Collection 06: Mark St Leon further papers

MLMSS 8874/Boxes 1-3
MLMSS 8874/Box 4X
MLOH 821

sub-fonds

1851-2003

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Clippings, Photographs

1015535

1.10 metres of textual material, photographs and 1 sound cassette (3 boxes and 1 outsize box)

BOX 1
Folder 1
Correspondence concerning the St Leon family and its circus activities between Mark St Leon and Mr Sylvester ‘Bill’ St Leon of Burleigh Heads, Qld, 25 January 1995-20 July 1995. Includes copy photographs and photocopies of family members and circus performers.

Folder 2
Correspondence between Mark St Leon and Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin regarding American circus activity in Australia and the activities of Australian circus performers in the USA, 20 May 1985-27 July 2005

Folder 3
Miscellaneous illustrative material concerning Australian circus:

1.‘Digger’ Pugh and The Australian Wallabies, all female acrobatic troupe about 1950. The original troupe arrived in USA about the time Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, and remained in the USA. Inscription on reverse of image.

2.Photograph of Seymour family band. Inscription on reverse of image. The Seymour family conducted a small outback circus in the period ca. 1900 - ca. 1914. See Fred A. Lord’s book, 'Little Big Top'

3.Miniature illustrations (20 woodcut vignettes) of early 19th century circus equestrian acts. Many of these would have been seen in early circus in Australia, ca. 1830

4.Postcard featuring members of Circus Oz in their Group Bike act, issued by Australia Post as part of its stamp issue to commemorate the 150th anniversary of circus in Australia, 1997

5.Photograph of Bill Sole, lion tamer, in Sole Bros Circus, ca. 1934

6.The Flying Codonas, a Mexican trapeze troupe, consisting of Lalo Codona, Clara Curtin Codona and Alfred Codona, photographed in Paris, ca. 1925. The original Flying Codonas, consisting Lalo, Alfredo and their sister Victoria, toured Australia with Wirth Bros Circus for three seasons in 1913-1915

7.Lady in equestrian act in Astley’s Amphitheatre, London. Text on reverse. Clipped from Illustrated London News, 13 September 1845

8.Chariot race in Batty’s Grand National Hippodrome, Kensington, London. Text on reverse. Clipped from Illustrated London News, 10 May 1851

9.Studio portrait of Zelda La Rose, female gymnast and wife of Daredevil Desperado who toured Australia with Wirth Bros Circus in early 1900s

10.Illustrations of Astley’s Riding School in 1770 clipped from the book Old and New London. This was the foundation of Astley’s Amphitheatre, London’s most famous circus from where many of Australia’s early circus artists originated.

11.Photograph of Lizzie Mackey, of the Australian circus family, ca. 1920

12.The Seven Rowlands, an English act which toured Australia with Wirth Bros Circus in the 1910s.

Folder 4
Newsclippings, letters, handwritten notes and agreement between the National Library of Australia and Mervyn King in relation to the making of tape recordings of interviews, 1988-2003. The oral history recordings made for the National Library were subsequently transformed by Mark St Leon into the book 'The Silver Road'.

Folder 5
Correspondence between Mark St Leon and Fred Braid MBE, circus historian, 1984-2001

Folder 6
Handwritten notes of conversation with Lorraine Maynard, nee Perry, and her mother Nellie Perry, of Perry Bros Circus, ca. 1987

Folder 7
Newspaper clippings and correspondence mostly concerning Bullen’s Circus, a major Australian circus in the post-World War II era.

Folder 8
Correspondence with Helen Doxford Harris OAM, Melbourne researcher, chiefly concerning circus activity in Melbourne and the colony of Victoria, 1991-2006
 
Folder 9
Miscellaneous material relevant to Australian circus & vaudeville:

Magazine article concerning Australian vaudeville life in the 1920s from Australian Women’s Weekly, 17 January 1973

The Holden Story. synposis and images for a proposed TV production concerning the Holden family. The Holden Bros Circus travelled mostly rural Victoria from about 1914 until about 1941. The TV identity Mark Holden is a member of the family.

Clipping from US newspaper that mentions May Wirth, Australian bareback rider.

International Guide to the Circus, edited by Rodney Huey PhD, includes examples of Australian circus English.

Transcript of interview with Carl Mehden, musician, and Mrs Harry Mehden, about 1974. Carl and Harry Mehden were the sons of Carl Von Der Mehden, the bandmaster of FitzGerald Bros Circus in Australia between 1892 and 1905. The source of the interview is not known but may have been undertaken by Andrew Bisset, Australian jazz historian.

D’Arc’s Marionettes leave their mark on Tientsin – China’s Ford of Heaven (Note: D’Arc’s Marionettes toured Australia about 1890-1900)

BOX 2
Folder 10
Non-circus related items:

Booklet: Close to Home: Women’s Memories of World War Two, May 2001

The Boy's Own Paper (three issues) including article “Boy life in Australia”, June-August 1893

Cassette recording of radio program:
Item 1: Hilary McPhee oral history interview by Ms Phillip Adams
 
Folder 11
Printed material relevant to the activities of the St Leon circus family, from Australia, in the United States, as follows:

Program for Clyde Bros Circus, an indoor circus operated by Clyde St Leon, 1955. Program included the Eight St Leons in a teeterboard act.

Program for Hunt Bros Circus, 1953. Company included Phil St Leon Wirth and his wife Stella Martin Wirth. Phil presented his performing pony in Display No 4.

Metropolitan Magazine, Sept 1908, includes a photograph of Elsie St Leon (p.689), Australian bareback rider.

Program for the Illinois Theatre, Chicago, March 1909, featuring Mabel Taliaferro in the stage production Polly of the Circus. The Alfred St Leon family performed the live circus acts on the stage.

Photograph of Miss Ida St Leon in Vanity Fair, 15 October 1910, p.14

Notes on activities of the St Leon family in Vanity Fair, 29 April 1911, p.5
 
Folder 12
Miscellaneous printed material:

The magazine, The Theatre, May 1912, included an article Rehearsing the Circus. The article featured a photograph of May Wirth ‘Australian bareback rider’ then making her debut in the USA.

The London magazine Picture Post, 25 September 1943, featuring photographs of ‘The Surprising Colleano Family’, p.24. The Colleanos were a famous Australian circus family of Aboriginal extraction.

Incomplete run of The Outdoor Showman, from October 1952 to Jan-Feb 1961. Published in Melbourne. This magazine regularly published news and historical items relevant to circus and other forms of travelling shows.

Folder 13
Printed material concerning the National Institute of Circus Arts, Melbourne, 2001-2008

BOX 3
Folder 14
Printed material relevant to the Colleanos, an Australian circus family:

National Geographic Magazine, October 1931, includes the article ‘The Colour Camera Explores The Country That Moves By Night’. This article includes a photograph of Con Colleano and his wife, Winifred, plate X, after p.502

Collier’s Weekly, 23 May 1931, includes the article ‘All in the Family’. A photograph of Con Colleano, Australian wirewalker, his wife and sister, p.21

Folder 15
Programs, magazines and route books of Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, USA, featuring Australian circus performers:

Program - Miss Vera Bruce, display no. 6; Miss Winifred [Colleano], display no.10; The Great Con Colleano, display no. 11, 1929

Program - Miss Vera Bruce, Display no. 6; Miss Winifred [Colleano], display no.10; The Great Con Colleano, Display no. 11, 1931

Program - The Great Con Colleano, Display no.13; Boomerang throwing by The Waites, Display no.13, 1933.

Program - The Great Con Colleano, Display no. 9, 1934

Program - The Great Con Colleano, Display no. 10, 1935

Publicity brochure with caricature of Con Colleano, undated

Program - The Great Con Colleano, Display no. 4, 1946

Route Book - The Great Colleano, Display no. 5, 1946

Program - Con Colleano, Display No. 3, 1954

Magazine showing May Wirth and Wirth family of riders, p.15, and the Great Con Colleano, p.20., ca. 1927
 
Folder 16
Birth, death and marriage certificates and transcripts - St Leon Circus family

Folder 17
Birth, death and marriage certificates and transcripts - St Leon Circus family

Folder 18
Birth, death and marriage certificates and transcripts - Miscellaneous Australian circus

Folder 19
Receipt for purchase of real estate property 'Robinwood' by C. Colleano, 22 March 1929, and newscuttings and magazine article related to the Colleano family, ca. 1930-1935

BOX 4X
Folders 20-22
The Colleano family was one of Australia’s internationally famous circus families. Of the ten brothers and sisters, the most famous was Con Colleano (see biographical entry in Australian Dictionary of Biography http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/colleano-con-cornelius-9789), followed by his sister Winnie Colleano (a solo trapeze artist). The other siblings worked as an acrobatic act. The sister Winnie was known as ‘little Winnie’ so as not to confuse her with Mrs Con Colleano, who also a ‘Winnie’ but called ‘big Winnie’.
Sheet music

Original sheet music for W.W.Cole’s Grand Zoological March. W.W. Cole brought his large circus from the USA to Australia to tour during 1800-81. As this music was copyrighted in 1877, it may well have been heard by Cole’s Australian audiences. A rare item.

Original sheet music for Little Alabama Coon, a popular song copyrighted in 1893. This song was sung in Wirth’s Pacific Circus when it visited Fiji in 1895 as evidenced by the following report:

Fiji Times
17 August 1895, p.2, c.4
Report

… The principal equestrian act was performed by Mr Alf St Leon, whose feats of horsemanship were first class. The graceful poses on two horses by Miss Ida Vernon and Mr P. H. Montgomery showed much dexterity and excellence. The musical interlude The Alabama Coons, an action song and dance by the Misses Muriel Wirth, Katie Montgomery and Elsie St Leon, fairly carried away the house and they had to respond to the repeated demands of the audience for an encore …

Galley proofs for Circus: The Australian Story by Mark St Leon as prepared by Miegunyah Press, an imprint of MUP. Miegunyah aborted the project during the Global Financial Crisis and the book was eventually published by Melbourne Books in the format developed by Miegunyah.

Mounted photograph of Australian sawmill with descriptive information on reverse

Mounted photograph of Ashfield Senior Cadet Band, 1913

Material concerning Ashton circus family:

Group family photograph, taken for Bicentennial tour, 1988

Obituary for Mrs Phyllis Ashton, The Australian, ca. 2000

Playbill for Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, 22 February 1834 featuring ‘The Extraordinary Performance of Mr Ducrow’ in St George & The Dragon. Several early Australian circus artistes claimed to have received their training from Ducrow.

Printed material relevant to the Colleanos, an Australian circus family:

National Geographic Magazine, October 1931, includes the article ‘The Colour Camera Explores The Country That Moves By Night’. This article includes a photograph of Con Colleano and his wife, Winifred, plate X, after p.502

Collier’s Weekly, 23 May 1931, includes the article ‘All in the Family’. A photograph of Con Colleano, Australian wirewalker, his wife and sister, p.21

Colleano family photographs received from Mr James O’Donnell, Greer, South Carolina.

Colleano family photographs organised into 4 separate folders by donor

Copyright restrictions may apply: Photographs in this collection created before 1955 are all out of copyright. Photographs created after 1955 are in copyright for the life of creator plus 70 years.
Reproduction Restricted:
Approval for reproduction required:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder.

Maintained descriptive information provided by donor