Captain Fortune Show, The – Nostalgia Central

1 9 5 6 – 1 9 6 2 (Australia)
60 minute/30 minute episodes (weekdays)
120 minute episodes (Saturdays)

“Ahoy there, Shipmates!”

Bedecked in seaman’s clothes and peaked cap, sporting a bristling seafaring beard (which at first was stuck-on but later developed into an impressive home-grown product), Alan Herbert began playing the children’s character Captain Fortune on Monday 3 December 1956.

Broadcasting live from the studios of Channel ATN-7 at Epping in Sydney, Captain Fortune quickly became the favourite of thousands of Sydney children.

Over the years, the jolly captain’s show featured magician Clifford Warne and his puppet Gus, Uncle Reg (Reg Quartly), Les Foxcroft, Arch Mccurdie, ‘Nature Parade’ with naturalist Roy Kinghorn (a long-time curator at the Australian Museum), ‘Junior Record Review’, ‘Pet Corner’ with Uncle Monty, the Woodnutt Twins (Elaine and Leona), Mr Seppelzidle, and Constable Careful.

The show also aired cartoons and episodes of Noddy, and later incorporated a segment called ‘TV Junior Dance Club’, conducted by dance instructor Joe Loves.

At its peak, the show aired each weeknight from 5.00 to 6.00 pm and again between 10.00 am and noon on Saturday mornings (as Captain Fortune’s Saturday Party.)

Alan Herbert also maintained a gruelling calendar of personal appearances in character, and Captain Fortune was frequently mobbed by large groups of children when he appeared in public.

Ill health forced Herbert to leave the show in 1962. He died suddenly on Friday 6 May 1966 after collapsing at his Carlingford (Sydney) home, aged just 52.

Captain Fortune
Alan Herbert