He acted on Broadway in the light opera Sergeant Kitty with Virginia Earle,[1] and then in silent film where he played Cameron's faithful servant (uncredited) in DW Griffith's controversial epic The Birth of a Nation.

[2] Braham had two younger brothers, Charles who became an acrobat using the name Carl Robarts, and Edwin, who had mild learning difficulties and was cared for by the family but later suffered vascular dementia and died aged 58.

After having success in the early music halls in Sydney, in June 1872 Braham met Lizzie Watson, born Eliza Stephenson (c. 1840 – 17 February 1913), an Irish serio-comic and Burlesque actress ten years his senior.

[4] After further success as a partnership, in music halls in Sydney,[5][6] Brisbane, Melbourne, various surrounding towns which had benefited from the Gold Rush,[7][8] such as Bathurst, West Maitland and Hill End and then in New Zealand, Braham and Watson sailed with the Billy Emerson minstrel company in June 1874 aboard the steam ship Tartar bound for San Francisco.

[9] After landing safely at Honolulu where it was scheduled to make a stop, the Emerson company, Braham and Watson did not re-board but stayed a couple of weeks during which they were unexpectedly commanded to perform before the last King of Hawaii David Kalakaua.

[10] The company then sailed on to San Francisco where Braham and Watson performed at the Bella Union Saloon in the Barbary Coast district for an unprecedented 47 weeks.

When their contract finished Braham and Watson went to New York where they impressed the famous impresario and "father of vaudeville" Tony Pastor who invited them to tour with him.

Braham and Watson returned to the UK in February 1878 as the highest paid entertainers of their profession, and toured all of the main music halls throughout the country, including The Crystal Palace in London.

[11] In 1889, William H. Crane, an influential actor-manager who was a personal friend of the President Grover Cleveland, signed him to be part of his company which included Georgie Drew Barrymore and subsequently Agnes Booth.