James Cassius Williamson 1844-1913

Williamson was persuaded to return to the stage in a one-act play, Kerry, which was presented
as a highlight of a charity matinee at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney on 22 February 1913. It was his final curtain. James Cassius Williamson died in Paris on 8 July 1913.

‘The Firm’ announced that a playhouse named in Williamson’s honour would be built in Melbourne on the corner of Exhibition and Lonsdale Streets, on the site of George Coppin’s old Olympic Theatre. Plans were abandoned on the outbreak of World War I, but when the theatre was built, in 1928, Williamson’s called it the Comedy. Nevertheless, through a succession of amalgamations and management changes, the firm that James Cassius Williamson founded continued to provide Australians with a giddying array of quality entertainment – serious and light drama, comedy, opera, ballet, musicals, pantomimes, concert attractions.

In 1971, the Williamson and Edgley interests merged, with Michael Edgley as Managing Director. This partnership lasted a little over two years.

In 1974 The Firm marked the centenary of J.C. Williamson’s arrival in Australia with a new production of Irene. But by now, ‘the largest theatrical management in the Southern Hemisphere’ was running out of steam. In 1976, after an unsuccessful application to the Industries Assistance Commission, the company was wound up, its assets realised and its theatres sold. Kenn Brodziak of Aztec Services obtained the rights to the name ‘J.C. Williamson Productions’, and produced under this banner for a number of years. After that, the name passed to other enterprises.

Most of the vast archives of J.C. Williamson’s are now housed in the National Library in Canberra and the Performing Arts Collection at the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne.

In 1998 Live Performance Australia inaugurated the annual J.C. Williamson Award (formerly the James Cassius Award), the foremost honour that the Australian live entertainment industry can bestow. The awards recognise individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the Australian live entertainment and performing arts industry, and have shaped the future of our industry for the better. Mr Williamson would have been proud.

Frank Van Straten, 2007