Musette Morell

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

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

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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