Barney Sludge, Cohns Cobber Member

AMV4 Albury was a far cry from the creative mecca of GTV9 Melbourne. It was sparsely equipped, minimally staffed and located in a provincial city of 25,000 people.

Nevertheless from the start of transmissions in 1964, Denzil introduced an ambitious lineup of live programming unusual for country television. He launched the “Cohns Cobbers Teleclub”, an afternoon childrens program modelled on the Tarax Show which he had successfully conceived and guided at GTV9.

On the nervous first night at AMV4, the program’s host, Olgamary Whelan, was surprised to encounter this cockney gent wandering onto the set to strike up a conversation. It was Denzil’s latest creation, “Barney Sludge”, ostensibly the studio cleaner, whom Denzil is reported to have modelled on the station’s gardener. Denzil’s confidence in front of the camera carried the day. Barney became a regular on the program and well known to children in the river town. Part host and part comedian, Barney recycled old comedy routines from the GTV9 days.

Denzil’s talent radar discovered local amateur performers who were only too happy to appear on the childrens’ show, and many carved out a regular role on the program. He was always generating new ideas for the “Teleclub”, including a regular puppet segment — he scripted it, provided some of the voices and operated the glove puppets with his son Paul.

(Photograph by Vic Anastasi)