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| America's loss . |
Acquisition of this book about American actor Hayes Gordon, who had a major influence on Australian theatre, acting and politics , unleashed memories dating back to the l950s , when I was a copyboy on The Sun newspaper , Sydney . For a time , I worked in the PIX magazine library with another staffer , Jan , forgotten her surname , who one day enthusiastically spoke to me about an American actor called Hayes Gordon .
By Peter Simon
Although I had studied for a part in a French play at the North Newtown Intermediate Demonstration High School , the opening line going something like , "Allo , allo , Madame La Marquise ", which , on reflection, sounds like something out of the much later BBC TV farce about WWll , I had not heard of this Yank, Hayes Gordon . In my pimply ignorance , I possibly thought he was related to Speed Gordon.
Eventually , I became aware of Hayes Gordon , this fiddler on the roof of Australian politics who even coached our politicians how to perform before television cameras . My mother attended one of his productions .
Gordon's promising career in America suffered when his name was mentioned in a newsletter called Red Networks which specialised in naming alleged communists and sympathisers. He was ostracised because he refused to sign the notorious Senator Joe McCarthy "Loyalty Oath. "
He left America and arrived in Australia in 1952 , appearing in the musical , Kiss Me Kate, in Melbourne . Author Lawrence Durant tells how Gordon used to see a large man standing at the stagedoor in a trenchcoat with a trilby. In conversations he had with the man, who only gave his name as Charlie , he seemed cultured and interested in theatre . Hayes had eventually invited him to have a cup of coffee and Charlie one day asked him an odd question - what he thought of President Richard Nixon .
He left America and arrived in Australia in 1952 , appearing in the musical , Kiss Me Kate, in Melbourne . Author Lawrence Durant tells how Gordon used to see a large man standing at the stagedoor in a trenchcoat with a trilby. In conversations he had with the man, who only gave his name as Charlie , he seemed cultured and interested in theatre . Hayes had eventually invited him to have a cup of coffee and Charlie one day asked him an odd question - what he thought of President Richard Nixon .
After making a lighthearted response that he, Gordon, wouldn't buy a used car from Nixon , they both laughed ; there were no further meetings . The man in the trench coat was later identified from a newspaper photograph as Charles Spry , head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation .
Unfortunately , the book does not say if Spry was waiting for a female cast member . To put it another way , was he intent on kissing Kate ?
For his services to the arts , Gordon received the Order of the British Empire and the Order of Australia .
What makes the Hayes Gordon book doubly interesting is that it is stamped DO NOT REMOVE , Colin Roderick Award 1997, FALS ( Foundation for Australian Literary Studies .) Professor Roderick , of James Cook University , Townsville , launched the award , one of the nation's oldest, in 1967 to promote publication of books on Australia . He wrote several on Henry Lawson , one on Miles Franklin and Banjo Paterson .
His book on the Prussian explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt was closely read by the late journalist , publisher and historian Glenville Pike . Pike had discussed with Roderick his own theory about what had happened to Leichhardt's party , which vanished , later backed up by an overlooked item in a South Australia museum .
Roderick died in 2000 and part of his personal collection was donated to Darwin, thought to have ended up in the Charles Darwin University .
At the time , the late American journalist, author and political advisor , Barbara James , told me she felt Roderick's collection should remain in Townsville as there was no one looking after special collections in Darwin , no funds available .
On a subsequent visit to Darwin , I found items from Roderick's collection on sale at the university and bought books relating to his research on Henry Lawson's works , plus other items , one an early West Australian literary magazine.
