Logies 2017: Bert Newton’s tips to bring back Logies to their best
HE hosted the Logies for 19 years, so Bert Newton knows what makes it work. Here’s how the Australian TV legend would recapture the magic.
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BERT Newton, the king of the Logies, has fired a salvo at the Australian television industry saying that he has had enough of the negativity aimed at anyone who dares host the event.
The local industry’s night of nights has been without a stand-alone host for the past six years, after previous presenters Shane Bourne, Gretel Killeen and Wendy Harmer were savaged by their peers after they fronted the telecast.
Newton, who hosted the Logies a whopping 19 times solo, told News Corp the criticism had to stop if the Logies is to flourish again.
The 78-year-old hosted his first telecast in 1968 and final one in 2010.
“They have made it into a blood sport,” Newton said. “I don’t think it is the most comforting feeling (for any prospective host) knowing they are out to get you.”
“When I compered the Logies I would relish that in the audience were peers such as Graham Kennedy, Don Lane, Tommy Hanlon Jnr, Bob Dyer, Hector Crawford and Reg Grundy.
“They were all willing me on and wanting it to succeed. They were with me all the way.
“Maybe it was because the stars back then were mainly variety performers and they knew what was required to make the show a success.”
KARL WON’T TAKE A DATE TO LOGIES
Newton said the 2017 Logies is a very different beast to the show he used to present — bigger but not necessarily better.
He believes the show needs to downscale if it is to recapture the magic of its heyday when it would rate upwards of two million viewers.
“Sometimes we forget that television is basically an intimate medium,” Newton said. “It is not meant to be in Cinemascope.
“In the early years the format was much simpler. I’m pleased I had the opportunity to compere when I did.
“Today it is a bigger job (to host) and it seems to me that everyone is just waiting to get you. I never felt that in my years.
“I still watch it and enjoy it but it is a much bigger production. If I was still doing the Logies I’d also be concerned that the red carpet is outweighing the show itself.
“That is the story of every awards show,” he argued.
“It seems that fashion on the red carpet rates better than the awards telecast.”
BERT NEWTON’S TOP 12 LOGIES MOMENTS
Hosting my first Logies (1968)
It was 1967 and an unusual telecast because it took place in the Zodiac Room on a cruise ship, the Fairstar. That was because The Seekers were going to London on it and they performed on the Logies. I remember that I wasn’t the first choice to host. The special guest was American actor Vic Morrow. He was a method actor and his longest comment throughout the show was “man, this is crazy”. That is all he said. It was special because one of the first Logies I presented was to Patti. I have been told by Channel 9 that there is no record of it and in some respects that is very good news.
Winning Gold (1985)
I’ve won four Gold Logies. Obviously winning the first one was wonderful. It was in 1979, the year my daughter Lauren was born. Also I was made an MBE that year. I think I was nominated for Gold about 15 times. The last one that I won in 1985 was very special to me because it was nearing the end of my time at Channel 9 and I was the 40 to 1 outsider in the field. Winning was not just a surprise, it was quite a shock.
Muhammad Ali (1979)
I don’t think a week goes by without someone saying to me “I like the boy” after all these years. Back then I’d been doing a series of live commercials on Graham Kennedy’s show in which I played Colonel Sanders and that was the catchphrase. When I said “I like the boy” with Muhammad Ali all of a sudden there was a light in his eyes that I’d never seen in anyone before and I knew I was in trouble. I was too innocent. I had no idea why it was so offensive. Lauren Tewes from The Love Boat was in the audience and in an endeavour to save me was calling out “he said Roy, not boy” and I stupidly replied “no, I said boy” which made it even worse. The thing that got me out of it was that Muhammad Ali realised that from my point of view it was a pretty innocent remark. Later he presented me with the Gold Logie and afterwards we had a long chat. Talking to him was like talking to an aura. There was something special about him. You felt his presence before you saw him.
A drunk Michael Cole swears on stage (1973)
When Mod Squad actor Michael Cole said “shit”, which was the first time it was said on Australian television, it was quite a moment. The program aired on a Friday night and the network received a couple of hundred calls from people complaining. Back in those years they always replayed the Logies on a Sunday afternoon. They edited out his piece and we got 2000 calls complaining. That tells you something about the significance of it.
Andrew Denton hosting the Logies (1999)
I think this is one of the best Logies of all time. It is one that I didn’t compere. Andrew did it on two occasions and his first one is one of the best compering jobs I’ve seen by anyone anywhere in any show. It was the show in which he went down into the audience and did byplay with James Packer. As a viewer, because I was home watching, it was a show I will never forget. When you’re talking great Logies you’ve got to mention that one.
Carrie Bickmore’s Gold Logie speech (2015)
That was a beautiful moment. I learnt pretty early in the piece is that great television is made up of moments. For a show like the Logies which seems to go for three weeks on the one night if you can get one moment, which inevitably comes out of left field, it will be the major memory of the show. Carrie’s speech made the show something special — much more than just the Gold Logie. It came right from the heart. I was most impressed.
Dame Edna appears on the Logies (1984 and 1993)
Over the years there was one guest who as soon as you saw their name on the rundown you knew you were in for 15 minutes of wonderful television and that was when Barry Humphries allowed Dame Edna to come on stage. I was lucky enough to have her as a guest a couple of times and you knew it would be sheer entertainment. It brought audiences to their feet.
Presenting the Gold Logie to Graham Kennedy (1969, 71, 74, 78)
Graham Kennedy is synonymous with the Logies. He named them. He won five Gold Logies and tons more in other categories. I presented most of his Gold Logies to him and it really was giving it to a very close friend. That was always a good feeling. Many years ago I suggested that the Gold Logie be renamed the Graham Kennedy Gold Logie. I realise that there is a Best New Talent Graham Kennedy Logie but I think he deserves a little more than that. He always told me that he regretted calling them the Logies. He said “I should have called them the Kennedys”.
Don Lane winning Gold (1977)
I got a special thrill the night Don won. He’d been nominated a number of times. I thought it was a win that was well-deserved. He very kindly grabbed me around the shoulders and said “six months at my place, and six months at yours”. He was very important in my career — he kickstarted it again. To see Don win and for me to have the pleasure of giving it to him was wonderful.
Sammy Davis Jnr guest stars on the Logies (1978)
When Don won Gold in 1977 we got a call from Sammy Davis Jnr who was in town and he said he’d seen the show, loved the show and congratulated Don on the win and me on the compering. He said he’d love to have done it and would do it next year. Nothing happened until two days before the Logies the following year when there was a phone call from Hawaii from Sammy Davis Jnr saying “I’ll be there on Friday morning”.
Meeting John Wayne (1975)
They usually had a cocktail party the night before the Logies for the guests. I saw John Wayne coming down the hallway tall as a gum tree with that walk that nobody else could do and all of a sudden this voice said “I want to see Newton”. The captain of his boat was an Australian and he said to John Wayne, “when you get there look for a bloke named Newton and he’ll look after you”. After the cocktail party, John and Patti and I and an actor named William Conrad (Cannon) ended up having a few drinks and John told us stories of Hollywood, the likes of which I’d never heard before. It was one of the best nights of my life. He was a delightful bloke.
Raquel Welch’s camera check (1989)
When I hosted the Logies I didn’t rehearse. I liked the idea of winging it. But Raquel wanted to do a camera check and it went on for an hour and a half with me standing beside her while she checked every angle. She is a very beautiful woman. Later that night Patti and I had drinks back at our hotel suite and there was a knock on the door. One of the hotel employees gave me a note which read “Raquel Welch would like to see you in her hotel room”. I visited her but when I opened the door there were 30 other people there.
The 59th TV Week Logie awards airs from 7pm, Sunday April 23 on Channel 9.
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