The highs and highs of showbiz

Some would remember Barry Crocker as the host of the popular television series, The Sound of Music, while others would find it hard to forget his portrayal of the character, Barry McKenzie, in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie and its 1974 sequel, Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. 

Barry made his acting debut in 1967 on an episode of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and from 1985-1992, sang the iconic theme song for the television soap Neighbours. 

In 1976 and 1981, Barry was named Entertainer of the Year at the Mo Awards, and in 2013, he was inducted into the Mo Awards Hall of Fame. The list of accolades for Barry in the fields of film, television, theatre, and music is lengthy, with his time as a singer earning him more than 30 Gold records.

Performing and having a showbiz career never entered his mind growing up as a kid in Geelong, although he was told he had the best paper call of all the paper boys in the area. 

Barry says he never envisaged he would become one of Australia’s most iconic faces and voices. 

“I had not an inkling, no one in my family had an interest in anything to do with showbiz and it never entered my mind,” he says. 

It was not until he and some other kids joined the studio audience of Happy Hammond’s Saturday morning radio show, broadcast on Geelong’s 3GL, that his voice started earning him a crust—or in this case, ice-cream. 

Barry said he and the other kids were rewarded with Dixie Cup ice-creams for joining in with Happy when he sang the jingles of the day. 

“I was picked out by someone as a strong first soprano—I had no idea what that meant—and placed in the front row where I was gifted with two Dixie Cups for my efforts,” he says. 

“I still had no thoughts of where all this was heading. I was just happy to get the ice-creams.” 

Growing up, one of Barry’s greatest joys was going to the movies on a Barry with the cast of Fast Forward Saturday afternoon to the local Astor theatre dubbed “the Astor flea house” by locals. 

There, he would “escape into the fantasy of what was happening on the silver screen”, watching the likes of Flash Gordon, Tarzan, and his favourite, the Dead End Kids. 

“I found I could imitate my heroes and entertain my mates, never giving a thought that this might be leading to something grander,” he says.

It was not until he hit 16 and met a local girl, who he fancied, that he got his first taste of showbiz after joining the local amateur theatre group, the Geelong Musical Comedy Company, just to be close to her. 

After his audition, Barry was relegated to the chorus, but over the course of three years, he worked his way up to leading roles. 

“I realised my love for theatre had taken over my life and, as if by osmosis, the rest of my life had been chosen for me,” he says. 

Believing there was no musical talent in his family, Barry, at 38, learned from one of his aunts that he may have inherited his vocal ability from his maternal grandfather, who had a wonderful singing voice but had been cast out from the family because of his addiction to alcohol.

Looking back on his long and successful career, Barry says a highlight was being appointed an AM (Officer of the Order of Australia) in 1987 for his services to the performing arts and the community. 

Other highlights include winning the Gold Logie in 1969 for Most Popular TV Personality and three Logies for having the Best Variety Show. 

Barry reckons ‘being the first’ at various times in his career will also live with him forever. 

“In 1977, I was flown home from Las Vegas, where I’d been appearing at the MGM Grand, to be the first artist to sing the new National Anthem at the MCG Grand Final,” he says. 

“Opening the Sydney Opera House with the first televised concert to be staged in the main hall, where I compered and starred in that performance, was another first. This was before the Queen officially opened the venue some months later. 

“Once again, I was the first to sing the national anthem at the test run of the Sydney Homebush Stadium at a preparation function before the Queen officially declared it open in May 1988.”

Last year, Barry released his memoir, Last of the Entertainers, which spans 65 years of his life on television, the stage, the screen, and in the music industry. In the memoir, Barry relied on his memory and thousands of photographs to chronicle the events that marked his life, personally and professionally.

“Of course, some recollections can be painful as you look back into the path that was chosen at the time,” he says. 

Of the funnier moments, Barry recalls how, after seeing the great Mario Lanza in The Student Prince, he decided to emulate his hero, bursting into song while walking home through darkened streets in Geelong. 

He was arrested for disturbing the peace and would never sing in the streets of Geelong again. 

In 1957, he had to sing two sets in a cabaret show at the Coogee Bay Hotel with Latin band musicians who could not read music and had no idea how to play the songs Barry knew and rehearsed. 

Having survived the first set “a little discombobulated”, when he stepped on stage for the second set, Barry says an inebriated woman in the audience at a front table exclaimed, “Oh shit, not him again!” 

“That was it. All confidence drained from my body, and I stumbled through the shambles of what was left of my act. I left the stage to the sound of my own footsteps,” he recalls.

Barry says he’s witnessed many changes in popular music over the years. 

“As a young boy, the radio at our house would be playing a lot of Bing Crosby, Nelson Eddy, and Al Jolson… also lots of catchy melodies like (How Much is That) Doggie in the Window,” he says. 

After World War II, Barry says people craved tranquility, and music at that time had a simple, laid-back style. 

“The second phase of that period came in the form of singers like Frankie Laine, who burst through with loud and rhythmic songs like Jezebel, and we all went along with the shift,” he says. 

“Then suddenly Rock Around the Clock hit the playlists. Rock ’n’ roll had arrived, and there was no stopping it. 

“Many critics lambasted it and said it was a passing phase and would soon disappear, others called it the devil’s music, but when Elvis sang Heartbreak Hotel, the teenagers of the time, as I did, embraced it with all their hearts and it still remains the most all-round popular music of today.” 

As for today’s popular music, such as rap, Barry is not a fan, finding its content “angry” and the lyrics impossible to understand. 

“I still prefer to listen to my idols like [Frank] Sinatra and all those who copied and were influenced by [him]. I adore [Barbara] Streisand and her contemporaries and still love all that encompasses jazz,” he says.

"My plus to all this is that I have had the joy of meeting many of my heroes in person, something I could never have dreamed of doing in my youth.”

Barry is not just an entertainer though, he is also a father of five, a grandfather of eight, and great-grandfather of 16. 

While he regrets not spending more time with his children as they were growing up, he now makes it his mission in life to know everything about what all his grandchildren are doing. 

Barry is a strong believer that the older generation should keep up to speed with technology. 

“I’ve found that you never stop learning—each day seems to bring something, even in a small way, that is new and hopefully rewarding,” he says. 

As to what’s left to do on his bucket list, Barry has pretty much ticked it all off including travelling to all the cities he’s always wanted to visit; appearing in hit movies; having his own shows; working in London, Las Vegas, and New York; and enjoying success in theatre with productions such as Fiddler on the Roof. 

“I’m hoping if it comes to pass, that I will attend Australian productions of all genres in the coming future but that’s about it,” he says.

Barry Crocker’s book, Last of the Entertainers, can be purchased at all good bookstores and online. 

This article is featured in National Seniors Australia’s quarterly member magazine, Our Generation. 

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