Author | F. J. Thwaites |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Genre | melodrama |
Publisher | Publicity Press |
Publication date | 1930 |
Followed by | The Melody Lingers |
The Broken Melody is a 1930 Australian novel by F. J. Thwaites. It was Thwaites' debut novel and became a best seller, launching his career. It was turned into a 1938 Australian film and led to a sequel The Melody Lingers. [1]
The novel was about Ted Jenkins, a farmer's son, is kicked out of boarding school for addiction to dope; when his father finds out, he kicks Ted off their property as well. Ted moves to Sydney and becomes homeless; he thinks about killing himself when he sees a young woman, Carmol, thinking of killing herself, too. They decide not to do it and Carmol nurses Ted back to health. The two form a strong bond (though not a romantic one – Ted's love is for Nibs, the daughter of Ted's father's best friend).
Ted changes his name to "Digby Judd" and gets a job playing cello in Kings Cross, then moves to Thursday Island to improve his health, eventually running a pearling business for three years.
While on Thursday Island, Ted/Digby runs into Fay le Bretton, a world class pianist on holiday, who discovers his talent for the cello and persuades him to come to London. The night before Ted's London debut he finds out that Carmol has been killed in a hit and run accident, but he still performs and is a big success.
Four years later, Ted returns to Australia a rich man; he buys his family property (on the market due to a drought) and is reunited with his dying father and Nibs. [2]
Thwaites started writing the novel when he was seventeen, without having even written a short story beforehand. [3] [4]
He later claimed his motivation was to perpetuate the memory of his grandfather, Francis Jenkins, who settled on "Buckingbong" Station in 1827. Thwaites' grandmother, Mrs. Lydia Jenkins, was born in 1839, and was claimed to have been the first white child born in the south-western portion of New South Wales. "It was my object to write a book around the Jenkins' family so that the name of Jenkins would live again", said Thwaites. [5]
However Thwaites could not get anyone to publish it, so he decided to do it himself. "Then the problems started", he later recalled. "I travelled from Sydney to Townsville interviewing every librarian, bookseller and newsagent on the way and returned without selling one copy. I was about to give the game away but decided to try the Riverina first." [6]
He arrived in Wagga Wagga and introduced himself to the editor as the great-grandson of a local property owner. The paper ran a story of him and the publicity enabled him to sell his book. [6]
Critical reception was not strong. One critic wrote that the book "betrays the prentice hand, for Mr. Thwaites does not yet know men and women, nor does he understand life. Neither fortunes nor girls are won as easily as he Imagines. But be has enterprise, and his novel has Interest." [7]
The book became a best seller. [8] By 1935 it was estimated to have sold 55,000 copies in Australia and 25,000 in England. [9] Thwaites wrote a sequel, The Melody Lingers (1935). By 1968 it had been reprinted 54 times and was estimated to have sold over a million copies. [6]
In 1933 it was announced that Thwaites was travelling to Hollywood to sell the book to the movies. [10] He was no fan of the Australian film industry at this time; according to a 1933 interview:
He deplored the presentation abroad of such films as On Our Selection , Harmony Row , The Sentimental Bloke and The Squatter's Daughter , in all of which there was at least one imbecile or half-wit. People abroad viewing these pictures could not be blamed for coming to the conclusion that about one person in every four or five in Australia was sub normal. The Efftee Studios in Australia were deserving of praise for their pioneering work, but surely it was possible to portray humour on the screen without associating it with lunacy. [11]
Ironically, The Broken Melody would be turned into a film by Ken G. Hall, who also directed On Our Selection and The Squatter's Daughter.
Author | F. J. Thwaites |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Genre | melodrama |
Publisher | Jackson and O'Sullivan |
Publication date | 1935 |
Preceded by | The Broken Melody |
In 1935, Thwaites published a sequel, The Melody Lingers. [12]
The book was dedicated to Thwaites' great grandfather "The King of the Riverina" who establishing Buckingbong Station in 1827. [13]
In 1937 the novel was reprinted in the United Kingdom. [14]
The novel was adapted for radio. [15]
Dale Jenkins, heir to a rich property, tries to become a writer. [16]
The Sydney Morning Herald said "from a purely literary standpoint, the book scarcely calls for criticism, but for renders of a certain type It will doubtless have its own sentimental appeal."> [17]
The Labor Daily said it "must enhance the reputation of the pbpular author." [18]
The Sydney Mail said "The reader will meet some old friends from 'The Broken Melody' in the new novel, and may very well enjoy this renewal of acquaintanceship. 'The Melody Lingers' is quite up to the standard of this author's earlier novels." [19]
Bryan Neathway Brown AM is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include Breaker Morant (1980), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), F/X (1986), Tai-Pan (1986), Cocktail (1988), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), F/X2 (1991), Along Came Polly (2004), Australia (2008), Kill Me Three Times (2014) and Gods of Egypt (2016). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his performance in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).
Cinesound Productions Pty Ltd was an Australian feature film production company. Established in June 1931, Cinesound developed out of a group of companies centred on Greater Union Theatres that covered all facets of the film process, from production to distribution and exhibition. Cinesound Productions established a film studio as a subsidiary of Greater Union Theatres Pty Ltd based on the Hollywood model. The first production was On Our Selection (1932), which was an enormous financial success.
Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM was an Australian writer and playwright.
The Broken Melody is a 1938 Australian drama film directed by Ken G. Hall and starring Lloyd Hughes, based on a best-selling novel by F. J. Thwaites.
Sheepmates was a proposed Australian film from director F. W. Thring based on a 1931 novel by William Hatfield. It commenced filming in 1933 but was abandoned.
Frederick Joseph Thwaites was an Australian novelist whose books sold over four million copies. He was best known for his first work The Broken Melody, which was adapted into a 1938 film.
The Pathway to the Sun is a 1949 novel by Australian author E. V. Timms. It was the second in his Great South Land Saga of historical novels.
The Scarlet Frontier is a 1953 Australian novel by E. V. Timms. It was the sixth in his Great South Land Saga of novels.
Time and Chance is an Australian novel by Alma Timms. It was the twelfth in the Great South Land Saga of novels originally started by E. V. Timms. He died in 1960 while writing the 11th, The Big Country, which his wife Alma completed; she then wrote the final instalment. Alma had researched and help plot all the novels with her husband, so the task was relatively simple.
Hell's Doorway is an adventure novel by Australian author F. J. Thwaites.
Flames of Convention was the third novel by F. J. Thwaites.
The Redemption is a 1936 novel by F. J. Thwaites. It was his ninth novel.
The Mad Doctor is a 1935 novel by Australian author F. J. Thwaites, a melodramatic medical romance set in Africa.
Broken Wings is a 1934 novel by F. J. Thwaites.
The Defender is a 1936 novel by F. J. Thwaites. It was his eighth novel.
Fever is a 1939 novel by F. J. Thwaites.
Whispers in Tahiti is an Australian 1940 novel by F. J. Thwaites. It was translated into French.
The Dark Abyss is a 1951 novel. It is about Captain Saunders who is injured in the Korean War then falls in love with Dr Balant.
Husky Be My Guide is a 1957 travel book by F. J. Thwaites. It was the first in a series of travel books written by Thwaites based on his real-life adventures.
No Love to Give is a novel by F. J. Thwaites. It was his 34th novel and like many of them incorporated current events in the plot.