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.
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| Albie Thoms, Charles Higham and Frank Thring |
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| 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.
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| Peter Clifton & Glen A.Baker |
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| 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.
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| Publisher Richard Walsh & Jim McElroy |
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| Wendy Whiteley |
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| 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?"
