Malcolm Afford
Encyclopedia
Malcolm "Max" Afford was an Australia
n playwright
and novelist.
. He left school when he was 16, and started writing novels and plays.
, he moved to Sydney
in 1936, on contract to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) as a playwright and producer in the Federal Productions Department.
Max married Thelma Thomas
on 16 April 1938 at St Michael's church, Vaucluse
, Sydney, a costume designer whom he had met on the set of Colonel Founder / Awake my Love two years earlier. Thelma was also originally from Broken Hill, New South Wales
, then Adelaide
and had moved to Sydney
to design the costumes for the New South Wales
sesqui-centenary celebration pageant. Max and Thelma did not have children.
survived him until 1996.
Numerous condolence letters from his friends, colleagues and admirers were sent to his wife from around Australia and from overseas including the US, the UK and Hong Kong. Many are held in the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland
and express sadness about his death, admiration for his literary achievement and regret for the great loss to the Australian literary world.
“Max was one of the sweetest, gayest and most endearing people I have ever encountered.” Betty Roland wrote. Tom Inglis Moore said, [3] “He was such an attractive person in himself, and he had outstanding gifts. As a writer he was at the top of the profession as a dramatic writer for radio, a first-class craftsman. His stage plays showed that if he had gone on, he would have become an important playwright. I felt that Max had the talent to have gone even further in achievement. He had such a vitality that it is very hard to realize the truth.”
Then Chairman of ABC, Sir Richard Boyer, wrote,“Max was not only the most valued contributor to some of the best of our broadcasts, but was held in great respect and affection by all of us in the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission).” David Carver, the International Secretary and General Secretary of English P.E.N. expressed gratitude for his contributions to Australian literary life: “The Sydney P.E.N. owed him a great deal for all the hard work and enthusiasm of his years as President.” And Ernest William Burbridge, Representative of the British Council
in Australia, wrote that “(Max) was so devoted to his art, and had such passionate belief in the cause of Drama.”
and America
. He worked as a reporter at the News and Mail
from 1926 to 1931. His first story was published in Smith's Weekly
in 1928. In 1936 he won the Advertisers centenary play competition with William Light The Founder (later titled Awake My Love). His 'Jeffrey Blackburn' novels included Blood On His Hands! (London, 1936) and Death's Mannikins (London, 1937). Many were dramatised for radio, starring Peter Finch
and Neva Carr Glyn
as the husband-and-wife detective team. Afford wrote eight crime novels, usually employing English settings, and more than sixty radio and stage plays, usually stories of crime involving the sifting of situations that ultimately uncover the perpetrators. He was considered somewhat of a pioneer of the "whodunit" in radio broadcasting.
A science fiction
story, The Glan Men of the Island, appeared in Wonder Stories in January 1931.
In 1942, Afford resigned from the ABC and joined the radio station 2GB
, for whom he wrote two long-running commercial serials: First Light Fraser (400 episodes), and Digger Hale's Daughters (208 episodes).
Other radio plays included Lazy in the Sun and Out of This Nettle, and the long-running 1951 A.B.C. serial, Stranger Come In, which explored the subject of immigration.
In 1945, Afford created an all-time record in Australian theatrical history by having two three-act plays presented professionally by the J. C. Williamson
theatre company at the Theatre Royal, Sydney
. These two plays were Lady in Danger and Mischief in the Air, and were presented within two months of one another - a significant feat, as prior to the production of Lady in Danger, Williamson had not presented a locally written play for 20 years.
Afford's play Lady in Danger (1942), successfully produced at Sydney's Independent Theatre
by Doris Fitton
, was then staged by J. C. Williamson
Ltd and was staged in the US, adapted to American tastes by Jack Kirkland
. The Broadway production received poor reviews and closed after 12 performances. He also wrote Mischief in the Air and co-wrote with Ken G. Hall the story for the Columbia Film Corporation's film, Smithy (1946), based on the aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
Afford was president of the Sydney P.E.N. Club in 1950. His play, Dark Enchantment, toured England's provincial theatres in 1950.
In 1952, Afford signed a contract with the A.B.C. engaging his services as a radio writer for 26 weeks, during which time he was to write five 15-minute installments based on immigration, as a serial on 5 days of the week, twice per day if required.
First prize in the ABC
's All-Australian Play Competition, in 1936, for Merry Go-Round.
Equal first prize for libretto of Spruhan Kennedy's Pas de Six in the ABC
's Operetta Contest, 1936.
The Biographical Encyclopedia of the World included Afford in their 1948 edition of Who's Important in Literature.
His portrait, by Brian Crozier, was (unsuccessfully) entered for the 1951 Archibald Prize
.
At her death, Thelma Afford
established a fund for a Max Afford Playwrights' Award.
, England
, South Africa
, New Zealand
, Poland
, and Egypt
.
His radio plays have been produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, as well as by BBC London
, by Lux Radio Theatre in South Africa, by the National Broadcasting Service in New Zealand, and also in Cairo
.
The BBC, for example, bought his serial Fly By Night and his radio plays Labours of Hercules, Oh, Whistle When You're Happy, The Four Specialists and For Fear of Little Men.
Lady in Danger was the second play by an Australian dramatist ever to be performed at a Broadway theatre
in front of an American audience.
Consulting Room was broadcast in South Africa in 1954, in both English
and Afrikaans
, by the Lux Radio Theatre. It is a one-actor serious play about the love between the young couple who try to commit suicide. It Walks By Night was also broadcast in English and Afrikaans.
In 1937, the Geneva Conference
selected The Four Specialists for translation into Polish
to be broadcast by Polskie Radio
.
The South Australian Tourism Commission
said of its presentation during the Adelaide Centenary, 1936: "This play was a great success... completely accurate historically."
The Bulletin
called it "Dramatic dynamite."
Sydney Morning Herald labelled it "a significant milestone for Australian drama."
The Sun called it "An outstanding contribution to Australian literature."
Lux Radio Theatre, in South Africa, wrote to Afford in 1954 expressing their pleasure at his play Consulting Room, and asked him for more of his radio plays.
The Blackburn serials found such popularity in Australia that 2UE
decided to experiment with the structure of radio serials. They changed the typical structure of half an hour once a week, to 12-minute episodes four nights per week, and found listeners preferred not having to wait a whole week for the next instalment.
In early 1960, Thelma Afford
endeavoured to obtain a Commonwealth Literary Fund grant to support posthumous publication of a book of Max Afford’s stage plays. Tom Inglis Moore was in charge of the negotiation of its guarantee. Moore was a member (1945–71) of the advisory board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund. He championed the cause of hundreds of authors and numerous literary journals, and acted as an advocate for left-wing writers in the 1950s. Freddie Howe, head of HarperCollins
), proposed the CLF sponsor a collection of three plays and submitted it to Mr. W. R. Cumming, Secretary of the CLF, along with the manuscripts. The amount required for guarantee varies from about £80 to £100 for small works up to £500 or more for very large works, while Thelma thought of a guarantee from £200 to £300. Howe was doubtful about publishing the plays since the amount of publishing and preadvertising costs had been far heavier than his expectation. Moore, however, considered it practical and beneficial as CLF had just approved a new scheme of helping publishers with literary, not commercial, books. Collins
should not lose out for the publication.
Thelma then gave a book of Afford’s radio plays to Sam Ure Smith
, an Australian arts publisher and promoter, just in case Freddie was disinclined to publish the stage plays. At this stage, Thelma insisted on both volumes (the stage plays and the radio plays produced on the ABC) be published. In May, Howe agreed to go ahead with a book of stage plays providing he can obtain the Commonwealth of Australia's sponsorship. With this promise, Thelma decided to drop the attempt to publish radio plays with Sam Ure Smith
.
In June, Collins
brought forward this collection of stage plays with two purposes in mind: First, to present a prestige book as a memorial to the late Max Afford, who won outstanding success as both stage and radio dramatist; Second, to make the plays available in published form for the repertory theatres. Howe submitted the proposition to CLF. The proposition is “quite unacceptable”, said Tom Inglis Moore, “Lowe’s guarantee requested of £1114 is far too high and cannot be entertained. The size of the edition is too large at 2,500 and the retail price too high at £35.” He recommended altering the proposition either by omitting Dark Enchantment to cut down the volume and the costs and to give a better balance of light and serious plays, or by replacing the collection with a series of single volumes suitable for the repertory societies to perform.
An agreement was finally reached: a volume of only two 3 plays: Lady in Danger, Awake My Love and Consulting Room plus an Introduction from Leslie Rees and a Foreword from Sir Richard Boyer. Thelma as the owner of the copyright waived her royalties, which represented a reduction of £437 on the publishing costs; and a less ambitious edition of only 1400.
- “Awake My Love, by Max Afford.” Drama and the School, Issue 21, 1960.
- Letter to Max Afford from Egyptian State Broadcasting. 19 Jul. 1939.
- Letter to Max Afford from B.H. Richardson, BBC London. 6. Dec. 1944.
- Letter to Max Afford from S.A. Kaye, Biographical Encyclopedia of the World. 21 Oct. 1946.
- Letter to Max Afford from S.A. Kaye, Biographical Encyclopedia of the World. 8. Sept. 1947.
- Letter to Max Afford from W.C.D. Veale, Town Clerk of Adelaide (1948). 14 Oct. 1948.
- Letter to Max Afford from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 Feb. 1952.
- Letter to Max Afford from Lulu Lloyd-Jones, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 8 Jul. 1954.
- Letter to Max Afford from Lulu Lloyd-Jones, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 26 Jul. 1954.
- Letter to Max Afford from Roger Pethebridge, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 21 Sept. 1954.
- Letter to the general manager of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, from Max Afford. 4. Jun. 1946.
- Letter to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, from Max Afford. 17 Feb. 1945.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Betty Roland. 4 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Tom Inglis Moore. 3 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from the Australian Broadcasting Company. 16 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from the International P.E.N. Club. 16 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Representative of the British Council in Australia. 4 Nov. 1965.
- Letter between Thelma Afford and Tom Inglis Moor regarding the Commonwealth Literary Fund’s possible Support of a Book of Max Afford’s Stage Plays, 1960.
- Freddie Lowe’s Report to the CLF enclosed in the letter to Thelma Afford from Tom Inglis Moore, 15 Jun. 1960.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and novelist.
Early years
Afford was born at Parkside, AdelaideAdelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
. He left school when he was 16, and started writing novels and plays.
Adult life
After winning the centenary competition in AdelaideAdelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, he moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1936, on contract to the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) as a playwright and producer in the Federal Productions Department.
Max married Thelma Thomas
Thelma Afford
Thelma Afford was an Australian costume designer, theatre performer, and fashion journalist who worked in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.- Early years :...
on 16 April 1938 at St Michael's church, Vaucluse
Vaucluse
The Vaucluse is a department in the southeast of France, named after the famous spring, the Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.- History :Vaucluse was created on 12 August 1793 out of parts of the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Drôme, and Basses-Alpes...
, Sydney, a costume designer whom he had met on the set of Colonel Founder / Awake my Love two years earlier. Thelma was also originally from Broken Hill, New South Wales
Broken Hill, New South Wales
-Geology:Broken Hill's massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the...
, then Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and had moved to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
to design the costumes for the New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
sesqui-centenary celebration pageant. Max and Thelma did not have children.
Death
Afford died of cancer on 2 November 1954 at Mosman, Sydney, and was cremated. Thelma AffordThelma Afford
Thelma Afford was an Australian costume designer, theatre performer, and fashion journalist who worked in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.- Early years :...
survived him until 1996.
Numerous condolence letters from his friends, colleagues and admirers were sent to his wife from around Australia and from overseas including the US, the UK and Hong Kong. Many are held in the Fryer Library at the University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
and express sadness about his death, admiration for his literary achievement and regret for the great loss to the Australian literary world.
“Max was one of the sweetest, gayest and most endearing people I have ever encountered.” Betty Roland wrote. Tom Inglis Moore said, [3] “He was such an attractive person in himself, and he had outstanding gifts. As a writer he was at the top of the profession as a dramatic writer for radio, a first-class craftsman. His stage plays showed that if he had gone on, he would have become an important playwright. I felt that Max had the talent to have gone even further in achievement. He had such a vitality that it is very hard to realize the truth.”
Then Chairman of ABC, Sir Richard Boyer, wrote,“Max was not only the most valued contributor to some of the best of our broadcasts, but was held in great respect and affection by all of us in the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission).” David Carver, the International Secretary and General Secretary of English P.E.N. expressed gratitude for his contributions to Australian literary life: “The Sydney P.E.N. owed him a great deal for all the hard work and enthusiasm of his years as President.” And Ernest William Burbridge, Representative of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in Australia, wrote that “(Max) was so devoted to his art, and had such passionate belief in the cause of Drama.”
Beginnings in Adelaide
Max Afford wrote three novels while in his twenties, which were later published in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He worked as a reporter at the News and Mail
The News (Adelaide)
The News was an afternoon daily tabloid newspaper in the city of Adelaide, South Australia.The newspaper was established in 1869 as the Evening Journal. In 1933, a controlling stake was taken by The Advertiser, controlled by the Herald and Weekly Times. HWT sold off The News in 1949, and Sir Keith...
from 1926 to 1931. His first story was published in Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia, Smith’s Weekly was one of Australia’s most patriotic newspaper-style magazines....
in 1928. In 1936 he won the Advertisers centenary play competition with William Light The Founder (later titled Awake My Love). His 'Jeffrey Blackburn' novels included Blood On His Hands! (London, 1936) and Death's Mannikins (London, 1937). Many were dramatised for radio, starring Peter Finch
Peter Finch
Peter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
and Neva Carr Glyn
Neva Carr Glyn
Neva Carr Glyn or Neva Carr Glynn born "Neva Josephine Mary Carr Glyn" was an Australian contralto and actress born in Melbourne to Arthur Benjamin Carr Glyn , a humorous baritone and stage manager born in Ireland, and Marie Carr Glyn , née Marie Dunoon Senior , an actress with the stage...
as the husband-and-wife detective team. Afford wrote eight crime novels, usually employing English settings, and more than sixty radio and stage plays, usually stories of crime involving the sifting of situations that ultimately uncover the perpetrators. He was considered somewhat of a pioneer of the "whodunit" in radio broadcasting.
A science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
story, The Glan Men of the Island, appeared in Wonder Stories in January 1931.
Career in Sydney
Afford was one of the first contract writers to be engaged by the ABC. In 1936, he won three playwriting awards, and was appointed Staff Dramatist by the ABC, with whom he was contracted for six years. During this time he wrote 30 one-and-a-half-hour plays, 15 serials, more than 100 play adaptations, and produced a number of his own plays. From 1941 he wrote children's and adult radio serials including Hagen's Circus (800 episodes) for radio 2GB and 2UE.In 1942, Afford resigned from the ABC and joined the radio station 2GB
2GB
2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia broadcasting on 873 kHz, AM. It is one of Australia's most popular talk-back radio stations, and is the number one station in Sydney.-History:The station commenced broadcasting in August 1926...
, for whom he wrote two long-running commercial serials: First Light Fraser (400 episodes), and Digger Hale's Daughters (208 episodes).
Other radio plays included Lazy in the Sun and Out of This Nettle, and the long-running 1951 A.B.C. serial, Stranger Come In, which explored the subject of immigration.
In 1945, Afford created an all-time record in Australian theatrical history by having two three-act plays presented professionally by the J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
theatre company at the Theatre Royal, Sydney
Theatre Royal, Sydney
The Theatre Royal in Sydney is Australia's oldest theatrical institution. Sydney's original Theatre Royal was built in 1827 behind the Royal Hotel, but burned to the ground in 1840. The name was dormant for 35 years until 1875 when a new Theatre Royal was built in the location where the current...
. These two plays were Lady in Danger and Mischief in the Air, and were presented within two months of one another - a significant feat, as prior to the production of Lady in Danger, Williamson had not presented a locally written play for 20 years.
Afford's play Lady in Danger (1942), successfully produced at Sydney's Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre
The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
by Doris Fitton
Doris Fitton
Doris Alice Fitton Mason, DBE was an Australian actress and theatrical director who founded and for 35 years headed Sydney's Independent Theatre, staging a diverse range of local and international dramas, many for the first time in Australia, including Sumner Locke-Elliott's wartime comedy, Rusty...
, was then staged by J. C. Williamson
J. C. Williamson
James Cassius Williamson was an American actor and later Australia's foremost theatrical manager, founding J. C. Williamson Ltd....
Ltd and was staged in the US, adapted to American tastes by Jack Kirkland
Jack Kirkland
Jack Kirkland was an American playwright, producer, director and screenwriter. His greatest success was the play Tobacco Road, adapted from the Erskine Caldwell novel. His other plays included Frankie and Johnnie , Tortilla Flats , Suds in your Eye, Mr...
. The Broadway production received poor reviews and closed after 12 performances. He also wrote Mischief in the Air and co-wrote with Ken G. Hall the story for the Columbia Film Corporation's film, Smithy (1946), based on the aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith.
Afford was president of the Sydney P.E.N. Club in 1950. His play, Dark Enchantment, toured England's provincial theatres in 1950.
In 1952, Afford signed a contract with the A.B.C. engaging his services as a radio writer for 26 weeks, during which time he was to write five 15-minute installments based on immigration, as a serial on 5 days of the week, twice per day if required.
Recognition in Australia
- Winner of
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's All-Australian Play Competition, in 1936, for Merry Go-Round.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
's Operetta Contest, 1936.
Archibald Prize
The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
.
Thelma Afford
Thelma Afford was an Australian costume designer, theatre performer, and fashion journalist who worked in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.- Early years :...
established a fund for a Max Afford Playwrights' Award.
International recognition
Afford's radio plays and serials have been re-broadcast in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
His radio plays have been produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, as well as by BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...
, by Lux Radio Theatre in South Africa, by the National Broadcasting Service in New Zealand, and also in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
.
The BBC, for example, bought his serial Fly By Night and his radio plays Labours of Hercules, Oh, Whistle When You're Happy, The Four Specialists and For Fear of Little Men.
Lady in Danger was the second play by an Australian dramatist ever to be performed at a Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in front of an American audience.
Consulting Room was broadcast in South Africa in 1954, in both English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, by the Lux Radio Theatre. It is a one-actor serious play about the love between the young couple who try to commit suicide. It Walks By Night was also broadcast in English and Afrikaans.
In 1937, the Geneva Conference
Geneva Conference
Several international or multinational conferences have been called the Geneva Conference, because they were held in the city of Geneva, Switzerland...
selected The Four Specialists for translation into Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
to be broadcast by Polskie Radio
Polskie Radio
Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's national publicly funded radio broadcasting organization.- History :Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making regular broadcasts from Warsaw on 18 April 1926....
.
Critical reception
- Colonel Light the Founder / Awake My Love
The South Australian Tourism Commission
South Australian Tourism Commission
The South Australian Tourism Commission is commission set up by the Government of South Australia to promote Tourism in South Australia.-SATC Divisions:* Corporate Services* Events South Australia* Executive Services...
said of its presentation during the Adelaide Centenary, 1936: "This play was a great success... completely accurate historically."
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
called it "Dramatic dynamite."
Sydney Morning Herald labelled it "a significant milestone for Australian drama."
The Sun called it "An outstanding contribution to Australian literature."
- Consulting Room
Lux Radio Theatre, in South Africa, wrote to Afford in 1954 expressing their pleasure at his play Consulting Room, and asked him for more of his radio plays.
- Jeffrey Blackburn serials
The Blackburn serials found such popularity in Australia that 2UE
2UE
2UE is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by Fairfax Media. It is Sydney's and Australia's oldest commercial radio station, first broadcasting on 26 January 1925 on 1025 kHz AM before moving to 950 kHz in 1935 when virtually all Australian radio stations were assigned new...
decided to experiment with the structure of radio serials. They changed the typical structure of half an hour once a week, to 12-minute episodes four nights per week, and found listeners preferred not having to wait a whole week for the next instalment.
Posthumous publications
- Negotiation
In early 1960, Thelma Afford
Thelma Afford
Thelma Afford was an Australian costume designer, theatre performer, and fashion journalist who worked in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.- Early years :...
endeavoured to obtain a Commonwealth Literary Fund grant to support posthumous publication of a book of Max Afford’s stage plays. Tom Inglis Moore was in charge of the negotiation of its guarantee. Moore was a member (1945–71) of the advisory board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund. He championed the cause of hundreds of authors and numerous literary journals, and acted as an advocate for left-wing writers in the 1950s. Freddie Howe, head of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
), proposed the CLF sponsor a collection of three plays and submitted it to Mr. W. R. Cumming, Secretary of the CLF, along with the manuscripts. The amount required for guarantee varies from about £80 to £100 for small works up to £500 or more for very large works, while Thelma thought of a guarantee from £200 to £300. Howe was doubtful about publishing the plays since the amount of publishing and preadvertising costs had been far heavier than his expectation. Moore, however, considered it practical and beneficial as CLF had just approved a new scheme of helping publishers with literary, not commercial, books. Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
should not lose out for the publication.
Thelma then gave a book of Afford’s radio plays to Sam Ure Smith
Sydney Ure Smith
Sydney George Ure Smith was an Australian arts publisher and promoter who 'did more than any other Australian to publicize Australian art at home and overseas'....
, an Australian arts publisher and promoter, just in case Freddie was disinclined to publish the stage plays. At this stage, Thelma insisted on both volumes (the stage plays and the radio plays produced on the ABC) be published. In May, Howe agreed to go ahead with a book of stage plays providing he can obtain the Commonwealth of Australia's sponsorship. With this promise, Thelma decided to drop the attempt to publish radio plays with Sam Ure Smith
Sydney Ure Smith
Sydney George Ure Smith was an Australian arts publisher and promoter who 'did more than any other Australian to publicize Australian art at home and overseas'....
.
In June, Collins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
brought forward this collection of stage plays with two purposes in mind: First, to present a prestige book as a memorial to the late Max Afford, who won outstanding success as both stage and radio dramatist; Second, to make the plays available in published form for the repertory theatres. Howe submitted the proposition to CLF. The proposition is “quite unacceptable”, said Tom Inglis Moore, “Lowe’s guarantee requested of £1114 is far too high and cannot be entertained. The size of the edition is too large at 2,500 and the retail price too high at £35.” He recommended altering the proposition either by omitting Dark Enchantment to cut down the volume and the costs and to give a better balance of light and serious plays, or by replacing the collection with a series of single volumes suitable for the repertory societies to perform.
- Outcome
An agreement was finally reached: a volume of only two 3 plays: Lady in Danger, Awake My Love and Consulting Room plus an Introduction from Leslie Rees and a Foreword from Sir Richard Boyer. Thelma as the owner of the copyright waived her royalties, which represented a reduction of £437 on the publishing costs; and a less ambitious edition of only 1400.
Drama
- Honeymoon Hotel, 1930. A musical comedy, produced in Adelaide.
- Lady In Danger: A Comedy-Thriller in Three Acts, 1942. The second play to be shown at Broadway theatre by an Australian dramatist. First performed in Sydney's Independent Theatre in 1941, and then at the Theatre Royal in Sydney, in 1944.
- Mischief in the Air: A Comedy Thriller, 1944.
- Black Sheep (n.d.)
- Seven Days Wonder: A New Comedy (n.d.)
- Awake My Love: A Romantic Drama based on the life of Colonel William Light, first Surveyor-General of South Australia, 1936. Originally called Colonel, or William Light the Founder. Produced at the Independent TheatreIndependent TheatreThe Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
, Sydney 1947. Presented during the Royal Visit to Adelaide in 1948, at the Adelaide Repertory Theatre. - Dark Enchantment, which premiered at the Minerva Theatre in Sydney in 1949. It exploits the sinister in a suspense melodrama of a ventriloquist, his doll, and a gypsy villainess.
Novels and short stories
- The Gland Men of the Island, Wonder Stories pp. 828–843, Jan. 1931.
- Blood on His Hands!: A Detective Novel. London, England: John Long, 1936.
- Death's Mannikins: Being a Sober Account of Certain Diabolical Happenings not Untinged wth the Odour of Brimstone which Befell a Respectable Family Living at Exmoor in This Present Year. London, England: John Long, 1937.
- The Dead Are Blind: A Jeffrey Blackburn Adventure. London, England: John Long, 1937.
- Fly By Night: A Jeffrey Blackburn Adventure. London, England: John Long, 1942. Broadcast in seven 30-minute episodes by the BBC in 1939.
- Owl of Darkness NSW Bookstall Co., 1944
- Sinners in Paradise. Sydney, NSW: Frank Johnson, 1946.
- The Sheep and the Wolves. Sydney, NSW: Frank Johnson, 1947.
- The Vanishing Trick, Detective Fiction 1.1, Dec. 1948.
- Such a Neat Little Corpse 1950??
Radio Plays
Many of these were revived or rebroadcast years later, possible with a different title. Dates shown are the earliest found (using Trove) under that name.- The Flail of God, 1931
- Cats Creep at Night 1930
- The Waxworks Mystery, (aka. The Wax Museum) 1933 first Australian play to be broadcast nationally
- Old Christmas Shades, 1933
- House To Let, 1934
- The Working Class, 1934
- Black Magic, 1934
- Blackmail, 1934
- The Sin Flood, 1934
- The House of Hangings, 1934
- Front Page Story, 1934
- Sacrifice at Dawn, 1934
- These Old Shades A Christmas romance in one act, 1934
- Avalanche, 1935
- Five Hundred Thousand Witnesses, 1935
- Pit of Darkness, 1935
- Grave Adventure, 1935
- The Almost Perfect Crime, 1935
- War to End War, 1935
- The Legend of the Moonlight, 1935
- When the Doctor Called, 1935
- Awake My Love, 1936 radio adaptation of his stage play
- Merry-Go-Round: A Drama for the Microphone by Outspan, 1936. A six-hour radio play.
- Five Miles Down: Being Another Adventure of Terry, Rob, and Uncle Worthington, 1936.
- A Woman Called Ruth, 1936
- Lord Ingleby Dies, 1936
- The Haunting of Camilla Crane, 1936
- Genesis, 1936 condensed version of Light the Founder
- (The Fantastic Case of) The Four Specialists, 1937
- Silver from Satan, 1937
- Die for a Lady, 1937
- Whistle When You're Happy, 1938
- For Fear of Little Men, 1938
- The Golden Age, 1938
- All Passion Spent, 1939
- Five White Fingers, 1939
- A Cat Across Their Path, 1939
- Heroisms All Round Us. 1940
- I Am Albert Jones: "A New Radio Play", 1940
- The Queer Affair at Kettering, 1940
- Rose without a Thorn, 1941
- Murder on the Second Floor, 1941
- I Killed the Count, 1941
- It Could Be Natural Death, 1942
- Consulting Room, 1948
- Dark Enchantment, 1949.
- The Clock Strikes Twelve 1950
- The Franchise Affair, 1950. Aired by the ABCAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
in SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, NSW. - Out of This Nettle: A New Radio Play (n.d.)
- The Sundowners (n.d.)
- Tales of the Supernatural (n.d.)
- Under a Thousand Eyes: A Radio Play of the Vaudeville Theatre (n.d.)
- Out of the Bag (n.d.)
- Lazy in the Sun, aired in 1974.
- Mischief in the Air: Radio and stage Plays. A Comedy-Thriller set in a broadcasting station. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland PressUniversity of Queensland PressEstablished in 1948, University of Queensland Press is a dynamic publishing house known for its innovative philosophy and commitment to producing books of high quality and cultural significance...
, 1974.
Radio serials
- The Twelve Labours of Hercules: An Original Adventure Series in Twelve Episodes and a Prologue, 1936.
- Chump and Co., 1939
- The Return of Chump and Co, 1940
- The Mysterious Mr. Lynch, 1939–1946
- First Light Fraser, 1941-1949.
- Hagen's Circus, 1941. Ran for 700 odd episodes, broadcast on 2UE, 2CA.
- Danger Unlimited, 1941-1949. Ran for 600 odd episodes, broadcast on 2UE.
- Digger Hale's Daughter, 1941-1949.
- Stranger Come In: A New Serial Written for Radio, 1951-1954.
- Silver Ridge: An Australian Adventure Serial, 1951-1954.
- Space Explorers, 1951-1954.
- Blackburn series:
- Fly By Night: A Jeffrey Blackburn Adventure 1937
- Grey Face, 1940 broadcast on 2FC and 3AR
- It Walks By Night, 1941
- The Golden Scorpion; A New Jeffrey Blackburn Adventure (n.d.)
- The Blackburns Take Over (n.d.)
- Double Demon: A New Jeffrey Blackburn Adventure, 1941-1949. (a newspaper called it the fifth)
- Murder's Not For Middle Age, 1953- (same newspaper called this the sixth)
Sources
- Papers of Max and Thelma Afford, 1912–1987, UQFL184, Box 1, Folders 1-4, Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library:
- “Awake My Love, by Max Afford.” Drama and the School, Issue 21, 1960.
- Letter to Max Afford from Egyptian State Broadcasting. 19 Jul. 1939.
- Letter to Max Afford from B.H. Richardson, BBC London. 6. Dec. 1944.
- Letter to Max Afford from S.A. Kaye, Biographical Encyclopedia of the World. 21 Oct. 1946.
- Letter to Max Afford from S.A. Kaye, Biographical Encyclopedia of the World. 8. Sept. 1947.
- Letter to Max Afford from W.C.D. Veale, Town Clerk of Adelaide (1948). 14 Oct. 1948.
- Letter to Max Afford from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 26 Feb. 1952.
- Letter to Max Afford from Lulu Lloyd-Jones, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 8 Jul. 1954.
- Letter to Max Afford from Lulu Lloyd-Jones, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 26 Jul. 1954.
- Letter to Max Afford from Roger Pethebridge, J. Walter Thompson Company Ltd. 21 Sept. 1954.
- Letter to the general manager of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, from Max Afford. 4. Jun. 1946.
- Letter to the South African Broadcasting Corporation, from Max Afford. 17 Feb. 1945.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Betty Roland. 4 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Tom Inglis Moore. 3 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from the Australian Broadcasting Company. 16 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from the International P.E.N. Club. 16 Nov. 1965.
- Condolence correspondence to Thelma Afford from Representative of the British Council in Australia. 4 Nov. 1965.
- Letter between Thelma Afford and Tom Inglis Moor regarding the Commonwealth Literary Fund’s possible Support of a Book of Max Afford’s Stage Plays, 1960.
- Freddie Lowe’s Report to the CLF enclosed in the letter to Thelma Afford from Tom Inglis Moore, 15 Jun. 1960.
External links
- Works by Max Afford at Project Gutenberg Australia
- Max Afford Playwrights' Award at The Trust Company
- Max Afford in the Australian Dictionary of Biography
- Obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald, 3 Nov. 1954.
- AustLit entry.
- Max Afford Australian theatre credits at AusstageAusstageAusStage is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia. It provides records of productions from the beginnings of theatre in Australia up to today...