Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This silent black-and-white clip shows Dave, who is in love, dancing excitedly in a paddock. Inside the hut the women of the family are sewing and ironing. Joe, Dave’s younger brother, runs in and asks the question, shown by an intertitle, ‘Mum, what’s up with Dave?’ The women are concerned and bring Dave back inside. Joe mocks Dave’s dancing then sees something in Dave’s overalls, which he secretly removes. It is an autographed photograph of a girl, Lily. Joe laughs at the photograph and Dave becomes angry. The women ask him to show them the photograph, and he does so shyly. They say they want to meet her.

Educational value points

• This clip is an example of Australian comedy, which is characteristically dry, anti-authoritarian, self-mocking and ironic, using humour to cope with difficult situations and also using uniquely Australian slang. Performers and characters who have exhibited at least some of these qualities are Dad and Dave, Graham Kennedy, Barry Humphries, Paul Hogan, and Kath and Kim.

• The ‘selection’ shown in this clip is land that was selected and purchased as a result of the Land Acts of the 1860s. The government wanted to encourage small-scale farming to cope with the number of people leaving gold fields after the surface gold had run out. ‘Selectors’ were distinct from squatters, who had taken often large tracts of Crown land to graze livestock on, frequently becoming very wealthy and influential. There was hostility between the wealthy squatters and the struggling selectors.

• Australian slang, like all language, is a living and changing thing and, as the slang used in the intertitles demonstrates, is a reflection of particular times and places in Australia. ‘Clean off his pannikin’, which describes somebody who is silly or angry, is not used now but a similar slang expression of the time, ‘mad as a cut snake’, is still used today. ‘Crikey’ was on a downward path to little use until Steve Irwin (1962–2006) made the expression popular again.

• Silent films were not really silent, either at the time they were being made or when they were projected. When the films were being made, the sets and locations were often very noisy with hammering and sawing, people talking, and even, if the budget allowed, musicians playing to inspire the actors’ moods and performances. When the films were projected they were accompanied by live music, which was considered essential to providing atmosphere and vital emotional cues to audiences.

• Raymond Longford (1878–1959) was a director of early Australian silent films. The first film he directed, as well as starred in, was The Fatal Wedding (1911), with Lottie Lyell (1890–1925), and the two formed a successful professional and personal partnership. The Australian Film Institute’s Raymond Longford Award, which is a lifetime achievement award for contributing to the enrichment of Australian culture, is named in his honour.

• Steele Rudd (1868–1935) was the pen-name of Arthur Hoey Davis who wrote On Our Selection, a series of sketches originally published in The Bulletin magazine and based on the experiences of selectors, people on the land. On Our Selection was adapted for comic books, radio and stage, and three silent and four sound films were produced. In 1904 Rudd also started Steele Rudd’s Magazine, which appeared irregularly under various titles for 25 years.

This is a silent clip with intertitles.

Dave dances gleefully outside. His younger brother, Joe, rushes inside to his mother who is ironing in the company of two other women.
Intertitle: ‘Mum, what’s up with Dave?’
Joe points outside. His mother and the women stop their tasks, looking concerned.
Intertitle: ‘Oh, whatever has happened?’
A girl comes to see what the fuss is about.
Intertitle: ‘Well, he’s ratty. He’s gone clean off his pannikin.’

They all rush outside to see. Dave is still dancing. Dave’s mother calls to him and he stops dancing to talk to her.
Intertitle: ‘By cripes, I was only going through th’ furst set.’

The women lead Dave inside. He is angry at Joe for making a fuss and the women also turn on Joe.
Intertitle: ‘Go on, clear out of this.’
Joe argues his point, imitating Dave’s crazy dance. Unnoticed, he sneaks an envelope out of Dave’s shirt and opens it. He laughs as he looks at a postcard with a photo of a young woman and turns the photo over. On the back is written, ‘your own little Lily’. Joe laughs hysterically. Dave, noticing that Joe has got the postcard, rushes to grab it from him. He hits Joe and the two argue. The women try to intervene. Mother sends Joe away.
Intertitle: ‘Show us the photo, Dave.’
After some persuasion Dave gives up the postcard.
Intertitle: ‘Oh, she’s very nice, Dave.’
Mother looks at the postcard.
Intertitle: ‘Bring her over to tea on Sunday night. We’d like to meet her.’