Eveline Pauline (Queenie) Paul

Career

Queenie Paul was on stage with J. C. Williamson as a chorus girl by age 15. In her early 20s she was the principal boy in a production of a pantomime, The Bunyip. In 1917 she co-starred with an American actor at the National Theatre; she and Mike Connors were soon wed, and worked in shows together for most of the next twelve years. Their "Con-Paul Theatre" company opened in 1931, with them headlining a variety show. In 1932, she was "ballet mistress and star" at the Sydney Theatre Royal. The Connors took a touring company to New Zealand in the mid-1930s. Apart from Connors, who was busy with a new broadcasting career, Paul concentrated on producing shows featuring her chorus line, the "Sun-Kissed Girls". Later in life, she continued performing in variety shows, and she was a regular guest on television talk shows. In 1977 she was the guest of honor on an episode of This Is Your Life. In 1982, she was awarded an Order of Australia medal (OAM). She married again in 1960, to Walter John Harding, an accountant. Her great-nephews were Anthony Field of The Cockroaches and The Wiggles, and John Field and Paul Field, also of The Cockroaches. Queenie Paul died in July 1982, just two days after her last performance, at the age of 88 years, in her home in Dulwich Hill.