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‘As Modern as Tomorrow’: Australian Entrepreneurs and Japanese Entertainment, 1957–1968
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2018
Abstract
This article compares the efforts of two Australian entrepreneurs to import Japanese entertainments for theatres in mid-twentieth-century Australia. David N. Martin of the Tivoli Circuit and Harry Wren, an independent producer, were rivals in the business of touring variety-revue. Both travelled to Japan in 1957, the year that the governments of Australia and Japan signed a landmark trade agreement. Whereas Martin's efforts were hampered by the legacy of wartime attitudes, Wren embraced the post-war optimism for trade. Wren became the Australian promoter for the Toho Company of Japan, touring a series of Toho revues until 1968. These Toho tours have been overlooked in Australian histories of cultural exchange with Japan. Drawing on evidence from archival sources and developing insights from foreign policy of the time, this article examines why Australian entrepreneurs turned to Japan, what Toho sent on tour, and how Toho's revues played in Australia. It analyses trade in touring entertainment as a form of entrepreneurial diplomacy that sought to realize the prospects of regional integration.
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References
NOTES
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50 ‘Aussies Dicker for Jap Invasion’.
51 Cherry Blossom Show (Australian tour, 1958), APAC.
52 Tokyo Nights (Melbourne, 1965), APAC.
53 Drewe, ‘From Japan with Cash’, p. 12. When Australia converted to decimal currency on 14 February 1966, one Australian pound was equivalent to two Australian dollars; $2 million Australian dollars was equivalent to $2.225 million US dollars in 1967.
54 Ibid., p. 12.
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57 ‘Night Blasts Wreck Harry Wren's Home’, SMH, 12 March 1968, p. 1; ‘Detectives Doubt Fire Deliberate’, SMH, 13 March 1968, p. 4; Wren claimed the home was worth AU$300,000, equivalent to US$333,704 in 1968.
58 The initial report on the fire in the Sydney Morning Herald mentions Toho's interest in redeveloping the Tivoli site in association with Wren; ‘Night Blasts’.
59 ‘Japanese Company “not interested in Tivoli”’, SMH, 26 April 1968, p. 1.
60 Cherry Blossom Show (Australian tour, 1958).
61 Cherry Blossom Show (Empire Theatre, Sydney 1958).
62 Tokyo Nights (Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, 1965).
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