PJ Lane wasn’t even born when his famous dad debuted a late-night show in 1975 which would revolutionise television, transforming singers like John Farnham into superstars and attracting millions
of adoring fans. But he knows more than anyone else just how much it meant to the late, great Don Lane.
“I never watched reruns with him because it just stirred up too much emotion for him,” reveals PJ, who says Don never got over the heartbreak he felt when Nine axed The Don Lane Show in 1983, citing budget concerns.
“When we moved out to this place in Hunters Hill in 1989, he filled the studio with all this Don Lane Show memorabilia. Old tapes, photos and posters. And when he sold it in 2001, nothing had come out of those boxes.”
NOSTALGIA AND MUSIC
PJ was born 13 months after rock superstar David Bowie and US comedy legend Phyllis Diller appeared with Don on that last ever show, but he’s now bringing it back to life in an extraordinary tribute to his dad.
As the show marks 50 years since it went to air, PJ’s producing and starring in a national tour of I Love Your Faces: The Don Lane Story later this year to celebrate the life of his dad, singing Don’s signature hits like Seventy-Six Trombones and Ya Got Trouble and sharing his own recollections and anecdotes.
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“I love your faces” was how Don famously signed off on each of his twice-weekly shows, and PJ thought it was the most fitting name for the show, which will include nostalgia, music and stories from Don’s life.
“I call it a spectacular musical story. It is almost autobiographical in a sense. It’s from my perspective and it’s my truth, and I’d love more than anything for him to be able to see this show,” PJ tells Woman’s Day. Sadly, Don died from a dementia-related illness caused by Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, leaving behind a huge legacy, including an extraordinary 15 TV WEEK Logie Awards for the man who was once Australia’s highest-paid TV star.
“I cannot believe it’s 50 years since The Don Lane Show began,” says Patti Newton, 80, who appeared many times on the show with husband Bert. “It was a fabulous, fabulous thing for Bert. It was probably the makings of his career, really. This was the best part of Bert because he showed a different side of him in the show.”
The Don Lane Show was unlike anything ever before produced in Australia. Loosely modelled on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in the US, it was a lavish Hollywood-style show with its own 12-piece orchestra and dance troupe.
AMAZING PRODUCTION
“The show was quite an incredible one in terms of what it cost to produce,” reveals Pete Smith, 86, known as the “Voice of Channel Nine” for his announcing work on the Don Lane Show and Sale Of The Century. “I was there for the whole run of the show – through eight and a half years. Most stations would kill to have a show running for that long, particularly with the amazing production values.”
Pete says even huge overseas stars were amazed to find such a big budget variety show airing in Australia, and that the rollcall of famous guests included Hollywood legends like Sophia Loren,
Bob Hope and James Stewart.
“The most memorable night would have to have been when Sammy Davis Jr had finished a live show in Melbourne and came down late in the night to the studio when the show only had a few minutes left,” he says.
“[It] was scheduled to finish at 10.45 and went on until after 11.30. Sammy just loved the atmosphere so much and pulled out all the stops. Such was the magnetism of Sammy that he just did not want to leave!”
STAGE PRESENCE
Pete says it’s difficult to explain just how huge the Don Lane Show was – it regularly had three million viewers tuning in – or the impact it had on the careers of people like John Farnham, who credits Don with helping develop his stage presence.
“We were just lucky to be part of that era,” John says of his time with Don.
Patti says Don had to fight with Nine executives to give Bert a chance, because they felt he was too closely associated with comedy king Graham Kennedy, who hosted his own self-titled show and In Melbourne Tonight for many years.
One of the most popular segments on the show was the wheel segment, which Bert made his own, albeit sometimes sending the wheel out on the road with Pete to surprise viewers with a chance to win prizes.
MAGICAL PARTERSHIP
“Don never knew what Bert was going to do beforehand, so that part of it was always intriguing for Don because they were kept on their toes,” Patti says, explaining that there were never any scripts on the show. “There were many people – more than you can imagine – wanting to go on and be the “wheel girl”. Don said, ‘I thought about that and really, why would I not have the best barrel girl there is in Bert Newton?”
Pete says when he took the wheel on the road to surprise regular people hoping to win a new car or some other prize, he often was “flying by the seat of his pants” which added to the excitement. “I would cold knock on a door at that time of night, hoping somebody would not come out and punch me in the nose on national television,” he laughs.
Patti believes the show became the most successful variety show ever on Australian television largely because of the chemistry between Don and Bert, who had never met before their first show. Patti reveals Don and Bert, who died four years ago at 83, never socialised outside of the show because they wanted to keep everything fresh, and the magic of their partnership was that everything was off the cuff.
“Don was probably the most generous performer Bert had ever worked with, and because of that, he didn’t care who got the laughs, as long as the laughs were there. I think Bert was extremely grateful for that.
“Years and years later after the show had finished, I used to be down here in the family room and I’d hear Bert laughing… and it was always the fact Don would ring as a character, and he would talk and they’d both be in character and laughing.”
Patti says Bert and Don were heartbroken when the show was axed in 1983 because of brutal cost-cutting at Nine – despite having the sort of ratings that TV stations can only dream of today.
WORLD CLASS
“I do think it was wrong that it went because it was too early. On the other hand, they could never get away now with what they were doing in those days, it would never work. Or it would work, but they would be in jail, I reckon,” she jokes.
Showbiz legend Barry Crocker, 89, was one of Don’s best mates and like Patti, appeared on his show many times. He says Don’s desire to make the best show was ironically one of the reasons it was axed.
“It was a tremendous show, and it stood up against all the American variety shows. And it was lavish. Don wanted to do a world class show with a big band and all these other things,” Barry says. “I can understand why Don was sad. We were lucky in all senses to be part of that period when Australian television was at its peak. You will never see it again.”
PJ hopes people who never got to experience his dad’s brilliance on the small screen get a taste of what they missed with his new stage show. The first chance to see I Love Your Faces: The Don Lane Story is at South Sydney Juniors club on November 8, a venue PJ chose in honour of his dad, who was a massive Rabbitohs fan.
It officially premieres at The Palms at Crown in Melbourne on November 13 – which would have been Don’s 92nd birthday, and Pete, Patti and Barry all agree Don would have loved to be there. “PJ is just such a wonderful, gifted performer. He has Don’s DNA through him, but he also has something extra,” Pete says.
For tickets go to: iloveyourfaces.com
