Sumner Locke Elliott | |
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Sumner Locke Elliott (17 October 1917 –24 June 1991) was an Australian (later American) novelist and playwright.
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.
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]
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]
Elliott's best known novel, Careful, He Might Hear You , won the 1963 Miles Franklin Award and was turned into a film in 1983.
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]
He died of colon cancer aged 73 in New York City in 1991.
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Frederick Hayden Hughs Coe was an American television producer and director most famous for The Goodyear Television Playhouse/The Philco Television Playhouse in 1948-1955 and Playhouse 90 from 1957 to 1959. Among the live TV dramas he produced were Marty and The Trip to Bountiful for Goodyear/Philco, Peter Pan for Producers' Showcase, and Days of Wine and Roses for Playhouse 90.
Dame Doratea Alice Lucy Walkden Fitton was an Australian pioneering theatre entrepreneur, actress of stage and film and theatrical director and producer who established with 19 other actors The Independent Theatre Ltd. in North Sydney, New South Wales in 1930, which operated for forty-seven years.
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Francis Theodore O'Donnell was an Australian actor. He performed in amateur theatre before the outbreak of war in 1939 but worked in professional theatre after the war.
Rusty Bugles was a controversial Australian play written by Sumner Locke Elliott in 1948. It toured extensively throughout Australia between 1948–1949 and was threatened with closure by the New South Wales Chief Secretary's Office for obscenity.
Lloyd Berrell was a New Zealand actor who played Reuben "Roo" Webber in the original Sydney production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. He worked extensively in Australian radio and theatre, appearing in a large portion of the films being shot locally at that time. He also starred in the original stage production of Sumner Locke Elliott's Rusty Bugles as well as numerous productions for the Mercury Theatre.
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.
Wicked is the Vine is a 1947 radio play by Sumner Locke Elliott that was later adapted for American television.
"The Grey Nurse Said Nothing" is a television play written by Sumner Locke Elliott. It was based on elements of the Shark Arm case but is mostly fictitious. The play was screened in the US in 1959 as an episode of Playhouse 90. It was performed on American and Australian television.
The King and Mrs Candle is a 1955 American TV play. It was directed by Arthur Penn and written by Sumner Locke Elliott. It was an original musical for TV, although it adapted a 1954 episode of Philco Television Playhouse written by Elliott.
The Crater is a 1948 Australian radio play by Sumner Locke Elliot that was later adapted for American television.
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.
"Friday the 13th" is a 1954 American television play by Sumner Locke Elliott. It originally aired as an episode of The Philco Television Playhouse produced by Fred Coe and directed by Arthur Penn.
"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.