Argonauts Club

The Argonauts Club was an Australian children's radio program, first broadcast in 1933 on ABC Radio Melbourne. Its format was devised by Nina Murdoch who had run the station's Children's Hour as "Pat". The show was discontinued in 1934 when Nina moved to Adelaide. The format was revived on 7 January 1941 as a segment of ABC's "Children's Session" and broadcast nationally except in Western Australia where the two hour time difference made a local production more attractive. From 6 September 1954 it was called the "Children's Hour", running from 5 to 6pm. It became one of the ABC's most popular programs, running six days a week for 28 years until October 1969, when it was broadcast only on Sundays and was finally discontinued in 1972.
The Children's Session.
Following a decision of ABC General Manager (later Sir) Charles Moses, the Children's Session was instituted as a national program by the ABC in 1939 by Frank D Clewlow who was then Controller of Productions (i.e. director of drama and light entertainment). His protegee Ida Elizabeth Osbourne was appointed as its first presenter, as "Elizabeth". When she married in 1952, and was forced to leave as was then Public Service policy, the position was taken by "Nan" (Margaret Dalton).
The Children's Session was co-hosted from 1940 by London-born Scot Atholl Fleming, as "Mac" or "Tavish McTavish". His most durable co-presenters were the painter Albert Collins ("Joe"), then after his death the actor John Ewart, called "Jimmy" or "Little Jimmy Hawkins". The fourth member of the 'on-air' team was always female, again having an 'on-air' pseudonym. Some, perhaps most, are listed below.
Theme music.
The Children's Session opened with the theme song by the Jim Davidson Dance Band, written by Elizabeth Osbourne with music by Wally Portingale:
Come, Old Mother Hubbard and Jack and Jill
And Tom the Piper's son<br>
Leave your cupboard forget your spill<br>
We're going to have some fun<br>
The wireless says to hurry and run<br>
To leave your games and toys;<br>
The wireless says the time has come<br>
For all the girls and boys.<br>
So come with a hop, a skip and a run,<br>
It's time for the Session, it's time for the fun."
and the team would introduce themselves with some light-hearted banter in keeping with their 'on-air' personas, followed by entertainment arranged roughly in order of audience age.
The Muddle-Headed Wombat.
The first segment for most of the show's history was a dramatised series by Ruth Park, originally "The Wideawake Bunyip", with "Joe" Albert Collins in the title role. When he died, in 1951, Ruth changed the title to "The Muddle-Headed Wombat", with Leonard Teale the first to play the part. When Leonard left, John Ewart "Jimmy" made it his for the next 20 years. The part of his friend "Mouse" in both incarnations was played by the current female co-presenter. When John Appleton was made Supervisor of Children's Programs and keen to be involved, a part "Tabby Cat" was created for him. The popularity of the series led Ruth Park to write her series of "Muddle-Headed Wombat" books in the 1960s.
Entertainment.
The remainder of the 'session' was given over to a variety of entertainments depending on the day of the week:
"singos" (singalongs), stories or skits by the team in their studio personas, written by Atholl Fleming or G K Saunders involving perhaps a confrontation with the studio supervisor 'Stewed Soup' or discovery of a secret passage from the studio.
On Tuesdays, "Orpheus" (baritone Harold Williams) would sing a segment from opera, a ballad like "The Golden Vanity" or "Up from Somerset" or fun song such as "One Fish Ball" or "The Green-eyed Dragon with Thirteen Tails" Harold had perfect diction and wide range of expression, so children clearly heard what he was singing about.
The finale was a serialised book dramatisation, usually by an Australian author such as Ivan Southall. This included dramatised versions of Southall's early semi-autobiographical war novel "Simon Black in Coastal Command", telling the exploits and hardships of the RAAF crews of Short 'Sunderland' flying boats, patrolling the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches, hunting German u-boats, and Southall's sequel science fiction novel "Simon Black in Antarctica", in which Simon Black and his team flew a futuristic jet-rocket hybrid to a hidden valley in Antarctica, warmed by geothermal springs, where a remnant community of Neanderthal people was discovered.
An early success was "Budge" (later and better known as "Budge's Gang") with actors Ron Rousel (as "Budge"), Rodney Jacobs (as "Tubby"), Peter Dunstan or David Stout (as "Snick"), Patricia Crocker (as "Dolly") and Queenie Ashton (as Budge's mother). John Meillon was a later addition to the gang, and Morris Unicomb is also known to have taken part. The show, scripted by John MacLeod, was the basis of a series of illustrated books published by the ABC.
G K Saunders' "The Moonflower" and "The Nomads" and Coral Lansbury's first published play "The Red Mountain" were written for the Children's Session.
The program ended with the closing theme (again composed by Elizabeth and Wally Portingale):
Culture.
On different days, experts would talk about their specialties, particularly in relation to Argonauts' contributions:
The Argonauts.
The "Argonauts Club" was open to Australian boys and girls aged from 7 to 17. It proved hugely popular with young Australians: by 1950 there were over 50,000 members, with 10,000 new members joining each year through the 1950s (national membership reached 43,000 in 1953). Applications for membership (and subsequent contributions) were made by post. The new member received an enamelled badge and handsome membership certificate with the Pledge (brought over from 1931):
and the new member's allocated pseudonym (Ship name and number) were sent out to the new member. With no indication given of age, sex or origin, the only comparisons that could be made were between contributions; the members' only competitors were themselves.
A card system held the member's real name and address and Club name and number, together with a record of contributions and awards. The Club encouraged children's contributions of writing, music, poetry and art. Contributions from members were awarded Blue Certificates (worth 1 point) or Purple Certificates for particularly impressive work worth 3. Members reaching 6 points redeemed the tear-off ends for a book prize. Higher achievements won for the member a title to be attached to their Ship Name and Number: "The Order of the Dragon's Tooth" for 150 points and "The Order of the Golden Fleece" for 400 points. A further award "Golden Fleece and Bar" (for 600 points) was instituted later to cater for particularly talented and industrious Argonauts. The certificates were designed by "Joe". Reading of the 'Log of Progress', when these awards were announced, was an essential part of Club business.
Throughout the "Argonauts Club" segment, the studio team strictly adhered to the policy of only using Club names. So Atholl Fleming was 'Jason', Elizabeth Osbourne was Argo 1. Some others are given below.
The segment was opened and closed with a specially commissioned theme written by Elizabeth Osbourne and Cecil Fraser and sung by Harold Williams and the male members of the ABC Wireless Singers
A further touch was a call to sick members: "The Ship of Limping Men", as notified by parents. Whenever possible, Atholl Fleming would visit Argonauts who were seriously ill in hospital.
On Saturdays a major segment was the Argonauts Brains Trust
From December 1944, the ABC Weekly carried an Argonauts' Page devoted to selected contributions from members and relevant news items. A prominent contributor was one Ithome 32, now known as Barry Humphries, creator of "Edna Everage".
Annual 'live' productions of the Children's Session (and "Argonauts Club") were a feature of Royal Shows in each State from 1947. The showground in each Capital City had its own purpose-built ABC studio, double-glazed on three sides.
Publications.
Eight annuals were published:
Retitled:
The Introduction to "Annual # 6" (1963) advises readers that it contains contributions from 'your friends from the A.B.C. Children's Hour and "The Australian Children's Newspaper" '. The Introduction also states that 'There are over 70,000 children ... in the Argonaut's Club ...'
At least three 'collaborative' children's books were published:
These books were works of fiction, with an Australian theme and edited by Tom Stanley Hepworth who also edited The Australian Children's Newspaper – a publication of Educational Press Pty Ltd. Argonauts contributed a chapter for each stage of the plot, and the best was selected by Icarus for the final book. The illustrations were selected by the same process, under the guidance of Phidias (Jeffrey Smart).
These publications seem to break the 'anonymity' rule of the Club: the names of the successful contributors are listed, instead of their ship number. In the case of "The Gold Smugglers", a thumbnail photo and brief biography is included as well. This book (1962) states 'There are close on 100,000 members of the Argonaut's Club.'