Harry Montague Hammond (7 May 1916 – 1 April 1998), professionally known as Happy Hammond, was an Australian comedian, radio host and children's television show host, and television producer.

Biography and broadcasting career

Happy Hammond was born in Summer Hill, Sydney. Hammond was the youngest of 3 children. His parents were both deaf and mute. He was famous for his bright personality and wearing a

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

suit and hat, sometimes referred to as his "

test pattern A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

" outfit, with colors that clashed in real life but worked well on

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

TV. His

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

was "Is everybody happy?" along with the theme song for the show "Happy days are here again". The nickname 'Happy' came from his time in the Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He served in the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

in the

South West Pacific Area South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the D ...

and was transferred following a few concerts to the Australian Army Entertainment Unit the "Boomerangs", entertaining Australian troops in combat areas. He performed in concerts entertaining the troops with Keith Glover, who later went on to join the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. After the war, the pair took the act to the

Tivoli circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

.3RPP interview 1997.05.07 Happy's broadcasting career began in his home town of Geelong when he became the breakfast announcer at 3GL. While there, he made his first TV appearance in 1948, as part of an exhibition using closed-circuit TV equipment for trial purposes. He then moved to Adelaide's 5KA, before returning to Victoria to work first at

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

and then 3UZ, both in Melbourne. At 3UZ he hosted ''The Happy Show'', a children's program, as well as partnering

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

, following the death of

Nicky Whitta Clifford Nicholls "Nicky" Whitta (24 September 1903 - 8 September 1956) was a popular Australian radio personality.

in September 1956. Hammond joined television station

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular ...

, and shortly after, he invited the young Kennedy to appear on a telethon, where he was noticed by Norman Spencer, leading eventually to Kennedy joining the channel as well. On TV, the ''Tarax Happy Show'' (later the ''

Tarax Show ''The Tarax Show'' was an early Australian children's TV program on GTV-9 in Melbourne running from 1957 to 1969. Synopsis Denzil Howson who was then Assistant Program Manager at GTV9, was asked by Norman Spencer to develop a daily children's p ...

'') started on Melbourne's

in January 1957, debuting from the

Myer Emporium Myer (stylised MYER, sometimes known as Myers) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store chain. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products a ...

Lonsdale Street Lonsdale Street is a main street and thoroughfare in the city centre of Melbourne, Australia. It runs roughly east–west and was laid out in 1837 as one of Melbourne's original boundaries within the Hoddle Grid. The street extends from Sp ...

store window. During Hammond's time at GTV-9, the program was only seen in Victoria, where it competed with ''Young Seven'' on

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...

. Hammond switched to HSV-7 in 1960, where ''The Happy Show'', no longer sponsored by

Tarax Tarax is an Australian brand of soft drink, available in several flavours, and sold in cans and bottles. The name ''Tarax'', itself was the brand-name of an independent soft drink manufacturer and bottler, from the state of Victoria History Ge ...

, featured Princess Panda (

Panda Lisner Panda Lisner (born Joan Dorothy Kelly; 29 August 1930 – 2011) was an Australian model and television presenter, most notable for her work during the early days of Australian television. Lisner is arguably best known for her time as a "barrel ...

), Lovely Anne (Anne Watt), Parer the Magician (Tommy Parer), Funny Face (

Vic Gordon Vic Gordon (4 March 1911 – 2 December 2003) was a British Australian character actor of vaudeville, television and film, best known for his achievements in the fields of drama, light entertainment, music and comedy. Biography Vic Gordon wa ...

), Big John (John D'Arcy), Robbie Rob (Bob Horsfall), Cousin Roy (Roy Lyons) and Sylvester the Talking Sock (Ian Wiliams). The program was also relayed to

ATN-7 ATN is the Sydney Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax Media, John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the ...

in Sydney. During Watt's absence for her honeymoon in early 1965, her place was taken by a young

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

. Hammond was a keen supporter of the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

in the Victorian Football League (subsequently the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

). He was accorded the honour of running through the banner with the Geelong players on Grand Final day in 1963. It must have been a good omen – Geelong won the game.

Logie Award

Hammond's program won a

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

in 1959 (inaugural year) for Most Popular Children's Show, and Hammond himself won a Logie in 1962 for Outstanding Contributions to Children's Entertainment. After the Happy Show's cancellation in 1968, Hammond moved to produce daytime television morning shows and afternoon children's shows and in his later years to an off-camera role in HSV-7's videotape department, although he continued to appear every year until the 1990s for the station's Royal Children's Hospital

Good Friday Appeal The Good Friday Appeal is an annual fundraising activity on behalf of the Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne, Australia. The event occurs on Good Friday every year. In 2022, the appeal raised over $22 million, setting a new record. ...

. He was occasionally seen on ''

Shirl's Neighbourhood ''Shirl's Neighbourhood'' was an Australian afternoon children's television series aired on the Seven Network between 1979 and 1983. The half-hour show featured former Skyhooks frontman Graeme "Shirley" Strachan and co-host Liz Rule alongside a ...

''. Limited footage remains from Happy Hammond's career. The most commonly seen clip is a musical finger-clicking routine. A very small number of

kinescopes Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

of ''The Happy Show'' are held by the National Film and Sound Archive, despite the heavy

Wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

of that era.

References

External links

Monash edu.AustraliaHappy Hammond at the National Film and Sound Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Happy 1916 births 1998 deaths Australian male comedians Australian television presenters Logie Award winners 20th-century Australian comedians 3AW presenters