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When Sandy Stone, the fictitious, soft-spoken devoted husband brought to brilliant life by Barry Humphries, passed away on stage in the early 1970s, his ghost delivered his own eulogy. \u201cNeedless to say, there wasn\u2019t much of a turn-up,\u201d Sandy said of his funeral.<\/p>\n
The same could not be said for Humphries himself, the comedian, satirist, artist and music academic, whose life and death was celebrated in a colourful state memorial that drew reflections from family members, international celebrities, the prime minister and even King Charles III.<\/p>\n
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The nuance of Barry Humphries\u2019 thought was best found in his lesser works. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Artwork by Monique Westermann<\/cite><\/p>\n Anyone who knew Humphries \u2013 or one of his creations, Stone, the boorish Sir Les Patterson or the inimitable Dame Edna Everage \u2013<\/strong> understood the uncertain collision of fear and fun risked by proximity to Humphries\u2019 performances, the King said.<\/p>\n \u201cThose who tried to stand on their dignity, only lost their footing. Those who wondered whether Australia\u2019s housewife superstar might this time just go too far, were always proved right.\u201d<\/p>\n The state memorial for Barry Humphries under the sails of the Sydney Opera House was everything it ought to have been \u2013 even fashionably late, coming more than seven months after Humphries\u2019 death in April of this year.<\/p>\n Two of the theatre world\u2019s greats, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh, spoke of Humphries\u2019 brilliance. The prime minister and NSW state premier of his cultural significance. And music legend Elton John of his good humour.<\/p>\n In the cultural memory of Australians, however, Humphries is known best as Dame Edna Everage, the Moonee Ponds housewife whose journey to the UK in the wake of her miscreant nephew Barry McKenzie in the 1970s put her on the path to international stardom.<\/p>\n In 1974, Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam granted her a damehood. She became a confidante to US president Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II. Gigastardom was inevitable, really.<\/p>\n But Edna\u2019s inner life was vast and complex: her mother in a maximum security twilight home, her permanently infirm (later deceased) husband Norm, eldest son Bruce, daughter-in-law Joylene, dress designer son Kenny, Kenny\u2019s roommate Clifford Smale, and youngest daughter Valmai. Aside from Kenny, as you might expect, all were disappointments to the perfect (and perfectionist) Edna in some way, shape or form.<\/p>\n \u201cYou mustn\u2019t judge Australia by the Australians,\u201d Dame Edna once quipped. And yet, if it was Dame Edna\u2019s unwavering belief that we were a nation of boors, in the finality of her life she would be proud we shook away our bad manners and rose to meet the moment when Barry Humphries passed away. A state memorial with a eulogy from the King? Even the finely tuned Dame Edna would have to concede it was an extraordinary moment.<\/p>\n Lizzie Spender (centre), Rupert and Oscar Humphries arrive at the Sydney Opera House.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Janie Barrett<\/cite><\/p>\n Unsurprisingly too, the inner life of the man behind Dame Edna was revealed to be impossibly and fabulously complex as well. Humphries was 89 years old when he died; he played Edna for almost 68 of them. He was a skilled artist, an almost peerless raconteur and a virtuoso in the field of the jazz-influenced music of the Weimar Republic, the name given to Germany between the two world wars.<\/p>\n The examination of Humphries\u2019 life also revealed he was an artist of substantial talent. Another lifelong friend, the art dealer Philip Bacon, said Humphries was happiest brush in hand \u201cpainting a beautiful picture\u201d. Bacon spoke of painting trips to the outback in the company of John Olsen and Arthur Boyd. And Humphries\u2019 passion for modern \u2013 if slightly offensive \u2013 art, such as one early piece, a gumboot filled with custard titled \u201cPus in Boots\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cNever be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing the laugh of the century,\u201d Humphries told his former assistant Karl Schmid, now a television reporter in the United States. Humphries\u2019 also gave Schmid, who spoke on stage at the Opera House, his best life advice: \u201cAlways live a little bit beyond your means.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the memorial was played for laughs. The cabaret artist Meow Meow performed a repertoire of Weimar-inspired music. \u201cIf Dame Edna represented the refinement, the consideration and the style of the upper house, Sir Les was without a doubt the lower house,\u201d quipped Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The mischief and lightness of touch would have delighted Humphries.<\/p>\n Andrew Ross and Karl Schmid at the state memorial Service for Barry Humphries.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Dominic Lorrimer<\/cite><\/p>\n But the memorial was also deeply moving. At different moments, Schmid and musical director Andrew Ross fought back tears. Humphries\u2019 daughter Tessa read a poem her father had penned about his birthplace, the city of Melbourne. And his sons Rupert and Oscar spoke of their father\u2019s complexities. \u201cHis was a life in two acts, the chaos of addiction and then sobriety,\u201d Oscar said.<\/p>\n The audience was peppered with Humphries\u2019 high-profile friends and acquaintances. The writer Kathy Lette. The barrister and academic Geoffrey Robertson. The actress Jackie Weaver. The singer and actress Nell Campbell. Barry Crocker, who played Dame Edna\u2019s nephew Barry McKenzie. And former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife, former Sydney lord mayor Lucy Turnbull.<\/p>\n Of the possibility of his own death, Humphries once said: \u201cI think the last part of one\u2019s life is a journey back. It has a sort of symmetry. I think Australia would be quite a place really to die. I will be a ghost because I have a very strong psychic doppelganger which will survive. And it will probably haunt the house my father built in Camberwell.\u201d<\/p>\n And like many great artists, the nuance of Humphries\u2019 thought was best found in his lesser works. Not the archly drawn Dame Edna, or the fabulously revolting Sir Les Patterson, but in the gently haunting presence of Sandy Stone, a dreary Melburnian so uninteresting he couldn\u2019t even be killed; he simply remained on stage as a ghostly presence.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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