''The Penthouse Club'' was an Australian weekly variety program produced live to air from the studios of

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 ...

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 10 October 1970. It was originally hosted by Michael Williamson (also a football commentator for HSV) and comedian Mary Hardy.

Production ad synopsis

The program, screening each Saturday night from around 8.30 pm (the starting time varied over the years depending on HSV-7's Saturday night VFL football commitments), was a mix of comedy, light entertainment and live coverage of harness racing from the RAS Showgrounds and, later, Moonee Valley racecourse. The weekly lottery draw Tattslotto was incorporated as a segment in the program from around 1972. ''The Penthouse Club'' was considered a welcome alternative on Saturday nights which is often regarded as a wasteland of reruns and low-grade movies on other channels. The long-time musical director for the program was

Ivan Hutchinson Ivan Joseph Hutchinson (11 February 1928 – 7 October 1995) was an Australian film critic, television personality and music director. Hutchinson was active in the industry for over 30 years, from the early 1960s until the mid-1990s, first on ...

. In 1978, Williamson was replaced by

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 ...

and the program was retitled ''Saturday Night Live'' (with no relation to the NBC show) in 1979. Hardy left the program during 1978. The predecessor programs were ''

Sunnyside Up ''Sunnyside-Up'' was a black and white weekly variety program produced at HSV-7 Melbourne, during the late 1950s until the mid 1960s. Surviving Kinescope episodes sometimes presented the title in three words as “Sunny Side Up“ and with a ...

'' and ''Club Seven''. Rival television station

ATV-10 ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network 10 – one of the three major Australian free-to-air commercial television networks. The station is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. History In April 1963, the ...

attempted to resurrect the format in 1980 with little success. Also during the 1970s,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

television station

ADS-7 ADS is an Australian television station based in Adelaide, South Australia. It is owned and operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia through their Australian holdings Network 10. History ADS-10 began as ''ADS-7'' on 24 October 1959. In ...

produced their own version of ''The Penthouse Club'' with Bob Francis, Anne Wills and

Sandy Roberts Sandy Roberts (born 22 February 1950) is a veteran sports presenter and commentator formerly working on television for Fox Sports Australia and radio with Crocmedia. He was a long-time personality of the Seven Network for four decades, notably p ...

- with the program and presenters winning a number of

TV Week Logie Awards 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 ...

for popularity in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. In 1979

John Cootes John Cootes (born 19 August 1941), nicknamed "the footballing priest", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s, and Roman Catholic priest. An Australia international representative three-qu ...

was appointed as

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

's replacement as host of Channel 10's ''Saturday Night Live'' program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penthouse Club Australian variety television shows 1970 Australian television series debuts