surfresearch.com.au    appendix: australian surf culture

Byrell, John: Bandstand- and all that.
Kangaroo Press Ltd
3 Whitehall Road, Kenthurst, NSW, Australia PO Box 6125, Dural Delivery Centre, NSW 2158, 1995.

Page 74

The Manly Surfie Songwriter-Cop

'Surf City', the tune, remained the international surfie anthem until the Delltones (Ian 'Pee Wee' Wilson, Noel Weiderberg, Warren Lucas and Brian Perkins) and a detective-sergeant from the Manly police force called Bernard 'Ben' Acton gave Australia its own with 'Hangin' Five (Upon the Malibu)'.
Every beardless youth tried emulating Pee Wee's basso 'Mal-ah-BOOOO' sound.
The song's composer, Det Sgt Acton, had - when he composed the tune - two things going against him.
At 28 he was definitely already over-the-hill for the scene.
And on top of that he was a cop-bull, walloper, pig.

But Ben Acton didn't see it that way.
'I wrote "Hangin' Five" because I wanted people - even those who'd never been on a surfboard - to get some idea of just how it feels to catch a big 'un and ride it in,' he explained.
'I really dug the surfie scene.
Us blokes used to drive across to the eastern suburbs to the dances at Maroubra and Bronte.
They were the first clubs to get the surf dances going.
'After I wrote "Hangin' Five" I got to know the Dellies and Col Joye and Little Pattie and a whole lot of names when I used to visit Festival Records for recording sessions.'
'Hangin' Five' took out the 1964 Best Australian Record award and Det Sgt Acton was flown down to Melbourne for the awards night.

Everything was rolling like a Maroubra surf for Det Sgt Acton of Manly when all of a sudden the ripe stuff hit the fan.
'I got a report in from police headquarters which stated that I couldn't have two incomes.
I was more or less asked to make up my mind whether I wanted to be a surfie-songwriter or a cop.
I gave away the composing.'
Coincidentally, Ben Acton belonged to Freshwater SLSC which also had as a junior member another Bernard-'Midget' Farrelly. Acton, who won the 'Freshie' board titles in 1960 and '61, became a kind of 'big brother' mentor to Midge.
'Midget was only about 14 when I got to know him, and was always going to be a terrific surfer,' said Ben Acton.
'But he seemed to hold back a bit from some of the bigger waves.
I had a bit of a go at him about it. I think I may have helped him along a bit faster towards becoming the great boardrider he was.
'Anyway, the stomp was the great big dance around the beaches and later on we started having some good regular dances over our way.
One of the best stomp shows around was the Canopus Room at Manly.'

Single cover for Let's Go to Paradise b/w My Hands are Tied 1986 Cover design : Reg Mombassa			Single cover for  Date with Destiny b/w Surf & Mull & Sex & Fun 1984
Single cover for Sloppy Croc b/w Sloppier Croc 1986 from the soundtrack to Crocodile Dundee			Single cover for  Rock and Roll Music b/w Apocalyso (recorded live at World Expo '88) 1988 from the soundtrack to Young Einstein