I left St. Peters at ten past nine to walk to Sydenham Station in the cold, and light rain. I had missed the earlier train and had to wait until ten o’clock for the one that was to transport me to Caringbah. Seated in the waiting room, I had passed the time by listening to two elderly women talk about their late husbands and what they, themselves, were wearing to keep out the cold.
As I walked home along Taren Road, an Alsatian was in two minds as to whether he would attack me; not once but twice! I arrived just as “11 A.M.”, presented by Steve Liebmann, was commencing.
At noon, “The Mike Walsh Show” proved to be most entertaining. A bloke demonstrated his own ‘Marshall’s Portable Music Machine’, complete with flashing lights. He takes it around to schools. It flushes its own “loo”, and even ‘washed’ Mike Walsh’s sock so thoroughly that it came out white!
The controversial sport presenter, Ron Casey, was on the programme and told Judy Ann Stewart that violence in sport was “bullshit”. The fact that George Harris required fourteen stitches to the wound above his right eye was mentioned.
Swearing on Australian television has, to a degree, become acceptable in the four years since American actor, Michael Cole — then a member of “The Mod Squad” — appeared at the Logie Awards, which are distributed for excellence in television, and, obviously affected by alcohol, dropped the ‘ess-word’ live for the nation to hear.
The appearance by a really humorous young comedian restored levity to “The Mike Walsh Show”. He commenced with his ‘News’ report which included a gag about how a truck driver, who had been trapped in his vehicle as a consequence of an accident, had the fortune to be pulled from the wreck by the Smiths and not the Balls.
In his parody ‘TV’s Weak’, a title based upon the weekly magazine, when talking about nudity he alluded to ‘Starkers And Crutch’.
“Medical Center”, from two o’clock has Bradford Dillman cast as a doctor who is prone to consuming alcohol and indulging in the pursuit of gambling. Stefanie “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.” Powers plays the role of his wife.
From six o’clock, on ABC-TV’s Channel Two, the wildlife documentary, “Last Of The Wild”, centres upon the lion. “Willesee” and the American comedy “Good Times” follow, on Channel Seven, at seven o’clock and half past seven respectively.
Australian singer, Robin Jolley, took the ditty about “Marshall’s Portable Music Machine” to No.9 on the Australian pop chart in the middle of 1972.