AUSTRALIAN FEMALE PERFORMERS OF MASCULINITY 1900 to 1950

Image: Tittell Brune Date: 1905 Photographer: Talma & Co Source: State Library Victoria

Performer: Minnie Tittell Brune

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: Early 1900s

Performance Type: Male and princible boy roles

Biography: Minnie Tittell Brune (1875–1974) was an American-born actress who became a prominent performer on the Australian stage in the early twentieth century.
She performed in Australia from 1904, appearing in major theatrical productions under the management of J. C. Williamson. In 1905 she played the Duke of Reichstadt in L’Aiglon, performing an adult male role in breeches. In 1908 she played Peter Pan in Australia, another example of a woman performing a boy character on stage.

Image: Miss Tittell Burne in costume as a young man. Date: 1893- 1933 Photographer: Talma & Co Source: State Library Victoria

Performer: Stella Gastelle

Location: Melbourne and Sydney

Australia Performance Period: 1908 to 1909

Performance Type: Principal boy

Biography: Stella Gastelle (1869–1936) was an English actress and singer born in Sunderland, England, who built a career in musical theatre and pantomime in Britain and Australia. She became particularly associated with the principal-boy tradition, in which female performers played youthful male heroes on stage. Gastelle came to Australia in 1908 with the J. C. Williamson theatrical organisation and appeared as Jack in the pantomime Jack and Jill at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, before continuing with the production in Sydney and on its Australasian tour. Contemporary theatrical accounts identified her as the principal boy and described her in the male theatrical costume associated with the role.

For further information see Artist Profile page Stella Gastelle

Performer: Phyllis Faye

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1910- 1916

Performance Type: Principal Boy

Biography: Phyllis Faye (c. 1892– TBC) was an Australian stage performer, dancer, singer, comedian and choreographer born in Victoria, Australia. She began performing as a child and went on to work with leading Australian theatrical organisations, including John Fuller & Sons, Harry Rickards, Brennan-Fuller and Harry Clay.

Faye became particularly known as a principal boy in Stanley McKay’s pantomimes, performing male characters in productions such as Bo-Peep. Her 1915 appearance as the principal boy at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, is one of her best-documented Australian male performances.

She later established herself as a versatile vaudeville and revue artist, working as a dancer, choreographer and performer.

Performer: Nellie Kolle

Location: National and New Zealand

Australia Performance Period: 1912- 1951

Performance Type: Principal Boy and Male impersonator

Biography: Nellie Kolle was an English-born Australian variety performer, singer, pianist and male impersonator who built a long career across Australian vaudeville, pantomime, revue and radio. Active in Australia from the 1910s, she became particularly associated with male impersonation and principal-boy roles in pantomime.

Kolle performed named male characters including Will Atkins, Boy Blue and Prince Rupert of Kingswood, as well as appearing as a specialist male impersonator in variety and touring productions. Her career took her across Australia and into the wider Australasian entertainment circuit, with appearances in Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Kolle’s male-impersonation act also reached Australian radio, where she continued to be presented professionally as a male impersonator. She remained active in popular entertainment into the postwar period.

Image: Nellie Kolle as Swaggie. Before 1924. Photographer Unknown. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Performer: Lola Hunt

Location: National and international

Australia Performance Period: 1914- 1025

Performance Type: Principal Boy

Biography: Lola Hunt was an English-born singer, dancer, comedienne, actress and pantomime performer who became a popular figure on the Australian and New Zealand variety circuits during the 1910s and 1920s. She arrived in Australasia in 1910 and built a successful career with major theatrical organisations including Fullers’ Theatres.

Hunt was particularly known for her ragtime singing, comedy and energetic stage presence, but she is also remembered for her performances in male theatrical roles. She appeared as Second Boy in The Babes in the Wood (1914), Will Scarlet (1915) and, most notably, Sinbad in Sinbad the Sailor (1918–19).

After about fifteen years in Australasia, Hunt returned to Britain in 1925 and continued her career in theatre and film.

Performer: Eveline Pauline “Queenie” Paul

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1915- 1920s

Performance Type: Principal Boy

Biography: Eveline Pauline “Queenie” Paul (1893–1982) was an Australian vaudeville performer, dancer, singer, principal boy and theatre producer. Born in Pyrmont, Sydney, New South Wales, she began her stage career as a teenager with the J. C. Williamson organisation and became one of Australia’s notable female performers in male roles. Paul’s best-known male performances included Eric, Earl of Fena, in Mother Goose, the Principal Boy in The Bunyip, and Robin Hood in Babes in the Wood. Her performances combined singing, dancing, comedy and male stage characterisation.

For further information see Artist Profile page Eveline Pauline “Queenie” Paul

Performer: Effie Marion Fellows

Location: National and International

Australia Performance Period: 1915- 1930s

Performance Type: Male Impersonator

Biography: Effie Marion Fellows (1893–1977) was an Australian actress, singer, vaudeville performer and celebrated male impersonator. Born in Subiaco, Western Australia, she began performing at an early age and became known for her remarkable ability to portray young men on stage.

Performing under the name Freddie Manners, she was promoted as “Australia’s Perfect Boy” and toured extensively through Australia and New Zealand. Her international career later took her to India, South Africa, Britain, Europe and the United States, where she performed as Bobby Folson and appeared at major theatres including the London Palladium.

Fellows was recognised for her convincing male appearance, tailored costumes, masculine mannerisms, singing and comedy. She continued performing in male attire later in life, including community and nursing-home performances in Perth.

She died in Perth, Western Australia, in 1977, aged 84.

Performer: Amy Rochelle

Location: Sydney and Melbourne

Australia Performance Period: 1916- 1930s

Performance Type: Principal Boy

Biography: Amy Rochelle (1898–1978) was an Australian singer, actress, vaudeville performer and celebrated pantomime principal boy. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, she began performing professionally as a child and developed a long career across Australian theatre, musical comedy, variety and radio.

Rochelle became particularly noted for portraying male heroes in pantomime, including Robin Hood, Prince Charming and Jack. Her principal-boy performances appeared in major productions in Sydney and Melbourne during the late 1910s and 1920s, including The Babes in the Wood, Cinderella, Mother Goose and The House That Jack Built. Contemporary theatre coverage praised her singing, energy and stage presence.

Her career also encompassed vaudeville, revue, child impersonation, recorded performance and radio. She was associated with leading Australian theatrical organisations including Fullers’ Theatres and J. C. Williamson, and continued performing into the later decades of her life.

Performer: Eileen Phillips

Location: Queensland and National

Australia Performance Period: 1916 – 1927

Performance Type: Principal Boy

Biography: Eileen Phillips was an Australian vaudeville performer, dancer, singer and male impersonator, best known as one half of the Phillips Sisters, alongside her sister Bessie. Born and raised in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland, she began her professional career around 1911 and went on to tour extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The Phillips Sisters became known for their singing, dancing, duets and impersonations, performing with major theatrical organisations including Harry Clay and Fullers. Eileen also performed as a principal boy, most notably as the male lead in the pantomime The Golden Butterfly at Harry Clay’s Bridge Theatre in Newtown, Sydney, during 1919–1920.

Performer: Bessie Phillips

Location: Queensland and National

Australia Performance Period: 1916 – 1930s

Performance Type: Male Impersonator

Biography: Bessie Phillips was an Australian vaudeville performer, dancer, singer and male impersonator, best known as one half of the Phillips Sisters, alongside her sister Eileen Phillips.

Bessie and Eileen were born and raised in Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, Queensland, the daughters of Mrs Norah Phillips. They began their professional career in Queensland around 1911, developing a popular act combining singing, dancing, duets and impersonation.

Bessie was also an accomplished solo performer. Her career included appearances with Harry Clay, Fullers’ Theatres, the Tivoli organisation, Birch and Carroll, Dix-Baker, Ted Holland and other Australian variety companies.

Her career is particularly significant because she combined conventional female variety performance with male impersonation, at a time when women portraying men were an established and popular feature of Australian vaudeville and pantomime.

Performer: Stella Lamond

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1918 – 1930s

Performance Type: Male Impersonator

Biography: Stella Lamond (1909–1973) was an Australian comedian, singer, musician, actress and variety performer born in Sydney, New South Wales. She began performing as a child and became a well-known figure in Australian pantomime, vaudeville, radio, film and television.

Her connection with female-to-male stage performance dates from 1918, when she appeared as Sammy Locks in Babes in the Wood. Although this was a childhood male character rather than an adult principal-boy role, it forms an early example of her performing a male character on the Australian stage.

Lamond continued performing for more than five decades, including work with Nat Phillips, Joe Lawman and Max Reddy, as well as appearances in film and television. She died in Melbourne in 1973, leaving a lasting legacy in Australian popular entertainment.

Performer: Ida Newton

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1918 – 1940s

Performance Type: Principle Boy

Biography: Ida Newton was an Australian singer, actress, dancer and variety performer who became known for her work in vaudeville, musical comedy and pantomime. Born in Queensland, Australia, she built a long career on the Australian and New Zealand theatrical circuits.

Newton was particularly notable for performing male characters in Australian pantomime. Her roles included Jack in Jack and Jill (1918), the Second Boy in The Forty Thieves (1922), Abdallah in The Forty Thieves (1923), Trueheart in Mother Goose (1923), and Robin Hood in Babes in the Wood (1927–28).

A versatile performer, she combined singing, dancing, comedy and character acting throughout her career.

Image: Ella Shields in top hat and tails 139 King Street Sydney Date: 1930- 1933 Photographer: Dorothy Welding Source: State Library of New South Wales

Performer: Ella Shields

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1921- 1935

Performance Type: Male Impersonator

Biography: Ella Shields (1879–1952) was an American-born singer, comedian and music-hall performer renowned as one of the leading female male impersonators of the early twentieth century. Born Ella Catherine Buscher in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, she developed an international career in vaudeville, music hall, theatre and recording. Shields became famous for transforming herself into a succession of male characters through costume, voice, movement and comic performance.

She made several important tours of Australia, including engagements on the Tivoli circuit in 1921–22 and 1925, and returned in 1932 for Follies of 1932. Her Australian repertoire included Burlington Bertie, a young naval officer and a comic policeman.

For further information see Artist Profile page Ella Shields

Performer: Nellie Small

Location: National

Australia Performance Period: 1930 – 1964

Performance Type: Male impersonator

Biography: Nellie Small, born Ellen E. Small, was an Australian singer, entertainer and celebrated female male impersonator. Born in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1900, she began her theatrical career in the 1920s. From the early 1930s, Small became known for performing in men’s suits, top hat and tails, developing a distinctive masculine stage persona. She appeared at major Australian venues including the Tivoli Theatre, Theatre Royal, Stones’ Cabaret, Sammy Lee’s and the Booker T. Washington Club, as well as touring throughout Australia and New Zealand. Her act became sufficiently recognisable that the phrase “Send for Nellie” was reportedly used in Australian show-business circles when a performance needed an additional attraction.

Her repertoire combined jazz, blues, popular songs, comedy and male impersonation. She continued performing for more than four decades, becoming one of Australia’s notable female entertainers and male impersonators of the twentieth century.

For further information see Artist Profile page Nellie Small