Noeline Buxworth
The loneliness of the long-distance bingo caller
|
Noeline and Workers Club Bingo
Since the beginning of 2015 Noeline had been hosting her very own Bingo Show at The Workers Club Hotel in Melbourne's Fitzroy. Having the time of her dear old life rolling the balls and tormenting the punters with her unusual brand of sociability. The top prize of the night was the wonderfully kitsch JC Disco Clock, an unforgettable plug-in timepiece and perfect prayer-worthy adornment to any dunny wall. The show has come about through Noels' long-time association with the Original Bingo and Trivia Company, and in particular Sparx Wilson, who, with the wondrous Trevor Wight, have been co-hosting bingo with Noels at The Terminus Hotel in Abbotsford for nearly 20 years, on-and-off. Noeline's finally learned how to call bingo, so Sparx thought she should have her own gig. She calls it community service for all the Centrelink fraud she's got away with (she went to prison, you know...). |
Noeline and Laurie Dragge. Photo: James Penlidis
A bit of background on the ole girl
Noeline was created with her husband Laurie when Lynda Gibson and I were writing a cabaret called Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow, involving stand-up, characters and live music.
Lynda wanted to do a show with her partner Al, a blues guitarist. I wanted Lynda and myself to have a couple of characters we did together. Laurie and Noeline Dragge were the result. Tragic working class clowns, Laurie and Noels were interested in beer, poker machines and cigarettes. They lived on welfare in a housing commission flat.
I came up with a voice inspired by the women I'd worked with at Mum's packaging business. Lynda never found a voice she was happy with for Laurie, so she gave him an indistinguishable gargle as a way of communicating. Lynda took the opportunity to do more physical performing (Laurie suffered any number of nervous tics), and Noeline became Laurie's connection with the outside world as his emotional crutch and interpreter.
Lynda and I performed Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow, and the original version of From Dragges To Riches at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (1995) and the Adelaide Fringe Festival (1996). I performed a solo version of From Dragges To Riches at the MICF in 1996, the year Lynda turned 40.
Noeline was created with her husband Laurie when Lynda Gibson and I were writing a cabaret called Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow, involving stand-up, characters and live music.
Lynda wanted to do a show with her partner Al, a blues guitarist. I wanted Lynda and myself to have a couple of characters we did together. Laurie and Noeline Dragge were the result. Tragic working class clowns, Laurie and Noels were interested in beer, poker machines and cigarettes. They lived on welfare in a housing commission flat.
I came up with a voice inspired by the women I'd worked with at Mum's packaging business. Lynda never found a voice she was happy with for Laurie, so she gave him an indistinguishable gargle as a way of communicating. Lynda took the opportunity to do more physical performing (Laurie suffered any number of nervous tics), and Noeline became Laurie's connection with the outside world as his emotional crutch and interpreter.
Lynda and I performed Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow, and the original version of From Dragges To Riches at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (1995) and the Adelaide Fringe Festival (1996). I performed a solo version of From Dragges To Riches at the MICF in 1996, the year Lynda turned 40.
The cast of Wall 2 Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow.
I've performed as Noeline on radio 3RRR in Melbourne on a show called The Cheese Shop which was hosted by the legendary Dave Taranto. I also guested on FOX-FM in Melbourne as Noels, and more recently, she has phoned in regularly to Manic Monday Drive on JOY 94.9.
Over about fifteen years I brought Noeline to punters at a fantastic local bingo night at theTerminus Hotel in Abbotsford (Victoria). I was asked by my friend Trevor Wight (the long-time host) to unleash Noeline on the unsuspecting drinkers at the pub and had a wonderful time messing with their heads, forcing them to act out bingo calls like 'seventy-six trombones led the big parade Brrp-brrp-oo!' and 'sixty-nine - dinner for two!' I improvised as Noeline and learned so much about her (having to 'be' her for two and a half hours I learned a heap... how to fend idiots off, how to catch up with friends while still 'being' Noeline, amongst other things...)
Over my time at the Terminus I worked with many hosts: Anita Smith, John Weldon and childhood friend Bernard Caleo (as his alter-ego Fernando). Termi Bingo was a great place to be on a Wednesday night, and a handy gig to have when the phone wasn't ringing. My sisters ran the Terminus Kitchen for a few years, so it was a family affair for a while there.
The Terminus Hotel appears in a short film made by Nic Ridge, Carlo San Giorgio and myself about Noeline and Laurie, and the video footage I used in the 1996 MICF season of From Dragges to Riches was shot there as well.
Recently I was sent some paraphernalia associated with my work with Lynda from the mid-nineties, including photos (see below) by the wonderful Peter Milne of us backstage at The Prince Patrick Hotel (Wall2Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow) and at The Gershwin Room at The Esplanade Hotel (as Laurie and Noeline). My thanks to Lyndal McIlwaine, the keeper of the budgets (and the memories).
Over about fifteen years I brought Noeline to punters at a fantastic local bingo night at theTerminus Hotel in Abbotsford (Victoria). I was asked by my friend Trevor Wight (the long-time host) to unleash Noeline on the unsuspecting drinkers at the pub and had a wonderful time messing with their heads, forcing them to act out bingo calls like 'seventy-six trombones led the big parade Brrp-brrp-oo!' and 'sixty-nine - dinner for two!' I improvised as Noeline and learned so much about her (having to 'be' her for two and a half hours I learned a heap... how to fend idiots off, how to catch up with friends while still 'being' Noeline, amongst other things...)
Over my time at the Terminus I worked with many hosts: Anita Smith, John Weldon and childhood friend Bernard Caleo (as his alter-ego Fernando). Termi Bingo was a great place to be on a Wednesday night, and a handy gig to have when the phone wasn't ringing. My sisters ran the Terminus Kitchen for a few years, so it was a family affair for a while there.
The Terminus Hotel appears in a short film made by Nic Ridge, Carlo San Giorgio and myself about Noeline and Laurie, and the video footage I used in the 1996 MICF season of From Dragges to Riches was shot there as well.
Recently I was sent some paraphernalia associated with my work with Lynda from the mid-nineties, including photos (see below) by the wonderful Peter Milne of us backstage at The Prince Patrick Hotel (Wall2Wall: The Shagpile Floorshow) and at The Gershwin Room at The Esplanade Hotel (as Laurie and Noeline). My thanks to Lyndal McIlwaine, the keeper of the budgets (and the memories).
Noels giving her best 'hangdog' look.
Later, while appearing as a regular guest on Manic Monday Drive on JOY 94.9, which was hosted (initially) by my old bingo cohorts Trev, Sparx and Neetsy, Noeline revealed that she was in fact behind bars, at the Deer Park Women's Penitentiary, for crimes against poker machines, and this allowed for any number of ridiculous scenarios for Noeline to report on each week.
Then she escaped! And was on the run, even travelling as far as Sydney, before working her way back towards Melbourne, still evading captivity. This time on the radio gave me the opportunity to develop some new material for old Noels, which will hopefully result in a new live show.
A blonde Noeline appeared on TV in Totally Full Frontal (1998-9).
Check below to see her in action.
Then she escaped! And was on the run, even travelling as far as Sydney, before working her way back towards Melbourne, still evading captivity. This time on the radio gave me the opportunity to develop some new material for old Noels, which will hopefully result in a new live show.
A blonde Noeline appeared on TV in Totally Full Frontal (1998-9).
Check below to see her in action.
