Molly and Me
For the last few days, Australians have been wondering about the future health of “Molly Meldrum”. A leading figure in the Australian music scene over several decades, he’s been in a coma since falling from a ladder at his home in Melbourne a few days ago.
I met Molly briefly at the opening night of the Australian production of “Mamma Mia” in Melbourne a decade ago.
It was actually Patti Mostyn I met first. She was the legendary Australian publicist who looked after ABBA’s tour of Australia in 1977.
As I mentioned several years ago on this blog…
One of my most significant memories of the night was approaching Patti Mostyn, the Australian publicist for ABBA during the 1970s, asking if I could have a photograph with her, explaining that she was a legendary figure in Australian ABBA fandom. “Really?”, she said, seemingly surprised that anyone knew who she was. “Sure”, she said, “But only if you have a picture with Molly (Meldrum) as well”. Reluctantly I agreed.
And that’s how I met Molly.
Get well soon, mate…
I’m a bit fascinated about how the Molly story is featuring so highly in the news. What’s your take on that? (Just silly season news or is it saying something about Molly’s role in Australia’s cultural identity?)
I think it’s a combination of the two. I think the silly season has heightened interest, and if there was something more dramatic happening in the news, it may not have received as much interest. But, on the other side of things, I think we all think we “know” Molly, and so we’re all very concerned. We grew up with him, our parents got to know him through us, and now our kids know him – that kind of thing. I’m also reminded of the “P”s of journalism I was once told by a now retired professor of journalism, meaning you could rate the level of interest in a story in these terms – princes, prices, people, places and then, finally, politics. Molly is a prince. A celebrity.