Denise Drysdale: the TV veteran takes a trip to the past to find her funny bone
The sound of laughter has accompanied Denise Drysdale throughout her life. But with her parents never speaking of their past, where, the star wondered, did that sense of humour come from? She reveals what happened on her quest to find out.
Walk into the Fountain Inn hotel in Port Melbourne on a Saturday night in the late 1950s and chances are you’d have been greeted by one of today’s most beloved entertainers. Denise Drysdale’s family lived in and ran the revered pub. And when her parents, Nancy and Keith, headed out on a Saturday night dinner date, she’d be drafted in to help behind the bar.
“I’d sit with mum’s fur coat on when I was little and do the till,” the now-72-year-old TV veteran laughs. “I’m an only child, and Mum and Dad had the pub from when I was three to the age of 13.”
Lest you think this is the start of a story on terrible parenting, Denise is quick to point out that her parents were far from typical publicans. Not only were they teetotallers, but in order to avoid her witnessing rowdy customers during the dreaded “six o’clock swill”, young Denise was sent to May Downs School of Dance. It was here that she was quickly recognised as a star performer.
Soon teacher May placed the talented youngster up on stage at The Tivoli in town, playing bit parts in the pantomimes and comic sketches. Her mum would accompany her daughter to these Saturday afternoon performances and – once the show was over – invite the comedians and vaudeville performers to carry on the fun back at the pub.
“They’d still be there until Sunday morning,” Denise laughs. “They would have the most amazing parties, always with wonderful people who would tell jokes or sing. Dad didn’t drink at all, he just used to get high on the company.”
Both her parents, she recalls, were funny people in their own right – and their love of a joke was very much present in their daughter. But until recently, Denise had no idea where the family sense of humour originally came from.
“I knew nothing at all about [my parents’ past],” she tells The Weekly. “Remember, there was a generation there where they didn’t talk about death; they didn’t talk about anything.”
So Denise signed up for the 12th season of acclaimed SBS genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, hoping to learn more about her lineage. What she found would bring both tears and laughter during an emotional journey which took her from Northern Ireland and Scotland
to her hometown of Melbourne. Secrets and scandals were revealed, but so too were heartwarming stories of strength. And it gave Denise an incredible insight into the two traits she said defined her parents – kindness and humour.
Sadly, she lost her mum eight years back, while her father passed close to 25 years ago. But there’s rarely a moment when they are not in her thoughts.
“I wish I could share this show with my parents,” she says with a rueful air. “But I’m going to get the family around – my two boys, their partners and their kids – and we’ll all watch it together.”
Setting sail
While the COVID pandemic meant no overseas filming for the cast this year, Denise still managed to have quite a globetrotting adventure.
A DNA test showed where her family had originated from, while a team of experts dug up an astonishing number of documents to explore both sides of the family. And on her mother’s side, Denise learnt, there was a story of incredible courage.
In 1852, Mary and John Fanning and their three children boarded a ship bound for Australia from the north of Ireland. It was a tough time in the region, with heated wars between the Protestants and the Catholics. And with Mary and
John one of each, their union was a controversial one in their hometown.
But far from the relief they were hoping to find in escaping Ireland, this would prove to be a harrowing journey. Not only was the vessel vastly overcrowded, but during the voyage close to one-third of passengers succumbed to the typhus epidemic which struck the ship. However, not only did the Fannings all miraculously survive, they were the first to volunteer to nurse and care for those stricken, regardless of the risk that came with it. Here, Denise felt, was the innate compassion and care that her mother had embodied – a trait she passed on to Denise herself.
“They seemed to just want to get in and help,” she says of her maternal lineage. “And that’s me. I clean up around you. I’m hoping what they did, I’d do. There was a real kindness on my mum’s side of the family. They were good family members and got on really well.”
It was around the same time that another voyage was happening, one which would eventually bring the star’s parents together.
A second ship
James Drysdale arrived in Echuca, Victoria, from Scotland in 1875. A shipwright, he hoped to take advantage of the then-booming paddle-steamer industry and soon met his wife, Betsy (who had also voyaged from Scotland with her parents). They were Denise’s greatgrandparents – their son John (born in 1880 and one of eight children from the marriage) would produce
her own father, Keith. Sadly, the Echuca boom soon turned to bust as the railways took over. Unemployment spiralled in the area and it wasn’t long before the Drysdales were hit hard by the depression of the era. And Betsy was particularly affected.
In 1890, the local newspaper reported a fight between husband and wife which had led to police intervention. James was accused of attempting to murder a drunken Betsy, pushing her into the water. The case would later be withdrawn. However, the following year it was Betsy who was accused of a crime – being “drunk and disorderly” and “using obscene language”. She had, police charged, become “the greatest nuisance to the town” who they were often asked to remove from “houses of ill fame”.
Betsy’s husband sided with the police, testifying against her – and for the first time, although sadly not the last, she found herself in prison. However, she did not go quietly. Not only did Betsy perform a dance on the floor of the court after the sentence was passed, she also accepted her punishment with a joke to boot. “I am glad,” she said. “When will I go – now? Upon my word I believe a change of air would do me good. Good bye!”
This is how Denise discovered the original joker in the Drysdale clan. “There’s a bit of Betsy in me,” she said upon hearing of her greatgrandmother’s story. “Why? Well she does a bit of a dance and then turns out the joke that she could do with a breath of fresh air. I think she’s got a sense of humour as well.”
The silver lining
More ill tidings would befall Betsy – all of which are recorded in the upcoming program, so we won’t spoil them for you here – but she seems to have maintained her feisty temperament along with her wit.
“If you go through Betsy’s history, she had eight children and she lost one in a mill accident,” Denise muses of how she’d come to this situation. “We don’t really know how the husband was. We can only go on the things he said [in court]. He might not have been very sympathetic. And, who knows, she might not have had many friends around. She could have had depression or postnatal depression. You just don’t know. And having no help whatsoever, every now and again she’d go off the rails.”
Through it all, Betsy’s tough life certainly struck a chord with Denise, who understands that with no support – or work – available for women at that time, alcohol must have seemed a viable way out. And this family history, she muses, could very well be the reason her father and his own nine siblings never drank. It would certainly explain his stoic silence about his formative years.
But far from wallow in these sad findings Denise has, as usual, looked on the bright side. “Well, you want to have a few colourful people in your past,” she chuckles.
“It was fascinating.”
Who Do You Think You Are? airs on Tuesdays at 7.30pm on SBS. Denise’s episode airs on June 17. Catch up on SBS On Demand.