Magic Circle Club
Encyclopedia
The Magic Circle Club was an award winning Australian children's television show, produced at ATV Channel 0 (now ATV-10
) from 23 January 1965 to 1967.
The program's style came from live pantomime
and classic fairy tales. It often featured music, original songs and dance routines. Some older female characters were performed by males, in pantomime dame
style.
Godfrey Philipp
was the producer and director, with many scripts and song lyrics by John-Michael Howson
. Max Bartlett became a regular script writer in addition to his on-screen roles. Music was by Bruce Rowland
and scenery designs by Brian Thomson
.
The show was hosted by Nancy Cato, cousin of the author of the same name
. A later addition to the regular cast was Liz Harris
, who also took over as hostess when Nancy Cato suffered temporary paralysis and had to use a wheelchair.
In 1966, the TV series won the first Logie Award
presented to a children's show, for Outstanding Contribution To Children's Television.
, billed as John Howson); feisty Mother Matilda Hubbard
(Fred Tupper, a former radio star); sensible Max (Max Bartlett); Shirley Temple
analog Curley Dimples (played by adult Gael Dixon, also the show's choreographer); beautiful enchantress Crystal Ball (Gabrielle Hartley) and her pet, Hep Cat (Nola Finn); Marlena DeWitch (Marion Weir); and villainous Sir Jasper Crookly (Ernie Bourne
) and his henchman
Gaspar Goblin (Colin McEwan
).
Recurring guest characters included BoBo the clown, Montmorency James Rabbit (Ernie Bourne), Sebastian Bear, and Aunty Vale (Bunney Brooke
). Twoddle & Boddle (Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright, aka Bobby & Laurie
of The Go!! Show
) were analogs of Tweedledee & Tweedledum, characters the pair had played previously in a pantomime. Max Bartlett often played additional guest characters, including King Size of nearby Enchantmentland, wicked innkeeper Simon Sneak of the Cross and Bones, or Mother Hubbard's accident-prone great-nephew, Claude Clumsy. Ernie Bourne and Colin McEwan often doubled up roles to play guest villains. Even Nancy Cato played a chambermaid, Sweet Nelly, in a Barbary Coast
pirate storyline.
Daily features included viewers' riddles with Cassius Cuckoo, during "Cassius Cuckoo's Corn Corner", and limericks with Leonardo de Funbird. These characters were wood and felt bird puppets (created by Axel Axelrad; voiced by Colin McEwan
). Cassius inhabited a longcase
cuckoo clock
next to Mother Hubbard's cupboard in The Magic Cottage, and Leonardo lived inside the IKAN (Instantaneous Knowledge Accumulation Network) computer
(voice of Fred Tupper). The IKAN educational segment was eventually dropped, and Leonardo would present his limerick segment from a tree stump in the Magic Forest.
Towards the end of the TV series' run, stories were serialized across only four days, with the Friday program dedicated to a separate story, told by Liz Harris, about toys which come to life in a toyshop when the owner was absent. Liz, herself, played a rag doll, Max Bartlett was a tin soldier, and John-Michael Howson played a glum clown, a portrayal which would inspire his Adventure Island
character of Clown.
from December 27, 1965.
In this adventure, Sir Jasper and Gaspar had banished Clocko the chief clown (Max Bartlett, again playing a dual role), and Spangles the trapeze
artist (Gael Dixon), from their circus, and taken away Clocko's smile. Appearing on stage with Max, Curley and Nancy were Fredd, Fee Fee, Mother Hubbard, Crystal, Hep Cat, Montmorency, Cassius and Leonardo, all played by the regular TV cast.
Gabrielle Hartley was severely burned when her cloak brushed over a hot "flash pot" used in a live, on-stage, special effect, and her role had to be assumed by her understudy.
This production was stage managed by Sue Nattras, Simon Wincer
and Jim McElroy.
on the ABC, with some of the cast and writers from the Magic Circle Club.
Recorded in Black & White, the program was repeated prior to the official introduction of Colour TV in 1975. John-Michael Howson had wanted to produce the show in colour for overseas sales, but management baulked at the added cost. Many episodes of the show have been stored at the National Film and Sound Archive
.
TV director and costume designer Tedd Dunn stayed with Channel 0. He played the Fredd Bear character (Channel 0's answer to the Nine Network
's more enduring Humphrey B. Bear
) two years after the Magic Circle Club's demise, as co-host of Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go
. Cassius and Leonardo also appeared on Breakfast-A-Go-Go. Max Bartlett continued to work in television production, moving to Western Australia
, where he helped to develop Fat Cat and Friends
and The Underground Video Show.
In 2007, Nancy Cato appeared on the "Kid's TV" episode of Bob Downe's "The Way We Were" discussing The Magic Circle Club.
ATV-10
ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
) from 23 January 1965 to 1967.
The program's style came from live pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
and classic fairy tales. It often featured music, original songs and dance routines. Some older female characters were performed by males, in pantomime dame
Pantomime dame
A pantomime dame is a traditional character in British pantomime. It is a continuation of en travesti portrayal of female characters by male actors in drag. They are often played either in an extremely camp style, or else by men acting 'butch' in women's clothing...
style.
Godfrey Philipp
Godfrey Philipp
Godfrey Pettersson Philipp was a pioneering producer/director of Australian children's television during the 1960s and 1970s.Born in England in 1937, Philipp had been a child actor before emigrating to Australia...
was the producer and director, with many scripts and song lyrics by John-Michael Howson
John-Michael Howson
John Michael Howson OAM, born in Melbourne, Australia in 1936, is an Australian writer, reporter and entertainer and 3AW commentator...
. Max Bartlett became a regular script writer in addition to his on-screen roles. Music was by Bruce Rowland
Bruce Rowland
Bruce Rowland is a well-known Australian composer. He composed the soundtrack for the 1982 movie "The Man from Snowy River", as well as the soundtrack for its 1988 sequel "The Man from Snowy River II"...
and scenery designs by Brian Thomson
Brian Thomson
Brian Thomson is an Australian theatre, opera and film designer. He has been active in Australian stage design for over three decades.Thomson began a long and successful collaboration with director Jim Sharman after they met at Heavenburgers on Sydney's Oxford Street in 1969; they worked together...
.
The show was hosted by Nancy Cato, cousin of the author of the same name
Nancy Cato
Nancy Fotheringham Cato AM was an Australian writer who published more than twenty historical novels, biographies and volumes of poetry. Cato is also known for her work campaigning on environmental and conservation issues....
. A later addition to the regular cast was Liz Harris
Liz Harris
Elizabeth "Liz" Harris is a retired Australian stage and television actress who appeared on a number of popular television series and films from the mid-1960s up until her retirement in 1993...
, who also took over as hostess when Nancy Cato suffered temporary paralysis and had to use a wheelchair.
In 1966, the TV series won the first 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...
presented to a children's show, for Outstanding Contribution To Children's Television.
Characters
Regular characters were denizens of the Magic Forest: mute Fredd Bear (Tedd Dunn, also the costume designer); shrill Fee Fee Bear (John-Michael HowsonJohn-Michael Howson
John Michael Howson OAM, born in Melbourne, Australia in 1936, is an Australian writer, reporter and entertainer and 3AW commentator...
, billed as John Howson); feisty Mother Matilda Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
"Old Mother Hubbard" is an English language nursery rhyme, first printed in 1805 and among the most popular publications of the nineteenth century. The exact origin and meaning of the rhyme is disputed...
(Fred Tupper, a former radio star); sensible Max (Max Bartlett); Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
analog Curley Dimples (played by adult Gael Dixon, also the show's choreographer); beautiful enchantress Crystal Ball (Gabrielle Hartley) and her pet, Hep Cat (Nola Finn); Marlena DeWitch (Marion Weir); and villainous Sir Jasper Crookly (Ernie Bourne
Ernie Bourne
Ernest Alfred "Ernie" Bourne was an English-born Australian actor, best known for his regular roles on television....
) and his henchman
Henchman
Henchman referred originally to one who attended on a horse for his employer, that is, a horse groom. Hence, like constable and marshal, also originally stable staff, henchman became the title of a subordinate official in a royal court or noble household...
Gaspar Goblin (Colin McEwan
Colin McEwan
Colin McEwan was an Australian television presenter and actor. He was best known for appearing on both stage and TV versions of The Naked Vicar Show, and for his role as Bob Bullpitt in Kingswood Country...
).
Recurring guest characters included BoBo the clown, Montmorency James Rabbit (Ernie Bourne), Sebastian Bear, and Aunty Vale (Bunney Brooke
Bunney Brooke
Bunney Brooke was an Australian actress best known for her television acting roles including the long-running role of Flo Patterson in soap opera Number 96 in the 1970s, and Vi Patchett in E Street in 1990.Brooke was adopted at an early age and had an unhappy early life...
). Twoddle & Boddle (Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright, aka Bobby & Laurie
Bobby & Laurie
Bobby & Laurie were a popular Australian singing duo of the 1960s, featuring Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright . Their regular backing band were The Rondells...
of The Go!! Show
The Go!! Show
The Go!! Show was a top rating Australian popular music television series which aired on ATV-0 Melbourne from 1964 to 1967, and was produced by DYT Productions at the Channel 0 studios in Nunawading, Victoria....
) were analogs of Tweedledee & Tweedledum, characters the pair had played previously in a pantomime. Max Bartlett often played additional guest characters, including King Size of nearby Enchantmentland, wicked innkeeper Simon Sneak of the Cross and Bones, or Mother Hubbard's accident-prone great-nephew, Claude Clumsy. Ernie Bourne and Colin McEwan often doubled up roles to play guest villains. Even Nancy Cato played a chambermaid, Sweet Nelly, in a Barbary Coast
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
pirate storyline.
Format
Storylines were typically serialized across five days, with the Friday program usually wrapping up the week's adventure. Each episode finished up with the hostess sitting on a large mushroom, with Fredd crouched beside her (usually after dusting off the stool with a handkerchief), while the pair shared viewers' letters and artwork.Daily features included viewers' riddles with Cassius Cuckoo, during "Cassius Cuckoo's Corn Corner", and limericks with Leonardo de Funbird. These characters were wood and felt bird puppets (created by Axel Axelrad; voiced by Colin McEwan
Colin McEwan
Colin McEwan was an Australian television presenter and actor. He was best known for appearing on both stage and TV versions of The Naked Vicar Show, and for his role as Bob Bullpitt in Kingswood Country...
). Cassius inhabited a longcase
Longcase clock
A longcase clock, also tall-case clock, floor clock, or grandfather clock, is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower, or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are commonly 1.8–2.4 metres tall...
cuckoo clock
Cuckoo clock
A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and typically has a mechanical cuckoo that emerges with each note...
next to Mother Hubbard's cupboard in The Magic Cottage, and Leonardo lived inside the IKAN (Instantaneous Knowledge Accumulation Network) computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
(voice of Fred Tupper). The IKAN educational segment was eventually dropped, and Leonardo would present his limerick segment from a tree stump in the Magic Forest.
Towards the end of the TV series' run, stories were serialized across only four days, with the Friday program dedicated to a separate story, told by Liz Harris, about toys which come to life in a toyshop when the owner was absent. Liz, herself, played a rag doll, Max Bartlett was a tin soldier, and John-Michael Howson played a glum clown, a portrayal which would inspire his Adventure Island
Adventure Island (TV series)
Adventure Island is an Australian television series for children which screened on the ABC from 11 September 1967 to 22 December 1972 . It was jointly created by Godfrey Philipp, who produced the series, and actor-writer John Michael Howson, who also co-starred in the show...
character of Clown.
Stage version
A specially written Magic Circle Club episode, "The Stolen Smile", was performed live on stage at the Tivoli Theatre (Melbourne)Tivoli circuit
The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian entertainment circuit which flourished from 1893 and the 1950s. The circuit suffered a catastrophic decline in popularity after the introduction of television in Australia in 1956, and the last Tivoli show was staged in 1966.-History:The...
from December 27, 1965.
In this adventure, Sir Jasper and Gaspar had banished Clocko the chief clown (Max Bartlett, again playing a dual role), and Spangles the trapeze
Trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...
artist (Gael Dixon), from their circus, and taken away Clocko's smile. Appearing on stage with Max, Curley and Nancy were Fredd, Fee Fee, Mother Hubbard, Crystal, Hep Cat, Montmorency, Cassius and Leonardo, all played by the regular TV cast.
Gabrielle Hartley was severely burned when her cloak brushed over a hot "flash pot" used in a live, on-stage, special effect, and her role had to be assumed by her understudy.
This production was stage managed by Sue Nattras, Simon Wincer
Simon Wincer
Simon Wincer is an Australian film director and film producer. He attended Cranbrook School, Bellevue Hill, Sydney from 1950 to 1961. On leaving school he worked as a stage hand at TV Station Channel 7. By the 1980s he directed over 200 hours of television. In 1986 he directed the made for TV...
and Jim McElroy.
Cancellation and beyond
After producing 555 thirty minute episodes, ATV axed the show for cost reasons. Competitor ABC TV wanted to buy it, but ATV refused, which led to the start up of the similar program Adventure IslandAdventure Island (TV series)
Adventure Island is an Australian television series for children which screened on the ABC from 11 September 1967 to 22 December 1972 . It was jointly created by Godfrey Philipp, who produced the series, and actor-writer John Michael Howson, who also co-starred in the show...
on the ABC, with some of the cast and writers from the Magic Circle Club.
Recorded in Black & White, the program was repeated prior to the official introduction of Colour TV in 1975. John-Michael Howson had wanted to produce the show in colour for overseas sales, but management baulked at the added cost. Many episodes of the show have been stored at the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The 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...
.
TV director and costume designer Tedd Dunn stayed with Channel 0. He played the Fredd Bear character (Channel 0's answer to the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
's more enduring Humphrey B. Bear
Humphrey B. Bear
Humphrey B. Bear is an Australian children's television series and its fictional character namesake is an icon of Australian children's television. Humphrey B Bear was first broadcast on Adelaide's NWS-9 on Monday, 24 May 1965. The show became one of the most successful programs for pre-schoolers...
) two years after the Magic Circle Club's demise, as co-host of Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go
Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go
Fredd Bear's Breakfast A-Go-Go was an award winning Australian children's television show which started in 1969 on ATV Channel 0 ....
. Cassius and Leonardo also appeared on Breakfast-A-Go-Go. Max Bartlett continued to work in television production, moving to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, where he helped to develop Fat Cat and Friends
Fat Cat and Friends
Fat Cat and Friends was an Australian childrens television show starring Fat Cat , an orange anthropomorphic cat who wears red braces, a blue bow tie and a green bowler hat. The show was similar in concept to Here's Humphrey featuring Humphrey B. Bear...
and The Underground Video Show.
In 2007, Nancy Cato appeared on the "Kid's TV" episode of Bob Downe's "The Way We Were" discussing The Magic Circle Club.