Tailormade Explained

Tailormade is a comedic radio play by Clive Barry, broadcast in Australia in 1953,^[1] and popular in its time.^[2]

Premise

Our racketeering narrator, Signor Sardonic—a self-confessed "blue-jawed postwar parasite"—meets Australian tourist Mr. Horse—seemingly "a fairly simple sort of cove"—who is driving a London taxi cab up the Adriatic coastline.^[3] Together they strike up a conversation with a blonde artist from Switzerland, Anna.

Horse returns as the protagonist of Barry's second and final piece for radio—Key Fee.^[4]

Original Cast

• Lionel Stevens as Sardonic
• Sidney Chambers as Horse
• Dinah Shearing as Anna
• Alastair Duncan as Ciccio
• Rod Taylor as Vendor

Notes and References

1. News: Plays and Players . . 13,433 . New South Wales, Australia . 27 February 1953 . 10 October 2023 . 10 (LATE FINAL EXTRA) . National Library of Australia.
2. Book: Rees, Leslie . Towards an Australian Drama . 1953 . 188.
3. Web site: Vol. 15 No. 9 (28 February 1953) . 2024-11-26 . Trove . en.
4. Web site: Vol. 15 No. 31 (1 August 1953) . 2024-11-26 . Trove . en.