English-born singer, variety artist, entrepreneur, businessman.
Edward Branscombe showed an interest in music and theatricals from an early age, leading his father to eventually insist on him changing his name (Theatre Magazine June 1916, p.20). As Edward Branscombe, he became a solo tenor with Westminster Abbey during much of the 1890s, but his career between 1909 and the early to mid-1920s is largely associated with Australia. He first arrived in the country in 1896 with the English Concert Company. In 1901, following a tour of South Africa, Branscombe put together the Westminster Glee Party and toured throughout the Commonwealth, beginning with three tours of Canada. The company travelled through the Pacific Islands and Antipodes in 1903, performing a mixed repertoire of English part songs, glees, and madrigals. Subsequent tours included India, China, and Japan (ca. 1904), and a return Australian visit (1905). The Glee Party also reportedly undertook tours to countries including Hawaii, the Bahamas, the West Indies, British Guinea, Java, Sumatra, Pekin, Hangkow, the Malay States, Cuba, and Newfoundland. A number of these countries had previously never been visited by a concert company. The troupe initially comprised four boy sopranos, an adult male quartet, four adult soloists (including one woman), and a pianist. By 1905, the boy juvenile members of the company numbered seven and the male quartet was expanded to a double quartet. In addition to his role as soloist, Branscombe acted as music director, conductor, and arranger.
After returning to England around 1906, Branscombe reorganised the Glee Party into an even larger ensemble, approximately 20-24 members, before eventually putting together a more secular style of entertainment that he toured first as the Scarlet Mysteries and later as the Scarlet Troubadours (the company was also briefly billed in Australia as Edward Branscombe's Jesters, ca. 1909). The company, which blended light opera, concert work, and vaudeville, remained together for five years and garnered much popularity in Australia and New Zealand. Branscombe also pioneered the use of open-air venues in Australia with his 1909 season at the Melbourne seaside suburb of St Kilda. Open-air (garden) theatres subsequently opened in Brisbane (Cremorne Theatre), Perth, Adelaide, and Sydney (Manly and Darlinghurst). The Brisbane and Darlinghurst venues were built by Branscombe, in 1911 and 1915 respectively. The Manly venue became known as Eden Gardens. The Darlinghust venue (situated on Bayswater Road), known simply as the Garden Theatre, was initially managed by Branscombe's brother, F. W. Salmon (Theatre Magazine April 1916, p.7).
By 1911, Branscombe had put together a number of troupes under the generic title The Dandies, the name reflecting the elegant style of costuming. Each troupe, comprising around a dozen performers and music director/pianist, was distinguished by a colour, hence the Orange Dandies, Green Dandies, Pink Dandies, Red Dandies, Violet Dandies, and Scarlet Dandies. By this time, too, Branscombe was arranging numerous musical pieces for publication, including instrumental numbers from well-known 'serious' composers and popular folk melodies, which he turned into songs in collaboration with various lyricists. The Dandies companies maintained a significant presence around Australia throughout the First World War and possibly beyond, employing more than sixty performers at a time, in addition to advance reps and production staff (scenic artists, costume designers and makers, etc). Among the most recognisable performers from this era were Claude Dampier, Howard Hall (later with Jim Gerald Revue Company), Walter George and Georgie Martin, Maud Fane, Arthur Mack, Mona Thomas (later with Jim Gerald, Ike Delavale and Kate Howarde), Fred Monument, Miss Pop Batterbury, Percy Mackay, Harry Borradale, George Edwards, Joe Brennan, and Ida Newton.
Around 1915, Branscombe put together the Smart Set Entertainers. Although similarly styled as a 'dainty, delightful, refined and mirth-provoking English costume comedy,' the Smart Set appears to have focused much of its programme towards the musical scena genre. Among the troupe's more popular scenas were several exotic Asian pieces that featured songs and dance, artistic settings, and comedy, all based around a simple narrative. A number of Dandies performers are known to have moved across to the Smart Set, including Orange Dandies' members Walter George, Georgie Martin, and Harry de Robeck. In addition to his own touring companies, Branscombe also acted as agent and manager to a number of Australian and international acts (both in Australia and in South Africa), including Ada Crossley, American band master John Philip Souza, and the Cherniavskis.
Branscombe revived the Westminster Glee 'Singers' around late 1921 or early 1922, with the company's debut Australian season (Melbourne Town Hall, 4 June) following on from a 'phenomenally successful' New Zealand tour (ctd. Theatre Magazine June 1923, p.15). The new repertoire expanded on the earlier format by including operatic selections, folk songs, and humorous quartets. Branscombe was still involved with the company in the early 1930s. The Australian tour, undertaken during early to mid-1930s, reportedly followed on from a successful tour of America (Age 7 April 1930, p.11). One Australian performer to appear with the company at this time was the young Max Oldaker, who recalls that he also toured the Far East with Branscombe.
Although little is yet known of Edward Branscombe's personal life, he was registered as living in Acton, England in 1900 with his wife, Mary. In addition to his published musical arrangements, he is known to have written articles for the Australian Star News and Australian Theosophist between 1926 and 1928 and to have addressed the Empire Club of Canada with a paper on the 'Influence of Music on the Community' (1928). Branscombe and the Westminster Glee Singers also played themselves in a short 1927 British sound film called Westminster Glee Singers.
