Palace Theatre

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Palace Theatre 1564 Broadway, New York, NY - 1950 Will Mahoney’s triumphant return to vaudeville.

Photo - Courtesy of the Performing Arts Museum Melbourne - Description : 1950 - Vaudeville icon Will Mahoney has a starring role at the RKO Palace New York, together with the film presentation of “The Kid from Texas” a 1950 American film that was Audie Murphy’s first Technicolor Western and the first feature film on Murphy’s Universal-International Pictures contract. It was directed by Kurt Neumann and featured the current singing rage Gale Storm.

Will Mahoney & Evie Hayes *

In the early 1930’s Will Mahoney was said to be the highest-paid variety star in America, earning up to $5500 per week. He and his partner Bob Geraghty toured the UK in 1934-38. Their shows, Radio New York - Why Be Serious & Bats in the Belfry featured a talented 25 year old American artiste Evie Hayes. Smitten, Will Mahoney married Evie on March 26, 1938 while they were both performing in London. It was Mahoney’s third marriage, he was 44 years old and she was 25. That year Frank Neil, managing director of the Tivoli vaudeville circuit in Australia, brought Mahoney, Hayes and Geraghty to Melbourne Australia.

Their first performance at the Tivoli Theatre Melbourne on August 22, 1938 marked the beginning of seventeen successful tours of Australasia. As part of their contract they appeared in the 1939 Cinesound Production, Come Up Smiling (re-named Ants in his Pants). The film was developed as a star vehicle for Mahoney. Cinesound were later to say that Mahoney was the highest paid star they had ever signed.

In January 1943 Mahoney joined Geraghty in the management of the Cremorne Theatre, Brisbane. Mahoney and Hayes appeared on stage regularly along with leading artists like comedian Roy Rene, actor and comedian George Wallace, actor, stuntman and circus performer Jim Gerald, singer Olga Vernon, and comedian Buster Fiddess. The theatre also attracted entertainers from overseas, among them Mahoney’s friends Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, Larry Adler and Artie Shaw. Following the end of World War II, variety shows were attracting smaller audiences and attendance’s began to fall.

In 1947 Evie won the coveted lead role in Annie Get Your Gun, which played His Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne. Later the show went on the road and toured for an amazing three-and-a-half-years.

In 1948 Will & his wife Evie closed their theatre and Will returned to the U.S.A. to revitalize his career. His reception was overwhelming and he was acclaimed as ‘the most versatile variety artist in the world.

Accepting another lucrative Tivoli contract, Mahoney came back to Australia and settled down with Evie in Melbourne. In 1952 Evie was employed again when there was a limited re-run season of Annie Get Your Gun, then came Kiss Me, Kate, and a revival of Oklahoma!. Now a house-hold name, in 1953 she was rewarded with the lead role in Call Me Madam.

From 1958 Evie Hayes appeared regularly on television where she worked as a compere, singer, comedian and commercial presenter on Graham Kennedy’s `In Melbourne Tonight’. In 1963 she took on the title role in the Australian musical Mata Hari. In 1966 Hayes and Mahoney appeared in the smash hit Funny Girl. During the run of the season Mahoney suddenly collapsed, passing away on February 9, 1967. Will Mahoney is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. Local and international media paid tribute to the little American with the laughing eyes, endearing smile and magic dancing feet.

During 1967 as a distraction from her grief Evie established a talent school for children, which led in 1971 to new celebrity as a judge on Channel 10’s national TV show “Young Talent Time”. This endeared her to a new generation of young performers.

In 1969 Hayes was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but persisted with teaching, television and speaking engagements. On 26 December 1988, Evie Hayes (a giant of the live musical, television and the vaudeville stage) died at South Caulfield in Victoria, and was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery - Contributed by Greg Lynch -