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Fri 23 Oct 1964 - The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)
Page 15 - Local Boy makes good television
Local Boy
makes good
television
By JOHN
HOWARD
OUR TV
; CRITIC
It was such a
surprise this
week lo see a
locally produced
play that was
worthy of the
talents of the
cast that I can
not remember
when it last hap
pened.
| My copy of Who's Who,
i which is two years old,
» lists thirteen plays by
Alun Owen including eight
written for television be
tween 1959 and 1962, and
A Local Boy isn't any of
them.
Why we haven't seen
some of the others only
God and the Drama Ad
visory Committee can
know and they are about
equally likely to make a
statement. I fear the com
mittee has yet to recover
from the surprise it gave
itself in recommending A
Night Out years ago. (And
what is young Harold
Pinter doing these days?)
Producer Henri Safran
gave tangible evidence of
his gratitude for a play
written for television by
putting his best into it
from beginning to end.
With unusual skill and
obvious experience Owen
wrote his play comfort
ably and unobtrusively
within the boundaries of
the medium's limitations.
SPLENDID
DIALOGUE
It sained pace, scope
and dimension from near
brilliant dialogue.
It was near-brilliant in
two ways. Firstly there
was the inherent humour
of re-created Welsh
idiom. Even around the
time Shakespeare was writ
ing Henry V there was
something screamingly
•funny about the speech of
' the Welsh, who, to quote
this play, "Sound like
Peter Sellers playing a
Pakistani goal-keeper."
If the idiom is less than
perfect it is all pointless
thot]gh, and the three
rpinor and leekier, charac-'
ters were less faithful in
their interpretation than
the dramatist in his ob
servation.
John Gray, of course,
was excellent. But where
was John Ilewellyn, look
you?
The other side to the
dialogue was that of the
Oxonian lawyer and his
English wife, thoroughly
sophisticated, witty, and
racy.
"One of these days," he
tells her, "I will thump
you".
"AH I ever get is
promises."
I find now — and I
know others with the
same experience — that
about all I can recall of
On The Beach was the
performance of John Meil
lon. In the old days of
Phillip Street his Johnny
Ray sketch was just about
the funniest thing I have
ever seen in revue. More
recently, his drunken act
ing in The Sundowner was
unforgettable, and he
quite stole Billy Budd
from a cast that included
Peter Ustinov and Paul
Rogers.
The part of David
Owen was perhaps more
difficult than any of these.
While under the micro- ■
scopic focus of the camera
he had to , enliven the
character mainly through
speech.
In doing just this he ac
ted splendidly, and yet
hardly more so than June
Thody as his wife Pru
dence ( a beautiful part for
an intelligent actress) and
Lloyd Georgian Tom Far
ley as the irascible . old
humbug Evan Lloyd.
The inclusion of the
opening near-nude bed
room' sequence was abso
lutely right bccause it was
1 mastcrfullv executed
near-nude bedroom se
quence.
It is also true, as TV
Times leant over back
wards to tell us, that the
play called for the scenc
and it was done to serve
the play. Even if it wasut,
it was still a good near-,
nude bedroom sequence.
☆
Another ABC quickie
on Mondays is The Yarns
of Billie Borker, written
by Frank Hardy and pro-
duced in Perth.
The first one I saw made
me wonder why on earth.
I wish I could say they
are getting better, but I
have seen some ones
in Melbourne, and it is not
Monday's on the other
hand was a corker. I think
the praise or blame is due
rather more to Peter Car-
ver than Frank Hardy. He
is often quite unconvinc-
ing, but in How Sam Lox-
ton Was Trapped At
Square Leg he was such a
perfect specimen of Aus-
tralian pub bar bull that
it was hard to resist the re-
flex impulse to run from
the set.
Mind you, it was a good
story. Loxton was caught
by the umpire with but a
single thought; ten to six.
and Victorian licensing
laws. The umpire at the
bowler's end was his
father. At nine and three
quarters to six Loxton was
the only one left on the
field, still wondering what
rule he was given out by.
He was the best umpire
in Australia, of course.
Passed his umpire's exams
with the highest marks
anyone ever got.
But the gargl- got him,
mate.
☆
I would like to record
my sincere sympathy with
the programme manage
ment of CTC-7. •
It is a simple deduction
from some facts stated
here last Tuesday week
that no Channel can just
go out and buy pro
grammes. Not even the
metropolitan ones; but
they brought this on them
selves. |
The victims are the?
country stations like CTCt
who have the Hobsonsj
choice of buying pro-,
grammes from the three
"networks" or else taking
up their option on pro
grammes bought by their
own co-operative buying
union. Some of the best i
on CTC at the moment
were from this source.
This note of gloom and
despair is the result of see
ing Coronation Street. The
man responsible is
GTV-9's Managing Direc
tor Colin Bednall, O.B.E.
He brought Coronation
Street to the "9" network,
along with much enthu
siasm of a kind uniquely
Bednall — for some time
all the offices in Television
City were named after
houses in Coronation
Street.
At that time certain
events, including World
War II, resulted in the
loss of imported material
for broadcasting, and so
was born the local soap
opera, and with it Austra
lian radio, equal to any in
the world as Mr. Bednall
will agree.
I have nothing to say^
against the quality of
Coronation Street.
But it remains a soap
opera; a Grey Hills of
Birmingham turned cath
ode-ray blue soap opera.
It's enough to drive a
man to the -jrarRle.
Article identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131756617
Page identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page14519379
APA citation
Local Boy makes good television (1964, October 23).The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), p. 15. Retrieved April 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131756617
MLA citation
"Local Boy makes good television"The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) 23 October 1964: 15. Web. 3 Apr 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131756617>.
Harvard/Australian citation
1964 'Local Boy makes good television',The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 23 October, p. 15. , viewed 03 Apr 2025, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131756617
Wikipedia citation
{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131756617 |title=Local Boy makes good television |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=39, |issue=10,984 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=23 October 1964 |accessdate=3 April 2025 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}

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