Shell Presents

Shell Presents was an early attempt at Australian television drama, being an umbrella title for several different productions. It debuted on April 4, 1959,[1] and aired on ATN-7 and GTV-9, who split production of plays for the series between them. It was an anthology series, each program being a self-contained play for television.[2] The series won a Logie award in 1960 for TV Highlight Of 1959. As the title suggests, it was sponsored by Shell.

Though it usually presented straight drama, it also presented a live[3] musical production titled Pardon Miss Westcott, set in colonial-era Australia. A total of 13 productions aired under the Shell Presents banner from 1959 to 1960.[4] There is little information about this series online, however, some of the productions are held at the National Film and Sound Archive[5][6][7][8][9]

Some of the productions were based on overseas plays (such as Thunder of Silence), while some were locally written, such as The Big Day (by Sydney author John Ford).

An article in the 30 October 1960 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald called Australian TV is growing up, while not mentioning it by name, nevertheless provides some information on the series. The article said that the production of "modestly unpretensious" soap opera Autumn Affair provided some of the experience needed to produce Shell Presents productions like Johnny Belinda, and listed the cost to produce Pardon Miss Westcott at £5,000 (a considerable budget at the time). It mentions that work on a live drama production of the era started a month to six weeks before telecast, and that a video-tape of the final rehearsal was made so cast and camera crew could correct last minute faults.[10]

Five of the episodes may have been shown in Perth during 1960 on station TVW-7.[11]

History

In February 1959 leading Australian writers were invited to present plays for the series.[12]

Episodes

Ratings Success

On 20 July 1959 a Sydney Morning Herald article said the program had an estimated audience of around 300,000 in both Sydney and in Melbourne.[13]

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See also

References
  1. "Well-wishers Jam ATM Switchboard". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 April 1959. p. 5.
  2. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=4;resCount=10
  3. "'Live' Telecast of New Musical". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 December 1959. p. 13.
  4. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Id%3A709260%7CId%3A713985;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10
  5. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=1;resCount=10
  6. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=2;resCount=10
  7. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=3;resCount=10
  8. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=5;resCount=10
  9. http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=8;resCount=10
  10. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UHxWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QOYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=940,515986&dq=autumn+affair&hl=en
  11. Marshall, Valda (10 April 1960). "Easter message on television". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 74.
  12. "Leading Australian Writers Invited to Take Part in TV Drama Project". The Age. 19 February 1959. p. 13.
  13. "Local plays capture big audiences". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 July 1959. p. 19.
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