Captain Fortune Show

{{short description|Australian television series}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2013}}

{{Infobox television

| genre = Children's television

| presenter = Alan Herbert

| country = Australia

| language = English

| network = ATN-7

| first_aired = {{Start date|1957}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1961}}

}}

The Captain Fortune Show (also known as Captain Fortune's Saturday Party){{Cite news |date=1961-05-22 |title=Unknown title |page=12 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}} was a popular Australian children's television show which first broadcast on ATN-7 in 1957. It starred Alan Herbert and featured various segments with puppets, clowns, and other entertainment.

Herbert's character Captain Fortune spoke directly with the kids, live and without a script. At the height of the show's popularity, it aired three times during the weekdays and also on Saturday mornings. The show also included segments with Uncle Monty and Roy Kinghorn, and is perhaps best remembered for the show's introductory sequence, which involved the young children running into the Captain's house unannounced and gathering around a large barrel, which contained a mannequin (named "Short John O'Copper"). The Captain would sing "Who's that kno-o-cking on my barrel?" several times, after which a puppet would pop out of the top of the barrel and the Captain would put on a puppet show for the young viewers.

Among the many actors who regularly contributed to the show was Les Foxcroft, best known for his stint on the Australian TV show The Last Resort, Chris Beard, Clifford Warne (with his puppet Gus) and Reg Quartly (in the role of "Uncle Reg" or "Uncle Reggie").{{Cite news |date=1960-09-22 |title=Guide To TV Programs on All Channels |page=2 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |department=TV Guide |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pPpjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GeYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1020%2C9722500 |access-date=2022-07-05}}

Alan Herbert, who played the part of Captain Fortune wore a false beard (which was later phased out as Herbert grew a real beard) and "naval uniform". After four years he left the show due to health problems.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} In addition to the show, Herbert was known for doing work for many charitable organizations involving children.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Because the show was broadcast live, and the series pre-dated the inception of personal video recorders and VCRs, no film copies of the Captain Fortune show are known to exist.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

From 1962{{Cite news |date=1962-08-04 |title=Television |page=8 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}} a successor program, "The Town of Make Believe", which "had evolved from Captain Fortune's work",{{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Mike |title=Mike Bailey on Captain Fortune |url=http://www.captainfortune.com/bailey.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607114616/http://www.captainfortune.com/bailey.html |archive-date=2019-06-07 |access-date=2019-06-07 |website=Captain Fortune}} screened every Saturday on ATN-7 and was compered by Arch McKirdy ("Uncle Mac") with the assistance of "Uncle" Reg Quartly.{{Cite news |date=1962-06-11 |title=Uncle Mac for Saturday Party |page=9 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}} In 1966 that program was renamed "Fun Fair" and given a new time slot of 2pm on Saturday with Reg Quartly in the lead role.{{Cite news |date=1966-01-30 |title=Local shows come back |page=16 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}