Flash Johnny | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories

form y Flash Johnny single work film/TV crime

Author:agent Ron McLean

Issue Details: First known date: 1970... 1970 Flash Johnny

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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'JOHNNY MILES. Aboriginal boxer. Aged 20 plus. Being trained for Australian championship fight. Johnny is intelligent and reasonably educated. He is easy-going about most things, but has a streak of temper and is upset by Ruthie who taunts him about his colour. As a result of Ruthie's interference, Johnny hits his sparring partner so hard that the sparring partner appears to have died as a result.
'RUTHIE MILES. Johnny's wife. Aged 20 plus. She is an ex come-on dancer in a tent show who previously felt that marriage to Johnny would be desirable. Now, however, she blames her marriage to an aboriginal [sic] for her lack of success as an actress, refusing the realise [sic] that this is caused by her own lack of ability. She resents Johnny's success in his own field, and seizes the opportunity to kill his sparring partner, hoping Johnny will be blamed.
'VIC AHEARN. Johnny's trainer. Aged 40 plus. He is grooming Johnny for the title fight but knows that Johnny can't win, and hopes to pick up a packet by betting against Johnny.
'TONY MALLOY. Aged 40 plus. A smooth, dangerous S.P. bookie who has combined with Ahearn to make money out of Johnny's certain loss of his title fight. Driver.
'WALTER CARSON. Johnny's sparring partner and the murder victim. Older than Johnny. A near punchy ex-fighter, who was quite promising when young, but who later degenerated to fighting in a tent show. He is an amiable soul, none too bright. Ruthie pretends friendship with him in order to annoy Johnny. Boxer.
'CHIPPER. A lad, at present doing odd jobs around the training camp, but hoping to be a fighter one day. Young and arrogant. Boxer.
'BUILDER. Age optional. A tradesman doing jobs around the camp. Driver.
'PATHOLOGIST. A competent man who delivers Fox information about the medical aspects of the case.
'SPARRING PARTNER. A young boxer - prospective sparring partner for Johnny after the death of Walter Carson.'

Notes

This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Director: Gary Conway

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work

Publisher: Crawford Productions ; Seven Network

Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions ; Seven Network , 1970 .

Extent: 44 min. 14 secs (as at 5/6/70, according to the script)p.

Series: form y Homicide Sonia Borg , Vince Moran , Phil Freedman , Luis Bayonas , Everett de Roche , Peter A. Kinloch , Ted Roberts , Roger Simpson , Charles E. Stamp , Margaret Kelly , Colin Eggleston , James Wulf Simmonds , Keith Hetherington , Michael Harvey , Cliff Green , Patrick Edgeworth , James East , John Drew , John Dingwall , Alan Cram , Ian Cameron , John Bragg , David William Boutland , Jock Blair , Don Battye , Fred Parsons , David Minter , Monte Miller , Ron McLean , George Mallaby , Ian Jones , Maurice Hurst , Barry Hill , Max Sims , Keith Thompson , David Stevens , Amanda Spry , Peter Schreck , Martin Robbins , Della Foss Pascoe , Bruce Wishart , Melbourne : Crawford Productions , 1964-1975 Z1813076 1964 series - publisher film/TV crime detective Abstract
Running for twelve years and a total of 510 episodes, Homicide was a seminal Australian police-procedural program, set in the homicide squad of the Victoria Police. According to Don Storey in his Classic Australian Television, it represented a turning point for Australian television, prompting the development of local productions over the purchase of relatively inexpensive American dramas. Indeed, Storey quotes Hector Crawford as saying that his production company intended three outcomes from Homicide: demonstrating that it was possible to make a high-quality local drama series, counteracting criticism of local performers, and showing that Australian audiences would watch Australian-made dramas.
As Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the program adopted a narrative structure focusing on crime, detection, and capture, rather than on character studies of the lead detectives. The early episodes were produced by a small crew (Storey notes that the crew was frequently limited to four people: cameraman, grip, director, and assistant director), requiring some degree of ingenuity to achieve a polished result (including, in some cases, the actors performing their own stunts). However, the program received extensive support from the Victoria Police (who recognised, in its positive portrayal of police officers, a valuable public-relations exercise) and, as its popularity grew, from the public.
The program's cast changed extensively over its twelve years on the air, though it remained focused on a small group of male detectives, with the inclusion of irregular characters such as Policewoman Helen Hopgood (played by Derani Scarr), written on an as-required basis to reflect the involvement of women in the police force. In Moran's words, 'The other star of Homicide was the location film work. These ordinary, everyday familiar urban locations were what gave the series a gritty realism and familiarised audiences with the shock of recognition at seeing themselves and their milieus on air'.
Number in series: 268

1970 .

Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)

HomEp268CoverScan_FX5e.jpg

Extent: 81p.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

The Crawford Collection contains two copies of the script (each eighty-one pages, and each labelled 'Episode KV' on the cover page), filed separately but with a single catalogue number (hence the single holdings note below).

According to a notation in the top right-hand corner of the cover page, one copy of the script was designated for Henry Crawford: there are no signs of annotations on this copy of the script.

According to a notation in the top right-hand corner of the cover page, one copy of the script was designated for 'Audio 2'. This copy is annotated in blue felt pen, black ink, and blue ink. The blue felt pen annotations are audio cues. The black ink annotations are alterations to the dialogue and seem to be in two different hands. The blue ink annotations are also alterations to the dialogue. Many pages have no annotations at all, whereas others are annotated extensively: see, for example, page 36, where every line of dialogue has been amended.

The two copies of the script are essentially identical: the typed content is identical across the two scripts, so the alterations to the dialogue made in the second copy are not reflected in Henry Crawford's copy.

The final page of the scripts includes a list of crew credits:
Written by Ron McLean.
Edited by Graham Foreman.
Typed by Shirley Ballard, Monica Crogan, Christine Brown.
Checked by Hilary Burgess, Christine Brown, Shirley Ballard, Monica Crogan.
Duplicated by Dennis Ingham.
The section below this for 'Producer's Remarks' has been left blank.

Holdings

Held at: AFI Research Collection

Local Id: SC HOM : 268

Note:
AFI Research Collection record

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Last amended 17 Apr 2013 15:11:59

Gary Conway

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