Unknown Quantity: Episode 1

Kathleen Carroll was a prolific radio serial and drama scriptwriter. In the 1930s she belonged to a community of writers that staged plays as part of the Chelsea Drama Club in Sydney. In August 1940, the club performed Ten Ways to Get a Man, a comedy with an all-women cast and written by club members Kathleen Carroll, Gwen Meredith and Betty Neville. Gwen Meredith achieved later success as writer of the long-running radio series Blue Hills for the ABC.

Meredith and Carroll approached radio stations for writing gigs and Carroll got her foot into the door with the opportunity to write for Doctor Mac, a long-running series which commenced in 1940. In 1946 Carroll won a prize in a radio theatre contest for her play Small Town which was produced and broadcast. By 1947 she was writing her first serial, Edmund Conquest and the Pirates of the Barbary Coast, and by 1949 Carroll was writing and adapting scripts for Grace Gibson where she was responsible for the hit series Dr Paul and Portia Faces Life.

Lawrence H Cecil was one of Australia’s most experienced radio producers. Beginning as an actor, his early career saw him perform in Sydney, then England followed by 12 years in New York where he performed on Broadway with some of the leading lights of the day including John Barrymore, Helen Hayes and Frederic March.

He worked for New York radio station WEAF as an actor and producer where he was part of the genesis of the development of dramatic productions for radio in the mid-1920s. On his return to Australia he was appointed senior drama producer with ABC radio and during the Second World War was the Commander of the ABC Field Unit. Prior to working for Grace Gibson Productions as a senior producer in the 1950s, he worked in drama production for the Macquarie network.

Patricia Kennedy was considered one of the leading radio actors in Melbourne, but she also worked extensively in theatre, film and television. In the 1930s Kennedy was a student of drama teacher Maie Hoban who ran Sunday night play readings in East Melbourne, where Kennedy was discovered by 3UZ drama director Walter Pym. Kennedy also won best female actress in the 3DB series Are you an Actor? and passed the ABC auditions which led to roles in ABC radio plays. During the Second World War she was hired as an ABC announcer along with Dorothy Crawford and Mary Ward.

Significant roles in radio included the speaking role of Nellie Melba in the Crawford Production Melba, as Jane in Jane Eyre for The Lux Radio Theatre and the role of Barbara Brandon in the Gibson production The Rev Matthew. She was cast in various series by all the production houses in Melbourne as well as the ABC. She also stepped into the director’s role for Crawford productions when Dorothy Crawford was too busy. Kennedy directed episodes of Kindergarden of the Air and plays for the ABC. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1982 for services to the performing arts.

After drama training in Melbourne Phyllis Best (daughter of Sir Robert and Lady Best of Melbourne) went to London and performed on stage in the late 1920s. She returned to Australia as a member of Dame Sybil Thorndike’s company on tour in 1932. She married fellow actor and company member Atholl Fleming in the same year. Fleming later achieved success as ‘Mac’ of the ABC Children’s Session and Jason of the Argonauts’ Club. Phyllis Best continued performing in radio plays and serials during the 1950s.

Lloyd Berrell, who was of Maori heritage, plays the role of special correspondent Jeffrey Allison. Berrell was a popular and successful actor who started in theatre aged 12 in Bryant’s Playhouse in Sydney in the 1930s. In 1941 he joined the Youth Show which was initiated by Robin Ordell in 1940 for the Macquarie Broadcasting Network, to showcase radio talent under the age of 21. His colleagues included Betty Bryant, Joy Nichols, Michael Pate and Reg Johnson.

Berrell also worked in film and his credits include The Shiralee and Long John Silver. He appeared in the pilot Al Munch, Grace Gibsons Productions’ short-lived foray into television in 1952. His career was cut short when he died of a heart attack aged only 31 on his way to England in December 1957. His son, Saban Lloyd Berrell, is also an actor. 

A student of the piano, Margo Lee started in radio with the producer George Edwards. She joined Lloyd Berrell on the Youth Show on the Macquarie Network in 1941. In 1952 Lee was one of the panellists with Elizabeth Riddell, Josephine O’Neill, George Foster and compere Harry Dearth on Leave it to the Girls, in which listeners sent in their problems to be discussed.

Lee won the 1955 Lux Radio Theatre award co-starring with the American actor Vincent Price in the play 1984. The prize consisted of a trip to Hollywood to star in the Lux Video Theatre, the largest TV network in the world. She spent a month in Hollywood and, though she received offers of film contracts, returned to Australia to continue her career in local radio plays and serials. Lee starred in Australia’s first live TV play, the Twelve Pound Look on 5 November 1956 on the ABC.

Beulah ‘Babs’ Mayhew began her career in radio in the 1930s in serials on the ABC where she met her husband, actor Max Osbiston. She performed in Dr Paul, the Lux Radio Theatre and The General Motors Hour.

Philip Collidge was a stage actor from Adelaide.

Actor Stuart Finch migrated to Australia in the mid 1950s from England and worked mainly in television as a singer and actor.

Alan Herbert played the role of Jingles for The Adventures of Smoky Dawson, and Captain Fortune on the ATN 7 children’ s TV show.