AustLit

Variety ensemble.

In March 1919, John N. McCallum secured the services of Walter Johnson as the director for a new company that the entrepreneur planned for his forthcoming season at the Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane. Johnson, a specialist musical comedy/burlesque director and performer, had extensive experience in Britain and America, and had been in Australia for some time on a contract with Fullers' Theatres. After agreeing to terms, McCallum then sent Johnson back to America for three months to procure the latest musical entertainments, sketches, burlesques, and other novelties (Brisbane Courier 20 September 1919, p.12). McCallum later announced his plans for the coming season in the Theatre Magazine and revealed that, while the final ensemble was yet to be settled on, Johnson's plan was to secure a short season in the south prior to the company's Brisbane debut in August, in order that the performers and the repertoire were ready to step up to the high standards set by the Cremorne's previous companies (July 1919, p.23).

The Town Topics represented a marked change in direction by McCallum, in so far as it was a much bigger company and vastly more experienced in the areas of musical comedy, opera, and pantomime. This new direction, however, was only possible because of the extensive alterations to the Cremorne's stage, which had been carried out during the venue's winter closure. The new ensemble opened with the operatic extravaganza The Rajah of Dampoor (a spoof on Alfred Hill's 1916 comic opera The Rajah of Shivapore), and followed it with the musical comedy Castles in Corsica, thereby setting the Cremorne apart from its other Brisbane variety competitors in much the same way that Harry Rickards did in Melbourne and Sydney. McCallum and Johnson were not unaware, however, of the importance of establishing strong local connections, with many of the productions being written by members of the troupe and relating to local and topical issues. Such productions in the second half of 1919 included, for example Woolloongabba Grammar School and The Tragedy of the Beaudesert Express. That same Christmas, McCallum presented, for the first time, a Cremorne Christmas pantomime extravaganza, Robinson Crusoe, written by Elton Black and Fred Whaite.

It is believed that Walter Johnson departed from the company in early 1920 to rejoin the Fullers organisation as one of its revusical directors, and the troupe was subsequently billed as John N. McCallum's Town Topics. Several new faces were also engaged in 1920, with the most significant addition being comedian/singer/songwriter Billy Maloney. In collaboration with Fred Whaite, Maloney contributed a number of songs during his extended Brisbane engagement. These included 'Indooroopilly' (making reference to one of the city's suburbs), 'When the Prince of Wales Arrives in Town', and 'D.I.G.G.E.R.' The company also continued to mix up its entertainment, presenting burlesques, pantomimes, comic operas, revusicals, farces, and traditional vaudeville, and even at one time reviving the old minstrel show (5 June). Other new performers during the year included high-profile artists Fred Bluett, Nell Fleming, George Whitehead, Glenmore Jones, Sidney Jones, and Howard Hall. Among McCallum's feature productions during 1920 were the Eastern musical comedy The General and His Army (10 January), the short comic opera The Flower of China (3 April), and another Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, written and produced by Elton Black. The popularity of the entertainments being offered at the Cremorne led Australian Variety to suggest in its 10 September issue that 'the biggest show in Australia at the cheapest prices [was] being provided by Mr John N. McCallum' and that 'the Town Topics [were] not only popular - [but were also] a riot' (p.6).

The Brisbane Courier suggests in 1921 that the Town Topics company was the result of John N. McCallum's careful study of the art of entertaining. Comprising at that time twenty-one principal artists, a chorus/ballet of twelve, and an orchestra of a dozen musicians, the company introduced new programmes each week (21 May 1921, p.12). The extent of the company's experience and exceptional diversity can be shown by a report that notes that by 30 April that year, it had had a continuous run of eighty-eight weeks without repeating a single programme (Brisbane Courier 30 April 1921, p.12).

Among the variety of feature productions staged by the company during 1921 were the excerpts from such operas as Pagliacci (26 February - first act) and Carmen (26 March). McCallum also staged the hit London revue Bran Pie (4 March) in association with Hugh D. McIntosh; The Highwayman, a dramatic sketch by Mrs M. Forrest (25 June); Billy Maloney's Too Thin Chow, a spoof on Oscar Asche's Chu Chin Chow; Fred Bluett's burlesque All Square (11 July); the musical comedy revue What's Next? (6 August); and, from October, a number of productions starring British actress Beatrice Holloway and her husband Robert Grieg, including Baby Mine and George M. Cohan's Broadway Jones. The final production of the year was the Billy Maloney/Fred Whaite Christmas pantomime, The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.

The company continued its long run at the Cremorne well into 1922, with Robert Grieg initially taking over from Billy Maloney as director from late January onwards. Towards the end of the year, McCallum arranged for Harry G. Musgrove to send his Tivoli Frolics company to Brisbane to take over the Cremorne's entertainment. A year or so later, however, McCallum revived the Town Topics troupe in response to popular demand.