Re-live the 1970s and 80s with the biggest Aussie and international stars as the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia (NFSA) celebrates the best of The Mike Walsh Show in a new online exhibition.
Having acquired a collection of nearly 1,500 episodes of The Mike Walsh Show, the NFSA is celebrating Mr Walsh’s entertainment legacy with an online collection of clips featuring stars such as Bette Midler, Jane Fonda, John Cleese, Johnny Cash, Sir David Attenborough, Big Bird, Helen Mirren, Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The collection also includes interviews with Bob Hawke, Dame Edna Everage, Jack Thompson, and other Australian personalities. Beloved regulars included all-singing and dancing fashionista Jeanne Little, film reviewer John Michael Howson, TV medic Dr Wright and musical maestro Geoff Harvey.
The Mike Walsh Show had five million Aussies a week turning on their TV sets in the 1970s and 80s. Host Mike Walsh AM OBE entertained viewers with a winning mix of the latest in music, film, fashion, gossip, politics and housekeeping tips – all recorded live in front of a studio audience five days a week.
Starting off on Network Ten (then 0-10) in 1973, the show moved to the Nine Network in 1978 and ran until 1985. The show won 24 Logie awards, including Gold Logies for Mike Walsh AM OBE (1980) and Jeanne Little (1977). The collection is made available courtesy of Hayden Productions.
The Mike Walsh Show curated collection also includes interviews with Lauren Bacall, The Village People, Wendy Lowenstein, Billy Connolly, Ita Buttrose, Pat Lovell, Margaret Fink, Gillian Armstrong, Derryn Hinch and Sister Stanislaus, as well as a Female Forum spot and a selection of the show’s ‘ordinary Australians’ stories. The best of The Mike Walsh Show can be viewed online at www.nfsa.gov.au
Image: Mike Walsh AM OBE (centre) with some of his guests – courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia