This third part of the story of Elimar is sourced from newspapers and from Actor Equity files held in Sydney. I am trying to discover more about the Equity case through files in Melbourne- however I cannot access these without permission, which I am trying to obtain. Once again thanks to Robyn, Elimar's daughter, for sharing her memories.
After six years of internment, Elimar Clemens Buschmann,
juggler, was released from Tatura camp in March 1946. He headed to Melbourne
and in April made his reappearance on stage in a charity performance at St
Kilda Town Hall. Later that month he was preparing for a return to professional
performance in a Tivoli revue called Forbidden City.
Elimar in 1946 from the Forbidden City Programme
Forbidden City starred a roll call of Australian performers
who had been popular during the war. Amongst them were Val Jellay, Iris and Ron
Shand, Lulla Fanning, Babby Le Brun, Summer Lock Elliott and Elimar’s old
friend George Nichols. George had never gained the fame of his sister Joy, who
was a War time superstar, but he had been employed steadily on the Tivoli
circuit during the war where his impersonations and comedy made him a household
name.
However, there were rumblings amongst the cast about the
German Juggler and his loyalties. It seems this was prompted in part by
Elimar’s application for membership of the union, Actors Equity. Without that
membership he would be unable to perform, as the arts industry in Australia was
a closed shop at that time.
Forbidden City opened to rave reviews but the principals in
the cast were unhappy with Elimar’s presence and threatened to walk out. They
held a meeting where they agreed that Elimar should leave the show when it
moved to Sydney, or they would boycott the production. They complained to
Actors Equity and were assured of support if they decided to make the show
‘black.’ They were outraged that an alleged Nazi sympathiser was working when
former soldiers and Australian performers were unemployed.
In early June the storm broke and the tabloid newspaper, The
Truth, was reporting the scandalous fact that a German, a man who had been
interned during the war as a suspected Nazi, was performing on the Australian
stage. Somebody had informed on Elimar- again.
Elimar was front page news, the fact that he had been
interned for the whole duration of the war was a red flag for the newspapers,
who assumed this was due to his Nazi sympathies. Equity stated that
‘The background of the war against Nazism seems to have been
forgotten by the Melbourne Tivoli manager Mr Jack Martin, He appears quite
content to use any measure to ensure profits for his company. Mr Martin appears
to have forgotten Buchenwald and numerous other Nazi torture camps. A member of
Equity, Max Pearce, died in one of these hell holes and a number of our members
were killed in the war against Nazism’.
David Martin the managing director of the Tivoli defended the juggler
‘He is not replacing any other performer, and I do not think
there is another artist in the world, and definitely not Australia whose work
may be compared to his.’
Indeed, Charles Waller who probably saw Elimar during this
run said that
‘His work and manner showed tremendous improvement since his
last appearance at the The Tivoli. With this act he was fit to star on any
programme.’
Six years of internment had perhaps made Elimar a more
mindful, and creative performer.
Nonetheless, the improvement in skill and presentation meant
nothing if he was banned from joining Equity. In late June Elimar was subjected
to an investigation by the union. He and those who had ‘denounced’ him were
summoned to the union offices in Victoria and Elimar was asked a series of
questions regarding his loyalties.
The union called general meetings in July so that the
membership could vote on his application for membership. The investigation had
determined that
‘It is our firm opinion and belief that at no time was
Elimar a Nazi or Nazi sympathiser and he is completely exonerated after full
and thorough enquiry.’
The motion to accept his application for membership was approved
by 195 votes to 14.
Elimar proceeded to work in Sydney in Forbidden City, he was
described as one of the ‘bright spots’ of the show and received a good
reception from the Sydney audience.
Despite being cleared by equity and enjoying success, he was
still subject to some animosity from his fellow performers. Val Jellay an
Australian Tivoli performer who was one of his on-stage assistants in Forbidden
City and knew him around this time said.
‘Elimar was so demanding of himself. Whenever possible he
would rig his slack wire working for hours and if he missed a trick, he would
slap his own face with force and real venom yelling and swearing in German. The
result was a sensational act. …. because of his nationality he was shunned and
made to feel an enemy. Even fellow artists would turn from him. Elimar was a gentleman,
that was all I knew. ‘
His other assistant was Dawn Butler, real name Sadie Dawn
Butler. Dawn and Elimar had met in Brisbane before the war when she was still a
teenager. During the war Sadie had been constantly employed as a member of the
famous Tivoli ballet, she also worked as a choreographer for the Tivoli shows.
Elimar and Dawn Butler (aka Sadie Dawn Butler) From a newspaper 1940
Dawn’s war time experiences included some ill-fated
romances. In 1942, she went through a marriage ceremony with comedian Buddy
Morley, who had accompanied Elimar on the Queensland tour with George Sorlie in
1940. Early in the war Morley had joined the Australian Infantry Force (AIF)
and toured the Middle East, upon his return in 1942, he and Dawn got married
and lived as husband and wife for 9 months. However, Buddy had not divorced his
previous wife. He was a bigamist. He was charged with bigamy and gaoled. Dawn
was left to fend for herself at the Tivoli.
Her adventures were not over. As a Tivoli ballet girl, she
had many admirers, one however, was braver than the others. One night after returning
home exhausted from another show, Dawn discovered a pair of men’s shoes under
her bed, attached to them were the legs of Russell Maher, an admirer who hoped
‘to sneak a kiss’. Dawn ran outside screaming and called the police. Maher was imprisoned
for two months.
Dawn was now
performing on stage with Elimar, the gentleman, every evening, and a romance
developed. In July, the romance became a marriage. The pair married in July
after Elimar was cleared by Equity and proceeded to develop a double act that
they took around the world.
1947 saw Elimar and Sadie in New Zealand on tour with a
Tivoli revue called, It’s Foolish but it’s fun. Elimar juggled hoops and balls
on the floor and on the slack wire but the most popular part of his turn was
the audience interaction.
‘No one was more popular with the audience than Elimar the
juggler, not so much with his brilliant juggling either on the floor or on a
slack wire as with the way he brought the stalls, circle, and gallery into his
act. He kicked or threw a ball to them and when they returned it gave a
remarkable display of retrieving.’
Elimar would catch the ball on a mouth stick, balancing and
swaying and making both the audience member and himself look good. The company
also performed at a Food for Britain charity event on this tour. There was no
press mention of Elmar’s war time record.
In New Zealand, Elimar was advertised as ‘The International
Juggling Genius’ which suggests that it was around this time that he was filmed by Tex Glanville, a fellow juggler.
In 1950, Elimar was contracted to star in Ice Follie, a revue performed on ice. Elimar had never skated and according to family legend hired an ice-skating rink for a few nights so he could learn the skill. When the show opened in Perth, he juggled on ice skates for part of the act and for the other half wore soft slippers which resulted in very wet feet.
Elimar and Sadie Dawn spent most of the early 1950s touring
the world. In 1951 they appeared at the London Palladium. According to
Billboard in July that year
‘Best of the bunch was Elimar. Starting off at stage level
juggling 8 hoops, balancing a ball on his head and waving a band around his leg
he mounted onto a wire tightrope and did the same things there to great
applause.’
In 1951 he was back on skates in Chicago the Billboard
reviewer said
‘He was the first skating juggler used here. His juggling of
a tennis racket between two juggling sticks was the big bit…. his closer with a
maze of strobe rings going in different directions was highly effective
visually.’
Elimar from a Harlem Globetrotters Programme 1955
By 1954 he was performing in the Harlem Globetrotters floor show. It was a time of segregation, and the Globetrotters were subject to its discriminatory practices. They were refused accommodation in hotels, played to segregated audiences and were often abused by racist comments from their audiences. Before 1950, when the American National Basketball Association (NBA) was desegregated, they were one of the few opportunities for professional and paid appearances for talented African American basketballers. By the time Elimar joined them they were increasingly becoming more entertainment focused.
By 1958 Elimar had returned to Australia and was performing in
Sydney. In 1959 he appeared in the revue Many Happy Returns, which starred
Australia’s most popular performer Gladys Moncrief. Also in this show was a
young singer, Louise Matheson.
Louise born 1934 in Queensland was a talented performer who
had appeared in several Australian legitimate theatre shows. In 1955/56 she
performed in the long running and tremendously popular show Kismet. It ran for
a year, and the next year she was in the Pyjama Game, another popular
production.
In 1959 she was part of the singing chorus in Many Happy
Returns, and it was here that she and Elimar probably met. They would spend the
next 15 years together.
Louis Matheson, in White Dress from the newspapers
In the early 60s Elimar and Louise toured with the Harlem
Globetrotters. Their daughter remembers,
They were billed as "Elimar and Louise"……
Mum and Dad's act comprised three sections. First Dad would juggle using balls,
tennis rackets, and clubs and do a routine with a bunch wooden cube. Mum would
toss him stuff. Then Mum would sing, her style a fusion of Shirley Bassey,
Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland with some French songs thrown in for good
measure, while the rig was set up behind the curtain. Then Dad would perform on
his wire, juggling and using numerous small hoops on his arms and one leg. Again,
Mum would toss the rings, he would get them all spinning then do a bit where he
would throw a ball to the audience, and they would throw it back for him to
catch on a stick held in his mouth.
Elimar in 1954
In 1965, Elimar stopped touring and returned to
Australia to work on the ‘fringes of carnie life’. In 1977 he had a home in
Sydney.
Elimar passed away in Sydney in 1999, after a life
of tribulation and juggling. He was an incredible performer, a talented juggler,
and a man who crossed cultural boundaries to entertain people around the world.
‘
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