PROFILBARU.COM

*My Three Angels*
My Three Angels
Genre	comedy
Based on	play My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack; based on play by Albert Husson
Written by	Noel Robinson
Directed by	Alan Burke
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
Production
Running time	75 mins
Production company	ABC
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	19 December 1962 (Sydney)
Release	2 January 1963 (Melbourne)

My Three Angels is a 1962 Australian television adaptation which marked the acting debut of champion swimmer Murray Rose.^[3]^[4]^[5]

It was based on the play My Three Angels by Samuel and Bella Spewack which in turn was based on the French play La Cuisine Des Anges by Albert Husson.

Plot

On Christmas Eve in French Guiana, Felix and Emillie Ducotel struggle to maintain a small shop and the arrival of Felix's unpleasant cousin, Henri (Owen Weingott). They have a daughter, Marie-Louise (Anna Volksa).

Three convicts (Gordon Chater, Richard Davies, Murray Rose), decide that, as a Christmas gift to the family, they will set everyone's problems to rights.

Cast

Gordon Chater as convict
Murray Rose as convict
Richard Davies as convict
Laurie Lange as Felix
Nancye Stewart as Emilie
Owen Weingott as Henri
Anna Volska as Marie-Louise
Olive Walter
Scott Tyler
Bowen Llewellyn

Production

The show marked the acting debut of swimmer Murray Rose.^[6]^[7] Rose had become interested in acting after appearing in a play at college in the US. When back in Australia, a friend told Alan Burke of Rose's interest, and Burke called the swimmer to offer him a role.^[8] "He read very well," said Burke. "I was very pleased with him. His looks are ideal for the part. He was the only one of the actors I considered who could get across the gallic charm I was looking for."^[9]

Rose said the emphasis was different from the film version.^[10]

It was also the TV debut of Anna Volska, who was then 18.^[11] It was the first Australian TV play from Gordon Chater.^[12]

Chater had met Volska in a production of The Cherry Orchard at the Old Tote and said with her "I met my match in the giggling stakes... We both tended to be uncontrollable and diagraced ourselves later in a TV studio where something sparked us off, enraging the director which made us both worse. Well, it's better to have been sacked than never to have laughed at all. We were reinstated."^[13] It is likely this production was My Three Angels.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald called it "moderately successful" because it did not manage to treat the material "so whimsically and delicately that its rather dubious morality remains in the realm of fantasy." However he did think that "on its own rather obvious terms it [the production] was efficient enough." The critic added that Murray Rose was "amiable and decorative and obviously did everything the producer had told him to do; but it would be overcharitable to suggest that he did it with any conviction or distinction."^[14]

The Sun Herald said Rose's performance was "neat, workmanlike and competent" adding that Gordon Chater "was superb."^[15]

The Age called it "a mediocrity".^[16]

References

^ "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 December 1962. p. 15.
^ "TV Guide". The Age. 27 December 1962. p. 25.
^ Vagg, Stephen (12 July 2019). "Good Sports: Australian Athletes Who Act". Filmink.
^ "A new style". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 December 1962. p. 6.
^ "Murray Rose, from swimmer to actor". The Age. 6 December 1962. p. 28.
^ "Murray Rose In Acting Debut". The Canberra Times. Vol. 37, no. 10, 412. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 19 December 1962. p. 25. Retrieved 11 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^ The bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 1880, retrieved 22 March 2019
^ Rose, Murray (9 October 1963). "It's What I Want". TV Times. p. 17.
^ "A plunge into TV drama". TV Times. 22 November 1962. p. 6.
^ Smith, Jan (29 December 1962). "A DEGREE OF COMMUNICATION Murray Rose and Tony Madigan: after the games ore over". The Bulletin. p. 14.
^ "Murray Rose's New Role". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 December 1962. p. 16.
^ "Murray Rose's Acting Debut will be Watched". The Age. 27 December 1963. p. 17.
^ Chater, Gordon (1996). The Almost Late Gordon Chater. Bantam. p. 117.
^ "Adaptation of Stage Comedy". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 1962. p. 6.
^ Marshall, Valda (23 December 1962). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 38.
^ "Teletopics". The Age. 10 January 1963. p. 10.