3 minute read
We celebrate the life of iconic Sydney publican of the Hollywood Hotel, Doris Goddard-Bishop
FROM HOLLYWOOD TO THE HOLLYWOOD Vale Doris Goddard
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AND SO READ THE POST ON THE HOLLYWOOD HOTEL’S FACEBOOK PAGE TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE GREAT DORIS GODDARD, A SHINING LIGHT IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY HAD LEFT US AT 89.
Doris Goddard Photo credit: Heckler, Sydney
Hollywood Hotel with image of Doris at Vivid Sydney Photo credit: Tim Kindler
One of Sydney’s most iconic publican’s, Doris was born in 1930 in Forest Lodge and then left Sydney to pursue a career in show business that took her to America, Europe and China. Her infectious energy and eternal ‘can do’ attitude got her bit roles opposite the likes of the great Katherine Hepburn, the comedic Sid James, Piper Laurie, Bob Hope and our very own, Mel Gibson. He most famous part was in The Iron Petticoat 1956 where it was said her performance as a Russian spy smashed that of the late Katherine Hepburn.
She loved to recall the director berating her for making them change the rating from General to M because she flashed her knickers in one of the scenes.
She gave up her full time quest for the Hollywood stage and replaced it with the hospitality version in 1964 when her widowed mother, Essie Goddard, bought the Belmore Hotel in Surry Hills. Doris and her mother were amongst the first to put women’s toilets in the public bar, making a statement about the hotel bar being a place where all were welcome. After the Belmore came the West End in Balmain and the Marlborough in Newtown before Doris purchased the Hollywood in 1977 and moved upstairs with her husband, Charlie Bishop.
Her performing days went on her entire life as she used the platform of the Hollywood Hotel bar as her impromptu stage. Doris perched at the bar, strumming her guitar and serenading her loyal customers with her special brand of charm and song, including her famous The Wowsers are winnin’, was a mainstay at the Hollywood. Her fascinating tales of life in the movies, hanging out with Hollywood legends and Chinese royalty would be trotted out to the delight of her patrons.
Over the decades she became a doyenne of Sydney’s performing arts community. She would champion generations of performers and musicians and the weird and wonderful with her gracious nature and eternal optimism. Doris was always the smiling lover of life and people. It was not unusual for Doris to open the doors of the Hollywood Hotel at night and take in the homeless so they could sleep. Everyone was her ‘darling’ or ‘sweetheart’. She was also an activist right up until February this year when she was out there with her placard protesting the Sydney lockout laws on behalf of the Keep Sydney Open campaign.
And although she buried two beloved husbands she never allowed herself to wallow in melancholia. She once said to journalist Madeline Watts during an interview in 2013 -
“Sweetheart, I have been happy no matter where I am. You have to make the f***ing most of what you’ve got on the day you’ve got it. No one’s going to give it to you.”
RIP Doris Goddard Bishop, Sydney is a little less fabulous without you.
An old bloke came in and put his money on the bar He wanted smokes but he was told he was short by far He learned the tax had been increased to help preserve the nation’s health For smokers are a selfish lot, get sick and drain Australia’s wealth And drinkers too, no doubt, he said, as he plopped his dollars down And sadly murmered in his beer, the Wowsers sure are winnin’ now. The Wowsers always find a way to take a poor man’s joys away It’s goodbye to sinnin’ like smokin’ and drinkin’ and winkin’ at women, they’ll stop us from grinnin’ I smoke, I drink, it’s all I’ve got for all the work I’ve given to our great country Ah, but no, the Wowsers sure are winnin’.
THE WOWSERS ARE WINNIN’
by Doris Goddard-Bishop
