"Marleen" is the 14th
television play
A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...
episode of the first season of the Australian anthology television series ''
Australian Playhouse
''Australian Playhouse'' was an Australian anthology TV series featuring the work of Australian writers.
It ran for two series consisting of 40 episodes. Among the featured productions were works by Pat Flower who was the main writer havi ...
''.
"Marleen" was written by
Pat Flower
Patricia Mary Byson Flower (23 February 1914 – 2 September 1977) was an English Australian writer of plays, television plays and novels.
Biography
She was born in Ramsgate, Kent, England and moved to Australia with her family in 1928. She or ...
and originally aired on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
on July 18, 1966.
Plot
Three marching girls are waiting for the results of a competition to elect the World Miss Marching Girl. One of them has a more sinister goal. Her parents end up shooting a girl.
Cast
* Joy Mitchell
*
Fay Kelton
Fay Kelton (Born in Tasmania between 1940–41), is an Australian former actress radio, stage and television, she relocated to Melbourne in her teens. She was a regular performer on the ABC radio serial '' Blue Hills'' (1949-1976), and also ap ...
*
Sydney Conabere
Sydney Leicester Conabere (8 July 191815 July 2008) was an Australian actor. He was notable for his work in theatre, film and television drama in a career spanning more than fifty years. In 1962 Conabere won the Logie award for Best Actor, for ...
*
Liz Harris
Elizabeth Harris is an Australian retired stage and television actress who appeared on a number of popular television series and films from the mid-1960s up until her retirement in 1993. She is best known for her role as Liza in the 1960s chil ...
* Dorothy Bradley
Reception
The play was poorly reviewed.
One critic argued "it is time... ''Australian Playhouse'' had an independent audit. The works we are seeing ore not worth more than two cents of the licence fee. Pat Flower's "Marleen"... was a macabre grin at nothing. Those who saw it must have wondered if they themselves were short on brains, so short was it on plausible entertainment. Those who didn't see it need not die worrying. But Miss Flower cannot be blamed for the series. Efforts which should never have gone to air have included a puerile analogy between a parking ticket and an early baby ... a prissy story about a dotty couple tricking each other over a dead man . . . not to mention the short, short bit of witlessness in which a husband and a lover were ever so conveniently trapped in a lift. The series has had few moments one cares to remember. It would be unfair to blame David Goddard, the overall director, or any of his studio teams. They are involved in production and cannot be expected to stand off with objective judgments. What is required is an independent judge to evaluate scripts, check again at rehearsals and stop dead every play that doesn't look like rising above workshop level. Otherwise, Australian Playhouse will do more harm than good to the cause of home-grown TV."
''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' said "the ABC had never presented anything sillier."
''
The Bulletin'' said Pat Flower "is beginning to get the half hour length. The use of film behind, and the senseless, but eerie, marching of the girls up and down the Marching-
Girls’ hall, were an advance in more ways than one. But I do wish that someone would write a simple comedy or two for the series."
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
*
1966 television plays
1966 Australian television episodes
1960s Australian television plays
Australian Playhouse (season 1) episodes
Black-and-white television episodes
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