Interview with Peter Smith OAM
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Harold Herman Leon |
Some Background to this Interview and the Phillips
Brothers Herman, Leon and Harold Phillips were leading showmen in the Australian entertainment industry from the Edwardian era through to the 1950s. Their diverse interests included cinemas, amusement parks and dance halls. Beginning their conquest of Oceania in Sydney, their commercial activities eventually extended nationwide as well as across the Tasman to New Zealand. However, they quickly shifted their administrative headquarters to Melbourne and specifically to the bayside suburb of St.Kilda where they owned Luna Park, the Palais Pictures (now the Palais Theatre) and the Palais de Danse ballroom. They also played a key role in the development of the Capitol Theatre and office building (known as "Capitol House") in the Melbourne CBD. Later, they established other fun fairs interstate. As music promoters, they imported a number of popular jazz and big band artists from America to perform at their venues. But their career commenced at the very start of the cinema age and the birth of the movies when at least one of them was involved in the operation of nickelodeons, kinetoscope parlors and penny arcades in their hometown of Spokane, Washington and Vancouver, Canada. The story as to how and why they ended up "Down Under" will be outlined in another, more detailed blog about their work which I am currently preparing.
The Phillips had a slightly unusual attitude to the spotlight around which their lives revolved. On the one hand, they very successfully publicized their attractions; news of which regularly appeared in daily papers and they were close to the rich and famous; a few of whom I will briefly introduce you to in the aforementioned, upcoming piece .Leon, for instance, learned the tricks of the stage and screen from a dynamic travelling picture showman; a former carnival huckster, vaudeville roustabout and master of illusion who went on to become one of the most powerful studio chiefs in early Hollywood. However, despite their own talent for creating thrills and excitement to enthrall the public, one thing separated the Phillips, to some degree, from their more ego-driven contemporaries (such as F.W.Thring) - namely their indifference to personal publicity. It seems that the "selfie" / microphone - grabbing / lampshade on the head routine just never floated their River Caves boat and they preferred to maintain a comparatively low profile. Indeed, for most of their time in Australia they remained extremely private and somewhat mysterious figures who usually employed others to "meet the press". But a select few did get to know the men who made the magic. One was Melbourne TV and radio veteran Peter Smith, OAM. In this interview, Peter reflected on that special time from way back when.
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Bruce: Peter, thanks for making yourself available to share your memories of the Phillips
Peter: My pleasure.
Bruce: Are you from St.Kilda originally?
Peter: Yes, indeed. I grew up in Longmore Street back in the 1940s and ‘50s. In fact, I lived down there until the early ‘60s.
Bruce: So, all of those iconic foreshore venues such as Luna Park, the Palais and the Palais de Danse provided a backdrop to your daily life?
Peter: They did. But, of course, they were much more than just a backdrop, particularly on Saturdays when I made a “b-line” for the Palais Theatre, or the Palais “Pictures” as it was originally called. That place was the centre of both my social life and my fantasy world... as it was for many people.
Bruce: The Palais was your “big deal”?
Peter: Absolutely, mainly because I was mad about the movies and it was a real picture palace in the grand American style. It was unusual to have a theatre like that in the suburbs. We were lucky to have something so impressive close to home. But all those other places you mentioned were great too. Luna Park was magic in the old days.
Bruce: What about the Palais de Danse?
Peter: That was a bit racy, strictly for the “dancing crowd” as the flappers and their beaus were called back in the 1920s
Palais de Danse, St Kilda - Wikipedia
1920s dances featuring the Charleston, the Peabody, Turkey Trot and more - YouTube
demonstrating the Charleston on television station HSV7
in Melbourne, Australia in the 1960s)
and the Palais de Danse (right) on the Lower Esplanade at St.Kilda
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Same attractions from the Lower Esplanade (1930s?) (SKHS) |
Bruce: In her autobiography, Helen Reddy, who came from Camberwell, said that she always envied her cousins who lived in St.Kilda. She described it as being the most exciting and cosmopolitan suburb in Melbourne, at a time when both those qualities were a bit thin on the ground in this city. Would you agree with those thoughts?
Peter: Yes, I would. There was, definitely, an international, or, perhaps, more specifically, a fairly Americanized ambience about the area, certainly around that part of St.Kilda near the amusement precinct... with the Canary Island palm trees, Spanish Mission architecture etc.. I think that might have been deliberate or maybe it was simply due to the influence of important local Americans such as the Phillips brothers. Perhaps, they were trying to recreate memories of the States. It looked like Santa Monica as we used to see it in all those Hollywood movies
Bruce: At the Palais of course?
Peter: Of course.
Bruce: Sounds like you’ve given all this a lot of thought over the years?
Peter: I have actually. I’ve got some very vivid and happy memories of those early years that I spent in St.Kilda
Bruce: Like to paint a couple of word pictures?
Peter: Well, for example, I can remember when I was very young walking around to the Palais from Longmore Street with my parents on balmy summer nights, riding on my dad’s shoulders, past the Catani Gardens and the pier. I can still feel the gentle breezes blowing and rustling through the wispy branches of the palm trees, the splashing and laughter of the swimmers in the twilight air and the myriad colored lights from the forsehore attractions streaking the roads and the beach...
Bruce: And the Palais rose up behind all this..
Peter: Yes....it was so massive and imposing, it was a real landmark at the top of the bay. Still is....it's quite awesome.
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Bruce: When and how did you come to know the Phillips brothers?
Peter: I probably met them around 1954 or ’55. I knew Harold and Leon but not Herman, the eldest brother, who had passed away long before that time. In fact, I got to know them quite well to the point where they used to take me to lunch every Saturday at a terrific Chinese restaurant in the Village Belle. It all came about through my friendship with Albert Wright who was the projectionist at the Palais. As a teenager, my ambition was to work in the bio box down there. Anyway, I was just a local kid with stars in my eyes but Albert befriended me, particularly when he realized that I was serious about a career in the business. So, I started to spend almost every waking hour at the theatre and I also got to know Garnett Curwen who was the manager and then I eventually met Harold and Leon as well. All of them encouraged my interest in the entertainment industry
Peter: Not really, I stayed on at school and, unfortunately, by the time I was ready to start work, Harold and Leon had both died and the Palais had been sold. But what they did do was allow me to have some involvement and a whole lot of fun at the place as a stepping stone. I mean, they were big time operators and the Palais was a real hot spot of show business, particularly from the ‘50s onwards when all those huge American stars like Bob Hope appeared there.
Bruce: What was the involvement you had?
Peter: I ran a couple of informal groups, or “activities” I suppose you would call them, which were based at the theatre. One was called the Palais Junior Film Club and the other was a comic swap shop which was set up in the foyer. Harald Vike, who, as I recall, was the scenic artist there at that point, built a brilliant Dickensian type of shop... like a sort of theatre set where the local kids used to exchange their comics.
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Biography - Harald Vike - Australian Dictionary of Biography (anu.edu.au)
Harald Vike Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Harald Vike Art Value Price Guide (invaluable.com
Bruce: Did you get to work on stage and front an audience there?
Peter: Yes, I did. That was where the film club came in. I used to host little stage presentations. I’d introduce the films, run competitions. Then I got my big break when I started to mime Top 40 records. That was a peculiar fad in the ‘50s which, of course, became highly popular on television when Channel 7 launched the Hit Parade. Miming was all the rage for a while.
Bruce: It is, perhaps, worth mentioning at this point that you were, in fact, a pretty good singer in your own right. Indeed, there's a video getting around of you performing quite a complex musical production number with considerable panache on Graham Kennedy's "In Melbourne Tonight"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOiUuCWJa18&t=3s
Peter: The thing was you had to be able to do just about everything in those days if you worked on the big night time variety shows. We did comedy sketches, presented live commercials, did a bit of singing and dancing, occasionally did interviews... sometimes I would even step in and host the show when Graham had a night off for whatever reason. It was a great training ground for all of us.
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| ......catching up with Hollywood horror star Vincent Price (Peter Smith Collection) |
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| ...and enjoying the view with Australian television personality Cheryl Rixon at Luna Park, St.Kilda in the '70s (Peter Smith collection) Cheryl Rixon - Wikipedia |
Bruce: What were Harold and Leon like as men and as managers. What was their personal style?
Peter: Well, as you can appreciate, I was just a teenager and I didn't have any significant dealings with them as either a full-time employee or as a business acquaintance. As I say, I was just a kid. No doubt, they were very hard-nosed businessmen to have been as successful as they were. However, as far as I was concerned, they were thoroughly nice blokes and very generous, as evidenced by the fact that they took all of us to lunch once a week !! In regard to their personal style, I do remember that they always wore great suits...... even on the weekends when we went to lunch. I suppose, they bought a lot of their clothes back from the States. But, in some ways they didn’t fit the standard image of glamorous showbiz moguls. They weren’t particularly flamboyant in themselves. Actually, they were quite reserved and conservative.
Bruce: You mentioned to me once that they drove Cadillacs.. indeed... they must have been driving them for years because I found a news item in one of the old movie magazines from the 1930s about them buying such a car.....
Details to be provided in my upcoming piece. Bruce)
A 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood similar to the one
that was owned by the Phillips in their final years (BC)
Bruce: So did they remain emphatically American, despite all the years that they had been in Australia?
Peter: Oh yes, they were great believers in the value of good old American know-how. They always looked, sounded and, indeed, thought, like Americans. In fact, I think they always remained American citizens.
Bruce: Did they ever tell you much about their early years in the States?
Peter: Not really....as I remember, their parents were quite well-to-do. I think they owned a chain of grocery stores or supermarkets... some sort of retailing venture.
Bruce: Where did Harold and Leon live when you knew them?
Peter: They both lived in South Yarra
Bruce: Did one of them seem to be the overall boss?
Peter: No, from what I saw of them, they were very much an equal partnership. They had managers who did most of the day to day hiring and firing for them. But, as, I said, before, no doubt, they could be very insistent and tough-minded in the boardroom when they needed to be.
Bruce: I have heard that they were the local distributors for Paramount movies. Do you know anything about that?
Peter: No, haven’t heard that one but it’s quite possible. They had a lot of interests. As I understand, Paramount Pictures leased the Capitol for several years so there may have been some sort of wider tie-up between them
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(Above) The Capitol Theatre in Swanston Street, Melbourne when it was being leased by Paramount in the 1930s (Simon Brand photo) (lower Image) The Capitol's famous "Ceiling of Lights" (Flickr) The Capitol, Melbourne - Wikipedia Capitol Theatre - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Flickr Capitol Theatre, Melbourne, Australia - YouTube |
Peter: I don’t think so. Although, Luna Park was probably their sentimental favorite because that’s where it all started as far as their involvement with St.Kilda was concerned.
Bruce: Bearing in mind that they were such big operators they seemed to keep incredibly low public profiles, certainly in comparison to other, earlier, showmen such as J.C. Williamson and Frank Thring senior. Photos of the Phillips, for example, are hard to find. Do you have any by the way?
Peter: No, sadly, I don’t have any photos. They weren’t very interested in personal publicity. However, there would have to be photos around somewhere because they were important businessmen in St.Kilda and key figures in the Australian cinema industry.
Bruce: What did they do in their spare time? Were they members of any clubs, play sport etc.
Peter: I don’t know. Again, I was just a teenager, not an adult contemporary of theirs. You should try to track down Garnett Curwen’s family. He was their main manager.
Peter: Yes, I attended both of their funerals. When they died some very business-like woman flew over from America. I think she may have been their sister or perhaps a niece. Anyway, the story goes that she got off the plane at Essendon, was driven down to St.Kilda, walked through all three venues in about ten minutes, probably went to the Capitol.... if they were still involved in that place...... then she went back to the airport. All of their interests were sold immediately. Maurice Sloman, who was a friend of Harold and Leon, and some others bought everything.
children William and Helen Kemter (Brighton, Victoria, 1950s)
(Photo courtesy of Helen)
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Phillips brothers grave at St.Kilda cemetery (Bruce Corneil) |
Bruce: How would you sum up your memories of the Phillips brothers and those early years that you spent with them ?
Peter: They were extremely happy days indeed. The Phillips did everything on a grand scale and with great style. They made a huge contribution to the local entertainment scene and they deserve more recognition.
Bruce: Let’s hope that they get it. Thanks again Peter.
Peter: Thanks Bruce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Smith_
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