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A comedy drama set on Sydney's north shore, The Godfathers centres on nine-year-old Mike Varga and his widowed Hungarian mother. Crippled by the car accident that killed her husband, Maria Varga is confined to a wheelchair. To help financially, she takes in three boarders: Chris (a forty-something taxi driver), Pete (a thirty-year-old commercial photographer) and Gary (a twenty-one-year-old garage attendant who has just moved to Sydney from the country). Mike is an only child and a bit introspective, but the three boarders become fond of him and Mike adopts them as his 'godfathers.' Under their influence, he becomes a happy, outgoing kid, although they are often tested by his youthful ways.
Tensions are frequently raised through the on-going presence of Elizabeth Dent, a Child Welfare Officer who is constantly checking on Mike to see that he is being well cared for. After Pete leaves the Vargases' house to get married, he is replaced by another 'godfather,' Dave.
Notes
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The opening credits of The Godfathers are available to watch through YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wko2_Q0FcRc (sighted: 6/10/2011)
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Some of the characters from The Godfathers were later spun off into a second Gemini Productions' sit-com, The People Next Door.
Affiliation Notes
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Writing Disability in Australia
Type of disability Paraplegia (traumatic). Type of character Secondary. Point of view Third person.
Includes
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26form y I Do ... I Don't Sydney : Bruning, Bell and Partners Gemini Productions , 1971 Z1638597 1971 single work film/TV
— Appears in: In Focus : Scripts from Commercial Television's Second Decade 1972; (p. 83-112)In the course of the previous couple of episodes of The Godfathers, Pete commits himself to marrying Helen by getting engaged. However, will he go through with it? 'I Do... I Don't' begins on the day of the wedding, and Pete subsequently sends the house into chaos. The attempts by the other godfathers, Maria, and Mike to get him to the altar prove to be difficult, as he makes every effort to get out of the wedding right up to the last minute.
Sydney : Bruning, Bell and Partners Gemini Productions , 1971
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Awards
- Sydney, New South Wales,
- ca. 1970s