Theatrical managers, film producers, entrepreneurs.
The Macmahon Brothers partnership comprised three of four sons born to Patrick MacMahon, a contractor, and his wife Mary Ann (née Delany) - James (ca. 1858-1915) Charles (1861-1917) and Joseph (ca. 1862-1918). The first to set out on an entrepreneurial career was James, who in 1875, aged just 17, took up the lease of the Bendigo skating rink and began operating as a theatrical agent in the Bendigo-Ballarat-Castlemaine area. A few years later he secured the position of manager for Mrs Scott Siddons company, which saw him tour overseas for some six years (including the USA and Great Britain). After he left Charles also established himself as an agent and manager in the region, with Jopseph joining him in their business at some stage during the early 1880s
In 1884, following James Macmahon's return to Australia the three brothers formed a management partnership with actor-manager George Leitch that lasted around 1890 and included touring dramatic productions through Australia and New Zealand. Between 1882 and the early 1890s they also formed an association with actor Grattan Riggs, in addition to managing and producing tours by such artists as John F. Sheridan, Nellie Stewart, Dion Boucicault, George Darrell, Alfred Dampier, the Majeronis and Wybert Reeve. While James oversaw the general running of the firm, Charles and Joseph travelled with the companies. The brothers did not confine themselves to only theatre, however. One of the numerous overseas celebrities brought to Australia for theatrical tours was, for example, American boxer, John L. Sullivan. They also made several trips to the United States in search of 'novelties'. In 1890, for example, the Macmahons' presented Edison's phonograph to Australian audiences, and in 1899 exhibited a new model at the Sydney Tivoli. Other novelties included an electric weighing machine (1891) and a touring demonstration of the 'kinetoscope' (1895). Sometime around 1886/87 they also opened the Salon Cinématographe in Pitt Street, Sydney, where they introduced the latest film projector and its special colour effects.
From 1896, Charles and Joseph extended their theatrical repertoire to include film exhibition. Even then the feature melodrama productions were preceded by a selection of films. In 1907, having set up MacMahon's Exquisite Pictures, Charles produced, and wrote the screenplay for one of the country's first feature film, Robbery Under Arms. The following year they went into partnership with E. J. Carroll and Messrs. Gunn, Osborne and Jerdan to adapt another Australian classic for the screen, this being For the Term of His Natural Life (1908). Charles also co-produced the documentary film, The Squires-Burns Fight in 1908.
By 1910 the MacMahons had begun concentrating their entrepreneurial energies on film exhibition and distribution in Australia and New Zealand, setting up the Dominion Picture Theatres Co. in New Zealand. In 1914 Charles return briefly to producing, overseeing the production of the feature-length travelogue, London by Day and Night.
