Barbara Angell (6 March 1935) also known as Barb Angell and Angela Barrsometimes wrongly credited as Barbara Angel – was Australia's first female television comedy writer-entertainer. She was born in Melbourne and educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College.

Career

She began as an actress with Melbourne's

Little Theatre Little Theatre or Little Theater may refer to: Australia * Little Theatre, Adelaide, South Australia * Little Theatre, Sydney, former name of the Royal Standard Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales * Melbourne Little Theatre, an amateur theatre compan ...

(later St Martins) under Brett Randall and Irene Mitchell, for whom she debuted in their 1955 production of '' The Guinea Pig''. She worked as a dancer-comedian with the

Tivoli Circuit The Tivoli Circuit was a successful and popular Australian vaudeville entertainment circuit featuring revue, opera, ballet, dance, singing, musical comedy, old time black and white minstrel and even Shakespeare which flourished from 1893 to th ...

from 1955–8, and in comedy sketches. She was in Melbourne's first TV variety show, a live weekly program called ''Tivoli Party Time'' (1956–7), as one of the nuclear cast that featured her with Buster Fiddess, Iris Shand (wife of actor

Ron Shand Ronald Ernest McMurtry (3 February 1906, Carlton, Melbourne, Australia – 8 August 1993, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), professionally known as Ron Shand and earlier in his career billed as Ronnie McMurtry, was an Australian actor and ...

) and

Don Williams Donald Ray Williams (May 27, 1939 – September 8, 2017) was an American country singer, songwriter, and 2010 inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He began his solo career in 1971, singing popular ballads and amassing seventeen number ...

. In this show she wrote her own comedy material. She visited the UK in 1959–60 where she performed a solo cabaret act, further featuring her comedy sketches, music and lyric

On returning to Australia she formed a Revue company with Jon Finlayson at Melbourne's Arrow Theatre and co-wrote and produced a series of productions there including ''Slings 'n' Arrows'' and ''Outrageous Fortune'' – the titles both from the one line in Shakespeare!"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" Hamlet: III, i – Shakespeare Search. Retrieved 26 March 2013
/ref> See Wendy Harmer's boo

''It's a Joke, Joyce'' (Pan Books 1989). On stage, Barbara Angell starred again for the Tivoli in ''Lilac Time'' with John Larsen and in ''The Wizard of Oz'' as Glinda the Good Witch opposite

Reg Livermore Reginald Dawson Livermore (born 11 December 1938) is an Australian actor, singer, theatrical performer and former television presenter. Childhood From a young age, Livermore demonstrated an interest in the performing arts. Regular outings to ...

's Wicked Witch. Under the guidance of

John McCallum John McCallum (born 9 April 1950) is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament ( MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for h ...

at J. C. Williamson, she understudied

Jill Perryman Jill Perryman AM, MBE (born 30 May 1933) is an Australian former stage and screen actress and singer. Combining both her stage acting and her singing, she featured in numerous musical theatre roles, over eight decades and spanning 70 years of p ...

in ''Carnival'' and

Maggie Fitzgibbon Margaret Helen Fitzgibbon (30 January 1929 – 8 June 2020) was an Australian actress and singer. Coming from a show-business family, she was the older sister of musician Smacka Fitzgibbon. Biography Fitzgibbon was born in Melbourne. She bega ...

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's ''Sail Away''. She wrote TV sketches, music and lyrics for the satirical ''

The Mavis Bramston Show ''The Mavis Bramston Show'' was a weekly Australian television satirical sketch comedy revue series which aired on the Seven Network from 1964 to 1968. Inspired by the British TV satirical revue TV shows of the period (notably ''That Was The Week ...

'' from Episode 1 throughout its 4-year run and starred in it with Ron Frazer during its last 2 year

Following the Australian tour with

Madge Ryan :''She is sometimes confused with American actress Fran Ryan.'' Madge Winifred Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian actress, known for her stage and film roles in the United Kingdom, including London stage productions of ' ...

for J.C. Williamsons in

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's play ''Black Comedy'' she returned to England in 1969, where she spent the next 20 years appearing on stage, in films and TV dramas and comedie

She was production co-ordinator of the Association of Australian Artistes, based at the Australian High Commission in London. She leased The Arts Theatre in Great Newport Street, WC2, for lunchtime theatre in the 1970s and directed a series of plays including some of her own. She wrote TV sketches for Dave Allen and became a script assessor for the BBC's light entertainment department. Her TV play ''Some Day Man'' won a nationwide competition in the U.K. and was produced by

David Cunliffe David Richard Cunliffe (born 30 April 1963) is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parl ...

for

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

in 198

In 2005 Angell played a cameo role in the movie ''Superman Returns'' filmed at Fox Studios, Sydney, Australia.

Publications

Her first book ''The Entertainment Machine'' was published in 1972 ( Horwitz Publishing House, Horwitz), her second, ''Voyage To Port Phillip, 1803'' in 1983 ( Nepean Historical Societybr>
her third book ''A Woman's War'' in 2003 (

New Holland Publishers New Holland Publishers is an English-based international publisher of non-fiction books, founded in 1955. It is a privately held company, with offices in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. History The publishing firm was established ...

) but most of her writing career has been for television and the stage. Her latest book ''The

Coral Browne Coral Edith Browne (23 July 1913 – 29 May 1991) was an Australian-American stage and screen actress. Her extensive theatre credits included Broadway productions of ''Macbeth'' (1956), '' The Rehearsal'' (1963) and '' The Right Honourable Gent ...

Story: Theatrical Life and Times of a Lustrous Australian'' was published in Sydney in May 2007 by her own company Angell Productions Pty Limite

Community work

Angell served on the Council of the Alzheimer's Disease Society in UK and Australia (now known as Alzheimer's Australia), was President of the NSW (1991–3) and National chapters (1993–4). She is currently Director of Performing Arts for the Hornsby Arts Counci

Education

In 2008 she completed a professional research doctorate in Visual and Performing Arts with

Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explore ...

, her major paper being ''Another Coral Browne Story: analysis of the continuing export of Australia's performing arts talent'' (yet to be published). She continues to teach and to write.

References

* Performing Arts Collection, Melbourne, The Barbara Angell Collectio

External links

Barbara Angell Collection
at the

Performing Arts Collection The Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne, formerly known as Performing Arts Museum (PAM), is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia, with over 780,000 items relating to the history of circus, danc ...

Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...

. * *