AP#2.7 - The Brass Guitar (31 July 1967)

 From Oriel Gray.

Premise

Toby Camble, a pop idol, loves both wife and brass guitar, but the idol of success demands that one be sacrificed. His wife Mavis dies.

Toby tries to avoid being caught.

In the end he falls out a window and dies, winding up in Hell with Mavis.

Cast

• Martin Magee as Tony Camble
• Cherill Rowston as Mavis
• Louise Homfrey as Mrs Martin
  
• Terry McDermott as Detective Hilton
  
• Lyndell Rowe as Lily
  

Production

It was written by Oriel Gray.  

Directed by James Davern. According to ABC records it was filmed in 2 June 1967.

Original music by Frank Smith. Lighting: Lee Hardy; Technical Production: Robert Forster; Set Design: Alan Clarke; Produced and Directed by James Davern. Song "Stagger Lee" sun by P. J. Proby (Liberty Records).

Reception

The Bulletin called it " a fussy, fancy, rather desperate essay into quirky humor which failed mainly because it needed sharp dialogue but had nothing more original than, “This boy has nightmares that could win Melbourne Cups.” In its favor: Alan Clarke's op art set, and Terry McDermott's appearance as a raincoated, very Orstralian detective."

The Age 25 July 1967 TV Guide

 

Canberra Times 31 Aug 1967 p 26

 

The Bulletin 21 Aug 1967 p 41

Script

 

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Seven Comedies from the 1960s
by Stephen Vagg
September 19, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten Australian television plays looks at seven different comedies from the late 1960s: How Do You Spell Matrimony?, Face at the Clubhouse Door, The Brass Guitar, The Proposal, The Bear, A Phoenix Too Frequent and Tilley Landed On Our Shores.

As any comedian knows, comedy goes in and out of fashion on Australian television. Sketch shows are in, then they’re out. Sitcoms are hot, then they’re not. They can’t get enough stand-up, then they don’t want any. The only network you can rely on is the ABC and they have limited funds and varying enthusiasms.

During the late 1960s, the national broadcaster was more open to comedy than it had been earlier in the decade. There was a mini-boom of comedy on Australian television in those years, due, I would argue, to the immense and immediate success of two programs on the commercial stations: The Mavis Bramston Show and My Name’s McGooley, What’s Yours? The ABC – more influenced by the commercials than it cared to admit – decided that it should get in on the hyucks. I have written about other comedies in previous pieces – The Man Who Saw It, The Lace Counter, The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me. This essay looks at seven different ABC TV plays from the second half of the 1960s. (I’ll admit it – I don’t quite have enough to talk about each play individually but anyways, here we go)...

The Brass Guitar (1967)

The Brass Guitar was a second-season episode of the anthology series Australian Playhouse. Written by Oriel Grey, the playwright best-known for The Torrents, it’s a black comedy mixed in with satire of the pop world (jokes about pop singers were a thing in the late 1960s, they turn up in The Man Who Saw It and The Sweet Sad Story of Elmo and Me). The plot concerns a pop star (Martin Magee) who has poisoned his wife (Cherill Rowston) and has to cover the fact for 30 minutes. The director was James Davern and the whole production has a lot of energy and was quite fun. The pop song ‘Stagger Lee’ by P.J. Proby (an American singer who was big in England for a bit) gets a workout on the opening and end credits.