Cirrus@Austlit

The public's interest in these Oriental musical scenas is evident in the large number of them staged around Australia during the late 1910s and early 1920s. For example, in Brisbane, John N. McCallum's Dandies company staged In China Town in 1917 at the Cremorne (ca. 14 April), while McCallum's Courtiers company also presented a similar version of the same 'fascinating Chinese Scene' at the Cremorne in early September of the same year. A month later, In Yokohama was staged by the Walter George's Smart Set Company (12 October) at the Palace Gardens. Other Oriental-influenced scenas staged in Brisbane during 1918 include In Sunny Japan (Smart Set, 11 January), several unnamed productions (1 February and 8 March), In Fair Japan (26 September), and My Little Chinee Girl in China (28 November). Productions from 1919 included Huxham's Serenaders' The Fan Tan Man (10 January)

It is unclear if a relationship exists between Asia Minor and either any of the above scenas or several other Oriental productions known to have been staged by Australian companies around this period, notably the 1915 version of In Sunny Japan (Edward Branscombe's Dandies, 1915) and two revusicals by Elton Black: Oh Yokohama and In Tokyo (both first staged in 1916). Delyse Ryan ('Brisbane Theatre During World War I') has suggested that with set pieces available from previous productions, it is likely that a deliberating factor in staging similar scenas at Brisbane's Cremorne Theatre, for example, was the reduction in costs through the re-use of these materials (p.143). Whether the narratives were the same is uncertain. It is also possible that some scenic art materials could have been sold at a later date to other organisations, theatrical or otherwise. The Glideway Skating Rink (Melbourne Street), for example, presented a 'tremendous scenic production' titled In Sunny Japan for its patrons in early August 1916 (ctd. Brisbane Courier 5 August 1916, p.2).