AUSTRALIA'S FATTEST COMEDIAN

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5320, 5 February 1947, Page 2

AUSTRALIA'S FATTEST COMEDIAN

JOE LAWMAN KNOWN TO NBW , ZEAL-4INIDEBS. iShould there be an award for the Soutbjern iHeniisphiehe's fattest comedian, that- Si»m,ewhat dOttbtful hcnour • would almost certainly go to Joe Lawinan, Australian funny man, currentlyi touring the North Island in the English revue presented by Australians — "Watch j Your Step." " Joe's face, figure and style of wit is n'ot a new thing .to dwellers 'way down under, for he has toured the Dominion before, but it is nearly 10' years since the hoards of New Zealand theatres ereaked under the 22-stone of his bulk. .Since then he has, to make a terrible pun, lajunched a thousand quips, and covered in. more ways than one a good deal of the world's surface. Most of his- travelling has been done very recently, as Mr. Lawman, during the past year, completed' a tour of the Orient which took him all the way along the China Coast and down to Singapore. • This little jaunt was 'made under the aiUiSpices of the entertainment medium so well known to British and Dominion troops — E.N.S.A. — and was also at the instigation of the Gommander-in-Chief of the British Pacific Fleet. He (Joe Lawman, not the commander of the fleet) and his troope played on all shapes and sizes of craft ranging from sampans to battleships, and exhausting though the trip must have been, he claims that he enjoyed every minute of it. ' t . In Singapore he met Tommy Trinder. Joe says that Tommy scored a great hit in Australia. He finds it significant that New Zealand dudiences are beginning to welcome vaudeville back once more and is of the opinion that in a year or two this country will proha'bly find touring shows keeping the' legitimate theatres open almost continuously. Australian showmen ^are considering extending their circuits to take in the Dominion and this way, many of the tip-top stage persorialities from Engand and Ameriea may be attracted to stages in this dPuntry for at least the off season in Europe and Ameriea. Litefally born in the show business, Arthur Jandy, alias "the smiling clown," has spent the whole of his life with only a short ' break in 1917 when travelling conditions were difficult, in the racket.

His first appearance dn the stage was at the tender age cf two, appearing^ as a babv fairy . _ hatched from an ostrich egg. Man! Can you just imagine the expression on the face of that ostrich! Then, as a boy, he joined his father and brother in an acrobatic act, but, tiring of these somewhat strenuous exertions, he turned to music — ^much more soothing. He learned the violin. Since then he has taught himself to play such instruments as the :sax and tuha, as well as unorthodox instruments of the Spike Jones variety. For example, in the revue "WJatch Your Step" he plays a rhapsody on sleigh bells.