Cirrus@Austlit

'WHEN Professor Ferguson stands trial for the murder of Garry Fletcher, he is accused of Murder With Malice! But was it murder? Did he do it with wilful intent or in the defence of the Japanese girl, Smiling Azalea? With the background of Japan, where most things take on a different perspective, Professor Ferguson deliberately shot Garry Fletcher because he attempted to chop down a tree. Can a tree affect a girl’s life? Is this defence warranted? Only a person who has lived in Japan—a person who knows their customs—can answer these questions! Only a person who has lived in close contact with these people could know how each cut of the axe biting into the tree could cause excruciating agony to the young girl, Smiling Azalea. Professor Ferguson stands trial for his life because he attempted to save this girl. The decision of the jury as to whether or not Professor Ferguson committed Murder With Malice closes the play on a tense and logically satisfying note.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 14 July 1951, p.13.

'TONY CARROLL accidentally shoots himself while cleaning a gun. From then on he becomes the "corpus delicti," the one unconsidered thread in the great tangle of death investigation. But Tony, being a different young man, decides he will have a voice in the matter, and makes clear his attitude to everyone connected—his wife, Ruth; a friend of the family, Alex.; his mother-in-law, Mrs. Lee; his secretary, Jenny; and the inquiring policeman, Sergeant Blain. How everything works out tor the best, under the benevolent eye of "the corpse" gives this story its novel twist.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 7 July 1951, p.13.

Described in the radio guide as 'a rather grim story concerning a young married couple who move into a house and become scared when next door neighbours tell them of the tragedies which their new home has witnessed.'

Source: [Radio guide], Age, 29 June 1951, p.8.

'There was one member of Arthur Henkle’s family who understood him, his granddaughter Rosaleen. She alone realised what he might have been with a different wife. As a young man Arthur Henkle loved cycling, built cycles, and, above all, was a champion of the sport. Then the motor car came on the road. Arthur’s wife said the cycle trade was beneath them, and pushed him into a motor garage business. Here he lost himself, until reminded of his triumphs of earlier years by Rosaleen and her young man, but by then all hope had gone and he was dying of a broken heart.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 23 June 1951.

Little is known of the plot of this radio play, which placed second in the Actor's Choice retrospective competition.

'THE night Mike Adams decided to drive by the short cut he had been told of, to reach his destination, proved to be a turning point in his life. His car broke down, and he called at a vacant, dilapidated house for help. There was no phone and no neighbours, so he stayed the night and met a "spirit." Their meeting was sheer comedy, the first few hours of their friendship, gay and laughable, but their falling in love, pure drama. They were people from different worlds, and it would call for a cruel and callous act to bring them together.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 9 June 1951, p.13.

'ANCIENT Greece, in that heroic age when action and speech encouraged high principles (even among the slaves), is the setting. This is the story of one of those slaves who in fulfilling the whimsical and drunken wager of his master, to prove his loyalty, imperils his own life. In fact, the message he is requested to take to a bloodthirsty general, a great distance away, will mean his immediate doom once it is delivered.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 2 June 1951, p.13.

'DANNY was young, but he was a "smart cookie," or that is what they all called him in the fight game. He knew what he wanted and how he intended getting it, all he needed was a good fighter. He knew the angles to build a fighter into a champion, and in that class lay the money. Danny only had one fighter to manage, a prelim. boy by the name of Rick. They were good friends. That is why Rick brought his pal Skinny along to see Danny. Although he looked as though a good puff of wind would blow him over, Skinny had the weaving, pugnacious style that spelt class to Danny. Here, thought Danny, is my chance, and he worked furiously with Skinny and Rick building them up, and losing his gentleness in the process, becoming ruthless. That is where trouble stepped in.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 26 May 1951, p.13.

'A theory about the two emotions love and hate, and how close they are interwoven in all crime. During one of his University lectures, a young man by the name of Blake questions this theory and debates it with the learned Dr. Elliot. It was not until 11 years later, when the student had become a practising doctor of psychiatry, that Dr. Elliot visited him and proved his theory. Dr. Elliot sets Dr. Blake against his fiancee, to prove love can turn to hate and cause crime.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 19 May 1951, p.13.

'WHEN Nick Smith, high-pressure publicity agent of the Gertz Motion Picture Corporation, was called in to handle the publicity of a new star, Elma Splogg, he thought it would be child’s play. Miss Splogg had everything; all she needed was a new name. Nick soon fixed that. Elma became Larlene Meadows before she had time to get her breath. Nick really got into his stride then, and came up with top publicity stunts until finally, running out of adjectives, he hit upon the idea of Larlene being atomic. This idea was to cost him dearly.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 12 May 1951, p.13.

Little is known about the plot of this radio play.

''THIS is the story of an escaping professor from Moronia, arriving in Australia with a remarkable invention called the Penetrator. The reasons for his flight, and the justification of his reasons make thought provoking and entertaining radio listening.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 28 April 1951, p.13.

'THIS is a dramatisation of an event in Australian history. In 1797 the "Sydney Cove" was wrecked in Bass Strait. A party under the leadership of Mr. Hugh Thompson set off for help, but the nearest colony was Port Jackson, some 400 miles away through rough scrub country that had never before been traversed by white man. John Warwick opens his play when the party is only 90 miles from their destination. After two months of grinding marching, the party has shrunk from 18 to seven. Capturing the atmosphere of tension and almost hopelessness, John Warwick has constructed a gripping play that holds unwavering interest to the end.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 14 April 1951, p.13.

'The troubles of Rod Madison began on the night his father decided to hold a seance. There were only four present—Rod and his fiancee Peg, and his mother and father. After a lot of concentration, Rod dismissed the whole thing as a lot of rot, and remarked loudly that he could not see the use of calling the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. Personally, he preferred to call up a gorgeous blonde spirit. Little did he realise the trouble those words would cost him, for into his life came Marlene, the dizziest sprite ever. She drifted in and out of his life for the next day or so at awkward times, which made everyone think Rod had gone crazy. The effect all this had on his fiancee Peg was anything but good, especially when she saw him out driving with a glorious blonde, who waved to her gaily as they passed. Marlene may have been dizzy, but she was also sensitive. She said that she preferred to be called a fairy, for to be called a spirit offended her.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 7 April 1951, p.13.

'JOHNNY CARROLL was convinced that some people are born to lose; of course, they do get breaks, occasionally, but mostly bad ones. He thought he was such a fellow, and he had no cause to think otherwise. At twenty-four, he could look back on a life that consisted of sixteen years in an orphanage, five as a labourer, and three years in the State "pen." The latter was for assaulting a person who took his money and then tried to take his girl. That was Johnny when he ran into an old pal, Steve Yager, who looked as though he were prosperous. Steve offered Johnny a partnership in his business, which was housebreaking. Steve was married, so the team was a triangular one, an arrangement that didn’t take long to boil up into & white-hot trouble spot. Johnny refused to be enticed into double-crossing his pal Steve by the lovely Mrs. Yager. Where did it get him? As Johnny says, "Some guys are born to lose."'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 31 March 1951, p.13.

'IT was inevitable that Roy Smith would meet a man like Bill Taylor in a place like Yellow Joe’s. Roy kept telling himself what a "dive" the place was, but somehow he was drawn to it. Despite the revulsion he felt, one night he agreed when Bill Taylor asked if he would join him for a drink. The story he heard from this derelict of a man made him feel almost ill, yet he was fascinated. Could this story have any connection with the black rages he flew into at home — a happy home till unaccountably he would lapse into a black temper over some trivial thing, and almost strike his wife.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 24 March 1951, p.13.

'WALGROVE HANLEY was by profession an attorney-at-law. By modern standards he was a happily married man with two children, a lovely wife and plenty of money. However, he had one unorthodox belief: That [sic] under certain circumstances homicide was justifiable. This led him into the greatest tangle of his life, involving murder. Before him he saw the complete disintegration of everything he loved and wanted. His manipulation of words and phrases and his knowledge of the law were powerless to help him. It was then that his old belief asserted itself. He felt no remorse for his crime. In fact, he felt nothing at all until a man was arrested for the murder and sentenced to die. Then his conscience started to work.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 17 March 1951, p.13.

'THE first impression John Knight had of Adelaide, after one month at sea, was anything but happy. He was glad his ship was only staying in the port one day. That was before he knew Mary. His first meeting with Mary took place when he accidentally knocked her down in the street. An eye witness of this accident was her father, who thought John should be horsewhipped for his action. Later at a ball in the Town Hall John tries to apologise to Mary’s father, but to no avail. In fact, he is turned out of the place to be "beaten up," or so Mr. Merryweather thought. He had, of course, underestimated this "young hooligan," as he dubbed him. However, both John’s and Mary’s father’s unfortunate impressions are pleasantly ironed out to provide a happy conclusion.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 10 March 1951, p.13.

'Willi Von Merl came to Australia after the last war, married an Australian girl, and was happy. He wanted his brother Karl to be happy, and so sponsored him to this country as a New Australian. Then trouble came to his house, for how was he to know that his brother still retained the hate he had been brought up on, and that he would spread it in the family circle. Karl was a Nazi and remained one in Australia, pouring shattering thoughts into the mind of Willi’s wife. This mounting tension reached a peak, when an Australian doctor attended Karl’s wife in her confinement, and any mistake he made would be held against all British people in the eyes of Karl.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 3 March 1951, p.13.

'SPEEDWAY racing stars Roark Adams and Breeze Cordovan are close friends and young devil-may care Australians. They decide to try their luck in England. And Lady Luck attends them in their venture, notably Roark, who carries every thing before him, including the world’s speedway championship. Luck deserts him when he meets and falls in love with Beth Vernon, a speedway fan, who loves only the man who is always winning. Breeze, less successful than Roark, is also in love with Beth, and the friendship of the two champions is put to the test, especially when Roark continues to be dogged by a run of losing events. The two men ride against each other in another championship, and the tenseness of this event reveals the different plans of the two friends.'

Source: 'For Next Week', ABC Weekly, 24 February 1951, p.13.