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| title = The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
| title = The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
| series = [[The General Motors Hour]]
| series = [[The General Motors Hour]]
| image =
| image =File:Mystery_of_Hansom_Cab.png
| caption =
| caption =Leon Lissek, Elaine Cusik<br>SMH 31 Jul 1961
| season = 2
| season = 2
| episode = 2
| episode = 2
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*Fred Parslow
*Fred Parslow
*Barry Pree
*Barry Pree
*Leon Lissek

*Elaine Cusik
==Production==
==Production==
Actor-writer Barry Pree had adapted the novel into a stage play. It was the first commissioned play for the Union Theatre Repertory Company, later the [[Melbourne Theatre Company]] by its first writer in residence.<ref>https://variety.com/2003/legit/news/oz-s-golden-age-1117892067/</ref> Pree took a farcical approach to the material, turning it into a spoof of old time melodramas. It debuted at the Union Theatre in Parkville on 9 January 1961 and ran until 4 February, then had a run at [[Russell Street Theatre]] from March until May. the stage play was very popular with audiences.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Bulletin|date=January 18, 1961|page=23|department=Theatre|title=Shows: Jeux des Pree |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-700049658}}</ref>
Actor-writer Barry Pree had adapted the novel into a stage play. It was the first commissioned play for the Union Theatre Repertory Company, later the [[Melbourne Theatre Company]] by its first writer in residence.<ref>https://variety.com/2003/legit/news/oz-s-golden-age-1117892067/</ref> Pree took a farcical approach to the material, turning it into a spoof of old time melodramas. It debuted at the Union Theatre in Parkville on 9 January 1961 and ran until 4 February, then had a run at [[Russell Street Theatre]] from March until May. the stage play was very popular with audiences.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Bulletin|date=January 18, 1961|page=23|department=Theatre|title=Shows: Jeux des Pree |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-700049658}}</ref>


The TV adaptation was basically a filmed version of the stage performance. It was filmed in a theatre and included the reactions of the audience applauding the hero and booing the villain, with occasional cutaways to a pianist playing "mood music".<ref name="smh"/> The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' said Barry Pree played "a personably virtuous hero with a variable Irish accent, cheerfully mixed top-hatted histrionics with music-hall singing and dancing, a barrow-load of deliberate anachronisms, and some mockery of modern Melbourne in the style of intimate revue."<ref name="smh"/>
The TV adaptation was basically a filmed version of the stage performance. It was filmed at the Russell St Theatre Melbourne and included the reactions of the audience applauding the hero and booing and throwing peanuts at the villain, with occasional cutaways to a pianist playing "mood music".<ref name="smh"/> Two songs of the era, "Daisy" and "Lily of the Laguna" were played. It took 24 hours to move the recording equipment from the studio to the theatre.<ref>{{cite news|date=31 July 1961|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123911416/?terms=%22general%2Bmotors%2Bhour%22|page=17|title=Melodrama Televised from Theatre|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref>

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' said Barry Pree played "a personably virtuous hero with a variable Irish accent, cheerfully mixed top-hatted histrionics with music-hall singing and dancing, a barrow-load of deliberate anachronisms, and some mockery of modern Melbourne in the style of intimate revue."<ref name="smh"/>


==Reception==
==Reception==

Revision as of 05:46, 5 September 2020

"The Mystery of a Hansom Cab"
The General Motors Hour episode
File:Mystery of Hansom Cab.png
Leon Lissek, Elaine Cusik
SMH 31 Jul 1961
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 2
Directed byRod Kinnear
Teleplay byBarry Pree
Original air dates6 August 1961 (Sydney)[1]
19 August 1961 (Melbourne)[2]
Running time90 mins
Episode chronology
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"Suspect"

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab is a 1961 Australian television drama play based on Barry Pree's 1961 play adaptation of the novel by Fergus Hume.[3]

The play had just completed a 12-week run in Melbourne.[2] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[4]

Cast

  • Fred Parslow
  • Barry Pree
  • Leon Lissek
  • Elaine Cusik

Production

Actor-writer Barry Pree had adapted the novel into a stage play. It was the first commissioned play for the Union Theatre Repertory Company, later the Melbourne Theatre Company by its first writer in residence.[5] Pree took a farcical approach to the material, turning it into a spoof of old time melodramas. It debuted at the Union Theatre in Parkville on 9 January 1961 and ran until 4 February, then had a run at Russell Street Theatre from March until May. the stage play was very popular with audiences.[6]

The TV adaptation was basically a filmed version of the stage performance. It was filmed at the Russell St Theatre Melbourne and included the reactions of the audience applauding the hero and booing and throwing peanuts at the villain, with occasional cutaways to a pianist playing "mood music".[1] Two songs of the era, "Daisy" and "Lily of the Laguna" were played. It took 24 hours to move the recording equipment from the studio to the theatre.[7]

The Sydney Morning Herald said Barry Pree played "a personably virtuous hero with a variable Irish accent, cheerfully mixed top-hatted histrionics with music-hall singing and dancing, a barrow-load of deliberate anachronisms, and some mockery of modern Melbourne in the style of intimate revue."[1]

Reception

The TV critic for the Sydney Morning Herald called it "an interesting experiment... only partially successful in terms of the special techniques of television. There were too many long-distance shots, of doll-like .figures on stage; not enough of the searching intimacy of expression on which television thrives."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "TV Revival Of "Hansom Gab" Mystery". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 August 1961. p. 7.
  2. ^ a b "Author, 23, in rare double". The Age. 17 August 1961. p. 12.
  3. ^ "Desi loves Lucy again— on camera". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 29, no. 12. Australia, Australia. 23 August 1961. p. 19. Retrieved 26 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  5. ^ https://variety.com/2003/legit/news/oz-s-golden-age-1117892067/
  6. ^ "Shows: Jeux des Pree". Theatre. The Bulletin. 18 January 1961. p. 23.
  7. ^ "Melodrama Televised from Theatre". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 July 1961. p. 17.

External links

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