Arthur Tauchert

Who was Arthur Tauchert?

Arthur Michael Tauchert was an acrobatic comedian, dancer, singer, film actor, best-remembered today as the star of the classic Australian silent movie, The Sentimental Bloke.

Born in the inner Sydney suburb of Waterloo on 21 August 1877, Tauchert's career as an entertainer began in the early 1900s as a vaudeville comedian and over the next two decades he was associated with most of the leading managements firms of that era, including John Fuller, James Brennan, Ted Holland, Harry Clay, Bert Howard, J. C. Bain and Lennon, Hyman and Lennon. Although he mostly worked a specialist solo act, Tauchert teamed up at various times with other comics, including Albert McKisson, Bert Corrie, Ted Tutty, and Ern Delavale.

After the phenomenal success of The Sentimental Bloke, Tauchert appeared in at least ten more films including Ginger Mick, again based on the poems of C. J. Dennis. He continued to perform on the vaudeville stage during the remainder of the 1920s, often presenting an act based on his famous "Bill the Bloke" character. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he also appeared on radio.

Very little historical attention has been directed towards Tauchert, despite the significant part he played in Australia's early film industry. It is clear that his contemporaries considered him to be among the country's top entertainers, however. One prominent American singer, Lou London, even said of him: "I consider Arthur Tauchert one of the most original individuals I have met; he is also one of the best-dispositioned men I have ever had the pleasure of working alongside.' London backed his opinion shortly before returning home by giving Tauchert the exclusive Australasian rights to all the songs he had worked in Australia, as well as several he had not performed.