Frank Clewlow

Frank Dawson Clewlow (October–December 1885 – 13 June 1957) also known under pseudonym of Stafford Dawson, was an English-born actor, director, stage and radio producer and theatre manager, he worked in his native England, as well as Scotland during the 1910s and 1920s, before emigrating to Australia in 1926 where he continued his career and in 1936 he became Federal Controller of Productions for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (later Corporation — ABC).

Frank Clewlow
Born
Frank Dawson Clewlow

October-December 1885
Stone, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
Died13 June 1957 (aged 71)
Other namesStafford Dawson (professionally)
EducationUniversity of Birmingham
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • manger
Known forFederal Controller of Productions, Australian Broadcasting Commission

Early life

He was born in Stone, Staffordshire, England, to Joseph Clewlow (born 1858 Stafford, Staffordshire) and his wife Mary Jane Dawson (born 1857 in Luton, Bedfordshire) whom he married on 29 December 1884 at St Mary, Luton. Frank had two younger siblings Hilda Dorothy Clewlow (born 1891 in Stone) and Harry Dawson Clewlow (born 1898 in Stone) He went to Alleyne's Grammar School then studied maths, physics, chemistry, zoology and botany at the University of Birmingham, but became involved with the Pilgrim Players and, under the influence of Barry Jackson and John Drinkwater, never completed the course. He borrowed £4 and ran away from home as he couldn't take his University exams due to working on the play there. He joined a repertory company in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.[1]

He worked for two years as leading actor and stage manager under the name "Stafford Dawson" in 1909 for Annie Horniman[2] at the Manchester Gaiety Theatre, Manchester.,[3] then toured with Allan Wilkie (father of Australian journalist Douglas Wilkie) to the Far East in 1911.[3]

On his return, he was appointed by (later Sir) Barry Jackson as actor-producer with his newly formed Birmingham Repertory Company (1913–1918) where he appeared in:

List of plays

[5]

Director-producer

He played with Ian McLaren's company as Touchstone and Sir Andrew Aguecheek,[3] In November 1921 he met Herbert Pochin and Walter Martin in a cafe to discuss setting up the Leicester Drama Society. The inaugural meeting took place on 25 January 1922 at Council Room at the Chamber of Commerce where he was appointed Honorary Secretary. Following this on 11 April 1922 a public meeting was held at the Association Hall in Leicester where Frank persuaded Lena Ashwell [6] to form a Leicester branch of the British Drama Society and directed it for three years.[3] Of the three founding members Frank Clewlow was the only one with acting experience. Whilst there he produced

  • The Silver Box 12 June 1922
  • The Cobblers Shop 1922
  • The Fantasticks 1922
  • Othello 1923 (and played the part of the Moor)
  • Strife 1923
  • The Cassils Engagement 1923
  • An Enemy of the People 1923
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor 1924

Scottish productions

He worked as producer for Scottish National Theatre Society (1922-1947)[7] at The Athenaeum Theatre in Glasgow and the Museum Hall in Bridge of Allan for two years where he directed

  • Thomas the Rhymer 2 December 1924
  • The Two Shepherds 2 December 1924
  • The Lifting 1 February 1925
  • The Guinea's Stamp 13 February 1925
  • Mary Stuart 24 March 1925
  • The Dark Lady 25 March 1925
  • James the First of Scotland 11 May 1925
  • The Inn of Adventure 13 October 1925
  • Punch Counts Ten 22 December 1925
  • Souterness 19 January 1926
  • The House of the Queen 19 January 1926
  • Gregarach 23 March 1926
  • The Fantasticks 23 March 1926[8]

,[3] and as stage manager for Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company.[3]

Immigration to Australia and personal life

He was brought out to Australia in 1926 by Wilkie, as actor and stage director. He married Minnie Suckling, an actress with the same troupe (having previously married Gertrude Mary T Littlewood between April and June 1910 in St John Baptist, Hulme, Manchester, Lancashire, England).[3][9] He played Henry VIII, Mercutio and Lafeu at the Theatre Royal, Hobart and Henry VIII at the Otago Theatre, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Career in Australia

It was during this time he met a young actor Catherine Duncan with whom he was to have a professional association several years later.[10]

He was appointed director of the Melbourne Repertory Theatre Society, succeeding Gregan McMahon in 1928.,[3] amongst other plays directed The Touch of Silk (by Australian playwright Betty Roland) in November of that year.[3] Angel Symon, who had also toured with Wilkie and assembled an important collection of stage ephemera now held at the University of Adelaide, was his secretary. The Repertory Theatre disbanded around 1930 after encountering financial difficulties.[1]

Clearly a man of huge enthusiasms, newspaper cuttings of this time show him appearing in public almost every week, whether conducting poetry recitals,[11] lectures on German theatre,[12] on poetry,[13] judging at eisteddfods and elocution competitions,[14] even opening an art exhibition in 1930. He contributed an article The Future of the Theatre for July 1931 Stream leftist literary journal that included an article by Nettie Palmer.[15]

He was responsible for the stage debut of Coral Browne in the George Bernard Shaw play You Never Can Tell at the Garrick Theatre in 1930.[16]

Around 1930 he organised a series of "great plays" for 3LO, a new member station of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, which led to his appointment in 1931 as Director of Drama for that station.[17] He assembled a strong group of radio actors to perform several great plays every week. A similar group was assembled by his counterpart in Sydney, Laurence Halbert, and the two stations exchanged programs by landline and transcription disc.[1]

In 1938 he was moved to Sydney to become National Director of Productions for the ABC by (later Sir) Charles Moses, who was developing the Commission into a more centralised network. It is difficult now to appreciate what a powerful position this was, but in the decades before television radio drama was the chief form of entertainment for most Australians and the major radio networks provided the chief source of employment for many hundreds of actors (and a springboard to a movie career for many such as Peter Finch) and the drama heads of radio stations and production houses such as Grace Gibson and Hector Crawford could make or break an actor and the success or otherwise of a production could make or break a program.

  • As guest adjudicator for a Melbourne elocution competition in 1934, he was impressed with Ida Elizabeth Osbourne and found parts for her in radio productions. So when he was authorised by ABC head Charles Moses to create a national children's radio program, he called on her to develop it. This became the highly influential Children's Session and Argonauts Club.[18]
  • He commissioned Edmund Barclay to write the series As Ye Sow which ran for most of 1937.[1]
  • In 1939 he cast the (then) unknown Nigel Lovell in a radio adaptation of The Wild Ass's Skin by Balzac, then as Romeo in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.[1]
  • Later that same year he placed Peter Finch on contract.[1]
  • He produced one of the most famous Australian radio plays, The Fire on the Snow by Douglas Stewart, first performed by the ABC on 6 June 1941 with Ida Elizabeth Osbourne as Narrator.[1]
  • In 1943 he commissioned Gwen Meredith to write a radio serial to be a feature of the Country Hour, with the remit of providing agricultural information along with entertainment, expressly to consult with the NSW Agricultural Department and the ABC Rural Department. That program The Lawsons ran from 1944 to 1949 then morphed into the historic Blue Hills which ran until 1976.[19]
  • He appointed Catherine Duncan to write for radio after judging her entry The Sword Sung in a Sydney New Theatre competition.[1]

But rivals and opponents such as Leslie Rees and Lawrence H Cecil were developing influence within the organization. His insistence on "high standards" could easily be interpreted as reactionary, and his acid tongue made enemies of people who disagreed with him. In 1950 he was excised from his position and (quite unwillingly) transferred to Hobart to produce plays there.[1]

Recognition

References
  1. The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama Richard Lane, Melbourne University Press 1994
  2. All archives relating to the Annie Horniman Company are held by Manchester Central Library, Manchester Lancashire England
  3. http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/24767/7/Warrington_Wilkie_Ch.V.pdf
  4. Four plays by John Drinkwater
  5. Details of all plays are held at Sir Barry Jackson Archive Arts and Languages Department Birmingham Central Library
  6. Graham, John Before my time: The story of the Leicester Drama Society
    A portrait of him held in The Little Theatre is reproduced in this book
  7. Guthrie, Tyrone et al., The Scottish National Theatre Venture: its Birth, History, Work and Influence 1921-1948 Glasgow, 1953
  8. All details from the Scottish National Players
  9. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3955346
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4210357
  12. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4025465
  13. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12239116
  14. "Reminiscences of Thomas Shapcott" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
  15. http://www.reasoninrevolt.net.au/bib/PR0001143.htm
  16. Stars of Australian Sage and Screen Hal Porter, Rigby Ltd. Adelaide 1965
  17. Argus 29 November 1930
  18. The Golden Age of the Argonauts" by Rob Johnson pub. Hodder & Stoughton 1997 ISBN 0-7336-0528-1
  19. http://publications.epress.monash.edu/doi/pdf/10.2104/sc050007%5B%5D
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