AustLit

Little is known of the plot of this radio play.

'A drama of a young gunman turned black marketeer'.

Source: 'George Hart's Radio Round-up', Sun, 29 August 1950, p.29.

'A father is able only to remember one line of a favourite poem. Years later his son, while in Ireland, stumbles on the remaining lines but, before he can return home to tell his father, he is killed in action.'

Source: [Radio supplement], The Age, 7 September 1950, p.7.

'A young and beautiful wife considers her husband's affections are on the wane. An Indian hawker induces her to buy two love charms—a love philtre and a magic stone. The use of the black magic produces a marked change in her husband's displays of affection.'

Source: [Radio supplement], The Age, 14 September 1950, p.7.

'It is the love story of a U.S. soldier who returns to Australia in search of the girl he had fallen in love with during his leave in Sydney. In the park where he had met her he tells an old man of his quest, and it is the old man who makes the happy ending of the play possible.'

Source: 'Radio Round & About', ABC Weekly, 16 September 1950, p.41.

Described by newspapers as 'an unusual detective play' ('Worth Hearing', Herald, 5 October 1950, p.18), Alamein Murder was a 'drama of a crime committed in the heat of battle, and solved by the company commander and his batman' ('George Hart's Radio Round-up', Sun, 26 September 1950, p.23).

'The story tells of a young wife whose marriage is threatened by the presence of an oil painting in her home, the painting having been given as a wedding present by a friend. The portrait is of a young woman, noted for her beauty in the 17th century, whose evil intelligence is said to have been put on to the canvas when the artist painted it. The young husband falls under the spell of this unusual portrait and turns from his wife and friends. It is only the timely intervention of the young wife’s sympathetic mother, who finds a cure for the husband’s obsession, that restores the former happiness of the young pair.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 30 September 1950, p.27.

Described as a 'drama of an assorted group of people and their eerie adventures during the ascent of a hill'.

Source: 'British Change Tipped', Sun, 10 October 1950, p.29.

'The Story of Sonya Bishop, whose happiness is shattered when she is crippled in a car accident and loses the love of her daughter, Carol.'

Source: [Radio supplement], The Age, 19 October 1950, p.7.

'It is the story of a man who is told by his doctor that he has but six months to live. The task of breaking this news is particularly difficult for the physician as he is also a family friend and a rather special friend of the doomed man's wife. The doctor and the wife, however, decide not to continue their friendship over the next few months—the doctor works frantically to find some cure and the wife devotes herself to looking after her husband. The play finishes with quite a surprising twist.'

Source: 'Commercial Radio Plays for Next Week', ABC Weekly, 21 October 1950, p. 27.

'This play, written for Actor's choice by Kathleen Carroll, of Sydney, N.S.W., is a sincere story of a girl forced to sacrifice her youth to care for a seriously ill mother, who has always disliked her daughter and been jealous of her. Much against the wishes of her family, who take the view that the girl should take care of her mother rather than live any life of her won, she plans to marry a young widower who is in love with her. However, the young man feels they should delay plans for marriage until the mother no longer needs the girl's care—a plan which has disastrous results.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 28 October 1950, p.27.

'[T]he story of a top-line actress who blames bad plays for a series of flops. But her father suggests the actress look into her own record.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A professor of zoology who is writing a book on elephants, hits upon the idea of combining baby-sitting with writing.'

Source: [Radio supplement], Age, 17 November 1950, p.8.

Explores the pressure between pascifist tendencies and a looming war, through a single family.

'When 80-year-old millionaire Jeb Robinjay falls ill, niece Flora and nephew Fred are very concerned because he has willed his entire fortune to a Home for Dogs. Jeb draws up a new will favouring them, but before he signs it receives a visit from an old fishing mate, Nick Winter. Old Nick, who enjoys the simple things in life, persuades Jeb that he is not ready to die yet, and that in fact he's quite well enough to do a spot of fishing. So, in Nick's old jalopy, they go to his broken-down shanty by the river, where, after several whiskies, Nick puts a very merry Jeb to bed. Flora and Fred are only interested in Jeb's money, and fear that he will die before the new will is signed. They hurry after him in their car, little realising the disaster which awaits them on the dark road by the river.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 25 November 1950, p.27.

'The Morrisons are a gay, happy, and completely spoilt family. They have their ructions and family tiffs, but over all their sense of humour prevails. It is into this atmosphere that their English cousin Edward Pilchard steps. He is not an old "drizzlepuss," as the family had expected, but a young and very intelligent fellow, who not only know how to run his own life but is very soon running theirs.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 2 December 1950, p.27.

'John Mason has spent twenty years in a world of doubt and bewilderment. He has wandered over the many places always seeking and yet not quite knowing the thing or place he is looking for. Fianlly, one day, he comes to a small village and has the overwhelming feleing, "I was here before." This time the feeling is so strong he takes a job in the township, and is befriended by his boss, a newspaperman. The unravelling of a lost memory, and the situations it uncovers, has been woven into this radio play.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 9 December 1950, p.27.

'The picturesque and old-fashioned Arlington sisters lived in the exclusive and wealthy part of the city. The well-cared-for grounds bespoke a firm hand in control. In this setting John Power weaves his gripping and pathetic story of domination and overbearance [sic] by one sister, and the effect on the other sister and the rest of the household. The advent of an inspector into this Old World scene, following a violent death, throws into strong relief the ages apart people can live in and yet be a part of the present-day community.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 16 December 1950, p.27.

'Karen, a girl who is beautiful, who is loved and admired, is crippled in an accident while swimming. Who could love a cripple, would want to marry a cripple: could her fiance, Peter, want to marry her other than through pity? These and a thousand other thoughts, brought on by her deformity, torture the mind of Karen, the pleasure-loving girl, whose mind as well as her body becomes twisted. The story of Karen's fears, of how a complete stranger shows her the way to ultimate happiness, is portrayed by Sheila Sewell'.

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 23 December 1950, p. 27.

'Friendship of many years standing between two men can often produce the finest examples of sacrifice. This is the theme Donald Haring uses to gripping advantage in his play Delayed Action. Tony is a crime reporter, while his friend Greg is a big business man, they have been friends for years, doing each other favours, helping each other out of scrapes. Then drama and tragedy enter their lives, culminating in one of them being tried for murder.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 30 December 1950, p.27.

'Set in the war years, this play captures the brittle atmosphere in which many film and stage stars find themselves. Bromwen [sic] Burnley has been a successful film star, and yet the last couple of shows she has played in have been flops. Her publicity agent, Jamey, hits upon the idea of her doing a personal appearance tour of the overseas forces in order to restore some of her lost box-office. However, his plan is too successful, for when Bromwen is confronted with real human suffering and is away from the brittle atmosphere of her waning stage shows, she discovers she is not as tough as she thought; in fact, she finds that she is living like a human being for the first time in years.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 6 January 1951, p.27.

'At some time in everybody's life there is a small voice within telling him what he should or should not do. At times of great stress it is ever-present. Around this universal happening Denys Burrows has built a gripping drama, Wattle Road. Clive had always loved Mary; in fact, it was an all-consuming love that flared into overpowering jealousy if Mary entertained any of their friends. After five years of marriage Mary finds it increasingly difficult to have any friends at all, and in desperation she decides to adopt a child, hoping that this new move will curb the jealousy of Clive. However, her numerous visits to the one house in town only give the gossips and that insistent voice in Clive's make-up more food for thought.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 13 January 1951, p.27.

'Virginia Glint is proud of her husband, a University lecturer whom she met when she was a student in his science class. Their wedded bliss is only slightly marred every now and then when Virginia finds her husband too engrossed in his books to talk to her. Thinking to give him a change, she accepts an invitation from two of her old classmates, who have recently married, to spend a week-end in the mountains. It is during this week-end that their host, Tom Othey, has an amazing adventure. The story of his late home arrival is so weird that both his wife and the police doubt its authenticity. However, Hillary Glint readily believes Tom’s story, and he is accused of sticking up for his own sex on principle. Not until the Glints are back in their own home does Virginia learn why her husband believed Tom’s story.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 20 January 1951, p.27.

'When John Cartwright set out to write a children’s book, the Patchwork Planet, little did he dream the situations it would involve him in. His active mind created vivid characters that finally stepped out of their fantasy world to tell him of their very real troubles. Author M. Noonan has handled the delightful fantasy of My Heart’s a Broken Music Box with deftness and assurance, creating the final scenes with a poignant realism. For Mr. Magnificent from Patchwork Planet is a living person to John Cartwright; in fact his greatest creation. Therefore it is only right that he should fight desperately to keep him from harm, even at the cost of his own well-being.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 27 January 1951, p.27.

A boxing drama.

'SET in the fourteenth century in France, The Thundering Duke is a period drama. To the Comte de Granville and his fair lady, a visit from the thundering Duke could only have one end, as they have been sworn enemies since the slaying of the Comte’s father by the Duke. Plundering and duelling are introduced in an unexpected manner by author A. E. Martin in this play. The odds seem all in favour of the hated Duke, for de Granville duels under a crushing handicap that in the end proves his great ally and the Duke's undoing.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 10 February 1951, p.13.

'SO absurdly acute is the labour shortage in the year 1958 that the important Mr. Featherstone is switch board operator, receptionist, office boy, and executive director of a company. He employs an advertising agent not to sell his merchandise, but to lure staff into his organisation by fair means and foul. Mr. Featherstone then has another job foisted upon him —"canvassing" for employees in their homes. It is this activity that concludes the comedy on a hilarious note.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 17 February 1951, p.13.

'SPEEDWAY racing stars Roark Adams and Breeze Cordovan are close friends and young devil-may care Australians. They decide to try their luck in England. And Lady Luck attends them in their venture, notably Roark, who carries every thing before him, including the world’s speedway championship. Luck deserts him when he meets and falls in love with Beth Vernon, a speedway fan, who loves only the man who is always winning. Breeze, less successful than Roark, is also in love with Beth, and the friendship of the two champions is put to the test, especially when Roark continues to be dogged by a run of losing events. The two men ride against each other in another championship, and the tenseness of this event reveals the different plans of the two friends.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 24 February 1951, p.13.

'Willi Von Merl came to Australia after the last war, married an Australian girl, and was happy. He wanted his brother Karl to be happy, and so sponsored him to this country as a New Australian. Then trouble came to his house, for how was he to know that his brother still retained the hate he had been brought up on, and that he would spread it in the family circle. Karl was a Nazi and remained one in Australia, pouring shattering thoughts into the mind of Willi’s wife. This mounting tension reached a peak, when an Australian doctor attended Karl’s wife in her confinement, and any mistake he made would be held against all British people in the eyes of Karl.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 3 March 1951, p.13.

'THE first impression John Knight had of Adelaide, after one month at sea, was anything but happy. He was glad his ship was only staying in the port one day. That was before he knew Mary. His first meeting with Mary took place when he accidentally knocked her down in the street. An eye witness of this accident was her father, who thought John should be horsewhipped for his action. Later at a ball in the Town Hall John tries to apologise to Mary’s father, but to no avail. In fact, he is turned out of the place to be "beaten up," or so Mr. Merryweather thought. He had, of course, underestimated this "young hooligan," as he dubbed him. However, both John’s and Mary’s father’s unfortunate impressions are pleasantly ironed out to provide a happy conclusion.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 10 March 1951, p.13.

'WALGROVE HANLEY was by profession an attorney-at-law. By modern standards he was a happily married man with two children, a lovely wife and plenty of money. However, he had one unorthodox belief: That [sic] under certain circumstances homicide was justifiable. This led him into the greatest tangle of his life, involving murder. Before him he saw the complete disintegration of everything he loved and wanted. His manipulation of words and phrases and his knowledge of the law were powerless to help him. It was then that his old belief asserted itself. He felt no remorse for his crime. In fact, he felt nothing at all until a man was arrested for the murder and sentenced to die. Then his conscience started to work.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 17 March 1951, p.13.

'IT was inevitable that Roy Smith would meet a man like Bill Taylor in a place like Yellow Joe’s. Roy kept telling himself what a "dive" the place was, but somehow he was drawn to it. Despite the revulsion he felt, one night he agreed when Bill Taylor asked if he would join him for a drink. The story he heard from this derelict of a man made him feel almost ill, yet he was fascinated. Could this story have any connection with the black rages he flew into at home — a happy home till unaccountably he would lapse into a black temper over some trivial thing, and almost strike his wife.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 24 March 1951, p.13.

'JOHNNY CARROLL was convinced that some people are born to lose; of course, they do get breaks, occasionally, but mostly bad ones. He thought he was such a fellow, and he had no cause to think otherwise. At twenty-four, he could look back on a life that consisted of sixteen years in an orphanage, five as a labourer, and three years in the State "pen." The latter was for assaulting a person who took his money and then tried to take his girl. That was Johnny when he ran into an old pal, Steve Yager, who looked as though he were prosperous. Steve offered Johnny a partnership in his business, which was housebreaking. Steve was married, so the team was a triangular one, an arrangement that didn’t take long to boil up into & white-hot trouble spot. Johnny refused to be enticed into double-crossing his pal Steve by the lovely Mrs. Yager. Where did it get him? As Johnny says, "Some guys are born to lose."'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 31 March 1951, p.13.

'The troubles of Rod Madison began on the night his father decided to hold a seance. There were only four present—Rod and his fiancee Peg, and his mother and father. After a lot of concentration, Rod dismissed the whole thing as a lot of rot, and remarked loudly that he could not see the use of calling the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. Personally, he preferred to call up a gorgeous blonde spirit. Little did he realise the trouble those words would cost him, for into his life came Marlene, the dizziest sprite ever. She drifted in and out of his life for the next day or so at awkward times, which made everyone think Rod had gone crazy. The effect all this had on his fiancee Peg was anything but good, especially when she saw him out driving with a glorious blonde, who waved to her gaily as they passed. Marlene may have been dizzy, but she was also sensitive. She said that she preferred to be called a fairy, for to be called a spirit offended her.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 7 April 1951, p.13.

'THIS is a dramatisation of an event in Australian history. In 1797 the "Sydney Cove" was wrecked in Bass Strait. A party under the leadership of Mr. Hugh Thompson set off for help, but the nearest colony was Port Jackson, some 400 miles away through rough scrub country that had never before been traversed by white man. John Warwick opens his play when the party is only 90 miles from their destination. After two months of grinding marching, the party has shrunk from 18 to seven. Capturing the atmosphere of tension and almost hopelessness, John Warwick has constructed a gripping play that holds unwavering interest to the end.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 14 April 1951, p.13.

''THIS is the story of an escaping professor from Moronia, arriving in Australia with a remarkable invention called the Penetrator. The reasons for his flight, and the justification of his reasons make thought provoking and entertaining radio listening.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 28 April 1951, p.13.

Little is known about the plot of this radio play.

'WHEN Nick Smith, high-pressure publicity agent of the Gertz Motion Picture Corporation, was called in to handle the publicity of a new star, Elma Splogg, he thought it would be child’s play. Miss Splogg had everything; all she needed was a new name. Nick soon fixed that. Elma became Larlene Meadows before she had time to get her breath. Nick really got into his stride then, and came up with top publicity stunts until finally, running out of adjectives, he hit upon the idea of Larlene being atomic. This idea was to cost him dearly.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 12 May 1951, p.13.

'A theory about the two emotions love and hate, and how close they are interwoven in all crime. During one of his University lectures, a young man by the name of Blake questions this theory and debates it with the learned Dr. Elliot. It was not until 11 years later, when the student had become a practising doctor of psychiatry, that Dr. Elliot visited him and proved his theory. Dr. Elliot sets Dr. Blake against his fiancee, to prove love can turn to hate and cause crime.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 19 May 1951, p.13.

'DANNY was young, but he was a "smart cookie," or that is what they all called him in the fight game. He knew what he wanted and how he intended getting it, all he needed was a good fighter. He knew the angles to build a fighter into a champion, and in that class lay the money. Danny only had one fighter to manage, a prelim. boy by the name of Rick. They were good friends. That is why Rick brought his pal Skinny along to see Danny. Although he looked as though a good puff of wind would blow him over, Skinny had the weaving, pugnacious style that spelt class to Danny. Here, thought Danny, is my chance, and he worked furiously with Skinny and Rick building them up, and losing his gentleness in the process, becoming ruthless. That is where trouble stepped in.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 26 May 1951, p.13.

'ANCIENT Greece, in that heroic age when action and speech encouraged high principles (even among the slaves), is the setting. This is the story of one of those slaves who in fulfilling the whimsical and drunken wager of his master, to prove his loyalty, imperils his own life. In fact, the message he is requested to take to a bloodthirsty general, a great distance away, will mean his immediate doom once it is delivered.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 2 June 1951, p.13.

'THE night Mike Adams decided to drive by the short cut he had been told of, to reach his destination, proved to be a turning point in his life. His car broke down, and he called at a vacant, dilapidated house for help. There was no phone and no neighbours, so he stayed the night and met a "spirit." Their meeting was sheer comedy, the first few hours of their friendship, gay and laughable, but their falling in love, pure drama. They were people from different worlds, and it would call for a cruel and callous act to bring them together.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 9 June 1951, p.13.

Little is known of the plot of this radio play, which placed second in the Actor's Choice retrospective competition.

'There was one member of Arthur Henkle’s family who understood him, his granddaughter Rosaleen. She alone realised what he might have been with a different wife. As a young man Arthur Henkle loved cycling, built cycles, and, above all, was a champion of the sport. Then the motor car came on the road. Arthur’s wife said the cycle trade was beneath them, and pushed him into a motor garage business. Here he lost himself, until reminded of his triumphs of earlier years by Rosaleen and her young man, but by then all hope had gone and he was dying of a broken heart.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 23 June 1951.

Described in the radio guide as 'a rather grim story concerning a young married couple who move into a house and become scared when next door neighbours tell them of the tragedies which their new home has witnessed.'

Source: [Radio guide], Age, 29 June 1951, p.8.

'TONY CARROLL accidentally shoots himself while cleaning a gun. From then on he becomes the "corpus delicti," the one unconsidered thread in the great tangle of death investigation. But Tony, being a different young man, decides he will have a voice in the matter, and makes clear his attitude to everyone connected—his wife, Ruth; a friend of the family, Alex.; his mother-in-law, Mrs. Lee; his secretary, Jenny; and the inquiring policeman, Sergeant Blain. How everything works out tor the best, under the benevolent eye of "the corpse" gives this story its novel twist.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 7 July 1951, p.13.

'WHEN Professor Ferguson stands trial for the murder of Garry Fletcher, he is accused of Murder With Malice! But was it murder? Did he do it with wilful intent or in the defence of the Japanese girl, Smiling Azalea? With the background of Japan, where most things take on a different perspective, Professor Ferguson deliberately shot Garry Fletcher because he attempted to chop down a tree. Can a tree affect a girl’s life? Is this defence warranted? Only a person who has lived in Japan—a person who knows their customs—can answer these questions! Only a person who has lived in close contact with these people could know how each cut of the axe biting into the tree could cause excruciating agony to the young girl, Smiling Azalea. Professor Ferguson stands trial for his life because he attempted to save this girl. The decision of the jury as to whether or not Professor Ferguson committed Murder With Malice closes the play on a tense and logically satisfying note.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 14 July 1951, p.13.