by Stephen Vagg

As any comedian knows, comedy goes in and out of fashion on Australian television. Sketch shows are in, then they’re out. Sitcoms are hot, then they’re not. They can’t get enough stand-up, then they don’t want any. The only network you can rely on is the ABC and they have limited funds and varying enthusiasms.

During the late 1960s, the national broadcaster was more open to comedy than it had been earlier in the decade. There was a mini-boom of comedy on Australian television in those years, due, I would argue, to the immense and immediate success of two programs on the commercial stations: The Mavis Bramston Show and My Names McGooley, What’s Yours? The ABC – more influenced by the commercials than it cared to admit – decided that it should get in on the hyucks. I have written about other comedies in previous pieces – The Man Who Saw It, The Lace Counter, The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me. This essay looks at seven different ABC TV plays from the second half of the 1960s. (I’ll admit it – I don’t quite have enough to talk about each play individually but anyways, here we go).

How Do You Spell Matrimony? and Face at the Clubhouse Door (1965)

Both of these were based on scripts by Colin Free, and aired together on the same night as a double bill under the title Duet.

How Do You Spell Matrimony? [above] is about two brothers (Alan Hopgood and Frank Rich) who live together on an orchard. Hopgood advertises for a wife, winds up with Terri Aldred, who winds up hitting it off with Rich. It’s a bright and lively play with a delightful feel for rural Australian vernacular. It’s of some historical importance, too: this was the first Australian television play to result in a spin-off series (something that was quite common on British TV but not so much in Australia). That was Nice ‘n’ Juicy, the ABC’s first sitcom, which ran for 13 episodes in 1966, and starred John Ewart and Willie Fennell as the brothers. (An aside: other TV plays which I think would have made a good series include The Slaughter of St Teresa’s Day, The Multi Coloured Umbrella and The Cell. But off the top of my head, the only other TV play that became a recurring series was Terry Morphett’s Dynasty.)

Face at the Clubhouse Door is about a man (Peter Aanensen) wanting to get admission into a sports club where the sport is… wait for it, jai alai. The cast includes recognisable faces like Julia Blake, George Whaley (without a beard), Norman Yemm and Paul Karo. You can read the script here. There are some funny lines and strong performances though it’s less focused than Matrimony.

A Phoenix Too Frequent (1966)

This was based on a one-act play by Christopher Fry set in Ancient Greece about a noblewoman (Lynette Curran) who is keeping consul in her late husband’s tomb, determined to join him in the underworld. She deals with her wacky maid (Fay Kelton) and winds up falling for a soldier (Sean Scully) guarding a tomb nearby.

This was one of three TV plays that the ABC did in 1966 to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of Greek theatre – the others were Point of Departure and Antigone. As with The Proposal, the ABC had previously filmed Fry’s play in 1957, though all copies of the latter seem to be lost.

Look, it’s 60 minutes of Chris Fry verse comedy set in Ancient Greece, so if that doesn’t float your boat you might struggle, but the playing is light and lively, and the actors seem to be having a lot of fun. The youth of Scully and Curran give extra energy and comedy to their parts. Oscar Whitbread directed with his usual swooping, moving camera; he had the most recognisable style of the ‘60s directors at the ABC.

The Brass Guitar (1967)

The Brass Guitar was a second-season episode of the anthology series Australian Playhouse. Written by Oriel Grey, the playwright best-known for The Torrents, it’s a black comedy mixed in with satire of the pop world (jokes about pop singers were a thing in the late 1960s, they turn up in The Man Who Saw It and The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me). The plot concerns a pop star (Martin Magee) who has poisoned his wife (Cherill Rowston) and has to cover the fact for 30 minutes. The director was James Davern and the whole production has a lot of energy and was quite fun. The pop song ‘Stagger Lee’ by P.J. Proby (an American singer who was big in England for a bit) gets a workout on the opening and end credits.

The Proposal and The Bear (1968)

Like Duet, this was a double bill from the one author that screened on the same night, the scribe in this case being that Russian playwright everyone pretends they like, Anton Chekhov. Chekhov’s best known for his dramas, including The Seagull which the ABC filmed in 1959, but he also liked to turn out the odd one-act comedy, including these two which he wrote back in the 1880s (you can read the text here). In 1968, the ABC had both filmed in Melbourne under the direction of James (A Country Practice) Davern, using the same cast and crew.

The Proposal [above] is about a man (Dennis Olsen) who turns up trying to marry the daughter (Gerda Nicholson) of his neighbour (Terry Norris), but they keep fighting. The ABC had actually filmed this back in 1957 but for some reason decided to do it again. The Bear concerns a widow (Nicholson) who has to deal with the debtor (Norris) of her dead husband. There’s a lot of banter and costumes.

The plays were both shot on film, with the actors all hamming it up. It looks great; how much you enjoy it will depend on how funny you find Chekhov in comic mode. It’s a shame that the stories were not relocated to Australia; it would have been easy enough to do.

Incidentally, the double bill of The Proposal and The Bear [above] comprised one-third of a three week-season of ABC plays on the topic of greed. Others were Volpone by Ben Johnson, and Salome by Oscar Wilde; I’ve written about the latter. It was the last time (I think) that the ABC did a run of TV plays based on the works of foreign authors. After that, it was all Australian.

Tilley Landed on Our Shores (1969)

This was an odd duck. It was written by Pat Flower, who was best known for her thrillers like The Tape Recorder, but also did a lot of comedy, like The Lace Counter.

Tilley is a satire of the European settlement of Sydney, set in the modern day, with parallels for real life events: there are stand-ins for Governor Phillip, Aboriginal people, convicts, the Chinese, troublesome officers and the like.

Flower’s script won the 1967 Dame Mary Gilmore Medal awarded in March 1968.  Judges called it “a superbly funny comment with a strong Australian history allegory on present attitudes to domestic and foreign affairs. A rare dramatic event — a satirical script. It has style in the best sense of the word. It hides unexpected social comment beneath well-constructed fun. The humour is visual as well as verbal, the TV medium is an integral part of its being.”

It was filmed as part of Australian Plays, an anthology series of, you guessed it, Australian plays, that ran on the ABC from 1969 to 1970. The episode was entirely shot on film – the first time Australian TV had done a whole hour on film, I believe – with a strong cast including Pat Bishop, Ruth Cracknell, Noel Ferrier and Ric Hutton.

The actual production of Tilley Landed on Our Shores was eviscerated critically. I think it might have been one of those scripts that read well but doesn’t film well (such things are not uncommon)  Susan Lever wrote about it in an article about convicts on television here. Some of it was funny, but a simple joke is perhaps dragged on for far too long. Ruth Cracknell is typically superb. John Croyston directed.

For more articles like this, read:

60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & ‘60s

Annette Andre: My Brilliant Early Australian Career

Barry Creyton Live

Forgotten Australian TV Plays – The Slaughter of St Teresa’s Day

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: A Tongue of Silver

The Flawed Landmark: Burst of Summer

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Grey Nurse Said Nothing

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: You Can’t Win ‘Em All

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Marriage Lines

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Merchant of Venice

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Seagulls Over Sorrento

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Noeline Brown

Ten Female Drama Writers from the First Decade of Australian TV | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Romeo and Juliet | FilmInk

Sean Scully: From Disney to Australian TV Plays | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Long Sunset | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Reflections in Dark Glasses

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Case of Private Hamp | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Hot Potato Boys | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Life and Death of Richard II

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Harlequinade | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Outpost | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Rape of the Belt | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Murder Story | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Big Killing | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Antarctic Four

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Tape Recorder | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Man Who Saw It | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Scent of Fear

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Big Client | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Recruiting Officer | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Done Away With | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Split Level | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: She’ll Be Right | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Reunion Day | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Cell

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Swagman | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Cobwebs in Concrete | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: A Stay at Home and Across the Bridge | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Shifting Heart | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Kain | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Rusty Bugles | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: A Season in Hell | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Corinth House | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Tower | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Drover’s Wife | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Five episodes of Australian Playhouse | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: In the Absence of Mr Sugden | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: The Astronauts | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Monkey Cage | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Quiet Season and Enough to Make a Pair of Sailor’s Trousers

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Shadow on the Wall | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Salome | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Prelude to Harvest | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Casualty | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Martine | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Ashes to Ashes and Caught Napping | FilmInk

Forgotten Australian TV plays: Tartuffe and The Taming of the Shrew | FilmInk

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2 Comments
  • Veronica Naylon
    Veronica Naylon
    19 September 2021 at 3:53 pm

    Thank you once again. It was lovely to see a reference to Peter Aanensen. He was a very good actor and a lovely man.

  • rob george
    rob george
    23 September 2021 at 2:12 pm

    Dynasty was written by Tony Morphett not “Terry”.

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