Guide to the Programs and ephemera regarding Sir Robert Helpmann, 1924-2009

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Summary

Collection number:

Helpmann

Extent:

544 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use this material should refer to the Ephemera PROMPT collection.

Citation of items from this collection should include references to author's/organisation's name, date, item title, Publisher and place of publication.

Example: J.C. Williamson (Firm). Theatre Royal (Adelaide, S.A.). 1950, Gilbert Sullivan opera season [theatre program] : The gondoliers J. C. Williamson Ltd [Adelaide]

Availability:

Available

Background

Content Summary:

This finding aid lists programs and ephemera which document all aspects of Sir Robert Helpmann's extensive career as dancer, choreographer, director, and actor in Australia and overseas. Robert Helpmann's extensive career started with ballet, acting from 1930, and he then emerged as a company choreographer in 1942. He also directed and produced, and worked in opera, film, and musical theatre.Helpmann's career in Australia with the Australian Ballet, other Australian companies, and in the Old Vic. Co. tour of Australia in 1955 are not included: Material relating to these productions are located under the respective names of the companies he worked with. (For instance, programs relating to Helpmann's Australian and New Zealand tours of Nude with violin are located within the separate J.C. Williamson General files of the PROMPT Collection.)

The Australian Ballet performances that are mentioned here are all duplicates of the same programs found in the Australian Ballet PROMPT collection, which features more of his work with them.

Printed materials in the PROMPT collection include programs, and printed ephemera such as brochures, leaflets, tickets, etc. Theatre programs are taken as the prime documentary evidence of a performance by Helpmann. In a few cases however, the only evidence for a Helpmann performance is a piece of printed ephemera other than a full program. In these cases the details are in italics. Examples of this occur during part of the Sadler's Wells Ballet seasons at Covent Garden in 1948 and 1949 in which fold-out brochures give basic daily listings for several weeks of the repertoire to be performed and some of the artists appearing. Details of Helpmann's scheduled appearances have been extracted from these lists, but there is no guarantee that he actually appeared in the performance. In the case of triple bills there is no indication of the role/s he was to have danced. If, at a later stage, a program is acquired for any of those performances it is then taken as the prime document and supersedes the brochure listing as evidence of Helpmann's actual appearance.

The Helpmann files in the PROMPT collection also include miscellaneous ephemera items.

The list is based on imperfect holdings, and is updated as gaps in the Library's holdings are filled. Unless otherwise stated, all entries are based on published programs in the PROMPT collection.

Biographical / Historical:

Robert Helpmann, born in Mount Gambier, South Australia, pursued a singular career as an actor, dancer, choreographer and director beginning at an early age and continuing until just two months before his death. After taking ballet lessons in Australia from a variety of teachers, including Anna Pavlova during her Australian tours, he left for London in 1932 and over the next thirty or so years secured engagements in dance, theatre and film. His partnership with Margot Fonteyn was a major highlight of his early career in dance. He returned to Australia to perform on various occasions from 1955 onwards. He became joint artistic director of the Australian Ballet in 1965, sharing the position with Peggy van Praagh until 1974. He directed the company alone during 1975.

{"content":["Helpmann made his first choreography for a dance company in 1942 when he created","Comus for the Vic-Wells, later Sadler's Wells, Ballet. For the Australian Ballet he made his iconic \u003cem\u003eDisplay\u003c/em\u003e in 1964, the Japanese-inspired \u003cem\u003eYugen\u003c/em\u003e in 1965, \u003cem\u003eSun Music\u003c/em\u003e in 1968 and \u003cem\u003ePerisynthyon\u003c/em\u003e in 1974. During his co-artistic directorship of the Australian Ballet he directed, with Rudolf Nureyev, a film of Nureyev's version of the ballet \u003cem\u003eDon Quixote\u003c/em\u003e and while sole artistic director introduced into the Australian Ballet's repertoire a successful and popular version of \u003cem\u003eThe Merry Widow\u003c/em\u003e. The works he choreographed and/or directed were always based on his philosophy that all art should be entertaining.For more about Helpmann's career as reflected in the collections of the National Library of Australia see 'A dash of Helpmann', National Library of Australia News, October 2002."],"emph":{"render":"italic"}}

Arrangement:

The list is in four sequences which reflect the arrangement of the Library's Robert Helpmann PROMPT collection: Theatre (i.e.: Helpmann as actor and director working in drama, comedy, opera, revue); overseas Ballet and Australian Ballet.

Then individually listed, chronologically by performance as follows:City; name of production or performer; date (day and month); headline performers etc.

The arrangement within each sequence is chronological by year and then by month, week or day with all dates based on evidence in the programs or ephemera.The listing also notes the number of copies held, autographs, photos, biographies given in the program and significant partners in dance such as Dame Margot Fonteyn.

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