Jacqx Melilli will be sharing her research journey for her Australian historical fiction novel When The Glitter Fades. The story spans from the 1920s to the 1950s and is loosely based on Alf Broadway’s Pantomime Players and the challenges they faced surviving the Great Depression.
Jacqx met Alf’s daughter, Shirley Barnett (nee Broadway), in the year 2000 when they were both involved in community theatre. Shirley shared her story about being born into a family of vaudeville performers, her experience as a child performer, and later working with Bert Newton and Graham Kennedy in the early years of Australian television. Jacqx wondered why these great Australian stories weren’t being preserved into the history archives and shared with the world? Challenge accepted.
While Jacqx had originally planned on writing Shirley’s biography, she struggled to piece together an accurate portrayal of Shirley’s parent’s start in showbiz that went beyond Shirley’s memory. So, she decided to use the foundation of the Broadways story and create fictional characters and an engaging page turning storyline.
Because the motivation to write When The Glitter Fades was to preserve Australian showbiz history, Jacqx wanted to record some of the skits and pantomimes the Broadways performed. The skits mentioned in When The Glitter Fades were recollections Shirley shared with Jacqx and not necessarily accurate to the time period. However, the pantomime and variety acts were sourced from digitalised newspaper advertisements on the Trove website and were accurately dated.
Jacqx’s research journey included three trips to Victoria to visit the State Library, the Melbourne Arts Centre, to interview Hugh Stuckey, and retrace one of the troupe’s touring circuits where the devastating ‘accident’ happened. The presentation will include photographs.
When: Sunday 27 July 2025 at 2.30 pm
Location: Seaborn – Broughton & Walford Foundation Suite 10, 20 Young Street, Neutral Bay NSW 2089
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