The Mavis Bramston Show
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The Mavis Bramston Show was a popular satirical sketch comedy TV series broadcast on Australian television. It premiered in 1964 and was the first topical revue comedy series ever made in Australia. The original stars were British-born actor and comedian Gordon Chater, British singer and comedienne Carol Raye, and Australian actor-singer-comedian Barry Creyton. Other cast members included Maggie Dence (who played the eponymous Mavis), Noeline Brown, Miriam Karlin, Ronnie Stevens, Johnny Lockwood, Dawn Lake and June Salter. John Bluthal and Ron Fraser guest starred in some episodes.
The show's title derived from an Australian theatrical in-joke. It referred to a phenomenon that was common at that time on the Australian stage, in which overseas actors (who usually second-rate and/or well past their "use-by date") were brought to Australia to star in local theatre productions, even though there were superior local performers available. One of the most famous examples of this trend was the discovery of musical star Jill Perryman, who shot to fame in the mid-1960s while understudying a notably less impressive overseas actress for the lead role in a local production of the musical Call Me Madam, after the female lead was sidelined by illness.
These visiting ex-stars came to be known as "Mavis Bramstons", and this became the establishing conceit of the series. The opening scene of each episode showed Mavis -- now brought to life as a stock character -- arriving at Sydney airport to be greeted by the waiting press, but the irony was that although the show was called The Mavis Bramston Show, this was the only scene in which Mavis appeared.
The series became hugely successful and after a short run when it was only broadcast in Sydney, it soon went national and became the biggest-rating Australian TV comedy series ever made up to that time. It is reputed that the show became so popular in the national capital, Canberra, that local business had to move its late shopping night because it clashed with Mavis. Although it was attacked by conservatives, and threatened with the withdrawal of sponsorship, the controversy surrounding the show only served to heighten its popularity.
It is also credited as an important milestone in the development of a local TV production industry. At the time Mavis premiered, Australian television was massively dominated by imported product from the United States and to a lesser extent Great Britain. Mavis was crucial in proving that it was possible to make a successful topical revue comedy series in Australia, featuring Australian issues and characters, and that there was a significant audience for this brand of humour.
