Sydney Irving Papers

From historic theatre photographs to salary books and administrative records, the Sydney Irving Papers reveal the day-to-day operation of J.C. Williamson Ltd. – ``The Firm`` that dominated Australian theatre for much of the twentieth century.

The Sydney Irving Papers are a wonderful resource for understanding the history of J.C. Williamson Theatres and internal operations of J.C. Williamson Theatres Ltd; the organisation which so dominated Australian theatre for most of the twentieth century that it was simply known as “The Firm”. These are largely the administrative records donated by the widow of executive Sydney G. Irving (1918–1999). It includes manuscripts, photographs, programs, salary books and scrapbooks. Among Collection’s eight archive boxes are records regarding the Williamsons’ three main Sydney theatres, the Criterion, The Theatre Royal, and Her Majesty’s.

Collection Highlights:

Photographs of The Criterion

The Sydney Irving Collection includes a wonderful set of six photos of the Criterion Theatre in Sydney, circa 1922. The collection also contains a seating plan for the Criterion Theatre which shows capacity for 700 theatre goers. Although the seating plan is undated we know it is pre-1935. Built on the corner of Pitt and Park Streets in 1886, the ‘Cri’, as it was known, was originally designed for theatre entrepreneur John Solomon by the architect George Johnson. It was leased by the J.C. Williamson company in 1915, who used it for their imported West End shows, mostly comedies. The theatre was demolished in 1935, but the fronting Criterion Hotel was rebuilt in an art deco style and still stands in Sydney.

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Scrapbook for the Theatre Royal (28 January 1928-3 March 1948)

This scrapbook contains clippings or extracts of programs from the J.C. Williamson Ltd. Magazine for productions at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, commencing with a program for The Trial of Mary Dugan by Bayard Veiller, with Leon Gordon in the lead role, commencing on the 28 January, 1928. The clippings are pasted on sheets which are bound with two screws between stiff boards forming an album or folder. Within the scrapbook is a ten-page typescript list, now filed loose, but which was probably inserted in the front of the volume, recording (i) productions arranged in chronological order of opening; (ii) when commenced, and (iii) when finished.

Salary Book

The impressively large book of salary sheets details every penny and (later) cent paid to JC Williamson theatre personnel from the 1950s to the 1970s.

For example, in 1956 ‘principal lady’ Googie Withers in Simon and Laura and The Deep Blue Sea at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal, earned £200 a week, plus 10% of the box office receipts if total takings were between £2000 and £2600, and 10% throughout the season if the box office was over £2600.

About Sydney Irving

Sydney George Matthew Irving was born in Sydney in 1918. His father, head electrician for the Theatre Royal, died unexpectedly in 1929 on the train home from a show, compelling the 11-year-old Sydney to find evening and matinee work as a call boy at Her Majesty’s Theatre, under the employment of J.C. Williamson Ltd. At the age of 15 he left school to work full time for the company, eagerly learning the business at both front of house and backstage. During World War II he served with the Australian Entertainment Unit, performing for troops in Papua New Guinea and New Britain, before returning to J.C. Williamson Theatres in 1946.

After discharge from the Army in 1946, he returned to J.C. Williamson and for the next 17 years served as Manager of Her Majesty’s Theatre, Brisbane and as the Firm’s Queensland representative and a director of Kings Pictures Ltd. In 1963 he returned to Sydney to manage J.C. Williamson’s NSW operations and to administer its New Zealand circuit. In 1965 he was made general manager of the Sutherland Williamson Opera Company, a post which demanded extensive overseas travel to buy shows for J.C. Williamson and to keep up with the latest trends in theatre design in Europe and America.

From the 1970s Irving continued to shape the direction of Australian performing arts through senior roles with the Elizabethan Theatre Trust and The Australian Ballet, contributing to the national development of opera, ballet and large touring productions.

Access Conditions

The Sydney Irving Collection is available for on-site research. A Finding Aid provides a detailed overview of the collection and may be used to identify material of interest for consultation.

View the Sydney Irving Collection Finding Aid on eHive: