Adventure Island

I have just seen a snippet of this show in an ABC retrospective. If one of the previous contributors is correct, it is a tragedy that this material is in private hands! I have always wondered why nothing has ever been done to unearth it. Seeing the dates of screening I now realist I was in the exact demographic - turning 4 the year it first aired. I remember distinctly going to dance classes on Friday afternoons in the early 70's and being very peeved at missing the final episode each week! I also suspect the plots were very corny but would love to see them from an adult perspective. One of my strongest memories is of the final song each week and Liza walking towards the gates at the front of the set singing the song. I think the gates were under an arch of some kind. Our neighbors had some stepping stones in their front yard which led through a jasmine covered archway. I had long dark hair as a child and was a bit of a Liza wannabe I think! When I happened to be wearing my pink organza party dress, I would grab my parasol (I think Liza held one as she walked) and walk through the arch singing the song. I can't really remember the song (only the 'feeling' of it), and it would even be great if some of the music was available - even in sheet form.

This series is one of those that if you meet a stranger at a party that is aged between about 40 and 45 it is almost certain that they have memories of this show - when you are reminiscing about TV of your childhood, most people I meet have very strong and fond memories of it.

We must gotten our TV at around this time this came out.

Or perhaps I was going to school by then . I remember the long walk home from school - well. It seemed long, and perpetually hot! Playing outside for awhile, and being allowed to watch kids TV from Adventure Island ('At half past fooooour' as the jingle went) till Bellbird.

I can still remember the theme song, tune and lyrics, and I know I kept my cast photos for years.

It was very panto in style, but the houses, once we went into the magic book, were adorable (Liza's and the Panda's on screen left, Clown's caravan and Flower Pot's shop on screen right). The long hanging silver streamers looked Sooo magical in black and white!

As a child, Clown rather irritated me, and I remember Flower Pots as being quite the gossip. But Robert Essex was fab as Miser Meanie (can't see his name in the cast lest but that's the actor I'm sure...), much more scary than Squire Squeezum! Ernie Bourne was delightfully dumb as Fester Fumble, and Liza's end of week Song ('...its time to say goodbye goodbye, it's sad but time's the reason why we must bid farewell for a day or two...') was always lovely. Those poor Pandas must have been so hot!

Adventure Island, then maybe FTroop or My Favourite Martian reruns In later years, shows like The Goodies, Catweazle, and short series like The Owl Service and Time Slip... Bliss.

As someone well and truly over 35 (in 2006 now 44), I still retain vivid memories of Adventure Island. It commenced its run on ABC TV in 1967 just as my parents acquired a TV set. As a child shortly to start school, I had the luxury of being able to watch the children's programmes without any interference from the return from school, homework (unthought of for kindergarten children in those days), and even after starting school, it was clearly one of the 'good' influences available on TV, as my mother never prevented me from watching what was, for many years, a favourite programme. The emphasis on the ultimate victory of good over evil, the excellent songs, the innate goodness of people and the joy of life came through in every story. As another reviewer has commented, the closing song each week made children feel that the story had been told especially to them, and it is a tribute to the performers' talent that they could, bearing in mind the relatively primitive TV techniques of the time, achieve such a highly realistic and personal communication with their young audience. It was somewhat of a surprise when, as a much worldly-wise adult, I realised that even as a 5 year-old I had known quite clearly, without any consternation or upset, that the person playing Mrs Flowerpot was really a man. And that without having any other exposure to the English tradition of pantomime or having it explained to me by my parents. Talk about an early education in the need for gender tolerance! The other life-long memory for this viewer was the title sequence and theme music. As the studio lights gradually lit up the glittering, suspended fabric decorations, and as the music swelled, the heart would leap in anticipation of the adventures to come. It would come back to catch us all. In 1998, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Film Festival included a session "It's Our ABC Too", punning on the then-current ABC tag-line and focusing on how camp performers and gay and lesbian themes had made their mark on the Australian national broadcaster. The cinema darkened and the audience settled into silence. The projection commenced with a black screen. Gradually, accompanied by a familiar orchestral score, the long-forgotten lighting sequence started. A contended sigh rose from at least half the audience (those of us over 35!). Sure enough, they'd lead off with Adventure Island. The response it evoked confirmed its right to pride of place in the presentation. If any of the old tapes survive, the ABC could do worse than to make them available on DVD.

I remember watching this as a child. So many years ago, now, my memories of the show are incredibly vague. So much so that, until hearing a radio special about the program a couple of years ago, I almost believed it was just one of those false memories of the past you seem to have about childhood.

But it did exist, and according to IMDb, there was a hell of a lot of it, most of which has probably been scrapped from archives (which is probably why we've not seen hide nor hair since). It was probably very bad, but I'd still like to see an episode today, just to see what it was _really_ like....

The great John Michael Howson created this television masterwork (with Godfrey Phillips) and played "Clown", a peculiar, unforgettable, asexual fellow who lived in a caravan in the town of Diddley-Dum-Diddley and never took his make-up off. That's right, folks, he was a permanent clown. Fixed grin. Never out of character. Totally nuts in a baggy costume and given to high-pitched declarations of surprise.

Truly incredible this series. So surreal, perhaps not deliberately, but one of the strangest "things" I've ever seen.

The town was controlled by a mean-spirited ogre (Meiser Meanie) who lived in a dark, cardboard tower overlooking the town square where Clown lived next to "Flowerpotts", an androgynous fusspot played by a man. Their neighbors were two married pandas, the male being a touch on the sissy side. Meanie's right hand man was the sycophantic Fester Fumble, affectionately played by Ernie Bourne.

The cameras never took us outside the town, although we were able to view a distant, remote outside world (painted) beyond the town gate occasionally.

Perhaps Mr. Howson, now a Hollywood-based writer of clever short stories and gossip monger of international repute, will see fit to resurrect this brilliant series one day, the crowning achievement of his queer youth.

Where are you, Clown? Where are you and that permanent grin?

Perhaps living in Baltimore with John Waters and Mink Stole?