The Purple Jacaranda was an Australian television mini-series which aired on ABC in 1964 based on a novel by Nancy Graham.
In the early 1960s, ABC aired a series of historical mini-series: Stormy Petrel (1960), The Outcasts (1961), The Patriots (1962), and The Hungry Ones (1963). The Purple Jacaranda, however, featured a then-contemporary setting.
Ken Inglis called it a "disaster". So did most associated with it. It was the last drama directed by Colin Dean.
Plot
Anna James is confronted by Colonel Thomson of security who asks her to go to Sydney and stay with her friend Darcy, now married to David Crawford. David and Darcy live in Jacaranda House. Anna has misgivings but eventually agrees.
Anne winds up with Max Stevenson. Darcy Crawford was arrested.
Cast
* Margo Lee as Anne James
* James Condon is artist Max Stevenson
* Diana Perryman as Darcy Crawford
* Walter Sullivan as David Crawford
* Ronald Morse as Colonel Thomson
* John Unicombe as Bannister
* Nick Tate as Bill
* Camilla Christensen as Kelly
*Eileen Britton as Mrs Worth
*Doreen Warburton as Nurse Smith
*Peter Williams as doctor
*Ken Fraser as Inspector
*Tex Clark as Mr X
Original novel
It was based on a 1958 novel by Nancy Graham who was British (Scottish I think) but lived in Australia from 1952 to 1960. She lived in Perth.
The novel was adapted into a radio serial in 1958 (on 3AR - ABC radio). It was repeated in 1959 and 1962.
A version of the novel played on BBC radio in 1959. Was it the same ABC one?
Production
The production was announced in Feb 1964. The novel was not particularly well known.
Colin Dean said historical “serials take years of research and steeping in the period. Writers can’t produce one at a moment’s notice. I quite like this year’s change to a modern serial, but I would be sad if we stopped doing historical serials. They are very rewarding.”
In Feb 1964 Richard Lane was signed to write seven eps at 60 pounds an ep. However there's a letter from Lane in 1963 which Lane appears to be working on it. Maybe the Hutchison letter formalised it. I think they were unhappy with Lane's work - in April 1964 there's a memo (below) saying "I think we've got all we can out of Dick."
In March 1964 it was reported it would be a seven part serial and that filming would start in April. In May it was reported outdoor film sequences had been shot and that filming at Gore Hill would take place in June.
The main house was a set at the ABC Studios in Gore Hill, with exteriors shot at the municipal library in Mosman. There was location filming at the Commonwealth Centre and on the northern Sydney beaches.
Colin Dean talked about the production in a 2004 interview with Graham Shirley. He called the production “infamous”, an attempt "to make a marriage between film and electronics" two arms of the ABC who would snipe at each other. “I thought it was stupid”
Dean was an “old film bloke” and found the division “tedious”. One of the appeals of the serial was to combine filmed sequences with electronic ones shot in studio eg go to beach on location and to hut in studio. Dean said this resulted in "massive continuity problems: and there was resentment from electronic and film techs about being involved.
Dean says at the end of the serial David Tapp was given a strange present poking fun at him for being part of enterprise, tongue in cheek.
According to Dean, "the script writer ran out of steam" and the show ended early. "That was another handicap" - they wrote less episodes than they intended. Dean said Richard Lane wrote it about three weeks in advance of shooting
which is not a lot of lead time. He thinks it was meant to be ten
episodes but there was only six although his memory was vague. (It was seven but always announced as seven. According to the contract listed below Lane was meant to do seven.)
Also one of the members of the cast turned out to be epileptic. Dean says he was unaware of this until "she had an attack when I was on air... she was just about to enter the scene" when the attack happened and Dean was "rescued by floor manager/"
Dean said the show was "not the kind of thing I remember in detail because I had no reason to."
“It was an adventure. It was my last serial.”
Broadcast
It debuted in Sydney on 28 June 1964 on Sunday nights. Eps were 30 mins.
Reception
Unlike the historical serials, which got largely positive response by viewers and critics, The Purple Jacaranda was a critical failure.
Reviewing the pilot episode the Tribune said “It has its moments but the stiff and stagey acting and production will need to improve if it is to hold the viewer’s attention.”
The Age called it "this clumsy production".
The Woman’s Weekly said it “ didn’t come to life in its first episode. The good part of it was producer Colin Dean’s opening sequence of the body on the beach, the skilful blending of indoor and outdoor shots, and John Unicombe’s acting as Bannister; the bad parts of it were some bad flaws in the story, the general air of unreality, and the overacting of the ladies.”
The Canberra Times called it “the unintentionally funniest thing the A.B.C. has ever done.”
The Tribune later said “A completely wrong slant has been given o what is supposed to be a thriller. Every element of surprise is telegraphed and foreshadowed. . The actors move like automatons and with about as much feeling. The dialogue which is certainly not -“ery good is made even – worse by this treatment.”
The Canberra Times said “, Richard Lane’s script would have been funny, had not Colin Dean’s direction been vulgar.”
The Bulletin said “Perhaps the most harshly treated is Margo Lee. In the first episode she was a young woman intelligent enough to be asked to shadow dangerous criminals. Since then she has represented simpering stupidity. Miss Lee still wears a look of pained surprise at this perfidy on the part of the scriptwriter.” The Weekly later called it “hideous”.
The Sunday Sydney Morning Herald said “what a sorry business it turned out to be.”
TV Times criticsed its pace.
Richard Lane called it “disappointing”.
Episode guide
*Episode One – (28 June Syd, 12 July Melb) Anne James has just left her job on a fashion magazine in Perth because of a trip to England. On the night before her departure she is persuaded by an official from Canberra to go to Sydney instead - on a matter of national importance. And as a result finds herself involved in the greatest adventure of her life.y
*Episode 2 (5 July Syd, 19 July Melb) - Anne James has been asked by Colonel Thomson to be a spy in the house of her friend Darcy Crawford to aid him in a matter of national security dealing with currency. The first attempt is made on Ann's life. This involved scenes shot at Palm Beach. GS Ronald Morse (Colonel Thomson), Aileen Britton (Mrs Worth), Walter Suillivan (David Crawford), John Unicomb (John Bannister) , Diana Perryman (Darcy Crawford), Camilla Christensen (Kelly Neal), Bill Armstrong (Nicholas Tate), Doreen Warburton (Nurse Smith), Peter Williams (Dr Bishop).
*Ep 3 (12 July Syd, 26 July Melb) Anne James nearly drowned while swimming with John Bannister but is
returned safelty to Jacaranda House. Still suffering from shock, but
disturbed that the two strangers, and not John Bannister, had saved her,
she returns to the beach to find her rescuers, surfer Bill Armstrong
and his girlfriend Kelly. They are suspicious of the circumstances
surrounding the "accident'. GS Doreen Warburton (Nurse Smith), Peter Williams (Dr Bishop), Diana Perryman (Darcy Crawford), Peter Unicomb (John Bannister), Walter Sullivan (David Crawford), Nicholas Tate (Bill Armstrong), Camilla Christensen (Kelly Neal).
* Ep 4 (19 July Syd, 2 Aug Melb) - Later Anne receives an urgent message from Bill asking her to meet him as he has something important to tell her.. GS: Aileen Britton,
Walter Sullivan, John Unicomb, Diana Perryman, Camilla Christensen,
nchillas Tate, Doreen Warburton, Peter Williams.
*Ep 5 (26 July Syd, 9 Aug Melb) Anne was rescued from downing from her
*Ep 6 (2 Aug Syd, 16 Aug Melb) Before David Crawford dies, he tells Anna about a special report he has written and his in the library. Without giving the police or Max this information, Anne goes to find it himself.
The cafe where Anne James and Bill Armstrong met is found to be a
headquarters for a gang dealing in illegal currency. The evening
following the discovery, Max Stevenson and Anne go to the theatre,
believing an important event will occur there.
*Ep 7 (9 Aug Syd, 23 Aug Melb) - Anne has been kidnapped by John Bannister. He is determined to get from her the report written by Crawford before his death which contains vital information about the ringleaders in a swindle. Darcy Crawford is arrested for currency swindling and murder. Anne winds up with Max. Mrs Worth is passed out. GS: Ken Fraser (Inspector Hillock).
 |
SMH (check date)
|
 |
| Tribune |
 |
TV Times Vic
|
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
 |
| TV Times Vic |
From Interview with Colin Dean and Graham Shirley:
Now, of course, I’m sure you’d have, you’d have good memories of the purple Jacaranda which was quite well known and it stay, you know, it was infamous.
Why was it infamous?
Well, that was my first and very conscious attempt to make a marriage of film and electronic systems. It was from my own private completely private nothing has to do with the dragon without attempt to amalgamate those two arms of the ABC who continued to snipe at each other. Being an old film bloke and having a company accomplished to some extent and digested the the television system. I just found it very tedious that this division should continue to stay Here’s an attempt to put the two together, it didn’t work very well.
In what way did you did you try to reconcile these differences?
By having alternate see in one in one scene just going backwards and forwards to tell us any under the studio so that there was a forced kind of interaction of the two media. In other words, I have a fast boat pegs and people up in a beach into a hat that has to be in the studio, we’ll come back to the beach or somebody getting onto the boat and going somewhere else back into the house and so on with it, but it wasn’t the problems of just massive continuity problems are getting those people on the boat to do exactly the same as they were when they were on the set. But there was a I think probably it was in electronic text and the film crew that they’ve been involved has put together.
Can you talk a bit more about this resentment and division?
I did. Well, not really, it occurred. I was aware of it right at the start. I think I mentioned that. There was a resistance to my joining ABC television, because and large. All the existing radio stuff wanted to accommodate television within their existing framework. And the idea of having outside people was anathema. And they had all these training schools and they all became television people. And in nearly every case, they’re absolutely first rate. I mean, people like mango McCallum knew as much about television production, and nothing give direction that are productive as anybody else. By the time the ABC had started. And not only him, but the girls who become script assistants been to school, but completely adequate, that they’ve gone through the same process. It is the BBC head. Well, now when you say the girls, which which women cryptosystem, the scripture says for the from the technical point of view, the engineering staff of television row post office.
They were still post office people when television started, I think how when they became members of ABC staff that and film people Well, that was legitimate that because they belong to broadcasting film people was another planet.
I can remember in the ABC staff canteen, and in a gore Hill in the late 60s, early 70s. There would be television, technical people sitting in the canteen in great dust coats with PMG emblazoned across the dress code.
Yeah.
So that they weren’t too far removed from their PNG counterparts?
No. Well, I think thatprobably, well, they were they’ve sort of being employed by the PMG. Right?
So it just I think just you know, it’s, it’s an age old problem. And I belong into both worlds and to a degree sort of stupid.
Did throughout your span of career at the ABC, we were aware of this breaking down of this being reconciled?
And anyway, oh, I think isn’t the end, when I retired was taking the ground and that film had a job to do. And in any case, film and electronic cameras have become so close together that it didn’t matter. Me, I’m sure it’s evaporated. So the term you used with the purple Jacaranda being being a bit notorious sameen.
How notorious was this?
Well, I’m David. Paul, David tap, he was the technical producer production being given the some positive, strange present of the end of this series. I can’t even remember what it was. But they were poking fun at him for having beenpart of this enterprise.
It really wasn’t serious, but it was it was nonetheless a blemish, I think on the on the smooth working on the outfit.
And when I think probably there were salary differences to come to think of it which could have caused a good deal of upset. So really, this was an experiment by you to try and reconcile it.
And instead, what happened? Nothing.
I mean, things didn’t get any better. Well, it sounds as if it exacerbated the differences. And the I’m not saying the script dragged around out of steam halfway through it. It was in ended earlier, supposed to be 10. The story didn’t sustain and we could feel it happening. So that that was another handicap that had had I think I had one of the members of the cast turned out to be an epileptic, which, which I was unaware, which caused also a certain amount of a problem.
What happened in that respect?
But well, she had an attack when we were on air. So that it was a fraud at production mode.
But tell me about that incident. I mean, how did you just did what was she on camera when she hadn’t?
She was just about to enter. Well, once again, you rescued by a floor manager who has already grabbed somebody and vitual talking about it. Meanwhile, you’re wondering,
Well, what was the purple Jacaranda as a series? What was what was it about Rosa who done it?
Cops and Robbers of pretty ordinary kind, and based somewhere in the hawkesbury River Basin. Because we had speedboats and robbers and cops and things like that. I can’t even Oh is written by declaim that adaptation from a book.
So it’s not the kind of thing that I remember in detail, because I have no reason to. But just pick, just pick just picking up one further detail.
You said that that the writer ran out of steam halfway through how far in advance and production was he writing?
Not very far, I think within three weeks, or something like that.
I knew that we’re going to finish this series early at least three weeks in advance, I think.
So it was six episodes, what was it originally intended to be? It was 10. As the others have been. My memory is clouded almost by intent on this jacket. But it had quite good press. I remember at the time. it probably had lousy press too. It was an adventure and it was the last my last serial.
Why was it your last serial?
I was appointed senior producer. Because I think there’s a requirement and attempt that and that this was it that I should be kind of statewide.
 |
NAA Corres L
|
 |
NAA Corres L
|
 |
NAA Publicity
|
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
| NAA Publicity |
 |
Mike Noonan NLA
|
No comments:
Post a Comment