Entrepreneur.
Born in Launceston, Percy Dix became a qualified chemist in Tasmania before moving to Melbourne, where he learnt the tea trade. In 1891, he travelled to New Zealand and set up a business in Auckland. Around 1895, Dix began to expand his interests into the entertainment industry, initiating Monday Popular Concerts in the city. Four years later, on 1 April 1899, he debuted Dix's Gaiety Company at the Auckland City Hall and soon afterwards began exploring opportunities in other New Zealand centres, including Wellington, and later Christchurch and Dunedin. Although he and John Fuller Snr soon went into direct competition, the market for quality variety entertainment was large enough for both organisations to initially prosper. In this respect, Dix found himself moving into larger venues and putting on ever-larger shows, including annual pantomimes. He also formed an alliance with Harry Rickards to bring over some of the Australian-based entrepreneur's stars.
By around 1902, Dix's New Zealand vaudeville empire began to struggle, as competition with the Fullers intensified. His decision to close down his operations in Dunedin was soon followed by the closure of his Christchurch theatre. In 1903, he decided not to renew his lease of the Auckland City Hall. By then, his only theatrical enterprise was the Theatre Royal, Wellington, where his Gaiety Company still continued to draw large audiences. The sheer weight of competition from the Fullers, however, led to Dix closing down his Wellington show on 4 August 1905. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Australia, where he went into partnership with Reuben Baker at the King's Hall, Newcastle. The pair formed the Dix-Baker vaudeville company and later took over a number of other theatres in the Hunter Valley region, including Newcastle's Victoria and Lyric theatres.
Following Percy Dix's death in 1917, Reuben Baker continued to run the company until the early 1920s.
