Songwriter, singer, revusical and pantomime actor, writer.
Billed throughout his career as 'the man who sings his own songs', Vince Courtney was one of the leading young variety songwriters to emerge in Australia during the First World War. Courtney often performed with his wife Eva. Both artists were engaged by most of the leading companies of the era, including the Fullers and Harry Clay. For several years, Courtney was a key member of the Stiffy and Mo company, and contributed songs to several Nat Phillips's pantomimes, including The Bunyip (1916). Many of his songs were also written for other leading variety performers.
Vince Courtney's earliest established stage appearance was in 1915, when he was engaged as a member of Arthur Morley's Revue Company. However, it appears that he was by then already an established performer and songwriter. In support of this is the fact that he had been considered by the editors of Australian Variety as a suitable contributor for the publication's special Christmas edition that year, an opportunity that would not have been offered a newcomer to the industry. Several reviews and advertisements during the year suggest, too, that he had been attracting considerable attention with his songs. One critic, for example, described Courtney's song 'Our Flag Shall Never Come Down' as 'about the best of its kind now on the halls, and [that] if published ought to bring in good profits for the composer' (10 February 1915, n. pag.).
In 1916, Courtney appeared in the picnic scene of the play Factory 'Ands, while at the same time continuing to extend his popularity as a vaudeville artist. His turns around this period generally involved two or three of his own songs and a recitation. One of his most popular numbers was 'Pop Goes the Kaiser'. By this stage, Courtney was being engaged by several of Sydney's leading B-circuit managers, including Harry Clay. He is known to have appeared, for instance, in the Clay-produced revusical A Night in Paris (ca. November), along with his wife Eva. The Theatre notes in relation to one of his performances for Clay that 'Mr Courtney - in the first half, and again in the second - sang patriotic songs of his own composition, clearly and nicely. His first number had a fine swing in it; and in the second half he spiritedly defended "Me Brother Wot Stayed at Home" - the point being that family obligations, in many cases, prevented some of the sons from going to the front' (March 1916, p.45). The lyrics to this were later printed in Australian Variety (29 December 1916, n. pag.).
Courtney's rising profile also led in turn to him being offered a role in the Fuller's 1916 pantomime The Bunyip, for which he contributed two original songs: 'The Corroboree Rag' (sung by Peter Brooks) and 'My Chinee Girl' (aka 'My Little Chinee Girl'). The two latter numbers were performed by Courtney himself. (Both songs were published by W. J. Deane, as were most of his compositions.) Courtney portrayed the character Ah Fat in the pantomime. The year 1916 also saw Courtney invited into The Chasers, a theatrical social gathering instigated by associates of Australian Variety. Those known to have associated with the group over the course of its life included high-profile variety theatre industry professionals such as Martin C. Brennan and Andy Kerr (Australian Variety editor and manager respectively), Charlie Vaude, Fred Bluett, Jack Kearns, and Harry Clay. Not long after joining, Courtney began contributing articles to Australian Variety under the title 'With the Chasers'. Many of the pieces were written in verse. He was also for a time a spokesman for Hean's Tonic Nerve Nuts, appearing in the company's advertisements around 1916-17. Courtney's popularity as a song writer naturally led to him being commissioned to write for other performers. Some of the higher profile performers who utilised his talent during their careers were Nellie Kolle, 'Come Back and Mend Your Broken Doll', ca. 1917), Dan Thomas, the Phillip Sisters, Billy Watson, Ted Stanley, and Tom Dawson.
Although a noted performer in his own right, Courtney was often accompanied on stage by his wife, who is believed to have begun working with him from at least around 1915. By the end of 1919, the Courtneys had been performing in revue and pantomime for the Fuller's organisation for three years, with much of this time involving tours throughout Australia and New Zealand as part of Nat Phillips's Stiffy and Mo company. During those three years, Courtney contributed a number of songs to the Fuller pantomimes, including 'My Home' (Babes in the Woods, 1918); 'The Silver in my Mother's Hair' and 'Mexico' (Cinderella, 1919); and 'That Little Home Among the Hills' (Bluebeard, 1920). Reviews of the Cinderella production propose that his songs were among the musical highlights of the evening. Indeed, in commenting on Courtney's role as Pickles in that pantomime, a Theatre critic writes, 'He has earned a unique position for himself in the Fuller's pantos - that of appearing from year to year largely for the purpose of being heard in a number of his own compositions' (January 1920, p.23). In March 1920, the Courtneys made a long-awaited return to vaudeville for the Fullers, performing all their hits to that date, including Courtney's pantomime songs. An Australian Variety critic made the observation that Courtney was 'the best-selling songwriter in Australia [and that] his melodies are good and the words catchy' (19 Nov. 1920, p.5). This claim is supported by an Everyone's article on Courtney published in 1921. 'Vince Courtney', the reviewer writes, 'has written more best-sellers than any other writer in Australia' (14 September 1921, p.15).
In 1924, Courtney contributed some songs to Charlie Vaude's revusical Cranking Up, while also taking on a principal role in the show. By the the end of the year, he was once again back on the Clay circuit. In September of the following year, he and Eva returned to the Fullers, where they presented themselves in 'a song, dance and story offering dressed a la fashion-plate'. According to the Theatre's vaudeville critic, 'a feature of the act was that the couple used their own material, for Vince is a past-master at writing anything from pantomime to a gag. The turn will improve with time, and become one of the best on the Fuller circuit' (October 1925, p.14). By December that year, Courtney was again called on to play Ah Fat in the Fuller's Christmas revival of The Bunyip at the Hippodrome (Sydney). In this production, he revived Nat Phillips's song 'Grey Hair, Grey Eyes', which he'd originated in the 1916 production.
