Aeroplane Jelly Song

Aeroplane Jelly became an Australian icon in the early days of radio, mainly due to a very catchy simple jingle and some savvy marketing. It is apparently the longest running advertising jingle in Australia. It was written in 1930 by grocer Albert Francis Lenertz who was a composer and managing director of Traders Ltd, which produced the jelly. Albert was also known as Frank Leonard of Marrickville. According to the National Library of Australia's cover page to the sheet music, Frank Leonard lived at 284 Victoria Road, Marrickville. This is now Marrickville Liquor Centre. Now I can't go past that bottlo without getting an earworm of that jingle. It goes to show that Marrickville's association with aircraft noise is a lot older than most suspect.

And the current policy of sharing aircraft noise also goes back to then. Originally recorded by a music hall entertainer called Amy Rochelle, who did child impersonations, the song was re-recorded in 1938 after a NSW statewide competition. Seven year old Joy King sung the version that has persisted for over 70 years. What a legacy that woman had to carry. "Grandma, do it again...."

The jingle was Australia's first taste of mass saturation marketing. Frank Leonard also announced and produced radio shows on 2KY and 2SM , where it was his signature tune (Now I can't pass up an obvious Mrs Slocombe moment - KY Jelly, SM Jelly *snigger*). The song ended up being played over Sydney more than a hundred times a day. Now that is aircraft noise that would have a few people in Summer Hill wearing out their fountain pens.

I'll endeavour to find out more of Albert Francis Lenertz, aka Frank Leonard of Marrickville. He and the founder of Traders Ltd, Adolphus Herbert Frederick Norman Appleroth (!),  had a store on Alice Street, Newtown. Lenertz also composed "Newtown is an Old Town that I Love". More later.

Sources: Australian Screen, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Library of Australia

SBS Television

SBS Channel 0

I'll comment on this later. Just parking the memories.

It's Basia Banowski, who is one of my gods.

Caught Out

This image has nothing to do with Marrickville, but I feel like posting it as John caught me out.

John : Have you seen this image before?
Paul : Yeah, that's Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.
John : Look at it
Paul : Ooops... LOL.

I can't give a pic credit for it, but John found it in his travels of collecting old vinyl B-sides.
The back wall graffitti points to a Dead Kennedy's fan mash though.

I find it intriguing that we interpret images in a nano-second without seeing the detail.

Boulee Cam

Yes, it's a bit of a weird present, but I love it. For my birthday John gave me a Pet's Eye view camera. It is a camera that affixes to your pet's collar and can take 48 images at intervals of 1, 5 or 15 minutes. So here's Boulee as a photographer:

I particularly like the last image - it is actually the ball, inflight, that Boulee is chasing.

Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre

The redevelopment of the pool in Enmore park has been given the go ahead as the development application has been approved. I expect that the current pool will soon be a big sandpit. The pool was originally to be the same size as the existing 33m one, but vocal community members convinced the Council to blow their budget and rebuild with a 50m pool. The main argument was that Marrickville Council does not have a 50m Olympic pool, as the Fanny Durack pool in Petersham is 25m. Marrickville, being a large and relatively affluent council, conceded the argument.

Here's a Google Earth capture prior to construction.

DAGround Floor Plan (PDF)

DA First Floor Plan (PDF)

Maudeville

This is an 1927 interior shot of 22 Newington Road, my old street. The house hasn't existed for years, and is now townhouses called Newington Mews. I found this photo from the Marrickville Library archive :

" Interior photograph of "Maudville", 22 Newington Road, Marrickville. Believed to be taken in 1927 by Melba Studios of Sydney. Portraits on table shows two of A P Donney's daughters, Alice and Ethel. Carved timber arches were removed when building was converted into offices."

I love the hat stand with the bear. Sort of kitsch Addams family.

Waterplay Park

When we first moved to South Marrickville, there was talk of building a waterplay park in Steel Park. That was a few years ago, and now it looks like some progress is being made as a DA has been submitted. A waterplay park is basically a series of waterfeatures and fountains with which you can interact.It is a way for Marrickville Council to provide some form of water recreation for families without building a swimming pool. Just trying to update the existing Annete Kellerman Pool in Enmore Park proved a struggle for the council, who finally agreed to rebuild with a 50m pool. That means that available funds were reduced and a waterplay park is financially more attractive.

I made a small submission to the council regarding the DA, requesting that inthe rebuilding some of the Cooks River bank that some allowance be made for launching kayaks. Currently, it's bloody hard launching off the rocks.

Development Application