English song and dance
vaudeville brothers
Eric Edgley and
Clement Edward Born as Eric and Clem White, to musician Richard White and dancer Lizzie Warton, they changed their names in their early years to
stage names, considering that "White" was uninteresting and became duo "Edgley and Dawe" The partnership later toured Australia for theatre manager
J. C. Williamson and played in shows including
Robinson Crusoe,
Love Lies and
So This Is Love. Eric married an actress Phyllis Edith Amery in 1925, in
Newcastle, New South Wales and was widowed when she died during childbirth in 1930, he remarried dancer Edna Louise Luscombe in 1940 at an registrar office in England. Throughout this period he and Clem toured Australasia, the
United Kingdom and
South Africa, doing shows under various arrangements, and moving from performers to promoters and creating a troupe called. "The Midnight Frolics", and toured productions by
Sir Benjamin Fuller and the
Tivoli circuit. In 1951 they moved to
Perth, Western Australia to manage
His Majesty's Theatre. They took a lease on the venue in 1954 and Clem died the following year. In 1958 the company purchased His Majesty's and undertook extensive renovation work. From the early 1960s Eric arranged tours to Australasia from
Russian performing troupes including the
Bolshoi Ballet, the
Georgian State Dance Company and the Moscow Variety Theatre. Edgley also promoted local talent including the
West Australian Ballet. Eric died in 1967 and management of the company was taken over by his then 23-year-old son Michael. The
Moscow State Circus tour in 1968 attracted an audience of 1.2 million and grossed more than $7 million. Russian ballet and theatre ensembles returned to Australia under the Edgley banner in 1970, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988. ==Recent years==