The Birth of 'Starstruck'
Starstruck was the creation of screenwriter Stephen MacLean, based on his own experiences of growing up at a struggling pub at which his mother worked as a barmaid, whilst raising her four children. More than a bit starstruck himself, Stephen was determined to break into show business. Much as in the film, he prevailed upon his older sister Colleen to use a nearby phone booth to help find his big break. Stephen spoke to The Age in Melbourne about the origins of the story:
"The Newport Hotel, which is just by the Newport railway station, is where'Starstruck' began. My mother used to work there, and it was a really thriving place, really bustling, until they put in the overpass. Then the pub just died. That's where I got the idea of the fading pub in 'Starstruck'. Rene, the woman who ran the place then, is dead now. I got a tape from her son while I was overseas, about her death, and it really started my memory going. I started jotting things down, and I finished the first draft while I was in London. I spent so much time in the place. I used to get into trouble all the time for going up and dancing on the roof, so the chandeliers started bouncing in the dining room. I had got out in the world really early. I left school the week I turned 15 and went and lived in a flat in St Kilda which was considered pretty daring then. I had been a child actor when I was about 11, doing Crawford's TV shows. When I turned 15 I went to Crawfords as a messenger and pretty soon I started doing props. When I was 16 or 17 I was designing 'Homicide' [a successful Australia TV cop show]. All those dreadful sets where the walls shook when they closed the doors, that was me. I did 'Video Village', all those kinds of things. Then when I was 19 I switched to being a journalist with 'Go Set' [a popular music magazine].
Incidentally, the 'real' Starstruck hotel is still in existence at 1 Mason Street, Newport in Victoria. It now operates as the Seagulls Nest Club, home of the Williamstown Football Club.
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Angus and Jackie define star quality as 'that little something extra'. It's no coincidence that this is the same phrase James Mason uses to describe Judy Garland's character in another famous tale of rags-to-riches stardom, A Star is Born (1954). MacLean was a classic film connoisseur and in particular, a lifelong Garland fan. Nor is it any accident that Starstruck follows the same basic formula of many of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney musicals of the 1930s and 40s - two crazy kids decide to 'put on a show', usually helping a friend or family member out of calamity and finding fame and fortune at the same time. Themes of stardom, ambition and patronage from other MacLean favourites such as Sunset Blvd (1950) and All About Eve (1950) also found their way into the story. Aside from Starstruck, MacLean's best-known work was his biography of Australian singer Peter Allen, The Boy From Oz, on which the hugely successful stage musical of the same name was based. Sadly, Stephen passed away in 2006. Read more at Starstruck: The Complete Companion to the 1982 Film