Wazza's Place

Don Lane – The Lanky Yank

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I used to watch Graham Kennedy’s “In Melbourne Tonight” in the early ‘60’s, which I and thousands of Australians would tune in and watch. Graham was "The King" of Australian television.

After his show was cancelled Don Lane eventually was given the opportunity to star in his own show. Don was nicknamed “The Lanky Yank” and he quickly became a well loved and not to be missed TV presenter. He had a fairly pleasant singing voice, could dance (sort of), but being so tall he seemed a bit awkward when dancing. When he teamed with Bert Newton (who was the straight comic relief on the Graham Kennedy show) the magic came alive. They were like too peas in a pod. They would ad lib and bounce jokes off each other.

And when Bert dressed up as different show biz personalities this was humour at its best. Seeing Bert dressed up as Kiss was not to be missed, and when he was dressed up as Demis Roussos (and doing a very good impersonation singing (?) and the real Demis walked in and tapped Bert on his shoulder, the look of sheer terror on his face had to be seen to be believed. It was so bloody funny.

Bert "dressed up" for one of the funny skits with Don.

Don Lane was born in New York City to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father. He was raised in The Bronx, New York where he attended DeWitt Clinton High School and was classmates with Judd Hirsch and Gary Marshall.

He began his working life as a nightclub performer and singer, usually doing a mix of comedy and singing. He appeared at many clubs in Hawaii, Los Angeles and New York. He briefly appeared on one episode of the Ed Sullivan program in the late 1950s as one half of a double act. He was drafted into the US Army in the early 1950s and was commissioned as an Officer and served in the Artillery and he later toured for two years entertaining the troops.

He says that he took his stage name 'Lane' from Frankie Laine. He worked alongside Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr, Wayne Newton and many others. Don also played Prof. Harold Hill in the Las Vegas production of “The Music Man”.

Irish comedian Dave Allen presented a talk show on Sydney television for TCN-9 in 1965. He left the show abruptly - some say he was fired for his trademark anti-Catholic humour. Nine producer John Collins looked for replacement hosts to fill in for the rest of the season, and found Lane working in the well-known nightclub the Copacabana in Hawaii. While in the United States, John Collins asked Las Vegas performer Wayne Newton if there was anybody he should consider as a replacement; Newton's answer was "Don Lane".

...................Bert Newton and Don Lane.

Lane was given the host's chair for six weeks. He planned to base his version of the show on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Lane's run was variously referred to as "The Tonight Show", "Tonight with Don Lane" and "Sydney Tonight". Within a month, Nine settled on Lane as permanent host, with the result that his initial six-week contract was extended to forty weeks. Celebrities, including Robin Williams, Billy Connolly, Dame Edna, Tony Curtis, Peter Sellers and Kiss all appeared on The Don Lane Show.

Don Lane and Graham Kennedy on a split screen.

Lane forged an enduring partnership with Bert Newton, an Australian comedian and entertainment personality. Newton had hitherto been strongly identified with Australian TV icon Graham Kennedy. Both Lane and Newton maintain that the first time they met was on-air, during the first episode of the Don Lane Show. Each describes that there was instant 'chemistry', and that they never made any deliberate attempt to build the relationship; it just happened.

Don and "Moonface" dressed up as Laurel and Hardy.

It is widely believed that Lane christened Bert “Moonface”, but Bert later claims that he and writer Mike McColl-Jones made up the nick name and from this the nickname stuck.

Newton took much pleasure in sending up Lane's singing, sometimes by playing his records at half-speed while miming Lane's performance. Lane sometimes responded in kind by "sending up" Newton's own record, The Bert and Patti Family Album.

Don Lane, Jimmy Hannan, Mike Walsh and Bert Newton.

Uri Geller, Doris Stokes and broadcaster Kevin Arnett regularly appeared on The Don Lane Show discussing psychic and paranormal themes. On one occasion Skeptic and debunker James Randi was invited onto the program. A heated exchange occurred at the end of the interview, which led to Lane saying, "We’re going for a commercial break and you can piss off. We'll be back with Diana Trask." Lane then walked off the set, sweeping the props from the small table, to audience applause. The aftermath of the event led to a national and personal apology to Randi, which was televised through the Nine Network.

That incident with Don Lane and James Randi.

The Don Lane Show ended on 13 November 1983. His final episode ran for two and a half hours and featured such stars as Sammy Davis, Jr., Phyllis Diller, and David Bowie, also musical appearances by John Farnham and Colleen Hewett. After the conclusion of The Don Lane Show he moved back to The United States for two years, living in Los Angeles. Don was once the highest paid man on Australian television and won an astounding 15 Logie Awards during his long career.

Don Lane with his pal Sammy Davis Jr.

In 1985 Don had remarried and his son PJ was born.

Don Lane was married twice, once to Gina in 1964 and later to Jayne Ambrose in 1983. Jayne worked in the Sales Department of Channel 9. They had one child a boy nick named PJ. I have the book “Never Argue With A Mug” the autobiography Don wrote with Janise Beaumont. This is an extract about how PJ got his name.

Quote “We had a discussion about names and I suggested Jacob Isaacson - Jacob after my dad and Isaacson of course being my real last name. Jayne shook her head. “No it’s too biblical”. And then we talked around that and I said “Okay I’ve got an idea, “why don’t we give him a good nickname and that will suffice. I know you’re not a big fan of Jacob, but I’d like my father’s name to be in there somewhere, so how about Phillip Jacob Isaacson? We can call him PJ, because that will make him different from all the other kids at school”. And Jayne was fine with that. So he was PJ right from the start. Unquote.

...............Phillip Jacob (PJ) Isaacson.

By 1987, Don was back in Australia as a personality for Network Ten, hosting programs like You've Got to Be Joking, Late Night Australia and the 1987 presentation of the TV Week Logie Awards.

In 1993, Lane made a guest appearance on the very last episode and closing segment of the comedy program The Late Show on Australia's ABC network. He also hosted American NFL broadcasts, which included live broadcasts from Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII. Don also covered NCAA basketball for the ABC and was a colourful commentator for the NBL on the Foxtel Network.

............Don hosting NCAA Basketball.

Then in 1994, Lane hosted two specials for the Nine Network, The Best of The Don Lane Show. Each special was two hours dedicated to the most memorable moments from The Don Lane Show.

Don Lane was honored in a 1996 episode of “This is Your Life” dedicated to him and his career in television. The episode featured tributes from John Farnham, Billy Connolly, Bert Newton, and Gary Marshall.

In 2007 Don Lane released his "tell all" auto-biography entitled “Never Argue with a Mug”. The book follows Lane's career and explains show-business scandals in detail that he had personally experienced.

See I do have Don's book."Never Argue With A Mug.

In June, 2008 it was announced that Don Lane was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and had been living in a care facility. News of Lane's condition was saddening for the entertainment community in Australia who view him as a TV legend. The news explained the lack of public appearances Don had made since his induction into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame in 2003.

Don died from a dementia-related illness on Thursday morning on the 22^nd October, 2009, his manager Jayne Ambrose said.

Lane was charismatic and funny until the very end, his close friend and biographer Janise Beaumont says. "He didn't want this to happen, but he was still Don," Ms Beaumont told Macquarie Radio.

"And pretty much up to the end he was very tactile ... he loved hugs, he still could make eye contact, still be funny, still be charismatic.

PJ Lane, Don’s son had been booked to sing at an Alzheimer's Australia

charity concert at Toorak's Track Centre tonight to honour his father. PJ Lane gave up a promising basketball career in the United States and Europe to move to Sydney to be with his father, he told Woman’s Day magazine in June. Five months ago, he said his father was still in good spirits and making jokes but he had decided to relocate closer to his father as his dementia was expected to worsen.

Don with one of the 15 Logies he has won.

Two shows that stood out in my mind was the concert for Darwin in 1975 (Darwin is at the top end of Australia and in 1975 it was flattened by a cyclone), and a show was performed at the newly finished Sydney Opera House to rise donations for the Darwin Appeal. Don performed a song called Trouble with such panache and gusto that it was a show stopper.

The other was an on-air unscripted session with Sammy Davis Junior which overran the Don Lane show by a full hour (commercial free) and was one of the greatest live shows I have witnessed on TV.

Don always finished his show by circling his face with a finger which meant “I love your faces”.

I saw Don Lane when he performed at one of the local clubs. His act was perfectly poised with singing, dancing with a bunch of chorus girls and antidotes from his TV show, including all the “goofs’” he and Bert got up to on his show. It was a show well worth attending.

Don was a true gentleman of the stage and screen. He was a entertainer who loved his audience and respected them, on and off the stage. He was a great host who made the term “A Lanky Yank”

a compliment of the highest honour. Like many of the entertainers

I have blogged about. Don’s legacy as a great entertainer will be remembered for generations to come.

I’m concluding this blog with a video clip of a ‘roast’ that was filmed about Don and this roast was performed by Paul Hogan (he of Crocodile Dundee fame). It’s fairly long but very funny.

It Came Out of a Dust Storm

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:15:00 +0000

A huge outback dust storm swept eastern Australia and blanketed Sydney
on Wednesday, disrupting transport, forcing people indoors and stripping
thousands of tonnes of valuable farmland topsoil.

Yeah I think that's the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The dust blacked out the outback town of Broken Hill on Tuesday, forcing
a zinc mine to shut down, and swept 1,167 km (725 miles) east to shroud
Sydney in a red glow on Wednesday.

Circular Quay overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge

By noon on Wednesday the storm, carrying an estimated 5 million
tonnes of dust, had spread to the southern part of Australia's
tropical state of Queensland.

The Paul Bowler Bridge over Narrabeen

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is just visible through the Palm Trees

Luna Park Fun Park below the Sydney Harbour Bridge

It Came Out Of the Dust Storm (Click to enlarge the photo)

Patrick Swayze - A Nice Guy...Gone Too Soon

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:45:00 +0000

The first time I saw Patrick Swayze was in a video of the movie “Red Dawn” (the DVD of this would not come out for many years later). This was a typical “boys own” movie with lots of action, violence, and typical of the “B” grade movies that came out in the 80’s. This film had a large number of well known actors, many who would go onto bigger and better roles. Some of these actors were Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, and Lea Thompson (who later played the part of Michael J. Fox’s mother in the “Back to the Future” films), Jennifer Grey (who later starred with Patrick in “Dirty Dancing”), Harry Dean Stanton (he later starred in the first “Alien” movie).

When “Dirty Dancing” was released I was rapped as musicals are one of my favorite type of films. Then there was “Ghost” with Demi Moore (one of my favorite actresses, along with Jodi Foster). This was a great tear jerker and me being a bit of a softie, I’m not ashamed to admit a tear or two was shed. I heard today that Paul Hogan had been offered the role, but he turned it down.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on the photo.

Patrick Wayne Swayze was born on Aug. 18, 1952, in Houston, TX. His father, Jesse Wayne, had been a champion rodeo cowboy and Mom, “Patsy” Yvonne Swayze, was a dancer and choreographer who owned the Houston Jazz and Ballet Company. His parents were not the only performers in the family – Swayze was also a distant relation of actors William Holden and Tom Hulce. He had two younger brothers, actor Don (born 1958) and Sean Kyle (born 1962), and two sisters, Vicky Lynn and Bambi, who were adopted into the family.

During his school period, he also pursued multiple artistic and athletic skills, such as ice skating, classical ballet, and acting in school plays. He studied gymnastics at nearby San Jacinto College for two years. In 1972, he moved to New York City to complete his formal dance training at the Harkness Ballet and Joffrey ballet schools.

Patrick was married to Lisa Niemi from June 12, 1975 until his death. The couple first met in 1970 when Swayze was 18 years old. Niemi, 15 years old at the time, was taking dance lessons from Swayze's mother. They did not have any children.

Two photos of Patrick and his wife Lisa.

As a reaction to his 57 year old father's death (how strange is that as Patrick was 57 when he died too) from a heart attack in 1982, Swayze began to drink heavily. His sister Vicky committed suicide by overdose in 1994, leading him to seek treatment for alcoholism. After initial recovery, he temporarily withdrew from show business, retreating to his ranches in California and Las Vegas, New Mexico, to breed Arabian horses.

Patrick's mother, Patsy and his wife, Lisa.

Swayze's first professional appearance was as a dancer as Prince Charming in the “Disney on Parade” touring ice show.. He starred as a replacement for Danny Zuko in the long-running Broadway production of Grease. Patrick’s first major success was in the 1985 television miniseries “North and South”, which was set during the American Civil War. Swayze’s big film breakout came in 1983 when he was cast as eldest greaser Darrel Curtis in Francis Ford Coppola’s period teen melodrama, “The Outsiders” – a movie which also launched the careers of Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise and as one of the local militants in the action flick, “Red Dawn” (1984) in which he and future Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey played teenagers fighting invading Russians. Hollywood quickly saw Swayze’s leading man potential, giving him the starring role as a young Confederate soldier in the miniseries, “North and South” (ABC, 1985).

Everything changed in 1987 when he became an overnight sensation with his starring role in “Dirty Dancing” opposite Jennifer Grey. It may have been the part he had been preparing for his whole life – rakish dance teacher Johnny Castle, who enjoyed tight pants, Cuban heels, and had an eye for the young ladies. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for the film, and also contributed an original song – “She’s Like the Wind” – to the soundtrack. The song hit No. 3 on the pop charts and the film soundtrack became one of the top-selling soundtracks in history. “Nobody puts Baby in the Corner” uttered by Swayze to Jennifer Grey’s father, Jerry Orbach (who appeared for many year in “The Law and Order” T.V. show. Jerry was also a renown opera singer and had a brilliant voice), during the film’s dance-off finale, which in subsequent years, has became one of the most often repeated lines in film history. “Dirty Dancing” was a low-budget project that was intended to be shown in theaters for one weekend only and then go straight to video, but it became a surprise hit and achieved massive international success. It was the first film to sell one million copies on video, and as of 2009, has earned over US$505 million worldwide.

Two photos of Patrick and Jennifer Grey from "Dirty Dancing".

After "Dirty Dancing", Swayze found himself heavily typecast as beefcake and appeared in several flops, of which “Road House” was the most successful. His biggest hit came in 1990, when he starred in “Ghost”, which was a romantic drama starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn and Whoopi Goldberg, written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker. It was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Original Screenplay. Whoopi Goldberg won an Academy Award for her supporting role as a spiritual medium who helps Swayze's character Sam communicate with his girlfriend from beyond the grave. Goldberg credited Swayze with convincing director Jerry Zucker to cast her.

Whoopie Goldberg, Patrick and Demi Moore from "Ghost".

“Ditto,” though, is surely one of the great one-word one-liners. Patrick Swayze‘s character in “Ghost”, Sam, couldn’t bring himself to tell Molly he loved her, and used the phrase whenever she said “I love you.” And there was another famous scene in which Swayze and Moore erotically sculpt clay to the Righteous Brothers’ ballad, “Unchained Melody.”

The "famous" pottery making scene from "Ghost".

For his work, Swayze received a second Golden Globe nomination and People magazine included him in their “Sexiest Man Alive” issue the following year.

This is the final scene where Sam (Patrick) kisses and says goodbye to Molly (Demi) and he then walks away and his figure fades (dissolves). If you weren’t shedding a tear before this scene, then this will surely open the flood gates.

In 1991, he starred alongside Keanu Reeves in another major action hit, “Point Break.”

Swayze was seriously injured in 1996 while filming HBO's “Letters from a Killer” near Ione, California, when he fell from a horse and hit a tree. Both of his legs were broken and he suffered four detached tendons in his shoulder. Filming was suspended for two months, but the film aired in 1999. Swayze recovered from his injuries, but he had trouble resuming his career until 2000, when he costarred in “Waking Up in Reno”, with Billy Bob Thornton and Charlize Theron.

Patrick with Charlize Theron and Billy Bob Thornton.

“To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” is a 1995 American comedy film, starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York drag queens who embark on a road trip. It was quoted that after Patrick was “made up” he look so good the other actors on the set didn’t recognize him.

Patrick "done up" for the film "To Wong Foo, Thanks for everything Julie Newmar.

In the film “One Last Dance” (2003) when the successful artistic director Alex McGrath (Matthew Walker) dies, his New York dance company invites three veteran dancers, Travis MacPhearson (Patrick Swayze), Chrissa Lindh (Lisa Niemi) and Max Delano (George De La Pena), to exhibit a never performed dance piece called "Without a Word" as a last homage in a benefit show. Along the troubled trio reunion, secrets are disclosed, deep wounds are healed, culminating with their last dance together.

The film was written and directed by Patrick’s wife Lisa Niemi. The dance sequences are superb. Patrick's mother, Patsy was one of the choreographers, and both Patrick and Lisa were producers. Overall the reviews of the film were very good and both Patrick and Lisa’s dancing were quoted as outstanding.

Above I have included a film clip taken from "One Last Dance'. Just watch and enjoy the dancing chemistry by Patrick and his wife, Lisa. Just beautiful.

He made his West End theatre debut in the musical “Guys and Dolls” as Nathan Detroit on July 27, 2006, and remained in the role until November 25, 2006. His previous appearances on the Broadway stage had included productions of “Goodtime Charley”, West Side Story and “Chicago”.

Swayze, a licensed pilot with an instrument rating, made the news on June 1, 2000, while flying with his dogs in his twin-engine Cessna from Van Nuys, California to Las Vegas, New Mexico. His plane developed a pressurization problem over northern Arizona, causing Swayze to make a precautionary landing on a dirt road in a housing complex in Prescott Valley. The plane's right wing struck a light pole that he hadn't seen from the air, but Swayze was unharmed. He locked up the cockpit left it parked in the subdivision, and obtained a ride (with his dogs) from a passing vehicle, in order to telephone the authorities.

His last role was the lead in the A&E TV series “The Beast” which premiered on January 15, 2009. Due to a prolonged decline in health, Swayze was unable to promote the series, and on June 15, 2009, it was announced that the show had been cancelled.

Two scenes from the TV series "The Beast".

Diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in January 2008, Swayze told Barbara Walters a year later that he was "kicking it" However, he died "with family at his side" on September 14, 2009, at age 57, twenty months after being diagnosed. He is survived by his wife of over 30 years, Lisa and his mother, Patsy.

Films I have in my collection are “Dirty Dancing”; ”Ghost”; “Uncommon Valor”; “Red Dawn”; “Next of Kin”; “Road House” and “Black Dog”. Patrick was known as a “country” gentleman, turned up on the set on time, with his lines memorized, caused no trouble and was well liked by his peers. At 57 he was too young to have passed onto that great set in the sky and his dancing skills, humour and passion for his craft will be sorely missed. Fortunately his legacy of dance and acting will be available for future generations to view and admire with the advent of DVD.

Mike Leyland a Early Australian Documentary Maker

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:45:00 +0000

Mike and Mal Leyland, also known as The Leyland Brothers, were Australian explorers and documentary film-makers, best known for their popular television show, “Ask the Leyland Brothers”. The show ran on Australian television from 1976 until 1984.

The two brothers first came to prominence in the late 1960s and reached a peak of popularity in the 1970s, often providing Australian viewers with their first look at outback Australia.

.................................................Mal and Mike Leyland.

I was one of thousands of Australians who watched Mike and Mal Leyland (The Leyland Bros.) when their T.V. show “Ask The Leyland Bros.” began in 1976. Their show was filmed in the Super 8 format and was a little amateurish, but this was the appeal of the show. Nobody had ever made a show like this before, giving the average Australian a view of places that most would never get to. It showed that the average “Joe” could take their 8mm family movie camera outdoors to the outback and record their own holiday documentary. This also inspired me to film my own holiday film and edit it with music and commentary. I’m sure that Steve Irwin would of also been influenced by the Leyland Bros. Where Steve was outgoing and flamboyant, Mike and Mal were the opposite, somewhat shy, quite, and in the early days softly spoken.

When television came, that was 1956 I actually won a trip to the Olympic Games. And I wasn't going to enter the competition but my father said, "If you do, I'll buy you a movie camera." And I won a trip, so he had to cough up with a camera - a little square, spring-driven camera, which I took to the Olympic Games and shot some footage down there. But it sort of got me going. The first footage I shot with it was around Lake Macquarie at home, trying a roll of film with the family standing beside the car.

There was no film and television school that I know of, so the only way to learn about it was to buy books. So I bought an old Land Rover and set off on a trip to Ayers Rock. My brother was with me, and his mate, and we set off to drive out to Alice Springs in 1961 in January, which was a real dumb thing to do. But we knew nothing about what we were doing, really.

While I was shooting news, I had this dream in the back of my head to actually shoot an expedition. All the books that I'd read said the secret to selling a documentary was to do something for the first time. So I picked up a map of Australia and thought, "What can we do that won't be too expensive and too far away?" Looked at New South Wales, and there was this wriggly line going through it - the Darling River. And no-one had done it and it was 1,400 miles. So this was the start of the Leyland Brothers - the first thing we ever did as a team. The trip that was supposed to take a month actually took us three months.

We were the first people to ever actually film Ayers Rock in the rain. So we edited up a one-hour version of it, which we sold to Channel Nine, because they'd bought 'Down the Darling'. Then we started screening it. We showed it in Newcastle, the first screening we had, and it was a huge success. And that continued for three months. And in that three months, we made a profit of $60,000 and the bank. By the time we started 'Off the Beaten Track', Mal had also got married. The four of us were involved in the different processes of making the film. I was still the director/cameraman but Pat was the second camera. She did a lot of film work. Mal was the sound man and the still photographer and Laraine did sound.

In 1956 Mike won a trip to the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne from a cartoon drawing competition, and his father bought him a 16mm movie camera to take along.

By the age of 21 Mike was a news cameraman at NBN. By the age of 18 Mal was a cadet at Newcastle's now defunct newspaper The Sun.

In 1980, Mike and Mal Leyland were awarded the MBE in the New Year’s honours list (the only time brothers had simultaneously received such an award) for services to the film industry.

Their television programmes constantly achieved the highest prime time ratings and have never been off air in 28 years.

After the 1992 bankruptcy caused by the failure of their theme park, Mike and his wife Margie ran a New Lambton video store and worked for the park's new owner, while Mal and his wife Laraine ran a photo processing lab in Queensland and launched a travel magazine.

In 1997 Mike sold part of his Tea Gardens property to fund the production of a far north Queensland film for Channel Seven. Mike and his wife Margie signed a contract with Channel Seven for 12 one-hour documentaries, the first of which aired in 1998 in “The World Around Us” slot.

In 1997 Mal and Laraine launched a bi-monthly magazine, Leyland's Australia.

In 2000 Mal produced the television show Leyland's Australia, with his wife Laraine, daughter Carmen and her husband Robert Scott - travelling around Australia in a caravan. In April 2000 Channel 9 cancelled the show after 6 episodes the series was then picked up by Network Ten.

Television Series.

“Ask the Leyland Brothers” – 156 episodes between 1976-1980 and 1983-1984.

“Off the Beaten Track”

“Trekabout”

“The Leyland Brother's Great Outdoors”

“Leyland Brothers' World”

T.V. Documentaries

1963 - Down the Darling - A trip from Mungindi, Queensland, to Mildura, Victoria, following the 2,300 kilometre course of the Darling River, Australia's longest river, in a small aluminium boat. An accompanying book was titled Great Ugly River was published by Lansdowne Press in 1965.

1966 - Wheels Across a Wilderness - Driving two Land Rovers from Steep Point, Western Australia, across the centre of the continent to Cape Byron, New South Wales. The trip was also published as a book, Where Dead Men Lie.

1969 - Open Boat to Adventure - A six month journey from Darwin to Sydney in an 18-foot open boat, following the coast around Arnhem Land and Cape York. The book was titled Untamed Coast.

It's this photo I will remember Mike and Mal, with a camera in the outback of Australia ready to film another episodes for their T.V. show.

Mike was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease about two years ago but had suffered most in the past two months. The family announced that 68-year-old Mike passed away on Monday morning following complications from Parkinson's disease.

A Great Australian Actor Ray Barrett

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:30:00 +0000

I was first introduced to Ray Barrett in the movie “Don’s Party” in 1976. In this movie on the night of the 1969 Australian election, Don (John Hargreaves) holds a party in his suburban Sydney house, where his raucous, rude, embarrassing, extrovert friends discuss sex, politics, and their lives, and seduce each others wives.

For its time the language and sex scenes in “Don’s Party” were quite raunchy. Prior to this and other films Australia had one of the strictest censorships in the western world and with the entrance of a new censor the laws were relaxed and some would suggest “the floods gates were open” and to a degree this was true as naked breasts, full frontal and the “f” word were becoming “normal” in a lot of the films now being released with films like “Barry Mackenzie” and “Alvin Purple” .A new rating “R” was introduced which allowed films with adult content to be viewed by “broad minded” audience. One had to be over 18 to see these films.

Raymond Charles Barrett was born in the Queensland capital Brisbane on May 2, 1927. He was fascinated by radio from an early age and won an on-air talent competition in 1939. He left Brisbane for Sydney in 1954, and then travelled from Australia to England in 1957.

He was given character and tough guy roles from an unusually young age. In Britain he played one of the lead roles in the British TV series "Emergency - Ward 10", and later played one of the main characters, hard-nosed oilman Peter Thornton, in the long-running BBC series about the oil industry, "The Troubleshooters". He appeared as a murderer in the "Doctor Who" serial "The Rescue" in 1965. He returned to Australia in the mid-1970’s where he became a prominent player in a rejuvenated Australian film industry.

David Williamson's play “Don's Party” was about election night back in Australia. The film version brought together some of the era's finest home grown talent - John Hargreaves, Graham Kennedy, Graeme Blundell, and Ray Barrett in the role of Mal.

Graham Kennedy, John Hargreaves and Ray Barrett in 'Don's Party'

Ray received one of Australia's greatest acting accolades, an Australian Film Industry Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in director Fred Schepisi's 1978 film "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith."

Jacki Weaver, Ray Barrett and Jack Thompson at the 1978 Australian Film Institute awards.

Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which was in turn inspired by actual events, this is the shocking tale of an oppressed indigenous man driven to madness and revenge against an unjust and intolerant society. Jimmie (Tommy Lewis) is a “half-caste” young Aboriginal man raised by a Methodist minister in central-western NSW. Finding low-paid work with white farmers, Jimmy marries a white servant girl who is believed to be carrying his child. Discovering that the child is not his, Jimmy is forbidden from seeing his wife and fired without pay and finally explodes in a fury of violent revenge. The backlash from both Jimmie's tribe and white society initiates a series of dramatic events. As Jimmie tries to survive between two cultures, tensions build reaching a head when the Newbys, Jimmie's white employers, try to break up his marriage. The Newby women are murdered and Jimmie flees, pursued by police and vigilantes. The hunt intensifies as further murders are committed and concludes with tragic results.

Anne Phelan and Ray Barrett on the set of 'Something in the Air'.

In recent years he appeared in numerous television series, including "Something in the Air", "All Saints" and "White Collar Blue" as well as the telemovie "After the Deluge", winning a silver Logie as most outstanding actor in a drama series.

Barrett's last film role was as the character Ramsden in director Baz Luhrmann's movie "Australia," released last year. Ray who was aged 80 when the film was in production, filmed several scenes for the blockbuster in the searing outback heat.

"Australia" is Baz Luhrmann's first feature film since the 2001 musical success Moulin Rouge! This film centres on an English aristocrat in the 1930s, played by Nicole Kidman, who comes to northern Australia to sell a cattle property the size of Belgium. After an epic journey across the country with a rough-hewn drover, Hugh Jackman, they are caught in the bombing of Darwin during World War II.

Barrett suffered from chronic low blood pressure, which had led to several falls in the last two weeks. Jane Cameron, his agent, said Barrett died in hospital on Tuesday 8^th September, 2009 from a brain hemorrhage he suffered after a fall at his home at the Gold Coast in Queensland. "He was an extraordinarily good actor who loved doing it," Ms Cameron said. "He was such a skilled actor that he was always a very solid presence on the screen."

There was a book “Ray Barrett : an autobiography” with Peter Corris which came out in 1995, which I purchased and I found this to be a very interesting read.

Ray Barrett is survived by his third wife, Gaye, a daughter from his first marriage, Suellen, and two sons from his second marriage, Reg and John.

Due to Ray's age he had not worked a lot, but like many of his fellow actors who have since passed on he will be sadly missed. Fortunately much of his work is readily available to be viewed by present and future generations, who will be able to study and see what a versatile actor Ray Barrett was.

Holtie and Wazza Journey to Victoria Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 09:35:00 +0000

A few months ago I rang Peter (Holtie) and suggested we

should make arrangements to go on holidays to Lake Awoonga

to try our hand at barramundi fishing. There is no closed season

for barramundi fishing, like there is in the rest of the state.

Due to unforeseen circumstances we had to put this trip on

hold and we decided instead to drive down south to Victoria

and visit Peter’s sister, Merle and also check out some of the

tourist sites in Victoria. I haven’t been to Victoria for over

30 years although Peter was often down there as a lot of

his relatives live there.

We set off on a Sunday morning and our first overnight stay

was in Dubbo. This was a long journey of 890km (about 550

miles). Leaving Dubbo we travelled 800km (about 498 miles)

to Mildura where we were going to stay for a few days.

Before we arrived at Mildura we called into Parkes some

120km south of Dubbo. It was here we decided to see the

Parkes Radio Telescopic.

Peter walking into the grounds of the Parkes Radio Telescope.

Since its opening in October 1961 the Parkes Radio Telescope

has been an icon of Australian science. Famous for its reception

of the television images of the first Moon walk in 1969, it is

normally used to detect the faint radio emissions from objects in space.

The fictional film 'The Dish' was based on the real role that Parkes

played in receiving the first video footage on the first Moon walk

by the crew of Apollo 11 in 1969. Although designed and operated

as a radio telescope for astronomical observations Parkes has also

been used for tracking and receiving data from many space probes.

It has contributed to other space missions including the Galileo probe to Jupiter and the various Mars missions in early 2004. In January 2005 it was

a key element in a global linkup of 17 radio telescopes observing

the descent of the Huygens probe through the atmosphere of

Titan. With a diameter of 64 metres, Parkes is the largest single

dish telescope in the southern hemisphere dedicated to astronomy.

Its large collecting area makes it a very sensitive instrument

ideally suited to finding pulsars, rapidly spinning neutron stars the

size of a small city. Two-thirds of the 1,800 known pulsars,

including the only binary pulsar system, were found using this telescope.

Photograph by John Sarkissian (CSIRO Parkes Observatory).

Mildura is a regional city in northwestern Victoria, Australia,

and is located in the Sunraysia region, and is on the banks of

the Murray River. The city's population is about 30,500.

Mildura is also known as the centre of Victoria's Food Bowl

and is a major producer of citrus fruits (especially oranges),

and wine. It is also notable for its grape production, supplying

80% of Victoria's grapes. In 1937 it officially became a city.

Apex Caravan Park where we stayed in Mildura.

Explorer Captain Charles Sturt arrived in the area in the 1830's

in the search for an inland sea. He entered the headwaters of a

wide river, which he named the Darling. On a subsequent

expedition he entered a mighty river, which he named the Murray.

In 1830, while navigating the Murray, he came across a river

junction, which he was convinced was the confluence with the

Darling. Settlers and drovers began arriving in the area, bringing

cattle and sheep to graze the natural pastures.

...................................Langree Avenue in Mildura.

In 1886 George Chaffey came to Australia and selected a

derelict sheep station at Mildura as the site for his first irrigation

settlement signing an agreement with the Victorian government

to spend at least £300,000 on permanent improvements at

Mildura in the next twenty years. After much political wrangling,

the settlement of Mildura was established in 1887.

It was named after the Mildura sheep station that provided most

of the land. The name is of Aboriginal origin, and means either

"red sand" or "sore eyes"

Chaffey Bridge in Mildura crossing the Murray River.

The economy of Australia, particularly between 1860 and 1880,

“Rode on the sheep’s back”. The simplest way to transport all that

wool to the ports on the coastline was by river. A thriving industry

of paddle river steamers arose on rivers like the Murray to deliver

this wool to ports, where it would be loaded onto ships bound for

England and Europe.

View of the Apex Caravan Park from the Murray River.

Peter’s ex Julie also lived in Mildura, so we contacted her when

we arrived and that evening we went out for dinner. I have

known both Peter and Julie for over 30 years. Julie now operates

her own quilting business where she creates her own designs.

Julie demonstration how she operates the quilting machine.

The following morning we boarded the paddle boat steamer

“Melbourne” where we went on a two hour cruise down the

Murray River. There are a number of weirs and locks on the

Murray and these are used to regulate the flow of the river

and to lower and raise the level of the river to allow the large

number of houseboats and tourist paddle boat steamers that

ply up and down the river. Here we were able to observe the

operation of the locks as we maneuvered through the locks

to get to the lower level of the river.

The Paddle Boat Steamer "Melbourne".

The Murray River is permanently navigable to the top of the

Mildura Weir pool, a distance of 970 kilometres from the mouth.

Eleven weirs with locks, each raising the water level behind it by

an average of 3.1 metres, create a continuous series of stepped pools.

A lock is a rectangular chamber of concrete with gates at each

end. The locks permit boats to move from one level to another.

For a boat to pass downstream through the Lock, the water

inside the chamber must be at the same level as the top weir

pool, to allow the gates to open. The top gates are opened by

hydraulic powered arms to allow the boat to enter. The gates

are closed behind the boat and the water in the lock chamber

is released by opening large hydraulically operated butterfly

valves. Water flows from the lock chamber, via tunnels, to the

weir pool below. As the water level in the chamber drops, the

boat is lowered with it, until equal to the level of the lower weir

pool. The bottom gates are then opened and the boat continues

on its way. The water levels in locks are raised and lowered

entirely by gravity; no pumps are used.

To travel upstream the reverse occurs. After the boat

enters the lock chamber and the gates are closed behind

it, valves are opened above the upstream gates to fill the

chamber, via tunnels from the top weir pool. Water enters

the chamber from the tunnels through ports spaced along

the bottom of each wall. This is to distribute the inflowing

water to minimise turbulence in the lock chamber as it fills.

When the water level in the lock chamber is equal to the

weir pool, the gates can be opened and the boat can proceed.

It takes only 7 minutes to empty or fill the lock chamber but

it normally takes 15 to 20 minutes to pass a boat through the lock.

Should you visit Mildura or any of the towns along the Murray,

a cruise on one of the many paddle boat steamers is well worth

the experience.

In Part 11 we travel onto the historic township of Echuca, which

was established around 1850 and is now a thriving tourist town

and a visit here is essential. We only spent a few hours at Echuca

as we wanted to be in Shepparton that evening. We would be

spending a week visiting Peter’s sister, Merle and also driving

down to the Great Southern Road to view the Twelve Apostles,

an amazing collection of sandstone pillars standing in the Southern Ocean.

Van Johnson "The Boy Next Door"

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:15:00 +0000

Yet another actor from “The Golden Age of Hollywood” has

gone to that great studio in the sky.

I’m talking about Van Johnson. I had heard that he had passed

away at the grand old age of 92, so I decided to add yet another

tribute to my blog. One of the first films I saw Van in was

“Till The Clouds Roll By”. The film is a fictionalized biography of

composer Jerome Kern, and is best remembered for its large

cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo

roles performing Kern's songs. Van Johnson played a bandleader

in the Elite Club, and I saw this when it was show on TV many

years after its 1946 release.

If you’ve never seen “The Caine Mutiny” I recommend you go

and rent this film as besides starring Humphrey Bogart, Jose

Ferrer and Fred MacMurray, Van almost “steals” the acting honors

from these three stars.

Another great movie is “A Guy Named Joe” and also not to be

missed is “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”.

Some of my favourite movies was when Van co-starred with

June Allyson. They always appeared to be the perfect couple.

Charles Van Dell Johnson was born in Newport, Rhode Island on

the August 25, 1916 and was an only child. He was of Swedish

stock. He endured a lonely and unhappy childhood as the sole

offspring of an extremely aloof father (who was both a plumber

and real estate agent by trade) and an absentee mother (who

abandoned the family when he was three, the victim of alcoholism).

He was the embodiment of the "boy next door," playing "the

red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or B-25 bomber pilot who

used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years.

At the time of his death in, he was one of the last surviving

matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age." A heartthrob with

bobbysoxers — he was called "the non-singing Sinatra"

In 1939, director and playwright George Abbott cast Van in

Rodgers and Hart's “Too Many Girls” in the role of a college boy,

and as understudy for all three male leads. After an uncredited

role in the film adaptation of “Too Many Girls”, Abbott hired him

as a chorus boy and Gene Kelly's understudy in Pal Joey, the last

Rodgers and Hart collaboration. That led to screen tests by

Hollywood studios. His test at Columbia Pictures was unsuccessful,

but Warner Brothers put him on contract at $300 a week.

His all-American good looks and easy demeanor were ill-suited to

the gritty movies Warner made at the time, and the studio

dropped him at the expiration of his six-month contract.

Van with Lucille Ball (on Van's left hand side)

His big break was in “A Guy Named Joe”, with Spencer Tracy

and Irene Dunne, in which he played a young pilot who acquires

a deceased pilot as his guardian angel. Midway through the

movie's production in 1943, he was involved in a car crash that

left him with a metal plate in his forehead. Dunne and Tracy

insisted that Johnson not be removed from the cast despite his

long absence.

..........Irene Dunne, Spencer Tracey and Van Johnson.

With many actors now serving in the military, the accident

proved to be a major career break for Johnson. MGM built up

his image as the all-American boy in war dramas and musicals,

with his most notable starring role as Ted Lawson in “Thirty Seconds

Over Tokyo” which told the story of the Doolittle raid on Tokyo

in April 1942.

On January 25, 1947, Johnson married former stage actress

Eve Abbott. One year later in 1948, they had a daughter,

Schuyler. The Johnsons separated in 1961 and their bitter

divorce was finalized until 1968 due to wrangling over the

financial settlement."She wiped me out in the ugliest divorce

in Hollywood history," Johnson said.

.........................Van with his wife, Eve at happier times.

As a musical comedy performer, Johnson appeared in five films

each with June Allyson and Esther Williams. His films with Allyson

included the musical “Two Girls and a Sailor”, and the mystery

farce “Remains to Be Seen”. June Allyson summed up the actor's

screen appeal this way: "He was very, very down-to-earth," she

told The Times in 2003. "I think he was the man every girl would

like to marry. I just loved working with him. He was delightful,

he was funny, and he was always prepared."

...................The beautiful June Allyson.

With Williams he made the comedy “Easy to Wed” and “Easy to

Love”. He also starred with Judy Garland in “In the Good Old

Summertime”, and teamed with Gene Kelly as the sardonic

second lead of “Brigadoon” (one of my all time favourite musicals).

Gene Kelly and Van Johnson from "Brigadoon"

Brigadoon was directed by Vincente Minelli (one of Judy

Garland’s husband and father of Liza).

Brigadoon is a appealing musical fantasy with that

special Kelly touch. Kelly plays a New Yorker named

Tommy Albright, on a hunting vacation in Scotland with

his hard-drinking pal Jeff (Van Johnson). When the

pair gets lost, they stumble into a village called Brigadoon

that seems to have been trapped in time. And in fact, it has

an enchantment causes the town to appear on the face of

the earth only once every century for a single day.

This presents a problem when Tommy falls for a local girl

named Fiona (Cyd Charisse), raising the prospect of the

ultimate long-distance romance.

Van also appeared with Audie Murphy (WWII Medal of Honor

winner, and the most decorated soldier in U.S. history) biopic,

"To Hell and Back." He played a soldier who's tag line, for

just about everything, was: "It's the dying truth."

Johnson was dropped by MGM in 1954, after appearing in

“The Last Time I Saw Paris” with Elizabeth Taylor. He enjoyed

critical acclaim for his performance as Lt. Steve Maryk in

“The Caine Mutiny”.

During the 1950s, Johnson continued to appear in films,

and he also appeared frequently in television guest

appearances. He also guest-starred on Batman as

"The Minstrel" in two episodes in 1966, Here's Lucy,

Quincy M.E., McMillan & Wife and The Love Boat and in

the mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man for which he was

nominated for an Emmy Award for that role. He turned

down an opportunity to star as Eliot Ness in

“The Untouchables”, which went on to become a successful

TV series with Robert Stack as Elliot Ness.

In the late 50s and early 1960s Van again capitalized on

his musical talents by reinventing himself as a nightclub

performer and musical stage star. He made a wonderful

Harold Hill in several productions of "The Music Man" and

graced a number of musical and light comedy vehicles on

the regional and dinner theater circuits, including "Damn

Yankees," "Guys and Dolls," "Bells Are Ringing,"

"On a Clear Day...," "Forty Carats," "Bye Bye Birdie,"

"There's a Girl in My Soup" and "I Do! I Do!"

............A scene from "The Last Time I Saw Paris".

In the 1970s, after twice fighting bouts of skin cancer, he

began a second career in summer stock and dinner theater.

In 1985 he returned to Broadway for the first time since

Pal Joey, was cast in the starring role of the musical “La Cage

aux Folles”. In that same year he appeared in a supporting

role in Woody Allen's “The Purple Rose of Cairo”.

.......................Two photos taken of Van in the late 1980's.

Van Johnson lived in an apartment on Manhattan's east side

until 2001, when he moved to Tappan Zee Manor, an

assisted living facility in Nyack, New York. He died there of

natural causes on December 12th, 2008.

I don’t think that there are too many “old timers” both male

and female who are still with us from “The Golden Years”.

Van Johnson appeared in over 100 movie and TV shows and

fortunately like the other movie stars I have posted about,

his legacy will live on for future generations to watch and

appreciate his many talents, be it in dramas, musicals, war movies.

He was a versatile actor who can sing, dance and act with

the best of them.

Below is a film clip in which Van appeared with Lucille Ball from

the“I Love Lucy” TV show, where you will be able to see his

dancing and singing skills…….enjoy.

What are friends for??

noreply@blogger.com (wazza) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:37:00 +0000

My old mate Peter supplied me with this information,
What are friends for??

I found a local prostitute who charges by the inch.

Obviously, I can't afford her but I thought it would be a
cheap night for you.