Remembering Barry Humphries, the man who enriched the culture, reimagined the one man show and upended the cultural cringe
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Samedi, avril 22, 2023
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His street performances around Melbourne in the early 1950s foreshadowed performance art in Australia.
Key Points:
- His street performances around Melbourne in the early 1950s foreshadowed performance art in Australia.
- He was the most daring student prankster Melbourne University had ever known.
- Years later, academic Peter Conrad accurately described Humphries’ adolescence as a “one man modern movement”.
- It also gave him his first taste of the power of an audience to determine what happens in the theatre.
The birth of Edna
- Edna was a composite portrait of various women whose mannerisms had imprinted themselves in his brain as a boy, growing up in staid Camberwell.
- Wearing a massive hat sculpted to resemble the Sydney Opera House, Edna stopped the crowds at Royal Ascot that year.
- The image of her in that sumptuous creation (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum) launched Edna and Humphries around the world.
Conquering the world
- She skewered dozens of politicians, pop stars, singers and actors who graced the program every week.
- Her appearance with Jerry Hall singing Stand by your Man remains one of the most hilarious television moments of that time.
- Humphries’ success on British television in the 1980s and 1990s were among the major achievements of his career.
The early years
- Eric ran a flourishing building business (he might be called a developer nowadays) and Louisa was a homemaker.
- He loved dressing up and accompanying his mother on trips to the city or out for lunch with other ladies.
- At Melbourne Grammar, Humphries found the boys who excelled in sports rewarded and praised for their achievements.
- An interest in art or music was considered by the headmaster to be suspicious, a disappointment for Humphries, passionate about art.
A transformational artist
- With his mask off he was as witty as when he wore it.
- Manning Clark called him one of the “mythmakers and prophets of Australia […] enriching the culture which had been dominated by the straiteners”.
- Read more:
Friday essay: Barry Humphries' humour is now history – that's the fate of topical, satirical comedy