The advent of television

[Neville Briggs]

I can remember that fateful year 1956, when television broadcasting started in Australia. Fateful because we were fated to be over run with American culture from that time on.

I remember how people used to stand in groups outside the electrical retail shop fascinated by the little, 16 inch, I think , black and white tv set on display with the programs running.

The early programs were mostly American.

There was. The Mickey Mouse Club.
M.I.C.
K.E.Y.
M.O.U.S.E.
Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse, Forever let us hold our banner High
High, High, High.
I was in love with mousketeer Darlene.
Superman...Look up in the sky, is it a bird? is it a plane...No.. it's George Reeves planking in front of the wind machine. Zorro. Hey Pancho, hey Cisco....Ha ha.

Then there were all the cowboy shows.
Tales of the Texas Rangers. sung to the tune of I've been workin' on the railroad. The Lawman....So they sent for the badge and the gun of....the lawman...da daaa. Have Gun will Travel The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
The Rifleman. Had a rifle that held a thousand bullets. Gunsmoke. and Wagon Train and Sugarfoot.... with that wonderful baddie Jack Elam..
Cheyenne..Bronco.
There were some more historic shows. Tales of the Vikings. A couple of Yanks dressed up in ugg boots, wooly vests and horned hats. and of course that great favourite The Adventures of Robin Hood, with an immacculately scrubbed up Richard Greene.

There were the law ones.

Z Cars. I can still hum "Johnny Todd."
Dragnet. Just the facts ma'am, just the facts.
Highway Patrol. with Broderick Crawford earnestly urging us to leave our blood in the blood bank not on the highway.
and Peter Gunn...every guitar player could do Henry Mancini's bass ground for the Peter Gunn theme.

Australia started to produce there own TV shows.

Variety shows with Shirley Abicair and her zither.. Skip to m'loo my darlin' and Bobby LImb and Graham Kennedy. Also children's variety shows like the Tarax Show.
There was Reg Lindsay and his Country Music Program. Bandstand with suave Brian Henderson. and Johnny O'Keefe's Six O'Clock Rock. C'mon everybody it's six o'clock, uh huh uh huh uh huh .
We had our law shows back then..Consider Your Verdict..very serious stuff.
And even clergymen got to preach, Alan Walker stiffly standing to attention and giving the ministers answers to f.a.qs and William Barclay with a thick Scottish accent and a face like a bowl of porridge lecturing on the Bible. Don't think we would get that now !

And...the greatest of all. THE THREE STOOGES.woopwoopwoopwoopwoop..eebeebeebeeb
N'yuk, n'yuk,n'yuk.

Ah those were the days.

[Vic Jefferies]

Ah Neville, the good old days! Remember watching tv while standing on the footpath through the window of Grace Brothers Store on Broadway, Sydney in those days.They were 17 inch or 21 inch black and white sets made in Australia by Admiral, Astor, Awa, Healing, HMV or similar companies.
Remember too Dad having to have a TV License and watching the roving panel vans with their directional antennas driving around the suburbs tracking down those who didn't have a license. Transgression meant a hefty fine.
We used to buy chips and lollies and soft drinks for our interval on Sunday nights because that was when they used to televise a movie.
Some of the shows I remember thinking were wonderful at the time were: Seventy Seven Sunset Strip; Perry Mason; The Steve Allen Show; Perry Como Show; Mr Ed; Combat;Tombstone Territory; Gunsmoke; Ben Casey; Wagon Train; Rawhide; The Bounty Hunter with Steve McQueen; Johnny Staccato; The Ninjas; I think it was Kung Fu that had Grasshopper in it; Hitchcock's Half Hour with Tony Hitchcock; the show I think was probably the greatest comedy of all time because of its simplicity, The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason and Art Carnie; Twilight Zone; The Danny Thomas Show and the list just goes on.
Most of the stations closed down from about 11 or 11.30pm and I seem to remember the ABC used to often cease transmission around 9.30pm.
For some of us the ads were nearly as entertaining as the shows (upon reflection some were better made than the shows.) Remember Madge the Green Palmolive girl; The sign of the flying red horse; all those wonderful cigarette ads; Put a Tiger in Your Tank; the myriad soap powder ads; Cottees' soft drinks and jams; washing machine ads; beer ads and all those other ads for Australian goods and companies that now no longer exist.
I think the ABC did make an honest effort in the early days to bring some culture to us but unfortunately American pap won out in the long run and has in fact got worse not better.
We have pay television and some, in fact a lot of what is broadcast is pure pornography by any measure. How people who have young children monitor what they see or watch on the pay stations is beyond me. I would hate to be trying to explain it to very young children.

[keats]

M.I.C.
M.O.U.
M.O.U.S.E.

My Tv used to sing

MIC
KEY
MOUSE

but we had never heard of Micmou Mouse. Was he Japanese??

lol

Neil

[Peely]

I have to say that my memory of those times is a little sketchy - some of what you described was more than 20 years before I was born.

Regards


John Peel

[Bob Pacey]

Yeah I'm with you John.

C. R. A. F. T

is a horrible disease.

Bob

[warooa]

Look up in the sky, is it a bird? is it a plane...No.. it's George Reeves planking in front of the wind machine.

Good one Nev

I see you mention 'the suave Brian Henderson' - have you ever read Bob Magor's poem 'The Day I Shot the Telly'? Quite funny - I think it was Kevin Dean who performed it at Ravenswood last year.

Marty

[Neville Briggs]

You got me Neil I went through a few times to correct mistakes and not until this morning I realized I'd slipped up there ! Too late, spotted.


G'day Vic Yes Admiral and Healing, they were the Rolls Royce of TV sets as far as I knew.
I remember the TV licenses. They Govt used to air a solemn ad with a dire waring against unlicensed TV. We better not talk too loud, the present generation of robber barons alias pollies might see it as a wonderful idea.

The Honeymooners...wonderful. Jackie Gleeson used to shake his fist at his wife and roar
" One more time Alice and POW ! right in the kisser " Imagine putting that on today

The question of whether TV is a blessing or a curse. It's a mixed bag.

[Neville Briggs]

And John, I was born more than twenty years after the death of Henry Lawson, but I still read his poetry and see his times as the precedent for the modern age.

Bob. C.R.A.F.T. ??? please explain


Thanks Marty. I have read " Who shot the Telly " I like the line about how child abuse was not a crime back then There was a police officer up the Blue Mountains years ago, who was watching telly in the station lunch room , Jana Wendt was on air bagging the police so he drew his gun and shot the TV screen. He got marching orders, real quick

[Bob Pacey]

Can't Remember A Flaming Thing


Or something to that effect Nev ?


Bob

[Neville Briggs]

Ah , I see .