Bob Dyer
Encyclopedia
Robert "Bob" Dies OBE (22 May 19099 January 1984), who took the stage name of Bob Dyer, was an American-born vaudeville
entertainer, radio personality, and radio and television quiz show host who made his name in Australia. Dyer is best known for the long-running radio and then television quiz show, Pick a Box
. At the height of his radio career, Dyer and his friend and rival, Jack Davey
, were regarded as Australia's top quiz comperes.
Bob and his wife, Dolly
, were probably, after Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies
, the most recognised double act in Australia in the 1960s. Bob and Dolly's main interest besides performing was big-game fishing
and, between them, they broke some 200 world and Australian fishing records.
, to a sharefarmer father. In an interview much later in his life with Barry Jones
, Dyer spoke of his childhood:
Dyer left school at 12 and worked as "a dish-washer, cab driver, ice man, carpenter, milk-bar attendant and railway freight hand" before taking up theatre work involving touring the United States vaudeville circuits. He first came to Australia in 1936, touring with Jim Davidson's ABC Dance Band. He returned to Sydney in 1937 as a member of the Marcus Show, doing a hillbilly and ukulele act on the Tivoli circuit, combining comedy with singing. Australian radio personality, Harry Griffiths, was a child at the time but met Dyer through his musician father who played first trombone for the Marcus shows. He says that "If Bob didn't steal the show, he came darned near it, and he was a big hit. He was a good actor, musical and full of life. He knew how to do gags, grace possible way, touring with travelling shows and doing five shows a day in the US".
Dyer then travelled to England, where he appeared on television in its early era, before returning to Australia in 1940, using the billing "the last of the hillbillies". He created, at the request of radio station 3DB
, 26 episodes of a radio program titled The Last of the Hill Billies. In 1940, when performing at Sydney's Tivoli Theatre, he met Dolly Mack
(stage name for Thelma Phoebe McLean, born 1920), who was a Tivoli chorus girl. He proposed nine days after their meeting, and nine days after that they were married at St John's Church, Darlinghurst. The reception was held between shows on the last day of the The Crazy Show. The next day the show went to Brisbane and they spent their honeymoon in Surfers Paradise in a borrowed car.
Bob and Dolly entertained Australian and American troops during World War II
, performing in war zones in New Guinea
and the Solomon Islands
.
, to use and adapt his scripts and stunts in Australia. People enjoyed the stunts, apparently enjoying seeing "their fellows put into funny and sometimes embarrassing situations ... but few 'victims' came out of the stunt shows with hard feelings; Bob Dyer was always genial and good-humoured and the prizes for doing ridiculous things were substantial".
Dyer's shows were sponsored by Solvol, Atlantic Union Oil (for which he used the greeting "Happy motoring, customers") and Colgate-Palmolive
(with the greeting "Happy lathering, customers"). In one of these he included secret sounds, such as tearing a plaster off his arm, a dog scratching fleas, or a cat lapping milk. Another, Can You Take It?, comprised "scrapes and dares [and was] designed to outdo a similar show by his friend and rival Jack Davey". Barry Jones, long time quiz contestant on Pick a Box, wrote that "he had a long-standing rivalry, partly genuine, partly simulated, with Jack Davey
, presumably modeled on the 'feud' in the United States between Jack Benny
and Fred Allen
". Harry Griffiths says of the two that Dyer's "gags might have been more obvious than Jack Davey's slick humour but Bob knew what people wanted. His stuff was for the masses". However, while Davey had the sharper wit, he "was essentially a radio performer who failed to make a fully successful transition to television". Lesley Johnson, in his biography of Jack Davey for the Australian Dictionary of Biography, writes that "in contrast to Dyer's carefully written scripts, Davey's spontaneity and wit, delivered in the warm, rich voice, for which he was so well known on radio, did not attract television audiences".
Australian radio personality John Pearce who knew both Davey and Dyer wrote in his autobiography that Dyer:
Some well known Australian actors, such as Bud Tingwell and John Ewart
, worked as assistant comperes on Dyer's radio programs. As Tingwell describes it, the role of the assistant compere was to "do the big, posh Colgate Palmolive commercials during the show as well as... the introductions" of Bob himself and the contestants. Tingwell describes this period of his life as "an extraordinarily generous period, working with a very, very good professional" noting that Dyer would release him for his film work and use a temporary assistant until he returned.
In 1969 Dyer believed that show was losing its popularity and two years later, in 1971, he and Dolly decided to retire. In June 1971, a few weeks before the last Pick a Box was screened, Bob and Dolly both appeared in the Queen's Birthday Honours list
. Bob, still a US citizen, was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), while Dolly was appointed a Member of the Order (MBE). At the ceremony, the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Roden Cutler, who was "not generally known for his humour, asked Bob if he wanted to take the medal or the box it was in". Dyer also won two Gold Logie Award
s, one in 1960 and, in 1971, a special Gold Logie to him and Dolly to mark their contribution to the industry over 15 years.
The first television simulcast
Early in 1957, ATN began simulcast
ing eight radio shows from the Macquarie Auditorium. These included two by Bob Dyer, It Pays To Be Funny and Pick A Box. Within a year only Pick A Box was still on the air. It was simulcast for five years.
and took up seriously what had previously been a hobby, big-game fishing for such fish as marlin
. Between them, they broke 50 world and 150 Australian records.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
entertainer, radio personality, and radio and television quiz show host who made his name in Australia. Dyer is best known for the long-running radio and then television quiz show, Pick a Box
Pick a Box
Pick a Box was one of first game shows to be broadcast on Australian television. Hosted by the husband and wife team Bob and Dolly Dyer, the program aired from 1957 to 1971.- History :...
. At the height of his radio career, Dyer and his friend and rival, Jack Davey
Jack Davey
John Andrew Davey was a New Zealand-born star of Australian radio in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.-New Zealand:Jack Davey was born John Andrew Davey on 8 February 1907 and educated at King's College, Auckland...
, were regarded as Australia's top quiz comperes.
Bob and his wife, Dolly
Dolly Dyer
Dolly Dyer , was an Australian radio and TV personality, and wife of fellow game-show host, Bob Dyer.-Early life:She was born Thelma Phoebe McLean, and grew up in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Her father died when she was young and she was raised by her mother...
, were probably, after Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
, the most recognised double act in Australia in the 1960s. Bob and Dolly's main interest besides performing was big-game fishing
Big-game fishing
Big-game fishing, often referred to as offshore sportfishing, offshore gamefishing, or blue-water fishing is a form of recreational fishing, targeting large fish renowned for their sporting qualities, such as tuna and marlin.-History:...
and, between them, they broke some 200 world and Australian fishing records.
Early life and career
Bob Dies was born in Trousdale County, TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, to a sharefarmer father. In an interview much later in his life with Barry Jones
Barry Jones (Australian politician)
Barry Owen Jones AO, FAA, FASSA, FAHA, FTSE, FACE is a writer, lawyer, social activist, quiz champion and former politician. He campaigned against the death penalty throughout the 1960s, particularly against the execution of Ronald Ryan, and remains against capital punishment...
, Dyer spoke of his childhood:
Back in Hartsville County my elder brother, a Negro boy and I all grew up together. We walked to school every day and walked back home together, but at the crossroads the Negro boy walked one way to the all-black school while my brother and I went to the all-white school. Where was the point of separation during school hours when we were brothers for the rest of the day? Our black friend later got into trouble and died tragically. I often wonder what would have happened if our colours had been reversed. That is why I have always hated racial or religious intolerance.
Dyer left school at 12 and worked as "a dish-washer, cab driver, ice man, carpenter, milk-bar attendant and railway freight hand" before taking up theatre work involving touring the United States vaudeville circuits. He first came to Australia in 1936, touring with Jim Davidson's ABC Dance Band. He returned to Sydney in 1937 as a member of the Marcus Show, doing a hillbilly and ukulele act on the Tivoli circuit, combining comedy with singing. Australian radio personality, Harry Griffiths, was a child at the time but met Dyer through his musician father who played first trombone for the Marcus shows. He says that "If Bob didn't steal the show, he came darned near it, and he was a big hit. He was a good actor, musical and full of life. He knew how to do gags, grace possible way, touring with travelling shows and doing five shows a day in the US".
Dyer then travelled to England, where he appeared on television in its early era, before returning to Australia in 1940, using the billing "the last of the hillbillies". He created, at the request of radio station 3DB
3DB
Mix 101.1 is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Its target demographic is the under 25-54 yr old age group. Mix 101.1 is part of the Australian Radio Mix Network and broadcasts on the 101.1 MHz frequency...
, 26 episodes of a radio program titled The Last of the Hill Billies. In 1940, when performing at Sydney's Tivoli Theatre, he met Dolly Mack
Dolly Dyer
Dolly Dyer , was an Australian radio and TV personality, and wife of fellow game-show host, Bob Dyer.-Early life:She was born Thelma Phoebe McLean, and grew up in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Her father died when she was young and she was raised by her mother...
(stage name for Thelma Phoebe McLean, born 1920), who was a Tivoli chorus girl. He proposed nine days after their meeting, and nine days after that they were married at St John's Church, Darlinghurst. The reception was held between shows on the last day of the The Crazy Show. The next day the show went to Brisbane and they spent their honeymoon in Surfers Paradise in a borrowed car.
Bob and Dolly entertained Australian and American troops during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, performing in war zones in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
and the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
Radio and television career
In the 1940s and 1950s, Bob Dyer established himself as a radio star, moving onto television in the late 1950s. Dyer was known for his flamboyance. Jim Low, reviewing a CD containing Dyer's music, comedy and radio programs, comments on "Dyer's genuine warmth towards his contestants and his ability to milk a situation for its entertainment and comic potential". However, he was not a naturally funny man and so "plotted all the stunts he used meticulously".Radio
Dyer's early radio shows were "stunt shows... [that] were different from the other vaudeville shows on radio at the time for, instead of a comedian or a group of people getting up in front of an audience and telling jokes, the Dyer shows depended for their fun on members of the audience themselves". The shows included Can You Take it? and It Pays to be Funny. The idea for these shows came from the United States of America. Dyer was given permission by the American radio and television star, Art LinkletterArt Linkletter
Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...
, to use and adapt his scripts and stunts in Australia. People enjoyed the stunts, apparently enjoying seeing "their fellows put into funny and sometimes embarrassing situations ... but few 'victims' came out of the stunt shows with hard feelings; Bob Dyer was always genial and good-humoured and the prizes for doing ridiculous things were substantial".
Dyer's shows were sponsored by Solvol, Atlantic Union Oil (for which he used the greeting "Happy motoring, customers") and Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
(with the greeting "Happy lathering, customers"). In one of these he included secret sounds, such as tearing a plaster off his arm, a dog scratching fleas, or a cat lapping milk. Another, Can You Take It?, comprised "scrapes and dares [and was] designed to outdo a similar show by his friend and rival Jack Davey". Barry Jones, long time quiz contestant on Pick a Box, wrote that "he had a long-standing rivalry, partly genuine, partly simulated, with Jack Davey
Jack Davey
John Andrew Davey was a New Zealand-born star of Australian radio in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.-New Zealand:Jack Davey was born John Andrew Davey on 8 February 1907 and educated at King's College, Auckland...
, presumably modeled on the 'feud' in the United States between Jack Benny
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
and Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
". Harry Griffiths says of the two that Dyer's "gags might have been more obvious than Jack Davey's slick humour but Bob knew what people wanted. His stuff was for the masses". However, while Davey had the sharper wit, he "was essentially a radio performer who failed to make a fully successful transition to television". Lesley Johnson, in his biography of Jack Davey for the Australian Dictionary of Biography, writes that "in contrast to Dyer's carefully written scripts, Davey's spontaneity and wit, delivered in the warm, rich voice, for which he was so well known on radio, did not attract television audiences".
Australian radio personality John Pearce who knew both Davey and Dyer wrote in his autobiography that Dyer:
allowed the television people to tell him how it [Pick a Box] could be transformed into the new medium, realising that TV is eighty per cent visual, and a gesture, a piece of visible "business" is far more important than all the clever, rapier-fast dialogue. Bob really worked at it, and he took every piece of advice offered. Following the recording of one of his early shows, he turned from all the people telling him how good it had been and went to one of the cameraman. "I noticed you threw up your hands in horror at something I did. Where did I go wrong?" He was told, and never did it again. Davey would have been looking to have the cameraman sacked!
Some well known Australian actors, such as Bud Tingwell and John Ewart
John Ewart
John Ewart was an Australian Film Institute award winning actor.-Career:Ewart was born in Melbourne. He began his acting career when he was cast at the age of four in a radio production of Snow White...
, worked as assistant comperes on Dyer's radio programs. As Tingwell describes it, the role of the assistant compere was to "do the big, posh Colgate Palmolive commercials during the show as well as... the introductions" of Bob himself and the contestants. Tingwell describes this period of his life as "an extraordinarily generous period, working with a very, very good professional" noting that Dyer would release him for his film work and use a temporary assistant until he returned.
Pick a Box
In 1948, when he was also compering Winner Take All and Cop The Lot, Dyer launched the quiz show Pick a Box on radio. He toned down his hillbilly twang and "replaced his yellow boots and loud checks with a respectable suit, tie and glasses". In 1957, Pick a Box made its television debut. It was first sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive and later by BP, and was the first big quiz show on national television. Dyer's catch-cry on the show, "the money or the box", was a familiar phrase in Australia decades after the show ended. "Howdy, customers, howdy" and "Tell them Bob sent you" were other well-known Dyer catch-cries.In 1969 Dyer believed that show was losing its popularity and two years later, in 1971, he and Dolly decided to retire. In June 1971, a few weeks before the last Pick a Box was screened, Bob and Dolly both appeared in the Queen's Birthday Honours list
Queen's Official Birthday
The Queen's Official Birthday is the selected day on which the birthday of the monarch of Commonwealth realms is officially celebrated in Commonwealth countries and in Fiji, which is now a republic. It is an invention of the early 20th century...
. Bob, still a US citizen, was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), while Dolly was appointed a Member of the Order (MBE). At the ceremony, the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Roden Cutler, who was "not generally known for his humour, asked Bob if he wanted to take the medal or the box it was in". Dyer also won two Gold Logie Award
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
s, one in 1960 and, in 1971, a special Gold Logie to him and Dolly to mark their contribution to the industry over 15 years.
The first television simulcast
Early in 1957, ATN began simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing eight radio shows from the Macquarie Auditorium. These included two by Bob Dyer, It Pays To Be Funny and Pick A Box. Within a year only Pick A Box was still on the air. It was simulcast for five years.
Big-game fishing
On retirement Bob and Dolly moved to the Isle of Capri in Queensland's Gold CoastGold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
and took up seriously what had previously been a hobby, big-game fishing for such fish as marlin
Marlin
Marlin, family Istiophoridae, are fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike...
. Between them, they broke 50 world and 150 Australian records.
Death
In the late 1970s, Bob and Dolly sold their house and moved to a high-rise apartment. Bob developed Alzheimer's disease and became reclusive until his death in 1984. Dolly died twenty years later, on Christmas Day 2004.External links
- 'Pick A Box' was added to the National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010. - 'Pick A Box' on australianscreen online