Australian
Screen

Clip description

Dave Sullivan’s (Paul Cronin) younger brother Harry (Michael Caton) and his wife Rose (Maggie Dence) arrive at the Sullivans for an evening’s homemade entertainment. They are greeted by Grace Sullivan (Lorraine Bayly) and the children, Kitty (Susan Hannaford), Terry (Richard Morgan), Tom (Steven Tandy) and John (Andrew McFarlane).

Curator’s notes

This clip illustrates how people lived and entertained themselves before the war and is an opportunity to display the full range of authentic props that did so much to establish the period feeling of the series. However its main purpose is for Harry to tell us all about the Sullivans. The slightly disreputable but lovable younger brother of Dave, Harry isn’t above stealing from the docks and implicating his more responsible brother by bringing stolen property into the house.

In the course of the evening, we learn that Harry was too young to enlist in the Great War, whereas Dave went off to fight; that Dave is a solid if unimaginative character; that Grace is fiercely loyal to her husband; that the Sullivan kids all have bright futures over which the clouds of war now hang. It is a well-written diatribe matched by a terrific performance from Michael Caton, who manages to convey all this while drinking beer, rolling his own cigarettes, passing on stolen goods, singing along with the pianola, playing cards and dancing. This high level of writing and production values set a standard for the rest of the long-running series.