Australian
Screen

Clip description

Wally Stiller (John Meillon) is adamant that economies have to be introduced, starting with McGooley’s (Gordon Chater) ‘addiction’ to cornflakes. Also featured in this scene are his wife, Rita Stiller (Judi Farr), and sister, Rosemary Urkin (Noeline Brown), better known as ‘Possum’.

Curator’s notes

This clip gives us a glimpse of the dynamics that made the series a success: the ensemble work of four top-notch comic actors. Comedy is wrought here from a slight exaggeration of reality that turns the mundane into the utterly absurd. The secret, as writer-producer Ralph Peterson well knew, is to follow the logic with utter conviction, because logic taken to extremes is intrinsically ridiculous.

All the performances by the core cast are played straight. Judi Farr’s subservient Rita would not be out of place in one of the ‘kitchen sink’ social dramas that dominated British theatre and cinema at the time. Meillon, for his part, could not be more convincing as the self-important breadwinner with no appreciation of the work his wife does to support him or any concept of how onerous the situation might be for his dependant father-in-law. It could in fact be a melodrama except for McGooley’s childish pranks.

Note that Meillon spends part of this clip talking with his back to the other performers. This was so his face could be seen, as the video cameras then in use were mounted on huge gas pedestals and had limited mobility. It was much easier for the actors to move around the set than the cameras.