Keith Smith Keith Smith i(A50645 works by) (a.k.a. Edward Keith Smith)
Born: Established: 4 Sep 1917 Melbourne, Victoria, ; Died: Ceased: 2 Jun 2011 Sydney, New South Wales,
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 y separately published work icon The Time of Their Lives! : Remembering Yesterday's Australia Keith Smith , St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1993 Z1452852 1993 selected work biography
1 2 y separately published work icon The Palace of Signs : memories of hard times and high times in the Great Depression Keith Smith , Chippendale : Sun Books , 1991 Z419821 1991 single work autobiography
1 y separately published work icon The Pig That Was Different Keith Smith , Mary Ferguson (illustrator), St Leonards : Bow Press Hutchinson Australia , 1988 Z1453501 1988 single work picture book children's
1 y separately published work icon The Migrant Mouse Keith Smith , Bruno Jean Grasswill (illustrator), Frenchs Forest : Little Lilyfield , 1988 Z1453480 1988 single work picture book children's
1 y separately published work icon World War Two Wasn't All Hell Keith Smith , Surry Hills : Hutchinson Australia , 1988 Z1453420 1988 single work autobiography
1 y separately published work icon The Bear with Bad Eyes Keith Smith , Jiri Tibor Novak (illustrator), North Ryde : Angus and Robertson , 1987 Z917712 1987 single work picture book children's
1 y separately published work icon Keith Smith's First Book of Tall Tall Stories for Children Keith Smith , Adelaide : Rigby , 1974 Z1453518 1974 selected work children's fiction children's
1 form y separately published work icon Mrs Finnegan Keith Smith , George Foster , Sydney : Channel 7 , 1970 Z1832869 1970 series - publisher film/TV

A short-lived sit-com based on the tribulations of working-class widow Jessie Finnegan and her lazy adult son Darby, Mrs Finnegan, as Don Storey notes in his Classic Australian Television, 'has long been forgotten by most of the viewing public. In fact, forgotten is not strictly accurate as most people were unaware of its existence in the first place'.

Like other early Australian sit-coms (such as Barley Charlie and Hey You!), Mrs Finnegan showcased Australian idiom while centering (in the character of Darby Finnegan) on an essentially lazy and immature male character who pursues get-rich-quick schemes rather than holding down a regular job. Darby is balanced by the figure of his mother, Jessie Finnegan, who, in Storey's words, 'grew up during the depression and has had to struggle to get by all her life.'

Mrs Finnegan was an in-house production by ATN-7 (Sydney), who hoped to replicate the success of earlier sit-coms such as My Name's McGooley - What's Yours?. However, somewhere during the production process, the network lost either its interest or its faith in the program, which was shelved for several months before being screened without fanfare in the non-ratings period.

Storey concludes:

Why the show was treated so badly by the Seven Network is something of a mystery. Granted, Mrs. Finnegan is not a pinnacle of artistic achievement, and was never going to be a runaway success, but it was of a high enough standard to warrant a fair go. Indeed, there have been many inferior programmes that have received much better treatment. Consequently, Mrs. Finnegan has been relegated to the limbo of obscurity.

1 y separately published work icon OGF : Being the Private Papers of George Cockburn, Bus Conductor a Resident of Hurstfield, a Suburb of Sydney, Australia Keith Smith , Sydney : Ure Smith , 1965 Z1452839 1965 single work novel humour
1 y separately published work icon A Word from Children Keith Smith , Adelaide : Rigby , 1960 Z1453938 1960 selected work prose autobiography Contains a selection of anecdotal prose pieces based on the author's interviews with children together with his autobiographical descriptions of the interview process.
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