This image taken in 1880, towards the end of Bosco's life, when he was sentenced to six months hard labour for theft. Throughout this article it will be seen that 'Bosco' was referred to by many variations on his actual name; he is mostly commonly mentioned as Dent, but family research indicates that the correct name is Dinte. Towards the end of his career he used the name Schpinesky, which would tie in with his supposed Polish birth, though no confirmation can be found.

The details on this incarceration log state that he was born in 1849 and arrived in Australia in 1861, making him 12 at the time. The ship listed may be "Meramaia" or perhaps "Mermaid" but has not yet been confirmed; nor has the accuracy of the dates listed.

His death certificate aged him at 45 which would make his birthdate 1847.

The name ‘Bosco’, along with ‘Blitz’, is probably the most misappropriated name in the history of magic. The original and famous Giovanni Bartolomeo Bosco (Jan.3, 1793 – Mar. 7, 1863), was renowned for his skill in performing the Cups and Balls, but “even before his death a swarm of “Boscos” were trading upon his reputation. The majority of these were catch-penny performers of no merit, whose numerous advertisements but serve to obscure investigation of the career of the original.” (1)

Our Monsieur Bosco’s career falls between 1874 and 1883.  On the other side of this timeframe we find a few Boscos in Australia, who are most unlikely to be anything other than minor players, until the arrival of the great magical triumvirate, “Le Roy, Talma and Bosco” in 1905. The Bosco in that superb magic extravaganza was the comedian of the troupe, and his role was originated by one Leon Bosco, a former acrobat, but played over the years by a further eight performers.

Jumping backwards from there to 1870, a strange tale appeared in the press concerning a Philip James Dent; and there are sufficient clues to make the connection with the man who, in 1874, would appear in Australia as ‘Bosco’.

According to the newspaper stories, Dent, aged 24,  was a sharing a ship’s cabin on a journey to England from Melbourne. His cabin companion, Mr. Joseph Lawrence Counsel, was carrying some £800 in gold, intending to purchase a property in England. The money had been supplied by his new wife, Mrs. Mary Cecilia Counsel, having money and property of her own. During the trip the money, held in a locked box, went missing and despite several searches, could not be located. Eventually, the ship arriving at Gravesend, Philip Dent was seen to leave the ship wearing a heavy coat despite the hot weather.

Mrs. Counsel, making her way in haste to England, traced Dent to a house in London and accused him of theft.   Dent made an escape by jumping out a window, but some days later was apprehended by police as he attempted to depart for America.  Little money was found on his person, but he had several new suits, a diamond pin, a gold watch and other jewellery. A later report stated that 158 Australian sovereigns had been located.

Ultimately, Philip James Dent was found guilty of theft and sentenced in England (August 1870) to twelve month’s imprisonment. (3)

In some interesting sidelights to the tale, a connection is made to Dent as possibly being a conjuror. Different newspapers make mention of his name as Philip James Dent Wingard, but the Australian paper, Ovens and Murray Advertiser (4) call him ‘Philip James Dent, the Wizard’. Mr Bosco proves to be a man with a good many names.

However, the Cornwall Advertiser of August 25, 1870 puts another slant on the tale by reporting that Dent “persuaded Counsel and another man named Weston that he was a very clever wizard, but he would never perform in Australia. If, however, he only had the money to buy apparatus, he would perform in the best parts of the world, and first of all in England. He assured them that he could cut a man's left off, throw it at the audience, and put it on again. It was agreed that all three should go to England, leaving Mrs. Counsel behind, and Counsel gave the prisoner two £50 notes... to pay for passages to England.”

That being the case, it seems that Philip Dent was a confidence trickster. Given the criminal charges, in 1881 through to 1883, against Philip James Dent in Australia, it is conceivable that this was the same man and that, having served his sentence in England, he had made his way back to Australia. The other connecting link is a mention that in 1876, Mr Bosco intended to settle in Ararat, Victoria, and to pursue his trade as a tailor. Court reporting in 1870 had referred to Philip Dent as a tailor.

As the self-proclaimed ‘Greatest Ventriloquist in the World’, Bosco was in direct competition with two other ventriloquists, Mr E.D. Davies and Val Vose.    Davies in particular seems to have travelled to the same towns as Bosco at the same time; their advertising sometimes appearing side by side, and both claiming to be the world’s greatest.  Both Bosco and Davies performed with ventriloquial figures, a new innovation, as well as using the ‘distant voice’ technique.  In 1874, Bosco was reported to be using just four heads upon stands, with articulated mouths from which issued distinctive voices. “The only objection to this clever ventriloquism is that the dialogue which takes place is not sufficiently lively .. with cleverly written sketches which each head might embody as the characters in a play, the entertainment could be made very diverting.” (5)

Bosco was at this stage travelling with the Star Mammoth Troupe, whose star turn was Signor Luigi Ferrari and his trained monkeys. Ferrari had been a feature on the Australian scene since 1864.

Also among his vocal feats was the singing of a duet of “The Bold Gendarmes” in two distinct voices, and “the talking hand” in which Bosco painted eyes and a nose on his right hand, and made the hand perform the functions of smoking, drinking and talking.

It is noticeable that when Bosco played before Melbourne and Adelaide audiences in 1875, his reviews were more critical than those in regional townships, where he met with regular acclaim.  In Adelaide he was described as ‘M.Bosco, who introduced himself in a somewhat nervous manner, is a young man, with a clean shaven face …’. If this was the same Philip Dent, he would have been about 29 years old.

The Weekly Times (Melbourne) (6) was quite blunt over his lack of lack of polish – “M.Bosco seems to lack in no small degree the two great essentials of a good ventriloquist – voice and humour. And even his negative disqualifications, for the task of amusing an Opera-house audience, were not less marked than his positive ones. His dialogue was, on the first night, very much the reverse of ‘choice’, and his endless repetition of such phrases as “Chuck him in the gutter” were very tiresome.”

The Leader of May 22 was more brutal :- “[audiences] must have felt very considerably humbled and chagrined at being treated to such childish nonsense…. it is time such buffoonery was scouted from the stage.”  And, from the Australasian:- “Candidly, I did not think much  of Monsieur Bosco. He is fidgety, his remarks have no point, and his imitations for the most part are not what they profess to be.”

“His sleight of hand is equal to the best who have appeared here as magicians. He uses no apparent mechanism, but does his tricks as frequently among the audience as on the stage. His sleight of hand with the cards has not been surpassed by either a Jacobs or a Heller. As an illustration of this, one feat may be mentioned. Seven gentlemen in different parts of the stalls drew seven different cards, and placed them back in the pack. One card was drawn out by the Professor and shown to No.1, who said it was his, the same card was shown to No.2, who said it was his, and so on with the remaining gentlemen up to the seventh. In no case was the card identical, but each was different; the Professor’s arm was all the while extended, and he moved amongst the audience when doing this dextrous feat. Another clever card trick was done in the middle of the audience. A card was drawn by a well-known business gentleman who, by request, tore it into manifold pieces, and placed it on a thin tin stand that had been examined, another gentleman took one of the torn pieces, and the remainder were then covered with a thin flat tin cover that had also been examined. Almost instantaneously the card was restored, minus the piece kept back, and this was done without the Professor going on the stage, or turning his back, or leaving the place where he was.”

Bosco’s absence of large props and equipment was noted often, to his greater credit. “Bosco is evidently an adept. “With very deficient paraphernalia, and without any of those meretricious aids usually brought into operation by other professors of these arts, he succeeds, in most of his tricks, in completely mystifying those watching him.”

A rare portrait of Professor Bosco, taken by photographic studio A.Tronier of 410 George Street, Sydney and hand-dated 1875. 10.2 x 6.2cm

On the rear of the card is written "... travelling Tasmania and does the same kind of show as Val Vose."

From the State Library of New South Wales, Call reference P1/202. The notes against the image are incorrect, attributing the performer as the original Bartolomeo Bosco.

Eventually, after an wide-ranging tour throughout Tasmania, Bosco returned to Melbourne where he found himself at the Opera House, at the same time that Mr E.D. Davies was appearing at the Theatre Royal, billed as ‘The Premier Ventriloquist of the World.’ On May 20 the ‘Age’ commented of Bosco that “his style is not at all easy, and though he used his voice at times very cleverly, it is evident that he has much to accomplish before he can honestly claim to be “the greatest living ventriloquist.”  However his short season was successful, and he was recalled to the stage three times at the conclusion of one show.

After a busy touring schedule in 1875, Bosco’s activities seem to have slowed in 1876 though he still appeared on occasion. A paragraph in the Avoca Mail (7) mentioned that “Mr Bosco, the ventriloquist and magician, is about to settle in Ararat, and pursue his trade amongst us as a tailor …” which possibly ties in with the earlier identification of the con-man Philip James Dent as a tailor.

Appearing in Wagga Wagga in late May, Mr.Bosco was literally drumming up business, beating a  the bass drum while being conveyed in a wagon with the Wagga band, when the wagon pitched into a gutter and tossed the magician out, landing through the drum but fortunately sustaining  only bruises and a shaking.

July of 1876 saw Bosco being sued for unpaid costs of printing and advertising in the Gundagai area.  He had taken out a sizeable space advertisement in the Gundagai Times for performances on June 16 and 17. The press (8) savaged him and his kind, saying, “it is shameful that some professionals should be permitted to visit towns, and after running up a bill with the printer, to go off without paying. There are too many of this class strolling about, and our unfortunate townsman has been smartly taken in by some of them. It’s a pity something could not be done to prevent these tricksters from swindling as they do…. “

As time went by, Bosco’s advertised performances came much less frequently and, by 1877/78 he was seen on few occasions. In August 1878 he appeared in Strathalbyn (S.A.) and was going by a name he had not used before – Bosco Schpinesky, which title he kept through the remainder of the South Australian season.

Whether the frequency of Bosco’s performances were due to poor business and financial concerns, or that his show was being played out in small venues which were only advertised via handbill, or whether he was simply engaged in other business, is not clear. However, his life spiralled downhill from 1879 on, when he was arrested and charged multiple times on counts of theft and larceny; though the monetary value involved was small.

Around August/September 1879 Bosco wrote to the Colonial Secretary in Sydney, requesting a renewal of his “travelling theatrical license”. At this stage, enquiries by the police revealed no concerns, and he was declared a suitable person to hold a performing license. (10)

December 1879 – [Australian Town and Country Journal, Dec.13] – FORBES, NSW – “In the police court, yesterday, a person named Philip Dent was committed for trial for stealing three £1 notes from the till of R. Low’s Bristol Arms Hotel on Sunday morning last. This person has been giving several performances in the way of ventriloquism, slight-of-hand, &c., under the name of Bosco; unfortunately his latest trick being rather clumsily executed, has brought him into trouble. He will now have four months in our cool gaol before the sessions come round again…”

Bosco/Dent must have languished in gaol until the magistrate returned to Forbes for sentencing, because on March 12, 1880  Judge Wilkinson at Forbes  accepted Bosco’s plea of guilty of larceny, and gave him six months’ hard labour in Bathurst Gaol.

This did not apparently disqualify Bosco from performing, as on December 7, 1880, at the request of his agent, G.H.Gray, he was granted a twelve-month general license to perform, signed by no other than Sir Henry Parkes, then Colonial Secretary.

June 1881 – [The Argus, Melbourne, June 4] – BAIRNSDALE, VIC – “At the police court to-day Bosco, the conjuror and ventriloquist, was charged with the illegal detention of a £5 note, the property of William Webster. The prosecutor alleged that a number of persons were “shaking” [playing dice?] for drinks at Coongulmering, when defendant took a £5 note from plaintiff that he held in his hand, afterwards he could not get Bosco to return it. The latter alleged that complainant gave him the note. The Bench made an order for the immediate restitution of the £5, in default one month’s imprisonment. The money was paid by defendant’s friends.”

A couple of brief notices were published,  that Bosco would appear in Newstead, in May 1882, and Kerang in August.  On September 2, Senior Constable Mullany arrested “P.Bosco” in Murtoa, Victoria, for getting a watch from Mr. Cox of Horsham, the previous month by means of a valueless cheque. “There are likely to be other charges.” (9)

Bosco was brought to Horsham where, at the Police Court under the name “P. Bosco Schepinsky” [sic.] he was charged with obtaining money from three parties under false pretences. His defending counsel, Mr. Perry, argued that the case should be withdrawn, as the three informants upon whom the cheques (valued at a total of £5) were passed were agreeable, that the accused having given his watch to meet the amounts – and that, at the time, he was drunk and therefore had no felonious intent.

The bench thought differently, ruling that Bosco had obtained money under false pretences nonetheless, but sentencing him to one month’s imprisonment instead of the available penalty of two years.

November 1883 – [The Grazier, Hay NSW, November 17, 1883] – HILLSTON NSW – “Phillip Dent, alias Boscoe [sic.] was arrested here on Tuesday morning by Constable Sawtell, charged with stealing a watch in Bathurst, in 1880.” This retrospective charge was delayed, with Bosco under remand, for eight days pending the arrival of a warrant. However no further reporting can be found, and it is possible that no conviction took place.

There must have been some other run-in with the law, however. We have a death certificate for “Philip Bosco Schpinesky”, who died on June 14, 1892 at Her Majesty’s Gaol, Maitland NSW, aged 45. His birthplace is stated as Poland, and his occupation ‘Tailor’.  The cause of death is stated as “syncope” which in general is just 9a loss of consciousness, or fainting, and an inquest resulted from the death. Schpinesky is buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery, East Maitland.

May 26 - Newstead

(1) The Annals of Conjuring, Sidney Wrangel Clarke, published originally in “The Magic Wand” magazine.

(2) Or Phillip James Dent; but see the notes regarding his name as being “Dinte”. Thanks to family researcher, Joy Dinte, for providing this information and his death certificate.

(3) Sheffield Daily Telegraph, August 19, 1870. Court reporting from the Cornwall Advertiser and Clerkenwell News of July and August, 1870.

(4) Ovens and Murray Advertiser, October 25, 1870

(5) Mount Alexander Mail, December 3, 1874

(6) Weekly Times, Melbourne, May 22, 1875

(7) Avoca Mail, March 3, 1876

(8) Gundagai Times, July 7, 1876

(9) The Age, Melbourne, September 4, 1882

(10)  License details from 1879 and 1880 are from records held in the State Archives and Records Authority, Colonial Secretary; NRS 905, Main series of letters received.

Ref. 80/9914 which also holds documents marked 79/7665, 79/7269,  79/7085 (original documents sighted).