File 2: Roderick Shaw and Frances Shaw papers

MLMSS 11757

file

1942-1993

Textual Records, Clippings, Graphic Materials, Drawings

9669192

0.27 metres of textual material (1 box) including drawing

Frances Shaw (1911-1992) was an actress with Scott Alexander and the Players Club, and with J.C. Williamson. In 1937, whilst working at Commonwealth Oil Refineries (COR), Frances went with fellow office worker Bruce Burns to pose for The Windsor Group of artists, which is where she met Roderick Shaw. They married in 1938.

‘The Flying Pieman' ballet was created by Roderick Shaw (design and illustrations), Frances Shaw (storyline) and Nancy Salas (music). The ballet was an entry for a competition instigated by ballet impresario Wassily De Basil, who had brought the Ballet Russes to Australia (the competition was won by Donald Friend, for a ballet about Ned Kelly).

The ‘Flying Pieman’ story is a Sydney legend about William Francis King (1807-1873), a pie seller who became famous for feats of pedestrianism, such as beating the Sydney to Parramatta ferry on foot.

Reference
Library correspondence file

Folder 1
Typescript storyline of ‘The Flying Pieman' a ballet impression of Old Sydney / story by Frances Shaw, décor by Roderick Shaw, and music by Nan Salas.

Folder 2
Typescript annotated draft of article about Roderick Shaw’s design contribution to the New Theatre, Newtown written in conjunction with an exhibition held to celebrate the Theatre’s 50th birthday celebrations in 1982.

Folder 3
Handwritten drafts and final version of a eulogy written by Roderick Shaw for his wife, Frances Shaw nee Cottingham (1911-1982), 1982

Folder 4
Newspaper clippings of Roderick Shaw obituaries, 1993, clipping of Harry Stein obituary, 1994, letter from Christine Shaw to Roderick’s sister, Vera, describing attendees at Roderick’s memorial in 1993, Civic Symphony Orchestra program printed by Edwards & Shaw, 1952, copy of an unidentified illustration of kangaroos attributed to Edwards & Shaw and a program from The Windsor Group Retrospective exhibition, October 1988.

Folder 5
Ten letters, two illustrated and one incomplete, from Roderick Shaw to friend and business partner Richard Edwards (partners in printing firm Edwards and Shaw). The letters were written whilst Shaw was serving as a ‘Camoufleur’ for the RAAF during WWII, ca. 1942-1944. Also includes a folded sheet of paper containing chapters one and two of a story called ‘The Compleat Angler’ written in pencil.

In copyright:
Copyright holder:: Christine Shaw
Approval for reproduction required: from copyright holder
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy Christine Shaw