Episode no. Season 1
Episode 13 Teleplay by Richard Benyon Initial release 1960 | Directed by Rod Kinnear Original air date 5 March 1960 | |
Man in a Blue Vase is an Australian television one-off comedy presentation which aired in 1960. It was part of Shell Presents, which consisted of monthly presentations of standalone television dramas and comedies. It aired on GTV-9 in Melbourne and ATN-7 in Sydney, as this was prior to the creation of the Seven Network and Nine Network.
Contents
A set of pictures from the show appear in a 1960 edition of The Age
Unlike most of the Shell Presents presentations, it wasn't aired live. Although produced in Melbourne, it aired in Sydney first.
Plot
Set in a Polish-Jewish household in Melbourne. Aaron tries to prove his individuality by taking money from his wife Shirley's blue vase. Sister in law Esther tells Shirley that marriage is a state of war and she needs to take a stand. Aaron goes drinking and asks his brother in law Herman why he lets Esther bully him. Shirley gets advice from her mother in law, Reba.
Cast
Production
The script was written by Richard Benyon (1925-99), author of the play The Shifting Heart.
The play was later adapted for radio.
Reception
The TV critic form the Sydney Morning Herald said the play was "refreshing for its observation that there don't have to be lurid triangles or melodramatic boozing or homesacrificing career obsessions to put marriages on the rocks" but still lacks something of the warmth by which a Chayefsky allows his commonplace characters to arouse deeply compassionate interest in their everyday conflict, collaboration and compromise. Beynon's people... are carefully observed and their talk runs pretty naturally, but some want of rich detail in the writing and among... [the]players prevented them from making a compelling appeal."