Edward Irham Cole
Australian actor (1857–1942)
Edward Irham Cole (3 December 1859 – 1 July 1942) was an Australian theatrical entrepreneur and film director whose productions represented a synthesis of Wild West show and stage melodrama (often with a bushranger theme). He managed a theatre company, called the Bohemian Dramatic Company, that performed in semi-permanent and temporary tent theatres. During 1910 and 1911 Cole directed a number of silent films, adapted from his stage plays and using actors from his theatre company.
Biography
Cole arrived in Australia as a young man and worked for a time in Adelaide before moving to Wilcannia.
He started in showbusiness as a lecturer, calling himself "the Bohemian" and giving presentations on various topics.
He later joined the company of Texas Jack Jr., an American showman in the Buffalo Bill mould. He established the Bohemian Dramatic Company, which toured the country performing shows. At its height, the company included over 60 performers and 20 horses, and was transported in its own train.
In 1910 and 1911 Cole made a series of films adapted from his shows, which cost over £1,000 in all. The longest was reportedly 1,5000 feet.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edward Irham Cole” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.