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y separately published work icon The Moods of Ginger Mick selected work   poetry   humour  
  • Author:agent C. J. Dennis http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/dennis-c-j-clarence-james
Issue Details: First known date: 1916... 1916 The Moods of Ginger Mick
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Exhibitions

18006670
18005672
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Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Ginger Mick Raymond Longford , Lottie Lyell , ( dir. Raymond Longford ) Australia : Southern Cross Feature Film Company , 1920 7574648 1920 single work film/TV

'[T]he truth, the pathos, and the humor of C. J. Dennis' great poems "The Moods of Ginger Mick" and "Doreen" are presented just as the author imagined it. The story of "Ginger Mick" is told in six reels, and follows the fortunes of "Ginger Mick" through his everyday life, his career as a soldier, and his final glorious ending on Gallipoli. The "Bloke" and "Doreen" also figure largely in the picture'.

Source:

'The Story of "Ginger Mick"', Western Champion, 10 June 1920, p.11.

Notes

  • Adapted for the 1920 film Ginger Mick directed by Raymond Longford. No copies of this film have survived.
  • Dennis had intended to include the poem 'The Battle of Wazzir' in the 1916 edition, however it was removed at the insistence of the censor.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:Angus and Robertson , 1916 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introductioni"Jist to intrajuice me cobber, an' 'is name is Ginger Mick-", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry (p. ix-xii)
Duck an' Fowli"Now when a bloke 'e cracks a bloke fer insults to a skirt,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour (p. 15-19)
Wari"'E sez to me, "Wot's orl this flamin' War?", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour (p. 23-26)
The Call of Stoush "Wot price ole Ginger Mick? 'E's done a break" 'Ginger Mick'i"Remember Ginger Mick? 'E's done a break -", The Sentimental Bloke , single work poetry humour (p. 31-35)
The Pushi"Becos a crook done in a prince, an' narked an Emperor,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour (p. 39-47)
"So, they've struck their streak o' trouble, an' they got it in the neck" Sari Bairi"On the day we hit the transport there was cheerin' on the pier,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry (p. 51-56)
Ginger's Cobberi""'E wears perjarmer soots an' cleans 'is teeth,"", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour war literature (p. 59-65)
The Singing Soldiersi""When I'm sittin' in me dug-out wiv me rifle on me knees,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry (p. 69-75)
In Spadger's Lanei"Ole Mother Moon 'oo yanks 'er beamin' dile", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour (p. 79-83)
The Straight Griffin Ginger Mick's Straight Griffeni""'Eroes? Orright. You 'ave it 'ow yeh like.", The Sentimental Bloke , single work poetry humour (p. 87-91)
"I'ave written Mick a letter in reply to one uv 'is," A Letter to the Fronti"I suppose you sometimes dream, BILL, in between the scraps out there,", Den , single work poetry (p. 95-102)
Rabbitsi""Ar! Gimme fights wiv foeman I kin see,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry humour (p. 103-110)
To the Boys Who Took the Counti"See, I'm writing to Mick as a bloke to a bloke,", The Sentimental Bloke , single work poetry (p. 113-117)
The Gamei""Ho! the sky's as blue as blazes an' the sun is shinin' bright,", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry (p. 121-126)
A Gallant Gentlemani"A month ago the world grew fer me;", C. J. Dennis , single work poetry (p. 129-135)
VIEW ENTIRE CONTENTS ( works)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson , 1916 .
      Printed by W. C. Penfold
      Link: 8492598Full text document AustLit Full Text
      Extent: 143 p., [15] leaves of plates (some col.)p.
      Description: col. illus.
      Reprinted: 1917 , 1918 , 1919 , 1920
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: 'To the boys who took the count'
      • Includes Glossary [of slang terms]: pp139-159.
      • 'The Author desires to acknowledge the previous publication in The Bulletin, Sydney, of numbers III., V., Vi., VII., VIII., IX., X., and XII., herein printed. The remaining verses are now published for the first time.' - t.p. verso
      • Frontispiece and title page illustration by Hal Gye.
      • Digitised by AustLit in cooperation with SETIS, 2003.
      Series: y separately published work icon Pocket Editions for the Trenches Angus and Robertson (publisher), 1916-1918 Z1309361 1916 series - publisher

      Published by Angus and Robertson in during the First World War, these small-format editions (14.5cm X 11.5cm.) were designed to fit the tunic pockets of the Anzacs. Each volume was published with a full colour dustjacket, frontispiece and title page vignette. 'Into their presentation was poured much love and care and, despite the necessary wartime frugality which generally restricted the use of all but monotone printing, the work of three outstanding illustrators was commissioned to be reproduced in full colour. Most of those illustrated editions left the country never to return and so copies are ... rare... It is interesting to speculate the effect these illustrations may have had on the troops - Norman Lindsay's dusty droving and homestead scenes, Lionel Lindsay's magnificent wild brumbies and his grandfatherly Saltbush surrounded by "little rouseabouts", Hal Gye's soldiers from an earlier conflict, ramrod straight on sentry duty or in the saddle' (Publishers note, Collected Verse of A. B. Paterson,1982, p.vii-viii).

      In 2018, HarperCollins republished the series (under the imprint Angus and Robertson) to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
    • Toronto, Ontario,
      c
      Canada,
      c
      Americas,      :       New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,      :       C. B. Gundy ; John Lane ,       1917 .
      Extent: 150p.p.
      Reprinted: 1918
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Complete Sentimental Bloke Neil James (editor), C. J. Dennis , Pymble : Angus and Robertson , 2001 Z1378117 2001 selected work poetry Brings together all C. J. Dennis' books using his 'Sentimental Bloke' characters. Pymble : Angus and Robertson , 2001
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Sydney University Press , 2009 .
      Extent: ix, 87p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by Philip Butterss.
      • Includes: Glossary (p 67) Bibliography (p 87)
      ISBN: 9781920898984
      Series: y separately published work icon Australian Classics Library Bruce Bennett (editor), Robert Dixon (editor), Sydney University Press (publisher), Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2009- Z1613164 2009 series - publisher novel poetry short story

      The Australian Classics Library series is intended 'to make classic texts of Australian literature more widely available for the secondary school and undergraduate university classroom, and to the general reader. The series is co-edited by Emeritus Professor Bruce Bennett of the University of New South Wales and Professor Robert Dixon, Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, in conjunction with SETIS, Sydney University Press, AustLit and the Copyright Agency Limited. Each text is accompanied by a fresh scholarly introduction and a basic editorial apparatus drawn from the resources of AustLit.'

      Source: Sydney University Press website, http://www.sup.usyd.edu.au/
      Sighted: 11/08/2009
    • Sydney South, South Sydney area, Sydney Southern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Angus and Robertson , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 3574972078178874518.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 164p.p.
      Edition info: Facsimile of the 1916 ed.
      Note/s:

      • Published 4 April 2018.

      ISBN: 9781460756010, 1460756010
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke C. J. Dennis , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1915 Z429076 1915 selected work poetry humour
— Appears in: The Complete Sentimental Bloke 2001;

Arguably the most popular book of poetry ever produced in Australia, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was first published in October 1915. Its success was immediate and unprecedented for a book of Australian verse. The first edition of 2,480 copies sold out within weeks, and by the end of February 1916 the book had reached a fifth impression and was still selling well. Tongue firmly in cheek, C. J. Dennis informed his publishers Angus and Robertson that the work's 'success [was] becoming monotonous'. There was more monotony to come, however: the book sold more than 100,000 copies in the first five years after its publication, and was rarely out of print in Dennis's lifetime. Added to this, there were film, stage, and musical versions of the work, as well as recitals given by popular entertainers. In many respects, 'The Sentimental Bloke' became a phenomenon of popular culture that took on a life of its own.

Dennis later claimed that the idea for 'The Sentimental Bloke' came from a 'racy' young man from Melbourne he had met in Toolangi. According to Dennis' wife Margaret Herron, the young man had fallen in love with a farmer's daughter, but the farmer disapproved and forbade her from having anything to do with him. The Melbourne man was said to have complained to Dennis, 'what sort of bloke do they think I am? Blimey, anyone would think I was a crook! Ain't a bloke got sisters of his own?' In Dennis's imagination, this frustrated love affair eventually became a story in which a tough, streetwise young larrikin gives up his dissolute ways for domestic happiness with his sweetheart. A crucial factor in the success of Dennis's 'Sentimental Bloke' verse was that it was narrated from the point of view of 'the Bloke', employing a slang idiom appropriate to the character. In his correspondence with his publishers, Dennis noted that 'the stuff, while not having any considerable literary merit, is, I believe, extremely popular'.
Rose of Spadgers : A Sequel to "Ginger Mick" C. J. Dennis , Sydney : Cornstalk Publishing , 1924 Z507585 1924 selected work poetry humour
— Appears in: The Complete Sentimental Bloke 2001;
Armistice i "I'm sittin' 'ere, Mick -- sittin' 'ere today,", C. J. Dennis , 1927 single work poetry
— Appears in: The Herald , 11 November no. 15751 1927; (p. 4) The C.J. Dennis Collection : From his 'Forgotten' Writings 1987; (p. 120)
Ginger Mick at Gallipoli Petty Traffikers , 2006 single work drama humour 'Ginger Mick at Gallipoli' is a four-man song-and dance act and is an original dramatisation of C.J. Dennis's, Moods of Ginger Mick, which was written during the early years of World War One.
VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (4)

Works about this Work

Desert Worlds Richard Nile , 2019 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 79 no. 1 2019; (p. 84-105) 'In late 1914, twenty thousand mostly young Australian men ventured forth from the driest inhabited continent on earth to cross the ocean in a convoy spread over twenty-five kilometres in length and measuring twenty kilometres in width. The greatest mass exodus from the Antipodes which included a further ten thousand New Zealanders, this was the first and largest of many similar voyages over the next four years. The Australians might have considered themselves to be desert people. “The sand has his own / Wave and motion,” wrote S. Musgrove in “Australia Deserta” in the first issue of Southerly in 1939, “Rages the bed / Of the stony ocean” (14). Yet they preferred to identify as colonial sons returning to the motherland of pastoral England before heading to war. Of their own place, “They call her a young country but they lie,” wrote A. D. Hope in his much debated poem “Australia” which he began writing around the time of the publication of the inaugural issue—and to which he contributed an essay—“She is the last of lands, the emptiest, / ... the womb within is dry” (Hope).' 

 (Introduction)
A West End Celebrity Proselytises the Bonds of Empire : Seymour Hicks and Bruce Bairnsfather's 'Old Bill' in 1920s Australia Veronica Kelly , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , May no. 74 2019; (p. 64-97) '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.'

 (Publication abstract)
Writing the Anzac Legend : The Moods of Ginger Mick Philip Butterss , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 75 no. 3 2016; (p. 49-62) 'When C. J. Dennis's The Moods of Ginger Mick was launched in October 1916, one reader expressed anger about the ending. Writing facetiously on behalf of Melbourne's larrikins, this contributor to the Bulletin called it a 'rotten pome' and said - in a blunt piece of literary criticism - that he would like to punch the poet in the jaw. Actually, Dennis had thought very hard about how to finish his book, and there is no question that he found the most fitting ending, both for his own time and for later generations.' (Introduction, 49)
Dreaming Verse : C.J. Dennis and the Anzac Tradition J.H. Crone , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 74 no. 3 2014; (p. 158-180)
'An Entertaining Young Genius' : C.J. Dennis and Adelaide Philip Butterss , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Adelaide : A Literary City 2014; (p. 77-93)
Untitled 1916 single work review
— Appears in: The Queenslander , 4 November 1916; (p. 3)
— Review of The Moods of Ginger Mick C. J. Dennis , 1916 selected work poetry
Untitled 1916 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 19 October vol. 37 no. 1914 1916; (p. 2)
— Review of The Moods of Ginger Mick C. J. Dennis , 1916 selected work poetry
Ginger Mick 1916 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Town and Country Journal , 25 October 1916; (p. 50)
— Review of The Moods of Ginger Mick C. J. Dennis , 1916 selected work poetry
Poetry in Motion Michael Dwyer , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 23 May 2006; (p. 14)
The Australian Larrikin: C. J. Dennis's [Un]sentimental Bloke Karenlee Thompson , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , December vol. 21 no. 2 2007; (p. 177-183) The author examines the nature of the Australian Larrikin, with its apparent inherent violence, against the background of the race riots which occurred in Cronulla, NSW in December 2005.
We Will Remember Them Ian F. McLaren , 1982 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Talking About C.J. Dennis 1982; (p. 71-76)
Selected Works of C. J. Dennis : Introduction Barry Watts , 1988 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: Selected Works of C. J. Dennis 1988; (p. 1-17) Watts gives a substantial account of Dennis's life and work. Watts describes the success and failures of Dennis's verse, paying particular attention to the publishing strategies of George Robertson. The ever-changing tastes of the book-buying public played a significant part in the success and failures of Dennis's books and the poet's poor financial management ensured that he could afford to concentrate solely on his verse for only a short period of his life.
The Anzac Tradition Ken Inglis , 1965 single work criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin Quarterly , March vol. 24 no. 1 1965; (p. 25-44) On Native Grounds : Australian Writing from Meanjin Quarterly 1967; (p. 205-221)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (15)
Last amended 4 Apr 2018 09:08:04
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