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- Title
A WEST END CELEBRITY PROSELYTISES THE BONDS OF EMPIRE: SEYMOUR HICKS AND BRUCE BAIRNSFATHER'S OLD BILL IN 1920S AUSTRALIA.
- Authors
KELLY, VERONICA
- Abstract
In 1924 the prominent and influential British West End actor-writer-producer Seymour Hicks and his wife Ellaline Terriss toured in Australia in their hits The Man in Dress Clothes and Broadway Jones. More significantly, Hicks undertook the dual roles of actor and imperial advocate for class reconciliation in the context of Australia's post-war industrial unrest. As such, he is neither the first nor last British actor to combine theatrical popularity with cultural diplomacy. His most significant Australian production is the comedy-drama Old Bill, MP (premiered London 1922), based on the graphic artist Bruce Bairnsfather's popular wartime figure of the stoic infantry-man. I compare Old Bill, MP with the stage and screen hits featuring similar Australian military figures of working-class resilience and leadership: C.J. Dennis's Ginger Mick and Ken Hall's 1940 film of Steele Rudd's Dad Rudd, MP.
- Subjects
PROSELYTIZING; HICKS, Seymour; CULTURAL diplomacy; WORKING class; PSYCHOLOGICAL resilience
- Publication
Australasian Drama Studies, 2019, Issue 74, p64
- ISSN
0810-4123
- Publication type
Article