The recent death at ninety-one of that grand old trouper of theatre, film and television, John McCallum, prompts recall that he played one of his most important roles in bringing about the rebirth of our film industry. This resulted from a close friendship he had with Harold Holt. Their fathers were both pioneers of show business in Australia, and when John was running J.C. Williamson’s in the 1960s he played a leading part. The federal government policy of support for the Australian film industry has been chronicled by film historians as dating from the prime ministership of John Gorton, with…