Theatrical manager, film producer, entrepreneur.
One of four brothers born to Patrick MacMahon, a contractor, and his wife Mary Ann (née Delany), Charles Macmahon's foray into professional theatrical management appears to have begun in 1880 when he and younger brother Joseph (ca. 1862-1918) established themselves as managers and agents in the Bendigo-Ballarat-Castlemaine area. In 1884, following the return to Australia of his older brother James (ca. 1858-1915) from a six year tour of the USA and United Kingdom as manager of a company headed by Mrs Scott Siddons, the brothers formed a partnership with actor-manager George Leitch and later Grattan Riggs before going into management and production on their own.
From 1896, Charles and Joseph extended their theatrical repertoire to include film exhibition. 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. Charles returned to producing in 1914, making what would be his last film, the feature-length travelogue, London by Day and Night. He died in 1917 of pneumonia (as had his brother James in 1915), leaving his estate of £585 to the actress May Granville who was widely accepted as his wife.
[For further details on Charles Macmahon's career see the Macmahon Brothers entry. See also Margaret Williams "Charles MacMahon, (1861?-1917)" in the Australian Dictionary of Biography]
