Based on two plays by Anton Chekhov, The Proposal and The Bear. They were filmed in the ABC's Melbourne studios using the same cast for two plays.
Premise
"The Bear" - a widow is challenged to a duel by a rough farmer
"The Proposal" - a woman, although desperate for a husband, fights with her only suitor.
Cast - The Proposal
- Terry Norris as Chubekov
- Dennis Olsen as Lomov
- Gerda Nicolson as Natalyia
Cast - The Bear
- Gerda Nicolson as Popova
- Dennis Olsen as Looka
- Terry Norris as Smirnov
Original play
The Bear was first performed in 1888, The Proposal in 1890.
You can read the text here.
Other adaptations
The bear was filmed for BBC TV in 1949 and 1954.
Production
The plays were shot in Melbourne.
The Proposal and the Bear appeared as part of a three week season of ABC plays on the topic of greed. Others were Volpone by Ben Johnson, and Salome by Oscar Wilde. It was the last time (I think) the ABC did a run of TV plays based on the works of foreign authors. After that it was all Australian.
Lighting - Leigh Hardy. Technical production - Robert Forster. Set design - Gunars Jurjans. Producer and director - James Davern.
The Sydney Morning Herald said the show "required goodwill in the viewer to force the fun. It's not what-you do but the "verve with, which you do it — at least, in farce."
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| SMH 17 April 1968 p 20 |
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| SMH TV Guide 23 April 1968 |
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| SMH 25 April 1968 p 27 |
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| SMH 23 April 1968 TV Guide p 1 |
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| The Age TV Guide 18 April 1968 p 11 |
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 Proposal and The Bear (1968)
Like Duet, this was a double bill from the one author that screened on the same night, the scribe in this case being that Russian playwright everyone pretends they like, Anton Chekhov. Chekhov’s best known for his dramas, including The Seagull which the ABC filmed in 1959, but he also liked to turn out the odd one-act comedy, including these two which he wrote back in the 1880s (you can read the text here). In 1968, the ABC had both filmed in Melbourne under the direction of James (A Country Practice) Davern, using the same cast and crew.
The Proposal [above] is about a man (Dennis Olsen) who turns up trying to marry the daughter (Gerda Nicholson) of his neighbour (Terry Norris), but they keep fighting. The ABC had actually filmed this back in 1957 but for some reason decided to do it again. The Bear concerns a widow (Nicholson) who has to deal with the debtor (Norris) of her dead husband. There’s a lot of banter and costumes.
The plays were both shot on film, with the actors all hamming it up. It looks great; how much you enjoy it will depend on how funny you find Chekhov in comic mode. It’s a shame that the stories were not relocated to Australia; it would have been easy enough to do.
Incidentally, the double bill of The Proposal and The Bear [above] comprised one-third of a three week-season of ABC plays on the topic of greed. Others were Volpone by Ben Johnson, and Salome by Oscar Wilde; I’ve written about the latter. It was the last time (I think) that the ABC did a run of TV plays based on the works of foreign authors. After that, it was all Australian.
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