Vale: Max Morrison
One of the longest serving employees at GTV9, passed away on Thursday.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Veteran staging manager Max Morrison, one of the longest serving employees at GTV9, passed away on Thursday.
He worked at GTV from 1958 to 2003, working on shows such as In Melbourne Tonight, The Don Lane Show, Hey Hey it’s Saturday, Sale of the Century and The Footy Show.
He worked with the best including Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton, Jack Little, Don Lane, Daryl Somers, and Tony Barber.
He was there for technology changes including the change from black and white to colour, but was famous for his elaborate props and set pieces during Live variety shows.
He once described Studio 9 as ”the largest in the southern hemisphere and the only one with a fly tower to allow sets to be dropped in and out.” The smaller Studio 1 would be home to even more projects, sometimes totalling 20 shows a week.
On one occasion Don Lane even fired him on air but Kerry Packer regarded him so highly he reverted the decision.
3 Responses
Max was a legend. A great bloke, with a great team at Bendigo St. GTV 9 was a better place thanks to him and his contemporaries. The sets and props that adorned the storage area behind Studio 9 were amazing.. a living museum. The unique quality of work that came from that building defined much of our early viewing experiences. Sadly, most ‘Aussie’ shows on air now are just clones of overseas shows.
Thanks, Max. You leave millions of memories of Australian TV’s golden age in all our minds.
I’d say he was the longest serving employee, and a popular one at that.
Hard to believe he was 86. Well done Max !
Ahh he must have had a great life working in a wonderful tv environment in a era of television we will never see again. Thanks max for all your efforts. RIP Max!!!