★★★★★ 0/5

Friday Flashback: Richard Simmons

Look closely at this 1983 clip and you'll see Richard Simmons getting Kerry Packer & Neville Wran into aerobics.

3
Leave a comment

Look closely at this 1983 clip of the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre and you’ll see visiting American Richard Simmons actually getting Kerry Packer & Neville Wran into aerobics.

Simmons, who was a big success in the ’80s with TV aerobics, got the whole audience on its feet after a demonstration with members of the Australian Army (yes really).

It was a glitzy opening hosted by Bert Newton, with Mike Walsh, Paul Hogan, Daryl Braithwaite, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, Jon English and a duet between Peter Allen & Christopher Cross.

 

3 Responses

  3. I remember this well. The 1977 Abba concert at the old showground was one of those concerts full of wet and bedraggled fans that helped prompt the building of the Entertainment Centre. A shame the building for recently pulled down, to make way for yet more apartment blocks.

    Meanwhile, your posting of this clip reminded me of (in my opinion) an even greater concert that took place three years earlier; the 1980 Royal Charity Concert at the Sydney Opera House. A roll call of Australian entertainment royalty, including Peter Allen, Olivia Newton John, Paul Hogan, John Farnham, Helen Reddy, Roger Woodward etc etc.
    And hosted by a very much in-form Bert Newton.
    The show was an enormous ratings success …..audience share well over 50%.
    There is a YouTube clip of this concert, but it looks like it was taped from the TV.
    I would love to have a high quality DVD of this show.

Leave a Reply