Autumn Affair

Autumn Affair is an Australian (black and white) television series made by and aired by Network Seven station ATN-7, and also shown in Melbourne on Nine Network station GTV-9.[1] Television in Australia had only been broadcasting since 1956 and Seven was the first commercial station to make drama a priority. It premiered 24 October 1958 and continued until 1959. The series was the first ever Australian television soap opera. It was also the second regular Australian-produced dramatic television series of any kind, with previous locally produced drama consisting of religious series The House on the Corner, and one-off plays largely aired on ABC.

Autumn Affair
GenreSoap opera
Screenplay byRichard Lane
Directed byKen Hannam
David Cahill
StarringMuriel Steinbeck
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes156
Production
Running time15 mins
Release
Original networkATN-7
Original release1959 (1959)

Synopsis

The love lives of a middle aged widow, Julia, and her daughter, Meg.

Muriel Steinbeck who played Julia Parrish

Cast

Production

The program was conceived from a conversation between radio writer Richard Lane and Len Mauger, station manager of Seven. There was a quarter hour gap in the schedule and Mauger was keen to develop use of video tape for drama. It was decided to make a 15-minute show using skills developed by those involved in The House on the Corner.[5]

Originally conceived as Julia: An Early Autumn Affair, the title was later shortened to just Autumn Affair.

Many of the actors and writers involved in the production had previously worked on radio soap opera, and were inexperienced with television acting.

Episodes were fifteen minutes in duration, recorded as kinescopes in black and white, and were screened Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8:45 AM. a part of the station's Today breakfast program.[6][7]

There were three main conditions for the production:

  • it had to be written, produced and acted by Australians
  • it had to stand on its own as entertainment and compare with American imports
  • it had to be sold to other stations at comparable rates to the American imports.[8]

The series went into production without a sponsor, as the station ATN7 wanted to gain experience in television drama production.

The cast comprised just six regulars; the story focused on Julia (Muriel Steinbeck), a widow in a love triangle situation with two men.

Filmink later wrote that "Steinbeck was... a natural choice to play the lead... She laughed, loved and suffered with jolly good decency – the quintessential Muriel Steinbeck part." [9] Ailsa McPherson, who worked on the show as script assistant, wrote "for performance quality Autumn Affair relied heavily on Muriel Steinbeck's professionalism and her photographic memory She had a prodigious capacity to remember lines and to be almost work perfect after reading them aloud only three or so times. It saved the episode on a good many occasions."[10]

The series was well-received when originally broadcast.[11]

Richard Lane wrote every episode. There were only two main sets and a could of small side pieces. Actors also would leave the series - Janette Craig accepted the role of Bubba in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and had to be written out.[12]

David Cahill left the show after directing 72 episodes. He was replaced by Ken Hannam.[13] The series ended in 1959 after 156 episodes.

In a 1960 article in Sydney Morning Herald, it was noted that although mistakes were made during the production of the series due to inexperience, it nevertheless paved the way for improved locally produced drama productions.[14]

Actors who appeared in the show included Muriel Steinbeck, Queenie Ashton, Diana Perryman (MBE (died 1979)[3](the sister of actress and singer Jill Perryman), Janet Craig, Leonard Bullen and Owen Weingott.[15]

Cast members Queenie Ashton and Janette Craig had previously appeared in a 1957 ABC TV play together called Tomorrow's Child,[16] though it is not known if a copy of the production still exists.

Every episode except for two of this series are held by the National Film and Sound Archive.[17]

Later screenings

In 1964 HSV-7 Melbourne repeated the series, along with early 1960s Australian soap opera The Story of Peter Grey.[18] In 1964 CTC-7 in Canberra screened the series along with Peter Grey,[19] the station having not been in operation during the original run of the series. CTC kept the repeats on their schedule into 1966.[20]

See also

References
  • McPherson, Ailsa (2007). "Dramas and Dreams at Epping: Early Days of ATN-7's Drama Production". In Liz, Liz; Dolin, Tim (eds.). Australian Television History. ACH: The Journal of the History of Culture in Australia. Australian Public Intellectual Network. p. 153-172.

Notes
  1. "The Age – Google News Archive Search".
  2. Sally O'Neill, 'Steinbeck, Muriel Myee (1913–1982)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, , published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 25 October 2015
  3. "Perryman, Diana (−1979)".
  4. "Dashing pioneer always at home on centre stage". 14 November 2002.
  5. McPherson p 155-156
  6. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=11;parentid=;query=autumn%20affair%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=7;resCount=10%5B%5D
  7. "TELEVISION PARADE". The Australian Women's Weekly. 5 November 1958. p. 66. Retrieved 25 October 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. McPherson p 156
  9. Vagg, Stephen (25 August 2019). "Unsung Aussie Actors – Muriel Steinbeck". Filmink.
  10. McPherson p 158
  11. "The Age – Google News Archive Search".
  12. McPherson p 158-159
  13. McPherson p 160
  14. "The Sydney Morning Herald – Google News Archive Search".
  15. Moran, Albert. Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series, Allen & Unwin, 1993. ISBN 0-642-18462-3 p 65
  16. "The Age – Google News Archive Search".
  17. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=autumn%20affair%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10%5B%5D
  18. "The Age – Google News Archive Search".
  19. "Midweek Matinee to recess". Canberra Times (Act : 1926 – 1995). 28 December 1964. p. 13.
  20. "℡Evision". Canberra Times (Act : 1926 – 1995). 9 September 1966. p. 17.
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