Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Kindergarten Playtime (1959)

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Sing-a-long

Original classification rating: G. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

After the opening title sequence, presenter Rosemary Milne welcomes the viewers at home and invites them to join her and four other children in a rocket ship. The rocket blasts off into space where Rosemary and the children sing ‘This Old Man’.

Curator’s notes

by Tammy Burnstock

This clip features a cut-out rocket ship in which children are transported to space via a countdown, camera movement, a brief animated sequence – and loads of imagination. Rosemary is a warm host though her slightly patronising tone signifies her priority is educating children rather than entertaining them. The rocket set is very spacious but also bare, and the cardboard walls with their painted-on instruments do not look as if they would survive take-off!