RECENT RELEASE FROM - National Film Sound Archive Australia
These final moments, telecast in Melbourne on 11 November 1972, feature many of the pop scene’s most popular acts together on the show for one final time.
Reigning King of Pop Johnny Farnham appropriately performs the final number, loosely miming to his cover of the Motown hit ‘For Once in My Life’, the opening number on his fifth studio album Johnny (1971). Cast and crew are clearly aware of the show’s impending demise; two members of the ATV-0 production crew memorably carry a coffin in the background marked ‘Happened 72’:
Immediately following, the final minutes feature host Phillips, Farnham, Meldrum, Issi Dye, Allison Durbin, reigning Queen of Pop Colleen Hewett, Debbie Byrne, Hans Poulsen, Ronnie Burns and members of the crew acknowledging the significant contribution of producer Lesley Shaw.
Presented with flowers, Shaw is then whisked into an impromptu dance with Phillips, while Ronnie Burns similarly grabs former housemate Meldrum for a spin. The future Australian music icon is then comically placed in the coffin as Jeff Phillips’ recording of ‘What A Wonderful World’ plays over the credits.
Now digitally preserved from Phillips’ video showreel, these sequences from the final Happening episode - as well as excerpts from the second last episode (from 4 November 1972), featuring 2 songs from the host - add a precious 18 minutes to the program’s archive. In total, only an estimated 12 hours (1%) is known to survive of the more than 1,000 hours of Uptight and Happening episodes produced across 5 years.
(Source NFSA.gov.au)