Fair Passenger

Fair Passenger
Based onplay by Aimée Stuart
Directed byBill Eldridge
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time60 mins
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
Release17 July 1957 (1957-07-17) (Melbourne, live)
Release1 September 1957 (1957-09-01) (Sydney, taped)[1][2]

Fair Passenger is a 1957 Australian television film which aired on ABC. It was the first one-hour television drama produced in Melbourne, and aired there live on 17 July 1957.[3][4]

It was described as a "drama of mixed romances".[5]

Although it was kinescoped in order to be shown in Sydney, it is not known if the kinescope still exists. The UK version is lost.[6]

Plot

[edit]

Erica Tranmore is dissatisfied in her marriage with a quiet adoring husband. She goes to London on the pretext of visiting an old school friend, Meg, but actually to see an infatuated young man, Clive. She meets Rosemary, a young film star, at Meg's flat and sets out to captivate Meg's boss with a screen test.

Rosemary falls in love with Clive. Erica has an unsuccessful screen test and returns home.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

The show was based on a play by Aimee Stuart. It had been adapted for Australian radio in 1951[8] 1952[9] and 1954[10] and for British TV in 1955 as part of anthology series London Playhouse.[11]

The ABC had a site in the Melbourne suburb of Rippon Lea. However it did not have normal TV studio facilities yet so the production was filmed at a temporary studio at Coppin Hall in Richmond. (The studio was used for a six-month period from 1 July while the Rippon Lea studios were being built. Among the shows made there were variety shows, musicals and the Village Glee Club.)[4][12]

It was the first hour-long television drama broadcast in Melbourne. Marcia Hart, who was in the cast, had previously appeared in the first hour long television drama broadcast in Chicago (a production of Gaslight).[13]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ TV Guide Sydney Morning Herald 6 November 1957
  2. ^ "LOOKING AHEAD ON CHANNEL 2 ABN". ABC Weekly. 13 November 1957.
  3. ^ "Gaslight on TV with Melbourne Cast". The Age. 2 January 1958. p. 8.
  4. ^ a b "ABV-2 To Make "Live" Drama History", The Age 11 July 1957
  5. ^ TV Guide "The Age" 11 July 1957
  6. ^ "Lost UK TV Shows Search Engine". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  7. ^ "From School Plays to Success on TV". The Age. 19 September 1958. p. 20.
  8. ^ "SATURDAY, 9th June". The Age. No. 29, 987. Victoria, Australia. 8 June 1951. p. 3 (THE AGE RADIO supplement). Retrieved 22 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ ""Wings" To Broadcast". The Newcastle Sun. No. 10, 690. New South Wales, Australia. 14 May 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 22 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "PICK OF THE PROGRAMMES". Truth. No. 3379. New South Wales, Australia. 31 October 1954. p. 54. Retrieved 22 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ Fair Passenger 1955 British TV version at IMDb
  12. ^ "ABV-2 Shows Staged at Coppin Hall". 20 June 1957. p. 21.
  13. ^ "Firsts". The Age. 17 July 1957. p. 2.
[edit]