John Michael Howson
| John-Michael Howson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
John Michael Howson 8 August 1936 Elwood, Victoria |
| Residence | Melbourne, Australia |
| Other names | 'Hollywood' |
| Occupation | Writer, producer, talkback radio contributor |
| Employer | Freelance and 3AW |
John-Michael Howson, OAM (born 8 August 1936, Elwood, Victoria) is an Australian writer, reporter and entertainer and Melbourne radio 3AW commentator. His involvement in the Australian entertainment scene as a writer, producer and performer spans more than 50 years.
Howson's parents separated when he was young and he moved to Western Australia with his mother and step-father (a former policeman and publican). He was educated at St Ildephonsus College, New Norcia, where he was a boarder.
Howson began his media career as a cadet reporter on Mildura's Sunraysia Daily. After moving to Melbourne he started writing sketches and songs for amateur and professional groups and subsequently moved to London. There he worked for a men's fashion magazine and covered fashion topics in London and Europe. He pursued his writing career with comedy scripts for live revues, stand up comedians and television including the top British show That Was The Week That Was.
In 1964, he was invited to write topical material for the fledgling Melbourne television station ATV-0 and specifically for their new variety programme The Ray Taylor Show.
He became primarily known in television for his involvement in the acclaimed ATV-0 children's fantasy television series The Magic Circle Club (1965–67) in which he played Fee Fee Bear (his face never seen on camera due to the bear suit), and as Clown in the follow-up ABC show Adventure Island, (1967–72). Howson, with Godfrey Philipp, was co-creator of both shows. Howson wrote the vast bulk of the scripts (five 30-minute shows per week) and the lyrics to the original songs used in them, the music usually composed by Bruce Rowland. Owing to Howson's intense workload, many of the Adventure Island scripts were written on a typewriter positioned behind the set.
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