Remember this place?

[Mal]

Lets see how old you are, and where you live! ..... for some of us we saw this place many, many times during our childhood.. Does it bring back a memory for you?




Here is another clue

[sirhc55]

Ah come on Mal - I’m English and even I know it’s Captain Kangaroo

[Alpha_7]

"What's that Skip? someone is in trouble ?"

[stubbsy]

Mal

You spoiled it for us oldies. You could have left out skippy to give us a head start - I knew it as soon as I saw it.

And for you Craig - you must watch too much telly - you're not old enough to have seen it first (or even second time around).

[Alpha_7]

Hehehe, but I still saw it Still would of picked it with only the first shot, it's fairly recognisable... btw your dead right, I do watch too much TV!

[gstark]

Lassie !!!!

Lassie !!!???

[Mal]

OK too easy, should have left the Roo off...
The park is now a called Waratah Park Earth Sanctuary. The above building is all that remains from the 1960's show "Skippy". Next year is the shows 40th anniversary, how old does that make you feel?
I discovered that they used to do some intersting things to make the animals behave in the correct manner. For one episode they need to have the "coat of arms" on a trailer. The coat of arms cosisted of a real kangaroo and emu. To make sure the emu was a little docile they gave it half a bottle of Scotlands finest!!! Ah they were the days, these days we have to respect the animals and wait for them to get into position and then get the shot we are after..

[Killakoala]

Perhaps an episode of 'Where are they now' to celebrate the 40th anniversary. Where is Sonny Hammond these days. Wasn't he on Mad Max???

[Potatis]

To make sure the emu was a little docile they gave it half a bottle of Scotlands finest!!! Ah they were the days, these days we have to respect the animals and wait for them to get into position and then get the shot we are after..

Ah, so now everybody knows how I keep my water dragons so still when I photograph them.

[Mal]

Perhaps an episode of 'Where are they now' to celebrate the 40th anniversary. Where is Sonny Hammond these days. Wasn't he on Mad Max???

No the story is he never went back into TV again, he was stirred so much at school for his role that he gave up his career in television.

Question? Was Skippy a Boy or Girl
[/b]

[Alpha_7]

I thought a girl...
but I have no proof.

[Mal]

I thought a girl...
but I have no proof.

You are right she was / is a girl. Many people thought that Skippy was a male, but the fact that she always stuck messages in her pouch is the proof that you were looking for

[Hlop]

Hey, Mal! You can't guess where people are from just showing these frames! Skippy and Lassie were shown even in Soviet Union when I was a kid. Honestly, I don't remember the plot but I remember desprately trying to watch all the episodes and that was a tragedy when I missed one or two

[Sheetshooter]

Well the memories certainly do come flooding back. As a teenager working at Channel 9 and drinking, under age, in the Bridgeview Hotel at Willoughby I saw a guy offered a deal to buy-in and become a Director of Fauna Films who were in the early stages of planning the series. In a somewhat unfortunate moment of caution he declined the offer. Oh well, shit happens.

Garry Pankhurst who played Sonny has lived in Britain for years and no longer works in Film & TV, I believe. He lived, as a kid, at Maroubra and was a grandson of Emily (Emeline) Pankurst the Suffragette.

Ed Deveraux died of renal complications in Hamstead in 2003.

Tony Bonner is still around in film circles and Ken James bobs up in cooking segments with Dirty Bertie in the mornings.

An early heartbreak in my life was that Lisa Goddard went to the UK to pursue a successful acting career. What a cracking good sort she was.

Shit!! The '60s' was so great, why did we have to leave them.

Cheers, PS: My aural experience at the momenbt is the Scorsese soundtrack to the Dylan doco "No Direction Home". Good grief Dylan AND Lennon alive and writing together - and I guess that to appease Forum Meister Stark senior I should not exclude Ginsberg.

[Mal]

To make sure the emu was a little docile they gave it half a bottle of Scotlands finest!!! Ah they were the days, these days we have to respect the animals and wait for them to get into position and then get the shot we are after..

Ah, so now everybody knows how I keep my water dragons so still when I photograph them.

Really I thought you stuck them in the freezer for a while to slow them down or is that just how we do it

[Sheetshooter]

Oh, nearly forgot. The cutaways of Skippy's paws doing stuff were actually shot of a pair of kangaroo paw bottle openers. Big budget or what?

And of course the dialogue and plots:

There were tearful moments whenever Skippy was ill or the victim of a villainous plot. The eponymous marsupial was very, very intelligent. A typical exchange between Skippy and Sonny went like this:

Sonny: (looking worried) What is it Skip?
Skippy: A funny clicking sound like someone tutting
Sonny: What kind of accident, Skip?
Skippy: The tutting sound again
Sonny: Better run and tell dad to get help, Skip
Skippy: More bloody tutting!
Sonny: Oh alright then Skip. You go and get the helicopter - I'll wait here.

Cheers,

[Mal]

Sheetshooter I think Fauna Films has now gone under as well!
Do you know anything about the connection with Norfolk Island? We were looking at some of the original scripts and there was a copywright to an address on Norfolk Island.

[mic]

Arrrrrhhh, ye olde days

I can still remember sitting in front on the telly with my Y fronts on just wishing Skip would pants Clancy

I know, I a sick F$&^*&^%$

Or better still, Sonny wouldjust get pushed of one of those bloody cliff drops by Skip

Mic.

[blacknstormy]

And how sad am I??? I found this book on ebay last month, and had to get it (my other half just shook his head when he saw it).... and it too has copyright Norfolk International Films, Norfolk Island, 1969.

[Sheetshooter]

Fauna has long gone. It was the production facility and from memory was located near the corner of Cleg and Herbert Sts in Artarmon. I dare say that Norfolk Island was a possible tax shelter and with international sales perhaps it was thought best to keep the business off-shore.

I could find out, but for now it is an educated guess.

Cheers,

[Matt. K]

blacknstormy
A very astute purchase. That is a collectors item now and will be very rare and valuable one day.

[BBJ]

Well i used to watch it a lot. Loved some of them old shows, Basi Brush, Magic Roundabout, Banana Splits, The Goodies, Kimba The White lion etc... the list goes on. LOL

[thaddeus]

Thanks for the post, it brings back memories!

I thought Skippy was a series of female kangaroos. Was that correct?