Ben Fuller (theater manager)

Ben Fuller and family 1913

Sir Benjamin John Fuller (born March 20, 1875 in London , † March 10, 1952 ) was an Australian theater entrepreneur of English origin.

The son of composer and theater entrepreneur John Fuller appeared in a youth production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance at the Savoy Theater for three months at the age of new . In 1886 he performed with Montague Robeys Midget Minstrels and then became a member of Warwick Gray's Juvenile Opera Company . On the weekends he was on his father's minstrel show .

After his father left for Australia in 1889, Fuller worked for a year in an engineering office and then toured England as a stage assistant with Harry Liston . In 1894 he traveled as a stewart and board pianist on the Austral to Adelaide, where he met his father. He toured New Zealand with his Minsteel Show , and the family finally settled in Auckland in 1894. Here his father opened a show with wax figures, magic lantern shows and vaudeville performances in which Ben appeared.

With the show, the family moved to Dunedin, where Ben stayed and was so successful that he was soon able to open homes in Christchurch and Wellington. With the support of his family, he was able to continuously expand the business, and in 1907 the Fullers entered the New Zealand film business. In 1912 they expanded to Australia, where they took over James Brennan's vaudeville troupe and had actors such as Queenie Paul , Jim Gérald and George Stevenson Wallace and comedians Stiffy and Mo ( Nat Phillips and Roy Rene ) perform.

In 1916 he took over the management of John Fuller & Sons Ltd with his brother John . They performed pantomimes and melodramas during the First World War and in 1916 Italian operas. With Thomas Rofe , owner of the Grand Opera House , Fuller founded the Theatrical Proprietors 'and Managers' Association (now Live Performance Australia ) in 1917 , of which George Tallis became the first president .

From 1923 to 1926, the Fullers worked with Hugh Ward in the field of musical theater. They opened the Princess Theater in Melbourne with The O'Brien Girl in late 1923 and built the St James Theater in Sydney , which they opened in 1926 with No, No, Nanette . In 1928 Fuller hired Gladys Moncrieff for the performance of Gladys Moncrieff . In 1929 he took over the management of the Australian Broadcasting Co with Frank Albert . In the early 1930s, practically all theaters owned by Fuller were equipped with projection equipment.

In 1934, Fuller separated from the family businesses and attempted to return to the classic theater business. An opera company he founded in Melbourne in 1934 had to be dissolved in 1935 due to financial problems. From 1939 he worked with Garnet Carroll together, and in 1946 he became director of the Carroll-Fuller Theater Company Pty Ltd . This sponsored the tour of the Old Vic Theater Company with Sir Laurence Olivier in 1948 . In 1951, Fuller performed Private Lives with James Cassius Williamson , Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott . Fuller's last production was the American comedy The Moon is Blue .

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• Australian Dictionary of Biography - Fuller, Sir Benjamin John
• Live Performance Australia - Hall of Fame - Sir Benjamin Fuller
• To Encyclopaedia of New Zealand - Fuller, Sir Benjamin John