We're Back !

A week in the sun on a sensational Fiji island. What bliss, followed by 3 days of some strange stomach bug contacted-we think- on the return flight of an airline we shall not name.
Sadly our New Year's Resolutions were not heeded. The ones we made for others. As always the Daily Telegraph is obsessed with the Ibrahim family with endless gushing stories of this family whose rise in Kings Cross over the past few years has mirrored the downfall of the wonderful and diverse nightclub area of Sydney.

There are other guilty parties though.

Hey guys- when Abe Saffron (right)  Mr Sin, ran the Cross he kept a very low profile. Very. The Shuttle met the Ibrahims many moons ago in The Tunnel, their first nightclub. It was at a PR promotion for something or other and they eagerly begged to be in the social pages (at the time we worked for one of Sydney's Sunday newspapers.) After pleasantries we politely declined. Since then they have risen to great heights aided by a few social writers who should know better. It will all end in tears.

Croc-A-Dyke Dundee

 A new film has been released on DVD charting the life of the legendary woman about town Dawn O'Donnell who died in 2007.
O'Donnell became an international skating star in her 20s before returning to Sydney to open one of the cities first gay bars in 1968, the Trolley Bar off Broadway. It was one of many that were to follow mainly in the Darlinghurst area and Oxford Street- Jools, Capricios, Ruby Reds and Patches along with steam baths, sex shops and pubs. Blessed with a canny business ability and extraordinary good luck: many of her night spots were inexplicably burnt down as the public tired of them while O'Donnell had sensibly taken out generous insurance policies.                                                                     
She partnered in some venues with the late 'Mr Sin' Abe Saffron (above right) and the French nightclub owner Roger Claude Teyssedre who passed away from AIDS. Teyssedre's lover who was suspected of smothering Roger Claude and who inherited his fortune was mysteriously murdered 2 years after Teyssedre's death. O'Donnell's Imperial Hotel was the setting for scenes in the film Priscilla Queen of The Desert. The DVD is available at the Tool Shed at 81 Oxford St. Darlinghurst.

"A Theme Park For Every Human Desire"

 The title is a quote from broadcaster Philip Adams about Sydney's Kings Cross where he partied in the 60s and 70s with the late media mogul Kerry Packer. Bizarrely, the Coca Cola sign that signals the beginning of 'The Cross' is now  National Trust listed.

Playwright and author Louis Nowra who has lived there for yonks has written a superb history of Kings Cross, a place he says : "attracts the sane and the mad… but that at times it’s hard to tell the difference."
The Cross is a no-holds barred place -backpackers, prostitutes, strippers, chefs, mad men, poets, beggars, booksellers, doctors, gangsters, sailors, musicians, drug traffickers, movie stars, eccentrics, judges and artists and a former Prime Minster (Paul Keating) live side by side in elegant terrace houses and cheap flats. And slam bang in the middle are George Miller's studios were he filmed Babe and Happy Feet.

Part flaneur, part historian and part eyewitness, Louis Nowra is the best possible guide to a place both real, and a state of mind. The Cross attracts hordes of tourists from all over Australia and the world. It's history began as a sort of melting pot for European expats- there are still gracious old Art Deco buildings lining Macleay Street packed with little old Hungarian and Polish ladies who fled from WW2. During the 20s it became the night time entertainment area offering every conceivable sin man desired- from strip clubs to bordellos, gay bars and 24 hour drinking clubs, illegal gambling casinos and even a few opium dens. The legendary Razor Gangs fought duels in the back streets over the cocaine trade.
 The illegal casinos were frequented by visiting celebrities and  local politicians including premier Sir Robert Askin who like a character out of Casablanca would have his winnings thrust into his hand and be ushered out a side door just before his own cops would raid the joint (mainly to collect bribes).

Norton & Goossens

The list of memorable characters is too long to chart: like the practising witch Rosaleen Norton who became entangled with the British conducter Sir Eugene Goossens (he attended her orgies) whose career crashed when he was stopped at customs retuning from the UK with a suitcase of porn for Ms Norton.

Mr Sin- Abe Saffron

 And Mr Sin Abe Saffron who came from humble beginnings to dominate The Cross for 40 years like an Antipodian Al Capone- just as powerful and deadly and finally like Capone, they could only get him for tax evasion. Owning a string of strip joints and the all male revue bar Les Girls and with a finger in every club and bar in the area, Abe made an art of bribing politicians and police including the Commissioner. And he saw off the US Mafia when they tried to muscle in on the action. When Saffron died he left around $30Million but it's rumoured there was another 30 or 40 hidden away.

Louis Nowra & wife Mandy Sayer

                                                                                                             
Things began to change in the 1960s with the mass influx of US  soldiers on 'R&R" leave from Vietnam and the appearance of Bernie Houghton reputedly the former boss of the infamous Air America who arrived with suitcases stuffed with cash and a new passport courtesy of his spook friends in ASIO. And with the opening of his Bourbon & Beefsteak 24 hour nightspot came hard drugs.

The unexpected can still happen in Kings Cross. Two years ago the Shuttle witnessed an impromptu one hour performance by comedian Robyn Williams at the Kit & Kaboodle when he arrived with actor Elijah Wood for dinner. The Beach Haus club became Leo Di Caprio and his entourage's favourite club of choice as he nightly commandeered 6 tables (leaving about 3 ).  And actor Russell Crowe could be often found popping in to the Portuguese Chicken bar around midnight after a munchies attack.
There's more, much much more in Nowra's book

Carlotta- Ageing Gracefully

 The tele-movie about the Kings Cross identity Carlotta is to start filming with Packed To The Rafters star Jessica Marais to play the famous drag queen.

Jessica Marais

Marais has just completed work on a US series Magic City and will begin filming the ABC movie in late May.

Carlotta began treading the boards at the famous Les Girls in 1963 when "Mr Sin", mobster Abe Saffron opened the risque nightclub. For the next 30 years the transvestite cabaret show was packed nightly and eventually inspired Stephan Elliott's Oscar winning film Priscilla Queen of The Desert.
During the 90's Carlotta was a panelist on the show Beauty & The Beast where 4 female panel members traded barbs with host, the late Stan Zermanic.
Touchingly, that organ of repute, the Daily Telegraph says Carlotta is 69.  The Shuttle attended what was reputedly Carlotta's 60th birthday in 2000. But who cares ?. She's still gorgeous.
 right : here's a screen shot of  Carlotta ( then Ricky Byron) being interviewed in 1963 ..you can view it here.

Vale Edwin Duff 1928-2012

He was regular sight around Kings Cross where his name is immortalised in stone on the footpaths- the diminutive jazz singer Edwin Duff who passed away last Monday at a nursing home in Vaucluse at the age of 84.

Barry Crocker & Edwin Duff

Edwin emigrated from Scotland in 1938 at the age of 10 as a 'ten pound Pom". On board the ship he won a talent quest impressing the audience with his soulful voice. One of those in the audience was associated with the Melbourne radio station 3KZ. He invited Edwin to sing on air with a group of children and he was such a success that he was soon invited to sing in variety concerts. leaving school at the age of 14 he became a regular entertainer in coffee shops, restaurants and clubs.

During the 1960s and 70s Edwin was part of trio of singers who appeared regularly on TV shows including Graham Kennedy Tonight in Melbourne and the Don Lane Show in Sydney. One of the them, Norm Erskine became a club regular while the other Tony Monopoly went to the UK where he found fame as the winner of the Opportunity Knocks talent quest. All 3 teemed up for Edwin's 60th birthday in 1988 for a concert at the East's Leagues Club.

Edwin was small in stature at 5'3" but his smooth jazz vocals made him a popular act around the smarter Sydney nightclubs like Quo Vardis, Abe Saffron's Roosevelt Room and Denis Wong's Chequers where Duff crooned one night for an hour along with Frank Sinatra. And at the age of 72 he hired the Darlinghurst Theatre and appeared for 5 nights to a capacity audience. Today he was cremated with singers Barry Crocker and Delilah officiating at the service.
Here is Edwin singing with Peter Kaye, host of the show Saturday Night Live.

Drag Star Carmen Laid to Rest

Some mourners flew across the Tasman for her funeral as the legendary drag star and Kings Cross identity Carmen Rupe was laid to rest today at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.

Carmen died last week of kidney failure at the age of 75.
At her service at the Sydney Anglican Maori Church in Redfern almost 250 mourners crammed in to celebrate Carmen's life and were treated to same memorable stories.

Such as when Carmen was summonsed by the New Zealand Parliament in 1977 to explain herself for for claiming on a TV chat show that there were many gay New Zealand MPs. How times have changed. Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark sent a letter of condolence and NZ television was there to record her funeral.

Lifetime friend Jacquie Grant, looking out across the congregation said "this looks like the best drag show in town"
Jacquie described how during the 1960s and 70s she and Carmen were hauled in by the Kings Cross police many times when they were spotted walking down the street in drag. Sometimes the police were brutal, sometimes very very friendly, but the 2 spent many stints out at Long Bay Jail.

Koko D'Vyne

Ribena arrives

Friend Ribena said "Carmen's life was theatre in action, so her funeral was always going to be a colourful event."
Said friend Koko D'Vyne:“It is a very sad day because who else do we know that was able to do things that Carmen did? Who was bold enough who was strong enough?”
Famous Oxford Street cabaret star Monique Kelly said :“I used to say ‘you’re to blame for all this influx of drag queens from New Zealand’,”
Carmen joined Abe Saffron's Les Girls in the 1950s and was a popular performer there during the 60's and 70s.

not all tears

 She was way ahead of her time and when she stood for mayor of her home town Wellington in the 1970s she advocated for gay and indigenous rights, legalised prostitution and abortion. Along the way she met Frank Sinatra's granddaughter Deana who became a pal.


As the mourners formed a guard of honour, commandeering the street and stopping traffic, Carmen's bright red casket slowly disappeared from view in a white hearse for her final trip to Rookwood to a rousing cheer and a soloist singing her favorite song Le Vie En Rose.

Legendary Carmen Passes Away

She literally stopped traffic around the inner city of Sydney as she drove along streets in her motorised wheel chair, feathers flying and multi coloured boas trailing behind. Always with a cheery wave and a huge smile.

The famous New Zealand born drag queen Carmen Rupe passed away today in St Vincent's Hospital from kidney failure at the age of 74. A month ago she celebrated her birthday with a gang of friends.

Carmen had recently arrived back from her native New Zealand where she had taken part in a conference of Agender a transgender support group.

Born in Taumarunui and known as Trevor Rupe for the first 20 years of her life, Carmen entered the sex industry after leaving the army in the 1950s.

In 1977 she ran for mayor of Wellington and campaigned for hotel bars to be open till midnight or even 2am; the drinking age to be lowered to 18; prostitution to be made legal; abortion to be decriminalised; homosexual acts to be decriminalised; sex education in schools for 14-year-olds; and nudity on some beaches all of which are now legal in New Zealand.

For many years Carmen worked for 'Mr Sin' Abe Saffron who had  a stranglehold over the booming nightclub and sex industry in Kings Cross for 40 years. As a star act in his Les Girls, the all male drag revue show during the 60's and 70s Carmen was a favourite of tourists who flocked in their hundreds every week to the tiny cabaret venue. And she attended Saffron's funeral at the Emmanuel Synagogue in Woollahra  in 2006 where her photo was splashed across newspaper pages.
RIP Carmen Rupe 1935-2011

Drag Star For Hollywood and Film Fame

Courtney Act, seen here in our pic with Danni Minogue recently is headed for Hollywood but is also to play the lead role in a film based on the life of the legendary Kings Cross transgender show biz star Carlotta.

Carlotta, who was born Richard Byron first appeared in the famous Les Girls show at in Kings Cross and for many years worked for the Sydney crime baron Abe Saffron who ruled all night life around Kings Cross with an iron first.

Carlotta

Carlotta also appeared on the TV show Beauty & The Beast where a panel of 4 women would do battle with the 'beast' and host, the late Stan Zemanek as viewers wrote in letters asking for advice.

Les Girls finally closed it's doors in 1993 after a 35 years and was the inspiration for Stephan Elliot's "Priscilla Queen of the Desert". The show continued on the road under the banner of co-star Simone de Troy for several years including a short stint at London's Wimbledon Theatre. Carlotta also appeared in the famous Number 96 , 1970's soap opera playing a transgender girlfriend of Arnold Feather.

Courtney Act, Shane Jenek was a finalist in the 2003 Australian Idol quest and had a hit record "Rub Me Wrong" in 2004. After several attempts he has now secured a working visa for the USA.

Here is Carlotta on Beauty & The Beast :

A very famous blow job

It's becoming the most famous blow job since actor Hugh Grant got busted on the Sunset Strip just as Devine Brown was about to dive into his crutch.

Emma Booth as Hollingsworth

Kim Hollingsworth's hilarious blow-job scene in the hugely popular Underbelly The Golden Mile which is drawing audiences on Sunday nights of up to 3 million viewers.

A facebook group has started, The underbelly blow job which has over 55,000 members.

It's dedicated to the scene from the premiere last Sunday week when prospective hooker, the real life Kim Hollingsworth, played by Emma Booth began working as a prostitute in Kings Cross and  entertained her first client in a motel. 

When the client says 'I just want a blow job" Hollingsworth bends down, unzips the punter's fly, takes out his penis and starts gently blowing on it. Well she was a Convent girl. Hollingsworth worked as a prostitute for a few years before joining appropriately, the NSW police where she was posted back to-yes-Kings Cross.

Holingsworth was eventually drummed out of the force when her hooker past was revealed and the fact she had had an affair with Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim whilst still in uniform. Hollingsworth sued for unfair dismissal and initially lost but then made a small fortune modelling for men's magazines and Playboy.

Kim Hollingsworth

Last night she gave an interview on '60 Minutes' in which she described how she had had sex with "thousands of men' before being successful in her application to join the police force. Whilst training at the academy she was recognised by a detective who asked her to work in a brothel he was opening. When she complained to the powers that be, she was asked to return to the Cross and work as an undercover cop in the disguise of a prostitute. When she appealed her dismissal  from the force the police were ordered to re-instate her. Holingsworth eventually left the force after persistent harassment and is now an animal rights activist.

Peter O'Brien as Freeman

     Just how close is the new Underbelly series to the real thing ?. There is much muttering from those who were around at the time the series is set in-the 80's and 90's about inaccuracies. The 'overlord' of the Cross is depicted as the 'colorful racing identity'  George Freeman played by Miranda Otto's husband Peter O'Brien who appears as a mentor to the young John Ibrahim who at  age 40 now  controls Kings Cross nightlife. But Ibrahim would have been in shorts and still at school in the early 1980's when Freeman reigned supreme running protection rackets and several illegal gambling casinos. Freeman was dead by 1990 when he had largely been out of Kings Cross activities for a few years and Ibrahim just 20.

And so far there hasn't been a single mention of the true crime boss of Kings Cross-Abe Saffron, or Mr Sin as he was dubbed, who died in 2006  and who from the late 1940's either controlled all strip joints , gambling casinos, prostitution and anything that made an illegal buck or had a share in these illegal activities and a army of stand over men who exercised control. 
In his 2008 book, "Gentle Satan: My Father, Abe Saffron" Alan Saffron described how as a schoolboy, every afternoon he would go to his father's motel where his headquarters were located and went to a special room to count bundles of money into colour coded paper bags with each colour representing different bribes-to police  magistrates and even the state premier Sir Robert Askin. Perhaps Abe will pop up as the series progresses.

********************************************
Accidents Happen is the gorgeous Geena Davis's latest film and it had it's world premier at the Cremorne Orpheum last Thursday night.

Geena and her co-stars (c)tSS

Geena & husband Reza Jarharry (c)tSS

 Descibed as a 'black comedy' it's about a family beset by a series of accidents and how they cope with them.

Filmed in downtown St Ives on the North Shore of Sydney 2 years ago, the all Australian cast speak with American accidents.
The film is set in Connecticut.

Teflon John needs to tone down that profile.

Arriving in Sydney in the early 1990's tSS was fortunate to land a job on a local newspaper covering the inner city. The main beat was  Darlinghurst-the Golden Mile of gay Oxford Street , it's surroundings and Kings Cross.

Dawn-ran Oxford Street

 It was an eye-opener. Oxford Street truly was fun city with all manner of night clubs and bars with every taste catered for. It was friendly  and packed every night. Sure it was run by some questionable characters like the late  Roger Claude Teyssedre. who had arrived from France penniless and was a multi millionaire within 5 years. Claude died in mysterious circumstances with his lover  by his bed-Ludwig Gertsch who 18 months later was found strangled and trussed up in a sleeping bag in the Blue Mountains, his murderer still free.

 Or the one time champion lesbian ice skater turned nightclub mogul Dawn O'Donnell. A lovely lady to dine with who could talk for hours on which lesbian porn sold to straight men in huge quantities over an after dinner cigar. Dawn would know-she owned a few shops openly selling illicit hard core adult porn.

Costellos fan?

Kings Cross was something else. Drugs prostitution and live sex shows that made Amserdam look decidedly tame. And there was supposed to be a bar called Costellos beneath the giant Coca Cola sign where 12 year old boys were on tap at the bar.  At a later Royal Commission witnesses swore it was true and one even claimed  improbably that the late American actor Karl Malden had once visited the bar. Wacky stuff.  

And the police. Well they ran the show as journalist Michael Duffy points out in his piece on 2 books to be released by 2 honest cops that got run out of town for their efforts. tSS recalls one quite scary lunch at the Bourbon and Beefsteak hosted by 4 Kings Cross detectives which we thought was some sort of community and neighbourhood watch get-together. It turned out to be a boozy afternoon where one couldn't actually leave and the tales we heard about who did what  to whom and who ran who and was on the take and which politician was in whose pocket just wasn't what one wished to know. Well certainly not from the cops. Fortunately they got so drunk one was able to slip out carefully ripping our name tag into tiny pieces. 

Sir Joh-premier of the corrupt Sunshine Coast

The excellent reporter Chris Master of the ABC who exposed Queensland's police corruption in the 1980's amongst govermment figures and police under the premier Sir Joh Belke Petersen, has been giving out a warning to 'Teflon 'John Ibraham, the current Kings Cross bigwig . Masters says John's profile will be boosted so much by the Underbellly TV series his life will be in danger. Masters knows what he is talking about. When his film on the Sunshine State corruption was broadcast the state's Police Commissioner Sir Terry Lewis  immediately fled back to his native UK only to be discovered by Scotland Yard detectives a year later living in luxury in  Richmond . He did 8 years in jthe Boggo Road jail after being extradited back to Oz.

Sunday sees the 2 hour premiere of

Underbelly 3, TheGolden Mile that continues the tale of the extraordinary corruption of police and the rule of gangsters during the 1980/1990's before a Royal Commission finally put paid to a scene that would have made Al Capone envious. The then king of Kings Cross, the 5'4" Abe Saffron known as Mr Sin was only finally put behind bars for tax evasion, just like Capone,despite having a finger in every piece of action.

friendly Teflon John

 The series also brings up to date the new breed of local entrepreneurs who now rule Kings Cross, namely our ever friendly luncheon pal John Ibrahim whose career we have watched flourish ever since he and his younger brother Fadi cornered us in his first nightclub, The Tunnel in a back laneway and demanded we promote him in the local rag. Why not?. They seemed nice enough lads and despite police saying Telflon John is now a major 'leading crime figure' he is certainly charming..The Tunnel was eventualy shut down when the Chinese triad murdered 2 men outside it's entrance, hacking them to pieces.

According to Masters the new ruling mafia in town are the bikie gangs who are so organised they have left authorities scratching their heads in bewilderment. And they don't take prisoners. Masters warns that this is new breed of crim who holds no respect for rank and privilege, as enjoyed by Ibrahim at present, and will ruthlessly remove him. They are called bikie gangs but they drive Mercedes and BMWs and wear designer suits. It's said Ibrahim has an interest in about 8 Kings Cross nightclubs and nearly all bouncers in every club including Oxford Street's gay strip are controlled by his firm. The bikies have their own security firm who would like a share of the action.


 

One honest copper forced out by the bent ones was Deborah Locke who has written a superb book Watching The Detectives in which she describes attempting to report serious misconduct at the Parramatta Police Headquarters only to be taken to lunch by a head honcho with Louis Bayeh-the then drug baron of the Cross and currently doing a few years in prison .It's a superb and racy read and you can order it at Deborah's website.
 

Another great read is Dirty Work by an honest ex-cop Glen McNamara who fled to California after attempting to report bent cops only to find there was a contract on his life. He was tracked down in an LA motel with a chilling phone call from hitmen saying that they knew where he was, whereupon his pregnant wife miscarried. It's an amazing record of a sorry era in Sydney.

 Underbelly-The Golden Mile starts next Sunday 10th April at 8.30pm on the Channel Nine network

Rich pickings on the Golden Mile

          Underbelly ,The Golden Mile is almost upon us. The third in the series of hugely successful mini-series about the real life Australian underworld brings us up to the present day. Where the original Underbelly dealt with a 10 year crime spree in Melbourne in the late 1990's when around 30 gangland murders took place, including 2 rival gangsters being blasted to death with shotguns as they sat watching their kids play football. The Golden Mile takes us into the heart of Sydney's Kings Cross.

         But what is this "golden mile'  business?. One newspaper writer has picked up on the theme (conveniently after the Shuttle mentioned it ) as often stated by tSS-the Golden Mile has always referred to Darlinghurst's Oxford Street gay strip replete with pubs, drag bars, sex clubs, heavy leather bars, saunas, male peep shows, adult book stores and everything in between.

          Walk a half a kilometer to the north, via the infamous underage male hustler hangout The Wall and one enters Kings Cross which has had an extraordinary revival in the past 5 years with numerous smart nightclubs popping up all over the place. But this area has never been referred to as the golden mile.

         Adverts are running thick and fast for the new series, shot in a downtown suburban Crows Nest shopping center which was turned, for a few short weeks into a garish neon lit Kings Cross of the 1990's . Bewildered pensioners thought they had stumbled into an alternative reality as they encountered yelling barkers outside The Pink Pussy Cat and the odd baseball bat wielding rival gangs in pitched battles.

         However a phone call to Underbelly's publicist brings a 'no comment' on whether series 3 will actually incorporate the real Golden Mile. The 2 areas have always been intricately linked with no qualms over sexual preferences when a quick buck was to be made or a bent copper to be nobbled.

        Indeed the history of gay Oxford Street has been as bizarre and dangerous of that of the Cross at times with murders, mysterious nightclub fires and stand over merchants threatening rival disco owners.

        And no mention has been sighted in the advertising for Underbelly ,The Golden Mile of whether the legendary Mr Sin, Abe Saffron is featured . Saffron, who died in 2006 was considered one of the most powerful organized crime figures in the country. The tiny 5'2" 'property developer' had a controlling interest in just about every strip joint, bordello and nightclub in Kings Cross. He left an estate of over $20 million dollars although experts estimate plenty more was squirreled away abroad. Saffron even successfully saw off the US Mafia when they tried to muscle in on the action in the 1970's.

       Kings Cross had a bohemian atmosphere from the 1920's on but it was in the 60's and the Vietnam War era when it blossomed into a full time chaotic nightclub and disco center. The influx of R&R (rest and recreation) US army personnel in their thousands saw the suburb bloom overnight into a land of nightclubs, strip joints, live sex shows (inviting audience participation) brothels and lots of illicit drugs. Amsterdam by comparison looked quite tame. And the local cop shop overlooking the area seemed oblivious to then illegal activities happening right at it's front door. 2 Royal Commissions later found dozens of corrupted policemen had become very rich by turning a blind eye.
      Along with the Yanks came some mysterious characters like Bernie Houghton of no fixed background who opened the Bourbon and Beefsteak that still operates for 22 hours of the day. Hougton was thought to be an ex-CIA agent involved with the infamous Air America. Bernie arrived with a suitcase stuffed with cash.
       Abe Saffron's Les Girls transvestite cabaret show was another runaway success as busloads of suburban mums and an occasional husband came night after night to watch the extravagant drag shows.

          And then there was the crossover to Oxford Street. Saffron become the backing partner for the lesbian entrepreneur Dawn O'Donnell who died in 2007.  O'Donnell's first career was as an ice-skating star. She settled down to run a butcher's shop before discovering there was more money to be made under the table by operating a gay drinking spot, the Trolley Bar.
     Followed by a lesbian sauna, Dawn was soon in her stride with a string of nightspots and sex bookshops on Oxford Street. always with Saffron in the background.
Jools, Patches, Flo's Palace, The Exchange Hotel, Ruby Reds, Capricos were all owned by Dawn and packed to the rafters night after night and when business got slow, there was always a mysterious fire and an insurance policy to collect. Or as Saffron  would put it, "time for a fire-sale !"
      Both Saffron and O'Donnell were at times in partnership with  Roger Claude Teyssedre who amassed a fortune in property from the proceeds of a number of gay saunas before he expired under strange circumstances from the effects of an Aid's related illness while being cared for by his newest lover Ludwig Gertsch who had kept friends from visiting the dying Frenchman in his last days. Low and behold, a new will appeared ,written 17 days before his death leaving all of his multi-million dollar fortune to Gertsch, cutting out previous beneficiaries.
         The cream of Kings Cross and Darlinghurst nightlife figures including Saffron and O'Donnell , a few dozen favored weeping Greek lads and dozens of drag queens made up Teyssedre's funeral cortege.
      In the family pew at the crematorium sat Gertsch with four of Teyssedre's ex-lovers. As for Gertsch, whatever the circumstances surrounding the will, Roger's fortune did him little good.
           An increasingly paranoid Gertsch said he was receiving death threats and fortressed the Paddington mansion left to him by Teyssedre.
           Less than 2 years later his trussed up body was found in bush land in the Blue Mountains. Gertsch had been strangled. Stories abound of spurned Teyssedre lovers hiring Italian hit men to do away with Ludwig. When police broke into his wall safe a week after his body was found, the million dollars in cash that had supposedly lain there since Teyssedre's death was missing. In it's place was a $5 note wrapped in a black cloth.

       If Underbelly 3 doesn't include some of these events it's really missing the plot. So far we know from advertisements that the likeable 'Teflon' John Ibrahim  (left with Paris Hilton ) features heavily. Ibrahim started out as the gangster George Freeman's bodyguard before becoming a nightclub entrepreneur who seems to have a share in most of the Kings Cross nightclubs and a few in Oxford street to boot.

             Police say he's an "organized crime figure". Word around town is that Ibrahim is shopping around for a publicity firm to help him cash in on the certain fame that will spread country-wide with the screening of the series but hasn't found a taker yet. Unlike Melbourne's Mick Gatto who featured in the first Underbelly series who has just published his life story. Gatto was charged with murdering the hit man Andrew "Benji" Benjamin , admitted shooting Benji dead but successfully claimed self defense. Publicist Max Markson looks after Gatto but apparently he declined Ibrahim's approach.

           And what of the department store heiress Juanita Neilson who went missing when she was running an activist newspaper and agitating to prevent rows of beautiful Victorian terraced mansions in Kings Cross from being razed to the ground by property developers ?. She disappeared after visiting a Saffron nightspot supposedly lured there by an advertising order. Everyone who lives in the Cross (including tSS) can point out a a different tall building where Neilson's body is supposed to lie, buried in concrete.

        tSS lives a few stories above the Cross in one of the lovely art deco buildings just a few meters from the El Alemain fountain that signals the beginning of this new 'golden mile'. Far enough away from the hullabaloo but close enough to hear the odd scream, bullet shot and police siren,. We'll be a fierce critic of this new series.

Current state of play :

Underbelly 1 :. Crime family matriarch Judy Moran  (right) whose family featured in the series (shooting others dead or being murdered themselves) has just been charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, in connection with her brother-in-law's death.

 Mick Gatto is now an "employment and building consultant" and operates a crane hire business and is constantly perplexed why people think he's a criminal.

Drug lord Carl Williams serving 25 years to life for murder. (he was murdered in jail in 2010).

Underbelly 2 A Tale of 2 Cities : Abe Saffron-dead, gangster George Freeman-dead, drug baron Robert Trimbole-dead.

Underbelly 3 The Golden Mile: no-one has been charged over Ludwig Gertsch's murder. Dawn O'Donnell leaves $3M out of $16M to her widow Aneik Baten while a Lucien Freud painting listed in the estate is found to be a fake.

Underbelly3 The Golden Mile will begin screening in April on the Nine network.

more gaiety

Just as former PM John Howard gets the boot as the prospective head of Rugby League (with the help of Labor's Anthony Albanese) news comes of an autobiography that has footie players quaking in their boots about potential changing room revelations.

Rob Astbury, formerly the countries top sports broadcaster is soon to publish his autobiography called Twice as Hard.

Television personalities, top executives plus Australian Football Rules stars and officials are on tenterhooks in anticipation of Astbury’s book.

Astbury infuriated friends of the late Graham Kennedy by publishing explicit details of his relationship with the King of Television in a book called King & I. The late Don Lane tore it up for the TV cameras, Melbourne radio host Derryn Hinch went into meltdown, others cried foul but the tome sold like hotcakes. It wasn't like Astbury was revealing the entertainment world's worst kept secret-that Gra Gra was Gay - they just preferred not to know. Apart from about 50 thousand who bought the book that is.

The former multi award winning journalist, who won a Logie nomination for breaking the news of the Sydney Swans invasion, won the confidence of former owner the flamboyant Doctor Geoffrey Edelsten revealing exclusive stories about the doctor, his former wife Leanne and former star footballer Warrwick Capper. Edelsten is now squiring the buxom 25 year old Las Vegas fitness trainer Brynne Gordon and threatening to marry the blond starlet in a $250K wedding after negotiating picture sale rights to OK ! magazine. As one does.

Astbury’s autobiography will feature stories that were too hot to be published at the height of his career concerning Aussie Rules legends, some of whom have sons playing today including Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett.

In talking about his experiences with TV stars including Eddie McGuire, Jana Went, Daryl Somers, Naomi Robson, Don Lane and others like Tracey Grimshaw who hit headlines in the UK when foul mouthed TV chef Gordon Ramsey recently went head to head with her on her chat show, he describes television as a despicable industry. Television executives have not been spared and lawyers are painstakingly scanning the manuscript to offset legal action. Astbury refused to answer probing questions from Social Shuttle until lawyers have completed their job.

To promote Twice as Hard and re-establish Astbury, videos of his career at Channel 10, 9 and 7 have been posted on You Tube .

Here is a young Rob (2nd left front)with a host of big-time media personalities.

To the far right,( in every sense of the word) is the current airwaves king Alan Jones in plaid jacket and kiss curls. Behind with the started look is the late Don Lane who died this week, with a youthful George Negus shaking his fist. Negus is currently whipping up a storm as a guest in Masterchef. At the top waving his fist in delight is John Blackman who recently re-apprised his role in the revived Hey Hey it's Saturday show that hit worldwide headlines for all the wrong reasons over a Michael Jackson tribute which probably scored the show another few episodes, if not a whole series. (instant update-a series has been announced)

Astbury now lives in the saucy seaside town of Pattaya, Thailand where he helped build a property empire and divides his time between a seaside penthouse and a cattle ranch in the north.

Next week promoter Harry M.Miller launches his autobiography and Shuttlers may recall he was once sued by his former client Graham Kennedy over a secret commission he received when he lured the legend back to TV. Miller also threatened to sue Astbury if he published his tale about life with the legend. Just to show there were no hard feelings, Rob published anyway.

No-it's not another transvestite footballer but a former cast member of the late 'Mr Sin' Abe Saffron's famous Les Girls cabaret in Kings Cross, Karen Chant. Described as a 'living gay legend' and a close friend of Astbury's (with her in the snap). Karen makes an appearance in the book as well. Doing what, we aren't quite sure but it sounds like fun.
We can't wait !