Aus TV Hosts 1: Hideously yours, Deadly

Very little by way of information available about this one...



Deadly Earnest was a late-night television host on the 0-10 network to Australian capital cities at 1960s' decadal cusp. For reasons presumably involving the state of the network back then, there was a different Deadly for each city (tho' Perth & Adelaide both shared Hedley Cullen in 1975)

Most prominent among them, & seemingly progenitor of the idea, was the Sydney Deadly; a young drama student, UK expat, name of Ian Bannerman.

By way of ancillary merchandising, this LP - now horribly obscured by history. I spent an age scaring one up; eventually, I landed 2 in the same week. High sherrifs of both the record labels I work for have heard it, but I think we're all in agreement: this is more interesting as an historical artefact, per se, than as actual music. If neither of those companies will be licensing it for re-issue, I figured at least to restore it to public attentions (however small they might be).

Producer, Ron Wills, was a life-long champion of Australian music and had recorded Slim Dusty's 'A Pub With No Beer' in 1957. Co-lyricist & occasional backing vocalist, John Brindle, was a radio announcer for 2CH. No available information on the session players, tho' they might include members of Max Merritt's backing group, The Meteors (whose 3rd LP Wills was also producing around this same time)

You can download the album rip, here

Melbourne's Deadly was Ralph Baker; that link will direct you to infos on a personal appearance from 1993.