Legends of
The Logies have a history as entertaining as the stars who have won the awards
THE calendar read 1959 and Graham Kennedy, the goggleeyed wonder kid of Australian television, had just been declared the nation’s ‘star of the year’.
Showing his extraordinary talent for the medium early — risking jokes and material that would later define his career — the 25-year-old would not only take home the prize for TV’s most popular personality that year, he would rename it after the Scottish inventor of the box, John Logie Baird.
Kennedy, or ‘Gra Gra’ as he would be affectionately known by fans and his industry pals, would go on to win another five Logies and leave his mark on TV history.
As the awards mark their 60th anniversary, we celebrate the best, worst and wackiest of TV’s night of nights:
BERT Newton, one of Kennedy’s great offsiders, argues there have been three distinct eras to the Logies — with those early years, from 1959 to 1967, undoubtably dominated by Graham Kennedy. He helped lay the foundation for the industry today, not by adhering to any rule book but with unrivalled irreverence and fearlessness. His personal prize tally included five Gold Logies, while his iconic show, In Melbourne Tonight bagged 43 Logies over its 12-year history. The program would prove the launch pad for Newton, Don Lane, and other showbiz luminaries. After his death in 2005, the Logie for best new talent was renamed in his honour.
INTERNATIONAL guests didn’t come more famous than Muhammad Ali, who was the star import at the 1979 Logies. The boxing legend was lauded on stage, as he was around the world, with an adoring ballroom of local TV personalities in awe. But things went from awe-struck to awry, when host Bert Newton inadvertently offended the towering heavyweight, when he quipped, “I like the boy”, unaware that boy was regarded as a demeaning racial slur in the US. A confused Ali physically recoiled at the comment, shaping to turn on Newton, who looked to the audience for support and side of stage, in case he needed to make a quick exit. ALI wasn’t the only guest to make the headlines, with a drunk Mod Squad actor Michael Cole making Logies history by being the first star to say “sh-t” during the telecast. As Newton recalls, “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.” IN recent years, hosting the Logies has proved a poisoned chalice but when comic Andrew Denton took the reins in 1999 and 2000 he had full control of the room — and