The General Motors Hour
The General Motors Hour was an Australian radio and television drama series.
Radio[]
The radio series was a regular one hour drama broadcast over the Macquarie Radio Network at 8 pm on Thursays.[1] It is believed to have commenced in the late 1940s and lasted into the early 1960s. Producers included Robert Peach[2] and Harry Dearth.[3] The announcer was John Dease. 15 episodes are available on the Old Time Radio website.[4]
Television[]
The television version of The General Motors Hour was a loosely scheduled occasional series which aired on Australian television from 1960 to 1962. The series aired on ATN-7 in Sydney and GTV-9 in Melbourne, as well as on other affiliated stations across Australia. The presentations ranged from adaptations of overseas stage plays and anthology episodes, to locally-written drama and a documentary.
Its first show was a production of The Grey Nurse Said Nothing.[5]
Three of the TV episodes - Suspect, Candida, and Shadow Of The Vine - had been produced by English producer Peter Cotes for HSV-7 in 1961, but were shelved due to lack of sponsorship. Sponsorship was provided by GM-H in 1962, and plays were run on HSV-7 and TCN-9 under the "General Motors Hour" title.[6][7]
List of known TV episodes[]
- The Grey Nurse Said Nothing (1960, drama)
- This is Television (1960, variety, documentary)[8]
- Thunder on Sycamore Street (1960, drama)
- You, Too, Can Have a Body (1960, drama)
- Shadow of a Pale Horse (1960, drama)
- The Concert (1961, drama)[9]
- Long Distance (1961)
- Suspect (1961, drama)
- Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1962, melodrama)[10][11]
- The One Day of the Year (1962, drama)
- Candida (1961, comedy)
- Manhaul (1962, drama)
- Shadow of the Vine (1961, drama)[12]
See also[]
- Shell Presents - 1959-1960 occasional series
- Killer in Close-Up - 1957-1958 anthology of four half-hour plays on ABC
References[]
- ^ The Listener In - TV, magazine, May 21-May 27, 1960
- ^ "Radio star in tune with the times". 28 January 2004.
- ^ "Dearth, Henry Alan (Harry) (1908–1964)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
- ^ https://archive.org/details/thegeneralmotorshour.au
- ^ Vagg, Stephen (17 November 2020). "Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Grey Nurse Said Nothing". Filmink.
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MbJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=G6wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7021%2C4687140
- ^ "Australian Drama on Two Channels". The Age. 26 April 1962. p. 12.
- ^ "Dreams for winners and losers". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 28, no. 7. Australia. 20 July 1960. p. 55. Retrieved 6 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bqQRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vecDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6991%2C148611
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=46FVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5KwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5894%2C2538753
- ^ "The Age" Green Guide, 17/8/61, p.7
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ATpVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RpUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5237%2C644709
External links[]
- Australian radio dramas
- English-language radio programs
- 1960 Australian television series debuts
- 1962 Australian television series endings
- Australian anthology television series
- Black-and-white Australian television shows
- English-language television shows
- The General Motors Hour