{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox television | image = | image_upright = | image_alt = | caption = | creator = | based_on = | writer = John Cameron | screenplay = | story = | director = [[John Croyston]] | starring = | narrator = | music = | country = Australia | language = English | num_episodes = | producer = | editor = | cinematography = Peter White | runtime = 30 mins | company = ABC | budget = | network = [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] | released = {{Start date|1965|06|02|df=y}} (Brisbane)<ref name="times">{{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Seaside Romance in Drama|page=6|date=28 April 1965}}</ref> | released2 = {{Start date|1965|06|29|df=y}} (Melbourne)<ref name="age"/> | released3 = {{Start date|1965|06|29|df=y}} (Sydney)<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=TV Guide|date=28 June 1965|page=17}}</ref> }} '''''The Quiet Season''''' is a 1965 Australian half-hour television play. It aired on the [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] stations Australia-wide and was produced in the [[Toowong]] studios of the [[City of Brisbane|Brisbane]], [[Queensland]], station ([[ABQ]]).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131830463 |title=WHAT TO STAY HOME FOR... |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=28 June 1965 |access-date=12 February 2020 |page=1 (TELEVISION and radio GUIDE) |via=Trove }}</ref>
This John Croyston production was the fourth play out of ABC Brisbane, following ''[[Vacancy in Vaughan Street]]'', ''[[Dark Brown (1963 film)|Dark Brown]]'' and ''[[Ring Out Wild Bells (Wednesday Theatre)|Ring Out Wild Bells]]''.<ref name="pr">{{cite web|website=National Archives of Australia|title=The Quiet Season press release|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=3194608&T=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-tv-plays-the-quiet-season-and-enough-to-make-a-pair-of-sailors-trousers/|title=Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Quiet Season and Enough to Make a Pair of Sailor’s Trousers|first= Stephen|last= Vagg |date=July 24, 2021}}</ref>
==Plot== Set during the off-season in an Australian fishing town, Shell Bay, "somewhere near Melbourne". A guest house has only one boarder, Harry Nichols. He meets a spinster, Madge, likes her, but flees marriage, returns the next year more determined and finds her unhappily married to someone else, Bill Martin. The guest house is run by Mrs Gray, who is married to Bert and has a daughter Sue.
==Cast== *Nonie Stewart as the local shopkeeper Madge *John Nash as school teacher Harry Nichols *Reg Cameron as Bill Martin *Betty Ross as Mrs Gray *[[Elaine Cusick]] (1934-2024) as Sue Gray *Donald McTaggart as Madge's brother Don *Vic Hughes as Mrs Gray's husband Bert
==Production== It was produced by [[John Croyston]] and written by [[Melbourne]] writer John Cameron. The outdoor scenes were filmed at [[Woody Point, Queensland|Woody Point]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131830494 |title=Melbourne play on ABC-3. |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |date=28 June 1965 |access-date=23 October 2015 |page=1 Section: TELEVISION and radio GUIDE |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Croyston did a location scout of Brisbane's northern suburbs before selecting Woody Point.<ref name="pr"/> Beach scenes were shot near [[Margate, Queensland|Margate]].<ref name="mar">{{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Studio staff built store|date=26 May 1965|page=5}}</ref>
It was Nonie Stewart's first part since returning from overseas in July 1964. She had left Brisbane for Canada in 1957 and performed in more than fifty shows in Vancouver. The only non local member of the cast was Vic Hughes who was a presenter of Partyland. Filming took place in April 1965.<ref name="pr"/><ref name="times"/>
Elaine Cusick was a Brisbane actress who had worked extensively in radio and theatre and was about to move on to Melbourne when the offer to appear in ''The Quiet Season'' was made. Ultimately in Melbourne her appearances in TV productions included ''[[The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (The General Motors Hour)|The Mystery of the Hansom Cab]]'', ''[[The One Day of the Year (film)|The One Day of the Year]]'' and ''[[The Last Outlaw (miniseries)|The Last Outlaw]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Lady Bullfighter in Brisbane|first=Diana|last=Mackay|date=26 May 1965|page=5}}</ref> It was the first TV role for Reg Cameron and John Nash.<ref name="mar"/>
==Reception== Air dates varied including 28 June in [[Canberra]] and 29 June in Melbourne. Another Brisbane shot play was shown the same week, ''[[Ring Out Wild Bells (Wednesday Theatre)|Ring Out Wild Bells]]''.<ref name="age">{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mZNVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5pYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6554%2C4147203|date=June 24, 1965|page=11|title=Two Australian Plays from Brisbane TV}}</ref>
The [[Sydney Morning Herald]] noted it was the fourth television play to be produced by ABC's Brisbane station, and called it "a horror", comparing it highly unfavourably with the "slick, high professional and sometimes world-class productions" being produced in [[Sydney]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=k59WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QOcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1756%2C1163083|title = Brisbane needs more lessons|last =Marshall |first =Valda |date = 4 July 1965|work = [[The Sun-Herald]]|access-date = 23 October 2015}}</ref>
''The Age'' thought Nash and Stewart "played their parts competently" but felt "it was distracting how abruptly one scene changed into the next. This faulty technique gave a measure of jerkiness to an otherwise smooth performance."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=3 July 1965|page=23|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122304858/?terms=%22quiet%2Bseason%22|title=About the viewing habit|last=Monitor}}</ref>
''The Bulletin'' said "Intelligently produced by John Croyston, it [the show] had everything but a good time-slot. It was buried after the late news. The duty announcer urged viewers to stay up for it, and I hope some did. They would have found that “The Quiet Season” was one of those small plays requiring sensitive management, and this Croyston achieved in a masterly way. He also used outside film of trees, rocks and waves to suggest the locale, passages of time, even action which had occurred. The story... is not wildly dramatic material, nor a new plot, but it has poignant, bitter sweet possibilities, and, for once, these were fully realised by the camera and the actors. Often, darting close-ups were used to catch a fleeting expression, a small, quick gesture. Croyston, better known for his radio productions, will be worth watching as a television man."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Bulletin|volume=87|title=Tailor-made for Technicians |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-698917348|page=52|date=7 August 1965}}</ref>
==Status== The [[National Archives of Australia]] hold a film copy of this TV short under the title ''Quiet Season'' (without the "the"), with 7 May 1965 given as the date, and a running time of 28:46, and notes it has been digitised.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Quiet Season|url = http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=13467304|website = National Archives of Australia|access-date = 2015-10-23}}</ref>
==See also== * ''[[Vacancy in Vaughn Street]]'' *''[[Dark Brown (1963 film)|Dark Brown]]'' (1963) *''[[The Monkey Cage]]'' (1965) *''[[Ring Out Wild Bells (Wednesday Theatre)|Ring Out Wild Bells]]'' (1964) *''[[The Absence of Mr Sugden]]'' (1965) *''[[Arabesque for Atoms]]'' (1965) *''[[A Sleep of Prisoners]]'' (1961) *''[[Crisis (1963 TV play)|Crisis]]'' (1963)
==References== <references/>
==External links== *[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4961254 ''The Quiet Season'' on IMDb] *[https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=3194608&isAv=N Publicity information (digitised)] at [[National Archives of Australia]] {{John Croyston}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiet Season, The}} [[Category:1965 television films]] [[Category:1965 films]] [[Category:1960s Australian television plays]] [[Category:Australian television films]] [[Category:Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming]] [[Category:English-language Australian television shows]] [[Category:Black-and-white Australian television shows]]