Melba (radio serial)

Radio show

MelbaGenre| drama serial

|

Running time| 30 mins[1] (7:30 pm – 8:00 pm)inc. adverts
Country of origin| Australia
Language(s)| English
Written by| John Ormiston Reid
Produced by| Hector Crawford
Dorothy Crawford
Recording studio| 3DB Melbourne
Original release| 3 February 1946[2] –
25 January 1947[3]
No. of episodes| 50
Advertisement 2 Feb 1946 Advertisement 25 Jan 1947

Melba is a 1946 Australian radio drama about the life of Nellie Melba.[4] and first broadcast by stations 3DB and 3LK 1946–1947 in fifty 30-minute episodes. It was produced by Hector Crawford, who knew Melba.[5][6][7]

The scripting involved months of research.[8]

Four actresses played Melba:[9]

* Eight-year-old Kareen Wilson spoke and sang the young Melba — "Comin' Thro' the Rye" and "See Me Dance the Polka" in the Richmond Town Hall. She was the daughter of baritone Ernest Wilson and soprano Freda Northcote.[2]
* Glenda Raymond, a coloratura soprano from Melbourne, sang all the arias of Melba in her emerging years, in the original key and hitting the same notes. She was a relative unknown, but had a subsequent career in opera, notably as Etain in Rutland Boughton's The Immortal Hour.[10]
* Stella Power — dubbed "the Little Melba" by Melba herself[11] — sang the mature Melba.
* Patricia Kennedy played the speaking "Nellie Mitchell that scarifies you with the rough side of her tongue"[9] Melba, "a remarkable success", said the Adelaide Advertiser,[12] For continuity, Kennedy played ever stage of Melba's life.[2]

and many real-life friends and colleagues played themselves.[9]

ABC Weekly said "The woven story is interesting and the music-dialogue balance nicely placed, with the story itself built on factual references to Melba’s career."[13]

The Advocate said it was "very pleasant listening."[14]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Melba's Great Triumph", ABC Weekly, 8 (18), Sydney, 18 May 1946, retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Trove
2. ^ a b c "Melba's Life Story Comes to the Radio". Saturday Evening Express. Vol. 17, no. 49\. Tasmania, Australia. 26 January 1946. p. 9. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
3. ^ "Advertising". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 31, 327. Victoria, Australia. 25 January 1947. p. 16. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
4. ^ Philp, Peter (2016). Drama in Silent Rooms: A History of Radio Drama in Australia from 1920s to 1970s. Eureka. pp. 218–22o.
5. ^ "Melba's Protege in Singing Role". Saturday Evening Express. Vol. 17, no. 49\. Tasmania, Australia. 26 January 1946. p. 9. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
6. ^ "Melba Lives Again", ABC Weekly, 8 (41), Sydney, 26 October 1946, retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Trove
7. ^ "Reviewing Serials is a Tough Job". Advocate. Vol. LXXIX, no. 4723\. Victoria, Australia. 6 February 1946. p. 18. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
8. ^ "National Programme News: Melba's Life as Dramatic Serial", ABC Weekly, 8 (4), Sydney, 9 February 1946, retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Trove
9. ^ a b c "It Strikes Me". The Herald. No. 21, 404. Victoria, Australia. 24 December 1945. p. 5. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
10. ^ "Singer Acclaimed as "Find"". Daily Mirror (Sydney). No. 2449\. New South Wales, Australia. 6 April 1949. p. 2. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
11. ^ Dunbar-Hall, Peter, "Power, Stella (1896–1977)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 June 2021
12. ^ "Vivid Melba Portrayal". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 88, no. 27266\. South Australia. 23 February 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
13. ^ "Listening post", ABC Weekly, 8 (21), Sydney, 8 June 1946, retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Trove
14. ^ "Melba Show a Successful Radio Serial". Advocate. Vol. LXXIX, no. 4739\. Victoria, Australia. 29 May 1946. p. 26. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.

*[No.]: Number