Here from There—travel, television and touring revues: internationalism as entertainment in the 1950s and 1960s

Entertainments depicting national distinctions attracted Australian audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Touring revues from overseas afforded opportunities to see the nations of the world arrayed on the stage. Each of the major producers of commercial entertainments in Australia imported revues from Europe, Africa, the Americas and East Asia. Like their counterparts in Hong Kong and Singapore, entrepreneurs in Australia harnessed an increasing global flow of performers, at a time when national governments, encouraged by their participation in the United Nations, were adopting cultural policies to foster national distinction and sending troupes of entertainers as cultural ambassadors on international tours. In this article the author explores the significance of internationalist entertainment in mid-20th century Australia, focusing on Oriental Cavalcade, an “East Meets West” revue from 1959 which toured with performers from Australia and Asia. At a time when television viewing was becoming a domestic routine and international aviation was becoming an affordable indulgence, producers of internationalist entertainments offered audiences in the theatre experiences of being away from home that were akin to tourism and travel beyond the domestic scene. Jonathan Bollen is a Senior Lecturer in Drama, Flinders University, Australia.