By Jeff Smart.
“Who the hell is Jeff Smart hey?”
These were the words uttered by one Santo Cilauro during the end credits of the first ep of series 2 of the D-generation in 1986. Finally after three decades, his story can finally be told!
It’s a story of the constant struggles to meet impossible deadlines with miniscule budgets. Yet against all odds this person would tirelessly and consistently serve up to us the humble viewer, such delights as G-spot the dog, mouldy milk cartons and of course Fartwhistles.
Through his own words (and some pictures) he takes us into his own murky working past with stories revealing such truths behind the series such as the real angle of the wall our Caped Crusaders climbed, the day Santo got glassed, and the true story behind Marg Downey and a jar of Vaseline.
Finally we lift the lid and solve the mystery as to who Jeff Smart really was….. (not that anyone’s really that interested of course).
Read on dear reader and all will be revealed…
In 1986 I got a job as a special effects prop-maker with ABC TV in Melbourne, and the very first thing I got to work on was a new pilot comedy sketch show, creating all manner of special effects props including a very tacky Thunderbirds model!
It was called The D-Generation!
Luckily I continued working on the show when it went to series, and even had some small involvement when they jumped ship later on to Channel 7. The shows afforded me many opportunities to do some fun, creative and interesting work for some really nice people.
As I was based at the ABC production facility workshops in Highett, I wasn’t on set all that often at the main studios in Ripponlea. But occasionally I would be unshackled and allowed to venture down to operate one of special props I had made, taking my camera along to take pics of my work. To help fill up the 36 exposure film roll (remember those!!), I’d often click off pics of whatever other things were going on or around the studio at the time. As a result this is probably the largest collection of behind the scenes photos from the The D-Generation shows in existence.
So sit back and enjoy the goings on behind the scenes of those early halcyon and formative days, back to a time when a Logie award was a distant (and very bad) dream, and The Late Show usually referred to an old movie that you stayed up to watch after midnight in your jim jams!
Truly Vintage Champagne Comedy .. (well maybe Sparkling Wine, after all these were early days!!).
Enjoy!
Jeff Smart ( ex special props-maker ABC D-Generation series).
Designer Max Nicholson is in the white shirt at back, location designer Dale Mark is in the black shirt sitting just in front of him. Mark Gibson (who of course produced The Late Show) is standing at the right with headphones around neck. 2nd Assistant Richard Van’t Riet is standing far left in white skivvy, Producer Kris Noble is sitting on the floor next to Michael Veitch, and Alfie Camilleri (a star in his own right) is holding a sign that says “Rob”, because Mr Sitch was off set doing his medical exams at the time. As for myself, I’m sitting next to Sue Yardley (just behind Michael Veitch). Apologies to those whose names and faces I’ve forgotten, …it was a long time ago!!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Kris had of course talent spotted the Dgen at the Last Laugh comedy revue, and had invited them to do a pilot show which got the ball rolling. So basically it’s down to him!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
These blocking in sessions were held off site from the studios, allowed the team to get their timings and performances honed, without the expense of taking up studio time. Note Magda eating in the back row!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Because of a shadow cast across Santo’s face by the window frame of this telephone box, the scene needed several retakes to get right.
I remember many of the cast became increasingly frustrated that a lot of decisions as to retakes were based upon technical considerations rather than performance, and this was something they didn’t want to compromise on again. Solution?… make it yourself..which they did!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
I carved the giant hand out of a huge block of polystyrene, it was a messy process and for many weeks after I was still finding bean bag type styrene balls up my nose, in my hair, socks, shoes you name it.
I loved doing these studio days, as you very much felt part of the show, and it was always nice to interact with the cast and crew rather than be locked way at the ABC workshops in Highett.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
This is for the bit in the W.A.N.C. newsroom where she says..”and I’ll be back with bigger tits”.
To achieve the effect I stood off camera and on cue released the air out of two balloons strapped on to her chest (the balloons not me), …she thought it looked great! As did we all!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
A third camera slightly out of shot on the right would have done the closeups of Marg.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
We had some really good designers on the show, who made the best of limited in house resources and constraints of time and budget. Des White, Rudy Joosten, Max Nicholson, Dale Mark, Penny Southgate and others to name a few, and they really gave it their all.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Unfortunately when it was used in the sketch you can clearly see the inside of the empty handle as Michael turns round in his seat, revealing it to the world!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
fitted quite quickly as he is only off camera in the sketch for short moments.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Some of the sketches were prerecorded during weekdays, with the live show recorded on Sunday nights . The prerecorded stuff would be played out on monitors for the audience (to fill time and acquire a real laugh track), whilst the crew resets for the next live skit. This explains why this set is portable, so it can be quickly wheeled in and back by the staging crew whilst a prerecorded skit was being run.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
For the Tassie Dam skit, the set was built within the confines of a circular (above ground) swimming pool at the set construction area in Highett, this meant there was less danger from water being in contact with studio lights etc.
Highett was an ABC off site production area where we had set construction, wardrobe, scenic art props making and storage, and can be often seen in the background doubling as Stunt
Headquarters for The Late Show “shit-scared” sketches.
It’s no longer there, having since been demolished and redeveloped, but the area where the boys are changing out of their wet clothes is on the access road which now leads to the Officeworks at 1123 Nepean Hwy Highett (about 400 metres past the KFC going south). If you do go visit stunt headquarters some day, just watch out for the bus being driven the wrong way.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
This was a brilliant skit from a technical point of view in that the camera crew and vision mixer had their work cut out for them as they had to quickly flit from one person to another in quick succession, it took a few goes but the end result was well worth the effort.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
I was congratulated by the team for the effort I put in to make this cat, which was just supposed to be a stuffed cat for a quick throwaway gag! I however decided to make its head move and tail wag via radio control. This meant they were able to hold the shot and “milk it” for a lot longer than they had anticipated, creating a bigger buildup to the punchline and allowing a rolling caption to be added.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
I sculpted up the big latex heads which the makeup dept applied. I also made the giant coat-hanger that drags them out (notice the hook part peaking into frame just left of Santo’s head.) I recall this moment caused a loud collective groan from the studio audience as the two were forcibly dragged out of the womb!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Made from sheet perspex heated up and blown into a half sphere using air ( like blowing up a big bubble), these lotto balls were a bit of a challenge to make (they kept bursting as we made them!).
When Santo saw his ball, he was a bit embarrassed at the 69 number I had painted it on,
(no-one had said what the numbers should be so I improvised!), and so he tried to cover it up with his arm!
I was told he was embarrassed by it because he didn’t want his mother to see it!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
This sequence of pics features the steps involved in making a life cast of Santo’s head for the sketch where after verbally abusing his wife she blows his head up.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Santo was in this for about an hour and was a real trouper about it.
He didn’t know it at the time but we had a bit of trouble getting him out of it, as the plaster had gone too hard. But luckily we managed to get him out in the end, and he was able to continue providing his services to comedy relatively unscathed by the experience.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
From this day on we did all sorts of things to Santo’s head (knowing we had a life cast of it) including being cut off by a chainsaw in a cinema skit.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
And the rest of the cast didn’t get off lightly, as soon we had to do face casts of Rob, Magda and Marg. These were a bit simpler as we only had to do faces not the whole head.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
As the 1st series progressed, and the second was in the offing, the D-Gen wanted to do all new titles for the second series, and up the ante a bit with some sketches.
As a result the second series had greater scope and required more special props. Luckily we had a bit more lead time to get things ready (they had obviously been writing a lot of stuff during the hiatus prior to the 2nd series), meaning we had a lot less last minute things to do, and could indulge ourselves a bit more.
This led to sequences that were far more ambitious than before, an good example of this was first ep of series 2 with the trip down the supermarket (and the rabbit hole) to the land of Narnia/wonderland which is peppered across the episode.
With robs face cast I was able to sculpt and create a latex Caterpillar mask that neatly fits Robs features. This had bendy feelers that I operated off camera with a long bike type cable (crouched behind the toadstool looking at a monitor), reacting to his expressions.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
For this we did a full body plaster cast of a real baby and …alright no we didn’t, it was a realistic toy doll everyone! No babies were harmed during the making of this series.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
We were on the last shooting day for the final show and running over studio time, so the dog had to be cut. I had spent about two weeks making this thing with moving eyes, a wagging tail, etc.
And knowing all the work I had put into it, a very sheepish Kris Noble came down especially from the control gallery upstairs and came over to me and said “I’m so sorry Jeff, we haven’t got any more studio time”. Ah well I thought, that’s telly isn’t it!
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
Rob actually wasn’t on set that day (which explains the earlier group shot with Alf holding the Rob sign), but does appear in the sketch having turned up especially to do his bit earlier in the day . The bit (where he does a silly dance) was simply inserted into the show after we shot the studio live. I recall that the floor manager explained to Rob what he wanted him to do, and Rob got it all in one take first go! …and quickly scooted off to his exams.
SOURCE: JEFF SMART
In closing I will say that these people were simply the most humble, nicest, friendliest, easiest, funniest and cleverest people you could ever hope to work with on TV ( and I had previously worked on Young Talent Time!). ….That’s actually true .
I have many happy memories working on the Dgen shows, and have quite a few amusing anecdotes to share, but that will have to wait for another time!
Meantime I’ll leave it to Santo Cilauro who summed it up best during the credit roll at the end of Series 2 Ep 1,”…the credits are just an ego trip for a load of hangers on, ..I mean who the hell is Jeff Smart huh!”
I am very proud to be and to have been, that ‘hanger on’!
Jeff Smart Aug 2019
( pic 200 )
Jeff Smart nowadays with some degenerate items at his home in the UK ( he nicked the mountain climbing poster out of the studio, don’t tell anyone …they’re still after Marg for the apple she nicked off set!).
You can see his work in action on The Best & Second Best Of The D-Generation – available on iTunes.