Rupert The Movie

Patrick Brammel  & Rupert Murdoch

With the stunning success of two movies featuring the Big Goanna- Kerry Packer, comes a new mini-series Power Games: The Packer-Murdoch Story that features a young Rupert Murdoch going into battle over publishing deals with Sir Frank Packer,  Kerry's father.
 Lachy Hulme (right) stars as Frank Packer (he also played Kerry ) and Rupert Murdoch is played by Patrick Brammel. Some legendary Australian political figures feature in the series as well including Black Jack McEwen along with actresses playing Anna Torv, Rupert's wife No 2 (before Wendi Deng) and Lady Florence Packer, Sir Frank's second wife who died this year in Monte Carlo and Ros Packer, Kerry's widow and mother of James Packer.
                                                                   

Anna Torv & Lady Flo Packer

The Shuttle turned for some background to regular contributor Bill Ranken  (right) grazier and man-about-town who at 84 has known all these characters over the years. Ranken reports Sir Frank Packer was almost persona non grata in Sydney society with many considering him to be fairly rough around the edges "not that I think he was much interested in Sydney's social scene. I think he thrived on the rough and tumble of business but Kerry was extremely popular and known for his generosity and loyalty towards retired staff : Kerry could be a big softie and he was generous with charities and rarely sought recognition for it. There must be thousands of people who should be grateful Kerry went into bat to retain St Vincent's Hospital when developers were eyeing off the property. I always recall traveling through a county town with Kerry and we came across a car accident where fortunately no-one was hurt. But a local tradie was distraught because his van was destroyed and he had no insurance. Kerry jotted down his details- the chap didn't have a clue who he was- and then a week later the local rag reported how a generous but anonymous benefactor had replaced the tradie's van. Typical of Kerry !". As for Rupert :"pretty boring really, never saw him at parties, Don't think he was that keen on the night life.".
Ranken, who owns one of the state's finest cattle properties also dated Ros Packer before she met Kerry and he described Clyde Packer, Kerry's brother, as a jovial figure : "we regularly toured Sydney's nightspots in Clyde's Rolls Royce convertible with more and more attractive ladies joining the tour as the night wore on. Clyde was once stopped by police who deemed the Roller over-crowed and as a fairly large and rotund man, he astonished the coppers when he emerged from the Rolls in a flowing kaftan. When they noted his name- he was also an MP then, they proceeded to give us a police escort to Kings Cross". They were the days !

the Shuttle scoops Fleet Street-again!

Lord Hamlyn

A Day at The Races

Nearly a week after the Social Shuttle revealed exclusively that the lifetime patron of the famed Sydney dominatrix Madame Lash was the British peer and publisher Paul Hamlyn, Britain's Daily Mail has caught up to speed.

We attended the launch of the Madame Lash biography penned by Sam Everingham last Monday evening at her city residence The Kirk, a deconsecrated Presbyterian Church. While 200 guests were treated to topless acrobats and an opera singer the expected guest of honour Gretel Pinniger -Lash's real name, failed to show despite phoning ahead from her limousine- a former hearse with the numberplate STIFF, to tell our snapper to be prepared and wait outside for her arrival in an outfit she said contained "ten yards of red taffeta and a whip or 2".

Madame at The Kirk

Former Oz Magazine founder and later Kerry Packer executive Richard Walsh launched the book and gave a brief history of Lash expecting the lady to appear at any moment. She never arrived.

 Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn of Edgeworth was born in Germany and fled with his family to the UK in 1933 and became one of the richest publishers in the world with Hamlyn Books (born Paul Hamburger he chose the name Hamlyn from a telephone book). When he died in 2001 he left an enormous fortune including a $500M charity foundation plus a yearly stipend to Gretel with the stipulation his name never be revealed by her.

Clyde Packer (left) with Sir Frank and Kerry

It was always common knowledge that Hamlyn was Pinniger's benefactor. He was introduced to Madame Lash by Clyde Packer, brother of Kerry Packer. Clyde was considered to be Sir Frank Packer's business heir but after a public spat with his father he sold his share of the publishing business to brother  Kerry for $4M in the 1960's and spent the next 40 years wearing caftans and indulging himself in the counter culture that included hiring  the services of Madame Lash. It was Packer who introduced other wealthy like-minded businessmen like Gordon Barton to Lash.

Hamlyn, who has family members in Sydney visited regularly and would take Lash on trips to Asia. One service that the dominatrix specialised in that is rarely mentioned is that she allowed the whip to be turned on her !. And rarely mentioned is the fact that in her 3 houses-The Kirk, one in Melbourne and a splendid beach house at Palm Beach, she has fully equipped dungeons that includes Nazi officer outfits.

Eddie McGuire-arrogant, over rated meglomaniac.

  Hey, they aren't our words !.

       They're from one of the 10880 10886 10890 members (coincidentally mirroring the same number of tSS readers since we first revealed the website's existence) who have joined up to Eddie McGuire is ruining the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage facebook page.

    Another recent joiner Tim Stone says "he should be cryogenically frozen so future generations can be annoyed."

    Poor Eddie. We feel guilty. He really is a nice chap. Eddie is a regular at Graeme Goldberg's Dee Bees cafe in Double Bay and on nodding terms with tSS. He calls in after picking his kids up from the nearby snooty Cranbrook School.

   What would former Channel Nine boss the late Kerry Packer say about Eddie's crass homophobic remarks on the men's skating efforts at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games ?. Probably a lot after the number of complaints that have flooded the Nine switchboards. The current owners of the Nine network. PBL Media didn't return our calls.

Rob Astbury at his 2006 book launch

The King

   Instead we turned to the nation's former top sport's broadcaster who reigned at the Nine network for years, the openly gay Rob Astbury who now lives in Thailand where he is a property developer.

      Astbury, a good friend of McGuire's isn't saying much. He referred us to Peter Jess who mangers the biggest names in Australian sport including Olympian and aboriginal Cathy Freeman whose book, which Jess promoted, was a best seller. Jess has contracted Astbury to promote his upcoming autobiography Twice As Hard. Jess told tSS Astbury’s book will reveal intimate details about some of the nation's top sporting personalities and the biggest names in television. Jess says Astbury’s account of his personal and business life in Thailand will ensure the book is a block buster that is sure to amuse, bemuse and shock.
        Astbury's 2006 book King & I, about his long time relationship with the King of  Television, the late Graham Kennedy was a best selling despite ruffling feathers in the media..

  
     46 year old McGuire has had a meteoric rise from his working class background. He is president of the Collingwood Football Club and hosts a number of TV and radio shows. He is reputed to earn up to $5M a year.

    He was appointed the CEO of the Nine Network in 2006 in a surpise move after the departure of David Gyngell whose father, the legendary Bruce Gyngell was the first person to appear on Oz TV and Channel Nine in 1956.

     McGuire lasted nearly a year and presided over plunging ratings before Gyngell was lured back from the USA.

Jessica-boned

      His famous quip "bone her"-a directive to sack newsreader Jessica Rowe has become common lexicon after an internal memo was leaked. Jessica had the last laugh-her husband Peter Overton is now the network's top newsreader. Eddie is also a good friend of Kerry Packer's son James.

   

  It's hard to believe McGuire would actually be anti-gay. Comments like those of his and Olympic's co-host Mike Molloy are pretty much standard football language. The Footy Show is a perfect example with hardly a week going by without a footballer climbing into drag for an amusing sketch.Not for long though.

      The rumour mill inside the Nine network is in overdrive with the current bosses including Gyngell said to be alarmed at the backlash.

Sir Frank and son Kerry

# The founder of the Nine network Sir Frank Packer was a noted homophobe who abhored the number of gays in the budding TV industry.

Barton-"fluid" sexuality

# Sir Frank's sons and heirs Kerry and Clyde talked tough but rebelled against their father's views. Clyde used to attend publisher Gordon Barton's famous "anything goes" parties where one's sexuality was expected to be "fluid". Whilst Kerry Packer took care of business, his older brother Clude roamed Sydney in a Bentley convertible, his enormous girth encassed in flowing brightly coloured caftans. He could have been the lead float at any Mardi Gras.

# Cranbrook School-the expensive private boarding school in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs where the Packer, Gyngell & Murdoch clans were tutored was the butt of endless jokes in it's early years including the raunchy song that ended with the words-"if you can't get a girl get a Cranbrook boy "!

Cranbrook

# # tSS is travelling to Thailand next month to interview Rob Astbury amongst other expatriates who live there. Astbury’s manager, Peter Jess says, “Astbury is ready to blow a trumpet which will make King and I seem like comparing a wave to a tsunami.” According to Jess, Astbury, in his book Twice as Hard, describes television as a “despicable industry” and he will name stars with first hand account tales about top executives which will have lawyers working overtime. Is the raw truth a defence?.

 # Derryn Hinch is a leading contender for the title of 'Australia's Worst Journalist". Voting at the website ends on the 28th Feb.

# Bruce Gyngell was the driving force behind the successful networks-TV am and Yorkshire Television in the UK.

# Expect a float dedicated to Eddie McGuire in the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras on Saturday week.

Eddie's houseguest-Johnny Weir

# Eddie has invited top US skater Johnny Weir to stay with him during his upcoming visit to Australia.

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Everyone is invited to join the Social Shuttle team in the Champagne Bar in the Member's Stand at the Pink Stiletto Race Day tomorrow (Friday) from 1pm at Royal Randwick racecourse.

If you make a substantial donation to the Bobby Goldsmith Fund we may even introduce you to singer Maria Venuti !