Thelma Afford
Encyclopedia
Thelma Afford was an Australian costume designer
, theatre
performer, and fashion journalist
who worked in Adelaide
, Melbourne
, and Sydney
.
in 1934 to further study at Technical College.
, that won the centenary competition in 1936. The following year, Max was called to Sydney to work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
, and Thelma moved to Sydney too to work for the sesqui-centenary celebrations. They married on 16 April 1938 at St Michael's church, Vaucluse, Sydney. They had no children.
At her death, Thelma left instructions to establish a fund with The Trust company for the attribution of an annual $10,000 "Max Afford Playwrights' Award" and a $7,500 "Thelma Afford Theatre, Stage, TV or Film Costume Design Award".
, and also at the Adelaide Repertory Theatre
, where she worked with Agnes Dobson and Robert Helpmann
.
In 1934, she was commissioned to design for the Melbourne centenary pageant, then South Australia's centenary celebrations in 1936, and was later called to Sydney to design the costumes for the sesqui-centenary pageant. She enjoyed costume designing on a large scale, and added that "period costumes give a designer more scope than modern clothes".
She was resident designer at the Minerva Theatre
from 1940 to 1950 and designed most of the costumes for Max's plays for the Independent Theatre
. She also worked for the Garrick Theatre
and the Tivoli Theatre
in Melbourne.
In 1949, she collaborated with Charles Chauvel on the film Sons of Matthew
.
Thelma then worked on the costume designs for a live dramatic production of Oscar Wilde
's Importance of Being Earnest, broadcast 18 December 1957 on ABN-2
. She remarked that costumes for TV were different than for the stage, since the focus was on the upper-body of the actors instead of the silhouette
, and the filming was in black-and-white
, more precisely 9 shades of grey.
The same year, she designed the costumes for Cinderella, the pantomime at the Elizabethan Theatre
, praised for "its handsome costumes" and described as "Cinderella done in French
18th century style". Thelma worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
for more television plays, such as J. M. Barrie
's The Twelve-Pound Look, also in 1957. She also collaborated with Cinesound Productions
.
in the late 1920s and early 1930s, then again towards the end of her career from 1955 to 1978. When she retired, she was Senior Art mistress at a private girls' school in Sydney.
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
performer, and fashion journalist
Fashion journalism
Fashion journalism is an umbrella term used to describe all aspects of published fashion media. It includes fashion writers, fashion critics or fashion reporters...
who worked in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
Early years
Afford was born Thelma Thomas in Broken Hill to William James Thomas and Ethel (née Henderson) in 1908. Her parents moved to Adelaide, where she attended the Presbyterian Girls' College, Glen Osmond. There she studied drawing and design, and became an art teacher at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts. She acted between 1932 and 1934, then moved to MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in 1934 to further study at Technical College.
Marriage with Max Afford
Max Afford and Thelma met when she was designing the costumes for his play Awake my Love performed at the Adelaide Tivoli TheatreTivoli circuit
The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian entertainment circuit which flourished from 1893 and the 1950s. The circuit suffered a catastrophic decline in popularity after the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, and the last Tivoli show was staged in 1966.-History:The...
, that won the centenary competition in 1936. The following year, Max was called to Sydney to work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
, and Thelma moved to Sydney too to work for the sesqui-centenary celebrations. They married on 16 April 1938 at St Michael's church, Vaucluse, Sydney. They had no children.
Death and legacy
After Max's death in 1954, Thelma remained in Sydney where she lived until her death in 1996.At her death, Thelma left instructions to establish a fund with The Trust company for the attribution of an annual $10,000 "Max Afford Playwrights' Award" and a $7,500 "Thelma Afford Theatre, Stage, TV or Film Costume Design Award".
Actress
In the early 1930s, Thelma Thomas was an actress in Adelaide, collaborating notably with the Ab-Intra Studio Theatre for Woman Song, The Robe of Yama, The Stained-Glass Window, and The Aspen Tree in 1932. In 1935, Thelma joined the Ab-Intra for their last show Archway Motif before the theatre closed indefinitely.Designer
Thelma started designing theatre costumes in the early 1930s at the Ab-Intra Studio Theatre with Alan Harkness and Kester BaruchKester Berwick
Kester Berwick was born in Adelaide and died an expatriate on Corfu in the Greek islands. Born Frank Perkins, he took the name Kester Baruch because a friend told him that would sound "less plebeian", then changed it again at the beginning of World War II when he was living in Switzerland...
, and also at the Adelaide Repertory Theatre
Adelaide Repertory Theatre
'The Adelaide Repertory Theatre is an amateur theatre company in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the longest surviving amateur theatre company in the Southern Hemisphere...
, where she worked with Agnes Dobson and Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
.
In 1934, she was commissioned to design for the Melbourne centenary pageant, then South Australia's centenary celebrations in 1936, and was later called to Sydney to design the costumes for the sesqui-centenary pageant. She enjoyed costume designing on a large scale, and added that "period costumes give a designer more scope than modern clothes".
She was resident designer at the Minerva Theatre
Minerva Theatre
Minerva Theatre may refer to:*Minerva Theatre, Chichester*Minerva Theatre, Kolkata...
from 1940 to 1950 and designed most of the costumes for Max's plays for the Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre
The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
. She also worked for the Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre (Guildford)
The Garrick Theatre is the longest continual running amateur theatre group in metropolitan Western Australia, located 16 Meadow Street in Guildford, Western Australia...
and the Tivoli Theatre
Tivoli circuit
The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian entertainment circuit which flourished from 1893 and the 1950s. The circuit suffered a catastrophic decline in popularity after the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, and the last Tivoli show was staged in 1966.-History:The...
in Melbourne.
In 1949, she collaborated with Charles Chauvel on the film Sons of Matthew
Sons of Matthew
Sons of Matthew is a 1949 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. The film was shot in 1947 on location in Queensland, Australia and the studio sequences in Sydney...
.
Thelma then worked on the costume designs for a live dramatic production of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's Importance of Being Earnest, broadcast 18 December 1957 on ABN-2
ABN (TV station)
ABN is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Sydney, New South Wales. The station began broadcasting on November 5, 1956. Its original studios were located in Gore Hill and were in use up until March 2004, when they were co-located with ABC Radio, Radio Australia and...
. She remarked that costumes for TV were different than for the stage, since the focus was on the upper-body of the actors instead of the silhouette
Silhouette
A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black. Although the art form has been popular since the mid-18th century, the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades...
, and the filming was in black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
, more precisely 9 shades of grey.
The same year, she designed the costumes for Cinderella, the pantomime at the Elizabethan Theatre
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
, praised for "its handsome costumes" and described as "Cinderella done in French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
18th century style". Thelma worked with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
for more television plays, such as J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
's The Twelve-Pound Look, also in 1957. She also collaborated with Cinesound Productions
Cinesound Productions
Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was one of Australia's first feature film production companies. Established in June 1932, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred around Greater Union Theatres, that covered all facets of the film process, from production, to distribution and...
.
Journalist
Afford authored articles in drama journals, newspapers, and a posthumously published a book titled Dreamers and Visionaries on the little theatres in Adelaide in the first half of the 20th century.Teacher
She worked as an art teacherArt education
Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...
in the late 1920s and early 1930s, then again towards the end of her career from 1955 to 1978. When she retired, she was Senior Art mistress at a private girls' school in Sydney.
Associates
- George BellGeorge Bell (painter)George Frederick Henry Bell was an Australian painter.He was born in Kew, Victoria, the son of George Bell, a public servant, and educated at Kew High School. He studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School from 1895-1903...
- Kester BerwickKester BerwickKester Berwick was born in Adelaide and died an expatriate on Corfu in the Greek islands. Born Frank Perkins, he took the name Kester Baruch because a friend told him that would sound "less plebeian", then changed it again at the beginning of World War II when he was living in Switzerland...
- Charles Chauvel
- Elsa Chauvel
- Agnes Dobson
- Doris FittonDoris FittonDoris Alice Fitton Mason, DBE was an Australian actress and theatrical director who founded and for 35 years headed Sydney's Independent Theatre, staging a diverse range of local and international dramas, many for the first time in Australia, including Sumner Locke-Elliott's wartime comedy, Rusty...
- Pierre Fornari
- Ken G. HallKen G. HallKenneth George Hall, AO OBE , better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry.-Early years:...
- Alan Harkness
- Robert HelpmannRobert HelpmannSir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
- J.C. Williamson
Sources
- Afford, T. Dreamers and Visionaries : Adelaide’s Little Theatres from the 1920s to the early 1940s, SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
: Currency Press. - Afford, T. "The Ab-Intra Studio Theatre in AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
1931-35", Australasian Drama Studies n.12-13, pp. 167–180. Bundoora, Victoria: Theatre and Drama Program, La Trobe UniversityLa Trobe UniversityLa Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...
. - Thelma Afford’s designs for stage and television. Papers of Max and Thelma Afford, 1912-1987, UQFL184, Album 3, Fryer Library, University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
Library. - Robinson Flannery, N. (aka Robinson-Whittle, N.). "Thelma Afford 1908-1996", Bibliofile vol.10 no.4 August 2002. AdelaideAdelaideAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
: State Library of South AustraliaSouth AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland... - Obituary for Thelma Afford The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, 11 Sept. 1996 p.B2. Microform at the University of QueenslandUniversity of QueenslandThe University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
Fryer library. - Ritchie, J. "Max Afford", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol.13. MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria, 2002. - "Awake my Love by Max Afford", Drama and the School issue 21. Sydney, NSW: C. Felton, 1960.