Page Updated 2-Jul-08

Bonnie’s Laurie Allen Tribute

Bobby & Laurie

Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen started out as solo artists on The GO Show!! until someone suggested they team up, together as Bobby & Laurie they were the greatest, they had the talent, the looks and above all the humour that won over the teenagers of the 60’s.

Bobby & Laurie were very much respected by the teenagers of the 60’s and the mums and dads of the time, I guess you could say they had a squeaky cleanness about them and they intern treated their many fans in such a way that anyone who met them loved them, I know I was there, I saw the magic they created.

Bobby and Laurie had the first record on the GO label with “I Belong With You” and continued to create hysteria all over Australia.

From 1964 until 2002 there was Bobby & Laurie (off & on) they were a great team in the 60’s and later when the demand was too great they would re-unite and every time they would prove they still had it and lift the roof with the hysteria again like time stood still, right up to the last concert in 2002.

The Bobby & Laurie Diary

Two Hundred Years A week by week historical count down to Australia’s Bicentennial……Issue No.42

Yeah Yeah Yeah

It was during the sixties that young Australian musicians realised that they could write their own songs, develop an original sound and take a crack at the lucrative international market. Indeed the roots of the ‘Downunder Sound’ purveyed by the likes of Men At Work and INXS in the eighties can be traced directly back to 1965. In the year the Beatles’ visit began to influence indigenous music.

When the hypnotic sound of the Fab Four from Liverpool was first heard. Over-night, audiences demanded vocalists. The Nocturnes pulled a young footballer out of the audience and became Ray Brown and the Whispers, while The Sierras enlisted the aid of a Queensland yodeller to become Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs. In Melbourne, two featured singers with town hall/ballroom dance revue band The Roulettes became the foot stomping, mane tossing Bobby and Laurie.

If the sound of The Beatles instigated changes in the very structure of Australian popular music then their actual presence created a brand new industry.

G.A.B.

Two Hundred Years A week by week historical count down to Australia’s Bicentennial…..Issue No.14

‘GROOVE, baby, GROOVE’

By the time Australian rockers finally made it into recording studios, the initial rabid thrust of music was on the wane in America, gradually giving way to square-jawed teen idols called Bobby, singing about first dates and senior proms. So almost before they had begun, local artists were cutting soppy serenades. As a result, Australia had precious little rock’n’roll heritage of any real worth. The odd recording by O’Keefe, Joye, Dale, Barry Stanton, Johnny Rebb, Dale Wayne, Johnny Devlin, Colin Cook and Lonnie Lee just about wraps it up. However there was no shortage at all of cute, smooth performers who presented a sedate ‘restrained’ image to the mums and dads who tuned into tame Bandstand. Although they were, in the main, carbon copies of overseas stars, the likes of Noeleen Batley, Dig Richards, Warren Williams, Bryan Davies, Little Pattie, Roland Storm, The Allen Brothers,Tony Brady, The Delltones, Merv Benton, Rob E.G., Patsy Ann Noble and Judy Stone kept the local pot simmering until the arrival of the more aggressive and exciting Easybeats, Normie Rowe, Billy Thorpe and Bobby and Laurie around 1965.

G.A.B.

Laurie, Bev Harrell & Bobby 1966.

Parlophone Promo.photo for Sweet And Tender Romance/Down In The Valley.

Peters Australian Rock History Series.

Card No.4 in a series of 24

November 1963 Johnny Chester Teenage Show Melbourne’s top teenage idol Johnny Chester will head

A special teenage show which will be presented at the Town Hall, Benalla on Tuesday November 26.

Johnny will include in his show well known teenage idols….There will be Bobby Bright- one of Adelaide’s

Top teenage favourites and a W&G recording artist April Byron, also from South Australia and a W&G artist

Laurie Allen from Melbourne and Colin Buckley also from Melbourne…Well known group The Blue Jays will

Accompany the artists……..

November 15…. Horsham Town Hall

November 27.. Albury The Indoor Palais.

November 28….Echuca The Paramount Theatre

November 30 Mildura The Murray Room. The Ensign

1964 … Bobby & Laurie team up on the Go-Show!!

For 50 pounds Bobby & Laurie would appear before more than 1500 crazed fans (without security)

Part liner by Glenn A. Baker from Bobby & Laurie’s album The very best Of Bobby and Laurie

1964 Hamilton Concert. Rock ‘n’ Roll singers Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright will give a dance-concert

in Hamilton on May 4, Bobby Bright said yesterday “The dance-concert is something new in the country

it is run like a dance except that every 20mins an act is brought out” They said that the problem in the country

was to find a hall big enough to hold all the people who wanted to see the show.

At Easter they held a show in Bendigo and 3,500 people wanted to see them but the hall had a capacity of 1,400.

Admission charge for the Hamilton dance will be 10/- . Bobby said the charge was worked out by an accountant

And based on travelling costs.

Email from Darryl Scott (Queensland). I was at that show in Hamilton 1964, the very first live show I had ever been to. I was 13 and Bobby & Laurie were a big influence on my life then, which started me on my career in music. Thank you for bringing these memories back to all us fans, Laurie will never be forgotten, by a lot of people….. Darryl Scott 5/4/2005

Thanks Darryl I am glad my little page brought back good memories for you, they were the best times, we were so lucky…Thanks for your contribution..Bonnie

August 11 1964 .. “I Belong With You” by Bobby & Laurie is released.

September 12 1964… Teenage pop group The Rondells are introducing an exciting new gimmick to

TV- THE HAIRCUT Veritas- The Melbourne Truth Newspaper

November 28 1964.. TV Week has hired the Myer Music Bowl in the Domain to present a special lunch hour show, more than 30,000 are expected to pack the lawns around the bowl. Compering the show will be Alan Field, others on the bill include Ian Turpie, Merv Benton, Pat Carroll, Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen, Marcia Jones and Paul Wayne backed by The Strangers. An ATV0 spokesman said this would be the most ambitious telecasts attempted. Director Godfrey Phillip and Producer Julian Jover will be operating fron ATV0’s giant 150,000 pound mobile studio, using four camera’s to capture the scene, a helicopter will take aerial shots of the Myer Music Bowl during the performance.

TV Week…November 28 1964

December 1964 Bobby and Laurie star in pantomime Alice In Wonderland, as Tweedle Dee &

Tweedle Dum.

January 1965 Pantomime-Alice In Wonderland….Theatre-Tivoli

Pat Carroll is a polished “Alice”, she seems to have captured with ease. Tweedledum (Bobby Bright) and Tweedledee (Laurie Allen) got big bursts of applause for the numbers they belted out in Beatle style with guitar accompaniment.

Seaton Ashton.

January 1965 ATV0’s New childrens show “The Magic Circle Club” will start on Monday February 1. The new show will be set in an enchanted forest with a magic cottage for Nancy Cato, a wishing well outside and a picturesque castles in the background. The show will be aimed at children from 5 to 12 and 50 will participate each night. Scriptwriter John Howson is writing original songs for the programs. There will be puppets such as Leonardo D Funbird, Cuckoo(I’m the greatest) Cassius and Marlene De Witch and artists will include musicians Bruce Rowlands, Geoff Wightman and John Lesley and Bobby Bright, Laurie Allen and Pat Carroll.

TV Week..January 23 1965

January 1965 Johnny Chesters “Teen Scene” is getting a shot in the arm after a spate of criticisms

about the show’s general production. One of the biggest boosts was Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen’s

performance on a recent “Teen Scene” when yelling female fans dragged them off stage.

TV Week January 23 1965.

April 1965 Top 40 Dancing at Coburg Town Hall…..Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright.

April 3^rd In person at 9.15am In person at Herrods Record bar 813 Pascoe Vale Rd Glenroy

Laurie Allen & Bobby Bright… Get your record autographed at Herrods.

May 1965 POLICE GUARD FOR POPS

Pig-tailed popsters Bobby Bright & Laurie Allen will be guarded by six policeman when they sing at the

Carlton Football clubs rock ‘n’ roll show on May 9.

At the beat-meet several weeks back Bright & Allen were mobbed by more than 2,000 fans and lost most

Of their clothing, the boop-de-duo have insisted on a police escort before they would sing at the Carlton show

At which a crowd of 10,000 is expected.

TV Times ..May 5 1965

May19 1965…Melbourne Talent..

Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen (due for the Dave Clark Five/Seekers tour) will have their new record released on May 27. As Promised we got a fine color shot of the boys. It will be coming up in Disc soon. It seems as you’ve all kept telling me, they’re the hottest pop property in Melbourne. They’re due for Sydney teenage dances soon.

Everybody’s May 19 1965.

The Rondells will be third to record on the Go label, then comes Terry Dean as the fourth. The Henchmen (winners of the 3UZ Sound Spectacular) were second and of course Bobby and Laurie were first.

Everybody’s May 19 1965

July 7 1965. Sydney puts on a Gala Night Of Stars, starring Bobby & Laurie from Melbourne, also starring Johnny O’Keefe, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, Col Joye and The Joy Boys, The De Kroo Brothers, Tony Worsley & The Blue Jays, Judy Stone, Little Pattie, The Showmen, Jay Justin, Pam Oakley, Johnny Devlin & The Devils, The Rajahs, The Bee Gees, Johnny Rebb, Max Merritt, The Easy Beats, Marlene Atcheson, Brian Witting, Tony Brady & Sharon Black.

1965 . .Bobby and Laurie’s “I Belong With You” (written by Laurie Allen) wins Australian Record Award “Best Composition”

May 1965 .. Bobby & Laurie tour with The Dave Clark Five and The Seekers…

May 27 1965.. Showers Of Rose Petals…”put your hands on your ears, it blocks out the screaming. The music comes through, the vibration comes up through the floors”. This was the advice a teenage redhead at The Capitol Theatre last night-and she was right. From the moment the curtain began to rise it was on. They screamed, they stamped, they leapt into the air, they sent streamers whirling through the spotlights on the stage. They showered their favourites with rose petals and when the petals ran out, screwed up paper bags aimed at the performers. And the artists were The Seekers, The Dave Clark Five, Tommy Quickly, long haired Bobby & Laurie and the frames…..With a battery of five microphones to help them they matched the ear-shattering screams with the explosion of rhythm from banjos, bass cymbals, drums and guitars…. CM The West Australian May 27 1965

July 1965 The Sound That’s Come Is Go. What makes GO go? Partially it’s the sound mixed and cooked in the recording studios. Partially it’s the fine delivery of artists like Bobby Bright and Laurie Allen. Partially it’s professionalism at executive levels. But whatever it is, the Go label has gone on to the charts all over the country and swept the pop spotlight on to Melbourne. One of Go’s staunchest supporters since “I Belong With You” launched both the label and Bobby & Laurie has been 2UW DJ Tony McLaren. So when Billy Adams. Melbourne’s newest long-haired singer, was due to record his first single for Go. Tony was invited to be along. Everybody’s July 7 1965

PJ Proby Tour 1965

1965.. Bobby & Laurie join The PJ Proby Tour

At the peak of their popularity all Bobby & Laurie’s birthdays came at once when they were signed along with The Easybeats (who backed them) as support to an Australian tour by their idol PJ Proby. Everything they had ever tried to be on stage was suddenly manifesting before their eyes. the tour had a profound effect on their careers, even to the point of them recording “Hold Me” as a tribute to the man.

Part liner by Glenn A. Baker on Bobby & Laurie’s album “The Very Best Of Bobby and Laurie”.

The PJ Proby Tour Program 1965

Thank you to Leanne Thomas for sending me a copy

of this..very much appreciated.

The Dave Clark Five tour….

1965

Bobby & Laurie with Ian Turpie

and Tony McLaren

Bobby & Laurie as Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee in “Alice In Wonderland”

in 1965 not to be mistaken for

Twoddle & Boddle below.

TV Times January 6 1965

Bobby Bright hails originally from Adelaide where he had a certain amount of Success

singing in dance halls and on TV. With a number of Appearances on “In Adelaide Tonight”. He moved to Melbourne late 1963 and it was while he was working for a leading Victorian Dance circuit that he met Laurie Allen who was also doing quite well and had appeared on television in Melbourne

The big break came when the boys decided to team up. These two very personable young

men have demonstrated amazing versatility by appearing successfully on television in various teenage pop shows,a children’s television series and a very successful stint in “Alice In Wonderland’ at the Melbourne Tivoli.

Their first disc “I Belong With You” proved a chart-topper throughout Australia.

Trying To separate Bobby and Laurie is just about as difficult as an operation on Siamese twins. Preserving their

image as a “group” seems to be a fetish with them…..and they make it known that they are the closest of friends.They always appear together. They are never photographed individually.

Bobby and Laurie, who appear as one of the featured stars in The Big Show’s presentation of

The Dave Clark Five, have just won Melbourne’s 3UZ 1965 Sound Awards for “Best Vocal Group”

as well as for the “ Best Australian Composition” Last month , Bobby and Laurie also won the coveted

5KA Award in Adelaide.

June 1966 The Listener-In Melbourne Vic.

Protests from a charity organisation about collecting tins of food seem to have been in vain. The idea is spreading instead of stopping. Admission to the Frankston Modville dance on Saturday night June 4 will be 50c, plus a tin of food for charity. Big guest list for the dance will be Ian Turpie, Bobby & Laurie,Yvonee Barrett, Buddy England, Ronnie Burns, Terry Dean, The D-Coys,The Wild Colonials,and The Lincolns. The dancewill be filmed and sequences will be included in ATVO’s “GO!!”

September 6 1965 The Return of The PJ

“Life” I reflected yesterday, as trembled in the air and the birds sang “Life “has become immeasurably more meaningful since PJ visited our fair city. More birds sang and somewhere a celestial choir seemed to be humming happiness as I mused further. And to think he’ll be back at Festival Hall next Friday. It’s as if Santa came twice a year, better really. I mean Santa’s red suit and Ho Ho’ is pretty funny but it can’t compare with PJ’s baby blue velvet ensemble and his superb impressions of a pantomime Dame hopping about on hot coals. PJ has got something for everyone, he sets biology students re-reading, gives would be dentists an idea of what it would be like to spend most of their working years gazing into gaping mouths and provides new hope to the clothing industry’s dream of planned obsolescence…that’s his secret, I suppose- audience participation, who of us there will ever forget the way be brought the audience into his act, not once but many times, with that great line, “ Yo hot? It’s hot under these hot lights Yo Hot” but that’s the electrifying PJ… he’s so unpredictable.

Also appearing on next Friday’s program with PJ are Bobby & Laurie who could fairly claim that, on the basis of sustained audience squealing, they matched the great man. Of course, theirs is a different sort of entertainment. For one thing they didn’t bother with those interminable lovesick ballads. They simply threw themselves into numbers that really rocked, didn’t waste time asking the audience personal hygiene questions and showed why many believe they’re the top pop talent in Australia and points beyond. And to boot, they’re nice blokes. Both are as funny off-stage as they are on, but neither goes in for the cocky humour favoured by many pop groups that reporters used to call “zany” until the joke wore thin. F’rinstance, Laurie talking about the hundreds of letters the pair gets each week, said they made it a point to reply to them all. The replies are stereotyped and handled by their manager but they sign them and often add a line or two. What sort of reply would a girl get, who wrote insisting on one or both of you married her? I asked Laurie…”Something like” “ Thank you for your interest” he said…Laurie added Bobby Bright (not to be confused with Charley Chuckles) is slowly changing the pair’s image. He designs their clothes and has decided to forget leather suits and such and concentrate on introducing more comedy into the act. They’re going to the barbers more often…eventually, said Laurie they might give up singing and do straight comedy but with things the way they are now…theres no hurry. Paul Taylor …The Sun September 6 1965

January 23 1965 ..Children’s show “The Magic Circle Club” starts tonight on ATV O starring Bobby And Laurie as Twoddle and Boddle

.March 1965 .. Success for Bobby and Laurie is like riding on a runaway express train these days, most artists

claim to be in big demand but when you learn that these two boys appear at six different dances each Saturday

Night you know they are not kidding

( Listener In-TV March 27-April 2 1965.)

1969 at the opening of a department

store in Melbourne

January 1992 The “Rockin Back

The Clock Show.” Melbourne.

A Big thank you to Bryan, Diana and

Matthew for this photo and all the other treasures you so kindly gave to me, I

loved those shirts..

Bobby & Laurie with Kevin “Bloody Wilson

April 1966. Australian Beat.

M.P.D.LTD., and Bobby & Laurie are wild about their ad. in American “CashBox” it announces the advent of “Little Boy Sad” and “I Belong With You” on the L.T.D. label for national distribution in the U.S. Both discs got good press reviews, which automatically means that thousands of dollars will be spent on getting the discs spun across the country. At the same time M.P.D. Ltd heard that “Little Boy Sad” was No.2 in New Zealand and that a midnight to dawn DJ was playing Bobby & Laurie’s “Hitch Hiker” for M.P.D. fans.

Everybody’s April 13 1966 by Maggie Makeig.

April 1966. Where It’s Happening.

Bobby & Laurie planned to hitch-hike from Melbourne to Sydney to publicise their newest disc, “Hitch Hiker” got cold boots and only hitched a ride for 10 miles before transferring to a nice comfortable plane. Bobby & Laurie showed us the best way to convince motorists that boys with long hair, tight pants and velvet jackets

are a good bet for a lift. Now perhaps you can see why they had to fly.

Everybody’s April 13 1966

May 25 1966. Growlings From The Fur Bear. .. While larking around at channel “0” I happened to get a chance to talk to Bobby Bright, who told me that Laurie Allen and Bobby Bright were really a teenage Laurel and Hardy to which Laurie added “ and I’m Hardy-Hardy there at all that is” hardy ha ha ha !!..Personally, I think Bobby Brights a scream, the way he takes off Bob Dylan breaks me up.

Mike Furber….. Go-Set Vol.1 No.17

July 1966 New Teenage Show Planned.

ABC-TV plans to introduce a new national pop show built around this year’s big entertainment successes, Bobby and Laurie. The pilot for the proposed show in which Normie Rowe will guest star will be produced at the ABC’s Melbourne studios on July 15. The pilot will be one of the most lavish for any local production. Theshow is planned to have a big running budget. The pilot show also features Lynne Randall and Ronnie Burns.

Bobby and Laurie have one of the best stage presentations of Australian pop stars. They should adapt smoothly to TV stardom. The show will be produced and directed by Barry Langford, who announced last week that the Willard King Organisation had released him to do freelance producing and directing. Bobby and Laurie have some definite ideas for TV shows-including plenty of spontaneity and a fast pace. Both are zany humorists and should have a breezy TV manner… Robin Strathdee TV Week Melbourne

July 1966.. Bobby & Laurie get their own TV show on the ABC called “It’s A Gas”

later retitled “Dig We Must”

July 1966.. Bobby & Laurie get their own TV show on the ABC called “It’s A Gas”

later retitled “Dig We Must”

August 28 1966 Dig We Must, the ABC’s belated re-entry into the pop field should get the kids in, Bobby and Laurie the stars, rightly so did not hog the screen. The whole thing has enormous vitality

I would like to thank Gwyneth from Wales (Peter Doyle Webpage) for sending these photos to me, taken from a film clip of Go Show artists at a Telethon here in Melbourne in 1986…

thanks Gwyneth.

Bobby & Laurie at The Entertainment Centre 1997

with Doug Parkinson, Ross D Wylie & Marcie Jones

October 5 1966…. 3UZ Stan The Man Bobby & Laurie.

Bobby & Laurie with their new found popularity thru “Dig We Must” success and “High Noon” sales make one of their few live appearances next Saturday at Teenrage” Broadmeadows- go along and you’ll see why they were voted “Best Stage Act In Australia” Stan Rofe…….. Go-Set Vol.1 No.36.

November 23 1966 Dig We Must…..In Three months “Dig We Must” has become ABC-TV’s top rating show, it stars popular singing duo Bobby & Laurie with special guests each week. No one can quite pin point just why the program is riding on such a high but Barry Langford puts it this way- “It has youth, vitality and the big band sound which is back in”. It is a teenage show made for adults- We try to cater for the young as well as adults. It’s the music that you don’t always hear on record but it’s the type of music people want” .

This is the formula that worked for Langfords successful English series before coming to Australia and stamped him as a highly talented producer. Go-Set!! Vol.1 No.43.

May 1967… Bobby & Laurie will not reform….Rumor is rife that Bobby and Laurie are considering reforming. A leading national TV magazine even carried a front page story confirming it. But Laurie said to Go-Set!!.” The thought of again being a duo hasn’t occurred to me, I’m completely happy with my own group and I know Bobby is satisfied with his TV show. We have not discussed any such move. I can’t see how the story started. Our sound is beginning to work out as planned- especially with the backing of Michelle and Colleen”. Everything does seem to be smooth sailing. On this weeks Go!! Show the group do a continuous 12 minute spot, this is the first time in many months anyone has been given such a space. So nothing is further from Laurie’s mind than joining Bobby. After a slow start he is again finding his feet in the pop world.

GO-SET!! Vol.2 No.18. May 3 1967

1969 Bobby & Laurie win Best Country Award for “Carroll County Accident”

February 8^th 1969