Shell Presents

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2013}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Shell_Presents.png

| caption = Advertisement in SMH on 1 April 1959

| genre = Anthology

| country = Australia

| language = English

| producer = Brett Porter

| channel = {{ubl|ATN-7|GTV-9}}

| first_aired = {{Start date|1959|4|4|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1960|3|5|df=y}}

}}

Shell Presents was an early attempt at Australian television drama, being an umbrella title for several different productions. It debuted on 4 April 1959,{{Cite news |date=1959-04-05 |title=Well-wishers Jam ATM Switchboard |page=5 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZHZWAAAAIBAJ&pg=5238%2C1466497 |access-date=2014-12-10}} and aired on ATN-7 and GTV-9, who split production of plays for the series between them. It was an anthology series, each program being a self-contained play for television.{{Cite web |title=OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=shell%20presents%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;querytype=;rec=4;resCount=10 |access-date=2013-03-10 |website=National Film and Sound Archive}} The series won a Logie award in 1960 for TV Highlight of 1959. As the title suggests, it was sponsored by Shell. It was described as "a very big deal for the station: major institutional sponsorship from international companies for locally produced drama."{{Cite book |last=McPherson |first=Ailsa |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A176047704/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=3871dcfb |title=Australian Television History |publisher=Australian Public Intellectual Network |year=2007 |editor-last=Liz |editor-first=Liz |series=ACH: The Journal of the History of Culture in Australia |page=160 |chapter=Dramas and Dreams at Epping: Early Days of ATN-7's Drama Production |issue=26 |access-date=2023-07-12 |editor-last2=Dolin |editor-first2=Tim}} It would be followed by The General Motors Hour.

Though it usually presented straight drama, it also presented a live{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3vJjAAAAIBAJ&pg=1227,5193578&dq=pardon-miss-westcott&hl=en|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|title='Live' Telecast of New Musical|date=7 December 1959|page=13}} musical production titled Pardon Miss Westcott, set in colonial-era Australia. A total of 13 productions aired under the Shell Presents banner from 1959 to 1960.{{Cite web |title=[SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA : DOCUMENTATION] : [SHELL COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA : SCRAPBOOK OF PRESS CLIPPINGS 1959-1960] |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Id:709260%7CId:713985;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}} There is little information about this series online, however, some of the productions are held at the National Film and Sound Archive{{Cite web |title=OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22shell%20presents%22%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;rec=0;resCount=10 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}}{{Cite web |title=PARDON MISS WESTCOTT |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22shell%20presents%22%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;rec=1;resCount=10 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}}{{Cite web |title=REFLECTIONS IN DARK GLASSES |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22shell%20presents%22%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;rec=2;resCount=10 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}}{{Cite web |title=SHELL PRESENTS. A TONGUE OF SILVER |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22shell%20presents%22%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;rec=4;resCount=10 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}}{{Cite web |title=SHELL PRESENTS. NO. 01, JOHNNY BELINDA |url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=%22shell%20presents%22%20Media%3A%22TELEVISION%22;rec=5;resCount=10 |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=National Film & Sound Archive}}

ATN-7 originally announced that the second episode of Shell Presents would be an adaptation of Children of the Sun by Morris West but that was not made.{{Cite news |date=1959-03-12 |title=Hour Long Australian TV Play Series Begins Soon |page=1 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/121577150/?terms=%22other%2Bpeople%27s%2Bhouses%22 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2020-09-06}}

The first drama from GTV-9 in Melbourne was meant to be a production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons.{{Cite news |date=1959-03-19 |title=Delay in Presentation of TV Contest Plays |page=24 |work=The Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122322464/?terms=%22johnny%2Bbelinda%22 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2020-09-06}}

Some of the productions were based on overseas plays (such as Thunder of Silence), while some were locally written, such as The Big Day (by Sydney author John Ford).{{Cite web |last=Vagg |first=Stephen |date=2020-11-04 |title=Forgotten TV Plays: Pardon Miss Wescott |url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-tv-plays-pardon-miss-wescott/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104074817/https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-tv-plays-pardon-miss-wescott/ |archive-date=2020-11-04 |access-date=2020-11-04 |website=Filmink}}

An article in the 30 October 1960 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald called Australian TV is growing up, while not mentioning it by name, nevertheless provides some information on the series. The article said that the production of "modestly unpretentious" soap opera Autumn Affair provided some of the experience needed to produce Shell Presents productions like Johnny Belinda, and listed the cost to produce Pardon Miss Westcott at £5,000 (a considerable budget at the time). It mentions that work on a live drama production of the era started a month to six weeks before telecast, and that a video-tape of the final rehearsal was made so cast and camera crew could correct last minute faults.{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Valda |date=1960-10-30 |title=Australian TV is growing up |pages=51, 75 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UHxWAAAAIBAJ&pg=940,515986&dq=autumn+affair&hl=en |access-date=2013-05-06}}

Five of the episodes may have been shown in Perth during 1960 on station TVW-7.{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Valda |date=1960-04-10 |title=Easter message on television |page=74 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Tn1WAAAAIBAJ&pg=6171%2C3476066 |access-date=2014-03-12}}