4 posts tagged “biography”

Marjorie Lawrence - Australian opera soprano

I have just spent the evening watching an old movie about the Australian opera singer Marjorie Lawrence. Marjorie was born on a farm in 1907 and somehow managed to go from distant Australia to France to study and then onto New York to rise in the operatic ranks. Being an Australian girl she was very physical and she was the first soprano to perform the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended. Good old Marjorie also performed the Dance of the seven veils in Richard Strauss's Salome^[1] "more convincingly" than most other sopranos!

Not long after she married she contracted polio and was left confined to a wheelchair.  She managed to resume her career and sang for some time afterwards. She even travelled overseas to entertain the troops after WWII and I think even during the Vietnam War. Marjorie died in 1979.

The movie starred Eleanor Parker as Marjorie. Dear Eleanor I believe was nominated for an Academy Award. I can only think that it was either in the category of "most overacting actress" or "worst lip synching by an actress in a muscial". Hey Brittany Spears wasn't born yet! [In case you missed it in other parts of the world, little Brit is in Australia and audiences are walking out because she is lip synching her way through the concerts and badly at that!]

Anyway, the movie was the usual Hollywood bad retelling of a great story. Marjorie was disappointed with the result saying that it did not represent her life at all. Bad movie, as it may have been, the subject, Marjorie Lawrence, really interests me. I want to know more about her now.

I went online and was able to track down a 2nd edition copy of her autobiography "Interrupted Melody" which is what the movie was called also.  The blurb says it is a little damaged, but heck it was published in 1949! It claims to have been signed by the author also, so I am a little chuffed. I don't usually buy second hand books as I love the feel and smell of new books, and I worry about introducing book worm into my own library, but in this case there was no choice, To get a copy reproduced through a library would be more expensive.

So, I hope all goes well, and hopefully the book will arrive in a week or so. I hope Marjorie told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth....more than what can be said for the movie!

Enid Lyons by Anne Henderson ISBN: 978-0-9802924-9-7 | RRP $29.95AUS | June 2008

First woman to be elected to the Commonwealth Parliament

Enid Muriel Lyons (nee Burnell) was born in the far north-west of Tasmania at Duck River (now Smithton). In 1915 at the age of seventeen she married Joseph Lyons, the then Minister for Education and Railways and Tasmanian Treasurer (he later became Prime Minister). They formed a strong political partnership and had 12 children together.

Enid was a teacher and was concerned with political issues and the public arena delivering her first political speech in 1920. Her intention was to attract the support of women and advocate in the area of public responsibility and liberal feminism.

In 1943, four years after her husband's death, Enid Lyons became the Federal member for the Tasmanian seat of Darwin (renamed Braddon in 1955). Enid was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and, jointly with Dorothy Tangney (WA), one of the first of two women elected to the Australian Parliament. Her concerns included:

In the new Liberal Country Party Ministry under Menzies, she was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council, making her the first woman to enter a federal cabinet. During this time:

On retirement due to illness her public activities included:

In 1980 she was awarded the Order of Australia. Dame Enid died in 1981.

In case you couldn't settle on a career from the last list, here is a second dip!

Gascoigne, Stephen Harold (1878 - 1942) ‘rabbito’ and barracker

Girardin, Louis - see Girardin, Marie-Louise Victoire (1754 - 1794) ship’s steward and cross-dresser

Gocher, William Henry (1856 - 1921) artist, bimetallist and pioneer daylight surfer

Grant, John (1776 - ) agitator and minor poet

Green, Alexander (c. 1802 - ) flogger and public executioner

Griffin, Thomas John Augustus (1832 - 1868) policeman, gold commissioner and murderer

Groom, James - see Pamphlett, Thomas (1789? - 1838) castaway

Hack, Wilton (1843 - 1923) utopist

Hagai, Francis (1940? - 1974) cult leader

Hargraves, Edward Hammond (1816 - 1891) gold rush publicist

Hayes, William Henry (Bully) (1829 - 1877) adventurer, swindler and blackbirder

Innes, Annabella - see Boswell, Annabella Alexandrina Campbell (1826 - 1914) diarist and gentlewoman

Irving, John ( - 1795) a convict ‘bred to surgery’

Jenyns, Sarah Ann (1865 - 1952) surgical instrument maker and corset manufacturer

Juan, John (1901 - 1979) adagio dancer, radio announcer and compere

Kearns. Eliza - see Tracey, Eliza (1842? - 1917) litigant

Keen, Joseph (1819 - 1892) curry-powder maker

Knorr, Frances Lydia Alice (Minnie) (1867 - 1894) baby-farmer

Kreitmayer, Maximilian Ludwig (Max) (1830 - 1906) waxworks proprietor

Lampungmeiua, Charlie One (1920? - 1974) coastwatcher

Laver, Ralph Herbert (1874 - 1962) food preserver

Lee, Kathleen Mary Josephine - see Leigh, Kathleen Mary Josephine (1881 - 1964) crime entrepreneur

Liguori, Sister Mary - see Partridge, Bridget [Sister M. Liguori] (1890 - 1966) lapsed nun

Lindrum, Frederick William (1888 - 1958) billiard prodigy

Lorimer, Philip Durham (1843 - 1897) wanderer and poet

Lynch, Arthur Alfred (1861 - 1934) rebel and polymath

McEncroe, Francis Gerard (Frank) (1908 - 1979) inventor of the Chiko roll

Mahoney, Joseph - see Marconi, Joseph Cornelius (1876 - 1922) goanna oil manufacturer

Meagher, James Anthony (Jim) (1894 - 1975) solicitor and raconteur

Mendelsohn, Oscar Adolf (1896 - 1978) polymath, bon vivant and public analyst

Murn, Edith - see Pardey, Edith Emma (1896 - 1963) pianola-roll pianist

Murphy, Herbert Dyce (1879 - 1971) gentleman adventurer and raconteur

Noblet, Marie Thérèse Augustine (1889 - 1930) Catholic mystic

Norton, Rosaleen Miriam (1917 - 1979) painter and self-styled witch

O'Farrell, Henry James (1833 - 1868) paranoic

Paine, Arnold Gerald Stewart (1897 - 1979) soapbox orator

Palmer, Henry Wilfred (1877 - 1956) tuberculosis sanatorium superintendent

Parkinson, Sydney (1745? - 1771) natural history draughtsman

Perry, Joseph Henry (1863 - 1943) Salvationist and showman

Petrie, Thomas (1831 - 1910) explorer, grazier and friend of Aboriginals

Petterd, William Frederick (1849 - 1910) scientist and boot importer

Phillips, Gilbert Edward (1904 - 1952) neurosurgeon and wine connoisseur

Phillips, Mary Beatrice - see Watson, Mary Beatrice Phillips (1860 - 1881) heroine

Pomeroy, John (1873 - 1950) inventor and pieman

Prevost, Maria Caroline Verona (Ronnie) (1895 - 1976) 'flapper'

Rebell, Fred (1886 - 1968) lone sailor and rebel

Rentoul, John Laurence (1846 - 1926) clergyman and controversialist

Ross, John (1833 - 1920) co-operative and radical

Russell, Philip (1822? - 1892) flock-master and politician

Rymill, John Riddoch (1905 - 1968) polar explorer and farmer

Sandford, Gladys (1891 - 1971) motorist

Sleep, Alfred Reginald (1893 - 1959) home missionary and private detective

Stace, Arthur Malcolm (1885 - 1967) pavement scribe

Vékey, Zsigmond - see Wekey, Sigismund (1825? - 1889) solicitor, pamphleteer and man of affairs

Whelan, James Paul (Jim) (1864 - 1938) wrecker

Whitfield, George (1808 - 1864) gunsmith and taxidermist

A neurosurgeon who is a wine connoisseur is a bit of a worry I fear!

 Browsing the online Australian Dictionary of Biography showed me that I am definitely living in the wrong era. If I had only been born years prior I could have enjoyed the career of "sex reformer and eccentric", "versifier and swindler", "wild white man" or "ferry-boat master and poisoner". Below is a sample of some of the more interesting people!

Thomas - see Orton, Arthur (1834 - 1898) presumed imposter

Cavill, Frederick (1839 - 1927) ‘professor of swimming’

 Chabrillan, Céleste de (1824 - 1909) courtesan and author

Chapman, Israel (1794? - 1868) convict and policeman

Charleston, Ellen - see Martel, Ellen Alma (Nellie) (1855 - 1940) suffragist, elocutionist and parliamentary candidate

Chave, Alfred Cecil (1905 - 1971) tennis administrator, broadcaster and fruit merchant

Chidley, William James (1860? - 1916) sex reformer and eccentric

Chifley, Joseph Benedict (Ben) (1885 - 1951) prime minister and locomotive engine driver

Chisholm, Margaret Sheila Mackellar (1895 - 1969) high society beauty

Clark, Fred - see Mulga Fred (1874? - 1948) Aboriginal buckjumper

Clement, Margaret (1881 - 1952?) missing person

Coates, James (1901 - 1947) confidence man

Cochrane, George Henry - see Hervey, Grant (Madison) (1880 - 1933) versifier and swindler

Colleano, Con (Cornelius) (1899 - 1973) tightwire artist

Collins, John William Fitzclarence (1906 - 1941) pastoralist, skier, horseman and aviator

Conder, Charles Edward (1868 - 1909) painter, lithographer and fan-designer

Cook, John Malcolm - see Roberts, Murray Beresford (1919 - 1974) impostor and swindler

Cooper, Caroline Ethel (1871 - 1961) letter-writer, traveller and musician

Cooper, Robert Joel (Joe) (1860 - 1936) buffalo hunter

Copeley, Joseph Herbert (1897 - 1977) rabbiter

Cotton, Thomas Richard Worgan (1907 - 1970) soldier and intelligence officer

Cox, Samuel Emanuel (1773? - 1891) wild white man

Cracknell, Edward Charles (1831 - 1893) superintendent of telegraphs, electrical engineer and torpedo expert

Cromer, Victor - see Kroemer, Victor Eugene (1883 - 1930) printer, socialist, clairvoyant and healer

Crooks, Alexander (1847 - 1943) bank manager, cricketer and embezzler

Crossley, George (1749 - 1823) attorney and convict

Cubadgee, Dick (1870 - 1889) Aboriginal guide and cultural broker

Darcy, James Leslie (Les) (1895 - 1917) boxer and folk hero

Davis, James (1808 - 1889) absconder and shopkeeper

Davis, John King (1884 - 1967) Antarctic navigator

Dean, George (1867 - 1933) ferry-boat master and poisoner

Deen, Fazal (1898? - 1963) hawker, battery-operator and entrepreneur

de Rougemont, Louis (1847 - 1921) hoaxer

Desmond, Arthur (1859? - 1926?) agitator and author

Devine, Matilda (Mary) (1900 - 1970) madam

Dobbie, Alexander Williamson (1843 - 1912) brassfounder, merchant and inventor

Dodd, Tommy (1890? - 1975) stockman and cameleer

Dodge, Ettie (1885 - 1973) vigoro administrator

Donnithorne, Eliza Emily (1826? - 1886) recluse and eccentric

Drysdale, Anne (1792 - 1853) woman squatter

du Breil, Charles Marie Bonaventure - see Rays, Marquis de (1832 - 1893) speculator and romantic

Dullo, Walter Andreas (1902 - 1978) chocolate-maker and musicologist

Dunlop, Eliza Hamilton (1796 - 1880) lyric writer and student of the Aboriginals

Dunn, Andrew (1854 - 1934) founder of a newspaper empire

Dunningham, Sir John Montgomery (1884 - 1938) bookmaker and politician

Dwyer, Michael (1772? - 1825) Irish revolutionary and political exile

Edwards, Marion (Bill) (1874 - 1956) transsexual barman, pony trainer and bookmaker

Evans, Harold Cecil (1902 - 1954) surfboat sweep and furrier

Evans, Ivor William (1887 - 1960) flag designer and canvas goods manufacturer

Evans, Lillie Elizabeth - see Goodisson, Lillie Elizabeth (1860? - 1947) racial hygienist

Fairbridge, Kingsley Ogilvie (1885 - 1924) Imperialist and idealist

Farrar, Phoebe Elizabeth (1868 - 1960) bushwoman

Flying Pieman - see King, William Francis (1807 - 1873) pedestrian and street character

Foley, Laurence (Larry) (1849 - 1917) pugilist and contractor

Forbes, Alexander - see Forbes, William Anderson (1839 - 1879) bush balladist

Forster, Johann Georg Adam (1754 - 1794) German writer, traveller and revolutionary

Foy, Harry Sidney (1901 - 1942) barman and female impersonator

Frame, Andree Marcelle (1910 - 1967) masseuse and childbirth educator

Franklin, Jane (1791 - 1875) protagonist, governor's lady and patron of science

Fraser, Eliza Anne (c. 1798 - 1858?) shipwreck victim and source of myth and legend

Freeman, Paul (1884? - 1921) deportee and Comintern functionary

http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/browse_people_C_19.htm