Australian Broadcasting Corporation Reunion Club – Victoria – Inc.abcreunionclub.org/reunion_club/nl/nl_2017_3.pdf · 6.00pm with a few added cartoons from Telecine. It was a

`

UR guided tour of the National Art Gallery of

Victoria in May was well worthwhile. Nineteen

members attended (there were three more who were

unable to come at the last minute). We were met at the

entrance by our gentlemanly guide, Barrie Shepphard,

who proved to be immensely knowledgeable.

We were first led to a room of Dutch masterpieces,

both paintings, furniture, and porcelain and Delft pot-

tery. Barrie pointed out the difference between these last

two processes and provided a detailed description of a

huge wooden, intricately carved linen cupboard from the

17th century.

A few paintings were described in detail and we were

shown two Rembrandts. The portrait of Rembrandt him-

self, which most readers would have seen, was not in

fact painted by Rembrandt as was formerly believed, but

by one of his students. (The brushwork gave the game

away!)

In the next section of the Gallery we were shown the

famous painting of Moses parting the Red Sea. Part of

this painting, it was explained, had been altered more

than one once—the most recent change being by one of

the Gallery’s restoration staff for very good reasons

which we won’t go into here, but needless to say, this

latest alteration is reversible if it needed to be.

The multi-coloured glass ceiling of the Great Hall

which no doubt most readers will be familiar with, was

explained in detail before we moved on to yet another

part of the gallery.

Again, and throughout the rest of the tour, Barrie

provided much information about the various paintings

which one would not normally be able to ascertain by a

regular visit to the Gallery.

After the

tour, 14 of our

party walked to

the nearby La

Camera rest-

aurant at South-

gate (where we

had booked a

long table) for a

nice meal. Most

chose the $20

Business Lunch.

The weather,

by the way, had

been delightful.

A most enjoy-

able day!

O

Australian Broadcasting Corporation Reunion Club – Victoria – Inc.

JUL / AUG / SEP 2017 Volume 40 No 3

PATRON: Stephen Murray Manager TV Operations

Paying for Functions

SOME people are not following directions when

booking for events, making our task difficult in

trying to determine who has booked for what

The codes for events are given on page 2. Your

Membership Number is on your Membership Card.

Otherwise, to get your number please contact the

Secretary or the Treasurer. (See how on page 4.)

P&O Cruise 24–30 Jan. 2018

YOU will have been informed about our 6-day Cruise

from Melbourne to Kangaroo Island, Port Lincoln,

Adelaide and return to Melbourne.

26 members now have confirmed bookings. There

is a possibility that additional Cabins may be

available. Please contact the Secretary, Carol

Simpson-Bull for further details.

New Members

WE welcome Garry Clynes (ex TV Ops) and Maur-

een, Paddy Opwald (ex-Make-up), Chrissy Thomson

(ex-Make-up), Linda Hamilton (ex-Make-up), Les

Kurcki (ex-TV Maintenance) and Marie Edwards,

Pam Howard (ex-TV PA.), John Tovey (ex-TV Ops),

Barrie Munro (ex Films) and Suzanne Eriksen, Mark

Tarpey (ex Staging/Films) and Chris, Jenny Neish (ex

News), Susan Shaw (ex Admin), and James Oastler and

Rhonda Shallcross (TV Prod).

Bereavement

WE sadly report the passing of the former Head of the

Chinese Section of RA, John Krone.

“… not painted by Rembrandt …”

Not by Rembrandt!

A Brief Club History

IN the past year or so we have had a large number of

new members join the Reunion Club so we thought

that a brief history may be in order.

The Club was formed in 1978 at the suggestion of

Engineer Jack Burgesson with an inaugural meeting

on 2nd November. Broadcaster Reg Neal became the

first Chairman. It was initially called the ABC

Retirement Club but was later changed to reflect the

fact that many new members were not retiring from

the ABC but merely moving to a different career or

were still ABC staff. The Club has always had the

support of ABC Management.

NEW DATE FOR CLOSURE FUNCTION – NOW 13TH OCTOBER – SEE PAGE 2

COMING EVENTS

TOUR OF THE TELSTRA MUSEUM and LUNCH (TML)

Thursday 17th August

WE have organised a tour of the Telstra Museum inside the Hawthorn Telephone exchange at 375 Burwood Road, Hawthorn (opposite the Hawthorn Town hall, Melways 45 - D10) where we meet at 10.15 am.

There is a huge variety of equipment and systems from Morse Code to new and old Telephones plus a fascinating display of glass insulators. We will see the original “Talking Clock” still working.

Lunch will be at the Glenferrie Hotel, just a three-minute walk away at 324 Burwood Road. You can travel by train to nearby Glenferrie station or by tram No.16 along Glenferrie Rd.

Parking is scarce and limited so check the signs and allow plenty of extra time.

COST: Members $7 Guests $10 HOW TO BOOK: See page 4.

LUNCH AT THE ALBERT PARK YACHTING & ANGLING

CLUB (APY)

NOTE: THIS FUNCTION HAS BEEN CANCELLED

THIS lunch with a sea-side view has had to be rescheduled due to (1) The Angling Club is being renovated, and (2) the Ripponlea Closure Function is too close to this date. We hope to hold this function early next year.

ANNUAL BBQ AT VIEWBANK (BBQ)

Sunday 12th November

THIS will be a repeat of our successful BBQs, complete with six-piece band, at Linton and Tiffany’s home in Viewbank. More details in the October Newsletter.

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON (ACL)

Friday 8th December

OUR Christmas luncheon to be held at the RACV attracts over 130 members, many from interstate, and is always a very popular reunion. More details in the October Newsletter.

2

The Dream Factory Re-visited

Please Note New Date!

Friday 13 October 2017

Unfortunately the ABC have had to use the

Ripponlea Studios for program production

beyond their originally planned “set in stone”

closing date, so the “Dream Factory Re-visited”

event has had to be rescheduled to take place on

Friday, 13 October.

We realise that some of our interstate people are

having difficulty rescheduling travel and

accommodation bookings and somehow we will

to try to find some way to support those who

have invested in non-refundable expenditure.

The ABC Reunion Club is honoured to host, on

behalf of the ABC, this very special event which

will feature a full electronic video installation

and light show in Studio 31 to highlight shows

from an amazing 60 years of television creativity

and will offer everybody the opportunity to meet

and talk with old friends from the various

departments in 32. The half hour repeating video

installation will commence at 6.30 pm and wind

up around 11.00 pm. A range of food from some

of Melbourne’s best food trucks will be on sale in the

scenic runway as well as wines, beer and soft drinks

in 32.

Because of strict limitations in numbers, the

invitation can only be extended to those

colleagues who have actually worked at

Ripponlea. Partners who have not worked at

ABV2 are regrettably not eligible for a “first

pass” invitation but we will endeavour to

accommodate them with repeat showings on

Saturday 14 October.

As there are only a few vacancies left, if you are

a former Ripponlea staff member and have

not yet received an invitation and wish to

go on the waiting list, please immediately

contact Carol Simpson-Bull at: [email protected]

or telephone on 03 9561 4124.

The entry fee ($20 plus booking fee) is to partly

cover the cost of staging the event for which the

ABC itself is contributing considerable funding.

Bookings can only be made on-line by credit

card to our special bank account site which

will be advised to confirmed invitees.

The Invitation Committee consists of Rick

Hunter, June Williams, Carol Simpson-Bull and

the Treasurer, Barbie Mathiesen.

Ripponlea Anecdotes

IN view of the impending closure of the Ripponlea

studios we thought it appropriate to recall some

anecdotes of the good old days taken from some of the

back issues of our Newsletter.

In November, 2010 Maurie Pritchard wrote:

IN the early days, on the second-floor level between Studio 31

and 32 at Ripponlea there was a long sloping ramp from near

the Film Department down to the studio Control Room

entrances. When things got quiet in Master Control after the

late news, some members of Master Control staff selected

office chairs with castors for the fastest race down said

passageway. Needless to say, I was ringleader in this fun time.

And many were the crashes on the way, wheels falling off

necessitating hasty repairs for the next race.

Another of the tricks was the setting of traps for the

morning staff when they switched on the equipment. Double

bungers and suspended buckets of steel bolts were some of the

many things that either went off or were dropped as the

equipment heated up. It was obvious that there was overstaffing

on some nights in those days.

JOHN BACKMAN sent us this story which he swears

really happened. John wrote:

WHEN I started at Ripponlea in the early 1960s, the ABC

syndicated to all states hour-long children’s programs, except

on Thursdays. Thursday’s program was “Party Day”, and in

Melbourne it ran live to air out of studio 31 from 5.00pm to

6.00pm with a few added cartoons from Telecine.

It was a very simple idea. Just put a young lady (Mary

Rose) and a young man (Clive Windmill) in a big studio with

twenty children aged from five to ten, play party games, and

finish the hour with hats, whistles, balloons and lots of jelly

cream-cake and red fizzy drink.

One Thursday I worked on the studio floor assisting with

lights, microphones etc., on the mascot pig set-up. The pig’s

name was Ham-let, what else? Full name: Prince Porky Hamlet

(“… the only piggie star on television”, the song went). He

lived in Elsnor Castle which was actually a trailer that backed

onto a penned area of the studio. On cue the tailgate, er, I mean

drawbridge was lowered for Hamlet to receive and vacuum-

down in seconds whatever the kids suggested he be fed—on

this day a large brick of vanilla ice-

cream.

All the kid’s parents were

seated on the side, out of shot,

and the children were on

rostrums seated together. The floor

manager yelled, “Two minutes to on-air. Quiet please!”

Suddenly there was a massively loud unscheduled explosion.

A large 5K (5 kilowatt) lamp had exploded showering glass

particles down on the floor. Pandemonium followed, with

twenty children screaming with shock, running to their parents

and forty parents running to their children, all calling for each other. (Fortunately, no one was injured.) “One minute to air,

QUIET PLEASE!” was the plaintive cry of the floor manager.

The Producer/Director Peggy Hamilton very calmly asked

for a tight close-up of the comperes Mary and Clive which

enabled the boom microphone to come in very close in order to

try to reduce the pick-up of audience noise. The opening

theme had finished but mayhem still reigned as the floor

manager cued the introduction of the program. Clive was in full

control as he said with a relaxed smile, “We’re having great fun

already today, but first here is a ‘Felix the Cat’ cartoon”. “Roll

telecine”, said Peggy Hamilton. Fortunately, Telecine was

quick to oblige. What a clever tactic. The studio now had five

minutes to regain composure and the program proceeded as

planned. And what did I do?

After Hamlet devoured the ice-cream, he tried to eat the RCA

hand-microphone that was positioned in the butcher’s grass to

catch the sound of his eating. The mike was now coated with

ice-cream and slimy pig slobber, so I was despatched to the

canteen kitchen (holding the microphone at arm’s length) with

orders to “clean it up”. I remembered that my duty statement

read in part, “other duties as required”. This was one of them!

When Henry Allen joined the Ripponlea in 1957 as a

Film Dispatch Clerk (he later became a Floor

Manager) he was issued with a pair of gum boots.

Henry recalled:

SOME of the buildings were still makeshift. There was so

much mud it was unbelievable. I used to have a slushy hike

from the main studio building to Master Control and Telecine

to deliver daily run-downs and a load of films.

In those days in Studio 39, later 33, where most of the

early shows were produced, there was no air conditioning and

the whole crew were crammed into a very small space. At the

end of a production the whole crew would come bursting out

gasping for breath.

From Journalist Cliff Peel comes:

IT was a Sunday night in News Room in the 1970s. Two

journalists and the News Reader were ready to go down to

studio 32 for the late news when a breathless Floor Manager

arrived. There was a sleeping horse in studio 32!

Earlier in the day a horse had been required for a program

and had been sedated to calm it down. Now it was dead-to-the-

world on the studio floor and there was no time to move it or

change the News to a different studio.

Jocelyn Terry was the News Reader and was informed that

she had a visitor on the set. Unfazed, she worked out a plan of

action. She would ignore the horse and carry on with the News.

If the horse woke up we would put a camera on it, providing it

was not doing anything unsuitable, and Jocelyn would ad lib

about the horse until the stage hands, who were standing by,

removed it.

Luckily the sedatives had worked well or else the News was

duller than usual, because the horse slept soundly and quietly,

until after the News.

Radio and TV Presenter, Reg Neal once told this story:

I was doing an interview with Robert Menzies. [We have a

photograph. It was in studio 33. Ed.] I told Sir Robert that the

program must not exceed 9½ minutes and that the Floor

Manager would give him a wind-up signal. The Prime Minister

said that he could judge 9½ minutes and commenced the

program.

He ignored the Floor Manager and the program ran 11

minutes. The Victorian Manager, Tich Whiteley, who was

present asked if I could cut out 1½ minutes so that the Prime

Minister could go on his way. I explained that for technical and

political reasons this could not be done. Sir Robert had to do it

all over again. This time he watched the Floor Manager!

OUR

YESTERDAYS

3

THE COMMITTEE Chairman: Johnnie Walker

mobile 0418 323 051

Vice Chairman: John Backman Secretary: Carol Simpson-Bull 9561 4124

or mobile 0403 393 746

Assistant Secretary: Helen Hiscock 9758 7205

Treasurer: Barbara Mathiesen mobile 0413 892 877

Newsletter Editor: Ken Simpson-Bull Auditor: Tiffany Bryant

General Committee: Syah Goldrich, Allan Hiscock,

Lyn Innes-Irons, David Rolfe, Jo Maxian

Committee Meetings

THE Committee now meets on the first Friday of each month

(except in September, the 8th) at Southbank. Members are invited

to join them for lunch at 12.30 at the RACV in the city in the

Conservatory. However, you must book through the Secretary prior to

the meeting to gain entry.

HOW TO BOOK FOR AN EVENT

For those members sending cheques or Money Orders by post, the procedure is this:

1. Make cheques payable to the ABC Reunion Club

2. On the back of your cheque (or on a slip of paper attached to your cheque) please write the following:

Your member number (or your name), the event code, and the number of people attending.

E.g. 153AGM2 means Member No 153, Annual General Meeting, 2 people attending.

If you are paying for two or more events, repeat the coded information for each event.

If you propose to bring a guest, please let us know their name for insurance purposes.

3. Post the cheque to PO Box 272, Glen Waverley, Vic. 3150 (Put your return address on the envelope)

Members making bank transfers must initially contact the Secretary for procedure details.

Reminder: In the Transaction Description: 999AGM2 means your Member Number, Event Code, 2 people attending.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Write, telephone the appropriate Committee Member, or email: [email protected]

Postal Address: ABC Reunion Club, PO Box 272, Glen Waverley, Vic. 3150 (Please put your return address on the back of any mail)

For Telephone numbers refer to “The Committee” listing.

4

AT our Annual General Meeting in February, Danni O’Connor donated a

raffle prize of High Tea with champagne for eight people which was won by

Jenny Hobbs. Here is a photo of the event. L to R: Jenny and Neil Hobbs, Carol

and Ken Simpson-Bull, Danni O’Connor, Tiffany and Linton Bryant, Barbie

Mathieson, and David Rolfe.

We need Raffle Prizes IF you have a favourite Restaurant, we would really appreciate

it if you could try to obtain a Dining Voucher to be donated as

a raffle prize for our Xmas Luncheon or AGM. Other

appropriate donations would be gratefully accepted. Proceeds

from our raffles help us to subsidise some functions.

Ring Carol on 9561 4124.