NEWS and
PICS
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