Graham Kennedy and Number 96 star Pat McDonald were the Gold Logie winners at the 16th annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, on Friday 8 March 1974. The awards presentation was hosted by Bert Newton and televised on the Nine Network.

For Kennedy it was his first Gold Logie win since his return to television after a two-year hiatus. Kennedy also won the Logie for Most Popular Male Personality in Victoria, and The Graham Kennedy Show won Most Popular Program In Victoria.

The first female to win a Gold Logie since Maggie Tabberer in 1971, McDonald was also the first Gold Logie winner representing a serial or soapie drama. She also won the Logie for Best Actress for the second year in a row for playing the role of serial gossip Dorrie Evans. In accepting her Best Actress award, McDonald offered one of Dorrie Evans’ famous catchphrases: “To borrow some words from a very dear friend of mine, “Why wasn’t I told?”.

Number 96 won the Logie for Best Australian Drama — ending Crawford Productions‘ nine-year run of wins in the category since it was created in 1965. Same as the previous year, the cast of the series made their way from Sydney to Melbourne via train, and were all present on stage to collect the show’s award.

The ABC drama series Seven Little Australians, the television adaptation of the late-19th century novel, won three Logies — Best New Drama, Best Actor (Leonard Teale) and the George Wallace Memorial Logie for Best New Talent (Elizabeth Alexander). The series, produced in colour, had sold well overseas including airing in the United States, the United Kingdom and in a number of European countries. For Teale, playing the part of Captain Woolcot from the 1890s marked a significant departure from his eight years as a modern-day policeman in Homicide. “I began to wonder if I was an actor or a cop,” he told TV Week. “In the first couple of days on the set of Seven Little Australians I had grave doubts. I had been mumbling for so long with a neutral Australian accent in Homicide. Just moving my mouth for the accent of an Englishman, which Captain Woolcot was, proved tremendously difficult.”

Actor and writer Fred ‘Cul’ Cullen, at the time appearing on screen in the new series The Box, collected two awards — a special Logie for Most Outstanding Single Acting Performance for a guest role in the Homicide episode The Friendly Fellow, and another for Best Script for the same episode. At the time, Cullen wrote the part of reformed crook Buddy Rand for actor John Meillon. “But John wasn’t available and I decided to take the part myself,” he told TV Week. On writing the episode for Homicide, he recalled: “Until now most criminals portrayed in police dramas have been simply bad guys without any depth of character. I was determined to write a Homicide without a car chase — and one that went into the characters of the criminals. People forget that criminals are just ordinary people, usually forced into crime by social circumstances.”

The 0-10 Network‘s Young Talent Time won Best Musical/Variety Show for the third year running, while cast member Debbie Byrne won Best Teenage Personality — ending Johnny Farnham‘s five-year hold on the title.

The Nine Network’s A Current Affair won Best Public Affairs Program, while reporter Steve Raymond won for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism for his expose into Dare To Be Great, a pyramid-style organisation. As a result of Raymond’s report, both state and federal governments responded and laws were being put in place to prevent such schemes operating. The win was Raymond’s third Logie, having also won the same category in 1969 and 1971.

Logies host Newton won the award for Best Compere. Apart from his usual appearances in The Graham Kennedy Show and hosting the TV Week Logie Awards, Newton had also hosted the limited-run series The Bert Newton Show on ABC and other special events such as The Gown Of The Year Awards.

ABC’s The Aunty Jack Show, a spin-off from an earlier series called The Comedy Game, won Best Comedy. The six-episode series that aired late in 1972 had been so successful that a second series was produced in 1973. The popularity of The Aunty Jack Show also led to the show going on tour around the country.

Comedy writer Fred Parsons, whose career dated back to the 1930s writing for performers including Roy ‘Mo’ Rene and more recently for Graham Kennedy and Ernie Sigley, was awarded a special Logie for outstanding contribution to Australian comedy.

The Logie for Best Single Documentary was awarded to Escape From Singapore, John Power‘s combination of re-enactment and historical footage of General Gordon Bennett’s flight from Singapore back to Australia after the Japanese invasion in World War II. The 90-minute program which aired on ABC featured Don Crosby as General Bennett, with Martin Vaugham and Don Philps, and John Meillon as narrator.

ABC’s second series of Wild Australia won the Logie for Best Documentary Series.

Reporter Ian Leslie, from Sydney’s TEN10, won the Logie for Best News Coverage for his report of the Las Balsas rafts crossing of the Pacific Ocean from South America to Australia. Leslie had been intending to cover the expedition’s arrival at Queensland when he managed to make radio contact with the expedition crew approximately 320 kilometres off the coast. He then took his cameraman Darrell Ford and sound recordist Tony Mestrov out to sea to meet up with the expedition — a venture costing the channel $1500 and with no guaranteed of success. “There was a 50/50 chance we would miss them if they changed position. That would have meant missing the story altogether,” Leslie told TV Week. The Las Balsas crew welcomed the news crew meeting them at sea and granted Leslie an interview which became a world exclusive.

Mike Walsh, who had launched The Mike Walsh Show a year earlier, won a special award for Outstanding Contribution to Daytime TV. Walsh’s weekday afternoon program, transplanting the traditional prime time format of TV variety into a daytime setting, had been a success for the 0-10 Network.

Gordon French, of Melbourne’s HSV7, won an award for Outstanding Creative Effort for his 90-minute production of the musical Tommy, telecast live from the Myer Music Bowl.

The Logie Award for Best Commercial was won by Kingford cigarettes. The commercial, which presented a musical theme based on The Marrow Song with the catchphrase “Oh! What A Beauty”, featured former Division 4 star Ted Hamilton.

Among the 400 attendees at the awards were overseas guests including pop star David Cassidy, actors Tige Andrews (Mod Squad) and Macdonald Carey (Days Of Our Lives) and Italian movie legend Gina Lollobrigida. While in previous years the antics of some of the overseas guests made headlines, on this occasion the biggest controversy was around an interview on Melbourne radio station 3AW. Presenter Claudia Wright‘s on-air interview with Lollobrigida touched on various topics including women’s liberation and whether the star considered herself a has-been, and also had the Logies guest rebuked for wearing a fur coat. Lollobrigida responded politely and calmly to the questions fired at her, however fans of the movie star came to her defense and called the Southern Cross Hotel, where Lollobrigida was staying, pleading to apologise for the radio host’s questioning. Wright later defended the interview. “It seemed like a very bland interview to me,” she told TV Week. “I was not rude, just frank during the interview. There was certainly no reason for anyone to be outraged.”

While the Nine Network was the host broadcaster for the awards presentation, rival Melbourne channel ATV0 also presented a late-night coverage from the Logies after party. The half-hour program promised interviews with some of the various local and overseas guests in attendance.

National Awards:

Gold Logie — Best Australian Male Personality: Graham Kennedy 
Gold Logie — Best Australian Female Personality: Pat McDonald

Best Actor: Leonard Teale (Seven Little Australians)
Best Actress: Pat McDonald (Number 96)

Best Teenage Personality: Debbie Byrne (Young Talent Time)

Best Compere: Bert Newton

Best Drama: Number 96
Best Musical/Variety Show: Young Talent Time
Best Comedy: The Aunty Jack Show
Best Script: Fred ‘Cul’ Cullen

Best Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair
Best News Coverage: Ian Leslie (TEN10, Sydney)
Best Documentary: Escape From Singapore
Best Documentary Series: Wild Australia

George Wallace Award For Best New Talent: Elizabeth Alexander (Seven Little Australians)

Best Australian Commercial: Kingford

Best American Show: Mod Squad
Best British Show: The Benny Hill Show

Special Award — Outstanding Creative Effort: Gordon French for Tommy
Special Award — Outstanding Contribution To Daytime TV: Mike Walsh
Special Award — Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism: Steve Raymond (A Current Affair)
Special Award — Outstanding Contribution To Australian Comedy: Fred Parsons
Special Award — Outstanding Single Acting Performance: Fred ‘Cul’ Cullen (Homicide)

YouTube: Phil Johnson (low audio)

State-based awards (Best Male Personality, Best Female Personality, Best Show):

NSW: Don Lane, Marilyn Mayo, The Don Lane Show
VIC: Graham Kennedy, Mary Hardy, The Graham Kennedy Show
QLD: Ron Cadee, Dina Heslop, Studio 9
SA: Ernie Sigley, Anne Wills, Adelaide Tonight
WA: Jeff Newman, Sandy Palmer, Stars Of The Future
TAS: Trevor Sutton, Jill Morrell, This Week

The 64th annual TV Week Logie Awards. Sunday 18 August, 7.30pm (Red Carpet 7.00pm), Seven and 7Plus.

Source: TV Week, 16 March 1974, 23 March 1974