Jacki Weaver’s first screen credit came in this brisk 1966 Australian musical, produced by Alan Burke for the ABC and filmed at the broadcaster’s Ripponlea studios. Each 30-minute episode unfolded inside a motel near an airport where travellers, played by visiting singers and comedians, checked in long enough to deliver a song, a skit or both before catching the next flight out. The premise gave the programme the feel of a revolving cabaret, stitched together by a resident troupe that included pop star Normie Rowe, folk singer Lionel Long and Sean Scully as the motel’s cheery handyman Cousin Sean.
The series debuted on 3 October 1966 and ran for 19 instalments, transmitting fortnightly in a Saturday-evening slot that the network hoped would lure families after the news. Sets were limited to the motel’s reception, a single guest room and a courtyard, so choreography spilled into corridors and stairwells while a four-piece house band led by musical director Ray McKinley kept tempo. Guest performers ranged from American comic Frank Fontaine to local cabaret favourite Fran Warren, each required to teach the regulars a number from their repertoire, resulting in a chaotic weekly finale that was part sing-along, part language lesson.
Despite the light format, the show gave teenage Weaver an early crash course in timing and reaction shots, skills she would later credit for her transition to film drama. ABC wiped the master tapes within five years, so only a handful of black-and-white kinescopes survive in private hands, traded among collectors who remember the series as a rare attempt by Australian television to stage a home-grown musical rather than import one.
Production Details
ABC / 1 Season / 19 Episodes / 1960
Producer(s): Alan Burke
Main Cast
Kaye Ballard as
Ray McKinley as
Fran Warren as
