If It's a Rose explained

Director:Raymond Menmuir
Country:Australia
Language:English
Runtime:60 minutes
Company:ABC
Network:ABC
Released: (Sydney, live)[1]
Released2: (Melbourne, taped)[2]

If It's a Rose is an Australian television movie, or rather a live television comedy play, which aired in 1958 on ABC. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[3]

Duration was 60 minutes, in black-and-white. Archival status of the program is unknown. Annette Andre was a relatively unknown 18 year old.[4] [5]

A version had been performed on British TV in 1954.[6]

Plot

Set in Italy. Over the course of one day, Mario is courting Anna.

Cast

Production

It was recorded live in Sydney.[7] It was an early television performance from Annette Andre who later recalled:

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.[8]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. March 26, 1958. ABC Weekly. 33. Looking Ahead On Channel 2, ABN .
  2. News: The Age. TV Guide. 18 April 1959. 17.
  3. Stephen. Vagg. 60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s. Filmink. February 18, 2019.
  4. News: Sydney Morning Herald. March 24, 1958. Girl's Chance in Live Play. 11.
  5. News: The Age. Untitled. 1 April 1958. 25.
  6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4817108/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_227 If It's a Rose 1954 British TV
  7. Web site: Filmink. Stephen. Vagg. Annette Andre: My Brilliant Early Australian Career. 29 August 2020.
  8. Web site: My First Job – 'I didn't get stage fright on radio'. Annette Andre. 20 June 2018.