more joan letch (division 4, 'one more war' 30 aug 1972)

Another classic Joan Letch minor supporting character ('Nell')* in Division 4. She gives it her all. She's a total gem. 

A note to self: one of the crims in this ep, who I think has come from Sydney, says 'well I didn't come to visit your cultural centre'. Rare example of a 'you Melbourne people think you're so special' line in  Crawfords show. 

*OK IMDB just calls her 'Nell' but the actual show credits call her Nell Hudson. I wonder where IMDB got its information from. 

eggy at the curtin

I suppose the reason I was thinking about how I used to be in bands was that I was thinking sort of about going to see Eggy at the Curtin this evening, and I did, though I basically just saw the last skerrick of their show and it was too crowded and hot and so on. It was easy to see them from the side of the stage though and wow, that snare. I mean it sounded amazing from where I was standing here. From the back of the room, not that noticeable. Anyway I would like to see them again soon and do it properly. 

BTW Lygon St on a Friday night in Summer is fuckin' mental. That thing of like eight boys in their late teens, some of them look 12, some of them look 17 going on 47, at least one has a moustache that looks like it was pencilled on... hilarious. But you know the gelati is amazeballs. 

losing it

It's amazing to me now to think that 15 years ago (that's a random time but probably true - let's say 20 to be safe) I was still active in the live music scene* and would have a part of my brain dedicated to whatever songs whatever band I was in had going at the time and we might be offered shows or seek a show and put together a lineup with others and sort out the equipment and playing times and advertising (draw or otherwise create a handbill etc) and it'd be this thing that would happen. Rehearsals on a reasonably regular schedule and no grand plans for anything big in the future (except, also, recording, for record releases - in the golden late 90s when tangible music media was the only way and you'd just have people ready to invest money in your things - amazing to think about that now) but just maintaining that. It is pretty incredible. I feel like that capacity, or tendency or whatever you want to call it, has just broken off and floated away, it absolutely no longer exists.

Of course I have new abilities now which I didn't have then, so I'm not saying it's diminished returns but I hadn't really thought about this until now and now I'm thinking about it I'm like, wow, oh man. 

*Not with ambitions or pretensions to being a star or even a local hero but part of the community - it really was a situation of I go and see your band, you go and see mine, 'hey you were great tonight' etc. Supportive. I got very philosophical about the transitional nature of it at some point but really it's just in the realm of any hobby. I have no idea what the 2025 versions of that are, but I know there are undoubtedly many. 

division 4 'a waste of time' 12 july 1972

Keith Eden is Arthur Morrison, recently released from prison and hoping to go straight and/or meet his estranged son. There are lots of extremely interesting elements to this episode, starting with the opening sequence presumably shot from upstairs at Flinders St station. This is the intersection of Elizabeth and Flinders st and the tram terminus which is very drab and sparse compared to the glories of today. 

Irritatingly we are led to believe (I suppose it isn't outright stated) that the central character in this episode has come from Pentridge. But the 57 doesn't go past Pentridge, it just doesn't. Imagine thinking it did. 

The priest who was travelling with him goes to the tram stop in Flinders St which suggests to me that he lives in the eastern suburbs but actually we see his home later and it's in Yarra Central so who knows what he was up to, going places he shouldn't. 

Morrison tries to buy a second class ticket on the train and he's told they don't have those anymore. He was in prison for five years (which means he went in in 1967) and they stopped second class tickets (switched to 'economy') in March 1970.*

He goes to where he used to live, apparently it's Risley St, Richmond - that's not a guess. They're building something there, unclear what it is in the show, but it's clear now, it's a car park. 

Keith Eden, 1917-2003. I always like it when people born early in the 20th century get into the 21st. He is a great character actor, Crawfords had so many! I wonder if this was him... (Age 4 September 2000 p. 11). By the way, Bolte was dead 13 years by this time. 

 * 'No more second class: no it's economy' Melbourne Age 25 October 1969 p. 3

simon townsend

Sad to hear of the death of Simon Townsend who was the editor of Zoot in the early 70s a publication I really enjoyed. I see Zoot has not been talked about much in ST's obits but it meant a lot to me. I even found a Zoot dollar in stuff I was looking through on the weekend. I'll show you later. This clipping is from the SMH 7 April 1972 p. 12.  
 

fisk in errol st

This is close to a non-post but I just want to say that Fisk, which is a funny show, was (is?) I guess set in Errol st, or at least, a lot of the external scenes were shot in North Melbourne and the actual Gruber and Fisk windows are visible from the street, though I am uncertain about whether anything is actually filmed in those rooms up there surely there'd be too much noise from the street. 

I am a bit too stupid to understand this, as well. This doorway is the only doorway to the first floor:

But either they install a fake doorway into this doorway for the show (most likely explanation) or they use some amazing digital trickery. 

Or I am nuts. When I went to photograph the doorway above there was some dodgy character hanging around I didn't want to talk to so I took a quick picture then left and maybe I got it wrong, though I think the physio place is in the same position to the doorway in both images. 

Please don't think I think it matters. 

division 4: 'man's only a battler'

Obscure name for a very excellent episode of D4 from 22 March 1972. My worlds collided in this one where the crooks are chased onto the 'Westgate Bridge Freeway' which at that point is incomplete. 

In a way the actual pictures of the empty freeway aren't all that amazingly exciting. You heard it from me (if you hadn't already realised). 

But it gets a bit thrilling when John Stanton (who plays a criminal) breaks away and is chased by Gerard Kennedy to what might well be the Aerodrome and therefore the future Westgate Park. 

Yeah it is just one more case of I wish I could reach into the screen and turn the camera around a bit but you can't have everything, or really anything.