Au revoir, Alfred Frith

[Melbourne : The Burlington Studio, 1922]. Gelatin silver print, 200 x 130 mm; photographic montage with 6 vignette shots of comedian Frith “in character” for his roles in A night out, Going up, You’re in love, High jinks, So long Letty, and Oh, lady! lady!, with a slightly larger head-and-shoulders portrait by Langham captioned ‘Au Revoir Albert Frith’ at the centre; the print is in excellent condition, laid down on the original studio mount (trimmed across the bottom margin, with loss of The Burlington Studio imprint).

In the 1920s and early 1930s English-born Alfred Frith was arguably the most popular comedian in Australia, where he toured prolifically in between numerous return visits to his homeland.

The following notice appeared in The Herald (Melbourne), 22 May 1922:

‘To mark Alfred Frith’s 2500th performance In Australia and as a souvenir upon his departure for England, a large photograph showing him in six characters and as he appears on the stage will be presented to the ladies in the audience at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Monday night next.‘

Note: The NLA holds another example of this photograph, as part of the Lady Viola Tait collection, which has the original mount complete with The Burlington Studio imprint.