Australian TV Plays: If It's a Rose (26 March 1958)

An Italian play this time. By Dario Niccodemi (1874-1934), translated by Robert Rietti (1923-2015). 60 mins.

Plot

Set in Italy. Over the course of one day, Mario is courting Anna. He climbs over the garden gate at dawn, fights a duel a few hours later, disappoints her by returning unromantically unscathed, artificially inflames her... jealousy and has his own artificially inflamed in turn, and finally, of course, takes her in his arms.

Cast

Annette Andre as Anna
Don Pascoe as Mario
Ethel Lang as the maid

Original play

The play was a famous short Italian play L’alba, il giorno, la notte by Dario Niccodemi. I think it was published in 1921. The English title is I think Dawn Day and Night. A reference to it in a 1922 paper is here.

Robert Rietti translated it into English.

A review of a 1954 British theatre production is here.

Other adaptations

The play had been adapted for British TV in 1954. Rietti himself appeared in it. A Daily Telegraph review is here.

It was adapted for Canadian TV as Dawn Day and Night in 1956. Robert Goulet appeared.

It was adapted for BBC radio in 1970.

Production

It was recorded live in Sydney. Ray Menmuir directed. Running time was 60 minutes.

It was an early television performance from Annette Andre who was then only 18. She later recalled on her website:

Even though I had been performing on stage from a very young age... I still had to overcome the exquisite torture of stage fright when I did my first TV drama. For some reason, my radio work was anxiety-free, perhaps because my ‘audience’ was only the other actors grouped around the microphone. My If It’s a Rose co-star was as nervous as I was and in Act II started calling me ‘Annette’ instead of ‘Maria’. If that wasn’t unsettling enough, the zipper on my costume got stuck and I had to play the rest of the scene facing the camera to hide the half-open dress. My ballet training came into play here, as I’d learned to overcome problems such as falling on stage and not let them affect my performance."

Annette Andre also spoke with me about the experience:

It was all done live. The sets weren’t too steady, I remember they shook a bit when you opened a door (laughs) It was a period play set in Italy with the appropriate costumes of the time, long skirts and frilled bodices etc. I had two quick changes, which were done at the side of the set with a woman dresser. With the second change I ran off the set where the dresser was waiting and she got me out of my costume and into the new one in record time but the zip at the back got stuck and, poor woman, could not fix it. We started the new scene and I had to turn my back on Don, and when he saw the dress open, got such a shock and called me “Annette” instead of “Maria.” (laughs) How I restrained from laughing out loud I don’t know. It was all a bit hit and miss in those days Ray Menmuir was a lovely man, small with a little round face, a good director, knew what he was doing. He was one of the ABC directors at the time. Don Pascoe was one of the leading actors of the time. We’d worked together on radio. He was a lovely man, quite a good actor – but a bit stiff...

We all did ‘live’ TV then. When you’re on television you have to hit marks, which are specified, rehearsed positions, because the cameras were large and heavy and couldn’t move about quickly to follow you. And back then, we hadn’t had any experience, not many people to learn from, so you had to be a quick self-learner in those days.

Also, if you do forget a line you can see it in your face as the camera picks up everything. Your face freezes a bit, or you look like a deer caught in the headlights. If you start moving around, you move away from where the camera is used to seeing you. Of course, being ‘live’ does set the adrenaline going but because you had to be so precise for the cameras it was a bit nerve-wracking.

Things did go wrong. On stage, if something goes wrong you can actually ‘fake’ it a bit, by moving around, or picking something up, little bits of ‘business’, or hoping one of the actors will help you out. But you can’t do that on television. Eventually, ‘taping’ or ‘recording’ the shows replaced a lot of the ‘live’ stuff. Most of the dramas I did after that were taped.

Don Pascoe had already appeared in two ABN plays.

The NAA have photos. Not online. See here.

Reception

In Sydney it got a 10% share going down to 7%. Not high.

It aired in Melbourne on 23 April 1958.