Shirley Maddock

Shirley Frances Whitley Maddock (7 December 1928 – 10 October 2001) was a New Zealand producer, television presenter, author and actress. She was a pioneering figure in early New Zealand television.

Shirley Maddock
Born
Shirley Frances Whitley Maddock

(1928-12-07)7 December 1928
Auckland, New Zealand
Died10 October 2001(2001-10-10) (aged 72)
Dunedin, New Zealand
Occupation
  • TV producer
  • TV presenter
  • author
  • actress
Notable work
Islands of the Gulf (1964)
Spouse(s)
Michael Easther
​
​
(m. 1965⁠–⁠2001)​
Children3

Early life and career

Maddock was born in Auckland, New Zealand,[1] to Philip and Grace Maddock. Her father was the general manager of Metro Goldwyn Mayer New Zealand.[2] She grew up in Wellington and attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate School.[1]

Maddock travelled to London in 1947 and spent three years in British repertory theatre.[3][4] She also had a bit-part in the film The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).[2][5] In 1952 Maddock returned to New Zealand and joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Service (the predecessor of the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation) and worked on women's radio programmes as a scriptwriter, announcer and researcher.[3][6][4]

In order to gain experience with the new medium of television, which had not yet arrived in New Zealand, Maddock moved to New York City in 1958 and worked on television documentaries.[3][4] At the same time she continued to work as a radio correspondent, sending reports back to New Zealand.[4]

New Zealand television career

With the arrival of television in New Zealand in June 1960, Maddock returned to New Zealand and became New Zealand's first television news writer, first television interviewer and first female television producer.[6][7][4] In an interview for a women's magazine, Maddock said: "In those days we did everything live and if that life were faltering through inexperience and misadventure, what we attempted was full of the zest which all pioneers share. You had to be a jack-of-all-trades: I wrote the newsreel, the continuity for each transmission, took my turn as announcer and interviewer and produced some tentative pieces on architecture, art and William Shakespeare."[3] One of Maddock's more unusual successes was discovering Graham Kerr, who became one of the world's first celebrity chefs.[4]

One of Maddock's early documentaries for the NZBC was The Distant Shore (1963), about the landing at ANZAC Cove at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.[8] She used contemporary photographs, narration, sound effects and music to bring the story to life.[4] The Distant Shore was awarded Best Documentary at the inaugural 1964 New Zealand National TV Awards.[4][9][10]

Around this time, Maddock also wrote a novel called With Gently Smiling Jaws (1963).[11] The novel was based on her own experiences as a young New Zealand woman travelling to New York City to work in commercial television.[4][12]

Islands of the Gulf

Maddock is most well known for producing and presenting New Zealand's first ever locally produced television documentary series, Islands of the Gulf, in 1964.[13] The documentary involved Maddock (with photographer Don Whyte) exploring the Hauraki Gulf at a time when the islands of the Gulf were isolated from the outside world.[13] Intended to be a one-off, Islands of the Gulf ended up running to five half-hour episodes, and made Maddock a household name.[6][3][14] The first episode was about the Great Barrier Island.[15] The series was followed by a best-selling non-fiction book, Islands of the Gulf (1966), based on the documentary.[16] It was re-printed many times, including in 2017.[17]

Maddock was not initially permitted by the NZBC to use the title "producer". In a 1993 interview with Jim Sullivan for Radio New Zealand, Maddock explained that "the hierarchy of broadcasting in those days didn't think that producer was a suitable title for a woman", and accordingly the credit line she was allowed to use was "written, devised and arranged by" or "written and presented by".[7] It was only in 1965 that Maddock was allowed to use the credit title of "producer" for a documentary called A Capital Move, a centennial piece about the transfer of New Zealand government from Auckland to Wellington.[7][3] Maddock went on to produce other documentary series such as The Tall Trees and the Gold (1966), about the history of logging and gold mining in New Zealand.[7]

Later career

After getting married and starting a family in the mid-1960s,[4] Maddock wrote a number of non-fiction books, including Far As A Man May Go (1970), about the journey of Captain Cook to New Zealand,[18] These Antipodes: A New Zealand Album (1979),[19] The Waikato (1984),[20] and A Pictorial History of New Zealand (1988).[21][22] In 1971, Maddock wrote a play called Prospect from the Park, to mark Auckland's 150th anniversary.[4][23] In 1980, Maddock and her husband Michael Easther co-authored a book called A Christmas Garland: A New Zealand Christmas Album, 1642-1900.[24]

Maddock continued to make appearances on television and radio throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including guest appearances on television shows such as Hudson and Halls, Master of Arts and Beauty and the Beast, and a documentary revisiting Islands of the Gulf in 1984.[4] Islands of the Gulf was re-screened by TVNZ in 1997.[25]

In the 1999 New Year Honours, Maddock was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and New Zealand historical literature.[26] One of those who recommended her for the honour, radio broadcaster Sharon Crosbie, said Maddock was an inspiration for other women: "She broke through and proved herself, making programmes that were a revelation. In so many ways she set the standards for those who followed".[2]

After her death on 10 October 2001, well-known New Zealand producer Max Cryer said she was one of television's "most respected producers", for which he credited her "background in radio and theatre, combined with her extreme intelligence".[4][27] Judith Tizard, New Zealand's Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, called her "a trailblazer in New Zealand broadcasting", and said her contribution to broadcasting and literature "has increased our self-confidence as a nation, by presenting New Zealand's social history in an accessible way".[28]

Personal life and family

In 1965, Maddock married Michael Easther (a Hamilton general practitioner, a Waikato Times crossword designer, and long-time Hamilton Operatic Society member).[4] They had two sons and a daughter.[22] Maddock's son Richard is the head of the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland,[29] her daughter Elisabeth played the role of Carla Crozier on Shortland Street from 1995 to 1996,[6] and her son Philip is a Waikato organic farmer.[2]

In 2018, Maddock's daughter Elisabeth Easther was the host of a remake of Islands in the Gulf for TVNZ during which she visited places that her mother had visited and re-interviewed surviving interviewees.[6][14] Reviewer Greg Bruce, writing in the New Zealand Herald, gave the show a positive review, and noted: "The regular references and old footage may drive you, as they did me, to the NZ on Screen archives to watch the entire first episode from Easther's mum's 1964 series. Once there, you'll realise, as I did, that you've stumbled on a small masterpiece."[30]

References
  1. "Interview with Shirley Maddock Easther". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  2. Hawkes, Jennifer (13 October 2001). "Far as a woman may go". Waikato Times. p. 14.
  3. "It's no vacation filming on location by Shirley Maddock". New Zealand TV Weekly. 5 December 1966. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  4. "Shirley Maddock - Biography". NZ On Screen - Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  5. "TV's Maddock mastered the medium". The Dominion Post. 18 October 2001. p. 13.
  6. Gracewood, Gemma (23 February 2018). "A daughter remakes her mother's iconic TV series". The Spinoff. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  7. "Shirley Maddock". Ngā Taonga - Sound & Vision. The New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  8. "TV NZ Oral History Project - Interview with Shirley Maddock 1985". Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. The New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  9. Derby, Mark (1 April 2020). "TV, film, news media and radio awards". Te Ara - The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  10. "Shirley Maddock - Awards". NZ On Screen - Iwi Whitiāhua. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  11. Maddock, Shirley (1963). With Gently Smiling Jaws. Collins.
  12. "With Gently Smiling Jaws by Shirley Maddock". Morgan's Rare Books. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
  13. Williams, Shani (29 August 2017). "New Zealand's first-ever documentary series remade". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  14. Higham, Tim (December 2017). "Second Time Around". Gulf Journal.
  15. Dunleavy, Trisha (22 October 2014). "Islands of the Gulf". Te Ara - The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  16. Maddock, Shirley (1966). Islands of the Gulf. Auckland, New Zealand: Collins Bros. & Co. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  17. Maddock, Shirley (September 2017). Islands of the Gulf (2nd ed.). New Zealand: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-1-7755-4116-5.
  18. Maddock, Shirley (1970). Far as a Man May Go: Captain Cook's New Zealand. HarperCollins Distribution Services. ISBN 978-0-0021-1274-1.
  19. Maddock, Shirley (1979). These antipodes: a New Zealand album. Auckland, New Zealand: Collins. ISBN 978-0-0021-6958-5. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  20. Maddock, Shirley (1984). The Waikato. Auckland, New Zealand: Collins. ISBN 978-0-0021-7210-3.
  21. Maddock, Shirley (1988). A Pictorial History Of New Zealand. Heinemann Reed. ISBN 978-0790000046.
  22. "Obituary: Shirley Maddock". NZ Herald. 12 October 2001. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  23. "Mercury Theatre: [Programmes and fliers relating to plays and dramatic performances. 1971]". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  24. Maddock, Shirley; Easther, Michael (1980). A Christmas Garland: A New Zealand Christmas Album, 1642-1900 in Twelve Part. Auckland, New Zealand: Collins. ISBN 978-0-0021-6981-3.
  25. "Slice of early Hauraki life back on screen". Waikato Times. 24 September 1997. p. 19.
  26. "New Year honours list 1999". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 1998. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  27. Cryer, Max (14 October 2001). "TV's leading lady a pioneer of history". The Sunday Star-Times.
  28. "On the death of Shirley Maddock, ONZM". Scoop Independent News. 11 October 2001. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  29. Riddle, Charles (24 February 2018). "Michael Easther, father to former Shortland Street actor, dies". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  30. Bruce, Greg. "Greg Bruce: Bridging years in the gulf". NZ Herald (2 March 2018). Retrieved 11 November 2020.
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