Papers of Bobby and Gracie Le Brun, 1924-2004
- Bib ID:
- 6261829
- Format:
- Manuscript
- Author:
- Le Brun, Bobby, 1910-1985
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item. MS Acc11.137 copy
- Related Online Resources:
- Finding aid at National Library of Australia
- Access Conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
- Description:
-
- [between 1924 and 2004]
- 3.9 m (12 boxes) + 2 oversized phase boxes + 1 small phase box.
- Summary:
-
MS Acc11.137 is a multi-format collection documenting the lives and careers of vaudevillians Bobby and Gracie le Brun, their colleagues and friends, with particular emphasis on Sorlie's Travelling Vaudeville Show. The collection contains photographs, scrapbooks, memorabilia, newspaper clippings and articles and a large collection of show posters. In addition, the collection includes a series of diaries maintained by Bobby le Brun daily from 1924-1985 and a collection of commercially produced LPs (12 boxes, 4 folios).
- Biography/History:
-
Bobby Le Brun. Vaudeville actor. Born in St Leonards, Sydney in 1910. Stage-struck from schooldays, Bobby aspired, after seeing George Wallace in vaudeville in the 1920s, to make people laugh. He learned to dance at Lew Dunn’s dancing school. When he teamed with Harry Portlock they became the 'Le Brun Brothers, Simultaneous Steppers'. In 1933 George Sorlie employed Le Brun as a solo comic and sketch comedian in his tent theatre. From 1937 to 1940 he played at various venues including the Hollywood Theatre, Perth, and the Bohemia Theatre, Brisbane. In 1941 he joined 'Barton’s Follies' tent show. After engagements with the Tivoli circuit, he toured with the illusionist 'The Great Levante' in 1947. After Sorlie’s death in 1948, Le Brun joined his widow to take the show on the road again through Queensland and New South Wales. Le Brun toured with Sorlie’s until 1961. For the next five years Le Brun played cabaret and floor shows at the Coolangatta Hotel, and then at Newcastle and again on the Gold Coast; he also made occasional television appearances until his retirement in 1974. He was the first recipient of the John Campbell fellowship at the 'Mo' awards in 1977, and was awarded the OAM in 1981.
Gracie Le Brun. Vaudeville actor. For more than a decade from 1949, Le Brun and her husband Bobby were well known and loved faces on the vaudeville circuit. They fronted Sorlies Musical Revue, a revival of the Sorlies tent shows and the best known touring vaudeville show of the era. It followed the agricultural show circuit all the way up to Cairns every year. Mrs Le Brun spent decades as the foil for her husband, a role which required excellent timing and understatement. Gracie and Bobby met while she was working as a choreographer for the Sorlies shows and looking after the front of house at Sydney's old Tivoli Theatre. They married in 1941. Their two-part act became a centrepiece of Sorlies Revue, which also boasted a troupe of dancers, singers, comedians and sight acts. Born Grace Wilhelmina in Balmain in inner Sydney in 1912, Mrs Le Brun grew up with her three brothers in straitened circumstances. Gracie landed her first role in a show in a Sydney theatre when she was just 14. The couple retired to Newcastle, where Mr Le Brun performed in local benefit concerts. Mrs Le Brun was devastated by her husband's sudden death from a heart attack in 1985 but kept fit until she also suffered a heart attack, aged 90. She died in 2011.
- Notes:
-
- Manuscript reference number: MS Acc11.137.
- MS Acc11.137 copy Also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-252258908
- Subject:
- Time Coverage:
- 1924-2004
- Occupation:
- Entertainers
- Other authors/contributors:
- Le Brun, Grace, 1912-2011
- Terms of Use:
- Copying of Bobby and Gracie le Brun’s copyright material permitted for research purposes.
- Copyright:
-
Copyright Undetermined
If you wish to copy or order copies, contact us. For access conditions return to the record display above.
- Reason for copyright status:
- A Manuscript Collection may have a range of formats and dates.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary, dramatic or musical work
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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