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.
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