The Show Goes On
© Chris Woodland
MARTINI’S BUCKJUMPING SHOW
After a sensational season of 22 weeks in Sydney,
Now touring N.S.W. Hillgrove, Uralla, Walcha,
And Tamworth to follow, with over 70 head
Of horses, 12 wagons and 500ft square of canvas.
Brilliantly illuminated, with seating for 4000.
The show is exactly the same as in Sydney, and
Travels by Road.
TO THE PUBLIC. – “BOBS,” THE Champion Buck-jumper,
is a Bay Gelding, branded ST4 on the off shoulder. Beware of Imitations.
The above advertisement appeared in the Referee on Wednesday 10 July just eight days after the showman’s death. The still shocked and adjusting show performers played at Hillgrove on the same day as the advertisement appeared, followed by performances at Uralla on the following Saturday and Walcha the next Tuesday. Harry Kennedy was still the show’s representative. The Uralla News cited that ‘Mrs J Martini’ was offering £10 to any man who can ride Bobs for one minute.
Change of Management
On Wednesday 17 July the Bega Budget has a one-liner in its Odds and Ends column stating that:
Martini’s buckjumping show is the be carried on by his brothers.
Particulars of Martini’s estate are decided on 24 July. William Breheney, Martini’s father, now aged 72, and in failing health, passed on responsibility of his son’s estate to Patrick, and the older brother of Martini was successful in controlling the estate. Patrick has legally recorded that he was the deceased’s oldest brother and that he had no knowledge of Martin having been married. This, of course, relegates Jessies’ position, but she dutifully kept working for the show with determination, despite Patrick’s lack of experience and ineptness. Martini’s assets were valued at £838.7.7.
Though Patrick was now the person in charge, it was Jessie who had the responsibility of the day to day running of the busy show. Without Martini as head of the business, life was getting tougher for Mrs Martini as competitors spread misinformation and came out with the traditional phrase that it was no place for a woman. Others were now using Martini’s Fun in a Stockyard, having changed the name to Fun In The Stockyard, the exchange of ‘the’ for ‘in’, avoiding infringement of copyright. Another furphy circulated claiming that Bobs had been sold. To quote what someone at the time exclaimed:
One would only have to see the horse buck to determine if it was genuine or not, as no other horse could emulate the techniques of Bobs’.
It appears that Patrick Breheney had little interest in developing any close association with the show and its operational intricacies and he showed little or no support for the battling ‘widow’. It is interesting that both the publications Referee and Stageland were supportive of Martin’s Buckjumping Show during these trying times and continued to give them coverage in their editorials and advertising. A Stageland editorial went on the attack with the headline of: Dingoes Dog a Lonely Ewe. They continued explaining how this lady was struggling to keep the show going:
… in spite of cowardly woman-baiters to injure her.