Forgotten star
Robert Chisholm was born William Leslie Chisholm on 18 April 1894 in Melbourne, Victoria. He was one of six children, born to Annie (née Absalom) and Robert Chisholm. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 23 November 1915, joining the Australian Army Service Corps as a driver. He embarked from Melbourne on board HMAT Persic on 22 December 1916. Upon arrival in France he was attached to the 2nd Australian Divisional Supply Column but by early 1918 was serving in the 4th Divisional Train.
On 4 January 1918, in a letter to his mother, Chisholm wrote that he,
“…had a few offers to join concert companies out here and tour France but I’ve turned them down as I’m quite happy in this unit and get every facility for practise and concert work”.
By March 1918 Chisholm had transferred to the 4th Divisional Concert Party, otherwise known as the ‘Smart Set’. The ‘Smart Set’ performed a number of concerts for troops stationed in France and Belgium. As a baritone Chisholm also featured as a female impersonator in a number of performances.
The ‘Smart Set’ performed on a makeshift stage in any available hall, school, or barn, and sometimes performed in the open air. In May 1918, they gave a series of concerts in the barn on the Hennessy Chateau estate in Allonville. Although mainly for regular soldiers, the concerts were at times enjoyed by senior officers. On one such occasion General John Monash attended a concert. To accommodate the Corps Commander a special ‘box’ seat was made from a feed trough in the middle of the barn. After another performance two days later on 31 May 1918, two German shells hit the barn in the early hours of the morning. Men of the 14th Battalion were sleeping in the barn at the time, resulting in 87 casualties, including 27 deaths.
In a letter to his mother dated 7 October 1918, Chisholm wrote that the concert party was closing down for five days before beginning a season with the Americans at a theatre reopening at Amiens. He also wrote that General Monash visited the concert party at their show. With the war almost over, Chisholm started receiving job offers from Australia for engagements upon his return. These included offers of an engagement on the Tivoli Circuit, as well as one with George Willoughby. Chisholm also wrote that he and fellow ‘Smart Set’ performer George Castle, the brother of soprano Amy Castles,
“…sang at a Requiem Service conducted by the Archbishop of Amiens in memory of all Australians who fell in defending his diocese. It was most impressive. George sang the Ave Maria and I the O’ Salularis”.
After the war ended Chisholm remained in the United Kingdom rather than returning to Australia. He was granted approval from AIF Headquarters to undertake non-military employment in the United Kingdom, and received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. It was here that he won a top prize for baritone in 1919.
In April 1920, Chisholm requested to be discharged from the AIF. He had been offered a contract with renowned theatre director Sir Alfred Butt. ‘Unforseen circumstances’ caused him to cancel his request and he returned to Australia in September 1920, being discharged soon after.
Upon his return to Australia, Chisholm signed a contract with the J.C. Williamson theatre company, starring with Gladys Moncrieff in The Maid of the Mountains. It is unknown when he adopted the stage name ‘Robert Chisholm’, though press reports regarding his 1921 performance in The Maid of the Mountains indicate he was performing under that name by this time. Chisholm starred in a number of Australian theatre productions, including The Merry Widow (1922), A Southern Maid (1923), The Arcadians (1923), and Lilac Time (1924). He returned to London in the early 1920s, believing there to be more opportunities for acting work in the United Kingdom and starred as Pablo in a number of productions of Nina Rosa at various venues across England.
Chisholm made his Broadway debut in 1927 in the role of Shep Keyes in Golden Dawn. He went on to perform in a number of productions, including Threepenny Opera (1933), Richard Rogers’ Higher and Higher (1940), On the Town (1944), and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1951). In 1942 he starred as Richard Hood in the pre-Broadway tour of Without Love, and at the St. James Theatre in New York City. The production also starred Academy Award winner Katharine Hepburn.
In 1933 Chisholm returned to Australia to star alongside Gladys Moncrieff again in Collits’ Inn. It became one of the most successful theatre productions in Australian history, with long production runs in both Sydney and Melbourne. He also starred in the Sydney and Melbourne productions of The Beloved Vagabond.
Chisholm’s acting career was not limited to the stage. He made his Hollywood debut in the 1930 film The Lottery Bride, and also featured in two British films, Cock o' the North (1935) and Father O’Flynn (1935). His final film was It Happened in Hollywood (1937). In 1950, he featured in episodes of the television series Kraft Theatre and Robert Montgomery Presents.
During the Second World War, Chisholm, then in his forties, was a member of an Entertainment National Service Association unit. He toured throughout Canada, again providing entertainment to troops through a series of performances, including a 90 minute variety show called A is for Aces.
Chisholm gave his final Broadway performance in 1950 in the production of Bless You All, with Pearl Bailey, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. Chisholm’s final performance in the United States was as Sir Francis Beekman, alongside Carol Channing, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1951.
In 1958 as Bob Chisholm, he starred in the first West End production My Fair Lady, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, alongside Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. He also featured on the West End cast recording, which is still available today. Chisholm remained with the production of My Fair Lady for a year, it being his final major production.
Robert Chisholm died of a heart attack in South Yarra, on 4 November 1960, aged 66.
The Australian War Memorial has digitised Robert Chisholm’s letters home as part of its Anzac Connections project. The letters, diaries, and papers of hundreds of others who served in the First World War have also been digitised.
References
AWM Private Records Collection PR88/028
van Straten, Frank, "'Robert Chisholm - a forgotten Australian star", ASRA CONFERENCE 2007, MELBOURNE : ART OF AUDIO : SESSION FIVE, Recorded 15 August 2007 - 17 August 2007, National Film and Sound Archive.
"ARMISTICE MEMORIES", The Age, 11 November 1950, p11
"Robert Chisholm, Who Plays Beppo in "The Maid of the Mountains," at the Royal." Table Talk, 27 Jan 1921, p3
"A TRIUMPHANT CAREER", The World's News, 8 December 1923, p7
"J. C. WILLIAMSON ROYAL COMIC OPERA SEASON", The Register, 14 August 1924, p13
"THE THEATRE and ITS PEOPLE", Table Talk, 18 January 1934, p23
"PORT IN THE AIF IN THE 1914 WAR", Sporting Globe, 26 June 1940, p11
"U.S. ENSA Gets Going With 4 Months in Can.", The Billboard, 27 March 1943, p9
Waldon, Steve, "So why have we forgotten Robert Chisholm?", The Age, 15 August 2007
n.d., [Biographical cuttings on Robert Chisholm, actor/singer, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals], National Library of Australia
n.d., [Chisholm, Robert (actor/singer) : programs and related material collected by the National Library of Australia]