Melba (radio serial)

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]

Melba

Genre	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

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

1. "Melba's Great Triumph", ABC Weekly, 8 (18), Sydney, 18 May 1946, retrieved 14 December 2023 – via Trove
2. "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. "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.