INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS TRACY MANN

Today I have the immense pleasure of welcoming a very special guest, actress Tracy Mann, to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS for an interview. Tracy has acted in many motion pictures over the years such as HARD KNOCKS, GOING DOWN, FAST TALKING, THE BOX [my review of the film can be found here] RECKLESS KELLY, FELONY, SLEEPING BEAUTY, ANGEL OF MINE and TOP END WEDDING. Tracy has also been very active in theatre over the years, starring in many notable plays and musicals. In this interview Tracy will be discussing her part in THE BOX movie, acting, cinema, theatre, and television.

Welcome to CINEMATIC REVELATIONS Tracy!

Athan: When did you first realize that you wanted to be an actress?

Tracy: When I was 4 I believe I said to my parents ‘I want to be an actress’! My mother thought I’d grow out of it. I never did!

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Athan: Where did you study acting?

Tracy: I come from the school of hard knocks. Drama classes as a child, then as a teenager with the Saturday Company, a branch of the SATC in Adelaide. I went straight from my final exam in high school to rehearsals at the Adelaide Festival Theatre for Winnie the Pooh. I joined Actors Equity then.  It was 1973.  I finally began studying in London with Phillipe Gaulier in the 90s. I have worked with many wonderful teachers over the years. Lindy Davies being one.

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Athan: Your performance as Tina Harris in THE BOX could be described as being the film’s conscience, providing it with a sympathetic moral centre among the movie’s derring-do. What is it that you most enjoyed about playing Tina in THE BOX movie?

Tracy: You must remember, I was 17 years old when I did THE BOX movie. So everything was exciting and new and fun. We were on location at Eildon Weir staying in a local motel and Graham Kennedy was in the room next to me. He arrived in his Rolls Royce. But Tina, was a great role for me because we grew together. Her journey was mine. A fortunate beginning to my career.

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Athan: THE BOX had an excellent ensemble cast including Ken James, Paul Karo, Barrie Barkla, Lois Ramsey, and Fred Betts. What was it like working with these performers in the film?

Tracy: In my day, (I feel I can say that at my age!) actors working in soap were older and very experienced and many were theatre actors.  So I learnt professionalism from these wonderful actors and actresses. That was my ‘acting school’. Also working for 18 months on the series gave me muscle to act swiftly and decisively.  And learn lines quickly.  And forget them just as fast!

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Athan: What did you find most exciting about the experience of making THE BOX movie?

Tracy: Everything was exciting in those days!!

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Athan: For you, what was the most demanding, but emotionally satisfying segment of filming THE BOX movie?

Tracy: I reiterate, I was a mere 17. Demanding and emotionally satisfying weren’t yet terms in my lexicon! But I will say when Ken James dropped his towel, it was A SHOCK!!! 

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Athan: Have you kept in contact with any cast members and crew from THE BOX?

Tracy: I remained friends with Lois Ramsey until she passed away. She was a very dear and valued presence in my life.

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Athan: THE BOX was directed by Paul Eddey, who mainly directed and produced episodic television, and for whom THE BOX was his sole movie credit. How was the experience of being directed by Mr Eddey in THE BOX?

Tracy: As it was my first movie too, I had nothing to compare the experience to. But I remember he was a very nice man.

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Athan: You have been in many stage plays over the years, with ‘The Graduate’, ‘Minefields & Miniskirts’, ‘Two Weeks With The Queen’, ‘Noises Off’, ‘Blithe Spirit’, just some of the productions in which you have starred. What is it about the theatre that you most enjoy?

Tracy: Collegiality. Community. Immediacy. Working with great texts, and time to rehearse and explore. Audience response. Not the nerves, or the late nights though!

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Athan: In addition to film and the theatre, you have also acted in a multitude of television series over the years, with classic programs such as The Box, Matlock Police, The Young Doctors, The Sullivans, Prisoner, Sweet & Sour, Skirts, Janus, G.P., and more recently on Wonderland, and Rake and Five Bedrooms. In terms of comparing and contrasting acting on film, and acting on television, what differences are most evident from your experience?

Tracy: Film and television acting requires subtly, small gestures, minimal expressions. You can be quiet. And redo take after take. Theatre requires muscle, vocal and physical presence. Working with the audience, their breath, their laughter. It involves stage craft, finding your light, sharing intimate moments with 500 people demands different skills to film and television. But all mediums need ‘truth’.  Putting your attention on the ‘other’. And being present. Listening. LISTENING is key.

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Athan: In 1980 you won the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Award for Best Actress in feature film HARD KNOCKS. How did it feel to be acknowledged in this manner for your performance in the movie?

Tracy: It was a very special moment to hear my name called out. I remember bursting out of my seat in the (now sadly demolished) Regent Theatre in Sydney and running up the aisle in my Linda Jackson green silk chiffon sheath! Glorious. I hadn’t prepared a speech but blurted out ‘thank you, thank you THANK YOU’, with beautiful Michele Fawdon and a spritely oldish Kirk Douglas presenting my award.  You even got a monetary award in those days. Mr Douglas presented me with a $2,000 cheque and whispered, ‘you’re on your way kid’.

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Athan: Do you have any upcoming projects of which you would like to tell readers?

Tracy: Yes I do, but in this climate, I think it’s prudent to keep things a bit quiet.  So much can change.  Nothing set in stone.  But I’ll work for as long as I’m asked. I’m grateful to be able to participate in interesting projects and meet new creative people and still learn. It’s an adventure.

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Thank you so much today for your time Tracy, and for the astute insight you have provided into the art of acting, THE BOX, cinema, theatre, and television. It has been wonderful having you on CINEMATIC REVELATIONS. You are welcome to return whenever you wish.

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THE BOX (1975)

Title: THE BOX

Year of Release: 1975

Director: Paul Eddey

Genre: Comedy

Synopsis: The UCV Television Network is in financial strife, and has commissioned a feature film version of its television action series to repair its fortunes, along with an efficiency expert to assist in this cause.

Within a film history context: Films about television appeared on a sporadic basis before the 1970s. One of the first with a television background was the multi-directed ELSTREE CALLING (1930), one of the directors being Alfred Hitchcock. The story of a number of musical and comic acts being broadcast on television, with several in color, was one of the earliest uses of television in cinema history. HIT PARADE OF 1941 (1941), directed by John Auer, had a radio station in financial straits, and how the purchase of equipment for a television network occurs, but on the proviso that the financier's daughter appears on a broadcast. In contrast Henry Koster's MY BLUE HEAVEN (1950) was of a poignant nature. Following the lives of a married television song and dance team, and how they seek to adopt children, it was a vehicle for stars Betty Grable and Dan Dailey as the couple. CALLAWAY WENT THATAWAY (1951), directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, was a comedy about two advertising executives who arrange vintage western movies to be televised, which are enormously successful. This leads to a search for the star believed lost, and, out of desperation, an actor is paid to impersonate the real star, but things become sticky when he reappears. 

Muriel Box's SIMON AND LAURA (1955) concentrated upon a married couple who played out their life in a fictional television soap opera, but whose married life was anything but harmonious. A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), directed by Elia Kazan, was the story of a drifter who becomes an enormous and influential television star, but whose fall from grace is the basis for this engrossing movie. Another take on television was presented by Frank Tashlin's WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957). The advertising industry is the focus here, with a man working at an agency rocketed to fame on account of his decision to hire a model for a lipstick company, whose ads play on television. The adulation becomes too much, and he makes a surprising decision about his life which steers him in the right direction. Television advertising was once again the topic in MAKE MINE A MILLION (1959), directed by Lance Comfort. In this movie, a makeup man for a national broadcaster assists his friend, a manufacturer of washing powder, to have his product featured in television ads. The manufacturer's product is subsequently in high demand, and the makeup artist arranged for more placements, but gangsters try to sabotage their sweet agreement. 

A darker look at television was apparent in Haskell Wexler's MEDIUM COOL (1969). A television news reporter covers the most challenging stories with his job, but when he discovers his network is selling footage to the FBI, goes ballistic, and becomes involved in many heated events. A decidedly tongue-in-cheek view of television was offered by THE LOVE MACHINE (1971), directed by Jack Haley, Jr. The rise and fall of an ambitious network newsreader, his complicated love life, and other extracurricular activities were charted in this sometimes amusing, but uneven picture. On the other hand, Robert Butler's THE BAREFOOT EXECTUIVE (1971) was an irreverent family-oriented movie about a very unlikely duo, being a clerk and a chimpanzee, who team up to predict which will be hit shows on a television network. THE BOX was a film about television that was light in tone, taking a leaf out of the less serious movies about the topic, but had its own individual traits.

It was closest to THE LOVE MACHINE in terms of its emphasis upon a television network, and the personalities who inhabited this world. A difference between both films was that in THE LOVE MACHINE a single character, Robin Stone, was the one whose passions dominated the movie, and who spearheaded the majority of the picture's action. THE BOX did not center upon one character in particular, instead showing a number of people, for example, station owner Sir Henry Usher, executive Max Knight, and television star Tony Wild, and how their actions propelled the film's plot. This gave THE BOX a more free-flowing feel than THE LOVE MACHINE, befitting its comical orientation. Unlike THE LOVE MACHINE, which spotlighted the many liaisons of Robin Stone to a great extent, THE BOX did not closely follow the personal lives of its characters as such. Tony Wild's life was fleetingly depicted, but Paul Donovan's love for Kay Webster was the exception rather than the rule in the movie. THE BOX was more about the difficulties at the network, and the fashion in which these are overcome with Tony Wild's film becoming an unexpected success. This is something HIT PARADE OF 1941 had in common with THE BOX, in the former's case the mounting of a television station, and subsequent emergence of a singing star bring it financial prosperity. An enjoyable movie about a television network, THE BOX is a fun film to watch.

Overview: The Box was an adult soap opera which was broadcast on the Australian 0-10 Network from 1974-1977. The program was centred on the lives and loves of the personnel of the fictional UCV Channel 12, and the many power plays and other schemes carried out by its characters. As with its lead-in show, Number 96, The Box became synonymous for its sex, nudity, and adult situations which pushed the boundaries of acceptability on television in the 1970s. As with Number 96 it featured a gay character in main role, and was the first program on Australian television to showcase a lesbian character in a same-sex kiss. For all its derring-do and misadventures the serial eventually lost ground, though, and was cancelled in early 1977. Seeing the success of the soap opera, a film version of The Box was commissioned by production company Crawford's, and released in 1975. The film version of THE BOX was directed by Paul Eddey, an Australian television director and producer of such programs as Homicide, Bluey, Matlock Police, Division 4, and Hunter. As THE BOX is Paul Eddey's only directorial credit, this overview shall focus on his role helming the movie.

In looking at THE BOX overall, Mr Eddey has fashioned an entertaining, fast-moving extension of the television series. While the show was mostly dramatic in nature, with some comic inserts from time to time, THE BOX movie is predominately comedic in tone. As the film is about the difficulties of Channel 12 in its management, and the making of an action movie which is hoped will repair its fortunes, the comedy works in an amusing manner. The film is watchable from scene to scene, with no real gaps, or feeling strained. The action sequences are all well-orchestrated, and some recall slapstick scenes from both silent, and sound films of the Classic era of movies. In saying this, admittedly, THE BOX does have its viewing pleasures, but on looking deeper, there are weaknesses which could have considerably improved the film.

In following an action-comedy format, this move does deprive THE BOX of more intimate character moments which could have made the film richer than what appeared on screen. One thing to stress is that the film is very clear in its character interactions, their personal relationships, who does what, and why, which is pleasing to note. One of the most riveting moments in THE BOX is the relationship between Paul Donovan and secretary Kay Webster. The backwards and forwards nature of their bond, with Kay not giving in to her passion for Paul until late in the film, gave the movie a sense of tragedy that somewhat balanced the hijinks that regularly occurred in THE BOX. A married woman fighting her attraction to her boss was not given enough airing, although what was presented had a ring of truth to it. Other romantic stories, such as Tony and Ingrid's union, were not as profound, and mainly played for laughs. Ingrid's repeated nude glimpses, particularly before her tryst with Bruce Madigan, gave the movie an aura of exploitation that is too much. Story arcs which could have been more intricate are reduced to a simplistic level, this also detracting from THE BOX.

In the television series Vicki Stafford was a complex woman with a finger in many pies, the movie gives but a small insight into her way of thinking. The film takes no advantage of this character's power, and unfortunately relegates her to a supporting role. In addition, Sheila Winter is supposed to be an efficiency expert assigned to fix the problems at the network, but becomes a caricature by the end, which is a shame. Having two strong female protagonists underused in THE BOX stacks the cards against women in the movie, typecasting women as either being sex objects such as Ingrid, or a woman 'finding herself', with embarrassing results, in the case of Sheila. The afore-mentioned Kay is the only one with more depth, but even she has a topless scene, something early 1970s movies did to the nth degree. Having more affairs of the heart in THE BOX would have been something that further enhanced the movie. On a technical level, THE BOX also did not allow for further audience identification with its characters due to the lack of closeups of performers. Shooting the film from a distance, which worked for action scenes, but not for more intimate parts with characters, for example, sparring, is another downside. All in all, though, some things can be said about THE BOX., despite its shortcomings. It was a film that, in its spirited way, passed the time in an amusing, if sometimes overly, light-hearted manner.

Acting: There are a number of striking performances in THE BOX which deserve mention. As Sir Henry Usher, owner of the network, Fred Betts does a great job as the crusty, formidable curmudgeon who also reveals a softer side in his scenes with Sheila Winter. Barrie Barkla, as Max Knight, is excellent as the sheepish, pushy network executive who is involved in many of the film's wacky antics. In the role of Tony Wild, television action star, Ken James does a wonderful job. An actor of immense energy and humor, he lights up the screen with his sincere manner and charm. As Tina Harris, the loyal young woman who pines for Tony Wild, Tracy Mann makes the most of her limited screen time in the movie. An actress adept at playing either naughty or nice, and everything in between, here she is in one of her best early parts. 

The most flamboyant acting in THE BOX is by Paul Karo as Lee Whiteman, television director. A performer whose one-liners and deadpan delivery are a joy to behold, he is another distinctive actor who delivers in spades. As tea-lady Mrs Hopkins, Lois Ramsey is another actress whose work onscreen is brief, but whose pointed criticisms and sarcasm are immensely fun to watch. The final acting of note in THE BOX was by Robin Ramsay as Bruce Madigan, Sheila Winter's assistant. Sashaying into his scenes with gusto and good humor, a true devil may care, he rounds out the laudable acting contributions on THE BOX.

Soundtrack: Garry Hardman has composed an agreeable musical score for THE BOX which takes into account the zaniness of the movie, and gives it his own distinctive flourish. 

Mise-en-scene: THE BOX has above-average production values which reflect well on screen. Indoor sets such as the offices and boardroom of the UCV television network, and both Sheila, and Ingrid's suites at the hotel all appear realistic. The movie has a number of well-directed outdoor action sequences where the stunts have been thoughtfully mounted, and are great to watch. Color cinematography by Wayne Williams is suitable for its purposes, especially pretty during the Graham Kennedy musical scenes.

Notable Acting Performances: Fred Betts, Barrie Barkla, Ken James, Tracy Mann, Paul Karo, Lois Ramsey, Robin Ramsay. 

Suitability for young viewers: No. Female nudity, adult themes.

Overall Grade: C

Link: IMDB Page

Trailer