
After receiving positive reviews for her cabaret show, Kold Komfort Kaffe in 1978, Robyn Archer's big breakthrough came the following year with A Star is Torn, a tour-de-force tribute to legendary female singers with tragic biographies.
From Bessie Smith to Judy Garland and Janis Joplin, Archer told stories of glittering fame and the personal toll exacted on women in the spotlight, switching between characters and vocal styles.
This appearance on The Mike Walsh Show in 1980 reveals Archer as a confident and developed entertainer who had landed on a compelling theme.
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.