Suprise guest Kylie Minogue

at the Qantas Airways 100th celebration dinner tonight at Sydney Airport. She sang the Peter Allen song "I still Call Australia Home".

Everything old is New Again

 It's the title of a Peter Allen song where he refers to fashions being recycled over the decades. But it could apply to the current controversy over the felling of the magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees along Anzac Parade that have survived for 100 years but are now falling to development. The above historic 1914 snap shows Aussie troops marching on the way to Circular Quay to board ships bound

for Gallipoli with the figs in the background and to the left is a Sydney tram.                                                                     
Sydney once had the most extensive tram system in the world. One of the joys of visiting Melbourne is to travel on their superb tram system. It's modern, smooth and gets you everywhere that's worth going to.. But for some reason in the 1960s the burghers of Sydney decided to ditch the trams.
Now they are coming back and that is the reason the Moreton Bay figs pictured above where they remained, grew and prospered for over 100 years are to be felled to make way for tram lines. This has brought the fury of 1000s of inner city residents of all stripes- the well heeled of the Eastern Suburbs and the young alike. Prayers and candles are lit as they line up to watch the trees topple. Tears are shed and occasionally a celebrity like TV presenter James Mathison gets carted off by the Sydney wallopers (police). On a happier note : here is Peter at Radio City Hall in New York with The Rockettes singing his song. We received an invite to attend the latest tree funeral today. And we were there at Peter's concert all those years ago.

Death of music figure Eric Robinson

Elton John & Patti Mostyn

Eric Robinson (centre) with Michael Chugg & Glen Shorrock

Australia's show business community is in mourning today after the death of music figure Eric Robinson who passed away from cancer on Wednesday.
Beginning as a roadie for local bands, Robinson eventually rose through hard work to become Australia's foremost lighting and sound provider for the biggest entertainment acts. For a time he also excelled in the same business in the UK before returning to Australia. Along the way he married the countries most powerful music publicist Patti Mostyn who achieved fame after becoming the best pal of some of her superstar clients like Elton John. This year Eric received the Sue Nattrass Award at the  Helpmann Awards to honour his long standing commitment to the live performance industry.

Robinson and Patti retired to Port Douglas a few years ago where Eric died at age 67 from complications from cancer.  He leaves behind wife Patti and their daughter Tara and will be farewelled in a private funeral.

Everything Old is New Again :The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail : It's been described as the very worst and the very best of tabloids. Certainly their online version MailOnline is the most read newspaper website on the planet. The printed version has for decades had the most pleasing layout and graphics of any of the British tabloids and an excellent mixture of news, newsy tales and celebrity, society and show biz gossip.
So it's always a great compliment when the Mail takes a cue from Whispers at thesocialshuttle (as is their wont) to bring the public a tale as they did with this piece on 2nd June 2015  : about former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a fab pic of Julia jiving on stage to accompany the late Victorian premier Joan Kirner at the microphone.
The fact our tale with a similar headline appeared on June 29th 2013 is neither here nor there

JUNE 2015                                                                                       JUNE 2013

Hey a good story is always worth recycling and the Mail are experts at it. We reckon the later Peter Allen may have had them in mind when he penned this song:

B/W Moment: The Unsung Aussie Orry-Kelly

 The Sydney Film Festival is now in full swing and there is one movie that should not be missed. Produced and directed by Academy Award winner Gillian Armstrong, it is the story of one of Hollywood's most celebrated artistes Orry-Kelly who died in 1964.

Gillian Armstrong

The chances are you have watched a movie where Orry George Kelly-his birth name, designed unforgettable costumes for the most famous legends of the day from Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot to Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca.  Kelly is also Australia's most prolific Oscar winner having won three for costume design and nominated numerous times.

  Kelly (left) was born in Kiama NSW in 1897 before he embarked for New York in 1923 where he shared an apartment with Cary Grant and then to LA and a Hollywood career. In many ways he is similar to Aussie legends Sir Robert Helpmann and Peter Allen, both born in rural communities but with fathers who actively encouraged them in their pursuit of the arts.

Armstrong's film is titled Women I've Undressed after an unpublished manuscript Kelly wrote which reputedly detailed his affair with movie legend and his former flat mate Cary Grant. 

Peter & Hugh's Goodbye to Joan

 One little fact unreported about Joan Rivers' star-studded funeral- as she wanted it to be- was the song she was finally bade goodbye with that brought tears as well as applause to her last exit. The late Australian singer Peter Allen was a good friend of Joan's and each would go to see their respective shows in whatever city their paths crossed. Indeed the Shuttle who worked with Peter in London recalls Joan turning up to see Allen sing on three occasions when he appeared at a club called Madisons in Camden Lock.
And so Hugh Jackman who portrayed Allen in The Boy From Oz bicycled to Joan's farewell to sing the song Peter originally wrote about the late Judy Garland : Quiet Please There's a Lady on Stage.
Here is Peter's original recording of that song.

'Everything Old Is New Again'

Peter Allen

The line above is from a song by the late Peter Allen, about fads and fashions that re-cycle every few decades. For Allen, an old style showman who was praised as one the USA's greatest live performers, his song was a joyous celebration.

During October and November Australia is to be treated for the first time to another legend and some old style music, the Glen Miller Band on the  75th anniversary of Miller's death. Miller vanished in 1944 when the flight he was on disappeared over the English Channel but his band lives on.
Meanwhile in the UK The Bugle Boy, a musical based on the life of Miller has been drawing huge foot tapping crowds and great praise from critics.The show features a 16 piece band that plays all of Miller's hits.

The Glen Miller Band will premiere at The State Theatre on Thursday 11th October. For tour dates and tickets go to the official website. Below is an exert from The Bugle Boy:

Dame Edna Attacked

There has been much chatter around the coffee bars of Double Bay about Dame Edna Everage's appearance at the Black &  White Charity lunch last Tuesday.

One tabloid journalist has ripped into the Dame over the reputed $35,000 fee charged by manager Barry Humphreys. Odd given the same hack is noted for their free-loading at charity events.

Although she received loud laughter throughout the room and was the draw card for the $295 ticket price, at a time when the charity dollar is hard to get, she has come in for criticism over her digs at  the Double Bay set, senior citizens and one lady in a wheel chair.

One prominent couple told the Shuttle today they were still fuming about Edna wishing she could "speak Hungarian" and other comments in reference to that large Eastern Suburbs ethnic community which they perceived as anti-Semitic remarks.

However the lady in the wheel chair who was the butt of many of Edna's digs was former B & W president Marno Parsons ( in our pic greeting Dame Edna in the Green Room after the show) who also sponsored the event. Marno and Dame Edna warmly embraced and chatted like old pals.

And we thought we recognised Dame Edna's stunning red feathered creation she wore on the day. Here she is wearing it at an Andre Riel concert where she sang the Peter Allen song 'I Still Call Australia Home'. The song was huge hit for the late Allen who gave the rights to Qantas for their advertising campaigns and in return received first class travel on their flights throughout the world.

Liza with a Zzzzz

She'll be back on October 16th for a country-wide tour with a show based on her Broadway hit cabaret “Liza’s At The Palace”.

The Shuttle loves Liza Minnelli-ever since we met her with our great pal, the late Peter Allen who toured with Liza right back in the 1960's. Peter went on to become the support act for Liza's mum Judy Garland before gradually climbing to the top in the USA where he became one of the most popular live cabaret acts in the country.

Allen, who married Liza was celebrated in the amazing Broadway musical based on his life and full of his songs-The Boy From Oz which rocketed Hugh Jackman to stardom.

When Peter toured with Judy and Liza we received postcards from every corner of the planet from Peter-he was having the time of his life. We finally caught up with Allen in LA in a small cabaret club where Peter was performing 3 shows a night. Liza had become a huge world-wide singing and movie sensation. But within 10 years Allen was headlining at Radio City Hall arriving on-stage via a camel, whistles blowing, maracas shaking. Sadly Peter passed away in 1992 from an AIDs related illness.

The Shuttle saw him in his very last show one year before. He didn't look well but he still managed to leap on the piano in sequin pants and shake those maracas. This is the guy who taught Bette Midler everything she knows about stage presentation.

Whitewashed from the Broadway version of "The Boy From Oz" but in the original Aussie version were tales of Peter's gay life and the great love of his life, the Texan born Greg Connell who died 6 years before Peter. Allen never fully recovered from Greg's death.

Liza's last visit was in 1989 when she toured with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jnr.

And don't think Liza has lost any bit of that magic energy. Expect brilliant versions of her great songs-Maybe This Time, Cabaret and New York New York.

Liza marries Peter

Hugh Jackman as Peter Allen in the Boy From Oz