''In Melbourne Tonight'', also known as ''IMT'', was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

television show produced at

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 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

from 6 May 1957 to 1970.

Overview

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 ...

was the show's main host and star attraction, but other presenters were often called on to present the show on certain nights. ''In Melbourne Tonight'' had as many as 50 different presenters over its 13 years on air. The format of the show was inspired by the American ''

Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. The show has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010� ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, but Kennedy's exuberant charisma was the key to the success of ''IMT''. The show originally had its own self-titled theme song, written by ''IMT'' first band leader, Lee Gallagher, but for most of its run, it adopted the tune of '' Gee, But You're Swell'', written by

Abel Baer Abel Baer (March 16, 1893 – October 5, 1976) was an American songwriter, associated with Tin Pan Alley. Biography Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Baer graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, specialising in dentistry. Baer left ...

and Charles Tobias in 1936. Geoff Corke was Kennedy's offsider until 1959, when

Bert Newton Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer and radio, theatre and television personality and presenter. Newt ...

joined

from

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 ...

to become Kennedy's

straight man The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, the straight man is expected to maintain composure. The direct contribution to the ...

. This began a professional partnership that continued for many years and a friendship that continued until Kennedy's death in 2005. Other ''In Melbourne Tonight'' regulars included

Joff Ellen Joff Ellen (born Raymond Charles Ellen; 20 May 191524 December 1999), was an Australian entertainer, actor and comedian. Career During World War II he performed vaudeville acts to the troops and after the war did comedy shows on Melbourne rad ...

, Val Ruff,

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 ...

, Anne Marie Fabry, Mary Hardy, Rosie Sturgess,

Patti McGrath Patricia Anne Newton (née McGrath; born 4 February 1945) is an Australian singer, actress, dancer, stage performer and radio and television presenter. Life and career Prior to her marriage, Newton worked under her birth name, Patti McGrath, w ...

(later Patti Newton),

Toni Lamond Patricia Lamond Lawman AM (born 29 March 1932), professionally known as Toni Lamond, is an Australian vaudevillian, cabaret performer, singer, actress, dancer, and comedian. She has had a successful career spanning some 80 years, both locally ...

, Philip Brady, Johnny Ladd,

Noel Ferrier Noel Ferrier AM (20 December 193016 October 1997) was an Australian television personality, comedian, stage and film actor, raconteur and theatrical producer. He was a regular panelist in Graham Kennedy's popular game show '' Blankety Blanks ( ...

Elaine McKenna Elaine McKenna Evans (, 24 March 19376 January 1992), was an Australian singer and actress. She is known for her television appearances from the late 1950s to the 1960s, particularly on GTV-9's ''Tarax Show'' and ''In Melbourne Tonight''. For h ...

, Bill McCormick, Ted Hamilton, The Tune Twisters, and the Channel 9 Ballet. The ballet troupe was known as the Royal Dancers. Performers included

Denise Drysdale Denise Anne Christina Drysdale (born 5 December 1948) is an Australian television presenter, variety entertainer, actress, singer, dancer and comedian. She is often affectionately known as ''Ding Dong'', a nickname invented by fellow performer ...

and

Roma Egan Roma Jean Egan (born 1948) was a child actress on Australian television, and an Australian ballet dancer and teacher. She was notably a senior soloist for The Australian Ballet, and variously performed for the Queensland Ballet, Basel Ballet, ...

, directed by Valmai Ennor, a former dancer with the

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded i ...

From 1960, a Friday-night, syndicated, "national" edition of the program aired under the title ''The Graham Kennedy Show'' (later ''The Graham Kennedy Channel Nine Show''), with highlights packages being shown as ''The Best of IMT'' and ''The Best of Kennedy''. On 7 July 1965, ''IMT'' featured a then-innovative interstate live split-screen link with ''The Tonight Show'' on

TCN-9 TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Sir Frank Packer, was one o ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, via the recently completed co-axial cable linking Melbourne and Sydney. Kennedy signed off from ''In Melbourne Tonight'' on 23 December 1969 after 12 years. On his final program, he was given a crown—made by the GTV-9 props department—symbolising his reign as king of Australian television. The following year, ''IMT'' continued with four hosts, each on a different night of the week—

Jimmy Hannan Jimmy Hannan (25 August 1934 – 7 January 2019) was an Australian radio and television personality, variety show host, singer, entertainer and game show host of the 1960s and 1970s. One of the pioneers of television, he appeared regularly on va ...

Ugly Dave Gray Graham David Taylor (born 26 December 1933), known better as Ugly Dave Gray, is an English Australian actor, television personality, comedian, game show host, and radio host. Early life Born Graham David Taylor, he transposed his first and mid ...

, and Stuart Wagstaff. The program was gradually scaled back from four nights a week to three, then two, with the remaining shows renamed as ''The Ugly Dave Gray Show'' and ''Tonight With Stuart Wagstaff'' until they were finally axed in March 1971. On 20 October 1970, during one of the final programs under the ''IMT'' banner, British actor

Patrick Wymark Patrick Wymark (11 July 192620 October 1970) was an English stage, film and television actor. Early life Wymark was born Patrick Carl Cheeseman in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. He was brought up in neighbouring Grimsby and frequently revisited th ...

was scheduled to appear as a guest to promote a theatre play and a TV special. His nonappearance prompted jokes between host Stuart Wagstaff and guest Richard Deacon until news reached GTV-9 that Wymark had collapsed in his hotel room. His death was announced at the end of the program. ''In Melbourne Tonight'' created a long-standing legacy of live variety programs for several decades from GTV-9. Most of the videotapes were erased and reused after broadcast, so fewer than 100 episodes survive today out of the thousands produced and broadcast. When Kennedy returned to GTV-9 in the early 1970s, he launched his own weekly variety show for the Nine Network, ''The Graham Kennedy Show'', but it did not recapture the success of the original ''In Melbourne Tonight'', and was later succeeded by ''The

Ernie Sigley Ernest William Sigley (2 September 1938 – 15 August 2021) was an Australian television host, comedian, variety performer, radio presenter and singer. Known as a pioneer of radio and television in Australian, he was often styled as a "little A ...

Show'' and ''The

Don Lane Don Lane (born Morton Donald Isaacson, 13 November 1933 – 22 October 2009) was an American-born talk show host and singer, best known for his television career in Australia, especially for hosting ''Tonight with Don Lane'' and ''The Don Lane ...

Show''.

Drawing on his radio experience with Nicky (who had routinely "sent up" advertisers), Kennedy transformed the live commercials from what would have otherwise been dull pro-forma obligations into a unique comedic art form. On one famous occasion, a scheduled 20-second ad spot for an aspirin product was spun out into 33 minutes of improvised comedy. Newton has written:

The blood would drain from the face of
Pelaco Pelaco was an Australian clothing manufacturer based in Melbourne. Pelaco is best known for its men's shirts. The Pelaco sign over its former factory in Richmond is a Heritage Victoria listed landmark. Foundation The Pelaco brand was founded ...
shirt-wearing executives in television, advertising and business until they realised that instead of televisual suicide, this skinny little wiseguy was commercial gold. And then they liked his brand of humour a l

A commercial I shared with Graham, Raoul Merton ('of comfort you're certain when you wear Raoul Merton') changed the footwear buying habits of men.

Sam Chisholm

Gerald Stone Gerald Louis Stone (18 August 1933 – 6 November 2020) was an American-born Australian television and radio journalist, television executive and author. Early years and career Born in 1933 and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Stone graduated in poli ...

recounts in his book ''Compulsive Viewing'' that a "cocky young salesman" visited the IMT set hoping for an extra plug for his employer's product. The young salesman was

Sam Chisholm Samuel Hewlings Chisholm AO (8 October 1939 – 9 July 2018) was a New Zealand-born Australian media executive who was a significant figure in the Australian media. Career Chisholm attended King's College, Auckland. Chisholm had been f ...

, who later became a senior executive for variously the Packer and

Murdoch Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name. ...

media empires. A May 2005 interview with Chisholm records: : Sam Chisholm: ''I was working for Johnson's wax at the time, and I don't think he believed my ...'' : Graham Davis: ''Sales pitch.'' : Sam Chisholm: ''Assertions about this product. So I said, "I'll go and polish your floors and prove it to you." Which I did.'' : Graham Davis: ''Over at his home?'' : Sam Chisholm: ''Absolutely.'' : Graham Davis: ''You got down on your hands and knees at his home?'' : Sam Chisholm: ''Yep. I started off as his housekeeper and ended up being his boss.''

Rover

Kennedy requested a "reject" dog from the

Jack Davey John Andrew Davey (8 February 190714 October 1959), known as Jack Davey, was a New Zealand-born singer and pioneering star of Australian radio as a performer, producer, writer and host from the early 1930s into the late 1950s. Later in his caree ...

Memorial Guide Dog Centre and was given a Labrador Retriever which he named "Rover". Rover was sometimes brought into the studio to assist with advertisements for Pal dog food. One night the dog showed no interest whatsoever in the product, which Kennedy then himself proceeded to eat with apparent relish, straight from the can – or so it seemed. Rover also achieved television immortality by relieving himself – live to air – upon one of the huge cameras. The studio audience collapsed in hysterics, but the duration and urgency of Rover's impressively hydraulic performance might have led some cynics to question just how impromptu the event really was. Biographer Blundell quotes Ernie Carroll:

Pal dog food, with Rover ..was time consuming ..once we fed him all afternoon so that when he came out to do the commercial he didn't want to touch the Pal dog food. He was already full of it. ..on another occasion they had him drink before the show, big drinks. So when he came out, he peed all over the camera and all around the set ..Even those seemingly innocent dog manoeuvres were carefully planned.

Kennedy was exasperated for decades by questions about ''"whatever happened to Rover"''. As late as 1989, on ''Graham Kennedy's News Hour'' (see below), he answered a viewer's question couched in exactly those words with the withering reply ''"... he was a dog. What do you think happened?"'' In early June 2005, on the

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 ...

program ''Nightline'' with Philip Brady and

Bruce Mansfield Bruce Mansfield (24 April 1944 – 17 April 2016) was an Australian television/ radio personality and narrator. Early career Mansfield began in radio at age 16, when he won a junior announcer's competition at the 3UZ radio station in 1960. The ...

, Patti (McGrath) Newton stated that her father had often looked after Rover when he appeared at GTV-9. It seems that Kennedy had become increasingly irritated with retrieving Rover from the pound and so, when Patti's father's dog died, Rover went on to a long and happy life at the McGrath (senior) household.

Late-1990s version

In 1996, the format was revived under the title ''IMT'', hosted by

Frankie J. Holden Frankie J. Holden (born Peter Brian; 18 December 1952) , also known as Frank Holden, is an Australian singer, actor and TV presenter. In the 1970s, he fronted Ol' 55 (band), Ol' 55, which had a hit with "On the Prowl" from their debut album, ...

and screened as a Monday-night variety show. Featured on the show were the comedic stylings of Steven Jacobs,

Ann-Maree Biggar Ann-Maree Biggar is an Australian television presenter. Career Biggar's career began in 1988 at World Expo 88 on a show called ''The Breaky Bash'' with Sean James as commander Super K and his robot dog K9 and Brett. In 1989, Biggar began hosti ...

, and

Julia Morris Julia Carolyn Margaret Morris (born 20 April 1968) is an Australian comedian, television presenter and actress who has worked extensively in Australian television and radio, touring the country with her solo comedy shows. She relocated to the Un ...

, who was best known for presenting "The Morris Report", a comedic take on the news events of the previous week. The show ran until 27 November 1998.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0266150, title=In Melbourne Tonight
In Melbourne Tonight at the National Film and Sound Archive
Australian variety television shows Australian television talk shows Nine Network original programming Television shows set in Victoria (Australia) Black-and-white Australian television shows 1957 Australian television series debuts 1970 Australian television series endings 1996 Australian television series debuts 1998 Australian television series endings 1960s Australian television series