Alfred Rolfe, real name Alfred Roker (1862 – 9 September 1943), was an Australian stage and film director and actor, best known for being the son-in-law of the celebrated actor-manager Alfred Dampier, with whom he appeared frequently on stage, and for his prolific output as a director during Australia's silent era, including Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911), Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) and The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915). Only one of his films as director survives today.Vagg, S., & Reynaud, D. (2016). Alfred Rolfe: Forgotten pioneer Australian film director. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 10(2),184-198. doi:10.1080/17503175.2016.1170950
Biography
Alfred Roker was born in 1862 in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, the son of Arthur Roker & Mary Ann (née Holman).Victorian birth registration: Alfred Roker; reg. no. 7598/1862.
He used the stage-name 'Alfred Rolfe' when he began working as an actor. Rolfe joined Charles Holloway's acting company, where he acted alongside Richard Stewart and Essie Jenyns.
In 1888 Rolfe toured New Zealand in George Darrell's company.
Alfred Dampier He then joined the Alfred Dampier Company in 1890, first appearing in Robbery Under Arms. He mostly played smaller parts but in 1892 was promoted to the role of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. The following year Rolfe married Dampier's daughter Lily. Rolfe acted opposite his wife and father-in-law numerous times around the country throughout the 1890s and early 1900s, most commonly playing juvenile leads.
England In November 1897, Rolfe sailed for London with his wife and her parents. While there they managed to get work in two plays which toured all over the country and ended up staying for twelve months.
They returned in 1899 and rejoined the Alfred Dampier Company. Among the plays in which Rolfe most frequently appeared opposite his wife and father in law were The Bush King, Robbery Under Arms, and East Lynne.The Play and Players Star, Issue 6457, 11 April 1899, Page 3, accessed 1 December 2014
According to New Zealand's Stage magazine, Rolfe was "an actor of brilliancy on a somewhat wide range, a little overshadowed, perhaps, by the stars with whom he has been so long associated, but by no means obscured."The Stage. New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 January 1904, Page 322 accessed 1 December 2014
In February 1907 Rolfe left for London with Lily Dampier and her parents once again. Once again, they worked for a period over there. Alfred Dampier came home, seriously ill, meaning his company was unable to continue. Rolfe was reported as "walking through his vast estates, plantations, and so on" in his spare time. He and Lily also briefly took over the lead in a play with another company. Dampier died in May 1908.
Philip Lytton In early 1909, Rolfe was credited as "general manager" on a series of advertisements throughout New South Wales for a £5,000 film depicting the fight between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson. It is possible this meant Rolfe directed the movie, or was in charge of its distribution.
In August 1910 it was announced Rolfe and Lily were joining Philip Lytton's company for a tour of country Australia and New Zealand. They played several of the Dampier repertoire, including Robbery Under Arms. In September 1910 he and Lily headed Lytton's company, where the line-up of plays included Robbery Under Arms (play)|Robbery Under Arms, The Bush King and The Fatal Wedding; all three would soon be turned into films by Cosens Spencer with Rolfe directing and acting in the first two.
Filmmaker In 1910 Rolfe received an offer to direct three films for Cosens Spencer, all adaptations of productions performed by his father-in-law's and Lytton's company: Captain Midnight, the Bush King, Captain Starlight, or the Gentleman of the Road (an adaptation of Robbery Under Arms), and The Life of Rufus Dawes. Rolfe and his wife also appeared in all three films, the first two especially which appear to have been very successful critically and commercially. He was assisted on the films by Raymond Longford, who later claimed to have directed the movies. He also appears to have directed Dan Morgan for Spencer.
When Rolfe left Spencer, the producer then hired Longford to make his directorial debut with a film adaptation of The Fatal Wedding.
Australian Photo-Play Company Rolfe left Spencer to take up an offer from Stanley Crick to work at a new film production company, the Australian Photo-Play Company. Rolfe ended up making an estimated 25 features for them, including Australia's first war movie (Mates of the Murrumbidgee (1911)), and first film to deal with aboriginal Australians (Moora Neya, or The Message of the Spear (1911)).
Rolfe seems to have worked less as an actor during this time, although he would occasionally appear in the films. He directed almost every one of Australian Photo-Play's films.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, 14
Fraser Films After the demise of the Australian Photo-Play Company, Rolfe moved over to Fraser Films, where his movies included adaptations of the popular play The Sunny South (1914) and the poem The Day.
In November 1914 it was reported Rolfe and Lily Dampier were "wandering the globe".
Australasian Films Fraser Films soon ceased production. From 1915 to 1916 Rolfe worked for Australasian Films, directing shorts, industrial films and features. He was directing a film in Sydney in February 1915 when his wife Lily died in Melbourne.
Rolfe's feature work for Australasian Films included two immensely popular war films, Will they Never Come? (1915) and its sequel, The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915). A movie about the Eureka Rebellion, The Loyal Rebel (1915), was less successful. He then made two more World War I-related movies, How We Beat the Emden (1915) and A Man – That's All (1916); these were used to recruit soldiers.
In May 1916 it was reported that Rolfe had "produced more Australian pictures than any other Australian director". Rolfe said at the same time the greatest difficulty for Australian filmmakers is they are unable to market their films in America or England. "If this could be remedied", said Mr. Rolfe, "as many as fifty copies of any picture would be required and the production would then show a 'worth-while' profit." But in 1916 Australia only four copies could be disposed of "which does not make much of an inducement to intending manufacturers.""Australian Notes;" Moving Picture World(May 1916) at Internet Archive accessed 2o November 2014
In July 1916 it was reported Rolfe had just finished directing a series of educational films for Australasian Pictures, each one about one reel long, adding up to 15,000 feet of film in all."Film News From Foreign Parts" Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916) at Internet Archive accessed 20 Nov 2014
In November 1916 it was announced in the trade press that Rolfe had "severed his connection with Australasian Films after a long period of service. He has just completed a big industrial subject for this film dealing with practically every Australian industry of note.""Australian Notes", The Moving Picture World 18 November 1916 p 996, accessed 20 November 2014
Retirement Rolfe eventually retired from show business, although he did direct one more film, for charity – the Red Cross sponsored feature Cupid Camouflaged (1918). As Lily Dampier's widower, he appears to have inherited the rights to Alfred Dampier's plays, particularly Robbery Under Arms and The Bush King, and authorized various stage productions of these. In 1920 he registered a new script based on The Bush King for copyright, but no film of this was made.
Rolfe had been involved in amateur athletics for a number of years, particularly the East Sydney Amateur Athletics Company, but focused on it increasingly from 1917 through the 1920s.Richard Fotheringham, "Introduction", Robbery Under Arms by Alfred Dampier and Garnet Walch, Currency Press 1985 p60
Rolfe lived in Sydney towards the end of his life. He and Lily had a son, Sidney Alfred Rolfe, who was an artist. He also occasionally appeared on stage and managed a warehouse.
Appraisal Only one of Rolfe's films survives today, The Hero of the Dardanelles, but according to film historians Graham Shirley and Brian Adams: It indicates a director skilled in the type of visual and naturalistic sophistication later attributed to Raymond Longford. The conventions of spectacle melodrama so favoured in late nineteenth century Australian theatre, with their realistic settings and real chases on horsebacks and trainwrecks, played a large role in the films he made for Australian Photo-Play in 1911–12. If reviews of other films are an indication, Rolfe's work for Cosens Spencer and Australian Photo-Play had helped refine the achievement of naturalistic performances for the screen, not to say the basis of a screen grammar that vividly captured setting and spectacle.Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Pres 1989 p 40
Personal life In the 1890s, Rolfe backed the race horse Cremorne.
Select filmography
Dramatic films Captain Midnight, the Bush King (1911) – also acted Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911) – also acted The Life of Rufus Dawes (1911) – also acted Dan Morgan (1911) – also acted Moora Neya, or The Message of the Spear (1911) The Lady Outlaw (1911) Mates of the Murrumbidgee (1911) In the Nick of Time (1911) Way Outback (1911) What Women Suffer (1911) – also acted The Cup Winner (1911) Caloola, or The Adventures of a Jackeroo (1911) The Miner's Curse (1911) King of the Coiners (1912) Do Men Love Women? (1912) The Sin of a Woman (1912) The Crime and the Criminal (1912) Cooee and the Echo (1912) The Love Tyrant (1912) The Cheat (1912) Won on the Post (1912) Whose Was the Hand? (1912) The Moira, or Mystery of the Bush (1912) The Day (1914) The Sunny South or The Whirlwind of Fate (1915) Will they Never Come? (1915) The Hero of the Dardanelles (1915) The Loyal Rebel (1915) How We Beat the Emden (1915) A Man – That's All (1916) Cupid Camouflaged (1918)
Industrial films The Burns-Johnson Fight (1908) – Rolfe was "general manager" Australia – a Nation (1916) – series of industrial films about the Australian war effort for Australasian Films shot by Lacey Percival – include one on the Murrumbidgee area, one on Burrinjuck Darm, and one on Bundaberg
Select theatre credits
Holloway Dramatic Company The Naked Truth by George Darrell (May, 1883) – world premiere – Opera House, Melbourne – Darrell starred Queen's Evidence/Lights o' London/ Much Ado About Nothing/ The Two Orphans (Aug-Oct 1883) – Theatre Royal, Brisbane Lights o' London (October 1883) – Newcastle Othello by William Shakespeare (February 1884) – Launceston The Wages of Sin by Frank Harvey (March, 1884) – Melbourne Lights o' London/ The Silver King/ Much Ado About Nothing (June-Aug 1884) – Queensland tour, including Brisbane Clouds/ Jane Shore/ Love's Sacrifice/ Bluebeard (Nov-Dec 1884) – Christchurch, Wellington, NapierTheatre Royal. Star, Issue 5152, 6 November 1884, Page 3 accessed 1 December 2015 A Ring of Iron by Frank Harvey/Romeo and Juliet/A Mad Marriage by Frank Harvey/Hamlet/ Ingomar/Cymbeline/Much Ado About Nothing (Feb-April 1886) – tour of Tasmania – mostly Launceston, Hobart A Ring of Iron (May, 1886) – Goulbourn A Ring of Iron/Ingomar/Saints and Sinners by H. A. Jones/Hamlet/Cymbeline (June-Sept 1886) – Brisbane Saints and Sinners/Hamlet/A Mad Marriage/Cymbeline (Jan-March 1887) – Tasmania tour Cymbeline/Romeo and Juliet (April 1887) – Bendigo A Ring of Iron/Guiltless by Arthur Shirley/Wages of Sin/Heroes by Conward Edwards (June-Aug 1887) – Queensland tour, including Brisbane, Gympie Romeo and Juliet/Twelfth Night/The Merchant of Venice/Much Ado About Nothing/Cymbeline/Leah the Jewish Maiden by Mosnethal (Sept-Dec 1887) – Sydney