Percy St John and Ted Holland began their decade-long association in March 1905, when St John returned to Brisbane and took over the lease of the Theatre Royal from Harry Rickards. Holland had been presenting his New Vaudeville Entertainers at the Royal since December the previous year. During the six years that Holland leased the theatre, he established a virtual stranglehold on variety entertainment in Brisbane, with no other organisation able to undermine his operations.
While St John appears to have taken a backseat position in terms of his industry visibility, the relationship between the two men must have been satisfactory, as they eventually formalised a business partnership in 1910, leading up to the opening of their joint venture, The Empire Theatre.
When Ted Holland died unexpectedly in 1914 St John continued to operate it until his death a little over a year later. With both partners deceased, E. J. Carroll and his brother Dan temporarily looked after the theatre while arrangements were made with both men's families to have the company continue under new management. Holland and St John's leasing arrangement with the Fullers made the latter the obvious choice, and the transition went almost unnoticed. When the Holland and St John lease expired in early 1918, Fullers' Theatres took full control of the establishment, and it eventually came to be known as The Fullers' Empire Theatre.
[Source:
Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
