[1][2] For much of his childhood and adult life Samuels was a creative and social outsider looking for ways to express an artistic alternative self.
Jacob Samuels emigrated to Australia, established himself in Sydney and wrote to Edinburgh for Mary and enclosing her passage as an earnest of good intent.
The Samuels family ran a general store that sold men's and boy's clothing, dressmaking materials, remnants, blankets and jewellery and also engaged in watch repairs and tailoring.
[6] Little is known of Samuels early education although it is said that he attended Fort Street Model School, Observatory Hill, from 1907 until 1911.
[7] During World War I Samuels was mobilised for service and volunteered with the First Australian Imperial Force but was rejected as medically unfit to serve.
Samuels' Famous Cough Linctus and theatrical Melody Cold Cream were used by many theatre professionals, and his headache bar enjoyed an international reputation.
[17] In 1946 a portrait of Samuels was painted by Frank Hodgkinson and hung in the Archibald Prize exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Ltd.[19] Samuels retired to a house he built, in the then mostly rural suburb of Castle Hill, with his companion Joseph Smith.
In his death notice in 1973, Samuels was listed in the Sydney Morning Herald as formerly residing in Potts Point.