by Nick Place
The star of the show is Brian James as Dr Thompson, an experienced and skilled doctor, even if his bedside manner could use some work. He’s been accused of being gruff, but don’t be fooled, he has a heart of gold. Sydney Conabere is his assistant, George, who has been on the emergency ward for almost 20 years but can still be caught appreciating the pretty nurses.
George’s girlfriend, May the switchboard girl, is played by Natalie Raine while the cast is rounded out by the beautiful Judith Godden as inexperienced Nurse Adamson.
Equipment for the program has been borrowed from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, which has also been assisting Strong with matters of detail and authenticity. Trained nurses have also been on hand to make sure the beds were made correctly and that instruments were correctly placed on trolleys.
Emergency is being filmed using the telerecording technique, as against traditional film, meaning the producer can see each scene from master control as it is being shot, rather than having to wait for film rushes to be developed.
It continues a boom period for local production, with ATN-7’s local dramatic serial, Autumn Affair, screening weekday mornings in 15-minute episodes.
First TV Week awards
January: In Melbourne Tonight personalities Graham Kennedy and Panda have been named the outstanding television stars of 1958 in a new award. Not surprisingly, In Melbourne Tonight was also named Best Regular Live Program.
The awards, created by magazine TV Week, were announced after thousands of reader entries had been counted.
All winners will be presented with their awards – on their various shows or in small on-air ceremonies. Stage and screen star Googie Withers has agreed to present the awards to Graham and Panda during IMT this month.
Kennedy was asked to christen the figurine with a name and suggested honouring TV pioneer John Logie Baird.
Hidden adverts a ‘dangerous practice’
February: Subliminal advertising on TV is a potentially dangerous practice and commercial networks have been warned about using the technique, the Australian Broadcasting Control Board has revealed in its annual report to Parliament.
Canberra was told the Board had threatened to establish standards relating to this type of advertising if licensees did not refrain from using it. The report said subliminal advertising could be used for harmful purposes and that its ‘anti-social possibilities had been recognised both overseas and in Australia as being sufficiently dangerous to make the practice undesirable’.
TVs get bigger – take to the walls
We’ve seen TVs getting smaller, but brace yourself for the next big thing – a 66-inch screen that hangs on your lounge room wall.
The TV picture is projected from inside a main cabinet onto the 66-inch metal wall screen, creating an effect not unlike having a movie screen at home.
That effect is boosted by the set’s ability to use the metal screen to create a 3D-type sound. There is also a remote control unit attached to the set by a long cord.
The name of the new receiver is the Edel projected TV set, and it retails for £997 – far outside the means of the average viewer.
ON DEBUT
> World of Sport – HSV-7’s weekly sports program begins on Saturday mornings
> Six O’Clock Rock – teenage show hosted by Johnny O’Keefe
> Emergency – first Australian drama series
> The Critics – fortnightly panel program on which three people discuss a book, a film and an event
> Don’t Argue – audience participation show compered by Alwyn Kurts
> Off the Beaten Track – Alan Marshall presents stories of his experiences
> Wheel of Fortune – quiz show providing a TV debut for Reg Grundy
> Mr Squiggle – begins on the ABC
> Women’s Weekly Show
> I’ve Got a Secret
> Bandwagon – variety show (below) And from overseas comes:
> The Untouchables – crime
> Rawhide – western series
> The Real McCoys – US comedy starring Walter Brennan
> Wanted Dead or Alive – western starring Steve McQueen > The Red Skeleton Series – comedy
> The Thin Man – detective series starring Peter Lawford and Phillis Kirk
> Peter Gunn – detective series
> White Hunter and McKenzie’s Raiders – two adventure series
> Ann Southern Show – comedy series
> Hawaiian Eye – detective series
> Medic – stories with a medical background, starring Richard Boone
> The Alaskans – adventure series
Bert ‘hangs out’ with the cool groovers from Manila Combo.
Bert sacked! Moves to Nine
July: Former Seven host Bert Newton – sensationally sacked by the station earlier this year – is about to step into the big time as temporary host of Victoria’s biggest show, In Melbourne Tonight, while Graham Kennedy takes a week’s holiday.
‘I can still hardly believe it,’ Bert told TV Week. ‘This is one part of television work that I never thought I’d get a crack at.’
The move into Kennedy’s shoes – albeit temporary – completes a tumultuous year for Newton. In February he stunned viewers by ending his Wednesday night Late Show program with the bombshell that he was saying good night for the last time. ‘This is my last Late Show,’ he said.
Newton was rostered for work in the announcer’s booth the next day but failed to turn up for work and was sacked the following day. He later refused to comment on his move and, while conceding that he had plans for the future, said ‘none of that would be of any interest at the moment’.
He had a two-week stint as master of ceremonies for the Northcote Plaza stage show, TV Moments, before – to nobody’s surprise – he was finally signed by Nine. Since then he’s been hosting his own show and performing a variety of other roles at the station.
The men behind the camera take a rare turn in front of the lens. Seen here are members of Melbourne’s Channel Seven team (from left): Peter Twomey, Dick Jones, Graham Foster, John Pease and Tom Lawson.
Red tights – red faces
There has been a storm of complaints at Nine about the costumes worn by ballet dancers Janice Keane and Janice Kelly on Bob Dyer’s Super Show, with callers saying they were stunned to see girls dancing in short skirts with nothing underneath.
‘The viewers complained that the dance had been rude and vulgar,’ a Nine switchboard operator told TV Week. ‘A few banged down the receivers before I had a chance to say anything.’
However, it would seem the furore is a misunderstanding. The studio lights played tricks with the camera images, making the girls appear to be naked. The girls were actually wearing full-length red tights under their short, striped black and white smocks.
‘The trouble was the red tights which we were using for the first time,’ said choreographer Coral Deague. ‘The red colour appeared to be flesh-coloured on the screen.’
The costumes’ designer, Sava Canakis, shrugged. ‘Too much light on the nylon tights has highlighted portions of the human anatomy.’
Jumbo year for Burke
July: It’s been a jumbo year for Channel 7 personality Madeleine Burke – and it just keeps getting bigger. Recently she found herself riding an elephant in the studio, after circus man Doug Ashton turned up with Jumbo the elephant.
But it’s all just part of a day’s work for the popular host of the energetic children’s show, Young Seven, who took over the role last year. She will soon be joined on the show by Brian Naylor.
Somehow, Madeleine even found time for off-screen fun. She has just accepted an invitation from the Channel 7 Social Club to be that station’s representative in this year’s ‘Miss Show Business’ contest.
TV Week now has a competitor, with the launch of the ABC’s own weekly magazine called TV News-Times. It’s a sign of how popular TV is becoming in Australia.
MEMORIES
> Heather Horwood
is the first Melbourne artist to break an unofficial Sydney ban on Melbourne artists appearing there on TV.
> Ventriloquist Ron Blaskett insures Gerry Gee for £10,000 against a possible accident in helicopter rides to children’s parties.
> ABC telecasts a concert by the combined Victorian and Sydney symphony orchestras to mark the opening of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.
> The opening of Federal Parliament is televised for the first time, direct from Canberra.
> Dr Billy Graham comes to Melbourne and two evangelical revival meetings are telecast. Telerecordings are made to send back to America and the first is the largest telerecording ever done in Australia.
> Barry Humphries appears as a panellist on Any Questions?
> Melbourne TV stars appear as extras in On the Beach and rub shoulders with Hollywood stars like Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire.
> BBC film of the Wimbledon singles tennis final between Australia’s Rod Laver and Peru’s Alej Olmedo is rushed out and televised on ABC.
> US private-eye series 77 Sunset Strip is probably the most popular show in Australia, closely followed by Perry Mason.
> Censors stop two episodes, one dealing with nudism and the other with unmarried mothers, of the controversial new ABC series, Dan Farson Presents.
> First locally produced drama series, Emergency, axed after a savaging by the media, especially in Sydney.
> TV Stars of the Year: Graham Kennedy and Panda Lisner
> Show of the Year: In Melbourne Tonight (GTV-9)
1960
A big TV defection leaves one Melbourne station feeling decidedly ‘unhappy’, while Graham Kennedy’s early attempts at taking his show national are greeted with derision. TV is given one of its first truly big weddings – this one for real – and it’s a rocky road for one of our biggest music stars.
A Happy fight breaks out in Melbourne
August: GTV-9 and HSV-7 are going head-to-head in a battle to prove which station is the ‘happiest’ after the defection of Happy Hammond to Dorcas Street, from Nine.
It’s the first major celebrity move since star producer Norm Spencer shifted to Seven from Nine in July. The founding producer of In Melbourne Tonight said he felt a need for fresh challenges.
Spencer’s first big move has been to make an offer too good to refuse for Hammond, while also almost snaring the other Happy Show star, Ron Blaskett. In the end, Blaskett has decided to stay and will now host the renamed Gerry Gee’s Happy Show, with talk of the show going national.
In a strange aside to the drama, the mischievous Gerry Gee can now claim to be the only ventriloquist’s doll in the world to have his own TV contract, having been signed by Nine to become its property.
In a comical moment, TV Week photographed Gerry Gee signing a new three-year contract (worth £150 per week) for Blaskett with Nine, accompanied by the caption: ‘I’m a bit worried about this sobriety clause.’ But now the inter-station battle to create the most entertaining children’s show has commenced, so there’s no more time for jokes.
Happy Hammond and Spencer are working on a new show that will replace Young Seven. Seven’s The Happy Show will feature 28-year-old ventriloquist Ian Williams, with his little wooden friend, Ricky, along with Williams’ real talking dog, Bim, an Australian silky terrier. The show will not feature current Young Seven presenter, the very popular Madeleine Burke, who will move to more ‘adult’ roles within Seven. Spencer is confident that Happy Hammond’s presence will make their version of The Happy Show a winner. ‘Happy is the best man in his field in Australia – he has the right ideas,’ he told TV Week. ‘Happy is well known for his taste and his sense of decency.’
Happy Hammond was very happy about the way the show had come together. ‘I’ve always been a pretty happy fellow, but I can’t recall when I’ve ever been happier in any one job than I am at the moment,’ said Happy.
Bim was not available for comment.
Kennedy show canned in Sydney
May: Graham Kennedy’s national show will continue despite being savaged by Sydney critics and dropped by ATN-7. Critics described the show as being like an ‘amateur hour’ and could not understand how Kennedy had risen to such heights in Melbourne, describing his performance as mediocre and saying he displayed ‘little talent’ as host, song-and-dance man, comedian or advertising spruiker.
The good news for Kennedy, however, is that rival Sydney station TCN-9 snapped up his show within hours of the ATN announcement, meaning Kennedy has finished by simply moving up the dial. The show will screen as usual in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Kennedy has admitted that his first few attempts at a national show were not his strongest work but that he’s now relaxed a lot more.
Comic sacked for ‘blue’ joke
March: Channel 7 comedian Jackie Clancy has been fired after making an offensive joke on air last week during the Club 7 show.
The joke was: A boy was staying with his aunt while his mum was in hospital. His aunt takes him to the zoo and they stop in front of the stork’s cage. ‘That’s a stork,’ she explains. ‘Any time now he’s going to fly up to heaven and get a little baby, then he’s going to fly over the hospital where your mummy is and drop the baby down the chimney. It’ll go down the chimney, along a chute and pop up in the bed next to your mummy.’
‘That’ll scare the hell out of mum,’ replies the child.
‘She’s pregnant, you know.’
But Clancy had the last laugh after all: soon after his sacking Channel 9 hired him to appear on IMT!
Jingles on the pop charts?
January: In what could be a world first, a recent Australian TV commercial is rumoured to have been reinvented as a potential pop song. The J. Walter Thompson commercial, believed to be for a popular soft drink, has had new lyrics written and is set to be released by EMI Records as a potential hit.
However, one person who won’t be happy about the blurring of TV and pop is visiting violinist Alfredo Campoli, who wants rock-and-roll banned from TV screens. He believes that TV is a ‘lethal weapon’ as dangerous, in its own way, as an atom bomb.
‘I’m not against jazz or dance music,’ he told TV Times. ‘What I object to is this degenerate type of session on television in which so-called artists warble tunes and make suggestive body movements which could be the prelude to a sex orgy.’
Jackie Clancy with Bert Newton on air after switching networks.
ON DEBUT
> Hutton’s Quiz – family quiz show
> Wrestling – direct telecast from Festival Hall with commentary by Jack Little (right)
> Old Time Ballroom – live musical program with Keith Glover
> Sam Castle Spectacular – series of four live variety programs direct from the Ripponlea studios
> Let’s Go Square Dancing – live telecasts featuring Jim Vickers-Willis
> Bentley’s Bandbox – comedy, song and dance program featuring comedian Dick Bentley
> Furnishing is Fun – women’s session conducted by Joyce Turner
> Today – breakfast program hosted by Barry McQueen
> Lady for a Day – program for women hosted by American Larry K. Nixon
> Football for the Ladies – hosted by Geoff Corke
> Hi Fi Club – teenage show compered by Bert Newton
> Coles’ £3000 Question – quiz show with Malcolm Searle as compere
> Here Come the Girls – all-female music and variety show > Stormy Petrel – drama series
> John Konrads Show – variety show
> The Bobby Limb Show – variety
> The Lee Gordon Show – live music show > The Evie Hayes Show – variety And from overseas comes:
> Hancock’s Half Hour – series starring English comedian Tony Hancock
> The Nelsons – comedy series, starring Ricky Nelson and his real-life family
> The Detectives – Robert Taylor makes his TV debut in this new series as the captain of a detective bureau
>
> The Winifred Atwell Show – variety
> National Velvet – drama series
> Roaring Twenties – drama series
Aussie cowboys ride onto small screen
December: The first Aussie ‘western’ has ridden into town on English screens, although it won’t be seen here until next year.
Whiplash is an ambitious and exciting production, based around the story of Cobb & Co. coach founder, Christopher Cobb. It stars Peter Graves – brother of Gunsmoke star James Arness – as Cobb, with fellow American Anthony Wickert as his offsider, Dan Ledward.
But don’t let the American leads fool you. This story is Aussie all the way, with local actors likely to walk through the saloon doors including Leonard Teale, Chips Rafferty, Chuck Faulkner, Stuart Wagstaff, Lionel Long and Aboriginal actor Robert Tudawali. GTV-9 has bought the series in Melbourne, and plans to show it early next year.
In the tradition of such hits as Gunsmoke and Rawhide, but featuring Australian landscapes, Whiplash should be a sure-fire winner. It would appear that a few liberties have been taken with the story of Cobb & Co., not least because the actual founder was American Freeman Wills Cobb, but let’s not let that get in the way of a cracking story.
The fact is with so many American westerns on our screens, it made sense to produce one of our own, and Australia in the 1850s is a great setting.
Filming proved to be dangerous for the actors, however. Sydney actor Joe McCormick was shot while playing out a gun duel; a wad of cardboard from a faulty blank cartridge in a Winchester rifle sliced into his flesh. Luckily, he has since made a full recovery.
The wedding crew, from left to right: Don Bennetts, of Channel 7, Cheryl Ellen, Jimmy and Panda, Graham Kennedy and Diane Spencer.