Remembering the Past Australia
Six O'Clock Rock - [7 May?] 1960
Six O’Clock Rock was an Australian Rock and Roll television show which showed on ABC from 28 February 1959 to 1962 and was broadcast at 6.00 p.m. on Saturday evenings.
The show initially opened with American girl Ricki Merriman as compère; however, after six shows Johnny O’Keefe took over the hosting role. The show usually opened with O’Keefe singing “Weeeeeell, come on everybody it’s 6 o’clock, uh huh huh huh”, with the Graduates providing the “bap bap bap bap” background.
Many entertainers got their first big exposure on 6 O’Clock Rock and these included Lonnie Lee, Barry Stanton and Warren Williams. The Delltones also debuted on this show. The show was produced by Peter Page.
The show originally contained a mixture of Rock and Roll and Jazz. The jazz was supplied by the Australian All-Stars, featuring Don Burrows on alto and baritone, Terry Wilkinson on piano, Ron Webber on drums, Fred Logan on bass, and tenor player Dave Rutledge.
Most episodes of this series are lost, and surviving editions are usually incomplete.