Godfrey Philipps's first major television production for children, The Magic Circle Club was strongly inspired by pantomime, including not only a mixture of dialogue and song-and-dance routines but also the casting of male actors as elderly female characters, in the tradition of pantomime dames. The program also drew heavily from fairytales, featuring a number talking animals, stereotypical villains, and magical characters.
Initially, the program's storylines ran over a five-episode story arc, beginning in Monday's episode and concluding in Friday's. Later in the program's run, the story arcs were truncated to four episodes, with Friday's episode dedicated to a standalone set in a toy store stocked with anthropomorphised dolls.
The program was axed by ATV-0 in 1967 because of the high cost of
production. Though the ABC immediately offered to undertake production,
Reg Ansett (then owner of ATV-0) refused to relinquish ownership of the
intellectual property, and the aBC instead produced similar but distinct (and equally successful) Adventure Island.
In December 1965, a specially written episode of The Magic Circle Club, 'The Stolen Smile', was performed on stage at the Tivoli Theatre, Melbourne, stage-managed by Sue Nattras, Simon Wincer, and Jim McElroy.
Adventure Island
Godfrey Philipp
,
( dir. Godfrey Philipp
)
Ripponlea
:
Australian Broadcasting Commission
,
1967-1972
Z1854433
1967-1972
series - publisher
film/TV
children's
fantasy
science fiction
Adventure Island was conceived as a replacement for the axed Magic Circle Club, when Reg Ansett, then owner of the Ten Network, refused to relinquish his ownership of the Magic Circle Club concept to another network.
Like its predecessor, Adventure Island had an explicit pantomime element, with a mixture of light entertainment and songs, as well as a strong focus on a 'good triumphs over evil' morality. Structurally, Adventure Island ran a single continuous story arc each week, beginning on Monday and wrapping up with Friday's episode. Stories often revolved around the machinations of the kingdom of Diddley-Dum-Diddley's various villains: with the exception of the scatter-brained Clown, whose perspicacity often saved the day, the kingdom's inhabitants were largely unable to see through disguises. Similarly, the inhabitants were often reluctant to use their magic powers, reserving them for particularly special occasions (perhaps as a result of the technical difficulties of enacting 'magic' on television). The program also had a science-fiction component in the form of a computer called 'I Know', which could answer any question a child could ask.
The program was originally hosted by Nancy Cato, who had previously worked as host of The Magic Circle Club. When Cato departed, she was replaced as host by
Sue Donovan.
The program's axing in 1972 (which some have suggested was politically motivated, given Godfrey Philipp's involvement in the Australian Labor Party's successful 1972 'It's Time' campaign) caused an uproar, particularly since the program was to be replaced by American import Sesame Street. Despite the 'Save Adventure Island' campaign of several MPs (and the subsequent questions in Parliament), the program's final episode aired on 22 December 1972.
The program did linger in the public consciousness, however: for example, the costume for Percy Panda was recycled on the ABC's Late Show in the form of 'Shirty, the slightly aggressive bear.'
