Beaumont Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frank Beaumont Smith 15 August 1885 Hallett, South Australia, Australia |
| Died | 2 January 1950 (aged 64) St Leonards, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation(s) | Director, producer |
| Years active | 1913–1938 |
| Spouse | Elsie Fleming (m. 1911–1950; his death) |
Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies.[1]
Smith made his first film, Our Friends, the Hayseeds, in 1917. He went on to become one of the most prolific and popular Australian filmmakers of the silent era. Among his films were adaptations of the works of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson. His 1933 comedy The Hayseeds featured the first screen appearance of Cecil Kellaway.
Smith was famous for making his films quickly – sometimes he would complete shooting and post-production within one month for budgets ranging from £600 to £1,200. His wife Elsie would comment on his scripts and his brother Gordon looked after company finances. He was sometimes known as "One Shot Beau" or "That'll Do Beau".[2][3]
A 1925 profile on the director stated:
Though he is by no means the pioneer of Australian motion picture producers, he is the daddy of them all by I'eason of the number of films he has produced [then seventeen]... He is his own financier and has not found it necessary to float a company to stand behind his products. There are many who sneer at some of them, but it is a fact that they have all made money for Beaumont Smith and the showmen who have screened them, and what more could any man ask... Exactly what there is about the Beaumont Smith films it is hard to say. There was with some of the earliest a crudeness that was apparent, yet they are all devised with cunning that speaks of showmanship of the highest degree and as such they get over flaws and all and the general impression defies criticism.[4]