by Nick Place
The fresh, if unorthodox, approach to product promotion embraced by television legend Graham Kennedy changed Australia’s approach to selling products on TV. Kennedy enlivened TV advertising when it came time to plug the sponsors of his program In Melbourne Tonight, winning the hearts of viewers and the advertising budgets of various products. His antics included downing a plate of dog food after Rex the Wonderdog refused to indulge, emptying a can of soup over someone’s head, and unabashedly knocking the sponsored product. (He was even known to paint Alka-Seltzer tablets with clear nail polish so they wouldn’t fizz when placed in water.) The audience loved it, and so did the advertisers – if not initially, certainly after they reaped the dividends from Kennedy’s wayward ‘promotion’.
In many cases, successful Australian advertisements have been able to entertain the viewer as much as the programs they tuned into. Mortein introduced Louie the Fly (who ‘spread disease with the greatest of ease, straight from the rubbish tip to you’) in 1957. Smith’s Crisps unleashed a memorable character in 1987 with their Gobbledok alien, boosting sales by 50 per cent. Holden’s ‘Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’ was a neat jingle. And if having ants crawling up the leg of a lithe, tanned, near-naked woman sounds like a weird ploy to sell women’s underwear, well, it is; but it worked for Antz Pantz. The phrase ‘Sic ’em, Rex!’ entered the vernacular and the ad even reappeared 12 years later.
Some ads became memorable more for their nuisance value rather than for any intrinsic appeal. Think of Mrs Marsh and her bloody pieces of chalk dipped in ink; that annoying Fab woman constantly being bombarded by lemons, or the dishwashing liquid (‘You’re soaking in it’) that was soft on hands.
Aeroplane Jelly’s famous advertisements first aired on radio throughout New South Wales in 1930, but were later adapted to television, the theme song becoming something of a cultural icon. Vegemite achieved similar long-running success with their ‘happy little Vegemites’. Started as radio ads in 1954, they were first seen on television in 1956 and the jingle is still being used in Vegemite ads 50 years later.
But TV ads in Australia have not always been about selling stuff: they have also proved an effective tool in delivering community messages. In 1987, Australians were shocked by images of the Grim Reaper bowling over human skittles in a hard-hitting AIDS campaign, and since 1989 the Traffic Accident Commission of Victoria has been using ever-more graphic images in its anti-drink driving and speeding ads.
Sometimes the association between the presenter and the product proves the key to the success of the ad. In 1972 Paul Hogan was engaged by Winfield, initially for three months, in a deliberate effort to Australianise the Winfield cigarette brand. The connection proved highly successful and continued until television advertising of cigarettes was banned in 1980. The ‘… anyhow, have a Winfield’ campaign catapulted Winfield to the number-one cigarette brand in Australia.
In a new millennium, with digital recorders threatening the existence of the 30-second ad, there has been a return to the spot advertising of television’s early days. Popular lifestyle shows, in particular, have taken the product-placement path to advertising a sponsor’s product, with the Backyard Blitz crew, for example, becoming walking, talking, planting and paving ad machines for the equipment they are using.
There is little doubt that commercial television is just as much about advertising as it is about programs. Today there are even ads on SBS and, paradoxically, on pay TV. Using a 2005 estimate, by the middle of its fiftieth year, advertising will have contributed over $60 billion to television since its inception. For viewers, that means one simple thing – without the thousands of memorable – or terrible, or funny, or charming, or sexy – ads we’ve seen, none of the memorable – or terrible, or funny, or charming, or sexy – shows that happen between those ad breaks would have made it into our living rooms.
Say what?
You know an advertising campaign has struck a chord when its cute little catchphrase or jingle has worked its way into the Australian vernacular. Here are a few phrases you may recognise in common parlance:
> ‘Not happy, Jan’ – Yellow Pages
> ‘Avagoodweegend’ – Aeroguard
> ‘Matter of fact … I’ve got it now’ – VB
> ‘It’s your money, Ralph’ – State Savings Bank
of Victoria
> ‘Bugger’ – Toyota
> ‘Which bank?’ – Commonwealth Bank
> ‘Finger lickin’ good’ – KFC
> ‘Slip, slop, slap’ – Anti-Cancer Council
> ‘Good on ya, Mum’ – Tip Top bread
> ‘The Milky Bars are on me!’ – Milky Bars
1976
This year everyone seemed to be having a go on the box. Pop stars, newsreaders and alter-egos came up roses, while a couple of our favourite TV cops stepped back in time to take on quite different roles. If only sexy sirens could catch a break ...
Cronin bets the house on The Sullivans
October: Former Matlock Police and Solo One star Paul Cronin is so confident his new show, The Sullivans, is going to work that he’s resigned his job as a real estate agent.
It was a big decision for Cronin, who had turned his back on acting after becoming disenchanted by the axing of Solo One, the Matlock spin-off series concentrating on his popular motorcycle cop character, Constable Gary Hogan.
‘I was hesitant to get back into TV,’ Cronin told the TV Times. ‘I had decided to go into a job I could do for the rest of my life, and got in with a great bunch of people in real estate. From February to September, I sold properties in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.’ But when he was approached by Nine to take on the role of Dave Sullivan in a new wartime drama series, Cronin found he couldn’t say no. ‘The more I found out about the production – the massive research, a magnificent script – the more excited I was,’ he said.
Created by Ian Jones and Jock Blair, at Crawfords, The Sullivans is shaping as a lavish, high-quality drama, with immaculate attention to detail. Cronin said the writers even researched what the weather was like on the day war was declared, the announcement of which will be the centre point of the first episode. The cast and crew have been thrown into seven-day weeks, including six days of actual shooting, as Nine pushes to launch the series.
Other key members of the cast include Playschool regular, Lorraine Bayly, as Dave Sullivan’s wife, Grace, former Division 4 heart-throb Andrew McFarlane as their medical student son, John; Richard Morgan as another son, Terry; and 24-year-old beauty Susan Hannaford dressing down to play their 13-year-old daughter, Kitty. Reg Gorman plays the local barman, and Norman Yemm also features.
Abigail insists she’s more than just a pretty face
July: Life after Number 96 has turned out to be difficult for the soapie’s most famous siren because casting directors now only want her on-stage or on-screen for one thing. Abigail has voiced her frustration at being regarded merely as a sex object and not as a serious actress, claiming that she and fiancé Mark Hasfield plan to leave for America so she can search for genuine roles.
‘People forget that I was a child actress for many years and that I’m basically a comedienne, not a sex symbol,’ she told Scene. ‘I’m not a sex symbol. I have been typecast as one.’
Abigail claims she was sacked from the series that made her famous, allegedly for being too temperamental. ‘But I’m not. Only a small, downtrodden pussycat.’
Mystery over exit of weathergirl
June: Nine’s schoolgirl weathergirl has left the network, although nobody is quite sure whether teenager Kerry Armstrong jumped or was pushed. Kerry is adamant that she resigned from her weather-presenting job because the pressure of schoolwork was too great.
However, with a change of title from News Centre Nine to National Nine News and the imminent return of Eric Pearce to the newsreader’s desk, there is a school of thought that having a willowy teenage student presenting the weather might not be in keeping with the station’s more s
taid news presentation.
Armstrong said she made the decision to resign before her final news presentation but, as a guest on Ernie Sigley’s show on Channel 0, she admitted she might have resigned just before the axe fell. Probably the high point of her brief career was the night she said Melbourne could expect early morning frosts and frogs.
Mark Holden swaps carnations for a stethoscope
October: He’s top of the pops with his carnation-carrying stage act and songs including Never Gonna Fall In Love Again, I Wanna Make You My Lady and Last Romance, and now Mark Holden is spreading his wings to TV.
Holden has been signed to play Dr Greg Mason in Nine’s promising new drama, The Young Doctors, as part of a heavyweight cast including the beautiful Delvene Delaney, Peta Toppano, Cornelia Frances and Gwen Plumb, among others.
The 22-year-old Holden has done some acting in the past and hopes his new role will broaden him as a performer. ‘My idea is to become an all-rounder in entertainment and hopefully acting will be part of that process.’
ON DEBUT
> Ask the Leyland Brothers – the Leylands investigate the answers to questions about Australia posed by viewers
> Horizon-5 – daily rural current affairs program compered by Neil Inall
> Almost Anything Goes – crazy sports game show hosted by Tim Evans
> Beat of the City – drama series tracing the adventures of four young people in Melbourne
> 4 and Against – panel discussion
> The Young Doctors – soapie serial set in a hospital
> The Lost Islands – 26-episode children’s shipwreck adventure series
> No Thanks I’m on a Diet – comedy with Maurie Fields
> King’s Men – police drama series
> Power Without Glory – drama series
> Bluey – detective series with Lucky Grills
> Alvin Purple – sex-comedy
> The Bluestone Boys – comedy series
> Who Do You Think You Are? – comedy series
> The Outsiders – adventures of two men travelling the country in their old Holden ute
> Sportsnight – with Mary Delahunty
> A Fisherman’s World – hosted by ace fisherman Ron Calcutt
> Andra – children’s science fiction
> Flashez – music show
> The Gong Show – talent quest And from overseas comes:
> The Rockford Files – crime drama starring James Garner
> Starsky and Hutch – cop show
> The Pallisers – historical drama
> Warship – drama series about the Royal Navy
> Napoleon and Love – lavish British production detailing the loves of Napoleon
> The Two Ronnies – British comedy series with Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett
> Chopper One – helicopter police drama
Cashing in on a successful series
February: Bursting straight from the gold rush era onto our screens this week is Tandarra, the follow-up from the big drama hit of last year, Cash and Company.
Cash and Company centred on Sam Cash (Serge Lazareff) and Joe Brady (Gus Mercurio), two outlaws on the run after being framed for murder by the corrupt Lieutenant Keogh (Bruce Kerr). Aiding their quest to clear their names and expose Keogh was Jessica Johnson (Penne Hackforth-Jones), a feisty, independent woman whose brother was a friend of Brady’s, murdered by Keogh and his troopers.
As Cash and Company proved to be such a huge critical and popular success, Seven was keen to give the green light to a second series. But that was before Lazareff decided he’d exhausted the potential of Cash, and quit the show to take on new challenges.
Left without their title character, Seven insisted that the void be filled by Gerard Kennedy, who had made a guest appearance in the final episode of Cash and Company and who had just left Division 4 after a five-year stint.
The new-look series has been titled Tandarra after Jessica Johnson’s property, and Kennedy has come in alongside Mercurio and Hackforth-Jones as the bounty hunter Ryler.
Cash and Company sold well overseas and the producers hope that Tandarra will also recoup its high cost of production – at least $50,000 an episode – through international interest.
The axing of popular daytime show No Man’s Land – a Logie winner just two years ago – was front page news in Melbourne and even drew adverse comment from Federal Treasurer Phillip Lynch on Channel 9 when it was announced. But the station is not backing down, and host Mickie de Stoop and her reporters, a group that has included Deborah-Lee Furness and Susan Peacock, are now looking for new jobs.
Ding Dong to ring out at 0
October: Having already signed Graham Kennedy and Ernie Sigley, Channel 0 has now notched up the variety trifecta, snaring the services of Denise Drysdale. ‘Ding Dong’ initially turned down Sigley’s offer to re-form their successful partnership on his new hour-long show, five nights a week at 6.30 pm, choosing instead to partner the untried Bob Maumill on Nine’s new variety show, at 9.30 pm each Thursday.
But after the Bob Maumill Show was axed, Channel 0 once again dangled the big money carrot and this time Drysdale found the offer too good to refuse.
Kennedy is working on a new novelty game show, at a reported salary of $10,000 per week. Sigley is said to be on $5000 per week, while Drysdale will be raking in about $1000 per week.
Peter Hitchener trades game shows
April: GTV-9’s rookie newsreader, 28-year-old Peter Hitchener, says he doesn’t believe sex appeal is essential to his new job, instead nominating ‘a certain amount of showmanship’ as a key quality.
Hitchener is only finding his feet at the Melbourne news desk, having just finished presenting the national game show, Gambit. He was filling in as a weekend newsreader for Sydney’s TCN-9 between Gambit episodes when he was spotted and offered the Melbourne role.
Now only allowed to be photographed at the news desk, in full newsreader suit and tie, with hair perfect, it seems Hitchener is being groomed for the long haul.
Aussie Bleeder’s
golden night March: Norman Gunston, who started his career as the Wollongong correspondent for The Aunty Jack Show three years ago, has reached the pinnacle of Australian television by winning the Gold Logie for Best Male Performer. More than 400 guests erupted when Gunston’s name was read out as the Gold Logie winner, alongside Denise Drysdale as the female equivalent. The Little Aussie Bleeder reigns supreme. In an astonishing double for his work in the past year, Gunston, aka Garry McDonald, also won the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent.
MEMORIES
> ABC, Seven and Nine combine forces to provide Olympic Games coverage from Montreal. The opening and closing ceremonies are telecast live, with highlights packages screened each evening.
> Autograph hunters are the latest threat to our stars, who’ve been kicked, sworn at, had their hair pulled and generally been abused by those chasing a signature.
> Children’s show The Lost Islands is an international success.
> Variety Italian Style is the only program on commercial TV to get government support and is the first Australian commercial show to do a two-way satellite telecast with Europe.
> A Current Affair and Number 96 each celebrate 1000 shows.
> Peter Russell-Clarke, star of the Egg Board’s TV ads, makes a pilot for a modern cooking series.
> Norman Gunston (aka Garry McDonald) becomes the only fictional character to win a Gold Logie.
> John Blackman, regular judge on Nine’s New Faces, slams TV for ‘not giving enough people a go’.
> Lucky Grills, star of Seven’s new police series Bluey, is troubled by calls that he looks like Cannon’s William Conrad.
> Changing of the guard: after 19 years at GTV-9, Hal Todd begins at ATV-0, and Mike Williamson retires from Seven after 18 years.
> Gold Logies: Norman Gunston and Denise Drysdale
> Special award for Faith and Continuing Investment in Australian Dr
ama: Hector Crawford
1977
Soapie lovers lost out this year – three of our favourites said goodbye, while a possible replacement earned the unfortunate honour of being axed before making it to air. But at least the beat goes on over at the ABC.
Counting up to 100
The ABC’s pop music show Countdown continues to go from strength to strength, marking its 100th episode in April with an 85-minute birthday spectacular. Debuting three years ago alongside several other pop shows targeting a similar audience, Countdown is now the only one left standing and draws a weekly audience of 1.5 million eager viewers. Scalpers are also profiting from the show’s continued popularity, able to sell off studio tickets for as much as $15 a pop.
Countdown’s centenary show featured performances by Leo Sayer, Sherbet and Marcia Hines, interviews with Paul McCartney and David Bowie, and a special birthday greeting from Alice Cooper. But rubbing shoulders with the big names is nothing new for the program or its rock animal host, Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum.
Yet when HRH Prince Charles popped into the ABC studios to talk about the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Appeal for Young Australians, buddying up to royalty proved to be a bit outside Molly’s comfort zone. Not known on his best days for eloquence or economy of speech, Molly’s grasp of the English language seemed to give up on him completely once in the presence of His Royal Highness.
Despite donning his Sunday best and adopting a bizarre British accent, Molly just couldn’t nail the part of competent, respectful host, stumbling over his rehearsed lines repeatedly before requesting a glass of water and apologising to Prince Charles. Luckily, HRH was very understanding, assuring Molly that ‘it happens to everybody’ and enquiring why he didn’t have ‘one of those telepromoters’.
