From Australia’s Jewish Past: Jonas Alfred Lipman – Actor, producer, film and theatre director, philanthropist and ‘colourful extrovert’
Jonas, frequently known as “Joe’’, was born to Judah and Sylvia Lipman on 25 April 1877 in Adelaide, South Australia.
Jonas Lipman
He was educated at Prince Alfred College and, as a young man, was active in Jewish artistic circles performing in and directing plays. He left Adelaide in March 1903 for West Australia, initially for a matter of months and then more permanently. He was there to manage his father’s business interests in the gold-mining town of Coolgardie, where his father was a prominent businessman. It is said that Judah may well have been the wealthiest man in Coolgardie at the time. Whilst involved in his father’s business, Jonas’s passion was with the theatre, and he became a member of the local branch of the Australian Natives Association (a mutual society founded in Melbourne in April 1871 for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group). In July 1905, he left West Australia, announcing his intention to join a troupe to visit India.
In 1909, Jonas returned to Adelaide, where he became involved as an actor and director of an amateur theatre group known as ‘’The Actors’ Club’’. One noted performance was ‘’One Summers Day’’ written by Henry Esmond (British actor and playwright), which was held at the Unley Town Hall in July 1910 in aid of the St Paul’s Choir. In September of that year, he performed in ‘’The Dilemma’’ at the same theatre. With two successful plays under his belt, he went on to act and stage manage ‘’Charley’s Aunt’’. The play was performed at Adelaide’s Theatre Royal over two nights to a packed house and received critical acclaim. The play, being such a success, was performed again at the Unley Town Hall in June of the following year.
By 1914, he had moved on to Victoria, working as stage manager and director for the Comedy Theatre on the Lower Esplanade at St Kilda. The theatre was part of the refurbished Daylight Pictures Company, which was next to the Palais de Danse, a large dance hall, all of which were part of the entertainment precinct of St Kilda’s foreshore. The productions at the Comedy Theatre changed weekly. Jonas’s productions included ‘’The New Baby’’ by Arthur Bourchier (English actor), ‘’Our Girls’’ by Henry James Byron (an English dramatist and theatre director) and ‘’The Three Hats’’, an adaption of a farce by Alfred Hennequin (Belgian playwright). The Comedy Theatre was a summer favourite for Melbourne but, unfortunately, did not survive past March 1915.
For the next twelve months, Jonas travelled mainly to the United States and reported on the rise of Broadway. Whilst there, he wrote ‘’Just Peggy’’ and signed Sara Allgood to be the leading actress. Sarah was an Irish-American actress who was beginning to make a name for herself. Jonas had seen her perform on stage in John Hardley Manners’ (English playwright) comedy ‘’Peg o’ My Heart‘’ and he actually went on to film it in Sydney. Jonas’ best-known film was ‘’Mystery Island’’ made in 1937. For the production, he co-founded the company Mia Films (Mia being an acronym for “made in Australia”) and built a small outdoor studio at Seaforth on Sydney’s north shore. Additional scenes were shot on location at nearby Palm Beach and Manly. Although the film became popular with both audiences and critics, some of his stage and film work is credited to his pseudonym – Rigby C Tearle – in 1905 Jonas began using his name for certain aspects of his career. The first such occasion found is in relation to an original one-act sketch produced as part of the Adelaide’s Jewish Literary Society’s final social of the year. The sketch, called ‘’A Japanese Love Story,’’ is attributed to Rigby Tearle by the Hebrew Standard of Australasia.
Apparently, another highlight of Jonas’ career was in 1920 when he appeared in the Tivoli revue ‘’Everybody’s Doing It’’. The advertising for the Sydney and Melbourne seasons highlighted J A Lipman as the “talented Hebrew comedian,” who could be seen in diverting little Yiddish sketches such as “Watch Your Wife” (as Moses Margulus) and “The Bright Side of Life.”
Jonas was described as “a colourful extrovert” with “a flair for the wheeling and dealing of the film trade”. However, in 1918 as head of Quality Features, he came across a film titled “Damaged Goods’’ – the theme of the film being venereal disease. In 1920 it was screened at the Princess Theatre Melbourne. The film ceased to be shown as it was judged to be obscene. It is reported via Trove that Mr Justice Hood, in the Practice Court on 18 February 1920, reversed the decision of a magistrate, given several weeks earlier, in which Jonas was charged with having displayed an indecent or obscene film, was dismissed. Mr Hood said that under the Veneral Diseases Act, permission was granted for the showing of works of ‘’recognised literary merit,’’ but he held that the term ‘’recognised literary merit’’ could not be applied to a ‘’cinematograph’’ performance, and Jonas was fined £1.
Jonas was fined one pound for showing the movie as it was judged to be obscene. In the same year, he assisted in establishing the company United Shows Inc and in 1923, he helped set up the Australian Releasing Corporation and Australasian Films Ltd, later known as Union Theatres and Australasian Films. This company was the most prominent Australian film distribution and production company during the 1920s and 1930s before merging into Greater Union. He represented British International Pictures Ltd from around 1929 and continued to achieve a great deal of success throughout his life with his many business and personal affiliations. It is reported that he had owned the rights to Charlie Chaplin films throughout the world except in America. The cost for this was £1,000,000 – a significant amount of money at the time. His close friend and mentor was Harry Warner of Warner Bros fame.
Jonas married Gertrude Solomon, who was part of the powerful Australian political dynasty. They had two children, Robert and Judith. Jonas died in Strathfield, NSW, on 18 March 1959, aged 82. Gertrude died four months later.
The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story
Australian Variety Theatre Archive; Trove, Wikipedia; auslit.edu.au
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