Māori singer Tina Cross from Otara had been a part of the New Zealand music scene since 1978. In 1982, Tina came to Australia to begin a singing career on the cabaret circuit. In 1984 Tina formed the techno pop band, Koo De Tah with composer and pianist Leon Berger which scored a hit in 1985 with the single 'Too Young For Promises'. The song reached No. 6 on the Australian charts. 'Too Young For Promises' was featured in the 1984 film 'Streets of Fire' starring Michael Paré and Diane Lane.
Tina Cross described as "a blend of Maori, Croatian and English genes" told the New Zealand press in 2016, "I was only 16 (in 1975) when Ray (Columbus) first heard me sing. At the time the industry was lacking in young female Maori performers. Ray saw that talent in me and I think that's why he encouraged me to pursue my career." Tina told Sarah Lang in 2009, "With musicals, I originally thought: 'Why would you want to do the same thing every night for months?' It never made sense to me, but once you immerse yourself in a character and a role it's actually quite hard to shake it. And I love that licence to be somebody else and the fact that every time I step into a new pair of shoes, or an old pair, it just fits."
On Australian television in 1985, two of the Reg Grundy series, 'Sons and Daughters' and 'Possession' went head to head. Up against both local dramas was the U.S. import 'V' - the series. 'V' sought to explore the very survival of the human race after reptilians in human skin came to Earth with the intention of colonising the planet in order to take control of Earth's water supply and to use people as human resources and for food.
Tina Cross described as "a blend of Maori, Croatian and English genes" told the New Zealand press in 2016, "I was only 16 (in 1975) when Ray (Columbus) first heard me sing. At the time the industry was lacking in young female Maori performers. Ray saw that talent in me and I think that's why he encouraged me to pursue my career." Tina told Sarah Lang in 2009, "With musicals, I originally thought: 'Why would you want to do the same thing every night for months?' It never made sense to me, but once you immerse yourself in a character and a role it's actually quite hard to shake it. And I love that licence to be somebody else and the fact that every time I step into a new pair of shoes, or an old pair, it just fits."
On Australian television in 1985, two of the Reg Grundy series, 'Sons and Daughters' and 'Possession' went head to head. Up against both local dramas was the U.S. import 'V' - the series. 'V' sought to explore the very survival of the human race after reptilians in human skin came to Earth with the intention of colonising the planet in order to take control of Earth's water supply and to use people as human resources and for food.
Against 'Sons and Daughters', 'Possession' mostly scored ratings points peaking around 8 and 9. TV commentator Jacqueline Lee Lewes explained, "A second glance at the program schedules shows that if (channel) Nine wanted the program to go at 7:30pm, it had very little choice of nights. It was either 'Sons and Daughters' or the higher rating 'A Country Practice' which would have been kamikaze programming.
"The only other alternative was Thursday and Friday, both of which are nights when sets in use are down. So Monday night and Thursday night it is." However less than 2 months in the time slot against 'Sons and Daughters', channel Nine moved 'Possession' to Thursday and Friday nights and then to the late night time slot usually reserved for news program such as 'Nightline', where the show scored between 2 and 5 ratings points.
Reg Watson came up with the idea of 'Possession' which Bevan Lee developed for television. Director Julian McSwiney stayed with 'Possession' for 3 months before returning to 'Sons and Daughters'. He recounted, "'Possession' is the hardest soap I’ve ever worked on because we were trying to make it look like a flash show, a 'Dallas', 'Dynasty' type image, in the same time we have for a fairly pedestrian soap. In America they spend megabucks on that sort of market.
"The Mitchell Street studios (in North Sydney) weren’t properly equipped. I was working from a fairly cramped outside broadcast van. The place we were working in was so small, with 3 sets in it, that we had to take down half a set to get the lights in. The 7:30 time slot restricts you like you wouldn’t believe. There was a guy in 'Possession' who used to inject people with a zombie drug. But you can’t feature the syringe at that time, so when the cops burst in to get him I wasn’t able to finish off with a shot of the syringe in front of his face. And people have all these horrific accidents but you can’t show any blood."
It was reported at one stage production was behind schedule because channel Nine requested the political intrigue angle be dropped from around episode 34, hence 10 episodes had to be rewritten, 6 completely and 4 minor alterations were made. Bevan Lee clarified, "When a show is not successful all the elements are juggled to get it right.
"I'll sometimes just wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning with an idea. I think it’s just innate ability … All our scriptwriters write from the heart, not from the head. You write one of our plots from the head and you end up with melodrama, not the true feelings we are after. God perish the thought of getting all those problems from life experience. If I had, I’d have committed suicide years ago."
Script editor Lyn Ogilvy recalled, "The writers were included in the story conference. They were of great benefit in giving suggestions and it was more their story. I don’t think a writer ever writes as well that way (when the story editor wrote scene breakdowns inhouse then assigned those scenes to freelance story liners). The less totally it is theirs, the less well they write."
In an interview with 'Fairfax Media', David Reyne disclosed, "The two major considerations in a thing like 'Possession' have to be time and money. When you have 25 scenes and you come out of one where you are happy and jovial and laughing, and into the next scene where it is disaster and angst, and they give you 10 minutes to do it, boy, I find it really difficult. I understand that is the way they have to do it in TV. I see people in a soapie and I realize that if you are good in a soapie, then you must be very, very good, because your back is against the wall from the start."
'Sons and Daughters' reportedly filmed roughly 5 months ahead of its broadcast time. For example Rowena Wallace filmed her last scene in November 1984 but viewers could still see her on television until at least May 1985. Bevan Lee made the comment, "Striving to write interesting, popular and valid commercial television is a thankless task at many times."
He also made the point, "Serialization has been with us for centuries. It has always been, and will continue to be without a shadow of a doubt, a viable form of popularise entertainment … I think older viewers like to live vicariously through the younger characters in the program. The important thing is not who we aim at (viewers demographics), but whether the story is interesting or not. That's what the viewers tune into."
After watching the premiere episode, Janise Beaumont remarked, "'Sons and Daughters' is different and great. It's been made with a new set of rules and, it would appear, a huge amount of money. It's about the interwoven lives of two Australian families, a million light years apart in terms of attitudes, standing in the community, feelings of self-worth and money, but bound together by a strong cord: each has raised half of a set of 20-year-old twins, separated at birth."
Rowena Wallace spoke to John Miller in June 1984, "It seems to me as if this project ('Sons and Daughters'), which started 2 and half years ago (in 1982) and gathered its own momentum, has become like a living organism: it is a thing that works us, we don’t really work it." Of playing Patricia the Terrible, "It's an interesting character. There's a spirit there, a tremendous urge to survive and spirit to get on: people identify with that. I think that she's, in a way, almost cathartic to some people. She gets away with saying and doing things that nobody ever could in our society.
"If there really was a person like that, she wouldn't last 5 minutes. I think there is an area of catharsis there. It was like somebody decided to make a list of all the things – this is on a fairly superficial level – that women do in relationships, and they shoved them all into Patricia and she lived through everything. It’s like she’s a shining example of what can go wrong to everything."
"A soapie is a strange thing," Rowena made the observation. "The writers don't know where it's going. I suppose it's like life really – we don't really know what's going to happen – except it's a speeded-up version." Tina Cross confessed, "I don't like to be disorganised, I like to know what's happening in my life." Rowena continued, "You don't know where it's (the story) going to end, so you don't really know what you're working with. I'd like to be involved in something that has a beginning, middle and an end, that is a fully rounded thing I can get a perspective on, where I can do a complete performance.
"Working on a soapie can be very detrimental to your craft or it can be a huge advantage. You work under enormous pressure, and you have to do all the things that an actor wants to do with something in the shortest possible time, which means you've got to work very quickly. You can learn an awful lot from it. On the other hand, because of the nature of the beast, many compromises have to be made with everybody involved: directors, technicians and actors.
"You can never really give rein to artistic expression. And I think if you’re in that situation for too long, the continual frustration of not being able to give rein to that creative urge can make you ill … There's not much time (for artistic expression). You don't get much help, you just do the best way you can. Fortunately, for an experienced actor, you've learned – not tricks, so much, but just ways of dealing with a situation."
"We were born in Africa, but brought up in a place called Mount Eliza, which is 50km (or 30 miles) out of Melbourne. It was a middle-class upbringing," David Reyne made known. "My future (in 1985 and beyond) might lie in a bit of TV. Music: 50% and acting/TV/films: 50%. I would love to set the precedent of doing both TV and rock and roll because I really don't think people accept that someone can do both. They don't want to think you can be in a band and be a TV person. They only want to see you as one or the other. You run a risk saying, 'Hey I do both. Watch.'
"When I was a kid Mum would be singing opera at one end of the house and at the other Dad would be cleaning shoes to jazz on the radio. Meanwhile I'd be playing a makeshift drum kit of cardboard boxes, with biscuit tin lids as cymbals. My mother was a soprano and she used to sing opera and stuff. My father was very much into jazz … so my mother would be singing opera and my father would be listening to jazz. It was coming from both sides. They always had the radio tuned in so we would hear programs like 'My Word' and 'My Music' and Frank Muir. It was always in the house."
James Reyne of 'Return To Eden' and David Reyne were born in Nigeria, Africa, where their father worked as an oil company executive. However, it was reported David was only there for 6 months before political turmoil forced the family's return to Australia. In October 1983, James Reyne and his band Australian Crawl topped the Australian music charts with the song 'Reckless'.
The subtext of the song 'Reckless' according to one music follower in Fullerton California referred to "Robert Falcon Scott, known as 'Scott of the Antarctic,' and his tragic expedition, actually reaching the South Pole only to discover that Roald Amundsen had just beaten him and then dying on the return. In a similar vein, Irish/English explorers Burke and Wills were the first to cross Australia from south to north only to starve, too weak to move, a few miles from salvation.
"They were actually camped by a tree that had buried provisions, but misunderstood the markings on the base camp tree. Thus, the underlying meaning of this song could be: He has spent an unspecified time alone ( 'So long she's been away...') and is now waiting to meet his girlfriend who is arriving on the Manly ferry. The references to Scott/Antarctic, Burke & Wills, and a Russian sub beneath the Arctic are telling us how alone he felt, presumably during previous nights; dramatizing the feeling of utter isolation.
"While waiting, he is also warning himself, soliloquizing, not to be reckless or unnecessarily boisterous in front of her when she arrives, because she hates that behavior and may leave him again. The line, 'Throw down your guns' means don't show traits such as recklessness, aggressiveness, or extreme independence popularly associated with cowboys. For many a jilted lover, the song contains a hint of cosmic irony."
"We were born in Africa, but brought up in a place called Mount Eliza, which is 50km (or 30 miles) out of Melbourne. It was a middle-class upbringing," David Reyne made known. "My future (in 1985 and beyond) might lie in a bit of TV. Music: 50% and acting/TV/films: 50%. I would love to set the precedent of doing both TV and rock and roll because I really don't think people accept that someone can do both. They don't want to think you can be in a band and be a TV person. They only want to see you as one or the other. You run a risk saying, 'Hey I do both. Watch.'
"When I was a kid Mum would be singing opera at one end of the house and at the other Dad would be cleaning shoes to jazz on the radio. Meanwhile I'd be playing a makeshift drum kit of cardboard boxes, with biscuit tin lids as cymbals. My mother was a soprano and she used to sing opera and stuff. My father was very much into jazz … so my mother would be singing opera and my father would be listening to jazz. It was coming from both sides. They always had the radio tuned in so we would hear programs like 'My Word' and 'My Music' and Frank Muir. It was always in the house."
James Reyne of 'Return To Eden' and David Reyne were born in Nigeria, Africa, where their father worked as an oil company executive. However, it was reported David was only there for 6 months before political turmoil forced the family's return to Australia. In October 1983, James Reyne and his band Australian Crawl topped the Australian music charts with the song 'Reckless'.
The subtext of the song 'Reckless' according to one music follower in Fullerton California referred to "Robert Falcon Scott, known as 'Scott of the Antarctic,' and his tragic expedition, actually reaching the South Pole only to discover that Roald Amundsen had just beaten him and then dying on the return. In a similar vein, Irish/English explorers Burke and Wills were the first to cross Australia from south to north only to starve, too weak to move, a few miles from salvation.
"They were actually camped by a tree that had buried provisions, but misunderstood the markings on the base camp tree. Thus, the underlying meaning of this song could be: He has spent an unspecified time alone ( 'So long she's been away...') and is now waiting to meet his girlfriend who is arriving on the Manly ferry. The references to Scott/Antarctic, Burke & Wills, and a Russian sub beneath the Arctic are telling us how alone he felt, presumably during previous nights; dramatizing the feeling of utter isolation.
"While waiting, he is also warning himself, soliloquizing, not to be reckless or unnecessarily boisterous in front of her when she arrives, because she hates that behavior and may leave him again. The line, 'Throw down your guns' means don't show traits such as recklessness, aggressiveness, or extreme independence popularly associated with cowboys. For many a jilted lover, the song contains a hint of cosmic irony."
