Fair Passenger

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Fair Passenger
Based onplay by Aimée Stuart
Directed byBill Eldridge
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
Release17 July 1957 (1957-07-17) (Melbourne, live)
Release1 September 1957 (1957-09-01) (Sydney, taped) [1] [2]

Fair Passenger is a 1957 Australian television film which aired on ABC. It was the first one-hour television drama produced in Melbourne, and aired there live on 17 July 1957. [3] [4]

Contents

It was described as a "drama of mixed romances". [5]

Although it was kinescoped in order to be shown in Sydney, it is not known if the kinescope still exists. The UK version is lost. [6]

Plot

Erica Tranmore is dissatisfied in her marriage with a quiet adoring husband. She goes to London on the pretext of visiting an old school friend, Meg, but actually to see an infatuated young man, Clive. She meets Rosemary, a young film star, at Meg's flat and sets out to captivate Meg's boss with a screen test.

Rosemary falls in love with Clive. Erica has an unsuccessful screen test and returns home.

Cast

Production

The show was based on a play by Aimee Stuart. It had been adapted for Australian radio in 1951 [8] 1952 [9] and 1954 [10] and for British TV in 1955 as part of anthology series London Playhouse . [11]

The ABC had a site in the Melbourne suburb of Rippon Lea. However it did not have normal TV studio facilities yet so the production was filmed at a temporary studio at Coppin Hall in Richmond. (The studio was used for a six-month period from 1 July while the Rippon Lea studios were being built. Among the shows made there were variety shows, musicals and the Village Glee Club.) [4] [12]

It was the first hour-long television drama broadcast in Melbourne. Marcia Hart, who was in the cast, had previously appeared in the first hour long television drama broadcast in Chicago (a production of Gaslight). [13]

See also

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References

  1. TV Guide Sydney Morning Herald 6 November 1957
  2. "LOOKING AHEAD ON CHANNEL 2 ABN". ABC Weekly. 13 November 1957.
  3. "Gaslight on TV with Melbourne Cast". The Age. 2 January 1958. p. 8.
  4. 1 2 "ABV-2 To Make "Live" Drama History", The Age 11 July 1957
  5. TV Guide "The Age" 11 July 1957
  6. "Lost UK TV Shows Search Engine". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  7. "From School Plays to Success on TV". The Age. 19 September 1958. p. 20.
  8. "SATURDAY, 9th June". The Age . No. 29, 987. Victoria, Australia. 8 June 1951. p. 3 (THE AGE RADIO supplement). Retrieved 22 June 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  9. ""Wings" To Broadcast". The Newcastle Sun . No. 10, 690. New South Wales, Australia. 14 May 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 22 June 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  10. "PICK OF THE PROGRAMMES". Truth . No. 3379. New South Wales, Australia. 31 October 1954. p. 54. Retrieved 22 June 2016 via National Library of Australia.
  11. Fair Passenger 1955 British TV version at IMDb
  12. "ABV-2 Shows Staged at Coppin Hall". 20 June 1957. p. 21.
  13. "Firsts". The Age. 17 July 1957. p. 2.