#ray martin

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ray Martin & His Orchestra - Witchcraft - Jubilee rec. - 1959 (design by Si Leichman; photography by Charles Varon)

[newsatsix1986]

A sweet photo of Noelene Kim (now Noelene Rickards) in Season Three! 💖

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Well hello, Newsreader fans!

After a much-needed lighter page duties timeframe, I am back to bring you all the Newsreader stories your hearts could desire. After an intensive and borderline gruelling period of writing and posting in the lead up to and during Season Three, my brain was calling for me to switch off and spend time in the physical world; to rejuvenate and recalibrate.

Just like Noelene did in Season Three, I’m learning to find a balance between all the facets of my life, and to prioritise some over others when the occasion calls for it. We cannot run on empty and be in a million places at once, and that is more than okay.

In the weeks leading up to giving birth to Hana, Noelene was her busy self at work, as per usual. The evening before the 1989 Logie Awards, Dale had tasked her to check his speech against other previous winners’ speeches.

Finding tapes of Ray Martin and Kylie Minogue’s acceptance speeches for their wins in 1987 and 1988, these were a little over two minutes in length. At present, Dale’s was coming in under their times. In these images above, you can see Martin and Minogue with their Gold Logies; Ray posing for the TV Week with comedy character Dame Edna Everage, and Kylie snuggled up with her sister, actress and singer Dannii! ❤️📺

Noelene had thought through all the possibilities, however. The shorter speech length would accommodate the possibility of him potentially becoming emotional, which she was pleased to hear that this is something that Dale had factored in too. As per usual, they were working as a team, on the same page. She might not be in the running for a gold statue, but she had her own little treasure on the horizon to look forward to as well!

I loved the maternity fashion that Noelene got to wear this season! It looks very comfy. How about you, did you love Noelene’s maternity looks? Gypsy Taylor must have had a blast sourcing these pieces! 💖👸🏻🌟

[harrisonarchive]

Clip from The Midday Show, 1988; interview conducted by Ray Martin. “[W]e all have concepts of each other, you know? And the concept is that somebody sees me on a plane or in the street or something, and they immediately, they remember all this Beatle stuff, and they have this concept of me as that person. But, but in reality, I don’t go around thinking of myself as George Harrison, the Beatle or whatever, I — you know, I do now, ‘cause I’m on the television, but normally, I’m just like you, you know, just like everybody else — I’m just a human, and sometimes you have to, rather than just be ordinary, you have to, you know, make an effort to be more ordinary, inasmuch as they will calm down and try to see that there’s actually a person in here other than this big myth about The Beatles, you know, that’s all.” - George Harrison, The Midday Show, 1988 (x)

[feeling-and-form]

~ the tempest ~ songs for Shakespeare's the tempest, his farewell play of forgiveness and the magic of art. instrumental & vocal.

[listen here]

1. stormy weather - ray martin. 2. bali ha’i - werner müller. 3. follow me (‘‘theme from mutiny on the bounty”) - sarah brightman. 4. magic is the moonlight (te quiero dijiste) - esquivel. 5. bewitched, bothered, bewildered - ronnie aldrich. 6. long ago and far away - frank chacksfield. 7. the rumble - leonard bernstein. 8. the ever constant sea (instrumental) - the san sebastian strings. 9. my way - frank sinatra. 

[deejayjunkdrawer]

[newsatsix1986]

Mr Gerry Carroll, you knew that we were waiting for you! 😉

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Sadly the cast list that Michael Lucas included in his upload of the trailer on Instagram didn’t include Rory Fleck Byrne, so I reckon it’s safe to say that the chapter of the Carrolls has now closed. We’ll miss you Gerry! However, the story of Gerry Carroll will continue to live on in the content that fans create, like today’s post!

As News At Six touches on Australia’s news history, Gerry’s variety show; the Gerry Carroll Show, also highlights the history of Australian talk and variety shows from the era too. His story of being a talent from overseas finding fame, love and fortune here in Australia is one that a few performers relate to here in Australia. He has been compared to Don Lane, as well as local born and bred performers like Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton too, by various viewers of the programme.

Looking into Season Three’s news desk inspired me to try to figure out which show sets the Gerry Carroll Show might have been modelled off. Its beige colour scheme, curved stage and glass block back wall are a striking combination, and as my findings found, like Gerry himself is an amalgamation of past performers, so is the set itself. One that stood out to me obviously was The Don Lane Show (1975-1983), as you can see in these screenshots from an episode from 1981, it features grid glass windows and the colour scheme is almost perfect too.

What stood out to me even stronger was the set of Midday With Ray Martin, which he hosted from 1985-1993. In these screenshots from an interview with John Farnham from 1987, the glass wall is so spot on, as are the seats too, just in a more blue colour tone. I even noted some similarities in this set from Parkinson In Australia (1979-1983), in this episode from 1979 featuring prime-minister-to-be Bob Hawke! Look at the curve and colour of the set, it’s also very reminiscent of Gerry’s show!

Which set do you like best? 🌟

Videos Sourced:

‘Parkinson In Australia - Guests: Bob Hawke, Kate Fitzpatrick & Jack Fingleton (Aired: 12.5.1979)’ - Stay Tuned! on YouTube

‘The Don Lane Show (Aired 1.10.1981) Guests: Danny La Rue & Tom Waits’ - Stay Tuned! on YouTube

‘John Farnham Interview on Midday with Ray Martin - 1987’ - spikeyroberto on YouTube

[deejayjunkdrawer]

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 10th December 1953

We still seem to be feeling Christmassy, or at least quite jolly with this next set of three, none of which are complete unknown quantities. In fact, I can predict already which one I'm going to like most, but we'll see if I'm right.

Dragnet - Ray Anthony and His Orchestra (peaked at No. 7)

Yes, it's Dragnet, again, with a version that looks to have been a lot more popular generally than Ted Heath's version from last week.

That's a shame, because I think I might like this version less? It's still a banger, with particular credit going to the opening riff, but It's less swinging until nearer the end, and I juts don't enjoy it as much? It doesn't feel like as even of a ride, thought it might have been more faithful to the original theme's vibe.

It's still solid, though. We start with the Dragnet riff, and it's somehow a lot more menacing this time, and then we get the timpani from Also Sprach Zarathustra, just to ramp up the drama. It's obnoxiously threatening.

But then we're in for 30 seconds of brass tooting before the jazzy bit comes in. It's fine, impressive even, but I just want the jazzy vibes that Ted's version had.

And then finally we get it, with drums and swung rhythms and double bass, and all is well, until shortly before the end, where we revert to the brass, and then the timpani. Almost like it's re-started. It's fine, but I like the jazzy bit best.

Let's Have a Party - Winifred Atwell (2)

Well, it's another Winifred Atwell Let's Have a _______ track, of which she seems to have made many. Like all the others, it's a medley of popular tunes, played on a deliberately janky piano.

It suffers from being much slower than some of her other offerings, which makes most sonfs worse, though it wins some points back for being in waltz time, which makes most songs better. The speed is more of an issue, though, so it's a net disadvantage for this track.

I did appreciate it starting with a version of Daisy Daisy, which is a track I actually knew. I suspect this was how the original audience felt every time they recognised a song from it, and the appeal was "what's she going to mix in next?" Truly, the mashup of it's day. Unfortunately, it doesn't work well nowadays, when all but perhaps one of the songs going into it have been forgotten.

There's also a random guitar-ish sound, which sounds like a cross between a steel guitar and perhaps a sci-fi theremin/Ray gun noise? It's bloopy, but so sporadic and lightly used that the first time round I assumed it was an issue with the recording. It's an interesting sound, but underused.

I thought near the end that we'd got a bit of "Oh what a beautiful morning!" but I don't think that's actually what the final tune is? Either way, it's a similar vibe - lots of music hall staples and/or songs from musicals. It's fine, for Winifred Atwell, but nothing to write home about.

Disappointing, as our only actually new track.

Swedish Rhapsody - Ray Martin (4)

Last time we saw this track, Mantovani was treating it with his usual slightly syrupy gusto. I quite liked it, despite myself, and was prepared to enjoy this version, too. Unfortunately, I then made the mistake of actually listening to this version.

There's not much differentiating it from Mantovani's version, in terms of interpretation. It's the same tune, in the same order, at a similar pace, with a similar mix of instruments. But... it's just worse?

For one, while it uses the same strings / pipes / accordion, it just lays them on less thickly at the start, which makes the track feel emptier. It also feels like it goes a bit slower, and leans heavier on the pipes, which weren't the main appeal of the other version. The accordion is underused, too, though it does come in halfway through, way too quiet.

I think I was misled by my version, which also credits a group called The Swingin' Marching Band. I thus expected either some swing or some marching band vibes or (with any luck) both. Instead I got neither, which was quite disappointing.

The tune is everything it was last time, but it feels more stately, less folk dancey, despite the little twiddle the pipes attempt at points. Sad.

Well, there you go. Three slightly worse versions of things we have already seen. I didn't love any of these, and I'm hard pressed to pick a favourite. None were egregious bad, but I wouldn't back them as Top 10 material. I guess they're all reasonably party-appropriate and inoffensive. Instrumental music for the back of a Christmas party with people who you'd much rather talk to than listen to music with - that's about as charitable as I can be here. One's interesting, at least, so...

Favourite of the bunch: Dragnet.