- Tivoli circuit
The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian entertainment circuit which flourished from 1893 and the 1950s. The circuit suffered a catastrophic decline in popularity after the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, and the last Tivoli show was staged in 1966.
History
The circuit was established by English
music hall comedianHarry Rickards in 1893, following the success of his "New Tivoli Minstrel and Grand Specialty Company" who performed at the old Opera House in Sydney in 1892. By 1909 Rickards had 532 people on the payroll.The Circuit was taken over after Rickards' death in 1911 by a succession of managements The first was
Hugh D. Mclntosh (in 1912), who purchased the circuit for £100,000. After success with large-scale stage productions such as Chu Chin Chow he sold the Tivoli circuit toHarry G. Musgrove in 1921. It was subsequently acquired byJ.C. Williamson's Tivoli Vaudeville Pty Ltd in 1924, then byMike Connors andQueenie Paul (in theGreat Depression years), Musgrove Theatres again in 1934 under Frank Neil and Wallace Parnell and, from 1944, David N. Martin, Managing Director of Tivoli Circuit of Australia.The Tivoli was the major outlet for
variety theatre andvaudeville in Australia for over 70 years. The circuit grew to include Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth by the turn of the century, promoting both local and international musical, variety and comedy acts. It featured a broad spectrum ofvaudeville acts including dancers, acrobats, comedians and ventriloquists and the Tivoli was famous for its scantily-cladchorus girls , who were colloquially known as "Tivoli tappers ".ee also
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Roy Rene References and External Links
Bentley, Paul (1999)
"Australian Culture 1789-2000"
[http://www.twf.org.au/research/culturec.html http://www.twf.org.au/research/culturec.html]ABC website
"Fool's Paradise - Comedy" [http://fools.abc.net.au/essay/melbourne.htm http://fools.abc.net.au/essay/melbourne.htm]ketupa.net"Denison, Sun and Associated Newspapers" [http://www.ketupa.net/associated.htm http://www.ketupa.net/associated.htm]
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