If It's a Rose

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If It's a Rose
Written by Dario Niccodemi
translated by
Robert Rietti
Directed by Raymond Menmuir
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 minutes
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
Release26 March 1958 (1958-03-26) (Sydney, live) [1]
Release23 April 1958 (1958-04-23) (Melbourne, taped) [2]

If It's a Rose is an Australian television movie, or rather a live television comedy play, which aired in 1958 on ABC. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time. [3]

Contents

Duration was 60 minutes, in black-and-white. Archival status of the program is unknown. Annette Andre was a relatively unknown 18 year old. [4] [5]

A version had been performed on British TV in 1954. [6]

Plot

Set in Italy. Over the course of one day, Mario is courting Anna.

Cast

Production

It was recorded live in Sydney. [7] It was an early television performance from Annette Andre who later recalled:

Even though I had been performing on stage from a very young age... I still had to overcome the exquisite torture of stage fright when I did my first TV drama. For some reason, my radio work was anxiety-free, perhaps because my ‘audience’ was only the other actors grouped around the microphone. My If It’s a Rose co-star was as nervous as I was and in Act II started calling me ‘Annette’ instead of ‘Maria’. If that wasn’t unsettling enough, the zipper on my costume got stuck and I had to play the rest of the scene facing the camera to hide the half-open dress. My ballet training came into play here, as I’d learned to overcome problems such as falling on stage and not let them affect my performance. [8]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Looking Ahead On Channel 2, ABN". ABC Weekly. 26 March 1958. p. 33.
  2. ↑ "TV Guide". The Age. 18 April 1959. p. 17.
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. ↑ "Girl's Chance in Live Play". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 March 1958. p. 11.
  5. ↑ "Untitled". The Age. 1 April 1958. p. 25.
  6. ↑ If It's a Rose 1954 British TV at IMDb
  7. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (29 August 2020). "Annette Andre: My Brilliant Early Australian Career". Filmink.
  8. ↑ "My First Job – 'I didn't get stage fright on radio'". Annette Andre. 20 June 2018.


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