Vic Roberts (writer)

Last updated

Vic Roberts was an English-born writer who worked in theatre, film and radio. He is best known for writing vaudeville sketches for Roy Rene in the 1920s and 1930s [1] although there is some debate as to the exact extent of his contribution. [2] He had a background in English musical hall and was hired to work for Rene by Sir Benjamin Fuller. After his initial trip to Australia, Roberts returned to England but then decided to stay in Australia.

Contents

Roberts also wrote a number of screenplays for Ken G. Hall in collaboration with George D. Parker, although Hall later said he was dissatisfied with their work. [3]

Writings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Donat</span> English actor (1905–1958)

Friedrich Robert Donat was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy West</span> English film, stage, and television actor

Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English actor and presenter. He has appeared frequently on both stage and television, including stints in both Coronation Street and EastEnders, and also in Not Going Out, as the original Geoffrey Adams. He is married to the actress Prunella Scales; from 2014 to 2019, they had been seen travelling together on British and overseas canals in the Channel 4 series Great Canal Journeys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Finch</span> English-Australian actor (1916–1977)

Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch was an English-Australian actor of theatre, film and radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Stevenson (filmmaker)</span> British film director (1905–1986)

Robert Edward Stevenson was an English-American film screenwriter, director and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken G. Hall</span> Australian film director

Kenneth George Hall, AO, OBE, better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film producer and director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry. He was the first Australian to win an Academy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Rene</span> Australian actor and comedian

Roy Rene was an Australian comedian and vaudevillian. As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinesound Productions</span> Australian film production company

Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was an Australian feature film production company, established in June 1931, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred on Greater Union Theatres, that covered all facets of the film process, from production, to distribution and exhibition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mona Barrie</span> English-American actress (1909–1964)

Mona Barrie was an English-born actress, active on stage in Australia before establishing a career in the US, and in Hollywood films.

George Stephenson "Onkus" Wallace, was an Australian comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio personality. During the early to mid-20th century, he was one of the most famous and successful Australian comedians on both stage and screen, with screen, song and revue sketch writing amongst his repertoire. Wallace was a small tubby man with goggle eyes, a mobile face and croaky voice who appeared in trademark baggy trousers, checkered shirt and felt hat. His career as one of Australia's most popular comedians spanned four decades from the 1920s to 1960 and encompassed stage, radio and film entertainment. Ken G. Hall, who directed him in two films, wrote in his autobiography that George Wallace was the finest Australian comedian he had known.

Michael Howell Blakemore OBE, AO is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who has also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Gerald</span> Australian comedian

James "Jim" Gerald also known as James Gerald Diabolo was an Australian comedian, circus clown, acrobat, writer, director and troupe leader and filmmaker. He is generally regarded as one of the four leading post-World War I comedians to work the Australasian variety circuits, the others being Nat Phillips, Roy Rene, and George Wallace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cremorne Theatre</span>

The Cremorne Theatre was a theatre in South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia that operated, with interruptions, from 1911 to 1954. Although nothing remains of it today, the general location retains its cultural significance from the first half of the twentieth century as a theatre precinct, thanks to the nearby construction of Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) in 1985. Its name lives on in the new Cremorne Theatre, one of the venues within QPAC.

Edmond Seward was a Hollywood screenwriter who had originally attended Northwestern University and worked as a journalist, before doing some writing for Disney.

<i>On Our Selection</i> (1932 film) 1932 film

On Our Selection is a 1932 comedy based on the Dad and Dave stories by Steele Rudd. These had been turned into a popular play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan in 1912, which formed the basis for the screenplay. Bailey repeats his stage role as Dad Rudd. He also wrote the script with director Ken G. Hall.

The Squatter's Daughter is a 1933 Australian melodrama directed by Ken G. Hall and starring Jocelyn Howarth. One of the most popular Australian films of the 1930s, it is based on a 1907 play by Bert Bailey and Edmund Duggan which had been previously adapted to the screen in 1910.

The Silence of Dean Maitland is a 1934 Australian film directed by Ken G. Hall, and based on Maxwell Gray's 1886 novel of the same name. It was one of the most popular Australian films of the 1930s.

<i>Strike Me Lucky</i> 1934 Australian film

Strike Me Lucky is a 1934 Australian comedy musical film starring popular stage comic Roy Rene in his first and only film. It was the fourth feature film from Cinesound Productions but proved a box office disappointment. Director Ken G. Hall says it was the only one of his features not to go into profit within a few years of release, although he says it eventually covered costs.

<i>Grandad Rudd</i> 1935 Australian film

Grandad Rudd is a 1935 comedy featuring the Dad and Dave characters created by Steele Rudd and based on a play by Rudd. It was a sequel to On Our Selection, and was later followed by Dad and Dave Come to Town and Dad Rudd, MP.

George D. Parker (1873-1937) was an American-born actor, writer and director who worked extensively in Australian theatre during the 1920s and 1930s, mostly for J.C. Williamson Ltd. He was later employed by Cinesound Productions as a dialogue director and screenwriter, as well as running the Cinesound Talent School with Frank Harvey. According to Hall, "Parker was much more slick in his handling of dialogue" than him around the time of The Silence of Dean Maitland but he did not work with Cinesound after Grandad Rudd.

<i>Cinesound Varieties</i> 1934 Australian film

Cinesound Varieties is a 1934 Australian variety short film from director Ken G. Hall made to go out on a double-bill with the full-length feature, The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934). Only 18 minutes of the film survive today.

References

  1. "Vic Roberts" (2012), "Practitioners R section."
  2. Djubal (2005), pp.270-274.
  3. Hall (1977), p.89.

Works cited