dgmprod wrote:

Aaron Tickner wrote:

I did vote that I love his work. Quite happy to watch certain films - My Favourite Brunette, The Paleface, Sorrowful Jones, The Facts of Life, Beau James, The Seven Little Foys, The Princess and the Pirate to name some. Also don't mind his radio work. 

However, he is at his best with Bing.

Compared to the likes of Groucho, however, Hope was quite script dependent. He may have done the occasional ad-lib, but it was not where he was comfortable.

Hope came out to Australia a couple of times. In the mid-80s he appeared on a night-time show, The Don Lane Show. Don was an ex-pat American who came out here and worked the variety circuits before making his way into TV. I believe he had worked early on in Vegas before coming out to Australia. Don was given his own show in the mid 70s lasting until the mid-80s. When the format was being discussed Don insisted that one man had to be his regular sidekick...Bert Newton.

Melbourne-born Bert remains a legend of Australian TV. He passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 83. His domain was live TV. Although he could work from a script, Bert was at his best, off the cuff. He was brilliant when things went wrong on live TV. In fact, if a show was a bit sluggish, Bert would impishly set things awry just so he could start ad-libbing and make the whole thing much livelier. 

Such was his reputation that when Bob Hope was slated to appear on The Don Lane Show he was reluctant to appear with Bert for fear of not keeping up. Legend has it that Don spoke to Hope directly and said it would be okay because Bert was such a fan that he would not attempt to upstage him. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDDDay6OgDI

Bert is quite tame here, so please don't judge him from this clip. 

Just to explain something - Don and Bert speak about the Logies - this is Australia's TV industry awards like the Emmy in the US and the TV BAFTAS in the UK.

I don't know who Bert's favourite comedian was. There was a similarity to Hope but Bert really was his own man.

However, Bert often said his favourite singer was Bing, and his favourite actor was Spencer Tracy.

When Kathryn had the auction after Bing's passing, Bert had a friend in the US who was able to successfully bid on two items for him. One item was a pipe. The second item was a plaque given to Bing by our wartime Prime Minister John Curtain for his work in entertaining the allied troops. It is fitting that the plaque made its way back to Australia. As far as I know Bert's widow, Patti would still have it.

If Patti isn't sure what to do with the plaque - there's a chap up in Queensland who would happily look after it. Just a suggestion.

Hi Aaron,
Reading your account about Don Lane brought back old memories me for me. I was lucky enough to work with Don in the early 1990s when I was promotions manager at a Sydney radio station and Don was doing the Morning show. He was a lovely guy and I’m happy to say that we became good work friends. I used to go out and do comedy reports and interviews for him and also jump behind the mic from time to time to have some friendly banter. It was fun and got me away from my desk. Don mentioned to me in private once that Bert could be difficult sometimes to work with. Don might suggest something to do on the show and Bert would just shrug and say “no” and walk off. They were of course close friends but it wasn’t always “roses”! I also have Don to thank for meeting Dean Martin when I was in Beverly Hills back in 1992. He gave me Dean’s managers phone number and I was able to set up a meeting at a local LA restaurant which was wonderful. Thanks for the memories!

David - did you ever have the opportunity to interact with another Australian TV legend, Mike Walsh? I figured you might be a bit too young to have caught working with Mike as he left TV so long ago. The reason I ask will become clear in a few days time.
 

dgmprod wrote:

Ian Kerstein wrote:

David, from the Don Lane/Bob Hope interview, I thought Don appeared an extremely warm and bright gentleman. It's so lovely to have that confirmed by you.
How were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis with you when you met them separately? I am an admirer of them, together and apart.  

Hi Ian thanks for the feedback. In regards to Jerry and the telethon I presumed that Bob was wearing a “rug” as Jerry grabbed at his hair and ripped off something so presumed it was a hairpiece. Anyway it was not professional behaviour and Bing was quite right to promptly exit. As for meeting Dean it was a wonderful memory. I’ve been a huge fan all my life and I was introduced to him and sat next to him (although at a separate table). I was very careful not to invade his space too much and only spoke to him when he interacted with me. He asked about my travels and we joked about Las Vegas and he told me that he used to be a croupier which was a very hard job. We also talked about golf and he asked me if I knew Greg Norman (me being from Australia). At the end of the evening he signed an autograph for me which I have hanging on my memorabilia wall. A wonderful experience. As for Jerry we had some friendly banter but that was in a more public setting. It was at a performance he was giving at the Opera House in Sydney and I spoke to him over the microphone. He joked with me so I bounced one back. He got the last word in though saying “there’s no ham in his family - he’s got it all” which got a good laugh from the audience. It’s sad how the story’s of his behaviour especially towards women and his family have come out. It makes it harder to watch his films now but I’m still a fan to a point. 

Yes, I don't think there has ever been in the history of twentieth century entertainment such a manically excitable double act as Martin & Lewis. Despite Jerry's jumping all over Bob, I think it's for these explosive reasons I would have loved to have seen them "live" in a nightclub setting. I don't think it appeared to ruffle Bob (only his hair) and cool professional that Hope was, he'd have been more than aware of Martin & Lewis' manic reputation. Bing was certainly caught short and clearly didn't want to risk being accidentally "scalped". 

Thank you so much for your stories of your meetings with Jerry and Dean. I'm really pleased your experience with both of them was memorable. Jerry could be out and out rude and dismissive to audience members in this later period of his performing career and so it was nice to read you didn't experience any of that. 

You said you dined with Dino in Beverley Hills. Do you remember if it was at the La Famiglia restaurant which was his regular haunt before it closed in 1994? Would you also mind telling me how he appeared, as a couple of years later, to his daughter Deana's great distress, the tabloids really took some terrible photographs of him, there - without his false teeth and looking very, very frail and disorientated, bless him.