{"id":8854,"date":"2019-07-30T12:09:59","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T02:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phototimetunnel.com\/?p=8854"},"modified":"2023-02-18T15:10:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T04:10:27","slug":"how-neville-got-bill-haleys-autograph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phototimetunnel.com\/how-neville-got-bill-haleys-autograph","title":{"rendered":"How Neville got Bill Haley’s autograph"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When rocker Bill Haley turned up at Newcastle Railway Station in 1957 young teachers college student Neville Goodwin was there waving his trusty autograph book. Neville, who was 78 when he told me this little story a couple of years ago, had drawn a picture of his favourite star and was keen to show Bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Neville, Mr Haley was quite impressed. \u201cHe looked at my drawing of him in the book and said, \u2018Hey kid. Did you do this?\u2019 He suggested that if I went \u00a0with the group to the Great Northern Hotel he\u2019d get the others to sign, so I picked up his cardboard suitcase and accompanied them across King Street to the lobby. Four pages later I had the remainder of the Comets, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, the Platters and La Verne \u00a0Baker. Years later I noticed that the signature of the entrepreneur, Lee Gordon, was also there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Neville (second from the left) with some of his mates in the Rock and Roll era.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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The concerts were held at 5pm and 8pm and a rumour had circulated at the Newcastle Teacher College that the best audience members to jive during the concerts would win a \u00a310 note. A number of us built up the courage to participate during most of the 5pm concert and were disappointed when a closing announcement advised that the prize would only be given after the later show. (In those days the student allowance was \u00a320 a month for 10 months of the year.) Still, a wonderful experience at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A press photo at one of the concerts. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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Neville’s autograph book contains some good stories. Like the scan of what he insists is the actual first paying ticket to the Skyline Drive-in at New Lambton (Newcastle), apparently in October 1956.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first paying ticket to the Skyline Drive-in at New Lambton<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cWe turned up at 3pm and waited for the gates to open because we wanted to be first in. I have no idea who managed to get ticket number one,\u201d he said. Nor can Neville recall what movie was playing. The signatures of his mates appear on the page, near the drawing of the car. The car was a 1935 Chevrolet nicknamed \u201cHerc\u201d \u2013 co-owned by John Sarkov and Noel Fernance \u2013 which Neville recalled as a tired, underpowered beast with bad brakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some time in the 1950s the Bill Haley-inspired movie, Rock Around the Clock, played at the Skyline, and Don Fraser kindly loaned me a couple of photos of some promotional activity in Newcastle surrounding the film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Promo in Newcastle for Rock Around the Clock at the Skyline Drive-in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Promo in Newcastle for Rock Around the Clock at the Skyline Drive-in<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Chequers, a swinging hotspot in sixties Sydney<\/a><\/blockquote>