Radio Series Collection Guide1 Australian Radio Series 1930s to 1970s A guide to ScreenSound Australia’s holdings 1 Radio Series Collection Guide2 Copyright 1998 National Film and Sound Archive All rights reserved. No reproduction without permission. First published 1998 ScreenSound Australia McCoy Circuit, Acton ACT 2600 GPO Box 2002, Canberra ACT 2601 Phone (02) 6248 2000 Fax (02) 6248 2165 E-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: http://www.screensound.gov.au ISSN: Cover design by MA@D Communication 2 Radio Series Collection Guide3 Contents Foreword i Introduction iii How to use this guide iv How to access collection material vi Radio Series listing 1 - Reference sources Index 3 Radio Series Collection Guide4 Foreword By Richard Lane* Radio serials in Australia date back to the 1930s, when Fred and Maggie Everybody, Coronets of England, The March of Time and the inimitable Yes, What? featured on wireless sets across the nation. Many of Australia’s greatest radio serials were produced during the 1940s. Among those listed in this guide are the Sunday night one-hour plays - The Lux Radio Theatre and The Macquarie Radio Theatre (becoming the Caltex Theatre after 1947); the many Jack Davey Shows, and The Bob Dyer Show; the Colgate Palmolive variety extravaganzas, headed by Calling the Stars, The Youth Show and McCackie Mansion, which starred the outrageously funny Mo (Roy Rene). Fine drama programs produced in Sydney in the 1940s included The Library of the Air and Max Afford's serial Hagen's Circus. Among the comedy programs listed from this decade are the George Wallace Shows, and Mrs 'Obbs with its hilariously garbled language. Big Sister began in 1942, the first daytime serial for women to be broadcast nationally throughout Australia. Until then nothing had really rated in daytime, but Big Sister, with full publicity and a great cluster of star actors, rated enormously. It remained at, or near, the top of the ratings for its five year run. Its importance lay in its success, which led to scores of daytime serials that followed over the next twenty years and gave work to so many writers, actors and producers. Big Sister was impeccably produced by Lynn Foster, who, on its conclusion, followed it up with her own serial Crossroads of Life. Big Sister was reproduced by another network in the late 1950s but only had a short run. When a Girl Marries was the best known soapie to follow Big Sister in the 1940s. Another feature of the 1940s was the establishment of more production houses in Melbourne as radio reached its boom stage. BEA and John Hickling carried on from the 1930s and they were joined by Donovon Joyce Productions, Crawfords and Morris West's Australasian Radio Productions (ARP). Serials produced by Donovon Joyce included Convict Girl, The Devils Duchess, The Lillian Dale Affair, Two Roads To Samarra and Office Wife; Crawfords produced Opera For The People, Glenda Raymond Sings and a great many serials; BEA produced The Markhams and other titles in The Markhams of Four Winds series, all written by Madge Thomas; and Morris West, among other programs, wrote the very fine Prince of Peace, a down-to-earth study of Christ, for ARP. Lindsay Hardy wrote many of Donovon Joyce's serials, but Grace Gibson, who set up her studio in Sydney in 1944, rather scooped Joyce when she commissioned Hardy to write the three very successful suspense serials Dossier on Dumetrius, Deadly Nightshade and 26 Hours. Night Beat was another popular Gibson suspense series. Her two flagships, however were the long running soap operas Dr Paul (1949-1970) and Portia Faces Life (1952-1970). 4 Radio Series Collection Guide5 In the early 1950s Morris West sold ARP and it became ART (Australasian Radio and Television Productions), whose programs included a year long serial Laura Chilton and about a dozen contemporary novels adapted into shorter serials, including On the Beach. In the late 1940s and early 1950s possibly the most popular programs were those of a frantically adventurous nature aimed at a younger audience - The Air Adventures of Biggles, Superman, Tarzan and Hop Harrigan. These are just a few of the more than 1500 radio series and serials held by the Archive. This guide makes information on these titles readily available for the first time and includes in most cases dates of broadcast, principal cast members, writers and producers, and summaries of their content. It will prove a veritable treasure- house for researchers and students of radio serials and series. All titles listed in this foreword are from commercial radio, but the Archive's collection does include the scripts of two very famous serials from the ABC - The Lawsons (1944-1949) and Blue Hills (1949-1976). July 1998 * Richard Lane is the author of The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama 1923-1960 : A History through Biography. As a scriptwriter and producer of radio plays Richard Lane knew personally and worked with many of the people listed in this guide. He was one of the founders of the Australian Writers’ Guild, and since having his first radio plays produced and broadcast at the age of eighteen he has won four AWGIES. 5 Radio Series Collection Guide6 Introduction Australia’s radio series play an important role in Australia’s cultural heritage, and are a rich and valuable resource for future generations. These radio series filled the air waves for some 40 years and included adventure, comedy, drama, children’s shows, chat shows, variety, quiz shows and soap operas of all types. The National Film and Sound Archive’s collection includes substantial holdings of the radio series and serials broadcast in Australia from the 1930s through to the 1970s. Numerous sources were used to compile this listing of the Archive’s holdings, including auditioning of the radio transcription discs, scripts, label information, publicity material, and books published on the subject, trade periodicals and catalogues. Members of the radio series community also provided invaluable assistance in contributing their time and effort with comments, corrections and additional information. Contributors include Bruce Asmus, Nancye Bridges, Jill Bull, Margaret Christensen, Alan Heinecke, Reg James, Jamie Kelly, Richard Lane, Jack Mitchell, David Riddell, Frank van Straten and Mike Sutcliffe. The Australian Radio Series Guide was developed and co-ordinated by Jane Van Balen from our Collection Information Section with assistance from numerous Archive staff. We are pleased to release the guide and to make it available in all of its offices and access centres for on-site research. Copies of the catalogue are also available for sale through the Archive’s offices in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Ron Brent Director National Film and Sound Archive July 1998 6 Radio Series Collection Guide7 How to use this guide The entries in this guide cover the period from the 1930s to the 1970s and document each series as a whole, not at the individual episode level. The titles are listed in alphabetical order. While complete runs are held for many series, only a few episodes are held for others. Information on episodes held by the Archive has been included where they have been fully accessioned, as well as a notation where scripts are held. Each catalogue record contains the following information: Title The series title (sub-series titles are usually indicated in notes) Series Number A unique number used to identify the record in the Archive’s database, MAVIS (Merged Audio Visual Information System) Summary Description of the intellectual content of the item Contributors The major members of the production team are shown (see below for abbreviation key). Cast The major cast members are shown with characters played in brackets Label Recording company label Episode duration Duration of individual episodes Episodes produced Number of episodes produced in series Broadcast details The precise or approximate dates and network of broadcast Notes Any additional information about the item NFSA Holdings Those episodes which have been accessioned into the Archive’s database are shown, as well as a notation where scripts are held. 7 Radio Series Collection Guide8 Contributors The names of persons and organisations (other than cast and record companies) who are known to have contributed to the production of each radio series are given together with an abbreviation of their particular role. The abbreviations are: ADV Advertising Agency PDB Radio Broadcast Producer ANN Announcer PDC Production Company ARR Arranger PDD Record Producer AUT Author PDE Executive Producer BRO Broadcaster PDM Production Manager CMP Composer PDR Producer CND Conductor PDS Production Assistant CNT Contestant PDT Technical Producer COM Commentator PRC Record Company COP Copyright Owner PRF Performer CPR Compere PRS Presenter/Disc Jockey CRE Creator PRT Participant DRT Director RCE Recording Engineer/Sound DSR Distributor RDR Reader/Reciter EDS Editor (Sound) RPT Reporter INE Interviewee SCR Scriptwriter INS Instrumentalist SPK Speaker MSG Musical group SPO Sponsor MUS Musical Director SRC Sound Recordist NRT Narrator VCL Vocalist/Singer 8 HOW TO ACCESS COLLECTION MATERIALS Restrictions may prevent clients from access to certain information in some of the holdings listed in this Guide. The Archive will protect the integrity of Australia’s screen and sound heritage. In practice, however, we must make value judgments about how that heritage is defined, selected, preserved, documented and made accessible. Access to the Collections is considered a public right. Consistent with this principle, the Archive will provide access to all who seek it, as is practicable. Access is not possible, however, where it would compromise preservation requirements. The Archive will not contravene the legal or contractual rights of copyright holders, donors, depositors or co-operating institutions. Clients may have to negotiate with such parties to gain access to certain material.