Page 20 - Melbourne Observer - Wednesday, August 6, 2014 www.MelbourneObserver.com.au

■ I was watching The Stratton Story with James Wilderness. Stewart and June Allyson on cable television He had his own radio show and co-starred last week and I was fascinated to see Frank Whatever with Fanny Brice. He also appeared on The Kraft Morgan give a brilliant supporting actor perfor- Music Hall, The Bikersons and the Old Gold mance. Happened Show. We all know him as the ‘Wizard’ and Profes- Frank loved sailing and won a yacht race sor Marvel in the film the Wizard Of Oz but between Los Angeles and Honolulu. Frank Morgan had a wonderful career as a To ... He enjoyed the outdoors and owned a huge character actor in his lifetime. cattle ranch in California. He recorded a num- Francis Phillip Wuppermann was born in Frank ber of children's stories including the popular New York City in 1890. Gossamer Wump which was a story about a His father grew up in Germany and his Morgan young boy who learns to play the triangle. mother was born in the US. On September 18, 1949 Frank Morgan suf- Frank came from a large family of 11 chil- By Kevin Trask fered a heart attack and died in his sleep at his dren. His father was a wealthy businessman who of 3AW and 96.5 Inner FM home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. distributed Angostura bitters and all of the chil- He was filming Annie Get Your Gun with dren were sent to university. In 1933 he signed a contract with MGM Stu- Betty Hutton and Howard Keel at the time and When his brother Ralph became a profes- dios and his films included Naughty Marietta, his character of Col. Buffalo Bill Cody was re- sional actor Frank was inspired and decided The Great Ziegfeld and Sweethearts. cast with Louis Calhern in the role. that he would also become an actor. In Hallelujah, I'm a Bum he co-starred with Frank Morgan is buried in the Greenwood Ralph used the stage name of Morgan and the legendary Al Jolson and in Dimples he Cemetery in Brooklyn and his headstone bears the family name of Wuppermann. Frank also adopted the name. played opposite Shirley Temple. ● As Frank Morgan he debuted at the Lyceum But the most famous role of his career came Frank Morgan His wife Alma died in 1970 and his son George Theatre in New York in a play titled A Woman when he was cast as the Wizard in the classic Kansas sequences he played disreputable for- passed away in 2003. Killed With Kindness in 1914. film The Wizard Of Oz starring with Judy Gar- tune-telling Professor Marvel. Kevin Trask His first Broadway play was Mr Wu and he land, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley. Margaret Hamilton who played the ‘Wicked The Time Tunnel - with Bruce & Phil- played the lead. He married Alma Muller and In fact Frank played five different roles in Witch’ described him as a very generous man. Sundays at 8.20pm on 3AW their son George was born in 1916. The Wizard Of Oz. In the Emerald City, he was Frank Morgan was nominated for two Acad- That's Entertainment - 96.5FM Frank signed a contract with Paramount Stu- the cabby who drove the Horse-of-a-Different- emy Awards during his career. Sundays at 12Noon dios and made many silent films. Color, a guard at the entrance to the Wizard's His best films included Saratoga, The Shop 96.5FM is streaming on the internet. In 1931 he appeared with Fred Astaire in the palace, the doorkeeper at the Wizard's palace Around the Corner, Boom Town, The Human To listen, go to www.innerfm.org.au and Broadway musical Bandwagon. and the Great and Powerful Oz himself; in the Comedy, Tortilla fFat, White Cargo and Ah, follow the prompts. ‘Survival of Fittest’ is real concept ■ People who follow various pursuits bereft of a bite. A chef may hanker see, in the wild, and ultimately briefly on that one. often have ultimate goals in the for a truffle pie; a classic car aficio- catch, a death adder. However it does appear that the achievements of these pursuits. nado may want an E-Type; an art col- I've been on the lookout for ever, The "Survival of the Fittest" is a real con- A mountaineer, for example, may lector may wish to own a Leonardo; and it's never happened. cept - dark coloured moths survive and wish to ascend Everest - that's about a cryptozoologist, such as myself, But my ultimate has always been ultimately take over when flying the last thing I'd ever want to do. would love to catch a Bigfoot. to find a Bandy-Bandy - the harm- Outback around in forests with trees with dark As a fisherman I'd love to catch a Further, as a sometime herpetolo- less tiny black and white striped snake coloured bark. And fish which man- 20lb snapper in the Rip, as I have frus- gist, I've got a couple of ultimate goals, which occurs around much of Cen- Legend age to camouflage themselves in their tratingly watched the pros do when I neither of which I have yet achieved. tral Australia. environment survive and prosper. have been anchored right beside them, Firstly I have always wanted to just So what's happened now - my mate And it seems that this is about to be Rex Niendorf has beaten me to it. Just demonstrated with our insidious cane located one in an Alice Springs back toad. They started off in the tropics of yard last week. South America, then went over to Pith And Point Hawaii, and now they're ravaging the ■ The Clontarf Foundation is an environment of Australia. They're organisation which has the ideals of adapting themselves so they can tol- Dockers book Green World improving the education, discipline, erate harsher climates - so long as they ■ A new publication, Fremantle ■ My Green World, a Melbourne skills, self esteem and job prospects have the water they can now tolerate Dockers: An Illustrated History by wildlife organisation, is hosting its of young Aboriginal men. the desert - they're hopping into the Les Everett, with foreword by Mat- inaugural fundraising gala event A And my mate Krafty turned his dams of the Tanami. Frogwatch co- thew Pavlich, is being released this Wild Night. Overlanders' Steak House over to a ordinator Graham Sawyer reports that week by Slattery Media Group. The event will take place in fundraiser for this organisation in No- they have now been found in the arid Recommended price: $49.95. Melbourne’s Bluestone Bar on the vember last year when the Barmy desert itself. August 23. Tickets can be purchased Army was in town as part of the And a new research paper claims Op Shop Week for $75 from www.trybooking.com/ Chairman's XI cricket match. that they are adjusting their "thermal FHUD They were challenged to Krafty's with Nick Le Souef tolerance" to cope with cooler climes. ■ Melburnians are being invited to famous Ringer's Reward, the wolfing Can do without that, thanks, Mr celebrate the vital role of charity op down of a 2kg lump of tender rump Lightning Ridge Opals Darwin. shops during National Op Shop Season launch ■ steak - like something out of "Man V 175 Flinders Lane, Week to be held from August 24-31. The Melbourne Chamber Or- Food". ■ I've got a lot of Aboriginal friends, chestra is launching its 2015 season Melbourne The Army may excel in certain Phone 9654 4444 and the one thing which I can note on Thursday, August 28 at the Sofitel outlandish aspects of life in the pur- about them is that they are always dif- For Diggers Melbourne on Collins www.opals.net.au ■ suit of their chosen vocation, but de- ficult to find. Victoria Cross recipient Keith Artistic Director, William vouring a great gob of steak isn't one Even when they lived in perma- Payne has launched Dollars for Dig- Hennessy, has curated an adventur- of them - a local, Alan Rowe, finished Managing Director Leigh O'Brien nent homes I have often sought them gers, a program to help modern vet- ous year of music, featuring some off his in just 16 minutes. said the plans were at an advanced out and have been told he's gone "out erans. of Australia’s most talented soloists. The evening through there were stage. "We will extend the building on Sorry Business; he's just gone down “The goal for Dollars for Diggers MCO’s eclectic 2015 season plenty of other activities to interest the upwards three floors, and will be em- to Coober Pedy; or across to is to raise $500 000 over the next brings together contrasts of old and lively audience, and to raise money - ploying between 30 and 50 local staff". Areyonga". four years. This will boost Soldier new, well-loved and rare, original a total of $1060 was raised and Krafty Bo's was always the really quint- The old tradition of ‘Walkabout’ On’s ability to provide employment, and arranged to create a distinctive threw in another $940 of his own hard- essential Aussie Outback pub, and it is certainly dying hard. education and rehabilitation services MCO style. earned and gave them a check for was only when this flavour was tam- And when they're not permanently to wounded veterans and run pro- $2000. Onya Krafty. pered with that it went downhill. housed they're impossible to find. I've grams to help their families.” So now there is an opportunity for been trying to find my friend Rodney ‘Bent’ opens ■ ■ In the past I devoted many words these new chaps to restore it to an at- for the past few months, and even Bent, a play by Martin Sherman, to Bo's - Bojangles Saloon in Alice mosphere and viability to once again when I reach him, tracking down to a Fairfax sorry opens on Thursday, September 4 at ■ Springs. become an iconic Alice Springs insti- town or settlement, getting him to the Fairfax’s Editor of The Sydney Theatre Works, St Kilda. I have watched its growth to the tution phone is another matter. Morning Herald, Darren Goodsir, Opening on the 75th anniversary once-prime watering hole in Alice Aboriginal elder Abbott George who originally defended a cartoon of the start of World War II, Bent is Springs, then to the demise of where ■ To further understand the Theory has been missing for four weeks now. that was offensive to Jews, has now the powerful and little known story it is now - closed for the past three of Evolution, and to see whether it may Although he is probably OK, he has apologised. ““It was wrong to pub- of the persecution of gays, the ‘Pink years. match up with the story of Creation, I a number of medical situations, and lish the cartoon in its original form.” Triangles', at the hands of the Nazis. I reported recently that it was about have begun to read Darwin's Origin his family is anxious to contact him. to become part of a national hotel of Species to see whether this can pro- He was last seen at the Laramba King Richard Awards night chain. Now it's been revealed that vide all the answers which it has pur- Community on July 7, when he left ■ ■ this is the Ettamoga Group. ported to over many decades. for Alice Springs to visit some family King Richard - The Story of Dick The 14th annual Helpmann Spawned for the old cartoon in Post Can the intricacies and complica- at Larapinta, and it's unclear where Reynolds, by Dan Eddy, is a new Awards, which is set to take place magazine, exemplifying the tions of our very psyche and persona he's travelled from there, or where he book released in time for the AFL on Monday, August 18 at Sydney's typicallyst of Aussie outback pubs, it's just evolve by themselves, without any is at the moment. He is partially blind, finals series. Reynolds won three Capitol Theatre. now about to reopen in the most ap- external "help". so there is concern. Brownlow Medals playing for A full list of nominations was pub- propriate place in Australia. Us Homo Sapiens haven't even Hopefully he'll turn up safe and Essendon. The book, published by lished in the Melbourne Observer One did open years ago around been able to make a spark of life our- sound. Slattery, is on the market for $39.95 newspaper and can be viewed at our Albury, but I'm not sure if it's still go- selves yet, to replicate even an - Nick Le Souef per copy. website. ing. Amoeba. My jury is certainly still out ‘The Outback Legend’