Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director , producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies.
36-661: Smith made his first film, Our Friends, the Hayseeds , in 1917. He went on to become one of the most prolific and popular Australian filmmakers of the silent era. Among his films were adaptations of the works of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson . His 1933 comedy The Hayseeds featured the first screen appearance of Cecil Kellaway . Smith was famous for making his films quickly – sometimes he would complete shooting and post-production within one month for budgets ranging from £600 to £1,200. His wife Elsie would comment on his scripts and his brother Gordon looked after company finances. He
72-513: A lost film . The Hayseeds and Duggans live on selections next to each other. Joe Hayseed and Pansy Duggan want to get married but their families quarrel when the Hayseeds' cow gets into the Duggan's corn and they are forbidden to see each other. The two families have a brawl on the bush fence, a fight that only ends in exhaustion. However, a bush fire unites them and Jim and Pansy marry. Pansy falls pregnant and Dad Hayseed and Dad Duggan both hope for
108-404: A boy which will be named after them. She ends up giving birth to twin girls. The film was divided into four sections: the first two dealing with a day in the life of the Hayseeds; the last two under the title "Pansy's Wooing" with Joe and Pansy's courtship. A contemporary reviewer said that of the film's 5,000 foot length, 1,000 feet was dedicated to humorous titles. The movie was inspired by
144-549: A film, and Splendid Fellows (1934). He went back to Williamsons but eventually he and his wife sold their interests in 1937 for £15,000 with an additional £7,000. He retired to Killara , Sydney in 1938. Smith was married to Elsie Fleming from 1911 until his death. She was often an uncredited contributor with his work, helping him write scripts. His brother Gordon managed his finances. Smith died on 2 January 1950 in Royal North Shore Hospital , St Leonards. He
180-480: A remarkably vivid conception of a settler's hardships and vicissitudes. Many of the scenes are familiar, but they have been connected by Mr. Beaumont Smith in a telling manner, and he has woven an interesting story around the incidents of backblocks life." The Adelaide Advertiser wrote "As Dad Hayseed Mr. Roy Redgrave is beyond criticism. He is the cocky farmer of the comedy stage, even to the gait and his indifference to appearances." The Bulletin said, "The story
216-481: A shadow of doubt that the moving picture industry in Australia is a healthy and profitable game. So far he has not created an epic. He has never set himself out to do so. He aims to produce marketable pictures for Australian audiences and so far has succeeded admirably. As a native product he should be proud of his exploits. He is entirely unorthodox in his methods, because be there an accepted way to do things he will do it
252-694: Is usually conspicuous by its absence of be it there it is camouflaged as portion of the properties, or as a rest for the cameramen, or anything but its proper use, and he relies on his memory solely for the movements of his characters. He claims to make pictures on a basis of sound economy which permits him to release the same at a reasonable price to the showmen. Shrinking profits led to Smith retiring from film-making in 1925. He moved to New Zealand and became managing director of Williamson Films (New Zealand) Ltd (later J. C. Williamson Picture Corporation Ltd), Wellington. Smith returned to filmmaking to make The Hayseeds (1933), giving Cecil Kellaway his first lead in
288-461: Is a fact that they have all made money for Beaumont Smith and the showmen who have screened them, and what more could any man ask... Exactly what there is about the Beaumont Smith films it is hard to say. There was with some of the earliest a crudeness that was apparent, yet they are all devised with cunning that speaks of showmanship of the highest degree and as such they get over flaws and all and
324-404: Is enticed to the pub buy two spielers on the pretense that Norah needs him, and is drugged. Norah discovers the plot and tells Jim Hayseed and the rest of the boys, who arrive just in time to save Dad after a brawl. Dad then gets a letter from Tom announcing that old Spotty the cow has got a calf and that Mum's eggs are hatching. This makes them get homesick and they go home. After Our Friends,
360-435: Is genuinely Australian, with its pictures of the slaves to Cow, the quarrel of neighbors over straying Cow, and the reconciliation when all hands are called in to help at a bushfire on the land of one of the quarrellers." The Sydney Morning Herald said the film contained "rugged types of character are pressed into service which need no introduction to those who have read or seen On Our Selection , The Waybacks and While
396-465: Is right, but the family fights and clumsy capers of the principals are all wrong. As a typical Hayseed Duggan wouldn’t earn tuppence, while old Dad would figure better as a retired American multimillionaire." Box office response was strong and there were a number of sequels starting with The Hayseeds Come to Sydney . It was the first feature from theatrical entrepreneur Beaumont Smith who went on to become one of Australia's most prolific filmmakers of
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#1733085939726432-549: The Victor Harbor region, which had a short run. Smith then helped C. J. Dennis found The Gadfly , which ran for several years. Smith moved from Adelaide to Sydney in 1907 to work for The Bulletin as a writer and advertising manager. He also worked at The Lone Hand . Smith moved into theatre, becoming secretary for theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson . He also worked as press secretary for Anderson's representative. Smith toured Europe in 1909 and 1911. During
468-492: The Billy Boils (which he filmed in 1921 ) and Seven Little Australians . While shooting the bushfire scene off the side of a hill at Campbelltown, the fire got out of control and momentarily trapped the actors. According to contemporary press reports, "they came out of that fire black as coal heavers, almost blind with smoke, and singed badly. Their faces were a study of horror and fear, and that heartless photographer turned
504-913: The Billy Boils . Smith adapted Seven Little Australians into a play and toured it in 1914–15. He also wrote a play with Edward Dyson , Two Battlers and a Bear , and a review, Stop Your Nonsense . Our Friends, the Hayseeds (1917) was shot in South Australia. Many of the cast had appeared in Smith's theatrical productions of While the Billy Boils and Seven Little Australians . It was successful and Smith followed it with The Hayseeds Come to Sydney (1917), shot in Sydney, The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show (1917), shot in Brisbane, and The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup (1918), filmed in Melbourne. Smith's first non-Hayseed film
540-431: The Billy Boils . Nearly all the episodes are in the open, and the photography is remarkably good." In May 1917 Table Talk reported the film had "been doing good business in Sydney fior the past two months". In July 1917 another writer from The Bulletin stated the film "is having as successful a run in the country as any other all-Australian production, though the exaggeration is silently resented. The general setting
576-566: The Hayseeds Our Friends, the Hayseeds is a 1917 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith . It centers on the rural family, the Hayseeds , and their rivalry with a neighbouring family, the Duggans . It was Smith's first movie as a director and was a popular success at the box office, leading to a number of sequels. However no known copy of it exists today and it is considered
612-483: The Hayseeds , Smith was able to pre-sell this sequel to forty Sydney theatres by the end of that month. This was the first film made by stage actor Fred MacDonald who played Dave Rudd on stage and in several films, notably for Ken G. Hall . The part of Jim Hayseed was similar to Dave Rudd. The movie was filmed in and around Sydney in May 1917, with plenty of scenes of local landmarks such as Taronga Zoo and White City. It
648-654: The booking houses the day of the Australian film is numbered." Smith recommenced production in October. He spent a number of months in Hollywood, then returned to Australia to make The Man from Snowy River (1920). In July 1920 he was called "the only really independent picture producer in Australia. He is sole proprietor of his producing business, using no outside capital, so is in a position to turn out just what class of picture he chooses. " Smith travelled to New Zealand to make
684-421: The first act on his own and then collaborated with Rudd. The play was eventually rewritten by Bert Bailey to great success. In 1914 he went into theatre management. He toured the plays Mr Wu (1914), The Barrier by Rex Beach, No Mother to Guide Her , A Girl's Cross Roads and The Glad Eye . He was a fan of the works of Henry Lawson and adapted several of his stories for stage and film, including While
720-418: The gardens, Town Hall, Taronga Zoo and White City. Someone tells them to walk in the middle of the road so none of the footpads that are supposed to wait around the corners could sandbag them. Dad goes surfing at Manly Beach and needs to be rescued. The family meet Norah, a country girl who has gone to work at a low-class Woolloomooloo pub. Dad rescues Norah from the hands of some bad characters. Later on, Dad
756-451: The general impression defies criticism. Smith was born in Hallett, South Australia , named after a popular singer at the time, Armes Beaumont . He was educated at East Adelaide Public School. Smith won writing competitions as a teenager. He first worked as a journalist, writing for The Critic and The Register . When he was around 19 he established a small newspaper, Seaside Topics , in
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#1733085939726792-519: The handle all the time. But he got a most realistic picture." Filming finished on Thursday 1 February 1917 and the film was previewed for local cinema owners in Adelaide the following morning. The film was previewed in Sydney on 28 February 1917. It was commercially released in Sydney in March, then rolled out throughout the rest of Australia over 1917. The Adelaide Mail said of the film that "the tone
828-668: The inter-racial romance The Betrayer (1921), then back in Australia did While the Billy Boils (1921), adapted from the stories of Henry Lawson (which Smith had previously adapted for the stage). He made the drama The Gentleman Bushranger (1922), In April 1922 Smith was about to go to London. He said his "future production plans hinge entirely on whether I can market some of my pictures in England or not." Smith declared that if out of his twelve films he "failed to market at least three" ( The Man From Snowy River'’, ‘'A Maid of Maoriland , and The Gentleman Bushranger ) then "I will know that
864-622: The latter visit he arranged for a European troupe of midgets, "Tiny Town", to tour Australia. It was enormously successful, making a profit of 425%. Smith later toured the show in South Africa, where it was a success, and Canada, where it flopped due to opposition from existing circuses. He also toured a show by the suffragette Muriel Matters . It was not a success, he claimed, because the main market, suffragettes, could see her at women's clubs for free. Smith tried playwriting, working on an adaptation of On Our Selection by Steele Rudd . He wrote
900-458: The local market, cost of production is too high." Smith then returned to Hayseed comedies with Townies and Hayseeds (1923) and Prehistoric Hayseeds (1923). He made two films starring Arthur Tauchert , The Digger Earl (1924) and Joe (1924). He then made two comedies starring Claude Dampier , Hullo Marmaduke (1925) and The Adventures of Algy (1925). In 1925 Everyones reported that: Beau Smith still remains to prove beyond
936-424: The opposite and get away with it. In work he is an object lesson to some of the producers and on location is more often than not taken for the chief mechanist, as he is busy here and there arranging props, adjusting lights and doing a hundred and one things that a producer ought not to do. He usually writes his own scenarios, but possibly uses them to paper the walls of his office, since on location this useful adjunct
972-590: The original investment." The Hayseeds Come to Sydney The Hayseeds Come to Sydney (also known as The Hayseeds Come to Town ) is a 1917 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith . The second in the Hayseeds series of movies, is considered a lost film . In Stoney Creek, Dad Hayseed ( Tal Ordell ) wins £5,000 in the lottery and decides to take his family to Sydney. The group includes him, Mum, Sam, Jim ( Fred MacDonald ), Poppy, Molly, Bubs, Peter, Peter and Cousin Harold. They visit shops, theatres,
1008-653: The silent era. In July 1920 it was announced the series was to be re-released after having been withdrawn for twelve months. In 1925 a profile on Smith in Everyone's magazine stated, the film "is still asked for in the country and were it possible to re-issue this film —it is now ten years or more since it was taken —it would still have a popular appeal." The following year the same paper wrote "Beau made more ambitious productions after that; five, six and seven reelers; but I might not be far out in guessing that none of them returned any- where near an equal percentage of profit on
1044-402: The success of Bert Bailey 's stage adaptation of Steele Rudd 's Dad and Dave stories, On Our Selection and Philip Lytton 's play The Waybacks . Smith had worked with Bailey and Edmund Duggan on the initial production of Selection . Smith was a theatrical manager touring Adelaide with some shows. He was losing money and decided to pivote to filmmaking. According to Everyones "tt
1080-423: The time has come to acknowledge defeat as an Australian picture producer. On the other hand, if I find a reasonable market in England, I intend to enter into some sort of partnership arrangement with an English producing company which will release four or six Australian productions each year... Failing some such assurance of an outside market, I will discontinue production indefinitely. We cannot now produce solely for
1116-441: Was a wartime melodrama, Satan in Sydney (1918). He followed it with Desert Gold (1919), a race horse story, and the comedy Barry Butts In (1919) starring Barry Lupino . In May 1919 Smith ceased producing films until better terms for exhibiting them could be found. The Bulletin reported that "Smith, who has turned out more winners than any other producer in this country, reckons that unless fresh arrangements are made by
Beaumont Smith - Misplaced Pages Continue
1152-410: Was claimed 100,000 people saw the movie being shot. During filming the sequence at Manly Beach, Tal Ordell almost drowned and had to be rescued by the cameraman. The film was retitled The Hayseeds Come to Town in markets outside Sydney. It was followed by The Hayseeds' Back-blocks Show . Lone Hand said " The photography is an improvement on the" first film while "the plot of Hayseeds No. 2
1188-641: Was hot —as only it can be in Adelaide —and on a Sabbath that Beau Smith with a little debit balance against him in his theatrical ventures —drove out to Paradise with a team of actors —there to commence the first of the “Hayseeds” series which was finally to lure him from the stage to the screen." Shooting took place on location in South Australia in Campbelltown and Norwood . Many of the cast had appeared in Beaumont Smith 's theatrical productions of While
1224-470: Was pleasing, and made an undeniably good impression on those who witnessed it... the film is splendidly put together. It contains but little plot, most of the scenes presenting incidents of everyday life. Some of the scenes, however, are a little drawn-out, particularly the fight between the Hayseed and Duggan families." The Adelaide Register called it "a clever study". The Adelaide Journal wrote "it gives
1260-431: Was sometimes known as "One Shot Beau" or "That'll Do Beau". A 1925 profile on the director stated: Though he is by no means the pioneer of Australian motion picture producers, he is the daddy of them all by I'eason of the number of films he has produced [then seventeen]... He is his own financier and has not found it necessary to float a company to stand behind his products. There are many who sneer at some of them, but it
1296-444: Was survived by his wife Elsie. He was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium . The National Library of Australia tracked down a collection of 300 reels of Smith's films, including all his features. However, when the researchers arrived to collect it they were told that the entire collection had been burnt within the previous weeks, on the advice of an insurance company because of the film's inflammable nature. Our Friends,
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