John Cameron on early Melbourne TV

 With the Games behind us, it was time for more ambitious local production. By then we had one small studio operational. From it we ran an evening news five nights a week, occasional “talking head” programmes, and continuity announcements between programmes. Saturday and Sunday stood out as the time for more ambitious local productions, and it was decided to mount a half-hour play.

One of the first plays we produced had a scene in a cocktail lounge. This was considered too adventurous for the times, and the scene was changed to a lunch counter. No-one was allowed to smoke on camera, lest it encourage viewers to take up the deadful habit. No brand names could be shown on bottles or packages, as this was considered to be advertising. In another play a bottle of champagne had to be opened on camera, and the script required the typical champagne explosion when the cork was removed. In rehearsal it was discovered that a gush of bubbles did not necessarily follow the pop of opening, so we tried heating the bottle slightly and achieved the desired result. By the time the show went to air, rehearsal and experiment had used all but one of the half-dozen bottles of the cheapest champagne we could buy for the purpose.

Somehow news of this reached the General Manager, Sir Charles Moses, and he seized on this as an example of television’s extravagant behaviour. General Manager’s letters came on a distinctive yellow paper, known naturally enough as “yellow perils”, and we received one on the subject of our champagne. Sir Charles was horrified that we had used real champagne for the actual production, let alone rehearsals. We should have used our initiative and dummied up a soft-drink bottle to look like champagne. Unless we were much more aware of the need for economy, television would break the bank. Melbourne became known as the champagne station, and for years to come our extravagance was cited by the General Manager as an example of how not to service television. We were so shocked by the folly of his position, that we were too embarrassed to correct him. The time taken to dummy-up a soft-drink bottle to look and act like a bottle of champagne would have cost many times the price of even top quality champagne, and ran the risk of spoiling the production in the live performance.

Moses had battled hard to secure television for the ABC, and his main argument had been that, given the ABC’s radio base, TV would cost little more. His whacker was probably justified by the end, but it made our early TV operations a lot more stormy. We were not helped either by the absence of any link initially between the stations in Sydney and Melbourne. They were two rival operations. My opposite number in Sydney was a longtime ABC employee who had his mind focussed on the day when our stations would be linked, and one of us would have to be declared the boss of our combined empires. To this end, opportunity was taken to bring to management’s attention any differences in our practices with the clear implication that Sydney was the paragon, and Melbourne the prodigal son. Only now does it occur to me that the champagne incident was probably the first shot in that long war.