''The Lorrae Desmond Show'' was an early

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. ...

, Australian television music and

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...

, produced by

James Upshaw James Upshaw, an Australian producer and director, best known for his work in TV in the 1960s including early variety show ''The Lorrae Desmond Show'', which garnered its hostess Lorrae Desmond as the fist female recipient of the '' Gold Logie A ...

which aired from 1960 to 1964 on the ABC hosted by singer and entertainer Lorrae Desmond, later best known for her role as Shirley Gilroy in soap opera/serial ''

A Country Practice ''A Country Practice'' is an Australian television soap opera which broadcast on the Seven Network from 18 November 1981 until 5 November 1993, airing at 7:30 pm on Monday and Tuesday evenings. Altogether, 14 seasons and 1,058 episodes were p ...

'', who won the Gold Logie for the program. ''The Lorrae Desmond Show'' was a similar to '' The Dinah Shore Show'' in the US, with emphasis on live performances and dance numbers. The final episode aired on 27 April 1964. Over 20 episodes of the series are held by the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

Desmond at the time had been described as a talent in the vein of a young

Cicely Courtneidge Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge, (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West ...

Cast

Cast: * The Channel 2 singers * Jim Gussey and the ABC dance band * John Lasen and the Squires * Colin Croft * Michael Cole * Ted Hamilton

References

Australian variety television shows 1960 Australian television series debuts 1964 Australian television series endings Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Black-and-white Australian television shows English-language television shows Dance television shows {{Australia-tv-prog-stub