Number 96, Mavis Bramston... and David Sale

David Sale's tell-all book about "Number 96" and "The Mavis Bramston Show" is out... very soon!

MEDIA RELEASE:

"In the history of Australian television, two shows changed the face of television forever and rocked the nation to its foundations. Now the creator of 'Number 96' and the Executive Producer of 'The Mavis Bramston Show' goes behind the scenes of these two controversial, outrageously ground-breaking series for a jaunt through the industry’s Golden Years.

"'Number 96' and 'The Mavis Bramston Show' flaunted the unmentionable, destroyed taboos, ridiculed sacred cows and dared to deal with subjects hitherto considered too shocking for polite society. They were condemned from the pulpit, slayed by the critics, yet adored by an immense majority of viewers.

"'NUMBER 96, MAVIS BRAMSTON AND ME' by David Sale will be launched by the Hon Michael Kirby on May 13 at a function hosted by Carol Raye, and available online and at selected bookshops from that date.

"Actor, script writer, producer and author David Sale’s career progressed through the theatres and movie studios of London and Hollywood and the turbulent world of Australia’s TV industry. As an actor early in his career, he performed in the UK and Europe including a tour to Malta playing the lead in 'The Mousetrap' and Malcolm in 'MacBeth', before roles for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney’s Tivoli Theatre and across Australia in 'The King And I'.

"Sale has been a contributor to many TV series including 'A Country Practice', 'The Group' and 'Carrots', and has provided special material for some of Australia’s legendary entertainers to perform on TV, stage and in cabaret, including Julie Anthony, Maria Venuti, Toni Lamond, Carol Raye, Lorrae Desmond, Hazel Phillips and Donna Lee. He produced the last in the line of Sydney’s notoriously naughty Phillip Street Theatre revues, 'Lie Back and Enjoy It', and created 'Arcade', one of the biggest flops in Australia’s television history. He has written six novels, two of which – bestsellers in England - were bought for the movies.

"He is frank and revealing about his own life, a life that began in war-ravaged Manchester, followed the migrant route to Australia, and – against all odds – hit the heights of show business.

"But over and above anything else, Sale gives the inside story on Australia’s two most iconic television shows. After years of enduring misconceptions, outright lies and under-researched reporting of the series in which he was intimately involved, David Sale decided the truth should be told. He doesn’t pull any punches about any aspects of this incredible journey. He takes us with him every step of the way - huddled in a bomb shelter as a child to dodging Aussie’s TV critics as an adult.

"From blitz to glitz, David Sale tells of a fascinating life in 'Number 96, Mavis Bramston and Me'."

SALES DETAILS:

Cost: $29.95

Published by Vivid Publishing. Available from all good Australian bookstores and worldwide in paperback and ebook editions.

See also www.vividpublishing.com.au/number96/

"We've passed a lot of water under the bridge."

Recent ramblings about Star Trek

Here Down Under, we've recently had a rush of William Shatner print media interviews. I originally thought it was just Sydney, but my mother sent me several clippings from Perth newspapers and magazines, all covering the same information. Almost every newspaper, in several states, has carried a variation of his press release about his new autobiography ("Up Till Now") - and every local journalist covering the story for their paper has added mention of the new JJ Abrams "Star Trek" movie, and how Shatner had been a little disgruntled that Nimoy would be reprising Elder Spock alongside a new cast, but at least Shatner was doing well with his TV career, writing career, and his online selling. None of the articles I read were anti-Trek.

Paramount can't buy this kind of publicity. It percolates along - and they haven't even started their own campaign yet.

TrekBBS posters are perhaps overly concerned about public perceptions of the forthcoming movie. They seem to think that Internet complaining and whining about any changes JJ Abrams has forced upon the accepted "Star Trek canon" (what has gone before in decades of aired live-action Star Trek) may scare away the general cinema-going public.

Not a chance. There'll always be Star Trek fans who complain the loudest, but will still turn up on opening weekend, so they can blog about how much they hated it, or how well they boycotted/lied about it.

The "concern" is nothing new. It is precisely what happened with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "ST IV: The Voyage Home". While both films made huge amounts of money, both films angered some fans. A lot. The character interrelationships were supposedly "missing" from TMP, and many complained that ST IV's comedy and science had been "dumbed down" for the masses. But both films received sufficient buzz to draw in the curious general public.

Ditto "First Contact", which polarized many TOS and "The Next Generation" fans (action Picard, supposed mis-portrayal of Zefram Cochrane, too scary for kids, etc) but was still a critical and box office success.

Many Trek fans seem to feel that the general public always thinks that "Star Trek is for basement-dwelling 'dweebs' with no social skills". Well, it didn't stop the general public associating with nerds to see TMP, ST IV or "First Contact".

You know, in my life, none of my non-ST friends, neighbours, work colleagues, kids I teach, or blog readers, think that I'm a basement-dwelling deeb. If they do, it must always be behind my back, and done so well that I never catch them insulting me. I never hide that I'm a ST fan, and I've fielded many curious questions as people have started hearing that there's "a new movie" on its way. Maybe jocks think I'm a "dweeb", a "nerd" or a "droob", but I can't say that I choose to hang around too many jocks, so we don't really know each other.

That the general public hate nerds but love and respect jocks is a crock. I would think that most cinema-goers would prefer to associate with polite nerds (when sitting in the darkened theatre with a group of strangers) than with those who'd rather be off being... active. (Mind you, whoever said that jocks have to hate Star Trek?)

On another Star Trek track...

The final issue of IDW Publishing's "Star Trek: New Frontier" comic (#5) turned up on Thursday. Some fun stuff, as usual, and a little more Arex action, but online fans are complaining that the ending kinda fizzled. I didn't mind this issue, but the art and pace of #4 was probably the best. Perhaps author Peter David was setting up for the next "New Frontier" text-based stories..., or the next IDW comic mini-series?

While I got plenty of NF bangs for my bucks with "Turnaround". My only main concern was imagining how anyone who had no familiarity with PAD's recent NF books understanding what was going on. While I personally enjoyed seeing Morgan Primus, Arex and M'Ress - and a Mirror Universe incarnation of superbeing Mark McHenry - these characters must have presented new readers with many "WTF" moments, if you'll pardon their expression

I guess for those unsure about ordering future NF comic issues, they could wait to hear some amazingly positive reviews of the next NF mini-series, and then there's always Volume 2 of the inevitable IDW trade reprint...

"I was naked..."

Not me, of course. The line is from the opening paragraph of Call Me Abigail (Petomane Publishing, 1973), the autobiography of Abigail, the first sex siren of Australian television's "Number 96".



Today I celebrate an exciting eBay auction win! I've been searching for my own copy of Call Me Abigail (above) since at least 1978. Distributed by Gordon & Gotch, I'm sure I recall seeing copies of the book in local newsagents and bookstores in the early 70s, just as I'd seen many a copy of the infamous Number 96 Cookbook at supermarket cash register stands. But I didn't start collecting "Number 96" material until I heard a radio advertisement for a huge Angus & Robertson book sale, not long after the TV series was axed and off the air, which included the exclamation, "Number 96 paperbacks: only 10 cents each!" (Not a bad price, considering that several of those fictional, Mills & Boon-style paperbacks were originally carrying a recommended retail cover price of just "96 cents"! Tee hee! Cute marketing.)

After quite a bit of detective work, I had almost-pristine copies of seven of the (eight) remaindered Arkon novelizations of early "Number 96" episodes. (I shall list them all here and review them some day; I've never really had the room to include much about these books on my "Number 96" home page.) I found one more elusive title, years later, in a second hand bookshop, even though I'd tried to confirm with the original publishers that only seven titles had ever been published.

My first trip to the wonderful Berkelouw's Book Barn at Berrima, in the early 80s, landed me my own copy of the Number 96 Cookbook (with intact iron-on transfer of the show's logo!) for a very reasonable price. Over the years, several people finding my website have offered me their copies of the cookbook, but there was a great thrill when finding that first one.

In more recent years, I've added numerous other "Number 96" literary treasures to my collection, including an original "Number 96" novel from 1976 (set not long after the bomb episode): a book which I'd never even heard about until my appearance on "Tonight Live with Steve Vizard" in the 90s. In fact, the day Ron Shand (Herb Evans) passed away, I was in a second hand bookshop in Leichhardt searching for that darn novel. Mysteriously, I found it in the same shop just a few weeks later. (Thanks for looking out for me, Herbie-Berb! It was much appreciated.)

There are also: several non-96 thrillers by writer David Sale; a non-96 romance novel by Nancy Cash; wacky little witchcraft books by Deborah Gray (Miss Hemingway); and a TV script book called Zoom In (1977), which contains the teleplay for Episode #1000; and numerous reference books that mention the show. I also treasure my copy of Patti Crocker's Radio Days (1989), with its brief chapter about her stint as Eileen Chester in "Number 96".

But Call Me Abigail had eluded me! (Until now!) Month after month, year after year... every time I visit a second hand bookstore, especially tiny, forgotten country stores (where rare books are sometimes way underpriced), I headed straight for the Biography and Showbiz sections. But think about it: if the store alphabetises by author, then any book by someone called Abigail (no regular surname) is going to be the very first item on the shelf. Call Me Abigail no doubt catches the attention of the first casual browser to happen in after the book has been placed on the shelf. Sigh. Well, that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

In any case, I made what I thought was a reasonable bid on this book that had become such a coveted Holy Grail over the last 28 years of searching, only to see the price creep up past my original online reserve. Drat! At the last minute, I recalculated whether or not I really needed this item and boldly outbid the rest. Declared triumphant, I requested the eBay seller to quote me the extra amount required to ensure registered postal rates for my purchase. Happily, the seller agreed, making the price an extravagant - yet highly appropriate - and coincidental $96!!!! How bizarre is that? And a not-too-shabby investment on a book that had a 1973 shelf price of $1.85, and marked down to some lucky person for 95 cents.

When I was researching my social history on "Number 96", I discovered a humorous old article about two potential rivals for Call Me Abigail that never happened. Candida Raymond played Jill Sheridan in the series - and was, coincidentally, the real-life sister of Victoria Raymond, the actress who took over the part of Bev Houghton when Abigail was fired. Candy used to fib to the TV magazines that she was only in "Number 96" to research a university thesis! That was her story, anyway. In another article, she told TV Week of her plans to top Abigail's literary efforts, and to write her own racy autobiography, Call Me Candy. But my favourite story came from Pat McDonald and Bunney Brooke, who played pensioners Dorrie Evans and Flo Patterson. In the same article, they told the reporter that they were planning their own tell-all book, entitled: Call Us, Please.