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Frank Harvey (Australian screenwriter)

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This article is about the elder screenwriter Frank Harvey. For his son, (1912–1981), see Frank Harvey (English screenwriter).

Frank Harvey
Born
Harvey Ainsworth Hilton

(1885-12-22)22 December 1885
Earls Court, London, England
Died10 October 1965(1965-10-10) (aged 79)
NationalityBritish / Australian
OccupationActor

Frank Harvey (22 December 1885 – 10 October 1965) was a British-born actor, producer, and writer, best known for his work in Australia.

Early life

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Frank Harvey was born Harvey Ainsworth Hilton on 22 December 1885 in Earls Court, London. He was the son of playwright John Ainsworth Hilton (1842–1903), who also wrote under the name Frank Harvey,[1] and Elizabeth Hilton. He had three sisters, Maria, Cora, and Caroline.

Career

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Harvey studied acting under Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and performed Shakespearean roles in the Lyceum Theatre in London. In 1914, he was engaged by J. C. Williamson to play in Australia with Nancye Stewart, and did not return to Britain until 1926.[2]

In 1922 and 1923, he played the leading man in several J & N Tait productions with the Emélie Polini troupe, touring Australia and New Zealand.[3]

When Harvey returned to Britain, after several months he was cast in The Transit of Venus and then had little difficulty finding work. He was praised for his role in Jew Suss. While acting in this role, he had a nervous breakdown and was told to take three months off.[4]

Harvey had two plays produced, The Last Enemy and Cape Forlorn.[5]

Return to Australia

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By 1931, he was back in Melbourne to appear in a series of plays for J. C. Williamson's, including On the Spot and a production of his own Cape Forlorn.[6][7] Harvey said he preferred working on stage to screen:

An actor on the screen is not an actor at all, but a robot. In the days of the silent films, an actor could have a distinct screen personality; but now that speech has come, all that is ended. After the novelty has worn off, talking films will settle down here, as they have abroad, into a mere substitute for the silent films, and will not interfere in any way with the prosperity of the legitimate theatre. The screen should stick to the sphere in which it is really capable – the sphere of spectacular production, such as Iies outside the ambit of the legitimate stage. It is really a glorified sideshow.[8]

Harvey returned to London in October 1931,[9] but was back in Australia in 1933 to work for F. W. Thring at Efftee Productions as an actor and screenwriter.

In 1935, he moved to Sydney and began writing and acting for ABC radio. This led to a full-time appointment as senior drama producer in 1944, directing actors such as Queenie Ashton (in early episodes of Blue Hills), Lyndall Barbour and Nigel Lovell. He appeared as Nestor the story-teller in the Argonauts Club for most of the 1940s.[10] His play False Colours was staged by Doris Fitton's Independent Theatre.[11]

In 1936 he founded a school of voice production and dramatic art with Claude Flemming.

Cinesound

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That year Harvey went to work for Ken G. Hall at Cinesound Productions as a studio dialogue director and in-house screenwriter. Starting with It Isn't Done (1937), Harvey wrote or co-wrote nine produced feature film scripts for Cinesound over four years, often playing small roles in them.[12]

According to one observer, Harvey's work as an actor and writer showed his bias towards the theatrical: "his scripts tend towards fulsome dialogues with witty repartee and epigram-matical statements, and his acting, particularly in Tall Timbers (1937), tends to exploit dramatic gestures and facial expressions far more intensively than was then required for screen 'naturalism'. Under Hall's direction, Harvey's dialogues were simplified and images allowed to express more of the script's content; his acting too became increasingly restrained as he adjusted to the demands of the film medium."[13]

Radio

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In 1941, Harvey signed a contract with ABC to work on radio.[14]

During World War II, Harvey served in the Volunteer Defence Corps until 1944, when he left the army and went under contract to ABC as a radio actor and producer.[15][16] He eventually became ABC's head of radio drama.[17]

By the time Harvey retired in 1952, he had directed hundreds of radio plays.[18]

Personal

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He married Grace Ackerman in 1910 and divorced her in 1923 on grounds of desertion.[19] On 3 April 1924 he married Helen Rosamond "Bobbie" McMillan, an actress with the Emélie Polini troupe and daughter of Sir William McMillan, Minister for Railways in New South Wales, Australia.[20][21]

A son (1912–1981) by his first marriage, named Frank Harvey, was a British playwright and novelist who wrote the play Saloon Bar and screenplays for British movies, including Seven Days to Noon (1950) and I'm Alright Jack (1960).[22]

He had a daughter, Helen, by his second wife.[23]

Plays

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As writer

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As actor

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Filmography

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Unproduced projects

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Radio credits

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As actor
As director
As actor

Sources

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  • The Golden Age of Australian Drama Richard Lane, Melbourne University Press 1994 ISBN 0-522-84556-8
  • Biography by Stephen Vagg Archived 16 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  • Frank Harvey at IMDb
  • Frank Harvey Australian theatre credits at AusStage
  • Frank Harvey at the National Film and Sound Archive

Notes

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  1. ^ This movie is notable for appearance of a very young Gough Whitlam.[42]

References

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  1. ^ "music and Drama". Queensland Figaro. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 21 March 1931. p. 5. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ^ Canberra Times Thursday 17 March 1927
  3. ^ "Music and Drama". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 5 December 1923. p. 5. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Personal". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 7 December 1929. p. 2. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  5. ^ "Frank Harvey Back". The Register News-Pictorial. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 January 1931. p. 9. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  6. ^ Melbourne Argus Monday 5 January 1931
  7. ^ "Mr Frank Harvey". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 21 November 1930. p. 6. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  8. ^ "Mr Frank Harvey". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 13 January 1931. p. 13. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  9. ^ "Personal". The Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 13 October 1931. p. 8. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  10. ^ The Golden Age of the Argonauts Rob Johnson, Hodder & Stoughton 1997 ISBN 0-7336-0528-1
  11. ^ "False Colours – New Play by Frank Harvey" Sydney Morning Herald 27 May 1935
  12. ^ "Writer, Actor, Instructor". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 17 March 1938. p. 4 Section: Second Section. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  13. ^ Pike, Andrew Franklin. "The History of an Australian Film Production Company: Cinesound, 1932-70" (PDF). Australian National University. p. 51.
  14. ^ ""Critics are Useful Sometimes"", ABC Weekly, 3 (33), Sydney, 16 August 1941, retrieved 4 September 2023 – via Trove
  15. ^ "Advertising". Portland Guardian. Vic.: National Library of Australia. 22 May 1944. p. 1. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  16. ^ ABC Weekly, vol. 6, Sydney, 27 May 1944, retrieved 4 September 2023 – via Trove{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ "Music And Drama". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 24 May 1952. p. 7. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  18. ^ "FRANK HARVEY RETIRING TO FISH, GARDEN, AND WRITE", ABC Weekly, 14 (19), Sydney, 10 May 1952, retrieved 4 September 2023 – via Trove
  19. ^ Melbourne Sun Thursday 6 September 1923
  20. ^ Good Iron Mac Peter M Gunnar, Federation Press 1995 ISBN 1-86287-176-0
  21. ^ "The Age - Google News Archive Search".
  22. ^ [1]AustLit biography of Frank Harvey
  23. ^ "Stars of the Air. Frank Harvey – Actor, Producer, Writer and Talent-scout". Wodonga and Towong Sentinel. Vic.: National Library of Australia. 27 September 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  24. ^ Melbourne Argus Tuesday 26 April 1932
  25. ^ "Stars of the Air. Frank Haarvey – Actor, Producer, Writer and Talent-Scout". Wodonga and Towong Sentinel. Vic.: National Library of Australia. 27 September 1946. p. 4. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  26. ^ "Intimate Jottings". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 1 June 1935. p. 25. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  27. ^ "The Man Who Stayed at Home". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 May 1915. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  28. ^ "The Man Who Stayed at Home:Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2538". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 12 August 1915. p. 7. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  29. ^ Adelaide Advertiser Thursday 27 September 1917
  30. ^ Adelaide Advertiser Saturday 6 April 1918
  31. ^ Adelaide Advertiser Monday 15 September 1919
  32. ^ ""HEARTS Don't REALLY BREAK"". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 10 August 1935. p. 22. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  33. ^ Melbourne Argus Saturday 14 April 1923
  34. ^ Melbourne Argus Monday 19 October 1925
  35. ^ Melbourne Argus Saturday 7 March 1925
  36. ^ Melbourne Argus Saturday 4 July 1925
  37. ^ Melbourne Argus Monday 24 August 1925
  38. ^ N T Times Friday 26 September 1930
  39. ^ Melbourne Argus Monday 16 February 1931
  40. ^ ""Cape Forlorn"". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 31 August 1931. p. 5. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
  41. ^ Frank Harvey at IMDb
  42. ^ The Australian Film and Television Companion Tony Harrison, Simon & Schuster Australia 1994 ISBN 0-7318-0455-4
  43. ^ a b "Stage Asides". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Qld.: National Library of Australia. 29 October 1934. p. 10. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
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