Valentine Day is the name of the writer whose columns and feature articles appeared in several Sydney-based newspapers during the first two decades of the twentieth century. First identified with The Newsletter in 1900, for which he wrote the "In Front and Behind" column, he later wrote for Freeman's Journal (ca. 1915) and from 1917 contributed numerous reviews, insights and memories of Australian theatre to the Referee and the Saturday edition of the The Arrow (which incorporated the Saturday Referee). The content included both 'legitimate' and variety theatre.
The longest series of columns published in the Referee was 'Reminiscences of the Stage,' which appeared on the 'Theatrical Gazette' page between May and October (22 instalments). Instalments 1 -15 focused on Harry Rickards and his Tivoli operations. Numbers 16-19 featured insights into the old Sydney Opera House, while 20 and 21 recalled the glory days of the city's Gaiety Theatre. The final instalment provided background on the Amy Rozelle and Arthur Dacre murder/suicide that occurred in Sydney in 1895. During the course of November and December Day produced a series of seven articles published under the title 'Australasian Stage.' In addition to these two colums he contributed 'Sydney Shows of the Week,' and one-off articles about such people as Ada Reeve, Janet Achurch, Cyril Maude, R. S. Smythe, Walter Montgomery and James Carden.
For The Arrow Day contributed a number of individual articles and the columns 'Personal: Pars Pleasant Pungent and Pithy' (aka 'Topical Pars Personal: Pleasant, Pithy and Pungent'), and 'At Sydney Shows.' The individual articles included insights and gossip on such artists as Ada Reeve, Nellie Stewart, Marie Tempest, Sarah Benrhart, and politician W. M. Hughes.
