Let's not forget the scenes at the 1978(?) Logies with Muhammad Ali. Classic!
-
IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
The RIP thread
- Thread starter 23.21.159
- Start date
He was such a great ad libber. I remember one night an affect with contest didn’t work out and Don lost his temper and was shouting at the stage manager, and Bert just took over. Looked into the camera and said calmly, ‘Hello. If you’ve just turned over from another channel, we had this thing setup , it hasn’t worked out and Don’s as mad as a cut snake. Come back in a moment or two and we’ll have it all sorted out.’
What a classic. .......I forgot how funny Bert could be when they did the wheel segment. .....
It's easy to see why every old dear in Melbourne and probably the rest of Australia loved him like he was their son!
Vale Bert.... without doubt the greatest impromptu performer ever on Australian TV imo.
Thanks for posting @blofield ......I just recognized 4 people I grew up with, sitting in the front row and shaking hands with the Village People! Christ, I'm gonna get some mileage outta that!
RIP, Bert. He gave so many great memories to so many people.
I told this story at my dear Dad’s funeral a few years ago as part of his eulogy.
A few years before Dad passed, he had chest infection and ended up at the Austin Hospital for a couple of days. He was an Italian man who had lived in Australia for a big part of his life. His English was pretty good but he had his moments.
Anyway, the Hospital must have been full at the time, so Dad ended up in the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre. Technically, it hadn’t opened yet but was just about ready to go and that week, a handful of patients had been accommodated there, given they needed a few extra beds.
He had spent a day there when I popped in after work to see has he was faring. Dad was having a ball. There was hardly anyone in the whole hospital and he was enjoying the full attention of the nurses.
”I really like staying at this new Bert Newton Hospital,” he told me very excitedly.
I corrected him by parroting back something really dense. “No, Dad, you have it all wrong. This is not the Bert Newton Hospital, it’s the Olivia Newton-John Wellness Centre!”
Dad took a while to reply as he considered this new information. Then he finished the conversation in the best possible manner. “What a nice man Bert is,” he told me very earnestly. “He named the hospital after his wife!”
RIP, Bert!
I told this story at my dear Dad’s funeral a few years ago as part of his eulogy.
A few years before Dad passed, he had chest infection and ended up at the Austin Hospital for a couple of days. He was an Italian man who had lived in Australia for a big part of his life. His English was pretty good but he had his moments.
Anyway, the Hospital must have been full at the time, so Dad ended up in the Olivia Newton John Wellness Centre. Technically, it hadn’t opened yet but was just about ready to go and that week, a handful of patients had been accommodated there, given they needed a few extra beds.
He had spent a day there when I popped in after work to see has he was faring. Dad was having a ball. There was hardly anyone in the whole hospital and he was enjoying the full attention of the nurses.
”I really like staying at this new Bert Newton Hospital,” he told me very excitedly.
I corrected him by parroting back something really dense. “No, Dad, you have it all wrong. This is not the Bert Newton Hospital, it’s the Olivia Newton-John Wellness Centre!”
Dad took a while to reply as he considered this new information. Then he finished the conversation in the best possible manner. “What a nice man Bert is,” he told me very earnestly. “He named the hospital after his wife!”
RIP, Bert!
Last edited:
Bert came up in a time where everything was live and they just had to think on their feet. It made he and the other pioneers much better hosts.
Not gonna say anything more than Vale Bert Newton. I think there's one or two more individuals that count as being Australian TV Icons alive, but none as big a presence as Bert Newton or Graham Kennedy.
Yep. One and only reason I still watched The Footy Show. Live TV.
Yep and the shows were better for it, and the Aussie humor and culture (killed off today) was to the fore.
The Graham Kennedy News show was the last real bastion of that style of irreverant Aussie TV when it was on whith Kenny chuckles Sutcliffe and then Johnny tears Mangos, Kennedy just being Kennedy. My Dad loved it.
Hey Hey and The Footy Shows (both AFL, and NRL) were the last of the breed its now lost.
Even watching Hey Hey it's 50 years the other week made me sad we can't see/have that anymore. Even more weirder it was on Ch 7 instead of Ch 9. WTF has happened to this country's showbiz.
9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) Tweeted:
A one-man history of Australian entertainment...
IN PICTURES: https://t.co/jVx9KqzuOB https://t.co/ZtYae0rlVj
A one-man history of Australian entertainment...
IN PICTURES: https://t.co/jVx9KqzuOB https://t.co/ZtYae0rlVj
Was a latecomer to Graham Kennedy and never really went in for the likes of Blankety Blanks as a kid, which was more background noise than something I’d sit and watch. Loved the late news towards the end of my high school years.
Likewise not really into Bert but he was staple viewing for my parents. These people don’t have any equivalents today and it’s hard to convey in words the place they had in the public consciousness.
Yes, That was real family entertainment.
Nowadays TV is full of *smile* edited "reality " shows.
Don't watch any of em
Just got worde. Peter Philpott 86. Played 8 Tests in the 60s. Probably better known for his coaching.
