coming soon

Frankston and Somerville Standard 19 March 1937 p. 2
 

milko

The episode of D4 called 'Approach with Caution' screened 30 January 1974 features, very momentarily, a milkman's horse (and the 'milko'). Surely this was the very end - less than 12 months - before milk deliveries by horse in Melbourne stopped. It's odd they feature so much in D4 and there's obviously a real nostalgia for them. 

Gus Mercurio plays a tremendous villain in this one, too, by the way. 

D4 'sergeant banner'

For no apparent reason there is a double episode of D4 from mid-74, called 'Sergeant Banner', slap-bang in the middle of the late 1973 ones on volume 9. That it is six months ahead of those around it kind of explains why it seems so much in advance of the others.  It weaves an extended tale of the capture of four payroll robbers in with Frank Banner's relationship with the sensitive Jenny (played by Diane Craig) who we've seen a bit of in previous eps. The interesting parts in my opinion is where we get some information about Banner's background. Seems he and Jenny grew up in the same country town - a comfortable drive from Melbourne - and her father was a policeman and a mentor to Banner in some respect. 

This is a slightly odd sequence where Jenny asks Frank if this was his mother's house. She didn't know?! Anyway...

d4 young hennessy

26 September 1973's episode of D4 was called 'Young Hennessy'. It was less worse than it might have been considering the somewhat unpromising storyline and other components (basically, Young Hennessy is an o-o-o-ld boxer who everyone thinks has a lot of money hidden somewhere in his house). The acting is stellar. There's Gus Mercurio actually playing a good guy, and get this, you really don't know if he is good, up till the end. There's Hilda Scurr, playing Mrs Hennessy and really making a meal of a role which is really not much more than a pissed-off old wife. Jeepers, even Simon Drake as a young boy called Luke isn't the terrible kind of child actor that most child actors are. Perhaps best of all - this is like a Logie contender performance, though I don't think it was one - is John Fegan as Young Hennessy. Fegan was four years out of Homicide by this stage, and while he was a compelling presence as Connolly in Homicide he wasn't exactly required to do anything more immense than deliver lines in a fairly pissed off and stern tone, a lot. Here he really puts in the time and gives such a committed performance well, I'm not sure if this is an example of good acting exactly, but... often you can't tell what he's saying. But you feel like you can. 

By the way they go to Puffing Billy including getting off at Clematis. 

vanessa leigh loses her diamonds rushing to catch a taxi

 

I have barely mentioned that Laura and I are regularly viewing episodes of The Box from 1973 and while I wouldn't normally talk for her I am going to say we are enjoying it immensely. 

Vanessa Leigh played the part of Fanny Adams (how imaginative is that character name) in The Box apparently until 1975 after which she did surprisingly little - her last credit on IMDB is for one episode of Cop Shop in 1982. I wonder what became of her? Also, I wonder if she got her diamond bracelet back. 

Let me know what you think. 

tiring week

Yeah so I don't have anything to tell you, particularly after the bombshell about the Coburg Lake Reserve being in Division 4. How many more headlines can you seriously take? This week has been ridiculously hot and unpleasant for everyone, except people who enjoy temperatures in the mid-30s, are they really people? Cast them out! I have had too much work on, and haven't really done anything of value since going to see Todd Rundgren play in Castlemaine last Saturday, which was by the way excellent. I decided my cutlery drawer needed cleaning, I mean it's not outright unhygienic but you know, it's just been used for its intended purpose. 

I have watched a few D4s - I'm into September 1973 now as was inevitable per the previous post - but I'm finding that by this time Crawfords or the D4 team are getting a bit tired and unfocused, just an impression. I suspect that the regular cast were finding it all a bit draining and a few episodes concentrating heavily on other actors taking the lead in stories with the Yarra Central crew very peripheral, was considered order of the day. So, the 29 August episode 'Willie' which concentrates a lot on Ernie Bourne as the titular character in a somewhat rollicking adventure where, and this is the other issue, crime is considered somewhat fun. Now, that's a change from what we're used to in this show. Then there's 'Damsel in Distress' with Helen Morse and Serge Lazareff as Angela and Ivan; she seduces him so he'll kill her father's new wife, but you know, the whole thing is farcical really (though it does have Hilda Scurr as Ivan's mother, her usual magnificent self in a typically low-key role). And the episode 'Bella' which is mainly concerning the adventures of a prostitute called, yeah, Bella (Margo Lee), her boarder/lover Toby (Brian Hannah) and, very late in the piece but playing I suppose an important role, her daughter Kathy (Rosalie Fletcher). 

Now it's rained and the sun's gone down so Perry and I are going to go out for a while. Talk to you later.