He announced he was going to form Arthur Shirley Productions, a company worth £100,000, to make movies for worldwide distribution and had bought a building in Rose Bay to use as a studio.
[4] The Throwback started filming, with Shirley having hired Ernest Higgins as cinematographer and brought over Lawson Harris from the US to assist as production manager.
Shirley and an actress, Vera Remee, sued Higgins for salary; he refused to pay and kept the reels of film.
[5] Shirley ended up suing Higgins for £1,000 in damages for alleged breach of contract and for the detention of certain films and plates in connection with the movie.
[9] As a result, Shirley declared bankruptcy for the second time in his life, claiming he was the victim of Higgins' "hate, spleen and malice".