FROM THE WATCH TOWER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 787, 7 October 1929, Page 7

F ROM THE WATCH TOWER

By “THE LOOK-OUT MAN."

PROGRESS A morgue is being built at the zoo in order that post-mortems on dead animals may be conducted. Near the spot where, in the sun, Bears engage in playful grapple, And Jamuna takes the bun, Or accepts a proffered apple. There’s a building, plain, austere. What can be its purpose here? Gentle stranger, shed a tear— It’s the mortuary chapel. Here upon a marble bed Rests the dear departed lizard. Here the tiger, likewise dead, Waits that scientific wizard. Who with blade precisely plied Judges that the jungle’s pride Fell into decline and died Through a tumour on the gizzard. Probe the carcase, search the roll, Scrutinise its several clauses. Guide the zoo toward the goal. Our progression never pauses. Now we have a morgue we’re set All the dinkum oil to get, And that means, of course, I’ll bet, “Death was due to natural causes!” SMOKING HEADS Grinning at Mr. Roche O'Shea in his office at the Auckland University College is a smoked human head from Papua—an excellent specimen minus only a few teeth. It appears that the value of a. smoked head, as in the case of a meershaum pipe, is determined by its mature colouring. This one is a rich golden brown and considered, therefore, to be an excellent specimen. The head was presented a short time ago to the Registrar who has mounted it modestly on a corner cupboard. It Is quite the most novel office decoration in town. * * * SHAKEN An earthquake in New South Wales gives New Zealand a great chance to get some of its own back. We should indulge in large headlines:—“Australia Rocked by Quake —Populace Panic-stricken.” We might also refer to Australia as the shaky continent, and sympathise with people who are going there by the Niagara tomorrow. It will be remembered that the Australian Press made the most of the recent South Island shake. One of the best earthquake stories is told of a Los Angeles paper. Los Angeles will not allow San Francisco to live down Its great earthquake. Not so long ago an earthquake shook Santa Barbara, a near neighbour of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles sheet rushed out a page headline:—"Earthquake Hite Santa Barbara, 450 Miles from San Francisco.” * „ « BEAUTEOUS BONNETS That the vogue of the beret is becoming more established daily is affirmed at public gatherings such as the Ellerslie races. Of course, the beret was given a good start in life through the fact that, being the national head-covering of his people, it was pioneered into the limelight by the Basque tennis player, Borotra. Consequently it has a masculine as well as feminine appeal, and when a red, green, pink, puce, or lavender beret heaves Into sight on the horizon, there is no telling from a distant glance whether the tender heart of a woman or the rugged heart of a man beats beneath it. So far, Auckland males have not shown terrific enthusiasm for the beret, but motorcyclists seem: to be dallying with the idea, and beach sheiks have had it in mind for a long time. It may be noted in passing that popular usage makes the pronunciation "berray,” but the cultured ear of a local shop assistant apparently gives only one interpretation of that sound. When a patron asked to be shown some berets, she brought down a box of artificial berries. VANISHED TRADITION All ideas of what is right and wrong in movie cameramen are shattered by current representations of yesterday’s sound-filming effort at Mangere. There is neither a megaphone nor a suit of plus-fours in the picture. Since it has been established by custom that the voluminous garments are essential to the success of any film enterprise, the absence of the plus-fours must remain obscure, but the mystery of the vanished megaphones is more easily explained. In the good old days of silent films, the camera had one sense only—the sense of sight. The cameramen, the directors, and all the rest of the cheery company talked and laughed, and howled through the megaphones, and even swore if the provocation was sufficient. But now all that is changed. The camera and its auxiliaries have another sense—the sense of hearing. The sighing of the wind in the trees is an audible nuisance. The whirring of the camera handle is embarrassing to the producer, and abyssmal silence is enjoined upon all non-participants. Of course, accidents will happen. If an operator receives a shock from the sound-reproducing gear, can he repress a yell of agony and an imprecation that any normal man would emit in the circumstances? The answer is in the negative. The producer will kindly delete that portion of the film.