In her debut novel, Jacqx Mililli has tackled the world of vaudeville in Australia in the first half of the twentieth century. Based on reminiscences the author heard from a real-life vaudeville performer, whose father led a travelling troupe of performers, the author explores a fascinating period of Australian entertainment history through the medium of historical fiction.
The story begins in 1920 when Vinnie steals some money and goes on the run. He falls in with a group of performers – musicians, jugglers, magicians and the like – and in merely a few years is not only the star comedian, but is also running the whole show. A couple of years later, 16-year-old Artis, keen to escape his domineering father, joins the troupe as Vinnie’s protégé. Soon Vinnie sets up a vaudeville company, handing the reins of the original troupe to Artis. By 1929-30, the Great Depression is in full swing, and both men are in love with dancer Belle, establishing an immediate animosity between them. When Belle and Artis marry, Vinnie is furious and marries showgirl Rose because her family is wealthy. But it turns out the source of that wealth is criminal, setting the scene for much of what follows.
There are some good descriptive passages, particularly concerning various performing acts, and the lengths to which one of the show’s workers went to make props, costumes, transportation, and publicity during difficult economic times. The hardships of running a travelling show, the lack of amenities, the unforeseen expenses are also informative, as is the description of how polio was treated at the time. But overall, there’s not enough detail in any of it. Things happen as if in bullet point form, and there’s no real build-up of tension, no tangible sense of anticipation or longing. Characters come across as cardboard cut-outs, rather than fully fleshed people.
Artis and Belle profess their love for one another within a week, and are married not long after. In the space of one page, Belle feels unwell, has sex with her husband, and in the next sentence is mysteriously in a doctor’s office, where she’s told she’s pregnant. This, all without a paragraph break! Artis’s parents, from whom he’d fled eight years earlier, have miraculously re-evaluated their parenting style and not only take their son back with open arms, but embrace his bride too. It would have been nice to spend time on their reconciliation, which is glossed over. Later in the story, Artis, somewhat disconcertingly, has very selfish responses to two significant family health issues. The lack of dramatic depth here is unfortunate.
More care needed to be taken in respect to some of the historical references. For instance, a dancing couple in 1930 are said to rival the talents of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but in fact those iconic Hollywood stars didn’t appear together in a film until 1933. After bedding Vinnie, Rose puts her pantyhose back on … but pantyhose weren’t even invented until the late 1950s. And there are a number of regrettable grammatical errors.
The story ends in 1955, and is rounded out in a most convenient manner. The author does address the serious matter of the sexual exploitation of women, and just how very young some of the performing children were. Vaudeville and travelling shows in Australia is a vast subject, and this book may pique your interest in exploring that industry further.
Published by Escribano Publishing, 430 pages
ISBN 978 09756800-5-6 (paperback); 978 09756800-6-3 (ebook)
RRP $29.00
