Australian TV Plays: Three Cornered Moon (5 Mar 1957)

One of the earliest Australian TV dramas was apparently some trifle about married nobility on a yacht. What the...?

It was directed by Paul O'Loughlin, who made the another aristocratic (ish) comedy, The Twelve Pound Look. Maybe this sort of thing was his cup of tea.

It was recorded in Sydney but I don't think it played Melbourne.

Premise

The play is set on the Duke of Mall’s yacht at Cannes years ago. Lenora, the Duke's wife, leaves her philandering husband.

The Duke seeks solace in Lenora's identical twin sister in Paris. This turns out to be Lenora in disguise. The Duke falls in love with his wife again.

Cast

* James Condon as the Duke of Mall

* Margo Lee as Leonara, the Duchess of Mall

The original play

Michael Arlen (1895-1956) was an Armenian who lived in Britain. He wrote in a variety of genres, including ghost stories, horror, sci fic and romances. This was a romance.

Arlen was in vogue for a while, especially in the 1920s when he made the cover of Time. The story of Three Cornered Moon was first published in 1925 in a collection of short stories called "Mayfair".

Other adaptations

Ron Randell, who became famous playing Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith, starred in a 1942 radio production in Australia.

The story was adapted for BBC radio in 1940 by Hugh Stewart. (And possibly in 1941 - a review of that is here. Val Gielgud directed that.)

It doesn't seem to have been adapted for BBC TV.

Production

The show was shot in Sydney. Thelma Afford did the costume design - an article about her work around this time is here. The actual design was done by Desmonde Dowling.

The two stars, James Condon and Margo Lee, were both very well known. It was based on a story published in 1926. The ABC liked a decade or two in age on their source material around this point.