TOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS · PDF fileTOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NOTES See last page for citation, copyright and

TOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS

AUSTRALIAN VARIETY TH EATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NO TES

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(ca. 1854-1924) Singer (baritone), actor, theatre lessee, manager, advance agent (stage/film), entrepreneur.

The owner of Australia's last internationally-touring Lilliputian company, Melbourne-born Thomas John Liddiard initially pursued a similar career to his famous sister, opera singer Fannie Liddiard. Possibly starting out as early as the late-1870s he later toured with J.C. Williamson's Comic Opera Company, and found acclaim in Gilbert and Sullivan productions. After moving to India in the late-1880s he was associated with the Stanley Opera Company and later worked throughout the East as advance agent for D.H.R. Mores' Ripograph film exhibition venture, and with his own Bijou Entertainers, and Bijou Troubadours. Liddiard returned to Australia in 1904, leasing a theatre in Melbourne, before founding his Lilliputians in 1907 for a tour of the East. He bought the troupe back to Australia (1910-1912) and soon afterwards retired.

• Born and raised in the suburb of Fitzroy, Liddiard's mother and step-father were Jane and John Geise of Fitzroy (ca. 1823-1914). Fannie was also a step-child to John Geise. Another sibling, later known as Mrs Ernest Richardson, was their step-sister. It remains unclear if Tom and Fanny retained their real father's name or adopted Liddiard as a stage name.

• Liddiard died outside the Palace Hotel, Sydney on 30 May 1924 from a heart attack, aged 70.

• Fannie Liddiard had her greatest success in Australia in the 1890s and toured Great Britain before settling in India in the early 1900s. By then known as Fannie Warren, she played a major role in helping train her brother's Lilliputian company between 1907 and 1910. Liddiard/Warren died in Calcutta in 1931.

LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS

aka Liddiard's Lilliputian Opera Company

(1907-1912) Comprising children who came almost exclusively from owner/manager Tom Liddiard's home suburb of Fitzroy (Melbourne), Liddiard's Lilliputians was put together in September 1907 especially for a tour of the East. After arriving in Calcutta, India, the young performers, aged between eight and sixteen, underwent further training under the direction of Lilliard's sister, Fannie, herself a former high-profile opera singer (ex-J.C. Williamson's). Although often billed as an "opera company" the troupe's repertoire also comprised other theatrical forms and genres - notably burlesque, vaudeville and pantomime. After returning home in April 1910 the troupe undertook several regional tours, while also playing two Christmas pantomimes at William Anderson's King's Theatre, Melbourne. Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane also saw the company.

• Although publicity for the troupe's Australian tour invariably claimed that it had been in the East for five years, the actual length of time was only two-and-a-half years (ca. November 1907 to March 1910).

• The pantomimes staged by the troupe were The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (1909), and Little Red Riding Hood (1911).

• The children known to have been engaged were Little Coral, Lily Clarke (aka Little Lily ), Dorothea Liddle (aka Baby Liddle), Alma Twyford, Paul Jeacle, Nellie McGuire, Vera Bromley, Fred Heinze, Neal Connelly, Claude Chevely, Willie Howard, and Billy Maloney.

Truth (Sydney) 15 Sept. (1911), 5.

Argus (Melbourne) 19 Dec. (1910), 12.

• Liddiard likely ended the company in 1912 in response to increasing concerns about the welfare of child performers. This issue had been raised in 1910 in light of the Pollards' Lilliputian Company scandal, which saw Arthur Pollard charged in Calcutta with having had an affair with one of the older girls in his charge. The scandal led to the Australian government passing a law that same year which made it illegal for children under 14 to work professionally on the stage or to travel overseas without express permission. Exceptions were made for children of professional entertainers, however.

• NB: In November 1910, the Commonwealth Government passed a law forbidding the transport of children outside Australia for theatrical work. The passage of the bill mentioned Tom Pollard and his company, which effectively ended the Australian era of children's touring companies Arthur H. Pollard was charged with having an affair with one of the older girls. Although the new law allowed for some special exceptions, it significantly restricted the use of Australian children in overseas touring companies. The act also marked a significant Commonwealth intrusion into family welfare issues. The Pollard scandal was humiliating for the family, and especially the well-respected Tom Pollard who was forced to disband his Lilliputian Company shortly after the passage of the bill.

Punch (Melbourne) 15 Dec. (1910), 18.

Further Reference:

• India Dark by Kirsty Murray (Allen and Unwin, 2010) Based on the Arthur Pollard scandal, it includes mention of Liddiard's company. A publicity blurb notes: "A strong and vivid novel based on the fascinating true story of a group of young Australian performers - children aged from seven to seventeen - who toured Asia and India early in the twentieth century before mounting a strike against their manager and precipitating a sensational court case."

• The Komedi Bioscoop: The Emergence of Movie-Going in Colonial Indonesia 1896-1914 by Dafna Ruppin. New Barnett (Herts); John Libby, 2016.

64

65

1887

Melbourne Punch 8 Dec. (1887), 8.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174572999

1889

Table Talk (Melbourne) 22 Nov. (1889), 16.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/147280531/17642413

1890

Melbourne Punch 25 Sept. (1890), 9.





1899

Argus (Melbourne) 18 Dec. (1899),

1904

Punch (Melbourne) 9 June (1904), 28.


1907

Sydney Sportsman 31 Ju ly (1907), 3.


Punch (Melbourne) 12 Sept. (1907), 38


Sydney Sportsman 18 Sept. (1907), 3.


Punch (Melbourne) 7 Nov. (1907), 37.





1908

Truth (Perth) 7 Mar. (1908), 2.


Punch (Melbourne) 12 Mar. (1908), 34.


Punch (Melbourne) 2 Ju ly (1908), 38.

NB: No record of a sister by this name has yet been located.





1909

Sydney Sportsman 15 Sept. (1909), 3.




1910

"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 6 Jan. (1910), 30.


"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 17 Feb. (1910), 34.


"Touchstone." "Greenroom Gossip." Punch (Melbourne) 17 Mar. (1910), 38.








Table Talk (Melbourne) 15 Dec. (1910), 13.


Age (Melbourne) 27 Dec. (1910), 6.



Table Talk (Melbourne) 29 Dec. (1910), 27.






1911

Critic (Adelaide) 1 Feb. (1911), 12.

Critic (Adelaide) 11 Feb. (1911), 8.


Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 18 Feb. (1911), 7.


Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 18 Feb. (1911), 4.


National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 3 Apr. (1911), 2.






cont...

Sydney Sportsman 5 Apr. (1911), 3.


Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW) 8 Apr.

(1911), 4.


Cowra Free Press (NSW) 8 Apr. (1911), 9.


National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW) 8 Apr. (1911), 4.


Lithgow Mercury (NSW) 12 Apr. (1911), 2.







Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW) 21 Apr. (1911), 2.


Sydney Sportsman 9 Aug. (1911), 2.






Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate (NSW) 27 Oct.

(1911), 4.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75315239





http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75315239







1912

Sydney Sportsman 10 Jan. (1912), 3.


Age (Melbourne) 17 Jan. (1912), 10.


Brisbane Courier 24 Apr. (1912), 2.




http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/16125235

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/16125235

1914

Weekly Times (Melbourne) 7 Mar. (1914), 26.


1924

Argus (Melbourne) 31 May (1931), 5.

Age (Melbourne) 4 June (1924), 11.




Sunday Times (Perth) 15 June (1924), 30.


Age (Melbourne) 21 July (1924), 9.


Misc

Daily Mail (Brisbane) 2 Aug. (1921), 9.


Australian Variety Theatre Archive: Research Notes

Published by Clay Djubal: 28/05/2017

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TOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS · PDF fileTOM LIDDIARD / LIDDIARD'S LILLIPUTIANS AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NOTES See last page for citation, copyright and