RADIO BROADCASTER
Long live the ABC. In providing me with the opportunity to script and present radio programs.
The ABC also spurred me on to do more and more research.
As they say: "I have a better face for radio". Despite this I managed to get my mug on television.
Long live the ABC. In providing me with the opportunity to script and present radio programs the ABC also spurred me on to do more and more research. I was fortunate in the mid-sixties to meet two of the most remarkable men in the ABC's history – Alan Ashbolt was head of what was then Talks and Current Affairs – a peculiar department crowded with radicals and eccentrics. Alan was a well-known 'lefty' and had a loyal band of presenter producers like Robyn Ratlich, Stan Corrie and Stephen Rapley who would get me in to write and present book reviews. I loved these little opportunities.
Over in the Music Department Harold Hort ruled the roost and what a strange roost it was! Harold was a charmer of the old school but highly eccentric. He and I lunched regularly at the Woolpack Restaurant or at one of the small Italian restaurants in the Cross. He was a Buddhist of sorts and a vegetarian but he also loved a glass of wine and bawdy poetry and songs. We had a great time and, with his blessing, I churned out program after program of Australian folk material. We never did produce the definitive program on bawdy songs but we talked about it often enough. I suspect Harold used me to shock his old school ABC Music Department staff. I was a very eager pup in those days, fresh from school and already playing at radio.
Christopher Lawrence, later to become and important classical presenter, was a young and enthusiastic producer and he teamed up with me to work on some major folk series. We remain good friends to this day.
Time has confused my memory of the early ABC folk programs but I certainly remember these key ones. I wrote all the scripts and performed in most productions.
Navvy on the Line
a three part series on Australian railway songs and lore and performed by the earliest incantation of The Larrikins (Warren Fahey, Jack Fallis, Paddy McLoughlan, Ned the Fiddler). It became the basis for the Larrikin LP of the same name.
The Great Australian Legend
This was a very ambitious project – 16 half hour programs tracing the history of Australia through folksong. It featured Peter O'Shaughnessy and Declan Affley and was really successful.
The Song Carriers
A twelve half hour program series where I used my field recordings and discussed the folklore flow from singer to singer.
A World of Music
This was another 16 program series and, as far as I know, the first such series to look at the folk music of the world. It was the late sixties and 'world music' was known as 'ethnic music' or 'international music'. Duh!
While The Billy Boils
This was my second attempt to track the history of Australia through song and dramatic readings. The 16 programs were produced by Christopher Lawrence, in the Victoria Street, Chatswood studios which were mainly used to record the orchestras.
It featured the Larrikins (Jack Kevans, Cathie O'Sullivan, Bob McInnes, Declan Affley plus guest singers and a number of leading actors including Lex Foxcroft. The ABC issued it as a 16 cassette set and, apparently, sold over 50,000 copies. In those days, unfortunately, we didn't receive a royalty.
Songs of Animals
This was a special produced by David Mulhallen for the Australasian Broadcasting Network. Each year the ABN stipulated a theme and I think this was too hard for the classical bufs so we copped it. It won an award.
A Christmas Pudding.
This was a pantomime recorded live in the ABC Forbes Street studios. The cast, The Larrikins plus a couple of blow-ins including actress Maggie Blinco. Great fun and the audience loved it. We did another one the following year.
Curios of Sydney
This was a live concert staged as part of the Sydney Festival and presented in the Kirk in Castlereagh street, Sydney. I gathered a swag of Sydney-centric songs and readings and the cast included Maggie Blinco, Margaret Walters, Justin Murphy and The Larrikins.
Streams of Songs
A series devised by David Mulhallen and myself to track song travels in the Anglo Australian tradition.
Billy Barlow
a folk opera based on the ballad. Probably the first and only time it has been revived.
How Mabel Laid the Table
A program based on my book of the same name and traces the history of eating in Australia through folk songs.
The Larrikin Festival of Music
Each year, for seven years, I produced a series of ten night concerts. Originally at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, we aimed high! We later moved to The Regent Theatre and the Conservatorium of Music. The concerts were always a mix of international and local artists. Some of the international artists I brought to Australia were: Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Shirley Collins, Bert Jansch, John Renbourne, Stefan Grossman, Duck Baker, Mike Seeger & Alice Gerrard, Johnny Shines, Little Brother Montgomery, Hazel Dickens, Peter Bellamy, Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band, Tony Triska, Roy Palmer and, my two personal favourites, Willie Scott the Scottish border shepherd and famed Irish ballad sean nos, Joe Hearny. The ABC broadcast the best of the concerts.
TELEVISION
As they say: "I have a better face for radio". Despite this I managed to get my mug on television.
My most important role was for ABC TV when Dave de Hugard and myself were dressed up as old swaggies and had to have a discussion, around a fake campfire, with Mr Squiggle.
In the early eighties I scored a job as Talent Producer for a new TV series that went out at 6pm every Saturday night. It was called That's Australia and hosted by John Derum. It was a drama since the program was really supposed to be a television version of Australia All Over, the popular radio program, and it was also supposed to be hosted by Ian McNamara. Despite the ABC politics the show was hugely successful and ran for two seasons before the ABC decided to axe it. Maybe it was too successful?
|
Click on an image to see a larger version
The Great Australian Legend This was a very ambitious project – 16 half hour programs tracing the history of Australia through folksong.
It featured Peter O'Shaughnessy and Declan Affley and was really successful.
front page
back page
Dave de Hugard:
long time member of The Larrikins
The crew of the ABC TV program That's Australia.
The picture includes some well-known faces including (standing) Robin Connaughton, Warren Fahey in braces, host John Derum in checked shirt, Cathie O'Sullivan in sunglasses, Bob and Margaret Fagen and Bob McInnes on the end.
Seated: Liora Claff in second from left and Margaret Walters in second from right. Most of the others were the production team and, unfortunately, there names have been lost in time. |
