AustLit

'Australian child actors fascinated and amazed audiences at home and abroad at the turn of the twentieth century. Before robust education and labour laws insisted children should be at school or at home, many children, predominantly girls, found their way into Australia’s vibrant commercial entertainment industry, appearing in variety/vaudeville entertainments, pantomime, comic opera, musical comedy, drama and circus. Doris Joyce, Rosie Fitzgerald and Queenie Williams were three young actors employed by the production team of Clyde Meynell and John Gunn. Examining their careers during the years 1906–1908 reveals the genuinely surprising tenacity, agency and sophisticated talents of child actors of the period.' (Introduction)