GEORGE WALLACE - Australian Variety Theatre Archive

1929-1939
By 1929, Wallace's troupe included such well-known variety performers as Jim Romaine (ex-Drew and Romaine) and husbandand-wife
comedy sketch artists Bert Dudley and Evelyn Dudley. There appears to have been no reduction in interest in the
company, despite the rising popularity of film. Reports indicate, for example, that their New Zealand tour of 1929 was still pulling
capacity crowds fifteen weeks after it commenced. Shortly after concluding a fifteen-week season at the Melbourne Tivoli in early
1930 (possibly his first non-Fullers' engagement since joining the firm in 1924), Wallace undertook a tour of the west, playing
Adelaide, Perth and the West Australian goldfields through until possibly January 1931. He then travelled to England for a
month's holiday before opening a season on the London variety stage, reportedly on a contract of £150 a week (E: 2 Apr. 1930,
41). The shows were staged with two or three members of his Australian troupe, while the rest of the ensemble comprised
performers engaged in London. However, without the support of his regular company, and with a comic delivery that may well
have been too casual for the British, Wallace failed to ignite enough interest to remain there for very long. A bitterly cold winter
forced his hand and he returned to Australia soon afterwards. In retrospect, it was an important decision, because the 1930s saw
his career branch out successfully into film and full-scale musical comedy.
Wallace's film career began in 1932, when Frank Thring signed him to Efftee Films and produce and adapt one of his most
popular revusicals, His Royal Highness. Despite Thring's heavy-handed direction, the film became a critical and commercial
success around the country. In reviewing the Queensland premiere, the Brisbane Courier's film critic typified the critical response
to Wallace's performance:
His Royal Highness is aptly described as a comedy with music as distinct from a musical comedy. The comedy is there in full
measure, and although the few musical numbers introduced are tuneful they are not the essential features. The fun is almost
exclusively created by George Wallace... [his] facility of expression and his whimsical drolleries, as well as clever dancing,
eminently lend themselves to the screen work (3 Oct. 1932, 15).
While agreeing that Wallace dominated the film (and that his comic talent was unquestioned), the Age's film critic suggested that
such a dominance was part of the overall weakness of the film, as were the frequent shots in which parts of the performers' heads
were lost from view (31 Oct. 1932, 8).
In between his film commitments, Wallace continued to take on stage work. In 1933, for example, he accepted a cameo role in the
stage musical Collits' Inn, while also contributing additional material to the libretto (including some lyrics). Although his
performance as Dandy Dick was roundly applauded by audiences, at least one critic found his antics inappropriate at times and
suggested that he would be more effective if he kept within his part (TBT: 28 Dec. 1933, 14). Wallace's long-time onstage partner,
Marshall Crosby, was also engaged for the production (taking on the role of Pierce Collits, owner of the inn and father of the
heroine, Mary). Comedian/actor John V. Dobbie, who later starred opposite Wallace in several of his films, was also in the cast.
The second of Wallace's films, Harmony Row, was released in 1933, attracting similar plaudits to the first. Costing £11,000
pounds, it also co-starred several members of his old revusical troupe, notably Marshall Crosby and Nell Fleming, along with
well-known ex-pantomime dame Dan Thomas.
Courier Mail 18 Aug. (1939), 21.
In 1934, Wallace again returned to the stage, appearing as one of the
principals in the Dudley Glass musical The Beloved Vagabond. Following
the Australian debut in Melbourne, the Argus theatre critic wrote of
Wallace's performance: "[His] Asticot is an amusing fellow - a curious
blending of Australia and Montmartre, if such a fusion is comprehensible. He
is adapting himself quickly and successfully to the requirements of the
musical comedy stage, which is of course very difficult from the variety
stage. His best number is 'Napoleon the Oneth'" (23 Apr. 1934, 12). The Age
critic similarly notes the incongruous nature of Wallace's acting and the
brilliance of his burlesque work in the Napoleon scene (16 Apr. 1934, 12).
The Sydney season, staged later in August, saw the Sydney Morning Herald
report that the comedian had never been funnier, particularly in the Paris
roof-tops scene. "[It] introduced some of Mr Wallace's cleverest fooling,"
wrote the paper's theatre critic. "The incident in which he represented
Napoleon, with Mr John Dobbie as Wellington, was densely packed with
comic ingenuity. Like Miss Moncrieff Mr Wallace has achieved greater
success by being more reposeful and natural, and giving up a too obvious
repertoire of stage tricks and stage inflections" (25 Aug. 1934, 16).
Although Wallace continued to appear on the stage throughout the 1930s, his
career during that decade is chiefly remembered for the films he starred in. A
Ticket in Tatts (1934), his final Efftee production, saw him cast as a disasterprone
stable hand whose whistle can make one of the horses run faster. He
was slated to appear alongside Frank Harvey, Claude Fleming, and Campbell
Copelin in another Thring film, Sheepmates (based on the novel by the same
name, by William Hatfield), but although a few scenes were shot on a cattle
station in Central Australia in late 1934, the film was never completed
(Celluloid Heroes CD-Rom 1996, 1930-1939, 18).