Book Launch Brings out Movie Crowd

He wasn't well known by the general public but within Australian cinema the late Albie Thoms was a name to be reckoned with. He completed his memoir My Generation days before he slipped away from cancer at aged 70, three weeks ago.

Albie Thoms, Charles Higham and Frank Thring

Bryan Brown & Gillian Armstrong

Thoms was a leading figure in the revival  of the local film industry in the 1970s when he began Ubu Films inspired by the French New Wave , British and US underground film movements.

Many of today's most recognisable names came within Albie's orbit and were inspired or encouraged by Thoms to pursue their dreams at a time when their hopes of success at best may have seen them appear in an episode of an ABC drama or a commercial TV cop show, in front of, or behind the camera.

Peter Clifton & Glen A.Baker

Claudia Karvan

At the celebration to honour Albie Thoms' life and to launch his just completed autobiography, many turned up to discuss old times. Actors Claudia Karvan, Bryan Brown and Judy Davis joined directors Bruce Beresford, Jan Chapman and Gillian Armstrong along with producers Jim McElroy, Margaret  Fink and Oz Magazine's Richard Neville.

Publisher Richard Walsh & Jim McElroy

Wendy Whiteley

Richard Neville

Over 300 guests packed Paddington Town Hall's newly decorated auditorium to take in screenings of some Albie's first movie productions like Bluto and Blunderball which were praised in their day by the late US film critic Charles Higham.
 There was also time to re-tell one of Albie's favorite stories : Thoms was commissioned to produce several episodes of the TV series Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo (still big in Eastern Europe) and the guest star was the high camp actor Frank Thring, star of Hollywood biblical blockbusters like Ben Hur.                                      
As the crew brought on yet another struggling  kangaroo in a sack for the day's shoot- Thring quipped  "If that's the star's friggin' dressing room, what's mine going to be like?"

Cate Blanchett Talks About The Future

Cate Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton are one of the great theatre success stories. Not only has their marriage remained strong but their ability to work together has been a spectacular success for the Sydney Theatre Company.

With two major plays under their belts-A Streetcar Named Desire and Uncle Vanya, both of which wowed audiences in Australia and the USA where hard bitten critics on the Washington Post and the New York Times heaped praise upon the productions, the pair have also attracted major sponsors to the struggling theatre company including fashion designer Giorgio Armani.

They have just announced the 2012 season and there are some surprises in store with some old favourites re-surfacing including Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood opening in May with the mellifluous tones of actor Jack Thompson.

Jacqueline McKenzie

In January Peter Evans presents a bold new production of George Bernard Shaw’s enduring classic of wicked wordplay Pygmalion with Jessica Marais playing Eliza Doolittle.

Two of Australia’s most respected actors, Pamela Rabe and Hugo Weaving ( who acted in Uncle Vanya) play the deliciously deviant Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses while the Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre's Sex With Strangers opens in September with Jacqueline McKenzie.
You can book tickets here.

Cate and Andrew also spoke to Richard Glover on the ABC's Drivetime show about their theatre work and the recent attacks upon Cate when she openly backed a Climate Change tax. Cate also revealed her first acting inspiration was seeing the great Melbourne stage actor Frank Thring (left) on stage and thought that if she could get away with playing Bob Dylan, she thought she could play Thring in a biopic about his life.

 Irreverent/ Irrelevant facts :
# The Shuttle attended the premiere of Don't Look Now and sat behind Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. They chatted all the way through the film until Cate appeared on screen.
# Frank Thring's father Frank W.Thring invented the clapperboard, still used in film making today.
# Frank Thring appeared in numerous Australian movies including Ned Kelly (1970), Skippy (1968) and Mad Max (1985) but was in demand for Hollywood costume epics where he acted in El Cid, The Vikings, Hercules Returns, King Of Kings where plays Herod and Ben Hur where he played Pontius Pilate.

Here is a clip recorded not long before Frank died in 1994 with him at his best :

Lisping and the clap

A Shuttle reader emails us with a fascinating piece of trivia after spotting our mention of the Melbourne born actor Frank Thring who died in 1994.

Not only did Thring have a name that almost forces one to lisp when pronouncing it, he had the most wonderful mellifluous lisp himself.  

Thring was a gifted stage actor who appeared with Laurence Olivier in Royal Shakespeare Theatre productions and in numerous Hollywood classics like Ben Hur, King of Kings, The Vikings the British flick Doctor in The House and in his later years one of the Mad Max films.

Born into a theatrical family in the 1920's, his father Frank W, Thring owned a small film production studio in the burgeoning Aussie film industry. ( It is little known that the very first feature film ever made was an Australian  movie The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906)

 The Thring family has a very special claim to fame that should endear their name in movie industry history.

Frank Senior was the inventor of that most necessary piece of equipment in the making of  every film production- the clapper board !

Star with Russell Crowe

The Shuttle attended an announcement last week at the Blue Hotel on Woolloomooloo Wharf. It was to announce who would be the narrator of the Ben Hur spectacular at the ANZ Stadium in October.

 One didn't have to be a genius to know that it would be Russell Crowe who lives at the end of the wharf in a penthouse.

Here is a snap from the earlier launch which was hosted by broadcaster Alan Jones at the Sydney Town Hall and a video of Russell at the Wharf plus the fantastic chariot race from the original film with Charlton Heston. For our younger readers, the role of Pontious Pilot who you see in the film drop a scarf to start the race was played by the wonderfully camp Melbourne actor Frank Thring.

Alan Jones smiles..and some  butch Centurions

The production company is also asking for extras to appear in the coliseum scenes.  If they tell you that it's to play the role of a Christian you better check that there won't be lions involved in this show. It's the most amazing and realistic spectacle according to those who saw it in France, the only other time it has been staged. 

As for Russell-he announced on the day he had given up smoking after one of his young kids embarrassed him into it and he will be spending at least the rest of the year in Australia to be with his children. We , as usual will bring you the first news of where Crowe and wife Danielle Spencer will be moving to. They are still looking for a house.

For info on the extra jobs go to  www.benhur.com.au