#091-365 Fair or Amusment Park

You may see a slight si,ilarity to the shot Glenn posted on Luna Park. This shot is taken on my Ferry trip to Taronga Park Zoo and shows Luna Park located just to the west of the Northern End of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Milson's point. This is one of the places I could never get enough of as a kid, They had the Big Dipper, which if you were tough you used to ride standing up to slap the "Remain Seated" Signs as you passed them. This ride seemed passe by the time I was 13 and they introduced the Mighty Mouse, smaller and much faster with tighter turns and I know of no-one who stood up on that.

The Luna Park of today must be far different to the one I knew so I won't go back, it would be too disappointing. Back then we ran a real risk of being injured (that was the fun) getting airborne on the big slippery dip was a real achievement especially if you could get above the protective bags and hit the wooden barrier, you were a hero. (A Nut but a Hero) The operator of the Discus (a giant spinning plate) would take it up to maximum velocity to dislodge the kids that had locked arms to prevent being thrown off onto the padded bags, and boy did we travel as we were spun off. They would not be allowed to do that today, yet in our day that was why we went there, "Ya Could split ya skull" Mum used to scream, but we were tough.

I remember the "Wall of death" were you would put yourself in a giant drum which would slowly pick up speed until the bottom suddenly dropped, leaving you stuck with centrifugal force to the wall. This wasn't that cool except that one day the bloke next to me lost his breakfast, and it splattered everyone stuck to the wall EXCEPT for yours truely, I laughed for hours, (Nerves I guess he could have been on the other side) No-one (who was cool) went on the Ferris Wheel or the Merry-Go-Round that was for ankle biters (Little Kids) but last year at the Brisbane Exhibition (Our Big Fair) The Merry-Go-Round was closed as the council deemed that it was too dangerous despite it having been deemed safe by inspectors from WorkSafe Victoria and WorkCover NSW. the ride had operated without a major accident since 1951. But the stopped it. The World has Gone Crazy _ Stop The World I want to Get Off - it may be unsafe.

When I was about 15, I was dating a girl from Northbridge a sydney suburb and a friend was dating her girlfriend and we were going to go for the day at Luna Park, I had saved three pounds to pay for her and I all day. My mate and I were waiting near the bus stop for the girls, (For some reason their parents didn;t seem to like us - maybe tammy can explain that).
As we were waiting, A big Pink Thunderbird crested the rise and got a puncture - more prevelent then than today. and who should step out of the car but "Johnny O'Keefe" himself resplendent in his sequinned pink suit with stove pipe trousers and fake leopard skin lapels, He was on his way to the TV studio where he produced the weekly rock show "Six O'Clock Rock" which we would get to see the next night, He looked at the flat tyre amd cursed profusely.

For those not up with the Australian Rock scene of the sixties and seventies, JOK (Johnny O'Keefe) was our answer to Elvis. His voice didn't have the purity and smothness of Elvis, but his magnetism and performance energy may have been bigger. He had one go at the US failed and never went back. However he impressed a lot of big name US performers, and I heard the after playing on the same card with Ray Charles, Ray was so impressed he gave JOK the lyrics and music to "Shout" and stated that he (Ray) would wait three months before cutting his version. I say heard as I have never read this only heard the anecdote. But saw an interview that Casey Cassem had with Ray Charles where Ray mentioned johnny By Name and praised his version of Shout.

Anyway, JOK wasn't dressed to change tyres, so he looked at us and said "Hey boys can you change a tyre?" We responded in the affirmative calling him Mr O'Keefe, (Told you it was a different world!) we changed the tyre in about ten minutes and he gave us 10 pound each.
This was a fortune, my Dad was only earning about 12 pound a week at that time, so let me say we had a fantastic day at Luna Park, were late home as could be expected and the girls were forbidden from seeing us ever again and were grounded for life (It must have been a fortnight before we went out again).

As an aside another Girl I was dating years later, expressed a desire, to go to the Seven Hills Workers club to see JOK perform, I suggested somewhere else, but she insisted, stating if I wanted to keep on dating, we would see JOK. I went unenthusiastically, but came out of the show an absolute JOK Fan in a big way, his rendition of Mockingbird with Margaret MacLaren, although a bit raw is the best I have ever heard. The man was as electric as any performer I have ever heard.

As Julie so rightly pointed out I didn't do Honour by the Wild One (JOK) HERE is the website she most kindly provided, you can even hear his rendition of SHOUT, his Theme song.