George Edwards Story - The Successful Years

George was offered to produce a popular play at the time for 2GB, the Ghost Train. He had a budget of 70 pounds and was to provide the cast, the scriptwriter et all. At first George thought it too difficult but astute Nell saw an opportunity and agreed to do it. They hired an aspiring, but as yet untested, scriptwriter by the name of Maurice Francis and to save money Nell talked George into doing four or so roles.

George was initially horrified, as he thought that people would see his as just a stunt to save money. He agreed on condition that what they were doing would not be mentioned.

However, at the end of the show the announcer listed the parts that george played and the rest is history. Rather than being castigated, the public was enthralled that one person could play so many parts. Soon George had sponsors for his shows and of these there were many.

He soon was working with 2GB and their, George and Nell's workload grew astonishly. They had a morning show Darby and Joan, a children's session David and Dawn early evening, then a show such as Westward Ho between 6 and 7 pm, then an 8.oopm series of Inspector Scott or The Laughing Cavalier and to top things off another show around 10.00pm such as Notable British Plays. Thius was 5 days a week. On the weekend there would be a special Darby and Joan eveing version and on Sunday George and Co would do a play at 8.00pm.

His popularity was not only limited to Sydney but Nationally as well.

All done live.

In the mid thirties he he signed a contract with EMI Columbia at Holmesbush and now he had recording facilities. He also changed over to Station 2GB, where he would remain until his death. All shows were now recorded and his life eased a little, but in most of the show he produced he tokk many roles.

In 1937 he started what many would consider to be the definitive Australian show Dad and Dave. Here George played many a part and would ply Dad until his death in 1953. By this time the George Edwards Productions held over 50000 episodes in its inventory.

In the early years, say to 1942, George would be in most of his productions, after that he let up a little and took up his other interest of horses, opening his own stavble, but with little success. He and Nell had a girl, Carolyn, in 1941, but the marraige was alittle unsteady when in 1948 Nell and George was divorced with Nell taking over the reigns at George Edwards Productions She allowed George only one role and that was Dad in Dad and Dave which as previously mentioned he continued to play until his death.

Why was he such a success?

The simple reason, and the one previously alluded to was his ability to play many roles in the one session. In Dad and Dave, he played many roles. But the fact of playiong many roles only scratched the surface of his mimicking abilities. He had the uncanny ability to hold conversations between the various characters he was playing at the one time.

Further he could play any character with realism. If the script required a Chinese, person old or young, or any other nationality, George could quickly move into the role. He, or Nell, would mark his script with varios colours and diagrams to indicate the role ie nationality, age etc.It is said that the only parts he would not play were children and young women.

All this from a man when not infront of the microphone had a stammer!

>But Success Breeds Success

At the start of his radio career he was lucky to have Maurice Francis as his scriptwriter. When he was hired to script The Ghost Train, he had no experience in radio. Having worked as an accountant and journalist, among other things, he wanted to get into radio. George and Nell hired him because he said he could write but also insisted him to act as well, thus saving more money.

But Maurice proved a godsend. he was not only able to produce radio script but he did so at an unprecedented speed. He would use four stenographers, dictating to one and when he had finished the episode, the stenographer would go off to type it up, where Maurice would turn to the mext one and start dictating a doifferent series and so on. When the first one returned, he would continue where he left off the script without losing a beat, acting out the scenes as he went.

Though the results were not always of the highest standards, but Maurice and especially George understood what the public wanted in their radio serials and they gave them that.If you are producing shows at the rate that they were, some would be poorly written but others could be extremely well done.

Maurice stayed with George Edwards until the outbreak of WWII, when he joined up and served out the war. On his return to civilian life, Maurice startedup his own production company with First Light Fraser being the first series. Layer he went into advertising.

Maurice was not the only successful writer, other included Lorna Bingham who wrote most of Dad and Dave and Search for the Golden Boomerang another long running series. Later Eric SCott did many of the series produced by george edwards.

Not only did he have some good writers, but as the comapny grew in stature, the best actors would appear as part of his ensemble. Because of the success of the Company it meant continuing work and to get a contract as part of George Edwards Players meant being able to be fed regularly. If we look at the cast list over the years, nearly every budding Sydney actor would have been associated with George Edwrds Productions at some stage of their acting career.

Simply put George Edwards beame radios' first National Superstar His star staus remained intact until his death, but unfortunately, with the passing of time his fame has diminished and few today would remember his name let alone his fame.