| Based On: | play by Barbara Vernon |
| Director: | Paul O'Loughlin[1] |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Runtime: | 30 mins[2] |
| Company: | ABC |
| Network: | ABC |
The Passionate Pianist is an Australian television film, or rather a live one-off television play, which aired in 1957 on ABC. This was part of ABC's twice monthly presentations of live plays during the late-1950s (one live play each month in Sydney and Melbourne, respectively, with most kinescoped for showing in the other city).
At the time, most one-off drama and comedy plays produced for Australian television were adaptations of overseas works, and The Passionate Pianist is notable as it represents an early example of a locally-written comedy for the medium. The Passionate Pianist aired on 2 October 1957, in Sydney, and on 1 November 1957, in Melbourne.[3]
Ben, the teenage son of a Sydney bookmaker prefers football to practicing piano. His mother (Marion Johns) is convinced he is a genius and enters him in an eistedford.[4]
The Passionate Pianist was produced as a one act play. Barbara Vernon was a radio announcer in Inverell and wrote the play for Con Fardouly, a Greek who ran a cafe in Inverell.
It was first performed at the Inverell Town Hall, on 22 November 1957. The cast included Lee Jones, Nell Stewart, Frank Sloman, Rob Jeffs, and Con Fardouly.[5]
It is part of the trilogy The Growing Year, which also includes Vernon's unpublished plays The Bishop and the Boxer and First Love.[6]
Rehearsals began in September 1957.[1]
It is not known if the kinescope recording of the program still exists.
The play was also adapted for radio.[7] [8]
Barbara Vernon is also known for writing the play The Multi-Coloured Umbrella, which saw a television version in 1958. It was focused on the same family of Sydney book makers.