Australian TV Plays: Black Chiffon (25 Feb 1959)

The 21st live play in Melbourne. It was shown in Sydney on 11 March.

Premise

On the eve of her beloved son's society wedding, the highly respected Alicia Christie she steals a black chiffon nightdress from a reputable department store.

Her action confuses everyone - her husband, son, son's fiancee, pregnant daughter. Her husband hires a psychiatrist Dr Hawkins to uncover the reason.

Hawkins believes Alicia's action was a response to the loss of her son through marriage.

Alicia decides to plead guilty and refuses to argue a defence out of fear of embarassing her family. She feels a prison term would be more recover-able. Alicia is sentenced to three months.

Cast

Edward Howell as husband
Patricia Kennedy as Alicia Christie
Frank Gatliff as psychiatrist Dr Hawkins
Beverley Dunn
Neil Fitzpatrick
Margaret Cruickshank
Molly Gallavan

Original play

It was based on a play by Lesley Storm (1898-1975) (real name Mabel Cowie).

It made its West End debut on 3 May 1949 starring Flora Robson in her first theatre performance in three years. The play was a hit running for over 400 performances.

There was a Broadway production also with Robson. It premiered on 27 September 1950 and ran 109 performances.

Doris Fitton starred in a stage production in Melbourne in 1952. It was performed in Sydney on 1958 and again in 1964.

The play became popular in English rep.

It was revived in 2019 in London. A review of the production is here.

Radio adaptations

It was performed on Australian radio in 1951 and in 1960. There was a 1952 radio performance starring Edward Howell.

The play was adapted for Theatre Guild on the Air in 1953 with Judith Anderson and Burgess Meredith.

It was adapted for BBC Saturday Night Theatre. Here is a link to the complete performance. I listened to this play. It went for 90 minutes and that felt padded. The central drama is effective though - a woman whose children are grown up then steals stuff. There is the all wise shrink. The woman refuses to defend herself, talk about her family in court, because she would rather go to prison than embarass them with her feelings. So prison is less embarassing? Good drama.

Other TV adaptations

It was adapted for American TV in 1954, with Anderson. (Philip Barry did the adaptation.)

It was adapted for American TV in 1956 with Judith Evelyn.

It was adapted for Canadian TV in 1957 with Lloyd Bochner.

It was adapted for British TV in 1959 on the BBC.

Production

Edward Howell had played the role on stage and he travelled from Perth to Melbourne to appear in the production.

It was Howell's seventh television production but his first in Melbourne - all the others had been in Sydney.

It was Patricia Kennedy's fourth TV play. She said during rehearsal that TV acting "still does not give me the satisfaction of theatre, but television is exciting and demanding. I think it is a challenge for actors and the discipline is good."

You can see a copy of it at the National Film and Sound Archive.

Reception

Listener In TV thought it was "skilfully done" though felt it was a shame it was only an hour. "The cast were strong enough to cover the gaps and exceptionally well chosen.