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Post by Joseph Richards on Dec 22, 2003 3:19:51 GMT
Can anyone shed some light on how much survives of Aunty Jack (surreal Australian comedy from the very early 70s by Graham Bond and Rory O'Donahue produced by the ABC) and whether anyone knows why this has never been released on either video or DVD, and only the odd episode has ever been repeated.
Info on the net seems scarce about this series.
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Post by Simon Mclean on Dec 22, 2003 5:15:00 GMT
I believe some episodes were wiped by the ABC, and apparently this annoyed Graham Bond so much that he (as the owner of the rights in the music) is withholding permission for DVD releases until they find them again!
I don't know whether the show ever made it to Britain, but from what I've heard it sounds quite funny.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 22, 2003 8:48:50 GMT
My understanding is that all the episodes have survived, despite previous reports to the contrary that episodes 1 and 3 of series 1 had been wiped.
Bond is using his music publishing rights to stop the shows from being exploited (like being sold to a certain pay TV channel...).
It has also been suggested by people more scurrillous than I that repeats and releases are being blocked because Grahame Bond & Rory O'Donoghue feel the show hasn't dated well and don't want its legendary status to be spoiled.
Ri fol bird. Ri fol tit.
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Post by Caitlin on Dec 23, 2003 2:15:30 GMT
I can confirm that all episodes of Aunty Jack have definately survived. Ti's possible that those rumours that have been floating about for many years that some were lost/destroyed may have dated back to a time when that archive was less well managed and possibly some got temporarily 'mislayed'.
I don't know the exact reason for the series not being re-released, but there are some issues between the ABC and Graham Bond, and with the music I beleive. It would be great to see it released on DVD - though some of it has certainly dated there are still some marvelous moments.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 24, 2003 0:53:14 GMT
It's good to have that confirmed (again!), Caitlin, from someone in the know.
I get the feeling that the ABC are still unsure about the DVD market for their own product - indeed, any Australian telly - and are only gradually beginning to feel their way in with sure-fire titles like Kath & Kim. Hopefully sales will be enough to encourage them to do more of this and dip into the archives.
DVD box sets of Mother And Son, The Games, Frontline... they'd have to be sellers, surely? I'd buy them like a shot.
Of course, what I'd *really* like is a Grahame Bond / Rory O'Donaghue box set with Aunty Jack, Flash Nick, Wollongong The Brave and the Off/Of Shows. Oh, and the "Comedy Game" pilot... Well, a man can dream at Christmastime, can't he?
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Post by Ozzie on Dec 24, 2003 10:57:18 GMT
Since we're on the topic of Australian TV, what classic Australian series have definitely been devastated by the archive purges? On a related note, has ABC Australia completed auditing of it's archive yet? At one stage it was rumoured to be in a right mess (thereby giving hope to all Dr Who fans of a hidden cache of b&w eps etc).
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Post by Caitlin on Dec 24, 2003 22:51:46 GMT
One series that comes to mind that has been lost is "Andra' - a victim of the 2" period.
Other shows that are largely gone are '6 O'Clock Rock' (very early pop music program) and most of the B&W seasons of Certain Women (soap)
A stocktake of the ABC's complete film program collection was completed late last year. No Dr Who was found, though some other programs from a variety of broadcasters were found and returned. We did find some interesting short snippets of a variety of programs compiled together onto several large reels for use in promotions. These were returned to the BFI and I gather some of the footage from 'At Last the 1948 Show' is going to be shown in the Missing Believed Wiped Comedy screening on the 29th on the BBC.
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Post by Joe Richards on Dec 25, 2003 3:13:46 GMT
Thanks for the info. I'd actually heard it was the ABC blocking a release of Aunty Jack, rather than Grahame Bond. Why would Bond and O'donaghue release a sizeable chunk of the music from Aunty Jack on CD about three years ago (especially as Tarzan Superape is far far funnier when you can see it) if they feel the show has dated? I suspect the only reason it has a legendary status at the moment is because unless you saw the Bicentennial repeat in 1988 you wouldn't have seen it since it was aired back in 1970 and no one is really sure what it was like. I firmly believe it would substantially increase its cult status if it was released, I'll go out on a limb and say I think it was funnier and more clever than Monty Python. Now having said that I'm off to dance through the mine field.
I would also say Aunty Jack is timeless and hasn't dated, as it was pure fantasy, aside from the music there isn't much about it to date it.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 29, 2003 1:45:18 GMT
I pulled out tapes of the 1988 repeat of "War" and the 1991 repeat of the Montreux '73 compilation over the weekend to refresh my memory. Weird show, just weird...
Perhaps "dated" is the wrong word - Aunty Jack has a reputation of being a comedy milestone, but it's more surreal than laugh-out-loud funny. It doesn't do jokes - it's all about the concepts. Looking at the tapes, I don't think this show is what everyone remembers it as. It's brilliant, fantastic, cerebral and silly, and deserves a re-airing in some format so people can see how ahead of its time it was.
There was a VHS release planned at the time of the CD (re-issue of the 1970's LP) in 1996 or 97- in fact I think I've got a mock-up of the cover somewhere - but of course nothing came of it.
Caitlin, if you're reading... do these only exist as film prints, or are there video tapes around as well? Everything I've seen - with the possible exception of one clip from the first series of the Farrelly Bros singing "I've Been Everywhere" ("I've been to Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Dapto & Woollongong") - has been off film, and very nasty it looks too, especially compared to the original (colour!) film inserts used in the Montreux show.
"I think Australians are the most ordinary people in the entire world..."
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 29, 2003 1:47:29 GMT
Bleedin' smilies! Grrr.
The first should read 'dated' and the second is a bracket to close the quote. Of course if I'd bothered to log in I could have edited it...
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Post by Joe RIchards on Dec 30, 2003 4:23:11 GMT
Matthew, those are the only two episodes I've seen, and the Montreux special is a big chunk of War in colour. I still laugh like crazy when i watch them. It was all so clever.. Hopefuly one day it'll all be cleared up so we can watch it.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 30, 2003 8:12:28 GMT
Matthew, those are the only two episodes I've seen, and the Montreux special is a big chunk of War in colour. Indeed. I was running the two tapes side-by-side through a vision mixer the other night, and the quality of the b/w print of "War" is appalling compared to the colour material. The colour stuff is also slightly longer than that in the final program... Also very impressive from the same team is the unbroadcast episode of "The Off Show" featuring such delights as "Pornography Ringside" and Bond as an "And, The & But" man, allowed only to interject those three words into a straight ABC announcement read by John Derum. (Not to mention all the snide references to the "Leave It To Jesus" show recorded the week before - the master tape of which was allegedly wiped during the night following the studio recording on the orders of ABC management who didn't want it to go to air but didn't want to look like prudes by banning it.) Unfortunately under the Bland management of the ABC at the time even the second attempt was banned from being broadcast (on the grounds that it used real footage of politicians and thereby breached the Broadcasting Act). When the series finally hit the air (titled "The Of Show" - because part of it had been cut out...) the team were so disheartened that they only made 7 out of the 10 commissioned programs, filling the final three slots with best-of editions of Aunty Jack, Flash Nick & Woollongong The Brave. Somewhere there's a book waiting to be written about all this. Hopefuly one day it'll all be cleared up so we can watch it. That's exactly what you said in the dream! We're all doomed! Quick, bark like a dog!
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Post by Caitlin on Dec 30, 2003 12:11:21 GMT
Caitlin, if you're reading... do these only exist as film prints, or are there video tapes around as well? Everything I've seen - with the possible exception of one clip from the first series of the Farrelly Bros singing "I've Been Everywhere" ("I've been to Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Woollongong, Dapto & Woollongong") - has been off film, and very nasty it looks too, especially compared to the original (colour!) film inserts used in the Montreux show. I’ll have to check next week as I'm afraid I can't quite remember all the specifics right now. But broadly speaking some episodes exist on tape copied from the original 2", while some are on film, and others exist in both formats (those that were film only do also have a tape copy from the film print) There are film inserts for most of the programs as well including those programs that only exist complete on tape. Remind me - is the Montreux '73 special the same as 'Aunty Jack in Bloody Concert'? - That was an interesting one that had a bit of basic restoration done on it a year or two ago - as the complete videotape version (ex 2" ) was in B&W but we had colour film inserts of the concert footage. (Oddly quite a bit of Aunty Jack was filmed in colour even though the show largely went to air in B&W) So the two were edited together to make a partially colour program and it came out looking pretty good. The differing quality you've seen probably is explained by the mix of components there are for different episodes - B&W prints which probably in some cases are not terrific quality, copies off 2" for some and the original film inserts for a lot of segments (many in colour) which haven’t been used since the program was first made (other than the concert footage)
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Dec 30, 2003 21:36:00 GMT
"Aunty Jack In Bloody Concert" is one of the Woollongong The Brave episodes. I've got it on VHS somewhere - I'm sure it's all in colour. I will check and report back... There's supposed to be another special - Aunty Jack Rocks On - but I've never found a transmission date for it or indeed concrete proof that it ever existed.
The Montreux show is the 50' special made up of clips from series 1, with colour inserts of Passionfruit's Brigade, Surf Lifesaving Club, Tarzan The Rock Opera & The Incredible Eric And His Brother Luigi, and b/w material of the Canadian Three-Step Races, Italian Language Record, Drinking with the Foreman, Elephant Shrinking and Auction in an Empty Warehouse. (All on film although some of the b/w stuff was clearly originally studio VT).
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Post by Joe Richards on Dec 31, 2003 21:22:44 GMT
Isn't the auction in an empty warehouse a colour film insert? I'm sure it is on mine.
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