Cirrus@Austlit

OVERVIEW

Formed in 1915 by American-born Hebrew comic Bert Le Blanc, the Travesty Stars Revue Company almost immediately began breaking box office records on the Fullers' Australian and New Zealand variety circuit. Touring a repertoire of shows written largely by Le Blanc, the plots of which revolved around the characters Ike Cohen (Le Blanc) and Morris Levy (played by Jake Mack), the company also rivalled Nat Phillips' Stiffy and Mo Revue Company as the most successful wartime revusical company in Australia. Indeed, its popularity was such that the Travesty Stars opened two theatres for the Fullers, an honour that even Stiffy and Mo were never able to achieve.

After Le Blanc temporarily disbanded the Travesty Stars in 1920, he went on to work in a straight vaudeville act with Jake Mack (and later with Ted Stanley). In 1921, however, he reformed the troupe, initially known as the Who's Who Costume Revue Entertainers, under William Anderson's management. The Travesty Stars is believed to have continued touring up until sometime in 1923.

A number of high-profile performers were associated with Bert Le Blanc's Travesty Stars during the seven or eight years it operated in Australia and New Zealand, including Mike Connors and Queenie Paul, Jim Gerald, Essie Jennings, Lance Vane, Charles Delavale and Elvie Stagpoole, Bert and Evelyn Dudley, Darcy Kellway, and Carlton Chase.

DETAILED BIOGRAPHY

1915-1917: Bert Le Blanc formed the Travesty Stars Revue Company in 1915 after having completed a national tour with George Willoughby's pantomime Babes in the Wood, which had premiered at the Adelphi Theatre, Sydney, in December 1914. Le Blanc was cast as Weary Willie, alongside Australian comedian Ted Stanley as Tired Tim. When the production toured Australia following the Sydney season, Stanley's role was taken over by American Hebrew comedian Jake Mack (born Jacob Snoek). The Le Blanc/Mack partnership in that pantomime was so successful that the pair went on to spend the best part of the next ten years working off each other in revusicals and in vaudeville. From its first season together, the Travesty Stars began breaking box-office records for the Fullers in every city they played. Much of the company's success can be put down to the partnership between Le Blanc and Mack, who together created Ike Cohen and Morris Levi, two Hebrew characters who nevertheless encapsulated the larrikin traits favoured by the contemporary Australian audiences who packed the theatres wherever they played.

The Bert Le Blanc Travesty Stars Revue Company toured constantly throughout Australia and New Zealand between 1915 and 1920, rivalling Nat Phillips's Stiffy and Mo company as the Fullers' most popular revusical company operating during the war years. Typical of the reviews of the company's shows around this time was a 1915 Australian Variety report on Central 3251 (later known as In Old Seville) at the Bijou Theatre, Melbourne. 'It scored immense throughout with the customers', wrote the critic. 'A bright, breezy combination of singing, dancing and gagging, it put the punch into the bill solid. Bert Le Blanc and Jake Mack have still a long vein of genuine humour, and they had the house any how with real laughs right through' (28 July 1915, p.13). Among his other popular shows staged between 1916 and 1920 were The Gay Mrs Cohen, At the Exposition, Keep It Dark, Then They Woke Up, Fuzzy Wuzzy, and In Watts (adapted from the earlier American Burlesque Company hit, The Grafters).

The level to which Le Blanc's popularity rose in Australia is demonstrated by the fact he appeared on the front cover of Australian Variety and Show World on four occasions during this period, once in 1916 and three times in 1917. He and his company also received considerable coverage both in major industry magazines (Australian Variety and the Theatre) and in metropolitan and regional newspapers throughout the country. Sir Benjamin and John Fuller also thought highly enough of Le Blanc that they engaged his troupe to open two theatres for them, an honour not even accorded Stiffy and Mo during their career. The first opening occurred on 2 June 1917 when the Fullers began operations at their newly built Majestic Theatre in Newtown (later known as the Elizabethan Theatre). The second occasion was on 8 March 1919, when they opened the newly refurbished National Amphitheatre, which was renamed the National, but became better known simply as the Fullers Theatre. Le Blanc's choice of production for the grand opening was one of his most popular revusicals, Do it Now (Theatre Magazine April 1919, p.27).

1918-1919: The company's movements throughout 1918 provide an insight into the schedule the company was required to maintain for the Fullers. The troupe (which by then included Lance Vane, brother of Jim Gerald; Lillian Colenzo; and Will Raynor) continued its Brisbane season (beginning late November 1917) up until the end of January. It then transferred to Melbourne, followed by engagements in Adelaide, Northern NSW (including Broken Hill), Kalgoorlie, Perth (under the management of Harry Sadler) and Fremantle. The troupe then returned through Kalgoorlie (including two nights in the suburb of Boulder), Adelaide, and Melbourne, and by early November was back in Brisbane, where it remained until late January 1919.

At the beginning of April 1919, barely three weeks after Le Blanc's company opened the Fullers' New Theatre, legislation was enacted by the New South Wales government to force the closure of public spaces such as theatres due to the impact of the Spanish influenza epidemic. Although the Fullers were able to quickly satisfy the new health requirements for theatre ventilation and thus reopened by mid-May, several members of the Travesty Stars were still in recovery. The Fullers' complex and tight circuit schedule also meant that the troupe was unable to return to the Fullers Theatre. Effectively in limbo for several weeks awaiting the start of the troupe's New Zealand tour, Le Blanc and Mack presented a well-received 'Yiddisher' comedy/singing/patter act at the Fullers Theatre for several weeks.

The Travesty Stars' New Zealand engagement lasted just under a year, a respectable tour by Fullers' standards to that time (by the mid 1920s, companies such as Stiffy and Mo, Jim Gerald, and George Wallace were able to extend their tours to around eighteen months). However, after completing the circuit, Le Blanc announced that he had disbanded the troupe, and returned to Australia with Jake Mack to work their vaudeville double act. The pair also temporarily left the Fullers organisation to work for Harry Clay at the Princess Theatre, and followed this engagement with a regional Queensland tour for Birch and Carroll (ca. May-July). Returning to Sydney by August, Le Blanc and Mack once again accepted an engagement on the Clay circuit, where it is believed they continued to perform throughout the remainder of the year.

1921-1923: In mid-October 1921, Le Blanc temporarily reformed the Travesty Stars, beginning with a six-week season at St Kilda's Lyric Theatre (Melbourne) under William Anderson's management. The company was billed for most of that time, however, under the name The Who's Who Costume Revue Entertainers. Most of the performers were contracted to provide first part entertainment along with the second part revue. For this season Le Blanc revived his most popular shows, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Then They Woke Up, What's the Use, The Gay Mrs Cohen, and In Old Seville, along with a new creation, High Life on Deck.

Sometime between August and October 1922, Le Blanc and Mack returned to America, where they are said to have obtained 'a big list of new revue scripts' that they intended to stage in Australia. After arriving back in Australia, the pair reformed the Travesty Revue Company with a 'specially selected supporting [ensemble] and a fine range of scenery and wardrobe' (Brisbane Courier 23 December 1922, p.16). The new troupe debuted with George Marlowe at the Grand Opera House (Sydney) on 7 October, before returning to the Fullers circuit at Christmas. Although details concerning the company's movements after their season in Adelaide (beginning ca. 23 December 1922) are unclear, it is believed that Le Blanc disbanded the troupe for the final time within twelve to eighteen months. He continued to tour the country over the next few years as a solo act for various managements and in 1924 was back on Fuller time. He later joined the George Ward Revue Company, touring with that troupe for several years as one of the lead comedians while also helping provide new revusicals, on which he collaborated with Ward.