Vacancy in Vaughan Street

Last updated

Vacancy in Vaughan Street
Genredrama
Written byJohn Crane
Directed byWilf Buckler
Bob Cubbage
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersBob Cubbage
Fred Haynes
Running time30 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
Release25 June 1963 (1963-06-25) (Brisbane)
Release31 July 1963 (1963-07-31) (Sydney)
Release14 August 1963 (1963-08-14) (Melbourne) [1]

Vacancy in Vaughn Street is a 1963 Australian television short. It was the first television play produced in Brisbane. [2] and aired on Australian Broadcasting Commission. [3] The same team then made Dark Brown (1963).

Contents

Plot

Ernie Pettifer, a carpenter, arrives at a boarding house run by Mrs Jessup and her husband Arthur. He falls in love with straightlaced teacher Florence Medway. Another boarder, Violet, is interested in Ernie.

Cast

Production

The production was shot at the studios of the ABQ in Toowong Brisbane. Designer Bernard Hides and his assistant Bill Collyer designed the set, which took three weeks to construct. This meant that for two nights the ABC news in Brisbane was read from the boarding house dining room that featured in the play. [5]

It was produced by Bob Cubbage who said "we chose a simple play to use as an exercise. We wanted to learn as much as we could from it." [5]

Bob Cubbage, ABC Supervisor of Drama and Features in Queensland, said they selected the play because it "has a simple plot and was chosen as a TV exercise for local actors and producers... We hope that this will be the first of a series of local TV productions in Brisbane." [6] It was written by Sydney author John Crane.

Cubbage produced the play to rehearsal stage then director Wilf Buckler took over. [6]

Don McTaggart was a Brisbane actor who mostly worked in radio. He had appeared in A Sleep of Prisoners. Judith Stephenson and Betty Ross were experienced Brisbane stage actors. [5]

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald called it "pleasantly amusing at best but also containing inconsistencies and some feeble touches." [7]

TV Week called it "a worthy effort and a triumph for all concerned" saying McTaggart "walked off with the acting honors but his supporting cast was a fine one... It makes you wonder why we have had to wait almost four years for this type of programme to emanate from our local studio. This Queensland production is to be seen interstate and our local team need hold no fears for its success." [8]

Other shows shot in Brisbane would include Dark Brown , The Monkey Cage , The Quiet Season and Ring Out Wild Bells . There was also The Absence of Mr Sugden in 1965 starring Edward Howell, Stanley Smith, John Nash, Reg Cameron, Vic Hughes and Don McTaggert, and Arabesque for Atoms (1965) which starred Phillip Colledge, Margret Milne and Alistair Smart. In addition was the 1961 broadcast of A Sleep of Prisoners .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television in Australia</span> Overview of television in Australia

Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the Radiovision system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Brisbane in 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Dingo</span> Australian actor and television presenter

Ernest Ashley Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia. He is a designated Australian National Living Treasure.

A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movie, which employs the single-camera setup of film production.

Martin Kevin Vaughan was an Australian stage, television and film actor and musician. He is best known for appearing in the film Phar Lap as trainer Harry Telford and the lead role in the award-winning 26-part 1976 television miniseries Power Without Glory.

<i>Stormy Petrel</i> (TV series) Television series

Stormy Petrel is an early Australian television drama. A period drama, the 12-episode serial told the story of William Bligh and aired in 1960 on ABC. It was the first live TV serial from the ABC.

Rodney Armour Milgate was an Australian painter and playwright. He was a Professor of the Visual Arts School of the (then) City Art Institute, University of NSW and newsreader.

<i>The Astronauts</i> (film) 1960 Australian TV series or program

The Astronauts is a television film, or rather a live television play, which aired in Australia during 1960 on ABC. Broadcast originally in Melbourne on 18 May 1960, a kinescope recording was made of the broadcast and shown in Sydney on 27 July 1960. FilmInk magazine said it may be the only Australian drama about the space race.

<i>The Young Victoria</i> (1963 film) 1963 Australian TV series or program

The Young Victoria is an Australian television film of 1963 which aired on ABC on 27 March 1963. Based on the play Victoria Regina, it is a 60-minute drama about the courtship and marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. It stars Lola Brooks as Victoria and Ric Hutton as Albert.

<i>Ballad for One Gun</i> 1963 Australian television film

Ballad for One Gun is a 1963 Australian television film about Ned Kelly broadcast on ABC.

"Campaign for One" is a 1965 Australian television film. A remake of an episode of the BBC series Wednesday Play, it aired in a 60-minute time-slot on ABC on 24 November 1965 in Melbourne, Sydney, and on 5 January 1966 in Brisbane. as part of Wednesday Theatre.

Dark Brown is an early Australian television film, broadcast during 1957 on ABC.

Australian Playhouse was an Australian anthology TV series featuring the work of Australian writers.

The Valley of Water is a 1962 Australian television drama that was made by Nine Network in Adelaide. It was the first one-hour television drama to be shot in South Australia.

The Quiet Season is a 1965 Australian half-hour television play. It aired on the Australian Broadcasting Commission stations Australia-wide and was produced in the Toowong studios of the Brisbane,Queensland, station (ABQ).

"Ring Out Wild Bells" is a 1965 Australian television play which aired as part of Wednesday Theatre. It was based on a play by George Landen Dann and the third Brisbane produced ABC drama from ABQ after Vacancy in Vaughan Street and Dark Brown. "Ring Out Wild Bells" aired on 11 November 1964 in Brisbane, 10 February 1965 in Sydney and Canberra, and on July 1, 1965 in Melbourne.

A Sleep of Prisoners is a 1951 verse play by Christopher Fry. It concerns four English prisoners of war locked up in a church overnight, and the Old Testament style dreams they have springing from an argument between them.

Dark Brown is a 1963 Australian TV play. It was based on a British play that had been filmed by the ABC in 1957.

The Absence of Mr Sugden is a 1965 Australian TV play. It was the fifth drama to be made at the ABC's Toowong studios and the second one in 1965. It was shot on 9 December 1965 using an all-male cast of six.

Arabesque for Atoms is a 1965 Australian television play shot in Brisbane.

Crisis is a 1963 Australian television play filmed in Brisbane made by the Christian Television Association. The cast included thirty volunteers from Sandcliffe Little Theatre and the Redcliff Music and Arts Society. Equipment was donanted by Brisbane General Hospital, the Red Cross and the Post Office.

References

  1. ↑ "First Perth-produced ABC play by J.B. Priestley". The Age. 5 September 1963. p. 10.
  2. ↑ "Brisbane's First Television Play". The Canberra Times . 31 July 1963. p. 33. Retrieved 23 October 2015– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  4. ↑ "ABV – Channel 2". The Age . 8 August 1963. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Our First Live Play". TV Times. 19 June 1963. p. 8.
  6. 1 2 "ABC Publicity Dept Flyer". National Archives of Australia. 10 July 1963.
  7. ↑ "Play on TV". Sydney Morning Herald. 1 August 1963. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "Petrie Bite". TV Week. 6 July 1963.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.