Half an Hour with Robert Helpmann

{{Infobox television

| image = Half_an_Hour_with_Robert_Helpmann.png

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| image_size = 200

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| caption = The Age 31 March 1964

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| writer = William Sterling

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| director = William Sterling

| creative_director =

| presenter = Robert Helpmann

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| country = Australia

| language = English

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| runtime = 30 mins

| company = ABC

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| network = ABC

| released = {{Start date|1964|03|31}}{{cite news|title=TV Guide|newspaper=The Age|date=26 March 1964|page= 32}}

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Half an Hour with Robert Helpmann is a 1964 Australian television program featuring Robert Helpmann.{{cite news|title=Helpmann under TV surveillance|newspaper=The Age TV Guide|date=8 October 1964|page=3}} Helpmann was in Australia for the Adelaide Arts Festival at the time and the program was devised to illustrate his versatility.{{cite news|title=Untitled|newspaper=The Age TV Guide|date=26 March 1964|page=3}}

According to Filmink "in under thirty minutes, its star tries to do pretty much everything in the showbiz handbook: Shakespeare, pop songs (one ballad, one dance number), ballet, crime drama. You know how in the sitcom Will and Grace the character Jack had a one-man show he was always talking about, Just Jack? Half an Hour with Robert Helpmann is a little like that."{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-australian-television-plays-half-an-hour-with-robert-helpmann/|title=Forgotten Australian Television Plays – Half an Hour with Robert Helpmann|year=2023|access-date=2 August 2024}}

Over half an hour Helpmann does a variety of solo acts including:

• singing a ballad
• performing the role of Oberon and Hamlet
• dancing a solo
• singing the song "Surfer Doll"
• re enacting his appearance in Box for One (with Carole Potter providing female voices).

It was shot at the ABC's studios in Melbourne. A copy of the production is at the National Film and Sound Archive.

Later that year the ABC did a half hour documentary on Helpmann for The Lively Arts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131753729 |title=leisure the arts TV RADIO DRAMA MUSIC ARTS BOOKS The ayes had it this week |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=39 |issue=10,972 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=9 October 1964 |accessdate=27 June 2023 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}