This weekday afternoon children’s show began life on GTV-9 in Melbourne on 21 January 1957 – only two days after the station’s official opening. It was hosted by a character called Happy Hammond (played by Harry Hammond, who had moved across to television from radio) and was originally a local (Melbourne) broadcast only.
The show eventually graduated to a national TV audience.
Tarax Drinks sponsored the show from April 1957, and when Hammond defected to rival station HSV7 in 1960 (taking the show’s name with him), the series was renamed The Tarax Show.
The new Happy Show aired as direct competition in the same 5.00 pm timeslot as The Tarax Show, though the new show got a ten-minute jump on Hammond’s old show by starting at 4.50.
The new show had a large cast of regulars – including Princess Panda, Funny Face Gordon (Vic Gordon), Cousin Roy (Roy Lyons), Lovely Anne (Anne Watts), the Happy Olivettes and Ron Barasi (talking about Australian Rules football) – and featured cartoons, party games, and a birthday segment.
Hammond was assisted by Shirley Radford, Lennie Holmes, and Bill Brown. During Anne Watts’s absence for her honeymoon following her marriage to TV cameraman Brendan McKenna in 1965 (pictured), a young Olivia Newton-John temporarily filled her place on the show.
After the cancellation of The Happy Show in 1968, Hammond moved to produce daytime television shows and afternoon children’s shows and, in his later years, had an off-camera role at HSV-7.
He passed away in April 1998, at the age of 81.
Happy Hammond
Harry Hammond Princess Panda
Panda Lisner Lovely Anne
Anne Watt Funny Face Gordon
Vic Gordon Cousin Roy
Roy Lyons
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Hammond was assisted by Shirley Radford, Lennie Holmes, and Bill Brown. During Anne Watts’s absence for her honeymoon following her marriage to TV cameraman Brendan McKenna in 1965 (pictured), a young Olivia Newton-John temporarily filled her place on the show.
