NEWS and PICS
April 2006 - Special discount price offer from author!
You can now
order books from Helen at the discount price of $30 + postage and packaging
(RRP $39.95). Stocks are limited for this special offer.
Canberra Times, Saturday June 11 2005: from ‘Enigmatic,
Indomitable Sheila’, Brian Jeffrey review of ‘On the
Inside…’
“(The
author) has done an admirable job ... She has drawn on press clippings, reviews
and interviews with colleagues, friends and family, imbuing the whole with
fondness, frankness and a careful avoidance of the maudlin … This is a
most readable book, skilfully researched, well written and balanced. Readers
… will savour it.”
Radio 3AW: Prisoner nostalgia show reaches a world-wide
audience - 9pm (
Orders for
the biography have been coming steadily in from the Northern Hemisphere, partly
because of this opportunity to talk about Sheila. Over the hour Philip Brady
and Bruce Mansfield spoke by phone with the author, as well as various former
Prisoner actors. The word spread via the OTI (Prisoner) website and fans
downloaded the program and phoned in as well - including callers from the
Interview with Bert Newton on Good Morning
On Monday 28
March Helen chatted on TV Channel 10 with Bert on his Australia-wide show. It
turned out to be good publicity for ‘On the Inside…’. Bert
knew Sheila and reminisced and compared notes with the author. He was most
interested in Prisoner, Sheila’s St Kilda activism through which she
became a somewhat controversial ‘icon’, and the hint the author let
slip that the book contains many stories about the actress’s love life as
a young and glamorous woman.
Exhibition: ‘Remembering Sheila’ at Hamer Hall
in the Victorian Arts Centre,
An exhibition of Sheila Florance memorabilia was on public display March-April 2005 to coincide with the publication of her biography ‘On the Inside–An Intimate Portrait of Sheila Florance’; www.theartscentre.net.au
Part of the display
‘Remembering Sheila’
A buzz of a book launch in Hamer Hall
On Wednesday 23 March 2005, over 250 friends – Prisoner stars, current and retired acting colleagues and backstage workers, neighbours from her beloved St Kilda, as well as fans – all gathered in the plush setting of the Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall to celebrate the long-awaited launch of Sheila’s biography. The caterers put on a scrumptious spread. People paused to view the exhibition and greeted each other over champagne with many theatrical kisses and ‘Darlings’ and ‘Haven’t seen you since…” There was a real buzz in the air.
Some of the early
arrivals get re-acquainted
Then everyone gathered for ‘the show’ part of the evening, enticed into the performing space by the haunting strains of the Prisoner theme song and images of Sheila as Lizzie on a large screen at the back of the stage.
Annie Phelan gives her
speech
Entertainer Roland Rocchiccioli spoke first about the hilarious times he spent with his feisty friend. Then Annie Phelan honoured Sheila’s willingness to be a mentor to young performers, and offered a few more anecdotes. Younger son Philip spoke about how proud he was of his mum. And then granddaughter Dominique Oyston, dressed in gorgeous red velvet, sang ‘It was a very good year.’ The song was re-written to follow the course of Sheila’s life with an accompanying DVD screening of photos prepared by Dominique’s husband, singer David Gould. What with Dom’s lovely rendition and the images, there were many tear-filled eyes during that segment.
Glimpses of Dominique Oyston singing
‘When I was 21 it
was a very good year. It was a very good year for playing the belle of old
‘When I was 39
it was a very good year. It was a very good year for treading the boards; I was
now in my prime....’
‘When I was 64
it was a very good year. It was very good year for a funny old bird to win
fortune and fame....’
‘The world knew
my name, and they shouted for more, when I was 64.’
David joined Dominique to toast Sheila and sing a joyful ‘Those were the days, my friend’. They were indeed – seventy-five years of them. Then it was the author’s turn to share her reasons for writing Sheila’s story. There were many, but most of all it was because of Sheila’s enormous capacity to care. She was passionate about life and about helping to create a better world. I’m sure that is why she was so loved despite her faults and eccentricities.
And so it was time to buy books, to line up and have them signed, to chat and share more Sheila stories – and there are so many that one book could not hold them all.
Sheila’s first son Peter Oyston with Helen Martineau
Second son Philip Oyston watching the book signing
First great-grandson, 8 year-old Liam, hamming it up in the family tradition, with some young Prisoner fans