That's John Crawford, with Chairman Lawrence Reddaway, and the audience at Athelstan.
Last lunch time meeting was something different in line with the Board’s policy to invoke some diversity from time to time. The location was a nice one-off departure from our usual site, and guest speaker John Crawford of “Crawford Productions” fame took us through a nostalgic journey of bygone Australian TV drama, complete with fascinatiing, revealing, but especially mostly humorous, anecdotes of the personalities behind and in front of the TV cameras at the time.
Chairman of the day Lawrence Reddaway had organised access to the restaurant, and the hospitality of Athelstan House -- a superior retirement village in Camberwell. To observe the complex was interesting in itself.
We learnt how Crawford Productions successfully transitioned from radio drama production pre 1956 to become the dominant TV production company in Australia until it departed the scene in the late 1980’s. During this time it sold drama series to all TV networks and was responsible for most of the iconic shows of the time. Think of “Consider Your Verdict”, Homicide, The Sullivans , Matloch, Division 4, Number 96 among many others, the list is extensive!
Recall the two names of brother and sister Hector & Dorothy Crawford. John explained how these two blended skills to produce and market all the shows. John continues the family bloodline. Most interesting was the story of the early stresses and efforts to actually break into the TV business in 1956/57 with a small unit of a few staff and very little production capacity. That they did with “Consider Your Verdict” a resounding commercial success, is history and gave the firm the basis to expand relentlessly.
Later their foresight in establishing an acting academy to provide the manpower for the various shows was important, not only did it suffice with necessary people at the time it boosted the industry and reversed a “brain drain trend” whereby previously budding Australian actors had invariably been lost to the UK or USA.
It was amazing also to hear of a colluded effort by the three TV networks to seek to break the perceived monopolistic role which the firm had in producing drama for TV in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Many of the stories which John recounted in mostly humorous fashion of the people in the TV business were entertaining, and yet insightful of their human quality.
Thank you John for a wonderful address and memory jog.
The meeting on February 24 will be an external excursion with a free tour of the Melbourne Shrine. 
