''Dark Brown'' is a 1963 Australian TV play. It was based on a British play that had been filmed by the ABC in 1957. It was the second live drama recorded at the ABC in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, after '' Vacancy in Vaughan Street''. It was shot at the ABC's studios in

Toowong Toowong is a riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Toowong had a population of 10,830 people. Geography Toowong is situated between Mount Coot-tha and the Brisbane River and is made up of rolling hills w ...

. Australian drama was very rare at the time, and mostly made in Sydney and Melbourne.

Plot

In 1880, Jenny Brown worries about the trips her tobacconist husband Arthur is making to Eastborne to visit his ailing aunt. There are also a series of unsolved murders. The aunt, Mrs Persephelous, visits Jenny.

Cast

*Barbara Wheelton as Jenny Brown *Ray Dunlop as Arthur Brown *

Babette Stephens Phyllis Babette Stephens AM MBE (née Fergusson) (26 April 1910 – 28 February 2001) was an Australian actress, director, artistic director, TV game show panelist and acting teacher. A leading theatrical pioneer, she also appeared in film and te ...

as Mrs Persephelous *Betty Ross as shop clerk Miss Tasker *Gwen Wheeler as Mrs Collins, Jenny's mother *Beverly Bates as cousin Bella *Glen Stirratt as Bella's finance Fred

Production

The sets were designed by Bernard Hides and Bill Collyer. They had to recreate the

parlour A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessar ...

at the back of Arthur's shop and decided to add the shop as well to give the set better dimensions and to open out the play from its stage origins. The tobacco used was made of peat moss. The production was taped at the ABC studios in Toowong and that recording was broadcast. During the broadcast and cast re-enacted the play in the studio; they did this without the costumes or sets used during the taping, but just to improve. "We are still inexperienced and we have to make every effort to improve," said Cubbage. Ray Menmuir, ABC director, was in Brisbane on 3 and 4 December to watch the taping and offer suggestions.

References

External links

Dark Brown
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

1963 television films 1963 films Australian television films 1960s Australian television plays Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming English-language television shows Black-and-white Australian television shows {{Australia-tv-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links