This is one of a group of mounted photographs collected by Sydney-based tour manager Max Moore. It is relevant to the history of concert tours of Australia by overseas artists in the 1950s, and helps illustrate the remarkable career of promoter Lee Gordon. From 1954 to 1962, American-born Gordon brought the world's biggest musical stars to Australia's entertainment-starved masses. The photo was mounted on to chipboard for display in Moore's office.

Max Moore (23 January 1923- 26 December 2011) was one of Australia's most experienced tour managers. In a career spanning five decades, he organised tours for three high profile concert promoters: Lee Gordon, Harry M Miller and Kevin Jacobsen.

Moore joined the Lee Gordon organisation in January 1955 as a 'dogsbody' (Max Moore, 'Some Days are Diamonds' New Holland, 2003, p32). Within six months he was elevated to the position of tour manager for musical entertainers visiting from overseas, a role he pioneered in Australia. His responsibilities included arranging transport and accommodation, logistics, promotions, marketing, ticketing, box office management and banking. Gordon operated on a large scale and was concerned with 'the big picture', while Max Moore, along with Alan Heffernan, saw to the details.

Sammy Davis Jr toured Australia for Lee Gordon in December 1959. Gordon secured Davis' services while in Las Vegas, where he observed that the entertainer was having a bad run at the craps table. Gordon bailed him out in exchange for an agreement to tour Australia. The 1959 tour received rave reviews and was a financial success. 'Presenting Sammy Davis Jnr. to Australian audiences fulfilled one of Lee's greatest ambitions and Sammy proved to be one of the cleverest and most versatile entertainers ever to visit this country' (Alan Heffernan, 'Big Shows: The Lee Gordon Years', 2003, p 279).

Davis returned for a short tour for Lee Gordon in January 1961. According to Alan Heffernan, the entertainer had been invited to attend President Kennedy's 20 January inauguration and wanted to get back to the US in time, so Gordon tried to re-schedule the final Melbourne show to a Sunday. In Australia at that time only charity concerts were permitted on Sundays, and Festival Hall had been booked by the Fire Brigade for a Sunday benefit. A 2000 pound donation by Gordon persuaded the Fire Brigade to relinquish the venue. In this way, Gordon accidentally pioneered the staging of regular concerts on Sundays. (Alan Heffernan, 'Big Shows: The Lee Gordon Years', 2003, p 326).

Even before the explosion of rock 'n' roll in Australia, Max Moore had managed tours for Gordon by some of the greatest names in American show business. These included Nat King Cole, Johnnie Ray and Harry Belafonte. The tour by Bill Haley and His Comets in January 1957 was the first of many rock 'n' roll tours promoted by Lee Gordon. Moore managed visits by some of the greatest American stars of 1950s rock 'n' roll: Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis and many others. Along with American film and television, the consumption of rock 'n' roll was part of a post-World War II cultural shift in Australia from British to US influences. Lee Gordon's concert tours helped to create the Australian rock 'n' roll industry, by bringing local support acts to the attention of large stadium audiences.

With Alan Heffernan, Moore ran Lee Gordon Records, an independent record company that created the Leedon label. Lee Gordon went into a swift decline in the early 1960s, leading to his death. As a result, Max accepted an offer to join Col Joye Enterprises in 1962, working for Joye and his brother/manager Kevin Jacobsen, who was to become one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs. He also worked for Harry M. Miller's Pan Pacific Promotions from 1964 to 1967, before returning to work with Jacobsen until 1995.

Seeking no publicity for himself and remaining busy in the background, Moore was reliable, enterprising, professional and greatly admired as a gentleman in the cutthroat world of show business. He looked after the entertainers' needs on tour and many expressed their gratitude by signing publicity photos of themselves with a dedication to Max Moore. He often earned their friendship as a result. He became a close friend of John Denver and was devastated at the singer's death in a plane crash.

Moore's 2003 autobiography 'Some Days are Diamonds' is a valuable record of the Lee Gordon years and an insider's account of the daily operations of the Harry M. Miller and Kevin Jacobsen organisations: the triumphs and the flops, the gimmicks and the schemes, the pranks and the tantrums. It paints a vivid picture of the old Sydney Stadium, the first wave of Australian rock 'n' roll culture, the 1960s British beat boom, touring entertainers in regional Australia and large arena tours of the by the likes of ELO, Kiss and Springsteen.

Max Moore retired in 1995 after forty years in the business. He died on in 2011 at Bundanoon, New South Wales, aged 89.

Peter Cox
Curator
January 2012

Photographer and printer unknown. The photo was mounted on to chipboard for display in the office of Max Moore.

This photograph is one of a series collected by Max Moore, as a reminder of the entertainers with whom he worked during his long career as a show business tour manager based in Sydney. Artists' managers or agents sent photos of their entertainers to the Australian promoters, to be used for publicity purposes in concert programs, newspapers and magazine articles. From his earliest days with promoter Lee Gordon, Moore would often ask the artists to sign the photos, and many autographs include a warm dedication to him. This photo was kept by Moore at Lee Gordon's office in the Weaver Building at 151 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay. Lee Gordon died in 1963. His company Big Show Pty Ltd was wound up and Max Moore took possession of the photograph.

When he left the Lee Gordon organisation, Moore continued the practice of having touring artists sign publicity photos which he then had mounted on chipboard. For many years the photographs were proudly displayed in his office, as pictured on the cover of his 2003 autobiography 'Some Days are Diamonds'.

Photograph, publicity, Sammy Davis Jr, autographed, paper / chipboard, photographer unknown, used by Max Moore, Australia, 1959

Portrait-format black and white photograph showing Sammy Davis Jr resting hand and foot on a chair. Autographed in pen with the words 'To Max. All the very best', signed 'Sammy Davis Jr'. The photograph is mounted on a thick piece of chipboard with black painted sides.

Made: 1959

Handwritten in blue ink on white sticker label on reverse, 'SAMMY / DAVIS / JNR.'.

2012/27/20

1959

249 mm

200 mm

10 mm