Larry Zetlin

‍ ‍ Larry Zetlin as a University of Queensland student, 1966

Folk singer/guitarist Dan Gillespie at the Primitif, Larry Zetlin (right). Photographer unknown

Larry Zetlin was a regular at Brisbane’s Primitif Cafe, a haven for the more bohemian set. The moody interior was usually redolent of Gauloises cigarette smoke, which only intensified the air of sweet nostalgia as the sound system played the songs of Edith Piaf.

Piaf was a favourite of the glamorous proprietress, Peter Hackworth. The coffee was great, and the room was always buzzing with ardent conversation about all matters artistic, political and philosophical.

Larry was the son of Russian/Jewish immigrants, and his mother’s genes were etched in Larry’s face, particularly in the high cheekbones. The family had lived in Shanghai, and his beautiful mother had won the title of Miss Shanghai 1942. The family came to Australia in 1951.

(l) Larry Zetlin’s mother as Miss Shanghai 1942. (r) Larry and brother Wally Zetlin, in Cossack fancy dress. Zetlin Family Archive

In early 1966, I was enjoying a perfectly-made Vienna coffee at the Primitif,when Larry made me an extra-curricular offer, of becoming the Brisbane photographer for the newly-launched, Melbourne-based ‘Go-Set’ magazine. Larry, who was studying Arts/Journalism at the University of Queensland, would be the writer. I was already working full-time as assistant to Brisbane’s leading commercial photographer, Geoff Dauth. We would cover all of the pop music gigs, and do stories on musicians arriving from overseas. The money was a pittance, so I could never take the role very seriously. It was, however, great fun meeting people such as Roy Orbison and Jimmy Page, as well as Australia’s star performers and industry big-wigs.

Larry had the requisite chutzpah for dealing with such people. We were both fans of The Goon Show, and Spike Milligan in particular. Larry had an interesting collection of comedy records, and through him I became a fan of the often-jailed, and regularly banned American comedian Lenny Bruce. We also shared an interest in the Brisbane folk music scene, so a firm bond grew between us.

Larry Zetlin and Dan Gillespie enjoy a beer and a joke, 1966. Pic: Frank Neilsen

He became a major force behind the establishment and management of Brisbane’s famous night club, FOCO. It was the brain-child of the enigmatic Brian Laver, student radical and leader of major rallies, and draft-card burning events, against the war in Vietnam

FOCO was a weekly event, held on Sunday evenings in an upper floor of Brisbane’s Trades Hall building, in Edward Street. It was an instant success, and eventually had several thousand members. It was exactly what Brisbane youth needed, a great music venue featuring bands such as the wonderful Max Merritt and the Meteors, and Brisbane’s most successful R&B band, The Coloured Balls, plus Melbourne’s The Wild Cherries with the legendary guitarist, Lobby Loyde, as well as many visiting artists.

Di Neale at the famous terraces on Coronation Drive, Brisbane, 1966 Pic: Frank Neilsen

These were days of psychedelia, and the ‘light show’ was a major adjunct to the music… colourful oil patterns projected onto the stage bubbled along to the music; as well as the recently introduced, epilepsy inducing strobe light. There was a theatrical troupe, known as The Tribe, which conducted surreal performances in one part of the vast floor. The Tribe was formed by Doug Anders. Larry was married to one of the dancers, Di Neale, who was studying for an Arts Degree at University of Queensland. There was a revolutionary bookshop, readings of poetry, while in another partitioned area were screenings of extraordinary movies such as “It Droppeth Like The Gentle Rain” which featured a very ypung Germaine Greer. There was food, and coffee, and people playing chess. The whole place was always jumping, as people went from one activity to another. The crowd was always well-behaved, with no signs of thuggish behaviour.

As FOCO was the work of several of Brisbane’s leading left-wing thinkers, manned by unionists and (gasp!) communists, it drew the attention of the political right, who claimed that it was corrupting Queensland’s youth. Accusations of drug-trafficking and prostitution {false, as it happened} were levelled against it in the Queensland Parliament. All of this was happening during the rule of Queensland Premier, Johannes Bjelke-Petersen, who presided over Queensland’s most corrupt government ever. Such criticisms did have an eventual effect, and FOCO eventually folded. It does remain, however, as a favourite memory of thousands of Brisbane people.

Following the FOCO experience, Larry decided he wanted to be a film-maker, and was admitted to a two-year degree course at The London Film School. He and Di, who was now Di Zetlin, made the journey together. Di secured work as a personal researcher to the world-famous philosopher, polymath Bertrand Russell. Di would eventually go on to become Dr. Di Zetlin, with a PhD in Government, and was a lecturer in Government at University of Queensland.

During a break in film studies, Larry spent two weeks in Cuba. At that time, the Cuban government was encouraging foreigners to to take a working holiday there, working in the cane-fields. No money changed hands, the only expense being the air-fares. He had a most enjoyable time, fed and housed by Fidel Castro’s revolution. Larry described his political views as Trotskyite.

On his return to Australia, Larry managed to provide Brisbane with some great entertainment. To packed houses, he ran a Revolutionary Film Festival over several nights at Brisbane’s West End Rialto theatre. He showed many movies which had been banned in America, as well as many of the Black Panther films which revealed the corruption behind American business.

Larry took up work as a “stringer” (cameraman) with Brisbane’s A.B.C.- T.V., being paid per job. One of Larry’s co-workers at the A.B.C.was film editor Chris Carroll, who went on to a 25 year career as a media producer and Senior Project Officer with Education Queensland. She and Larry married in 1987.

Fisherman, photographer Noel Pascoe, reels in underwater cameraman, Larry Zetlin.

Photographer unknown

After eleven years with the A.B.C., he left to become an independent film-maker specialising in wildlife/natural history documentary work for the National Geographic Channel, and the B.B.C., among others.

He spent a lot of time in outback Queensland, making natural history documentaries, and deepening his interest in Aboriginal culture. In Australia, all of his documetaries were licensed to the Seven Network’s Saturday night time-slot.

Larry Zerlin duck-shooting in Qinghai, North_West China. Photographer unknown

He would eventually start his own film production company, Gulliver Films, and was awarded the title of ‘Documentary Producer of the Year 2004’ by the Screen Prroducers Association of Australia. The company became Gulliver Media, which yielded an impressive, global list of award-winning work.One such documentary was about giant earthworms, 2011’s ‘The Worm Hunters’, which won several awards, including the prestigious Special Jury Award at the Jackson Hole Wildlife FilmFestival, in Wyoming.

Larry Zetlin on the one-horsepower Steadycam rig. Photographer unknown

In 2017, Larry and Chris decided to move north, to Queensland’s sub-tropical Mackay, where they have indulged their mutual love of good food. They are both excellent cooks. Chris, especially, has mastered a variety of cuisines. That has just caused me to remember the very first time I visited the Zetlin family home… Larry taught me how to fry the perfect egg! I’ve never forgotten that lesson.

P.S. I helped write a comprehensive 5.000 word essay about FOCO. It is available at https://radicaltimes.info Click on the yellow picture of Martin Luther King.