From Australia’s Jewish past
Frederick Hart Pollock – actor, publican and lessee-manager of the Theatre Royal Adelaide
Frederick Hart Pollock
Frederick was born on 22 June 1842 in Newport, Wales and at age eighteen, travelled to Melbourne, where an uncle was living.
His next move was to New Zealand, where he took acting lessons, lived in Dunedin for some years, joined a company touring India and other eastern countries, and worked as the manager of the Corinthian Theatre Calcutta. In 1875, he married Perth actress Mary Myers in Singapore, whom he had been engaged to for eight years, and together, they toured the East. He brought a troupe of Japanese jugglers to Perth around this time, and in 1879, the couple took the P&O steamer Siam to Melbourne with well-known actor George Titheradge, where both men appeared in the Australian debut of the play False Shame at the Academy of Music. The Academy later became the Bijou Theatre. From 1881 to 1882, he was successful as agent and manager for the celebrated comedian Fred Marshall and later became acting manager of Melbourne’s Princess Theatre.
His next role was as treasurer of the Theatre Royal in Adelaide. He relinquished his position in 1884 when he took over the management of the city’s refurbished Academy of Music, dubbed the “New Academy” on Rundle Street. Unfortunately, the building was destroyed by fire the following year, incurring a great financial loss to Frederick. He then managed the Adelaide company of the play “Confusion’’ by Joseph Derrick, which toured Victoria and New South Wales. In 1886, Frederick managed a tour of Western Australia and the Near East by the Webb Marionette Company, and the following year managed an Australian tour of veteran ventriloquist Fred MacCabe. He next managed the 1888 Australian tour of Harry Rickard, vocalist and comedian.
In 1889, Frederick changed track and became the publican of Her Majesty’s Hotel in Swanston Street, Melbourne, but he did not lose touch with the theatre. Ten years later, after attending the Oakbank Races in Adelaide, he left Her Majesty’s to manage the bar associated with the Adelaide Theatre Royal. In 1900, Frederick purchased the Theatre Royal with considerable tact and ability until forced to step down due to illness. Herbert Myers, a nephew of Frederick’s wife, was appointed manager. Mary inherited the theatre, leaving Herbert to manage it until the lease ran out seven years later. Herbert, for close to three decades, was closely associated with the Theatre Royal. He later took on the sole charge of the J.C Williamson enterprise.
Frederick’s interests outside the theatre were the turf, his pony “Dandy”, his little dogs “Topsy” and “Queenie”, and his membership to the South Australian Commissionaire Corps of the Volunteer Militia. Mary and Frederick’s home known as “Azara” was at the corner of Pollock Avenue and Battams Road, Payneham in Adelaide. Frederick passed away on 10 November 1908 and was buried in the Jewish Section of the West Terrace Cemetery. The couple had no children.
The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
Wikipedia; State Library of South Australia; National Library of Australia
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