The play was produced by EJ Carroll at the Athenaeum Theatre, the Australian premiere. The play enjoyed a long and successful run with Frank Bradley setting a record by performing as leading man for forty weeks. Frank Talbot had leased the Athenaeum Hall for several years before negotiating with the Melbourne Athenaeum board members to renovate the hall into a modern theatre. The work was completed in 1923. The theatre became a well-known venue for plays but later, as movies became popular a biograph box was constructed to house movie projectors. The theatre manager, Frank Talbot, who leased the theatre from the Melbourne Athenaeum, signed an agreement with British Dominion Films in 1932, to show only British movies. Hoyts Theatres took over the lease in 1955 and later the Melbourne Theatre Company performed in the theatre, bringing live performances back to the theatre for several years. Programs of the early performances of plays are a reminder of the original purpose of the theatre. The theatre management continues to feature live performances.Photocopy of a program held at the Museum of Performing Arts athenaeum theatre, program, the sport of kings, racing comedy, frank talbot pty ltd, e j carroll, ian hay, frank bradley

Sol Green came to Australia as a penniless migrant who made his fortune as a bookmaker. He was inducted into the Australian Racing Museum Hall of fame in 2002. He purchased the Shipley stud from George Rolfe about 1905 and set about turning the Ayrford cattle property into a successful horse stud. His horse Comedy King won the Melbourne Cup in 1910 and was retired to stud in 1912. He became one of the top 10 Australian Stallions in the ensuing years. He dispersed his stud at Shipley in 1918 and this catalogue lists the stock sold that day. The property remained in the Green family and continued as a dairy farm with cheese factory and piggery by his son Bob Green. Sol Green was known for his philanthropic gestures extending help where needed on various fronts. Shortly before his death in 1948 he donated 47000 pounds to five Melbourne hospitals.This catalogue has significance firstly on a local level in that Shipley was an important farm in the district and secondly that it was owned by Mr Sol Green who was a person of standing within the racing industry as a bookmaker but also as a stud owner and owner of a Melbourne cup winner in 1910. This catalogue lists the stock which he had established at Shipley in a relatively short period of time.Light grey card cover with horse in brown. The title is in top left corner in brown text with the date 1918 in bottom right. Compilers details on back cover. 164 Pages. It has black and white plates of two horses, Comedy King and White Star* Mallinson Pomborneit 9/1/18. Light paper pasted inside front cover “Colac and District Historical Society, Donor Miss Betty Mallinson 1960. There are purchasers’ names and the purchase price paid, written at the base of each page. warrnambool, allansford, shipley, sol green, comedy king, white star 1918, shipley dispersal sale, shipley stud