Name: Rock'n'Roll
Genre: Music
Released: 1959-10-30
Duration: 1 h 20 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Lee Gordon, Johnny O'Keefe, The Delltones

Saw this last night, 20 June 2023.

Excellent cinemaphotography, this is almost a pristine copy.

The sound is adequate despite the primitive equipment, staged in a cavern like old boxing stadium with no acoustics, constant crowd screaming, but, remember this 1959.

This film had been lost for almost 60 years and only recently in 2020 rediscovered in someone's collection in Melbourne.

The enigmatic rock and roll promoter of the Big Shows, Lee Gordon appears at the start and an American? Voice is introducing the acts, perhaps this is Lee himself?

Johnny O'Keefe and the Dee Jays with the Delltones are the stand out act, amazing.

Note the Dee Jays bass players' Hofner violin bass, a few years before a certain Liverpudlian would purchase one.

Fabian does not feature as I believe his management or record company would not allow him to appear in this film.

Other acts, Col Joye and the Joye Boys with Dave Bridge on guitar. (Check out his record The Swan on YT.) New Zealand rocker Johnny Devlin and the Devils.

Famous Aussie vocal group The Delltones with Noel Widerberg as lead singer.

Johnny Rebb and his Rebels, Lonnie Lee.

The Graduates, Warren Williams, the Crescents whose lead singer Col Loughnan would replace the late Noel Widerberg in the Delltones in 1962. (Noel lost his life in a car accident) Apologies if I have missed any acts out.

Efforts should be made to preserve, restore and enhance the sound quality for a release on DVD. A grant should be made from the Australian Government to enable this to happen.

Perhaps NZ's Peter Jackson could be approached with his Ai speciality, maybe tweak the sound track as he did with the recent Beatles Get Back sessions.

This is a very important piece of Australian and New Zealand musical history.

I believe this is the only surviving 1959 rock 'n' roll concert on film in the world.

Special thanks to Mark for a great piece of detective work (worthy of a documentary in itself) in tracking this lost film down and for organising the screenings.

Check out his Rock'n'Roll(1959) web site.

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Johnny O'Keefe and The Delltones in Rock'n'Roll (1959)

Rock'n'Roll

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