Henry Albert ('Bert') Forsyth, known professionally as H. A. Forsyth (and informally as Bert Forsyth), was a pioneer of Australian film production during the silent era. From about 1907 to 1909 Forsyth worked as a travelling picture showman, screening the film Robbery Under Arms in Australian country towns. In 1910 his company, Southern Cross Motion Pictures, produced and released two successful motion pictures, Thunderbolt and Moonlite, based on incidents in the careers of the bushrangers Frederick Ward and Andrew Scott. For these projects Forsyth worked with Jack Gavin, who directed both films and acted in the lead roles. In January 1913 the New South Wales Government banned Forsyth's bushranger films (as part of a wider ban on the bushranging genre). At various stages in his career Bert Forsyth also managed theatres that screened motion pictures.
Biography
Early years
Henry Albert Forsyth was born on 8 October 1872 at Bushman's Lead in the Central West of New South Wales (renamed Parkes in 1873), the son of Allen Forsyth and Sarah LaFranchi (née Standen).NSW birth registration: Henry A. Forsyth; reg. no. 9788/1872; reg. district: Forbes. Before the birth of her son Sarah had been married to Antonio ('Peter') LaFranchi, so Bert had six older half-sisters. LaFranchi had abandoned his family in about 1868 when he travelled to the gold-fields near Warwick in Queensland to attend to the affairs of his brother (who died in August that year). During LaFranchi's absence Sarah formed a relationship with Allen Forsyth, with whom she had two sons, Allen Edgar ('Eddie') born in 1871 and Henry Albert ('Bert') born the following year. By about 1873 Peter LaFranchi had returned to the district and he and Sarah resumed their relationship, with Bert and his brother being raised within the LaFranchi household at Grenfell. Sarah and Peter LaFranchi had three more daughters, but the marriage finally broke down by about 1880. Sarah subsequently formed a relationship with Lars Madsen by whom she had four sons, born from 1881 to 1888 at Cudgellico and Young.Family records, Ancestry.com.
Bert Forsyth's interest in bushrangers probably began as a childhood fascination. The goldfields of the Forbes, Grenfell and Young districts had been a focus of outlaw activity only a decade before his birth. The famous bushranger Ben Hall was shot dead in May 1865, in a police ambush near Billabong Creek, south-west of Parkes.The Ben Hall Sites - Ben Hall's Death Site, H01827, New South Wales State Heritage Register, Heritage NSW website, Department of Planning & Environment, accessed 25 December 2022. In his formative years young Bert Forsyth would have been aware of stories of famous bushrangers who had operated in the district, such as Hall, Frank Gardiner, Johnny Gilbert and Jack O'Meally, and probably met people with first-hand accounts (both positive and negative) of their activities.
Forsyth was an expert horseman.H. A. (Bert) Forsyth, NFSA (National Film & Sound Archive) website, accessed 23 December 2022. Lines of verse written about Forsyth, published in the Sydney Sportsman newspaper in 1911, make reference to his horsemanship: "He's been a rider of renown, / And owned and trained his prads, you know".Bert Forsyth, Sydney Sportsman, 22 February 1911, page 4.
Forsyth may have had experience as an actor. Lines of the verse in the Sydney Sportsman suggest he performed in a stage-play of Robbery Under Arms, which had been adapted for the stage by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch in 1890 and proved to be a popular theatrical production over many years in Australia.Robbery Under Arms, The Herald (Melbourne), 1 March 1890, page 2; "Robbery Under Arms", Table Talk (Melbourne), 6 June 1901, page 23. The verse reads: "In Boldrewood's great piece he played. / They say that he was all the rage / As in a bright red shirt arrayed / He strutted up and down the stage".
First marriage
Bert Forsyth and Marie Hammond were married on 14 May 1900 in Sydney (according to the rites of the Roman Catholic church).NSW marriage registration: Henry A. Forsyth & Marie Hammond; reg. no. 2871/1900; reg. district: Sydney. The couple lived in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton. After their marriage (according to Forsyth's later testimony) the couple "were happy for about two months", but then he noticed his wife was beginning to "drink to excess". Later Marie told him she was going to Sydney, as living at Hamilton was "too quiet". One day, when Forsyth arrived home, he found his wife had left. Forsyth met with his wife in Sydney on a number of occasions in the following years, but each time she refused to return to live with him."Having a Good Time", The Evening News, 13 December 1906, page 5.
In January 1906 Forsyth travelled to America "on business" (probably to San Francisco). In the early morning of 18 April 1906 a major earthquake struck California, with its epicentre near San Francisco, causing considerable damage and loss of life.The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, H01827, USGS website (U.S. Geological Survey), USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, accessed 25 December 2022. The opening lines of the verse published in the Sydney Sportsman implies Forsyth was managing a theatre in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake, which destroyed the building: "He's been up to all sorts of games / He ran a show in 'Frisco town; / This man, 'twas he brought on the 'quake / Which tumbled flat his theatre down". Forsyth returned to Australia later that year. In a later newspaper article, Forsyth is described as a man "who has considerable globe trotting experience".Theatrical Gossip, The Newsletter: an Australian Paper for Australian People (Sydney), 3 December 1910, page 3.
In December 1906 after his return from America, Forsyth applied for a divorce from his wife Marie on the ground of desertion. At the time he was working as an insurance agent. After Forsyth had testified to the court, outlining the basis for his petition, a decree nisi was granted. Forsyth's divorce from Marie was finalised in February 1908.In Divorce, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February 1908, page 6.
Travelling picture show
For three years (probably 1907 to 1909) Forsyth worked as a travelling moving picture showman, touring the film Robbery Under Arms "into every nook and corner of Australia". Two motion picture versions of Robbery Under Arms had been produced in 1907, one by the Tait brothers and the other by Charles MacMahon, but the particular version that was toured by Forsyth has not been determined. Forsyth later recalled having "as many as three or four people on the job to get the film through" the old projector machine. He added: "Two dozen stoppages and breaks was a common occurrence; the lighting obtained from the limelight was certainly very soft and restful to the eye, but at times little could be seen of the picture". Notwithstanding the difficulties and shortcomings, Forsyth later claimed the audiences "were carried away with enthusiasm at the wonderful exhibition they saw". Forsyth exhibited Robbery Under Arms "over and over again at the same places" and often "the return visits drew larger houses than on the first occasion".Australian Picture Production of Other Days, Everyones (Sydney), Vol. 4 No. 286 (26 August 1925), page 50.
Theatre management
By 1909 Bert Forsyth was managing the Regent Music Hall in Regent Street, Redfern, the first building in the Sydney suburbs utilised for the screening of motion pictures. The brother of Forsyth's ex-wife, Herbert Hammond, also worked at the Regent Music Hall as a projector operator.A breath of the past..., Everyones (Sydney), Vol. 4 No. 290 (23 September 1925), page 47. The theatre had begun showing films by July 1907.The Regent-street Music Hall..., Evening News (Sydney), 22 July 1907, page 8.
On the evening of 29 April 1910 the film Robbery Under Arms was shown in the Masonic Hall in Cobar, in the central west of New South Wales. Advertised as "Forsyth's Stirring Picture Drama", the film was brought to Cobar by Herbert Hammond. The screening "drew a good house" but was considered to be "a very indifferent show" by the writer for the local newspaper. The writer commented: "The light was poor, the pictures small and the programme ended about 9.30 – a combination of features which Cobar people dislike".Robbery Under Arms (advertisement), Cobar Herald, 29 April 1910, page 4; Robbery Under Arms, Cobar Herald, 29 April 1910, page 5; The "Robbery Under Arms" picture..., Cobar Herald, 3 May 1910, page 2.
Film production
Thunderbolt
Forsyth's first moving picture production was Thunderbolt, based on incidents in the career of the bushranger Captain Thunderbolt (Frederick Ward). Thunderbolt was portrayed by Jack Gavin (who is also credited as the director of the film) and Forsyth himself took on the role of William Monckton, the bushranger's young acolyte.Thunderbolt – Moving Pictures, The Newsletter (Sydney), 19 November 1910, page 9. Ruby Butler played the dual roles of Jess Anson (Fred Ward's fiancée) and the Aboriginal girl Sunday.Theatrical Gossip, The Newsletter (Sydney), 3 December 1910, page 2. The camera operator was Alfred J. Moulton, who had cinematography experience working for Pathé Frères (that had a branch office in Sydney).
Thunderbolt was filmed in and around Lithgow during a two-to-three week period in October 1910. The Lithgow district "was specially selected by reason of the suitability of its surroundings". During the shooting of the film miners at Lithgow were on strike and a number were recruited as extras and "used in minor parts, such as bushrangers and mounted troopers". The footage depicting the death of Thunderbolt was filmed at a place known as "the second junction bridge" on the road between Bowenfels and Rydal. For the scenes that involved firearms, cartridges were used with the lead removed and replaced with soap. During the filming of the death of Captain Thunderbolt, the actor Jack Gavin later recalled that "the hard soap pellets had perforated my clothes in many places".Cinematography in Lithgow Lithgow Mercury 2 November 1910 page 2When the Australian-Produced Picture Made Big Money, Everyones (Sydney), Vol. 3 No. 166 (9 May 1923), page 166.
The completed film was reported to be a four-reel movie of over three thousand feet in length.To Showmen: Thunderbolt (advertisement), The Sun, 19 November 1910, page 3. A later article in Sydney's The Arrow newspaper claimed Thunderbolt was the first four-reel film ever produced (at a time when the average length of a dramatic film was from 800 to 900 feet).An Australian Producer, Arrow (Sydney), 12 August 1916, page 3. An article in November 1910 in Sydney's The Newsletter described the completed Thunderbolt as a film that was "admirably produced, being as clear and as distinct as any yet shown in Australia". In mid-November Forsyth had an advertisement published in The Sun newspaper addressed "To Showmen", advising of the availability of his newly finished film Thunderbolt ("The Film That Draws the Crowd"). Thunderbolt was first screened in mid-December 1910 in the Queen's Theatre in Pitt Street in Sydney.Thunderbolt (advertisement), Sunday Sun (Sydney), 13 November 1910, page 7. In early December 1910 it was reported that the film depicting Thunderbolt the bushranger was "proving a big draw wherever exhibited, in fact a perfect money spinner", and Southern Cross Motion Pictures "is troubled to supply the demand made upon their film department". Forsyth, the manager, advised that "they have several other bushranging films in course of preparation".
Moonlite