The Mavis Bramston Show

Just stumbled onto this terrific collection of warm and appreciative notes on the long ago MAVIS and felt I should join the conversation. The Mavis days were among the happiest of my long career and I still think of them with inordinate fondness.

The initial six shows which went to air beginning November 11, 1964 were groundbreaking and skewered the sacred cows of the time with wit and good humor. These and the first few episodes of 1965 were the best we did thanks to the genius of producer Michael Plant whose sudden death in early '65 changed the rather impish slant of the show to something more like a variety format - but still outrageous enough to offend church and state and give the public a belly laugh.

Gordon, Carol, June all became family to me; Gordon like a father, June a dear, warm friend - both now sadly gone. I'm in touch with Carol frequently, and of course Noeline Brown's and my friendship and our professional association date back to 1962 when we appeared together in a Phillip Street revue. She is, and always has been one of my closest and dearest friends. Quite apart from the affection still felt for the show, these few exceptional people I mention are enough to make me forever grateful to MAVIS.

Satirical shows come and go these days, but I take pride in the fact that we were the first in Australia.

BARRY CREYTON

I too remember seeing the Mavis Bramston show. Mavis was not actually a character at all, although her image in black skirt and large black hat appeared from time to time. It was actually a bit "naughty" in our household, so as an early High school student it was special to see it. My favourite was the "second best friend". Sadly the march of technology destroyed it: The show was made in the early/mid 60s when 2 inch video ("Quad" technology) was king. Unfortunately the tape didn't last and the machines died. (they used to weigh the head drums to check for the wear. If there was a broken head, the tape would get shredded!) If it was made a bit earlier it would have been on film or at least kinescope and still be with us.

Of course Graham Kennedy will always be the king of Aussie TV and Mary Hardy the queen, both deservedly so but the best series will always be the Mavis Bramston Show. The great Gordon Chater, Barry Creyton, June Salter and Carol Raye were brilliant. The show always opened with these fabulous four singing "Togetherness" with lots of funny topical issues thrown in. The show poked fun at sacred cows, no one and no institution was safe. The show even satirised the church which was unheard of in those days. It was clever satire, sharp and clever. It was also very naughty but not as tacky as most of todays satire. Several fine artists passed through the series and nearly all of them were remarkable. I have great memories of English actor Ron Stevens.. hardly known in his own country. He got into hot water for a brilliantly irreverent send up of the Queen Mother as a guest on a TV show here called Beauty and The Beast.The show pushed issues and was far from being politically correct... thankfully. It was full of camp innuendo. Lots of stars appeared , later even Noelene Brown joined the cast for a while. She went on to do another reasonably good show The Naked Vicar but vicar was not in the league of Bramston. I recall the incredibly sexy Lucky Star on the show, his pop career was over and he made a fine fist at revue. Many of the Bramston stars came from the great tradition of revue, especially the marvellous Philip street revues. Another English star who did a season was Miriam (Rag Trade) Karlin. John Bluthall joined the last season but although a good performer was never in the league of Ron Frazer, Chater, Stevens and Barry Creyton. Creytion was brilliant, raising those eye brows to perfection. He was dam hot too. I am sadly not sure if they could do it today as the censorship is much worse these days. Not only are they uptight about a bit of earthy vulgarity but they also have political correctness to stand in the way of artistic freedom. You would think we would be more liberated but sadly not. Chater was the super talent on this great show but now its all just a wonderful memory. The many sketch shows that followed are not in the league of Bramston. Bramston was a once in a life time work of genius, be great to have some of it on DVD but because it was so topical I think few would recall what was being sent up. Gordon Chaters famous pie eating sketch is still talked about and the show probably either laiunched or secured many carreers. Its a pity a compilation was never made. Of course the show was satire and very topical so some of it has probably lost its relevance. It was braver than any show today. Apart from the earthy vulgarity it also pushed the boundaries. Sacred cows were never safe. The church was often attacked. I loved Chater but also the whole cast the ever changting cast will be loved by many of always. There was one lovely scetch when a young actress would have a chat with an old man played by Gordon Chater. It was lovely sentimental comedy. It would probably be one of the scetches that would hold up well today. he character Chater played in this he would play later in "My names MCgooley, what's yours". When Chater left the show the scetch was kept alive but this time the wonderful Britishj actor Ron Stevens would chat to the legendary veteren actress Neva Carr Glynn who played an old lady feeding birds as she sat on a park bench.

I've recently been researching 'Mavis' for Wikipedia and it's a fascinating subject, albeit on that is woefully short on hard facts -- there's tragically little information about the production history. However, I'm pleased to report (re: the comments above by joliy) that a large number of programs from the 1964-66 period -- including the pilot episode -- have survived, and these are now preserved in the National Film & Sound Archive in Canberra. Sadly though it seems that little from the 1967-68 period has survived, probably because Seven was by then using videotape to record the show rather than the old telecine process, in which the show was captured from a monitor on 16mm film. I was also fascinating to learn that the late great Ron Frazer is now being acknowledged as the person responsible for popularising the term "ocker", thanks to his character of that name in the series. There are a few brief sketches that can be viewed on YouTube - Al Thomas does a wicked Julius Sumner Miller impression, and I especially like the "Golf Girls" sketch with Noeline, June and Arlene Dorgan -- there's a classic put-down during that routine where Noeline describes Arlenes golf slacks viewed from behind as looking like "two koalas trying to escape from a beanbag"! Hopefully somewhere down the track the NFSA will be able to put together a compilation of the best bits, so that younger generations can see what all the fuss was about.

Treat yourself to some great early TV laughter. This comedy series enhanced many successful careers for some of the best Australian comedians to draw breath. Ron Fraser's "second best friend" routine, Chater eating a meat pie covered in tomato sauce that ends up running down his singlet, Noelene Brown/Barry Creyton's "togetherness, togetherness, there should be more togetherness" duet, the 'Hairy Nosed Wombat' sketch and much much more. Unfortunately I was sent to bed as a child who "wouldn't appreciate the humour" for most of it but still I ache for a re-run of this series.