11 August 1928 – 3 May 1930
The Australian Sporting and Dramatic News was launched in August 1928. It was presumably modelled, at least in part, on the very successful London Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, which had been running as a weekly since 1874.
Quarto sized, with 64 pages and lavishly produced on quality paper with a cover in 3 colours, it was distributed across all states and sold at the price of six-pence.
Heavily promoted in the Sydney and country press, for an untested publication it received good support from advertisers.
And, it was very favourably received by the independent trade journal, Newspaper News, which announced its arrival, as follows:
“The journal as its name indicates caters for sport and the theatre ‑ and only the best of everything has been good enough for the editor. Photographs and drawings are very freely used.“
Initially, the covers featured photographs mainly of sporting events utilising the 3 available colours.
From September 1929 they took a dramatic step forward in appearance when the 3 colour covers were replaced with multi coloured art works in the cartoon mode, initially by D H Souter and later by Harry Eyre Jr.
Both these artists/illustrators also produced covers for the Woman’s Budget. Copies of some of the front covers of the journal can be seen on this page.
Who came up with the idea for an Australian version of the London Sporting and Dramatic News is unknown. Ernest Selby, the Company Secretary and Public Officer of S Bennett Limited, is named as the “Printer and Publisher” in the colophon. He may have played a part. Errol Knox, Managing Editor, (CEO), in control all the Bennett publications, would have been intimately involved in its development and would obviously have had the final say in whether to present the proposal to the Board.
Management may have been looking to exploit the capacity of its newly commissioned Hoe perfecting press imported from England in August 1828. A 96‑page magazine press, this was one of the largest magazine web perfecting presses then imported into Australia. Procured for printing the Woman’s Budget, it comprised 2 printing units, which without any handling could produce a 96‑page magazine, plus 4‑page cover and 4‑page insert in colour, stitched and delivered at a running speed of 4,000 completed copies per hour.
The 1928 Annual Report shows the establishment costs for the magazine as £5,523. Despite the generally depressed economy the Company had a good year. The profit for the year after allowing for bad and doubtful debts and taxation was £40,665, as compared with £39,124 for the previous year. A dividend at the rate of 4 ⅟2 % for the half year (making 9% for the full year). It could afford to take a chance on a new prestige publication.
A review in The World’s News, at that time another weekly publication from the Associated Newspapers stable, sings its praises! (Was this an “Advertorial” of the day? If so, it was not disclosed.)
Unfortunately the publication only enjoyed a short life, with the last issue appearing on 3 May 1930; only 91 editions in all. It lasted just 6 months after the merger with Sun News Papers. At 6d, it was expensive by the standards of the day. The Evening News was still 1d, and the Woman’s Budget 3d. Aimed, at a niche market, what the above review/promo describes as “discriminating readers”, it had been a consistent money-loser up to that point. The times were against it, and it was unable to ride out the impacts of the 1930’s depression, perhaps to eventually prove its worth.