Author | C. J. Dennis |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Verse novel |
Publisher | Angus & Robertson |
Publication date | 1915 |
Publication place | Australia |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 113, plus 14 pages of Glossary |
ISBN | 0-207-14366-8 |
OCLC | 29006080 |
Preceded by | Backblock Ballads and Other Verses |
Followed by | The Moods of Ginger Mick |
Text | The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke at Wikisource |
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in The Bulletin between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was completed and published by Angus & Robertson. Written in the rough and comical Australian slang that was Dennis' signature style, the work became immensely popular in Australia, selling over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year of publication. [1]
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke tells the story of Bill, a member of a larrikin push (or gang) in Melbourne's Little Lon red-light district, who encounters Doreen, a young woman "of some social aspiration", in a local market. Narrated by Bill, the poems chronicle their courtship and marriage, detailing his transformation from a violence-prone gang member to a contented husband and father.
It has been adapted into many works across a variety of media, including Raymond Longford and Lottie Lyell's The Sentimental Bloke (1918), widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest silent films. Though the novel's popularity peaked during World War I and the interwar period, it remains a classic of Australian literature and the best-selling book of poetry ever produced in the country. Dennis subsequently became known as the 'laureate of the larrikin', [2] as well as 'the Anzac laureate', with many diggers owning and cherishing pocket editions while serving in World War I. [1]
The first portion of the novel, The Stoush O' Day, was originally published in The Bulletin on 1 April 1909. All bar two of the remaining chapters were also published in that magazine between 1909 and 1915.
The completed work was first published in book form in Sydney on 9 October 1915.
First Edition | Sydney | 9 October 1915 | 2,500 copies |
Second impression | Sydney | 2 November 1915 | 5,000 copies |
Third impression | Sydney | 6 December | 5,000 copies |
Fourth impression | Sydney | 25 January 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Fifth impression | Sydney | 22 February 1916 | 7,000 copies |
Sixth impression | Sydney | 1 April 1916 | 5,500 copies |
Seventh impression | Sydney | 30 May 1916 | 11,000 copies |
Eighth impression | Sydney | 1 April 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Pocket edition | Sydney | 25 September 1916 | 10,000 copies |
Tenth impression | Sydney | 7 October 1916 | 8,000 copies |
Eleventh impression | Sydney | 24 October 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Twelfth impression | Sydney | 17 November 1916 | 5,000 copies |
Thirteenth impression | Sydney | 2 May 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Fourteenth impression | London | 1 July 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Fifteenth impression | Sydney | 1 August 1917 | 5,000 copies |
Sixteenth impression | London | 21 May 1918 | 5,000 copies |
Seventeenth impression | Sydney | 14 June 1919 | 3,000 copies |
Eighteenth impression | Sydney | 31 August 1919 | 3,000 copies |
Nineteenth impression | Sydney | 20 April 1920 | 3,000 copies |
Twentieth impression | Sydney | 31 August 1920 | 3,000 copies |
The book is dedicated "To Mr and Mrs J.G. Roberts". John Garibaldi Roberts was a book-loving public servant working with the Melbourne Tramways Company when he was introduced to C. J. Dennis by R. H. Croll in 1906. He was later to provide much material and emotional support to Dennis during the writing of this work. [4] Dennis later took to calling them "Dad" and "Mum". [5]
The verse novel's first edition includes a foreword by bush poet Henry Lawson, who writes that The Sentimental Bloke's original appearance in The Bulletin "brightened up many dark days for me", and that, in Bill, Dennis had created a character "more perfect than any alleged 'larrikin' or Bottle-O character I have ever attempted to sketch". [6] The first edition also featured a glossary of words, compiled by Dennis, "for the use of those unacquainted with the 'Australian language'".
Dennis went on to publish three sequels to this verse novel: The Moods of Ginger Mick (1916), Doreen (1917) and Rose of Spadgers (1924). The Moods of Ginger Mick told the story of Bill's mate, Ginger Mick, who went to fight at Gallipoli. Like its predecessor, it was also very successful, and it earned Dennis the title of "the laureate of the Anzac". [2]
The illustrations of the bloke, cupid-like and "whimsical", were provided by Hal Gye. [7]
Two film versions of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke have been produced: The Sentimental Bloke , a silent version, in 1918, written and directed by Raymond Longford, and which starred Arthur Tauchert as Bill and Lottie Lyell as Doreen; [8] and a "talkie" version in 1932, directed by F. W. Thring and based on a screenplay by C. J. Dennis. [9]
A three-act stage adaptation of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by Bert Bailey, titled The Sentimental Bloke, premiered at the King's Theatre, Melbourne on 7 October 1922. [10]
In 1961, a musical called The Sentimental Bloke was produced in Canberra, [11] and later in Melbourne and other cities. The music was by Albert Arlen, with lyrics by Arlen, Nancy Brown and Lloyd Thomson. [12]
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1963 Australian television film. [13] It was a half-hour ballet aired on ABC Television. [14]
A television adaptation of the musical appeared in 1976, written and directed by Alan Burke and featuring Graeme Blundell as Bill. [15]
A ballet version was choreographed by Robert Ray, with Albert Arlen's music freely arranged by John Lanchbery. This was presented by The Australian Ballet in 1985 and on its tour of the Soviet Union. [16]
A second musical theatre version was written by Graeme Blundell with music by George Dreyfus premiered by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Playhouse, Victorian Arts Centre on 12 December 1985. This musical was subsequently produced in Perth (Western Australian Theatre Company, 1986), Darwin (State Theatre Company of Northern Territory, 1987) and Brisbane (Royal Queensland Theatre Company, 1988). [12]
Another theatrical production of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke was staged at Eltham Little Theatre, Melbourne, in 2021. [17]
In 2009 Jack Thompson released an album of C. J. Dennis's poems entitled The Sentimental Bloke, The Poems of C.J. Dennis .
Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions".
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915). Alongside his contemporaries and occasional collaborators Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson, Dennis helped popularise Australian slang in literature, earning him the title "the laureate of the larrikin".
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Lyell, who also co-wrote the film with Longford.
The Glugs of Gosh is a book of satirical verse written by Australian author C. J. Dennis, published by Angus & Robertson in 1917. The book's 13 poems are vignettes of life in a fictional kingdom called Gosh, inhabited by an arboreal race known as Glugs. Dennis describes the Glugs as a "stupid race of docile folk". The illustrations, by Dennis's regular collaborator Hal Gye, depict the Glugs as short humanoids with large heads. Written in the style of children's nonsense poetry, the work attacks free trade, along with what Dennis saw as Australia's social conformity, intellectual cowardice and rampant bureaucracy. Although the book has greater literary merit than the larrikin-inspired doggerel verse for which Dennis is famed, it was a commercial failure. According to one biographer, "the veiled political and economic satirical verse was lost on the public." The book is dedicated to his wife.
Albert Arlen AM was a Turkish Australian pianist, composer, actor and playwright. He is best known for his musical The Sentimental Bloke, the "Alamein Concerto", and his setting of Banjo Paterson's Clancy of the Overflow.
John Bernard Derum is an Australian stage, film and television actor. He has also an artistic administrator and directed and produced for theatre companies throughout Australia and for television. Derum was worked as a politician for local council.
Harold Frederick Neville Gye, was a prolific Australian artist, cartoonist and caricaturist under the name Hal Gye and a writer of verse and short stories under James Hackston. Gye's artwork was published in a number of newspapers and magazines including The Bulletin, a journal with which he had a long association both as an artist and a writer. Gye was also a noted book illustrator. His artwork was featured in the books of C. J. Dennis beginning with The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke in 1915 and he also illustrated books of verse by Will H. Ogilvie and Banjo Paterson. As 'James Hackston' Gye wrote verse and autobiographical short stories published in The Bulletin and the Coast to Coast series of anthologies. In 1966 his collected short stories were published as Father Clears Out.
Lottie Lyell was an Australian actress, screenwriter, editor and filmmaker. She is regarded as Australia's first film star, and also contributed to the local industry during the silent era through her collaborations with director and writer Raymond Longford.
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1932 Australian film directed by F. W. Thring and starring Cecil Scott and Ray Fisher. It is an adaptation of the 1915 novel Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis, which had previously been filmed in 1919.
Ginger Mick is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on The Moods of Ginger Mick by C. J. Dennis, which had sold over 70,000 copies. It is a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and is considered a lost film.
Arthur Michael Tauchert was an Australian acrobatic comedian, dancer, singer, film actor, and star of the Australian silent film, The Sentimental Bloke (1919).
Gilbert Charles Warren Emery was an Australian actor best known for his performances as Ginger Mick in the silent films The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and Ginger Mick (1920). These were directed by Raymond Longford with whom Emery had acted on stage in The Fatal Wedding.
Bloke is a slang term for a common man in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1961 Australian musical by Albert Arlen, Nancy Brown and Lloyd Thomson based on Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis. Set in Melbourne, it is one of the most successful Australian musicals of the 20th century.
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1963 Australian television film. It was a half-hour ballet aired on ABC. It is based on the poem, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1915.
Jonah (1911) is a novel by Australian writer Louis Stone.
The Sentimental Bloke is an Australian musical with music by George Dreyfus and book and lyrics by Graeme Blundell. It is an adaptation of C. J. Dennis' The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke.
Backblock Ballads and Other Verses is the first collection of poems by the Australian writer C. J. Dennis, published by E. W. Cole, Melbourne, in 1913. It includes his famous poems "Wheat" and "The Austra-laise", as well as the first book publication of several poems that would later appear in The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke.
The Moods of Ginger Mick is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis, published by Angus and Robertson, in 1916. The collection includes fifteen illustrated plates by Hal Gye.