hal kanter

Referred to this memoir by US tv producer-director-writer Hal Kanter the other day for a book I'm writing. Kanter gets so many things wrong on one page it's hilarious, but that usage of 'indigenous' to mean local is the bit that has worn least well, isn't it. He mentions three cast members of Last of the Australians and misspells each of their names. The weirdest bit is he is claiming credit for direction. I wonder if he did direct it, but they weren't permitted to say so? Seems unlikely that the union would allow that, or that Crawfords would be that deceptive. Well, in the scheme of things it's not important really. 

the last of the australians

As I write to you I have watched 11 episodes of The Last of the Australians, and am on to my 12th. In between watching the show I am reading of Alan Seymour's 1967 novel of his play The One Day of the Year on which The Last of the Australians is ostensibly, ostensibly mind you, based. To be honest I'm not 100% sure how this worked i.e. was Terry Stapleton - who played the character of Hughie in the original play when it opened in 1958 - actually inspired by these characters to adapt them into a sitcom (albeit with different names - Hughie became Gary and Alf* became Ted)? Or was this some kind of sleight of hand whereby he and Crawfords could say that the Last of the Australians was no way an imitation of Till Death Us Do Part (1968+) because it was based on something from 1958?

It's an interesting show to watch but not always enjoyable. Or even often enjoyable. It does have all the classic Crawfords people in it, not just Keith Eden and Maurie Fields and Terry Norris but also Noni Hazlehurst, Jacki Weaver and Vanessa Leigh. Of the main cast, of course Alwyn Kurts, who no-one had ever imagined could possibly be a comic actor, and Rosie Sturgess who was famous for her time with Graham Kennedy in particular so she had form as a comedian. Richard Hibberd was Gary in the first season, Stephen Thomas in the second (Hibberd quit the biz to join the Hare Krishnas). 

Anyway, I'm plouging on because this is my job now. I'll let you know if anything nice happens. 

*Clearly they couldn't have kept the name Alf for the father character because of Alf Garnett. I suppose 'Hughie' became 'Gary' just in the general update to the 1970s.