Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), Wednesday 15 October 1980, page 26


The charm of childhood

escapades in

All The Green Year

The young stars on the set of the

ABC's latest children's television drama All The Green Year were so enthusiastic during the taping of a fight at a school dance that actor Greg Stroud found himself flat on his back after a solid punch.

Greg, however, regained his stance with a gleeful smile as the floor director praised everyone for what had been an excellent performance.

The series All The Green Year, taken from the book written by Don Charlwood, follows the childhood

escapades in the year 1929 of two boys, Johnno, played by Greg Stroud, who won a Logie for Solo One, and Charlie, played by Darius Perkins.

In one part of the series Johnno and Charlie, both 14, attend the school dance to defend the honour of Johnno's elder sister, Eileen, played by Gina Mendoza. Charlie, in all naivety and innocence, asks, "What's

her innocence?"

As the dance progresses with the nibbling of sandwiches, the sipping of fruit punch and Kevin Hocking

playing You're The Cream In My Co fee and then aptly You Took AW tage Of Me on the piano, an» furiated Johnno throws a punch A young man he believes is getting"

intimate with Eileen.

The fight was on. During relief als for the scene the young "* involved in the scuffle held back the best punches, which later flew $ with an enjoyable fury as the acW scene was taped. There were sflw all round and no hard feelings*'1' the young actors watched their *

Clockwise, from left: A school dance provides excitement for Johnno, left, (Greg Stroud) with Noreen (Sally Cooper), and Charlie (Darius

Perkins) with Kitty (Pepe Trevor); the boys survey their cooking;

Eileen (Gina Mendoza) and pianist (Kevin Hocking); Noreen and Kitty.

lirable efforts on the video play-back fter the taping.

All The Green Year, a six-part Jries which screens nationally on 'ctober 20, provided quite a few musing moments for the cast during lming. In one scene a friend of the fo boys finds a camel which has scaped from a circus. However, the arael used for filming put on a petuJnt star act before the cameras, ausing all sorts of problems.

"We couldn't get the camel to aove," said director Douglas Sharp.

"It took a long time to complete the shooting of the scene."

All The Green Year is set in the Frankston area in Melbourne, but most of the filming was completed at Flinders. "Frankston is very 1980s, whereas Flinders has an older feeling, more suited to the 1929 setting," said Sharp.

He said he originally thought that the character of Johnno should be played by a tall, robust youth. Thin and 165 centimetres tall, Greg Stroud can hardly be called robust, but

Sharp now believes his small build has added a new dimension to the part. "It looks good to see a wiry little fella push his way through a crowd to defend his sister's honour," he said.

Greg, 19, has appeared in The Sullivans, Cop Shop, Twenty Good Years, Division Four and Solo One. Darius Perkins, 15, has also appeared in Cop Shop and The Sullivans. He is not the only one in his family in TV; his father, Robert, is a production designer for Skyways. I |

- CAROL VEITCH