous sister, opera singer Fannie Liddiard. Possibly starting out as early as the late-1870s he later toured with J.C. Williamson's Comic Opera Company, and found acclaim in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. After moving to India in the late-1880s he was associated with the Stanley Opera Company and later worked throughout the East as advance agent for D.H.R. Mores' Ripograph film exhibition venture, and with his own Bijou Entertainers, and Bijou Troubadours. Liddiard returned to Australia in 1904, leasing a theatre in Melbourne, before founding his Lilliputians in 1907 for a tour of the East. He bought the troupe back to Australia (1910-1912) and soon afterwards retired.
• Born and raised in the suburb of Fitzroy, Liddiard's mother and step-father were Jane and John Geise of Fitzroy (ca. 1823-1914). Fannie was also a step-child to John Geise. Another sibling, later known as Mrs Ernest Richardson, was their step-sister. It remains unclear if Tom and Fanny retained their real father's name or adopted Liddiard as a stage name.
• Liddiard died outside the Palace Hotel, Sydney on 30 May 1924 from a heart attack, aged 70.
• Fannie Liddiard had her greatest success in Australia in the 1890s and toured Great Britain before settling in India in the early 1900s. By then known as Fannie Warren, she played a major role in helping train her brother's Lilliputian company between 1907 and 1910. Liddiard/Warren died in Calcutta in 1931.
LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS
aka Liddiard's Lilliputian Opera Company
(1907-1912) Comprising children who came almost exclusively from owner/manager Tom Liddiard's home suburb of Fitzroy (Melbourne), Liddiard's Lilliputians was put together in September 1907 especially for a tour of the East. After arriving in Calcutta, India, the young performers, aged between eight and sixteen, underwent further training under the direction of Lilliard's sister, Fannie, herself a former high-profile opera singer (ex-J.C. Williamson's). Although often billed as an "opera company" the troupe's repertoire also comprised other theatrical forms and genres - notably burlesque, vaudeville and pantomime. After returning home in April 1910 the troupe undertook several regional tours, while also playing two Christmas pantomimes at William Anderson's King's Theatre, Melbourne. Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane also saw the company.
• Although publicity for the troupe's Australian tour invariably claimed that it had been in the East for five years, the actual length of time was only two-and-a-half years (ca. November 1907 to March 1910).
• The pantomimes staged by the troupe were The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (1909), and Little Red Riding Hood (1911).
• The children known to have been engaged were Little Coral, Lily Clarke (aka Little Lily ), Dorothea Liddle (aka Baby Liddle), Alma Twyford, Paul Jeacle, Nellie McGuire, Vera Bromley, Fred Heinze, Neal Connelly, Claude Chevely, Willie Howard, and Billy Maloney.
Truth (Sydney) 15 Sept. (1911), 5.
Argus (Melbourne) 19 Dec. (1910), 12.
• Liddiard likely ended the company in 1912 in response to increasing concerns about the welfare of child performers. This issue had been raised in 1910 in light of the Pollards' Lilliputian Company scandal, which saw Arthur Pollard charged in Calcutta with having had an affair with one of the older girls in his charge. The scandal led to the Australian government passing a law that same year which made it illegal for children under 14 to work professionally on the stage or to travel overseas without express permission. Exceptions were made for children of professional entertainers, however.
• NB: In November 1910, the Commonwealth Government passed a law forbidding the transport of children outside Australia for theatrical work. The passage of the bill mentioned Tom Pollard and his company, which effectively ended the Australian era of children's touring companies Arthur H. Pollard was charged with having an affair with one of the older girls. Although the new law allowed for some special exceptions, it significantly restricted the use of Australian children in overseas touring companies. The act also marked a significant Commonwealth intrusion into family welfare issues. The Pollard scandal was humiliating for the family, and especially the well-respected Tom Pollard who was forced to disband his Lilliputian Company shortly after the passage of the bill.
Punch (Melbourne) 15 Dec. (1910), 18.
Further Reference:
• India Dark by Kirsty Murray (Allen and Unwin, 2010) Based on the Arthur Pollard scandal, it includes mention of Liddiard's company. A publicity blurb notes: "A strong and vivid novel based on the fascinating true story of a group of young Australian performers - children aged from seven to seventeen - who toured Asia and India early in the twentieth century before mounting a strike against their manager and precipitating a sensational court case."
• The Komedi Bioscoop: The Emergence of Movie-Going in Colonial Indonesia 1896-1914 by Dafna Ruppin. New Barnett (Herts); John Libby, 2016.
64
65
1887
Melbourne Punch 8 Dec. (1887), 8.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174572999
1889
Table Talk (Melbourne) 22 Nov. (1889), 16.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147280531/17642413
1890
Melbourne Punch 25 Sept. (1890), 9.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174577650
1899
Argus (Melbourne) 18 Dec. (1899),
1904
Punch (Melbourne) 9 June (1904), 28.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174649672
1907
Sydney Sportsman 31 Ju ly (1907), 3.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166739151
Punch (Melbourne) 12 Sept. (1907), 38
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175797192
Sydney Sportsman 18 Sept. (1907), 3.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166757249
Punch (Melbourne) 7 Nov. (1907), 37.
1908
Truth (Perth) 7 Mar. (1908), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206698883
Punch (Melbourne) 12 Mar. (1908), 34.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176014554
Punch (Melbourne) 2 Ju ly (1908), 38.
NB: No record of a sister by this name has yet been located.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176026686
1909
Sydney Sportsman 15 Sept. (1909), 3.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/166749689
Punch (Melbourne) 23 Dec. (1909), 34.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176030598
1910
"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 6 Jan. (1910), 30.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176543413
"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 17 Feb. (1910), 34.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176544363
"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 17 Mar. (1910), 38.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/176544942
Argus (Melbourne) 15 Dec. (1910), 12.
Table Talk (Melbourne) 15 Dec. (1910), 13.
Argus (Melbourne) 19 Dec. (1910), 12.
Age (Melbourne) 27 Dec. (1910), 6.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/179917422
Table Talk (Melbourne) 29 Dec. (1910), 27.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146119506/17401820
Punch (Melbourne) 29 Dec. (1910), 30.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175609418/20483784
1911
Critic (Adelaide) 1 Feb. (1911), 12.
Critic (Adelaide) 11 Feb. (1911), 8.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/211434657
Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 18 Feb. (1911), 7.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45125177
Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 18 Feb. (1911), 4.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45125164
National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 3 Apr. (1911), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/157775699
cont...
Sydney Sportsman 5 Apr. (1911), 3.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168589822
Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW) 8 Apr.
(1911), 4.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75309514
Cowra Free Press (NSW) 8 Apr. (1911), 9.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/99625377
National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 8 Apr. (1911), 4.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/157785152
Lithgow Mercury (NSW) 12 Apr. (1911), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/219534258
Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW) 21 Apr. (1911), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124292842
Sydney Sportsman 9 Aug. (1911), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168594051
Sydney Sportsman 16 Aug. (1911), 2.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168599010
Sydney Sportsman 23 Aug. (1911), 5.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168589202
Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW) 27 Oct.
(1911), 4.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75315239
Truth (Sydney) 10 Sept. (1911), 5.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168749630
Punch (Melbourne) 21 Dec. (1911), 41.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/177535573/21104046
1912
Sydney Sportsman 10 Jan. (1912), 3.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/168580065
Age (Melbourne) 17 Jan. (1912), 10.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197410536
Brisbane Courier 24 Apr. (1912), 2.
Truth (Sydney) 24 Sept. (1911), 11.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/16125235
1914
Weekly Times (Melbourne) 7 Mar. (1914), 26.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122125712
1924
Argus (Melbourne) 31 May (1931), 5.
Age (Melbourne) 4 June (1924), 11.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203656721
Sunday Times (Perth) 15 June (1924), 30.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58053587
Age (Melbourne) 21 July (1924), 9.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203676943
Misc
Daily Mail (Brisbane) 2 Aug. (1921), 9.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/213171341
Australian Variety Theatre Archive: Research Notes
Published by Clay Djubal: 28/05/2017
NB: The URL for this PDF will change each time it is updated. If you wish to link to this record please use the following:
Australian Variety Theatre Archive • http://ozvta.com/troupes-juvenile-companies/
The informat ion within these pages should be considered a snapshot only. Its purpose is to serve as a basis for further
investigation and as a repository for online references that may eventually disappear.
Any works snagged or transcribed from other sources remain the copyright of their res pective authors /publishers.
The authorship and/or original publication details are provided and these should be cited (not the AVTA).*
NB: New informat ion is continuously being made available as more newspapers are digitised by Tro ve (Australian National
Library Digitised Newspapers resource)
* Material published the AVTA's Research Notes will be removed if requested by the legally-confirmed copyright owner. Please contact the AVTA.