The Passionate Pianist

The Passionate Pianist is an Australian television film, or rather a live one-off television play, which aired in 1957 on ABC. This was part of ABC's twice monthly presentations of live plays during the late-1950s (one live play each month in Sydney and Melbourne, respectively, with most kinescoped for showing in the other city).

The Passionate Pianist
Based onplay by Barbara Vernon
Written byBarbara Vernon
Directed byPaul O'Loughlin[1]
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time30 mins[2]
Production companyABC
Release
Original networkABC
Original release2 October 1957 (1957-10-02) (Sydney)(live)
1 November 1957 (1957-11-01) (Melbourne) (taped)[3]

At the time, most one-off drama and comedy plays produced for Australian television were adaptations of overseas works, and The Passionate Pianist is notable as it represents an early example of a locally-written comedy for the medium.

Plot summary

Ben, the teenage son of a Sydney bookmaker prefers football to practicing piano. His mother (Marion Johns) is convinced he is a genius and enters him in an eistedford.[4]

Cast

Play version

The Passionate Pianist was produced as a one act play. Barbara Vernon was a radio announcer in Inverell and wrote the play for Con Fardouly, a Greek who ran a cafe in Inverell.

It was first performed at the Inverell Town Hall, on 22 November 1957. The cast included Lee Jones, Nell Stewart, Frank Sloman, Rob Jeffs, and Con Fardouly.[5]

It is part of the trilogy 'The Growing Year', which also includes Vernon's unpublished plays 'The Bishop and the Boxer' and 'First Love'.[6]

Production

Rehearsals began in September 1957.[1]

It is not known if the kinescope recording of the program still exists.

Radio Adaptation

The play was also adapted for radio.[7][8]

Follow up

Barbara Vernon is also known for writing the play The Multi-Coloured Umbrella, which saw a television version in 1958. It was focused on the same family of Sydney book makers.

See also

References
  1. "TV News". Sydney Morning Herald. 18 September 1957. p. 10.
  2. "All the TV Programmes". ABC Weekly. 2 November 1957. p. 34.
  3. "TV guide". The Age. 1 November 1957. p. 4.
  4. "TV Comedy by author of Multi Coloured Umbrella". The Age. 1 November 1957. p. 2.
  5. "Talk about". ABC Weekly. 2 October 1957. p. 46.
  6. Play details at AustLit
  7. "AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION 2CY 2CN". The Canberra Times. Vol. 36, no. 10, 099. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 16 December 1961. p. 19. Retrieved 15 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "A.B.C. radio plays for the week". ABC Weekly. 14 May 1958. p. 14.
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