Comic, endman, monologist.
Sydney comedian Sam Rowley carved out a career of more than thirty years on the American variety stage. He first established himself at
Frank Smith's
Alhambra Music Hall (Sydney) during the late 1880s/early 1890s before travelling to the USA. He returned to Australia a few years later and was briefly engaged by the Court Variety and Ballad Company in 1895 and later starred alongside
W. Horace Bent, the Leopold Brothers and W.A. Ball at Lawler's Sydney Music Hall. Over the next 18 years Rowley alternated between America and Australia on a regular basis. His Australian engagements during this period were with such organisations as
Harry Rickards,
Percy St John, Jones and Lawrence and the
Fullers.
[Source:
Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
