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Joseph George McParlane (also spelled McFarlane and McPharlane; August 13, 1885 – May 29, 1967),^[1] known as Joe Valli, was a Scottish-Australian actor who worked in vaudeville and films.^[2] He had a long-running vaudeville partnership with Pat Hanna as "Chic and Joe".^[3]

Biography

Valli was born in Glasgow, the son of engineer Joseph McParlane and Agnes Gill. He worked as an builder and engineer before working in entertainment. In 1914 he enlisted in the army.

Valli toured Australia in 1916 in a comedy Tickets Please with Harry Clay and the Royal Follies. He returned home in 1917 but emigrated to Australia after World War One.

Valli made his film debut in Diggers and appeared in sixteen more features after that.

In 1941 he was in the AIF Entertainment Unit.^[4]

An operation on his throat in 1948 rendered him unable to speak, effectively ending his career. Reports from this time said he was destitute.^[5] A fund raiser was held for him in August 1948.^[6] Valli went to live at Actors' Equity Benevolent Fund's settlement at Sussex Inlet, where he worked as a caretaker.^[7]

In 1952 Valli was reported living on Dangar Island in the Hawkesbury. He wrote in to a quiz show Strike it Rich asking for a chance to win a stove and was successful with Vic Seixas representing Joe.^[8]

He died in Waterloo, New South Wales, of myocardial degeneration .^[9]^[10]

Valli's son, Jim McFarlane, also did some acting.^[11]

Theatre credits

Tickets Please (1916)
the New Zealand Famous Diggers (1921–22) - touring Australia and New Zealand^[12]^[13]
toured US late 1923 (August-Oct)^[14]
Hanna's Famous Diggers (1923–31)
The Cedar Tree (1934)
Jolly Roger (1935)
Home Brew (1935)

Selected filmography

Diggers (1931)
Waltzing Matilda (1933)
Diggers in Blighty (1933)
Heritage (1935)
The Flying Doctor (1936)
Orphan of the Wilderness (1936)
Tall Timbers (1937)
Let George Do It (1938)
Typhoon Treasure (1938)
Dad Rudd, MP (1940)
Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940)
Racing Luck (1941)
The Power and the Glory (1941)
100,000 Cobbers (1942)
The Rats of Tobruk (1944)
Harvest Gold (1945)
Smithy (1946)
Eureka Stockade (1949)

Select radio

The Digger Show (1940)^[15]

References

^ "Birth Record of Joseph McParlane". Ancestry.com. 2 June 1967. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ "Joe Valli Is Back On Typhoon Treasure Lot". Cairns Post (Qld.: 1909-1954). Qld.: National Library of Australia. 26 June 1937. p. 6. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
^ "Chic and Joe", Australian Variety Theatre Archive website; accessed 15 June 2015.
^ Australasian Radio Relay League. (19 July 1941), "BROADCASTERS GET BUSY ON TROOPSHIP", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 36 (29), Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-721549765, retrieved 14 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Popular comedian's tragedy". The Sun. 18 May 1948. p. 7.
^ "Stars work for luckless comrade", Pix, 21 (11), Sydney, N.S.W: Associated Newspapers Limited, 25 September 1948, retrieved 13 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Radio Roundabout", ABC Weekly, 11 (1), Sydney: ABC, 1 January 1949, retrieved 14 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Joe can now face the cold blasts". The Sun. 20 November 1952. p. 2.
^ "Death Certificate of Joseph McParlane aka Joe Valli". Ancestry.com. 2 June 1967. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ "Joe Valli dies at 81". The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 May 1967. p. 18.
^ "Finch Still actors", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 37 (34), Sydney: Wireless Press, 29 August 1942, retrieved 14 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Vaudeville, Drama, etc.", Everyones, 2 (83), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 5 October 1921, nla.obj-557021483, retrieved 15 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Vaudeville Jottings.", v.: ill. ; 32 cm., Everyones, 3 (176), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, 18 July 1923, nla.obj-562068057, retrieved 15 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Didn't Like American", Everyones, 4 (192 (7 November 1923)), Sydney: Everyones Ltd, nla.obj-560359323, retrieved 15 November 2023 – via Trove
^ "Radio stars act in Big War Show", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, 35 (28), Sydney: Wireless Press, 13 July 1940, retrieved 14 November 2023 – via Trove