TV began in Australia in 1956 but our Australian sights had been set on television for some time before the launch of regular transmissions. I had the lead role in the first TV film made in Australia in 1952, four years before the Australian TV service officially began. Produced by Grace Gibson, one of Sydney’s most successful radio drama executives, it concerned the adventures of an American ex-serviceman who had stayed in Australia after World War 2. After much screen testing with many Sydney actors, including some Americans who were working in Sydney radio, I was offered the lead.
The director was an American, Francis D. Lyon, an Academy Award film editor and a very good director. The film was shown on US TV and also as a supporting film in Australian cinemas. It showed we knew how to make TV shows—and it also gave me an invited trip to USA for a 20th Century Fox film, ‘The Desert Rats’, later that same year, 1952.
In Australia pioneering producers like Crawford Productions gradually consolidated and built an Australian TV production industry. This helped to back up much good work in TV drama by the ABC. The work was often excellent by world standards but when I returned to Australia after some years overseas I was concerned that Australians themselves did not always seem to acknowledge how high our production standards had become.
I directed Crawfords’ first theatre production, ‘Doctor In The House’ in 1974, in between episodes of ‘Homicide’. We had a great local cast augmented by two of the actors from the UK TV series. We filled the Princess Theatre in Melbourne after which the play very successfully toured Australia. When Homicide ended at the end of 1975 I directed many of Crawfords’ shows including ‘The Sullivans’. I also produced ‘The Flying Doctors’ mini-series. I had great writers, a fine cast and the following year it became a very successful on-going weekly series. Crawfords was a remarkable production house. To me it was like a scaled down version of the great major studios in the old days of Hollywood with producers, directors, writers, composers, and technical crews of international standard. Something sadly lacking today!
Looking at programmes concerning 50 Years of Television such as the big one on Channel Seven and the others on Channel Nine reveal the great history and quality of Australian Television. My daughter commented whilst watching with my two granddaughters, eight and twelve; “There was a vast amount of history for the young ones to consider, tip of the iceberg stuff, but their interest was stirred… apart from the history stuff like Cyclone Tracey and politics it really revealed the inherent humour that has been at the forefront of Australian Television.”
What are some of your best memories of early Australian made Television in particular local made drama, feel free to share your thoughts?
