Australian
Screen

Clip description

The inhabitants of Diddley-Dum-Diddley have had a bad week but Liza (Liz Harris) suggests they look on the bright side. Liza, Mrs Flower Potts (Brian Crossley), Percy Panda (Jack Manuel) and Clown (John Michael Howson) sing a song about 'happy things’. Also performing are four dancers in harlequin outfits.

Curator’s notes

An essential element of Adventure Island was its music and songs. The song in this clip – ‘Sing about happy things’ – is perfect for the show’s young audience. The upbeat music matches the lyrics which convey the show’s underlying message about good triumphing over evil and encouraging kids to be kind and happy (from a 1972 interview with the show’s co-creator, Godfrey Philipp). The dance performed by the regulars, with appropriate gusto, seems to consist mainly of skipping, waving your arms about and spinning around – simple enough for young viewers at home to join in.

Although there is little variety in the way the song is filmed, it is refreshing to see the dancers in full profile, from outstretched arms to jumping feet. Today a filmed musical sequence like this would feature many more cuts to close-ups of the dancers’ feet and faces. The filmmakers use primitive ‘special effects’ to disguise the static camera set-ups. The dissolve to the professional dancers, and the later appearance of the regular cast superimposed in the foreground, add some visual interest.

Adventure Island’s original musical director was Bruce Rowland, whose later film soundtracks include The Man from Snowy River (1982). Rowland wrote two songs for each episode with the scriptwriters penning the lyrics. In this episode the musical director was Alan Teak. The songs were almost always pre-recorded on Thursdays, and given to the actors to take home and learn so they could be accurately lip-synched during taping. A notable exception was John Michael Howson’s moving live-to-camera performance of ‘A Clown Without A Smile’ in this episode.