Musette Morell
BornMoyna Ann Martin
1898
Died29 September 1950(1950-09-29) (aged 51–52)
Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia
Pen name
  • Fiona O'Farrell
  • Muse M
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • children's writer
Notable works
  • Three Radio Plays
  • Bush Cobbers
  • Ten Puppet Plays

Musette Morell (1898 – 29 September 1950) was an Australian playwright and children's writer. She wrote both for the stage and for radio.

Born Moyna Ann Martin in 1898,[1] she began writing poetry and short stories for magazines including The New Triad,[2] The Bulletin[3] and The Australian Woman's Mirror[4] during the late 1920s.

With theatre director Duncan Macdougall, she produced plays at the Playbox Theatre in 1930 and 1931,[5] having earlier written about his efforts to establish that community theatre in Sydney in 1927.[6] Her first play, The Wife Exchange, was performed at the Tom Thumb Theatre in February 1934,[7] followed later that year by Take It or Leave It.[8]

She wrote a number of plays which were produced for radio by the ABC.[9] She was also skilled in adapting children's classics, such as Gulliver's Travels and The Water Babies as radio serials for a young audience.[10][11] Her two books for children, The Antics of Algy and Bush Cobbers, were published from successful radio serials she had written for the ABC.[12] Bush Cobbers was highly commended at the 1948 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards.[13] Three Radio Plays included Webs of Our Weaving, one of six Australian plays selected by the ABC to commemorate Australian's Jubilee in 1951.[14]

Morell died at her home in Hornsby, New South Wales on 29 September 1950. She was survived by her husband John, her mother, brother, and sister.[15]

Selected works

  • The Wife Exchange, 1934
  • Take It or Leave It, 1934
  • The Quick and the Dead, 1935[16]
  • His Gentle Art of Making Enemies, 1937[17]
  • The Antics of Algy, 1946[18]
  • Three Radio Plays, 1948[19]
  • Bush Cobbers, 1948 [20]
  • Ten Puppet Plays, 1950[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Musette Morell". AusStage. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  2. ↑ Morell, Musette (1 January 1928), "Mood", The New Triad, 1 (6), retrieved 5 October 2021
  3. ↑ Morell, Musette (18 April 1928), "Color", The Bulletin, John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 49 (2514): 1
  4. ↑ Morell, Musette (10 July 1928), "Inconsequential", The Australian Woman's Mirror, The Bulletin Newspaper, 4 (33), retrieved 5 October 2021
  5. ↑ "The Wife Exchange". AusStage. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  6. ↑ Morell, Musette (14 August 1927). "Sydney's First Art Theatre". The Daily Telegraph. No. 16. New South Wales, Australia. p. 22. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ ""The Wife Exchange"". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 962. New South Wales, Australia. 13 January 1934. p. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "People of the Week". The World's News. No. 1677. New South Wales, Australia. 31 January 1934. p. 9. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "Tribute to Musette Morell", ABC Weekly, Australian Broadcasting Commission, 12 (42), 21 October 1950, retrieved 5 October 2021
  10. ↑ "National Children's Session Publicity". Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder. New South Wales, Australia. 15 April 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ "Radio Programme Features". Ouyen Mail. No. 1553. Victoria, Australia. 29 May 1940. p. 2. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Fun and Fancy For Children". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 31, 292. Victoria, Australia. 14 December 1946. p. 16. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ "Musette Morell". AustLit: Discover Australian Stories. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "ABC Jubilee Productions of Radio Plays both Old and New". Trove. Vol. 12, no. 52. 30 December 1950. p. 26. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  15. ↑ "Family Notices". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 35, 188. New South Wales, Australia. 30 September 1950. p. 42. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ↑ "Censorship Burlesque". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. 5, no. 165. New South Wales, Australia. 27 August 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ↑ "Broadcasting Programmes for Weekend". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. II, no. 53. New South Wales, Australia. 22 May 1937. p. 17. Retrieved 5 October 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. ↑ The antics of Algy, Hartmut Lahm (illustrator), Angus and Robertson, 1946{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ↑ Morell, Musette (1948), Three radio plays: Webs of our weaving; Better road & Even the birds of the air, Australasian Publishing Company, retrieved 5 October 2021
  20. ↑ Bush cobbers, Edwina Bell (illustrator), Australasian Publishing Company, 1948{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. ↑ Morell, Musette (1950), Ten puppet plays (and production notes): Graded for lower junior to senior classes, Currawong Publishing Co
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