Smacka Fitzgibbon
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Graham Francis "Smacka" Fitzgibbon (12 February 1930 – 15 December 1979) was an Australian banjoist and vocalist in the
trad jazz Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a form of jazz in the United States and Britain in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, played by musicians such as Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer and Monty Sunshine, based on a revival ...
idiom. He was a publican in country
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
and restaurateur in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.


Biography


Early life

Fitzgerald was born at
Mordialloc, Victoria Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . H ...
, the son of Francis Michael Thomas "Frank" Fitzgibbon, clerk, and pianist Minnie "Momma" Fitzgibbon, née Mitchell (died 1989), and nicknamed "Smacka" by Roy Youlden, a
bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...
friend of his father. The actress–singer
Maggie Fitzgibbon Margaret Helen Fitzgibbon (30 January 1929 – 8 June 2020) was an Australian actress and singer. Coming from a show-business family, she was the older sister of musician Smacka Fitzgibbon. Biography Fitzgibbon was born in Melbourne. She began ...
(30 January 1929 – 8 June 2020) was a sister. Educated at St Bede's College, he began playing
ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
at an early age before switching to the
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
; his earliest influences were
Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
,
Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African–British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs. His most popular songs include ...
and
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
.Paddy Stitt (1989) Liner notes, ''Barefoot Days'' (CD, Bilarm Music Pty Ltd)


Career

In 1951 he began playing with "Frank Johnson’s Fabulous Dixielanders", before forming his own band, "The Steamboat Stompers"; his first album was ''Frisco Joe's Good Time Boys'' (1953). His party records on the Melbourne "Paramount" label sold well. He started working at age 14 as a mechanic, then gained hotel-keeping experience in country Victoria as an employee of the Darnum Hotel. With help from his parents, he became licensee of the Commercial Hotel,
Warragul Warragul is a town in Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne. Warragul lies between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Mount Baw Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range to the north. As of the , the town had a population of 19,85 ...
, then after the death of his father, Smacka and his mother took over the Royal Mail Hotel,
Wycheproof Wycheproof is a small town in the centre of the Shire of Buloke, in north western Victoria, Australia. As of the , it had a population of 610. History The name "Wycheproof" originates from an Aboriginal word meaning 'grass on a hill', referri ...
, In 1967 he opened Melbourne's first jazz restaurant "La Brochette" (Studley Park Road,
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
) and in May 1971 "Smacka's Place", 55 Chetwynd Street,
North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...
which became a Melbourne institution; his recipe for an enjoyable night out was an ample supply of "good food, good liquor, and good entertainment". Described as "Plump and smiling with a warm and friendly, genial personality", Smacka was a much loved entertainer, a rare breed who left a smile on everyone's face. He was a regular performer on Melbourne television shows, notably ''Sunnyside Up'', ''
In Melbourne Tonight ''In Melbourne Tonight'', also known as ''IMT'', was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970. Overview Graham Kennedy was the show's main host and sta ...
'' and ''
The Penthouse Club ''The Penthouse Club'' was an Australian weekly variety program produced live to air from the studios of HSV-7 Melbourne from 10 October 1970. It was originally hosted by Michael Williamson (also a football commentator for HSV) and comedian Mar ...
''. In 1972, the jovial Australian jazzman recorded the title song of the movie ''
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' is a 1972 Australian comedy film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Barry Crocker, telling the story of an Australian 'yobbo' on his travels to the United Kingdom. Barry McKenzie was originally a chara ...
'' which was released as a single that same year, reaching #22 on ''
Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...
''s Australian Singles Chart in December 1972. He was a mate of Australian satirist
Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film prod ...
. Fitzgibbon recorded for the
Fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...
label, and in 1972 was part of the Fable Singers' recording session, which recorded the theme songs for the 12 then- VFL clubs recorded under the musical direction of
HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...
's
Ivan Hutchinson Ivan Joseph Hutchinson (11 February 1928 – 7 October 1995) was an Australian film critic, television personality and music director. Hutchinson was active in the industry for over 30 years, from the early 1960s until the mid-1990s, first on ...
, with Smacka on vocals and banjo alongside other Australian jazz musicians including
Frank Traynor Frank Traynor (8 August 192722 February 1985) was an Australian jazz musician, trombonist and entrepreneur based in Melbourne. He led Australia’s longest continuously running jazz band, the Jazz Preachers, from 1956 until his death in 1985. H ...
on trombone. Most of these recordings are still played at
AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
matches today. In 1976 he made recordings with "the father of Australian jazz",
Graeme Bell Graeme Emerson Bell, AO, MBE (7 September 191413 June 2012) was an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. According to ''The Age'', his "band's music was hailed for its distinctive Australian edge, which he d ...
, with
Kenny Clayton Kenny Clayton (9 May 1936 – 10 October 2022) was a British record producer, arranger, conductor and jazz pianist. Life and career Clayton was born in Edmonton, London on 9 May 1936. He studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London. ...
's trio, and with "Momma" Fitzgibbon. That same year he took part in the
Moomba Festival Moomba (also known as the Moomba Festival) is held annually in Melbourne, Australia. Run by the City of Melbourne, it is Australia's largest free community festival. The Melburnian tradition is celebrated over four days, incorporating the La ...
with
Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...
's
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
Showband, on the CUB showboat. In October 1979 he was one of the featured artists at the opening of
The Jam Factory 250px, Jam Factory, Chapel Street The Jam Factory is a shopping and entertainment centre, located in Chapel Street, South Yarra, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The Jam Factory is owned by Newmark Capital Limited. It is also the headquarte ...
shopping and arts complex.


Death

Fitzgibbon was a chronic sufferer from
melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
, and had a malignant tumour removed in 1955. On 1 September 1977 Smacka collapsed during a radio broadcast on
3LO ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria s ...
; he was subsequently found to have a
brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondary ...
, for which he twice underwent surgery. He died from a
cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
on 15 December 1979, aged 49. Several thousand attended a rather colourful funeral service - "Mass for Smacka" - with Frank Traynor's "Jazz Preachers" playing the New Orleans hymn "
Oh, Didn't He Ramble "Oh, Didn't He Ramble" is a New Orleans jazz standard, copyrighted in 1902 by J. Rosamond Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, and Bob Cole. It is frequently used at the end of jazz funerals. Several sources trace its origins to the English folk s ...
" for the funeral march in honour of the man described "as Melbourne as the Yarra (river)". On 8 November 2004, a tribute show "Remembering Smacka" was performed by his daughter Nichaud at the
Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central M ...
, in honour of the man best remembered for his popular jazz club, his dapper dress code (spotted bow ties, striped jackets, checked pants and two-tone shoes) and his love of vintage cars — he collected
Packard Packard or Packard Motor Car Company was an American luxury automobile company located in Detroit, Michigan. The first Packard automobiles were produced in 1899, and the last Packards were built in South Bend, Indiana in 1958. One of the "Thr ...
s.


Legacy

The
Victorian Jazz Archive The Australian Jazz Museum (AJM), incorporating the Victorian Jazz Archive (VJA), is located in Wantirna, Victoria. It is an incorporated association arising out of a meeting held in Sydney on 23 June 1996 to address the growing concern among t ...
featured Smacka in its "Fitzgibbon Dynasty" exhibition.


Family

Fitzgibbon married Faye Hommelhoff on 31 October 1959, with whom he had four children. Their daughter Nichaud Fitzgibbon is a noted jazz vocalist. Their sons, Mark and Andrew, are also both musicians.


References


Sources

''The Fitzgibbon Dynasty'', The Victorian Jazz Archive, October 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgibbon, Smacka 1930 births 1979 deaths Musicians from Melbourne 20th-century Australian musicians People from Mordialloc, Victoria Australian banjoists