St Margaret Mary Children's Choir - recordings and TV appearances 1963-5

1. Introduction

During December 2023 the author, during a conversation with Robyn Atherton, president of the Harden Murrumburrah Historical Society, was made aware of an interesting event from 1963 concerning the Australian pop music television program Sing Sing Sing. The story was outlined in the following reminiscences by Atherton:

I was a member of the girls choir at St Margaret Mary’s primary school in Merrylands, as was my sister Jeanette, aged 2 years younger than I. We practiced every lunch time in the corridor and on Saturdays at the convent on the verandah. The convent was the home of the Marist Sisters. All the grounds are now taken up by Cerdon College and Southern Cross Retirement Village. In 1963 I was in 6th class. Our choir was led by Sister Nathaniel. We had entered, and won, eisteddfods, and had an LP record pressed at Festival Records in Sydney. I was not pictured on the cover of the LP due to a friend and I talking or something, and we were not on the final take. My sister Jeanette was. We also were welcomed on to a Johnny O’Keefe Christmas show. During one of the rehearsals, the Bee Gees were in the common room where we had refreshments. I cannot remember if they were on the Christmas show. The show was televised. Jeanette and our younger sister Lynn continued with the choir throughout primary school. Lynn went to Melbourne for some special event with the choir and travelled on the Southern Aurora train.

In searching for a surviving copy of the Johnny O'Keefe 1963 Christmas show footage, there were two likely options: (1) it survived in a private collection, or (2) was held in a public collection such as the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), Canberra. It was to the latter that Atherton directed the author, having already located an entry for the surviving copy of the television show Sing Sing Sing, wherein the performance was broadcast as part of episode 63, most likely a day or two before December 1963.

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2. The Christmas specials 1963 & 1964

The NFSA is the premiere Australian audiovisual archive and contains a wealth of material on Johnny O'Keefe and his television career. For example, one item on its website is a clip of O'Keefe singing with the Bee Gees during 1964 on Sing Sing Sing. Therein it is noted:

The show was broadcast on Sydney’s ATN 7 from 1962-1965. It was initially hosted by singer Lionel Long, though he was replaced after a year by the very popular Johnny O’Keefe. O’Keefe had been seen on Australian television screens on the ABC’s Six O’Clock Rock (1959-1962) and Seven’s The Johnny O’Keefe Show (1961-1962). Sing Sing Sing was to be O’Keefe’s last TV series.

A search of the NFSA online database revealed the following record for the Christmas 1963 episode of Sing Sing Sing:

Sing Sing Sing, EP 63

Christmas special featuring Jimmy Dunne, Pam & Ade, Al Lane, The Flanagans, Sharon O'Brien, Tommy Spencer. St Margaret Mary's Girls School Choir singing Silent Night and a German Christmas carol, and representatives from the Russian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Ukrainian, Latvian, German, Italian, Hungarian and Croatian communities wish viewers a Merry Christmas in their native languages. -- General note: Commercials include Swing Stick and Ten Pin Time. duration: 45 minutes.

The NFSA holds a digital copy of the show (item 5789), along with pre-recorded material which supported the live show miming process, though the latter did not apparently include the choir. There is also material relating to the choir's recording contract with Festival Records (refer The Recordings section below). 

The 1963 Christmas special was recorded in the ATN7 television studio. The following low-grade YouTube clip of Johnny O'Keefe singing the Roy Orbison song Pretty Papers from the 1963 Sing Sing Sing Christmas show appears to include members of the St. Margaret Mary choir in the background and near the singer.

Johnny O'Keefe, Pretty Paper, Sing Sing Sing Christmas special, 1963, duration: 2.34 minutes.

The choir not only appeared in the Johnny O'Keefe Christmas special of 1963, but also the following year alongside the ATN Channel 7 choir, as noted in the following article from The Broadcaster magazine of 22 December 1964:

Choir in hour-long TV date The St. Margaret Marys Girls' Choir of Merrylands will be featured in an hour long 'Christmas special' on Sydney television tonight. The choir of 45 girls is from the St. Margaret Mary School, Merrylands and comprises girls between 8 and 11 years of age. The choir will be featured singing Christmas carols with the ATN Channel 7 choir. The girls, under the training of Sister Nathanael, have achieved amazing success as a choir. During the two years they have been singing as a group, the girls have won at several eisteddfods, aped on television and made recordings. Recently, the choir was signed up for a five year contract with the Festival Recording Company. An album of Christmas carols and hymns record ed by the full choir was released in November. A single play recording of 'Silent Night' and 'Drummer Boy' has been cut from the album and is also available.

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4. Leslie Uggams special 1965

The St. Margaret Marys Girls' Choir also appeared on a television special released on 21 August 1965. Entitled The Wonderful World of Leslie Uggams, it starred the American singer who had also performed in Australian clubs during this period. It was produced by ATN Channel 7. According to a newspaper report at the time: The choir of St. Margaret Mary's Convent, Sydney, will accompany her in several numbers.

The Canberra Times, 16 August 1965.

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4. The recordings

Three Festival Records 12 inch LPs and a 45 inch single by the St. Margaret Mary Children's Choir were released during the 1960s. The LPs included the self-titled Merrylands N.S.W. (1964), with a black and white cover and pink title (FL-31460); The Sound of Children (1965), with an unidentified landscape cover (FL-31746); and With a Smile and a Song (?1966) which had a full colour image of the choir on the cover (FL-32131 ). In the black and white photograph on the cover of the first LP the girls are dressed in their normal school uniform. In the second instance they wear special blue and white performance dresses specially made for a visit to Melbourne. The conductor Sister Nathanael S.M. appears on the rear of the first LP and on the cover of the third LP alongside the choir. The first LP had 16 songs and ran for 33 minutes. The 45 inch single (FK-790) was issued in a simple paper cover on 26 November 1964. It comprised the songs Silent Night backed with The Little Drummer Boy.

St. Margaret Mary Children's Choir, Merrylands N.S.W., Festival Records, 1964.

St. Margaret Mary Children's Choir, Merrylands N.S.W., rear cover, 1964.

45 inch single, 26 November 1964.

The Sound of Children, LP, Festival Records FL31746, 1965.

With a Smile and a Song, Festival Records, ?1966. Robyn Atherton's sister Lynne can be seen in the third row from the front and right, with blond curly hair.

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5. References

Johnny O'Keefe [webpage], National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, accessed 11 December 2023.

St. Margaret Mary Children's Choir, Discog [website], accessed 11 December 2023.

St Margaret Mary's Primary School - Our Story [webpage], accessed 11 December 2023.

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6. Acknowledgement

This article was compiled with the assistance of Robyn Atherton and her sister Lynn Jesionkowski nee Pickering. Due acknowledgement is also given to the work of the staff of the National Film and Sound Archive, and the National Library of Australia, with both institutions located in Canberra.

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Last updated: 11 December 2023

Michael Organ, Australia