Sumner Locke Elliott

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Sumner Locke Elliott
Born(1917-10-17)17 October 1917
Died24 June 1991(1991-06-24) (aged 73)
Occupations
  • Novelist
  • playwright
  • radio writer
  • screenwriter

Sumner Locke Elliott (17 October 1917 24 June 1991) was an Australian (later American) novelist and playwright.

Contents

Biography

Elliott was born in Sydney to the writer Sumner Locke and the journalist Henry Logan Elliott. His mother died of eclampsia one day after his birth. [1] Elliott was raised by his aunts, who had a fierce custody battle over him, fictionalised in Elliott's autobiographical novel, Careful, He Might Hear You . Elliott was educated at Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, Sydney.

World War II

Elliott became an actor and writer with the Doris Fitton's The Independent Theatre Ltd. He was drafted into the Australian Army in 1942, but instead of being posted overseas, he worked as a clerk in Australia. He used these experiences as the inspiration for his controversial play, Rusty Bugles . The play toured extensively throughout Australia and achieved the notoriety of being closed down for obscenity by the Chief Secretary's Office. [2]

However, Rusty Bugles' place in the history of Australian theatre rests on more than notoriety. Mac is a memorable character in the play, and in the first production, Frank O'Donnell transformed audiences' understanding of the typical Australian 'bludger' or 'scrounger'. To the men in his unit, he appeared a winner even when he was losing, but with the discovery of his wife's infidelity, his fragility becomes apparent. [3]

Television

Elliott moved to the United States in 1948, where he ranked in the pantheon of leading playwrights during the Golden Age of live television dramas, writing more than 30 original plays and numerous adaptations for such shows as The Philco Television Playhouse , Kraft Television Theatre , Studio One and Playhouse 90 . He also wrote a play, Buy Me Blue Ribbons, which had a short run on Broadway. [4]

In 1955, he obtained United States citizenship and did not return to Australia until 1974. [3] His TV play The Grey Nurse Said Nothing aired on TV in the US and Australia. [5]

Books

Elliott's best known novel, Careful, He Might Hear You , won the 1963 Miles Franklin Award and was turned into a film in 1983.

Private life

As a gay man during a time when this was socially disapproved of, Elliott was uncomfortable with his sexuality. He kept it secret until nearly the end of his life before coming out in his book Fairyland. Because of these fears, Elliott had affairs but never had any stable relationships. [6]

Death

He died of colon cancer aged 73 in New York City in 1991.

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

Plays

TV plays

Radio plays

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Buy Me Blue Ribbons was a 1951 play by Australian writer Sumner Locke Elliott. It was one of the few Broadway plays to be written by an Australian.

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Daisy, Daisy is a 1955 American television play by Sumner Locke Elliott that aired as an episode of Playwrights '56. It was based on the Ern Malley hoax making the play one of the few works on American television at the time to draw inspiration from Australian culture.

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"We Were Children" is a 1952 American television play by Sumner Locke Elliott. It originally aired as an episode of The Philco Television Playhouse produced by Fred Coe.

"Before I Wake" is a 1953 American television play written by Sumner Locke Elliott. It was an episode of Philco Television Playhouse.

Hollywood Tandem is a 1953 episode of the American television series Philco Television Playhouse. It consisted of two television plays both of which were directed by Delbert Mann and produced by David Susskind. The show marked the television acting debut of Hedda Hopper.

Pengallen's Bell is a 1949 American television play by Sumner Locke Elliott. It was broadcast as an episode of the series Lights Out. The script was an original of Elliott's and one of his first American television scripts.

References

  1. Archived 22 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Alomes, Stephen (11 October 1999). When London Calls: The Expatriation of Australian Creative Artists to Britain . Cambridge University Press. p.  35. ISBN   978-0-521-62978-2.
  3. 1 2 "Sumner Locke Elliott". Middlemiss.org. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  4. "Buy Me Blue Ribbons". Internet Broadway Database . Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  5. Vagg, Stephen (17 November 2020). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Grey Nurse Said Nothing". Filmink.
  6. Archived 25 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Sydney Morning Herald". Trove.nla.gov.au. 27 October 1948. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  8. Vagg, Stephen (11 September 2022). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Australia on US TV – Sumner Locke Elliott's Wicked is the Vine and The Crater". Filmink.
  9. Review of production at Variety - this was directed by Arthur Penn
  10. Review of play at Variety
  11. Review of production at Variety
  12. Review at Variety
  13. Review of production at Variety
  14. Review of production at Variety
  15. Review of production at Variety
  16. Review of play at Variety
  17. Review of production at Variety
  18. Review of production at Variety