Don't Listen Ladies (10 April 1963)

 The ABC had a soft spot for French comedy. Holiday in Biarritz, Topaze. It was a thing. 

This was based on a play by Sacha Guitry.  You can read it here.

Plot

A French antique shop is run by Daniel and his second wife Madeleine. She finds a letter that makes her think he is having an affair. She encourages the love of Daniel's assistant, Blandinet, who is infatuated with her. Daniel is convinced she is having an affair with a younger man.

Also involved are Daniel's first wife Valentine, a former girlfriend called Julie, a young man called Michel who Madeleine thinks of marrying, and a customer Baron de Charancy.  

Cast

• Alex Archdale as Daniel Archelete
• Margot Lee as Madeleine
• Brigid Lenihan as Valentine 
• Neva Carr Glynn as Julie
• Noel Brophy as The Baron
• Owen Weingott as Michel
• Neil Fitzpatrick as Blandinet
• Ronald Morse as the Porter
  
• Audrey Teasdale as Henriette

Original play

The play was by Sacha Guitry (1885-1957), a very popular French writer, actor and director. He was married five times.

His play was originally called N'ecoutez pas, Madames! and was staged in Paris during the German occupation - in 1942 I believe. Guitry himself starred.

Don't Listen Ladies was adapted into English by "Stephen Powys" and Guy Bolton. Powys was actually PG Wodehouse. The different name was used because Wodehouse had a bad reputation after World War Two due to him spending time in France under the occupation. Guitray was also a collaborator who spent time in prison after the war.

The English version debuted in London on 2 September 1948. Francis Lister (Daniel), Denholm Elliot, Constance Cummings and Pamela Brown were in the cast. It ran for 219 performances.

The show played on Broadway in 1948. Jack Buchanan starred along with Moira Lister. It ran for 15 performances. Walter Winchell attacked Guitry for his collaboration with the Germans in World War Two and this was thought to have hurt the commercial possibilities of the play.

I've read a copy of the play. It's a lot of fun - you can imagine with the right cast, especially the leads, it would be entertaining. I'm not a big fan of middle class marital shenanigans but it is cute how the antique dealer talks to the audience, to the men in the audience ("don't listen ladies" is what he asks the ladies in the audience to do), as he discusses marriage, fidelity, etc. That's a very theatrical device - it doesn't always work well on screen, and I'm not sure it does in the ABC production.

 Other adaptations

It was filmed for ITV in 1958. BBC radio did it in July 1963.

It was done on commercial radio in Australia in 1950 with Jack Davey! And on ABC radio in 1952. Neil Hutchison produced.

Australian theatre performances are here.

Production

The play appears to have been popular with Australian drama societies in the 1950s and 1960s, and was adapted for ABC radio.  This presumably helped with the decision to make it. It's still weird they decided to film a French farce about a married antique dealer. I think this may have been the only PG Wodehouse filmed for Australian TV.

It was shot in Sydney.  Director James Upshaw did a bit of comedy: Noel Coward's Red Peppers, a version of The Four Poster Bed.

According to the Canberra Times, a tapestry and a portrait in the play that is meant to be painted by Toulouse-Lautrec (the model of the painting is a character in the play), was reproduced by Cameron Bannerman, formerly a member of the A.B.C.'s scenic arts department, who had become a designer at East Sydney Tech. Designer Jack Montgomery used copies of his own First Empire fashion prints.

 

Alexander Archdale occasionally winks at the camera. 

 

Director - James Upshaw. Technical producer - John Hicks. designer - Jack Montgomery. Script assistant - Pam Lawson. Floor manager - Bill Phillips.

Reception

 

Frank Roberts of The Bulletin called it "good looking harmless entertainment". Roberts was a bitchy mean critic. The fact that he gave this a pass meant... I don't know. That he was a snob, I guess.

Thoughts

Maybe this plays better on stage. Or if you know the actors. I've only seen the second half. 

 

Everyone comes across as a little too old. Daniel in the play is meant to be a good looking fifty. Alexander Archdale seems in his sixties. Margot Lee is always fun - she plays the second wife. Her scenes with Neil Fitzpatrick at the end - he's the young person who loves her - are quite touching.

This play does give elder actresses some parts with meat. They do talk about wanting to hang on to their beauty but they have something to play. Neva Carr Glynn is ideal as the former nude model.

But reading the play was more fun.

Canberra Times 10 April 1963  p 29

SMH 8 April 1963 p 15

SMH 10 April 1963 p 25

The Age

SMH 11 April 1963 p 12

The Age 6 June 1963 p 18

The Bulletin 20 April 1963 p 39

NAA Script

Forgotten Australian TV Plays: Don’t Listen Ladies
by Stephen Vagg
December 19, 2021
Stephen Vagg’s series on forgotten Australian TV plays looks at an adaptation of a French farce, Don’t Listen Ladies (1963).

In the early days of television, the brief of the ABC was outlined in the Broadcasting and Television Act 1942-1962, which said that the public broadcaster was to “ensure that adequate and comprehensive programmes are provided… to serve the best interests of the general public.”

This was kind of vague to put it mildly: what is adequate/comprehensive/in the best interest of the public? Well, the ABC tried a few things – mostly ideas borrowed from the BBC. They had Shakespeare and Shaw, a bit of Chekov, and the occasional Australian play. They also had a fair amount of marital comedies among the upper classes.

Yep, in the late 1950s and 1960s, the ABC’s definition of “adequate and comprehensive programs” in the “best interests of the general public” included local adaptations of stage plays about rich men and their mistresses/wives/ex-wives. Just what Betty Blacktown ordered.

The first Australian TV play ever made was along those lines – an adaptation of JM Barrie’s The Twelve Pound Look. There was also Holiday in Biarritz, Fair Passenger, Three Cornered Moon, Don’t Listen Ladies, Tartuffe and The Four Poster, not to mention Australian-written comedies in this vein, including The Little Woman and The Five Sided Triangle. I’m not sure why they were so popular – I guess they were on stage a lot (upper crust theatre goers always seem to enjoy a bit of dramatised infidelity).

This article is focused on Don’t Listen Ladies, a farce based on a play from French writer Sacha Guitry. It’s set in an antique shop run by Daniel (Alexander Archdale in the TV version) and his second wife Madeleine (Margo Lee). She finds a letter that makes her think that he is having an affair, so encourages the love of Daniel’s assistant, Blandinet (Neil Fitzpatrick), who is infatuated with her. Also involved are Daniel’s first wife Valentine (Brigid Lenihan), a former girlfriend called Julie (Neva Carr Glynn), a young man called Michel (Owen Weingott), who Madeleine thinks of marrying, and customer Baron de Charancy (Noel Brophy). Oh, and a maid (Audrey Teasdale).

The play was first performed in Paris in 1942 (yep, with Germans in the audience and everything) as “N’ecoutez pas, Madames!” with Guitry himself starring as Daniel. It was adapted into English with the title “Don’t Listen Ladies” by Guy Bolton and “Stephen Powys”. Powys was actually PG Wodehouse (the guy who wrote all those Jeeves stories) using a pseudonym because Wodehouse had a bad reputation after World War Two due to him spending time in France under the occupation. Guitray’s reputation also suffered from this (he even spent time in prison after the liberation under charges of collaboration). The play had a run on the West End and Broadway; in New York, influential columnist Walter Winchell attacked Guitry for his relationship with the Germans and this was thought to have hurt the commercial possibilities of the play.

I have read a copy of the play (accessible here). It’s a lot of fun – you can imagine with the right cast, especially the leads, it would be entertaining to watch on stage. It’s cute how the antique dealer talks to the audience, to the men in the audience (“don’t listen ladies” is what he asks the ladies in the audience to do), as he discusses marriage, fidelity, etc. That’s a very theatrical device – it doesn’t always work well on screen, and I’m not sure it does in the ABC production, though I have to admit that I’ve only seen the last 40 minutes of that (never ideal, but particularly not for a farce which depends so much on set up and pay off).

Don’t Listen Ladies appears to have been popular with Australian drama societies in the 1950s and 1960s, and was adapted for ABC radio. This presumably contributed to the ABC’s decision to make it (a 75-minute version). It’s still weird that in 1963, they decided to film a French farce about a married antique dealer. I think this may have been the only PG Wodehouse filmed for Australian TV.

The play was shot in Sydney under the direction of James Upshaw, who mostly specialised in variety shows, but did a bit of comedy: his other credits include adaptations of Noel Coward’s Red Peppers, and a version of The Four Poster Bed. (I have done pieces on non-comic plays directed by Upshaw such as The Big Killing, The Big Client, and Scent of Fear).

In the play, Daniel is meant to be a good looking fifty; Alexander Archdale was over sixty and looked it, and to be frank, he simply isn’t hot enough for Margo Lee, who plays his wife – this, for me, is the main flaw of the production. Lee, who is always fun, is far more comfortably cast; she’s bright and funny, and her scenes with Neil Fitzpatrick at the end are quite touching. Neva Carr Glynn is ideal as the former nude model. Incidentally, Archdale and Lee appeared in the first Australian TV drama ever broadcast – an adaptation of JM Barrie’s play The Twelve Pound Look.

Don’t Listen Ladies was part of the great counter reformation of Australian drama at the ABC, the period from 1962-64 when the proportions of locally written shows went into decline in favour of European works. I admit the whole time when watching it I was going “why are they doing this?” But the actors seem to be having fun.
The author would like to thank Chris Keating for his assistance with this piece.

 

NAA Listener Letter 1963