Advertisement for the benefit performance for the actor Mr. Grove at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Sydney, on 8 September 1838 to include ' for the first time at this Theatre, Coleman's admired Play of the Mountaineers!' with the character of Octavian played by 'Mr Charles Faucit of well known celebrity on the London Boards, who on this occasion, will appear before the Australian Public for the first time, having just arrived from England ...' ; '... to conclude with for the first time in this Colony, the celebrated Operatic Drama, of Masaniello'. The advertisement includes a description of the scenes and a list of the actors and the names of the characters they portray for each play.
Advertisement for benefit performances for Mr. [J. H. S.] Lee at the Royal Victoria Theatre on 11 September 1838 to include a 'Drama, founded on Sir Walter Scott's celebrated Novel of the "Talisman," called Richard Coeur De Lion; or, The Crusader and His Dog' and the 'popular and interesting Melo-Drama, called Raymond and Agnes, or the Bleeding Nun of Lindenberg '.
J. H. S. Lee was an Australian actor, actor manager, 'utility man' (an actor who plays many small parts) and comedian. According to Philip Parsons and Victoria Chance he was the 'first to work regularly with performing dogs and one of [the] first to sing blackface minstrel songs'. Parsons and Chance mention that Lee introduced "Jumping Jim Crow" 'a blackface minstrel act' in Hobart in 1843. This was not the first time he performed the work,The advertisement for his September 1838 benefit announces that 'Mr Lee, for the first time, will Jump Jim Crow'. He also seems to have been an exponent of stage fights as the advertisement mentions a fight scene from 'the celebrated Roman Drama of the Horatii and Curatii' as part of the varied entertainment for the benefit. The advertisement includes a description of the scenes and a list of the actors and the names of the characters they portray for each play
Source: Parsons, Philip, with Chance, Victoria. Concise Companion to Theatre in Australia (Sydney, Currency Press, 1997): 157
Advertisement for: '5 Cases Books, consisting of about 100 sets of modern Novels and other choice works, selected expressly ... Catalogues may be had at the Offices of the Auctioneer ...'
A notice to Mrs Emma Seale from Mr Davis, Bookbinder.
