Radio Plays, 1959
JUMPING JENNY....1959
14 Nov 59. By Anthony Berkeley. 90m. Adapted for radio by H. Oldfield-Box. A very objectionable, mentally unbalanced woman is found dead after a dance. Did she commit suicide, or was she murdered? Multiple twists in the story. Stars High Burden, Trevor Martin, Simon Lack, Hamilton Dyce, Judy Bailey, Joan Newall, John Scott, Philip Cunningham, Monica Kirton, David Bird, Shelia Mannehan, Molly Rankin, Keith Williams, Arthur Ridley (not as advertised). Play expertly produced by David H. Godfrey.
TAKEOVER....1959
28 Jun 29, Home Service. Two men sit chatting over their coddee and brandy in a London club. It is a comfortable Victorian room, with its portraits of Queen Victoria and Edward VII, its ponderous grandfather clock, its leather armchairs and its air of unruffled permanence. They are talking about their old-established family business, and the way someone has been buying up its shares. Tom Lane played by Edward Chapman, Jack Essex by Robert Shaw, Fletcher the whiz-kid by Basil Henson. Produced by Nesta Pain.
BEFORE THE MONDAY....1959
By Giles Cooper
Third programme, BBC, 4 Jun 59.
Cast:
Desmond- Kenneth Griffith
Jane- Frances Cuka
Alfred- Toke Townley.
Produced by Michael Bakewell.
THEY MET ON GOOD FRIDAY....1959
By Louis MacNeice. This is about the battle of Clontarf on Good Friday 1014, between Norsemen and the Irish, for the control of Ireland. It is highly stylised. (.........which is probably why I did not like it-N.D.) Music by Tristram Cary.
EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON....1959
By Louis MacNeice. Setting of a Norwegian fairy tale. Music by Tristram Cary, trolls, a castle blown down by the wind, hero and heroine....(not to my taste - N.D.)
BRAT FARRAR
By Josephine Tey, adapted by Cyril Wentzel. Produced by Peter Watts. Tx (Light Programme) Mondays 2, 9, 16 and 23 February, 1959/1930-2000 hrs. A new serial which turns on the remarkable likeness of Brat Farrar to Simon Ashby - and Simon once had a twin brother...
Brat Farrar.....................Frank Duncan
Alec Loding...................Alexander Archdale
Aunt Bee.......................Molly Rankin
Nancy Peck...................Margaret Chisholm
The Revd. George Peck...Leigh Crutchley
Mr. Sandal.....................Frederick Treves
Mercer...........................Richard Lambert
Ruth Ashby....................Ursula Hirst
Eleanor Ashby................Gillian Andrews
Simon Ashby..................David Peel
Sheila Parslow................Kathleen Helme
Groom............................Peter Whitbread
Mr. Macallan...................Duncan McIntyre
Abel Tusk.......................Leonard Trolley
Albert Potticary...............D'Arcy Conyers
Pilbeam..........................Stephen Jack
Roger Clint......................Cyril Wentzel
Mr. Andrews....................Gabriel Woolf
Sergeant Curtis................Anthony Marriott
Nurse..............................Ella Milne
Waitress.........................Antonia Saxton
TAKEN ON TICK....1959
By G.C.Brown. 5 Feb 59, Home Service. Well written play about a bad lad who makes good. Stars Cyril Shaps as the owner of an old musical instruments shop, John Rolleston as his his helper Kenny, and Joan Newell as Catherine. Produced by R.D.Smith. 60m.
Free Fall....1960
From the 1959 novel by William Golding.
Adapted and produced by Donald McWhinnie.
Radiophonic effects compiled in the Workshop at Maida Vale.
Selected at Drama Annual Review.
From Wikipedia:
Written in the first person, Free Fall is a self-examination by an English painter, Samuel Mountjoy, held in a German POW camp during World War Two... In a series of long flashbacks, he wonders what brought him to his current state.
Third Programme, 27 January 1960.
Cast:
Samuel Mountjoy................................Paul Scofield
Sammy, as a boy................................Patricia Hayes
Philip Arnold..................................Henry Davies
Headmaster of the Grammar School...............Hamilton Dyce
Philip, as a boy...............................Caroline Leigh
Johnny Spragg, doubling Nurse 2................Jean England
Ma, doubling Tommy, Nurse 1....................Betty Linton
Miss Donovan, doubling Nurse, Miss Pringle.....Freda Dowie
Evie, doubling Taffy and Jennifer..............Patricia Somerset
Headmaster of Council School
doubling Councillor, German Guard..........Jeffrey Segal
Miss Massey....................................Pauline Wynn
Father Watts-Watt, doubling Commandant.........Hamilton Dyce
Verger, doubling Nick Shales...................Will Leighton
Beatrice Ifor..................................Diana Olsson
Dr. Halde......................................Ferdy Mayne
Dr. Enticott...................................John Sharplin
POISON FOR THE KING....1959
Home Service, 24 Jan 1959. By Victorien Sardou ('L'Affaire des Poisons', first performed at the Porte-St.-Martin, December 7, 1907).
Translated and adapted by Norman Ginsbury and Jacques Sarch; produced by Wilfred Grantham.
A drama loosely based on a major murder scandal in France during the reign of King Louis XIV. In this telling, the conspiracy hatched by the friends of disgraced Finance minister Fouquet intertwines with the rivalry between two of the King's mistresses, Madame de Montespan and Madamoiselle de Fontanges.
Howard Marion-Crawford ... Abbe Griffard, an escaped convict
Roger Delgado ........... Louis XIV
Margaret Whiting ......... Marquise de Montespan, the King's favourite
Ivan Brandt .............. Colbert, a minister to the King
Elizabeth London ......... Mlle. d'Ormoize, maid of honour of Mlle. de Fontanges
George Merritt ........... Monsieur de la Reynie, Lieutenant of the Royal Police
Richard Williams ......... Sagot, Recorder of the extraordinary court of justice
David Spenser ............ Hector de Tralage, the lover of Mlle. d'Ormoize
Bailiol Holloway ......... Marquis de Louvois, a minister to the King
Betty Baskcomb ........... La Voisin, a clairvoyant
Sheila Grnt .............. Mile. Desoeillets, chambermaid of Mme. de Montespan
Other parts played by Barbara Greenhalgh and members of the BBC Drama Repertory Company
Victorien Sardou (1831-1908) was a French dramatist best remembered today for his development of the 'well-made play', distinguished by careful construction, plot twists, and a dramatic climax.
For historical background, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Poisons[2]
A MAN IN THE ZOO....1959
By David Garnett, ad. Giles Cooper, Third Programme, 19.1.1959
THE HOLLOW MAN....1959
By John Dickson Carr [1935],
dramatised by John Keir Cross,
produced by Audrey Cameron.
Broadcast on the Home Service, 10th January 1959, 21.15, Saturday Night Theatre
One wintry night in London, two murders are committed in quick succession. In both cases, the murderer has seemingly vanished into thin air.
Dr. Gideon Fell ......... Norman Shelley
Mme Ernestine Dumont .... Barbara Couper
Superintendent Hadley ... Lockwood West
Ted Rampole ............. David March
Boyd Mangan ............. David Spenser
Professor Grimaud ....... Anthony Vickers
Stuart Mills ............ John Scott
Pierre Fley ............. John Graham
Drayman ................. Duncan McIntyre
O'Rourke ................ Ronald Baddiley
Jim
In 1981, a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers selected The Hollow Man (known as The Three Coffins in the US) as the best locked room mystery of all time.
ND comment....Excellent story, but rather old-fashioned production ... difficult listening for those accustomed to the sound of radio drama fifty years later.
See also the HENRY REED plays, some of which were broadcast in 1959.
Most of the above recordings located by VRPCC
