Pre-publication publicity indicated that 'The new journal will keep pace with the Dramatic, Photoplay, and Social events as they occur, which is, of course, impossible in a magazine which appears only once a month... Every phase of the Refinement and Joy of Life will be attended to, and, in addition, there will be a number of pages devoted to the edification and education of the rising generation, the future Men and Women of Australia.' It published a mix of articles and columns of gossip and anecdote, interviews, listings and critiques of performances, a serial, short stories, fashion news, recipes, and household hints.
In July 1927, it carried an editorial, 'The Theatre Crisis', dealing with competition from music hall and cinema. This lament was followed two months later by the query 'Is Sydney a Philistine City?', after the failure of 'three very beautiful and charming plays' revealed the city's 'shocking lack of good taste and failure to appreciate the beautiful', a lack shared by other world capitals, which had all succumbed to the attractions of cinema and music hall. The following issue (October 1927) announced its demise, brought about because of the take-over of theatre and cinema by 'powerful trusts and combines, which have monopolised the theatres, and the picture palaces, and, having eliminated competition, are indifferent as to what theatres people attend'. It claimed a fatal loss of advertising revenue from cinema interests because of its encouragement of the production of Australian and Empire films.
Theatre, Society and Home
Wallace Nelson
(editor),
1924
Sydney
:
Shipping Publishing Co.
,
1924-1926
Z1212227
1924
periodical
(8 issues)
The new magazine continued with the same publisher and editor as the earlier Theatre Magazine. It explained its changes in terms of longevity and the need to remain abreast of the times. 'We are the oldest theatrical publication in Australia (we shall shortly enter our twenty-fifth year) and in these days of competition we do not want the old-timers to accuse us of inferiority beside the younger and more modern publications.' Its format changed slightly, dividing its contents into Special articles, Special features (mostly local, interstate and international gossip and notes), Reviews, Society and home (including recipes), Pictorial features (of shows and films), and Sundries. It provided those readers wanting to emulate stage and screen stars with hints on fashion and home decoration. It also appealed directly to those working in the theatrical and musical professions, with hints from behind the scenes and pars about parties and movements. Advertorials began to appear.
After a year and a half, it published its swan song, promising 'an immediate and brilliant resurrection in the bright, beautifully printed and illustrated pages of Just It', a new weekly. At this point, it claimed a life-span of twenty-two years, and rightly proposed that 'When the time comes for the historian to sit down and write a history of the Australian stage, he will find his path made easy from 1905 to date, by reason of the files of Theatre, Society and Home'.
