âinformationâ may have been limited to clothing styles and colours.
The Australian Womenâs Weekly article was located on page 27, adjacent to a list of movies currently being screened in Sydney. Had Annette surveyed the listing, she would have probably passed over Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but she may have smiled at the titles Swiss Miss, Vivacious Lady and Thereâs Always a Woman. We may only guess how she would have reacted to others on the list â Strange Boarders (⦠thrills of stolen political documents), Reckless Living and Sweet Devil . Had her sense of humour (probably very limited) failed to trigger any response to the titles, Annette may have shown a greater interest in the serialised novel on page 6 â The Spymaster .
Annetteâs fashion commentaries were not restricted to radio 2GB. A newspaper article issued on 26 April 1939 was titled:
DIRECT FROM PARIS â CABLED FASHIONÂ SERVICE ON 2CH.
The article commenced:
A cabled fashion service sourced direct from the fashion centres of Paris is now brought to 2CH each Wednesday at 11:40 am by Renee Laval, well known as an authority on world fashions.
Three months after commencing her new program with 2GB, Renee Laval appears to have consolidated her status as a fashion consultant. While her background â that we know of â does not suggest a basis for this, it is reasonable to say that we are looking at a very sharp lady with a penchant for creativeness, and it may be primarily these reasons that accounted for her rapid rise to being âan authority on world fashionsâ. But Annette was not entirely bluffing. While she was clearly not a professional fashion authority, it is evident from comments in her file that she presented well and possessed a tasteful dress sense.
Had the âcabled fashion serviceâ been authentic (it wasnât), Annette would have had undoubtedly commented on the new creations from the design house of Coco Chanel. Unknown to Annette, one parallel interest of the two ladies would shortly venture beyond the fashion world. During the war Chanel was a Nazi spy â Abwehr agent number 7124 with the code name âWestminsterâ â and worked closely with the head of the SS intelligence branch, Walter Schellenberg. When he died penniless in 1952, she paid for his funeral expenses and later paid his widow a substantial sum to refrain from revealing details of their wartime relationship 6 .
Clearly, Annette was building on a successful radio career. In fact, in the history of radio how many broadcasters have hosted programs on different stations under two names? It is possible that Annette Wagner and
Renee Laval established a unique record in Australian radio, and possibly beyond.
Annette Goes National
Although having successfully launched herself into commercial radio, Annette was continuing to work on casual arrangements â and she had the advantage of obtaining additional radio work using her real name. Shortly after joining 2GB she obtained an opportunity at the Australian Broadcasting Corporationâs two radio stations in Sydney â 2FC and 2BL. Annette scripted and produced a weekly fifteen minute segment in which she presented a variety of travelogues and other topics of general interest. The 2FC presentation also introduced a new listening audience â across Australia. Her programs went national and this presented more opportunities than simply gaining a larger audience. Should she wish to transmit a message to a listener say, in Adelaide, how easy would that be if she prepared the dialogue for her own program? The answer is, very easy. This fact did not go unnoticed by authorities.
Suddenly, Annetteâs blossoming radio career ceased. Hitler invaded Poland, Australia was at war, and under security regulations radio presenters who were not Australian citizens were removed from behind the microphone. Annette was furious
The Australian Womenâs Weekly article was located on page 27, adjacent to a list of movies currently being screened in Sydney. Had Annette surveyed the listing, she would have probably passed over Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but she may have smiled at the titles Swiss Miss, Vivacious Lady and Thereâs Always a Woman. We may only guess how she would have reacted to others on the list â Strange Boarders (⦠thrills of stolen political documents), Reckless Living and Sweet Devil . Had her sense of humour (probably very limited) failed to trigger any response to the titles, Annette may have shown a greater interest in the serialised novel on page 6 â The Spymaster .
Annetteâs fashion commentaries were not restricted to radio 2GB. A newspaper article issued on 26 April 1939 was titled:
DIRECT FROM PARIS â CABLED FASHIONÂ SERVICE ON 2CH.
The article commenced:
A cabled fashion service sourced direct from the fashion centres of Paris is now brought to 2CH each Wednesday at 11:40 am by Renee Laval, well known as an authority on world fashions.
Three months after commencing her new program with 2GB, Renee Laval appears to have consolidated her status as a fashion consultant. While her background â that we know of â does not suggest a basis for this, it is reasonable to say that we are looking at a very sharp lady with a penchant for creativeness, and it may be primarily these reasons that accounted for her rapid rise to being âan authority on world fashionsâ. But Annette was not entirely bluffing. While she was clearly not a professional fashion authority, it is evident from comments in her file that she presented well and possessed a tasteful dress sense.
Had the âcabled fashion serviceâ been authentic (it wasnât), Annette would have had undoubtedly commented on the new creations from the design house of Coco Chanel. Unknown to Annette, one parallel interest of the two ladies would shortly venture beyond the fashion world. During the war Chanel was a Nazi spy â Abwehr agent number 7124 with the code name âWestminsterâ â and worked closely with the head of the SS intelligence branch, Walter Schellenberg. When he died penniless in 1952, she paid for his funeral expenses and later paid his widow a substantial sum to refrain from revealing details of their wartime relationship 6 .
Clearly, Annette was building on a successful radio career. In fact, in the history of radio how many broadcasters have hosted programs on different stations under two names? It is possible that Annette Wagner and
Renee Laval established a unique record in Australian radio, and possibly beyond.
Annette Goes National
Although having successfully launched herself into commercial radio, Annette was continuing to work on casual arrangements â and she had the advantage of obtaining additional radio work using her real name. Shortly after joining 2GB she obtained an opportunity at the Australian Broadcasting Corporationâs two radio stations in Sydney â 2FC and 2BL. Annette scripted and produced a weekly fifteen minute segment in which she presented a variety of travelogues and other topics of general interest. The 2FC presentation also introduced a new listening audience â across Australia. Her programs went national and this presented more opportunities than simply gaining a larger audience. Should she wish to transmit a message to a listener say, in Adelaide, how easy would that be if she prepared the dialogue for her own program? The answer is, very easy. This fact did not go unnoticed by authorities.
Suddenly, Annetteâs blossoming radio career ceased. Hitler invaded Poland, Australia was at war, and under security regulations radio presenters who were not Australian citizens were removed from behind the microphone. Annette was furious
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