Printable View
After looking at the latest ads for Season 2 of Steve Hay's "Woodwork Show", I started my random recollection of TV shows long gone. I wonder how many remember Joe the Gadget Man on The Nock and Kirby DIY show on early Sydney black & white television.
For you serious old woodies, what time of the week was it on, and what was was the name of the following show, and who hosted it? I will give you a hint: he was involved in a punch up with a rock'n' roll singer on live TV
Think the old memory might be a bit confused about the host :) It was circa 1964 after all.
TV was black and white? :q
Normie Rowe and Ron Casey being manly men - Is this a good hint?
I believe it was on Saturday somewhere around noon (+- 1 hour). I had no recollection of Won being the host, but there you go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengue
Really serious woodies don't watch TV.
When you were 16 yrs old and TV had just been made available to the masses you did :)Quote:
Originally Posted by BobL
FF got it right. It was on every Sat morning at 11am, followed at 12noon by World Championship Wrestling. I though "Won" Casey was the compere, but it was another ring sport - boxing, that he presented on a show called something like Wide World of Sport he ran for over 20 years, on a Sunday from memory.
Ron and Normie Rowe had a dust up on a Ray Martin Compered show
Only came to Sydney in 1972 with the Navy but do remember Joe and how annoying he was on the TV.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qld7KYNVwbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1pD4_bzfAc
Even Joe didn't have a gadget for everything - smh.com.au
We didn't get a TV until 1967 but several of our neighbours had TVs before then. I remember when the first neighbour got their TV and their living room was packed solid with the kids (the neighbours had 7 kids in their family and I had 9 siblings!). I remember all the adults smoking and the air was so blue you could barely see the TV.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengue
I think there were two Ron Caseys. The Sydney one had the dustup with Normie Rowe and the Melbourne one used to present Wide World of Sports and commentate on boxing and wrestling
Yeah but the pictures on radio were in full color and always better.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedShirtGuy
1964, are you sure? I thought it was much later than that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengue
Yes it was. Normie was done with Nasho's by then. I think it was in the late 80'sQuote:
Originally Posted by cava
TT
cava, Joe the Gadget Man was on Sydney TV from 1956 for nearly 30 years, and I think it is the longest running show in Australia, the TV equivalent of Blue Hills. The WCW was on TV from 1964 to 1978
Bob <o:p</oQuote:
Originally Posted by BobL
<o:p</o
The air is still blue, but it comes from the TV itself now
<o:p</o
Regards <o:p</o
Paul <o:p</o
My dad used to smoke but the air was blue when he smashed this thumb with the hammer while working in the shedQuote:
Originally Posted by BobL
Wasn't WCW hosted (or it may have been commentary) by a bloke called Jimmy Little ?...thin streak with glasses..........good days.....Mario Milano, Spiros Arrios, The Skull, Brute Bernard.........good days
Raking over the memories far back in my brain.....Knock & Kirby had a chain of hardware stores around Sydney (not many stores, in the early days but did have more in the 70s) Joe Sando was "the gadget man" and showed all types of new fangled "toys for women" in the kitchen. He would be on for about a quarter of an hour at lunch time on Saturdays followed by Andy (I think that was his christian name) Waugh. He was a "grand fatherly" type bloke who wore a dust coat. He would demonstrate small jobs on the program and keep "returning to the job card". I would guess he was an old carpenter by his manner of working. You know, I can't remember what he demonstrated, but I do remember being a very keen viewer.
My Dad worked for Knock & Kirby in the early 60s. He said that Joe The Gadget man would wander around the kitchen department seeing what was on display with a view to include a demonstration on the TV show. He also did demos in store. He had an ability to "play up to the audience" and was very entertaining and well liked by the women folk. Dad recalled one demo where Joe had a plastic spout the you would push into an orange then squeezed it to get the juice to run down the spout and into a glass. He had a gift of the gab and was talking all the time. Anyway, he was extolling the greatness of this gadget and its portability when a woman from the audience said that she had an electric mix-master that could do the same job and quick as a wink Joe came back with "you would look pretty silly with a mix-master on Bondi beach". He was an expat pom and had a pin on mic to amplify his voice.
My brother was given a small metal lathe with the initials cast into the bed N&K. He researched a bit and found that Knock & Kirby did sell their own branded tools for a while.
Killer Kowalaski as well from memory.
Edit: Don't you just hate it when the reply is out of sync. :?
Jack Little, was the commentator. Tall, spindly and with coke bottle glasses if my memory is correct.
Mick.
Jack Little......that's the bloke......Referee was "Wallaby" Bob McMaster
I forgot about Killer Karl Kowalaski
I used to work for the local chemist shop delivering prescriptions on a Saturday morning, and would get home in time to have lunch watching World Championship Wrestling.
Larry O'Dea (O'Day?) was a wrestler competing with these guys. My memory of him is that he was beaten in just about every match he competed in. Someone like Killer Kowalski was never an even match, but Larry kept on coming back for more the next weekend.
My Dad took me to the Stadium (commonly called the 'tin shed' ) at Rushcutters Bay on one occasion to see the wrestling, gees that was an eye opener!
Getting slightly back on topic, Knock & Kirby's became BBC Hardware, then they became Hardware House in the first of the big green sheds, and shortly after they were renamed Bunnings. I have some packets of stuff with all of the above labels, plus Grace Bros. when they used to have a hardware section.
Alan...
Wasn't his brother Kangaroo Ted:D?Quote:
Referee was "Wallaby" Bob...
Jack Little came out from America with Tommy Hanlon Jnr and was the announcer/voice over for Tommy's "It Could Be You" game show in the early 60s. I can still hear Jack calling Tommy,"Tarmy" in a very American accent. I often wondered what he knew about Wrestling be cause he didn't look like a wrestler himself. Remember Haystacks Calhoun (huge guy.....like a blimp), Mario Milano. I remember a mate and I went to the Hordern Pavilion to see the WCW. What a performance!!! It seemed to be very theatrical even in person. What was the name of that bloke who was brought out in chains because he was so "dangerous"??? The current wrestling still looks staged and artificial
Was it Killer Carl Cox? Or The Skull?Quote:
Originally Posted by chambezio
TT
This is bringing back some memories.
I used to look forward to Handy Andy and Joe the Gadget man each week.
Does anyone remember the roller derby when it was on TV? It used to be in the Horden Pavillion.
Yep I do. The Los Angeles Thunder Birds. I think the male star was called Manny Stevens. Can't remember the female lead. Took me ages to realise that this was a form of wrestling and "shock horror" was rigged. The whole thing took off so well they formed a Sydney teamQuote:
Originally Posted by BamBam53
TT