Manager, director, comic singer, songwriter, writer.
Along with F. E. Hiscocks, Frank Smith, Harry Rickards, and the Cogill Brothers, Frank Clark was one of Australia's five leading variety managers during the late 1880s and early 1890s. He came to Australia in 1882 as co-manager of Clark and Ryman's Minstrels (later the Red Stockings). The troupe became known as Frank Clark's Silk Stockings Company in 1886. Apart from a few occasions during the 1890s when he briefly joined forces with other managements (including the Cogill Brothers and W. H. 'Billy' Speed), Clark mostly toured his own companies. These included The All Star Novelty Company, F. M. Clark's European Celebrities, Clark's Last Sensation Company, The Boston Ideal Company, The New Folly Company, and F. M. Clark's American English Company.
As a variety entrepreneur, Clark played a significant role in helping develop the early careers of numerous local artists, many of whom went on to become stars of the local variety industry. Notable performers include Will Whitburn, the 'Australian Team' Delohery, Craydon and Holland, Charles Fanning, the Bovis Brother, Martyn Hagan and Lucy Fraser, and George A. Jones. Other well-known locally based artists to be associated with Clark were Johnny Matlock, Slade Murray, and Alf Lawton. Aside from his managerial duties, Clark also established a solid reputation as a writer of comic songs, burlesques and farces. Arguably his most popular creation was the comedy Muldoon's Picnic. Among his original farces from the 1880s were Fracas (1885) and Hot Night in Balmain (1889). Later works included Wearing the Trousers (1898), Marconi Outdone, Our State School, and On the Tiles (the latter three all 1905).
Clark was mostly associated with venues such as the Victoria Hall, Melbourne (ca. 1886-88); the New Opera House, Sydney (ca. 1888-90); and the Gaiety Theatre, Melbourne (1890-91). His last known (to date) whereabouts in Australia were around 1904-05, when he ran joint operations at Queens Hall (Sydney) and the Gaiety Theatre (Melbourne). Clark moved to the USA shortly afterwards to work in the Hollywood film industry and is known to have appeared in at least 197 films before 1938.
