WASH DAY MERRIMENT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 48

WASH DAY MERRIMENT

F there is any truth in the saying "Jaugh and grow fat," the audience at a recent 4ZB Patriotic "Washing Day". Sing must have left ‘the theatre with many pounds of added avoirdupois, for they certainly spent most of their time laughing very heartily. The announcement by the song leader, Jimmie McFarlane, that the Mayor’s appeal for 800 parcels for the soldiers overseas had been filled during a 2-hour broadcast appeal from 4ZB. was warmly applauded and seemed to put the audience on its mettle. Articles auctioned thereafter occasioned spirited bidding and realised top prices. The highlight of tthe day was the Charladies’ Ballet and Chorus, featuring a bevy of burly beauties (members of the announcing staff to be exact), whose terpsichorean interpretation of the "Spring Song" set the -audience rocking in its seats and would, undoubtedly, have reduced any legitimate ballet master to gibbering imbecility. They were fortunate in having Uncle Percy, a man of long theatrical experience, to train them. It took half an hour, so you can imagine the poise and finish of the team. To add to the fun, Uncle Percy stood at the front of the stalls, just below the stage, and "conducted" his ballet through their evolutions. "Spud’’ Murphy had previously caused roars of merriment by appearing as a very buxom and well-developed washerwoman, but his later role as premiere danseuse in the briefest of ballet skirts convulsed the audience with such uproarious mirth, as to drown the music on the stage. The ballet and its star received an ovation that would have done credit to even the Russian Ballet itself. Taken in every way, it was a highly successful Sing.