Frank Beaumont "Beau" Smith (15 August 1885 – 2 January 1950), was an Australian film director, producer and exhibitor, best known for making low-budget comedies. Smith made his first film in 1917, Our Friends, the Hayseeds. He went on to become one of the most prolific and popular Australian filmmakers of the silent era. Among his films were adaptations of the works of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson. His 1933 comedy The Hayseeds featured the first screen appearance of Cecil Kellaway. Smith was famous for making his films quickly – sometimes he would complete shooting and post production within one month for budgets ranging from £600 to £1,200. His wife Elsie would comment on his scripts and his brother Gordon looked after company finances. He was sometimes known as "One Shot Beau" or "That'll Do Beau". Biography Early life Smith was born in Hallett, South Australia, named after a popular single at the time, Armes Beaumont. He was educated at East Adelaide Public School. Smith won writing competitions as a teenager. He first worked as a journalist, writing for The Critic and The Register. When he was around 19 he established a small newspaper, Seaside Topics in the Victor Harbor region, which had a short run. Smith then helped C. J. Dennis found The Gadfly, which ran for several years. Smith moved from Adelaide to Sydney in 1907 to work for The Bulletin. He also worked at Lone Hand. He was secretary to Fordyce Wheeler and worked as advertising manager for The Bulletin as well as writing for it. Theatre Work Smith moved into theatre, becoming secretary for theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson. He also worked as press secretary for Anderson's representative. He toured Europe in 1909 and 1911. During the latter visit he arranged for a European troupe of midgets, "Tiny Town", to tour Australia. It was enormously successful, making a profit of 425%. Smith later toured the show in South Africa, where it was a success, and Canada, where it flopped due to opposition from existing circuses. He also toured a show by suffragette Muriel Matters which was not a success because the main market, suffragettes, could see her at women's clubs for free. Smith tried playwriting, working on an adaptation of On Our Selection by Steele Rudd. He wrote the first act on his own and then collaborated with Rudd. The play was eventually rewritten by Bert Bailey