Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall 2002

[page 89]

Delyse Ryan

‘Two Hours Genuine Fun Without the Vulgarity’; As the Bishop Said to the Actress

Early in the twentieth century, as the professional theatre industry in Australia was beginning to decline in its popularity, religious organisations helped to make live performances available to the public, albeit on an amateur level. World War I was a particularly interesting time in this regard for the Australian city of Brisbane. Being a much smaller centre than its southern counterparts of Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane struggled to keep live performance on the professional stage. The financial viability of the industry was under threat, but the people of Brisbane were still able to enjoy theatrical evenings produced by amateur performers, and this type of activity was often sponsored and encouraged by religious organisations. This was the case in spite of some of the churches' beliefs that aspects of the theatre were less than savoury.

The morality of the stage had long been a nineteenth-century concern for Brisbane's religious leaders. As Richard Fotheringham has noted, public condemnation of the theatre for its immorality was the norm throughout the second half of the century.(1) By World War I, the views of religious leaders were far more accommodating of theatrical enterprises, and they made it acceptable for parishioners to take part in amateur theatrical events while the churches encouraged community participation in the arts for both social and financial reasons. The relationship between prominent religious personalities and the conduct of local professional theatre practitioners was not totally without ambiguities. The theatre continued to function under pressure from moral leaders within the Brisbane community as epitomised by the response of both the Anglican and the Catholic churches to particular incidents that occurred during the period.

The morality of the stage was a great concern for Brisbane at this time as is indicated in the reviews in the daily paper; it was not just the church leaders who were ready to criticise the [page 90] theatre for any perceived impropriety on stage. The Brisbane Courier frequently adopted a moralistic tone towards the content of plays produced in Brisbane. It often criticised productions, especially vaudeville performances, for including suggestive or improper references. For example, the Brisbane Courier reported that "a brilliant programme was presented inside the artistic and charmingly decorated main Tivoli Theatre on Saturday evening, but a little suggestiveness by some of the performers could have been omitted".(2)

The Brisbane Courier was not alone amongst the papers to be highly critical of the theatre when it was thought to be stretching the bounds of moral propriety. The national periodical, Australian Variety, focussed almost exclusively on vaudeville and variety performances around Australia. It took on the role of providing gossip columns for the industry and within these articles, it presented itself as the moral arbiter of actors' conduct. For example, the journal's Brisbane correspondent, "Al", warns that "a certain member of the theatrical profession is making things too warm here. As he is staying here for some time, he should put a 'stopper' on his conduct towards ladies, otherwise his name may be mentioned!"(3) The behaviour of male members of the profession in regard to their treatment of women is often the subject of comment in this column. For example, "two 'gentlemen' (please spare the word) connected with the theatrical profession here, have a very bad habit of using obscene language towards the lady members of the company. I do not wish to be personal, so trust that they will understand—and cut it out!"(4) Women, however, did not escape from the moral rectitude of Australian Variety. It once warned that "a certain young lady, connected with the vaudeville profession, would be well advised to consider her husband a little more, and to have less to do with dentists. This is just a word in time!"(5) This type of self-censorship of the industry shows that the attitudes of the church leaders were not really out of step with the wider Australian community of the day.

Suggestive or lewd comments by vaudevillians were habitually criticised in the newspapers but the Brisbane Courier's most violent denunciation of improper theatrical [page 91] behaviour was reserved for an article which outlined a sermon delivered at St. Stephen's Cathedral. In 1918, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, James Duhig,(6) vehemently condemned the salacious activities of theatre proprietors in a sermon provoked by the threat to public morality from an advertisement that was entitled "Wanted Girls", that was placed in the Brisbane Courier by the Empire Theatre. Duhig was an extremely powerful and influential figure in Brisbane's history; his term as Archbishop lasted from 1912 until 1965.(7) The advertisement to which his sermon referred appeared on 2 March 1918 and the Brisbane Courier printed Archbishop Duhig's sermon in a style which slipped seamlessly from direct quote to third person reporting on 4 March 1918. The advertisement's request for 'young ladies' to send a photograph of themselves in a bathing costume if they were interested in taking part in the ballet and chorus of the Easter pantomime enraged the prelate. He declared that "surely there was enough modesty amongst our women and chivalry amongst our men here in Brisbane to cause them to rise in united protest against the insult to womanly modesty implied in that advertisement!"(8) The Archbishop condemned the inappropriate conduct of the theatre which required women "to be subjected to the degradation of sending through the post for the inspection and scrutiny, approval or disapproval, of a probable employer their photographs, taken in the scanty covering afforded by a bathing costume".(9) Primarily, the Archbishop claimed, the theatre was wanting to exploit "the daughters of the poor" who were "so frequently endowed with physical beauty".(10) His righteous anger, and that of his 'coreligionists', was directed towards pressuring the government to prohibit such theatrical practices:

Duhig's sermon highlights that despite the Church's support for a certain type of theatrical performance, the bounds of propriety could not be breached. The Archbishop suggests that the Empire Theatre's management was lasciviously preying on young, innocent, working-class girls; this conclusion was reached because the advertisement was "surely not [aimed at] the daughters of wealthy parents for they had no need of tempting employment or the salary attached to it. It was particularly the daughters of the poor (so frequently endowed with physical beauty) that the advertisement was concerned with".(12) The Archbishop suggested that this type of decadent behaviour was reminiscent "of the slavery and female degradation of ancient times".(13) Duhig concluded his tirade against the Empire Theatre's management by threatening to deny communion to Catholic women who sent their photographs, stating that "no self-respecting Catholic girl would answer the advertisement in question, but should any be so weak as to do so he warned them that they would be denied the sacraments of the Church, and parents encouraging their daughters to reply to such advertisement would be treated likewise".(14) The reporter was quite sympathetic to the material presented by the Archbishop and it is explained that the sermon "was listened to with rapt attention, and murmurs of [page 93] indignation were quite audible as he disclosed the purpose of the advertisement".(15) The bias in the reporting of this event is clearly evident yet the fact that it was published at all indicates that theatrical enterprises had not completely shaken off their nineteenth-century reputation for promoting immorality amongst the residents of Brisbane

Barrington Waters from the Empire Theatre provided an equally scathing response to Duhig's attack in a letter to the editor on 5 March 1918. He criticises the Church's anachronistic ideologies regarding women and practically accuses the Archbishop of having "a mind distorted on the subject of sex".(16) Waters sympathises with the Archbishop and suggests that "he must necessarily adopt medieval views of the costuming and behaviour of women as taught by the Fathers of his Church in the Middle Ages".(17) The company's primary defence suggests that the procedure of sending a photograph would save potential candidates from the embarrassment of being scrutinised in person to see if their appearance would blend in with the professional actors "without attracting unfavourable comparison from the audience".(18) The real dilemma here would still be problematic amongst contemporary feminists. The advertisement may be read as suggesting a sexist approach to the display of the female body, but Duhig's extreme response in condemnation of the women who might have been tempted by the chance of being on stage, is perhaps even more draconian in its oppression of women because of the threat of excommunication from his Church.

Despite this tirade against the theatre, Duhig, along with other Church leaders, was in fact quite supportive of theatrical enterprises in Brisbane. By World War I, the interest in encouraging theatrical activity, in particular amongst the churches' youthful members, is apparent by the rise in the number of church groups from many denominations producing concerts in church and community halls. This may have been a self-interested strategy given that the money raised from such events usually went into the Church's coffers, but it also helped to foster a performance culture. This is not to suggest that the mainstream churches were totally happy [page 94] with the way in which theatre was run in Brisbane. There were a number of instances which provoked critical attention from the hierarchy of both the Anglican and Catholic Churches. Most of these problems arose out of the various churches' perceived notions of the appropriate representation of morality. Archbishop St. Clair Donaldson, the Church of England Archbishop of Brisbane from 1904 to 1921, drew his congregation's attention to the immorality of some stories performed on the stage. In a sermon to mark the opening of St. Andrew's church and hall at Indooroopilly, he said:

The offensive material to which he referred included plays and pictures which dealt with the white slave trade or with life in 'houses of ill-fame'. However, to contextualise this sermon, Archbishop Donaldson was in fact encouraging the hall to be used for performances, but he was warning the congregation of some of the evils associated with immoral productions. The corollary to this is that Donaldson was prepared to encourage theatrical performances among his parishioners as long as they were 'clean and healthy'. One way to control the morality of material presented on stage is to be involved in the production process. The churches, then, not only stood outside the boundaries and condemned the theatre but they also actively worked to [page 95] prevent salacious performances and production techniques by directing theatrical energies into acceptable outlets.

The churches would have been aware that the theatre in Brisbane during World War I served several important roles within the community apart from the obvious function of theatre as a diversion from the war. The theatre provided women with a socially respectable public pastime. It was used for 'patriotic' causes, it enabled charities to raise funds for the war-effort, it gave the opportunity for groups within the community to organise social outings, it served to unite cultural groups who were trying to maintain a unique cultural identity, and it allowed special interest groups such as religious organisations to present amateur theatrical events. All of these functions of the theatre would have met with the approval of the churches. An example of the type of patriotic amateur performance that was popular at the time, is a Concert held in the Exhibition Hall on 1 March 1916 which was in aid of the Soldiers' Church of England Help Society. The Brisbane Courier reported that "the large audience…had the satisfaction of knowing that while enjoying a capital entertainment it was supporting a deserving cause".(20) The program was described as being both 'topical' and 'patriotic' and it included such features as recitations of "Heroes of the Dardanelles" and "A Perfect Day", and Archbishop Donaldson contributed by making a speech in praise of the Help Society's efforts. By speaking at such an event, the Archbishop was tacitly affirming the role of 'patriotic' performances on stage.

The social role of the theatre was shifting in Brisbane during this period. It enjoyed a professional reputation during the nineteenth century that was rapidly changing throughout the early decades of the twentieth century. As an indication of the role that theatre played within the Brisbane community, an analysis of articles surrounding the Brisbane Courier's regular weekend column called "Music and Drama", shows that theatre was strongly connected with general items of social interest rather than being associated with other professional enterprises. The article was usually surrounded by photographs which featured golden wedding anniversaries, family portraits showing four generations, Sunday School groups, Church Choirs, and successful candidates for Trinity College music examinations. By being juxtapositioned beside this type of social activity it is possible to see that the Brisbane Courier considered the theatre's artistic role was subordinate to its social role. Theatre, both amateur [page 96] and professional, was seen in the same light as general matters of local community interest; it was little more than just another social event. Especially at an amateur level, the theatre provided opportunities for community members to socialise and demonstrate their united position towards the war-effort. The emphasis was on having fun and supporting 'our boys' at the Front rather than in sustaining a vibrant theatre culture.

Throughout the nineteenth century, and indeed continuing throughout World War I, the churches in Brisbane held the unique position of being both the defender of the benefits of theatre within the community and the moral arbiters of the professional theatre industry. The churches encouraged young people to participate in amateur performances in church halls around Brisbane. One prominent local shoe retailer named Vic Jensen had a long association with amateur theatricals in Brisbane. Vic Jensen's Cutting Book(21) which is housed in Brisbane's John Oxley Library, includes many programs for productions by the Holy Trinity Amateur Dramatic Club(22) held in the parish hall at Hawthorn Street, Woolloongabba, dating from late in the nineteenth century to early in the twentieth.(23) The program for an early Minstrel Entertainment presented by the Holy Trinity Boys' Debating Club gives an indication that providing a wholesome night's entertainment was high on the agenda for the group. The program was presented for two nights in 1893 and one in 1894 and it boasted that the audience would receive "Two Hours Genuine Fun Without the Vulgarity".(24) The churches must have seen the value of theatre as a means of occupying the time of their younger parishioners so that they could be kept in a 'wholesome' environment.

Delyse Ryan is a Lecturer in Drama at the McAuley Campus of Australian Catholic University in Brisbane. She is a theatre director and has extensively researched the social history of early theatre in Brisbane.