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Elizabeth Riddell

Veteran newspaper journalist Elizabeth Riddell was also the author of several books of poetry.
Series : Australian Biography Series 2 | Year : 1993 | Total Duration : 26 Minutes | Producer : Frank Heimans, Sharon Connolly (Supervising Producer)
Director : Frank Heimans |
Pan over articles on and books by Elizabeth Riddell, CU Elizabeth's fingers typing, CU Elizabeth's face as she types, MWS Elizabeth at electric typewriter, CU fingers, tilt up Elizabeth at typewriter, MS Elizabeth reading poem from one of her books, freeze frame, super: Elizabeth Riddell, born 1910, poet and journalist. Dissolve.
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Access No. 135416 | 1 min 27 secs | 1990s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1910, Elizabeth Riddell as baby. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about her American father being born in Richmond, Virginia from a family of engineers, his father settling in New Zealand. B&W photo, circa 1910s, Elizabeth's father Sidney as young man.
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Access No. 135417 | 47 secs | 1910s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Interview Elizabeth about having grandparents in Napier but never seeing them, nor her father who was a solicitor and yachtsman, her mother entertaining and playing bridge, her father dying from pneumonia when she was about five years old, leaving them in debt, her one memory of her father being of him riding on a fire engine in his pyjamas, being sent to a boarding school because her mother was incapable having never been trained to do anything.
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Access No. 135418 | 1 min 13 secs | 1990s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, circa 1910s, Elizabeth Riddell's mother Violet (Fiddie). Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about her mother going to work, collecting insurance money from poor people, then getting a job in advertising which she was very good at. Detail previous photo CU Violet. Interview Elizabeth about her mother having a good time while she and her sister were in different boarding schools.
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Access No. 135419 | 39 secs | 1910s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1910s, Elizabeth Riddell and her sister sitting on box. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about her sister being an expert at persecuting her, going to different boarding schools because they quarrelled, believing her sister when she told her their mother didn't love her, women in her family never really being interested in their children, her sister making her believe that everything was her fault. Detail previous photo CU Elizabeth and sister, interview Elizabeth about now being on good terms with her sister because they live in different countries, living entirely different lives.
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Access No. 135420 | 2 mins 15 secs | 1910s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Interview Elizabeth Riddell. Still b&w photograph, 1920s-30s, Ezra Norton in profile. Interview Elizabeth about being hired by newspaper proprietor Ezra Norton on recommendation from someone who had read her poetry, the hiring of people from New Zealand as it was thought they had better education, being flung into journalism by Ezra Norton in Australia.
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Access No. 135421 | 42 secs | 1990s | Australia | © John Fairfax Publications | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1910s, portrait of Elizabeth Riddell's mother Violet (Fiddie) in large white hat. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about her mother being supportive of her appointment as a journalist in Australia, her mother later coming to live in Australia.
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Access No. 135422 | 1 min 4 secs | 1910s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Archival b&w footage, 1928, super: Sydney 1928, high angle cars and tram at intersection, cars parked at angle in Martin Place, overhead shot pedestrians and tram in wide street. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about loving Sydney, being thrown into journalism and writing.
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Access No. 135423 | 20 secs | 1920s, 1990s, | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1930s, compositors at Sydney Morning Herald. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about having a page to run with theatre and ballet reviews although not having any critical facility. Newspaper page showing theatre reviews, zoom to ÒWhat's OnÓ column. Interview Elizabeth about never doing social pages. B&W photograph, circa 1950s, CU editor Eric Baume with moustache. Interview Elizabeth about Eric Baume introducing the Òsob sisterÓ where she would interview people who had suffered a tragedy.
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Access No. 135425 | 1 min 6 secs | 1930s, 1990s, | Australia | © John Fairfax Publications | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1930s, portrait Elizabeth Riddell in soft focus oval, taken while she was working at The Sun. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about coping with starting at the deep end (of journalism), then falling in love with a married man of 47. B&W photo, 1930s, portrait of editor ÒThe HatÓ McAlpine. Interview Elizabeth about her affair with editor who taught her about the world, was a radical and romantic.
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Access No. 135428 | 1 min 16 secs | 1930s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1930s, Elizabeth Riddell's husband ÒBlueÓ Greatorex smiling in overcoat. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about meeting Blue on Bondi Beach, him being a journalist and rugby player. B&W photo portrait of Elizabeth in her late twenties. Interview Elizabeth about Blue not meaning to marry her but having to so they could share a cabin while away, living together before marrying. Detail earlier photo CU Blue smiling. Interview Elizabeth about never having or wanting children, having once been pregnant.
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Access No. 135431 | 1 min 18 secs | 1930s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Slow zoom to Elizabeth Riddell sitting in armchair in darkened room reading book. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about Ezra Norton choosing her to work in New York bureau during WWII.
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Access No. 135432 | 40 secs | 1990s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
Still b&w photograph Elizabeth Riddell in her thirties wearing pearl necklace. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about forwarding war news from New York to Australia, her dateline favouring the afternoon paper Daily Mirror, getting them the news before they could receive it from Europe. B&W photo, 1940s, Elizabeth's husband Blue Greatorex in Air Force uniform. Interview Elizabeth about being irritated by trivialisation of the war.
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Access No. 135433 | 1 min 8 secs | 1940s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Still b&w photograph, 1940s, New Guinea native ÒFuzzy-Wuzzy AngelÓ helping wounded Australian soldier with bandaged head on Kokoda Trail. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about Americans giving photo title ÒOur AlliesÓ, asking Ezra Norton if she could go to London, going over on a banana boat.
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Access No. 135434 | 40 secs | 1940s, 1990s, | New Guinea | © Australian War Memorial | Colour |
Archival b&w footage, 1940s, London blitz, VS firemen, building collapsing, burning building, RAF briefing with commander using pointer at illuminated map in darkened room.
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Access No. 135435 | 18 secs | 1940s | London, England, UK | © Contact Film Australia Collection Library | B&W |
Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about stories she worked on during WWII in England, being taken on sorties. Archival b&w footage, 1940s, silhouette RAF bomber in flight banking over cloud, flare in sky, silhouette German soldier manning anti-aircraft gun. Interview Elizabeth. Archival footage flares going up, CU RAF pilot at controls, aerial view bombing on ground with huge explosion. Interview Elizabeth about going on bombing raid over German submarine base, it being a very good war for some people, having attitude that one would either be killed or have an exciting time, taking advantage of there being plenty of men.
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Access No. 135439 | 1 min 57 secs | 1990s, 1940s, | Australia; Europe | © Contact Film Australia Collection Library | Colour |
Archival b&w footage, 1945, super: Martin Place, Sydney, August 1945, VJ Day celebrations, crowd in ticker tape, people on horse-drawn wagon, line of smiling women and children waving, mass of soldiers marching. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about being worried her husband Blue Greatorex would not be there for her when she returned to Sydney.
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Access No. 135456 | 40 secs | 1940s, 1990s, | Australia | © Film World | Colour |
Still b&w photograph Elizabeth Riddell's husband Blue Greatorex getting into car. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about husband Blue's great female friend, him having alot in common with her, feeling jealous of their relationship, not asking one another what they'd been up to, people comforting Blue for his lack of a wife, Blue having a stroke at home in 1964 followed by a massive one in hospital and dying, feeling desperate and as if her life had ended, her Mirror editor Zel Rabin insisting she went back to work, not writing poetry for fifteen years.
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Access No. 135458 | 3 mins 44 secs | 1950s, 1990s, | Australia | © Elizabeth Riddell | Colour |
Track from terra cotta pot of white impatience flowers to Elizabeth Riddell writing at white outdoor table in courtyard. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about writing a poem about pigeons and cockatoos at bus stop, now writing poetry more easily than ever before. MS Elizabeth writing in courtyard. Interview Elizabeth about the value of writing one good line of poetry, journalism being a trade and poetry being an art, person to person.
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Access No. 135459 | 2 mins 1 sec | 1990s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
MCU hand writing poem. Interview Elizabeth Riddell talking about things in life being accidental, it being an accident that she went into journalism. CU pen writing. Interview Elizabeth about making her own poetry, taking situations in order to make it, describing conversation overheard at bus stop, people inventing themselves. MCU Elizabeth reading poem she's written. Interview Elizabeth about feeling guilty for doing irresponsible things during her life, wondering why she remembers a one night stand in 1943, being respectable at heart. Freeze frame.
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Access No. 135460 | 2 mins 41 secs | 1990s | Australia | © NFSA | Colour |
National Film and Sound Archive - Australia