Person - Iris Shand

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THELMA HILDA SHAND (1912 – 2000)

Her stage name Iris Shand, she was a NTL member in the late 1930s, a glamorous soubrette, an experienced acrobat and dancer. In 1940, an Equity committee member, she tap danced in Hal Alexander’s production Off the Leash. "Petite and comely", she presented “How are they all at home?” at the 1940 Naughty Nineties Labor Jubilee Ball at the Trocadero. In 1941 she played a reporter in I’d Rather be Left and acted in Awake and Sing, followed by Giggle Suits and Overalls in 1942.

In 1947 Iris Shand left for America and by 1948 she was in England, giving Command performances. She also performed in Germany. She was back in Sydney by 1959 when she and her second husband Don Williams played the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella at the Tivoli.

From several generations of circus families (her older brother Ron Shand was also a performer), Iris was born in Sydney on 1 April 1912, educated in Melbourne, played violin and piano and in the 1930s was in constant work in vaudeville, at the Tivoli. In 1938 in Victoria she married Eddie Dunstan; they later divorced.

A 1985 oral interview with Iris Shand is held by the National Library of Australia.



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