This is one of a group of mounted photographs collected by Sydney-based tour manager Max Moore and displayed in his office. It is relevant to the history of tours of Australia by overseas entertainers in the 1970s, and helps illustrate the career of promoter Kevin Jacobsen.

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.

Lee Gordon went into a swift decline in the early 1960s, leading to his death. As a result, Max Moore 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. Towards the end of 1963 Moore left to work for Harry M. Miller's Pan Pacific Promotions, returning in 1967 to Col Joye Enterprises, which evolved into Kevin Jacobsen Productions. There he remained for the rest of his career, as Kevin Jacobsen became a major player in the promotion of concerts and stage productions. Moore managed country tours of The Col Joye Show and pioneered the promotion of tours by local and international artists on the newly established registered clubs circuit. He managed tours by a range of entertainers including Ray Stevens, Rolf Harris, the Irish comedian Dave Allen, Joe Cocker, Olivia Newton-John, Anne Murray, Kiss, Joan Armatrading, Bob Marley, The Moody Blues, Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver, Janis Ian, Barry Manilow, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Allen, Electric Light Orchestra and even Disney On Ice.

The American daredevil motorcycle rider Evel Knievel toured Australia in 1979. The 'Evel Knievel Thrill Spectacular' tour, presented by Kevin Jacobsen with his fellow promoter Michael Edgley International, was a disaster, as Knievel failed to perform up to expectations. Only four of the 44 scheduled performances were completed.

In his book Max Moore describes what it was like when he and Kevin Jacobsen spent time with Knievel in Las Vegas prior to the Australian tour. 'Evel always drank Wild Turkey whisky and insisted we do likewise. As 'ridiculous' seemed to be the key word during our stay, Kevin initiated yet another ridiculous situation. He borrowed some medical equipment from the Circus Circus drugstore and hired a wheelchair and a pair of crutches. Then he placed an ice pack on my head, swathed the lot with bandages, placed a thermometer in my mouth and sat me in the wheelchair. After wrapping bandages on his own head and our American mate Danny McTague, he strung signs around our necks that read 'Wild Turkey Survivors' and 'Sixty Hours With Evel'.' Max Moore, 'Some Days are Diamonds', New Holland, 2003, p222).

Even before the explosion of rock 'n' roll in Australia, Max Moore had managed tours for Lee 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.

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. From his earliest days with promoter Lee Gordon, Moore would often ask the artists to sign their publicity photos, and many autographs include a warm dedication to him. This photo dates from the period when Moore worked for Col Joye Enterprises, which evolved into Kevin Jacobsen Productions. Moore continued the practice of having touring artists sign 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, Evel Knievel, autographed, paper / chipboard, photographer unknown, used by Max Moore, Australia, 1979

Landscape-format colour photograph showing Evel Knievel wearing a fur coat, with three bandaged men, one of whom (Dan McTigue) holds a placard saying '60 hours with Evel' and another (Max Moore) has a placard saying 'Wild Turkey survivors'. The photograph is mounted on a thick piece with black painted sides. A white sticker label on the reverse bears Max Moore's handwritten words, 'Evel Knievel. Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas. Practical joke. From left Dan McTigue, Kevin J, Evel, Evel's minder, Max in front'.

Made: 1979

Handwritten in blue ink on white sticker label on reverse, 'EVEL KNIEVAL / HILTON HOTEL / LAS VEGAS / PRACTICAL JOKE'.
Handwritten in blue ink on white sticker label on reverse, 'FROM LEFT / DAN MCTIGUE / KEVIN JACOBSEN / EVEL - EVEL'S MINDER / MAX IN FRONT'.

2012/27/35

1979

250 mm

200 mm

10 mm