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Clip description
It’s 5 o’clock by the Play School Clock and time for Ruth Cracknell to tell a story about the 'dilly dally man’, his 'niggy naggy wife’ and their 'wicky wokky house’!
Curator’s notes
Here Cracknell demonstrates what admirers have called ‘the gift of pausation’ in her rendition of a story concerning a procrastinating husband, his nagging wife and their run-down house. With no illustrations or cutaways, but just a single close-up of Cracknell looking down the barrel of the camera to the child at home, she manages to sustain the drama and humour through her trademark storytelling skills, timing, humour and warmth.
Also notable is the passage of time in terms of story content. Stories utilising published books, and devised stories employing various storytelling methods involving toys and dress-ups and introduced by way of the clock, continue to be a regular feature on Play School. However it is unlikely today that a story would feature a man too busy ‘smoking his pipe’ to do the jobs around the house or a nagging wife seemingly unable to contribute in her own right!
Ruth Cracknell’s career in radio, theatre, television and film spanned 56 years. Variously known as Crackers, Dame Crackers, Ruth, St Ruth, and, ‘Dame Ruth’, Cracknell appeared in (to name a few) feature films Smiley Gets a Gun (1958), and later The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Emerald City (1989), Spider and Rose (1994) and Lilian’s Story (1996). In the early days of television, in addition to Play School, she was in the groundbreaking ABC drama series The Patriots (1962) and Seven Little Australians (1973), but it was as Maggie Beare in ABC television’s Mother and Son (1984–93) that Cracknell established herself as a national figure (see also It’s Ruth: Ruth Cracknell, Actor, 1994).
Cracknell, who died in 2002, was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980, and received several honorary doctorates. She also won a number of television awards, including the Silver Logie for most outstanding actress two years running (1993–94) and a Logie for most popular comedy personality. Cracknell was also named by Australia’s National Trust among its list of 100 Living National Treasures.
